Update – Monday 28.02.22
I hope you are all well and I thank everyone in our school community for their continued help and support.
COVID UPDATE
You will be aware that there has been some relaxation of the COVID restrictions and mitigations that have been in place for some time. I am aware that many parents and carers are keen to be updated on these changes, specifically the staggered start/end of the day arrangements.
Please note the following:
STAGGERED START/END TIMES: It is now possible to revert to more standard start/end times to the school day. However, this is not a simple case of reverting with immediate effect. I am aware that many parents and carers have childcare arrangements based on the staggered start/end times. Additionally, our specialists’ (Music, Art and Physical Education) timetables are planned around the staggered start/end times. Many of our specialists deliver their curricular areas in multiple schools. It is also necessary to liaise and plan with St. Mary’s R.C. Primary School as we share Infant Campus accommodation. We are presently in the process of reviewing reverting to standard times and I am pleased to inform you that the reverting to standard times will take effect on return from the Easter Holiday for the beginning of the Summer Term. I will keep you updated when the times have been confirmed.
ASSEMBLIES: We are all very excited that we now have approval to convene for assemblies. It is nearly two years since we have been in a position to meet for assemblies. Assemblies provide the opportunity to gather as campuses to create a real whole school community and to share whole school areas of interest. However, schools have been advised to review how they will manage assemblies with a view to risk. We are presently reviewing how we will re-introduce assemblies as the number of children within the accommodation spaces result in our halls being very cramped. It may be that we reduce year group attending assemblies, for example a P.6 and P.7 assembly, a P.4 and P.5 assembly, etc. Spacing and ventilation will continue to be factors that require consideration.
VISITORS TO SCHOOL: Regrettably, there is no relaxation on parent/carer access to school. I am very keen for this area to be relaxed soon to enable parents/carers to visit the school for Open Days and Parent/Carer Consultations.
VENTILATION, HAND SANITISING and ENHANCED CLEANING: These will continue to be applied.
A link to the communication from the Head of Education can be found here. 25FEB 2022 PARENT-CARER LETTER
WORLD BOOK DAY
We will be participating in WORLD BOOK DAY on THURSDAY 3rd MARCH 2022. We regard this as a very important event as reading is such an enjoyable activity in addition to a key learning area and life skill. Mrs. Kirsty Murray (Deputy Head Teacher) has committed a great amount of time to organising this day and I hope that parents and carers will support this event by supporting their child to dress up in their favourite book/reading character.
Thank you for your help and support.
PARENT/CARER CONSULTATION: To assist you with forward planning, I am pleased to inform you of the dates of our next Parent/Carer Consultations. These will take place 4.00 p.m. to 7.00 p.m. on Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th April 2022. These consultations will take place online. I will update you with regarding the booking of consultation slots closer to the dates.
HAPPY, POSITIVE and SUCCESSFUL: These are our school values and they are now well embedded in our school ethos. Children are able to refer to our values knowledgeably and with confidence. I can confirm that our school ethos is very positive and I am keen that we can soon create the opportunity for parents and carers to experience this when we can welcome you back into school.
I always close my communication by encouraging parents and carers to contact me at wfrench@haddingtonps.elcschool.org.uk in the event they have something to share. Following my previous information update I received several positive responses. This was really uplifting. Please do not hesitate to contact me.
Once again I thank you for your help, support and contribution to our excellent school community.
Best wishes, Willie
WORLD BOOK DAY – Update 23.02.22
We are looking forward to participating in World Book Day events in school on Thursday 3rd March 2022. We have lots of fun activities planned for your children. We are encouraging pupils if they wish to dress up as their favourite book character. There is absolutely no obligation to dress up. Please note our nursery Monday/Tuesday group will celebrate World Book Day on Monday 7th March and can dress up on this date if they would like to.
World Book Day celebrates the joy and value of books and reading, especially for children. To help get them started on their reading journey, every child receives a £1 World Book Day Book Token that they can swap for a free book – there are 12 books to choose from or they can get £1 of a book of their choice.
You can access World Book Day resources to have fun together with your child at home following the link:
Thank you for your support!
Kirsty Murray, Depute Head Teacher
Update – Tuesday 8th February
I hope that everyone in our school community are keeping well and safe. I take this opportunity to thank all parents and carers for their continued help and support.
COVID
You will be aware that many restrictions and mitigations have been relaxed in the context of the wider community. Large gatherings of events and sports have now returned. Those of us in the education community are hopeful that some restrictions and mitigations will be reviewed and relaxed soon. Regrettably, there has been no advice to date. However, it will be most welcome when we can review staggered start/end times, cross campus activities, outings/excursions and visitors to school. I can assure you that all school staff members are keen to resume our normal school routines. Thanks to everyone in our school community for their patience and understanding.
Cauliflower Cards
My sincere thanks to Mrs. Kirsty Murray (Deputy Head Teacher) for committing a significant amount of time and effort to organise our Cauliflower Card initiative over the Christmas period. However, sincere thanks also to our school community for supporting this initiative. I am pleased to inform you that the school benefited from £1388.00 in commission based on the excellent uptake of cards. Please accept my sincere thanks and appreciation for your support.
School Website
My sincere thanks to Mrs. Kirsty Murray (Deputy Head Teacher) and Mrs. Shona Walker (P.7 Teacher/Upper Campus IT Facilitator) for the time and effort committed to updating and ‘cleaning’ our main school website. The main school website is now up to date and includes the links to the stage and class websites. Occasionally, parents/carers will state they are unaware of some of the activities their children are partaking. Please take the opportunity to visit the school website and more specifically, your stage/class link. Our teaching staff work diligently to ensure that the stage/class websites are maintained and updated.
Infant Campus Interactive Whiteboards
Over the course of the last week, all class bases in the Infant Campus have been fitted with new interactive white boards. This is a significant investment and will present greater learning and teaching experiences for our children. My sincere thanks to Mr. Robert Whiteside (P.3 Teacher and Infant Campus IT Facilitator) for leading the work and arrangements around this initiative.
Mr. Brian Smith (Deputy Head Teacher)
You will recall that I informed you that Brian Smith would be retiring with effect from Friday 11th February 2022 after twenty-nine years of service to Kings Meadow Primary School and Haddington Primary School. Brian’s retiring is significant and he will be an immense miss to our school and he wider community.
The recruitment process to succeed Brian is now complete and unfortunately, for several reasons, we have not made an appointment. The Deputy Head Teacher position has now been re-advertised.
With Brian scheduled to leave on Friday 11th February this would have resulted in the leadership team being short staffed for a period of time. To ensure we are adequately staffed, I am very pleased to inform you that Brian has delayed his retirement until Friday 8th April 2022, the break for Easter Holiday. I can confirm that Brian will not work beyond this date. My sincere thanks to Brian for delaying his departure.
We had organised a series of events to mark Brian’s retirement. These have merely been rescheduled and I will keep you updated. Brian has already received some lovely messages and gifts from the parent/carer community and he is both touched and very grateful. I am sure those who wish to express their gratitude to Brian can delay this until closer to the Easter Holiday.
February Mid-Term Holiday
I remind everyone that school closes for the February Mid-Term Holiday this Friday, Friday 11th February 2022.
Pupils resume school on Tuesday 22nd February 2022.
And finally……………….. my sincere thanks to everyone in our school community. As an experienced head teacher of several schools I can confirm with much pride and enthusiasm that we have a truly outstanding school community. Our pupil cohort are a joy to work with, motivated and well-mannered. My sincere thanks to the full staff team, teaching and support staff, they are committed and ensure our children experience happy and quality learning and teaching. They have earned a well-deserved break. Thanks also to our parent/carer community for their tremendous support.
Please remember to email me at wfrench@haddingtonps.elcschool.org.uk if you would like to raise any issue or alternatively celebrate anything school related.
I wish everyone a happy and healthy February mid-term break.
Best wishes, Willie