8th October 2020
Dear Parent / Carer,
It has been a busy few weeks since we came back in August and I am so proud of how well our pupils have settled back into school. I hope you have found your child is enjoying being back in the routine of school.
However, with news and guidance ever changing I want to assure you we are doing all we can as a school community to keep each other as safe as possible.
I ask that you speak to your child to remind them of the health and safety protocols we have in place:
- Using one entrance and exit door
- Wearing a face covering in corridors or when social distancing is difficult (if they are able to do so);
- Hand sanitising or washing hands as soon as they enter the building and move around the school;
- Following the one way system;
- Keeping outdoors at breaks and lunchtimes;
- Social distancing;
- When leaving class or school at the end of the day, avoiding waiting for friends in other classes:
- We are still having all PE as Outdoor Learning- please ensure your child comes to school with a warm jacket.
Staffing
We have had a number of staff changes over the past few weeks due to staff absences. In place we have: Miss Lorenzo, Mr Farrell and Mr Oliver. We will also be welcoming Mrs Harley back after the October week from maternity leave.
Ipads
We are continuing to use the Ipads as part of our learning and teaching, and I am pleased our new S1 will have their ipads soon. All pupils have an app called Showbie on their ipad that we use to assign work and give feedback. Next term we plan to use Showbie more and we will be offering help and advice to parents and carers. In the meantime you can ask your child to show you their work on the Showbie app on the ipad.
Parents Meetings
By this point in the year, we would have issued dates for parents evening. At the moment we are not allowed to hold parents evenings in school, but plan to try to adapt this using ICT or phone calls. We will be in touch next term with more details. In the meantime, as ever, if you have any questions or concerns about your child please get in touch.
Parent Council meetings will also be scheduled online.
Pupil Equity Funding
The money allocated to Hollybrook through Pupil Equity in in place to support raising attainment. So far this year we have allocated funds to the following:
- Continuing to offer a free breakfast and snack to all pupils through Magic Breakfast.
- Weekly in-school counselling from The Castlemilk Stress Centre
- Music Therapy through an organisation called BeatRoute. This starts after the October week and pupils involved will be lettered.
- Emotion Works- a whole school programme to support Emotional Wellbeing ( see attached sheet)
- Resources to support the expansion of our Outdoor Learning
- Investing in an app called Scot Ed for parents to be able to pick up information from the school on their phones. We will send more information this after the October break. However it is available and free to download now from the app store.
If there is any other area that you feel could be targeted in school please get in touch.
Thank you for your continued support; at these challenging times it is more important than ever that we work together. If you have any question or wish to discuss anything, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Have a lovely October break and we will see everyone on Monday 19th of October.
Warm wishes
Jackie Newell & Allison Macleod
Jackie Newell and Allison MacLeod
Head Teachers