SEAFIELD PRIMARY & NURSERY SCHOOL
NEWSLETTER –JUNE 2018
Dear Parents and Carers
As we approach the end of our school session, I would like to thank you for your support throughout the school year. It has been a fantastic year for us, between our Seafield Official Opening on 15th September and our ongoing improvement work as a school.
We have had lots of successes as a school community and these are published in the Standards and Quality Report 2017/18, available on our website and school notice boards for all parents and carers. Our Elgin Academy ASG Schools for the Future report informs this document and our recent positive Care Inspectorate Report has also informed our Early Years’ practice. Both these documents can be accessed online by Google search.
Staffing 2018/19
We are very fortunate indeed, as we have a committed and enthusiastic staff team here at Seafield, who continue to support our pupils in such a positive manner. Our new permanent additions to the staff team at Seafield are Miss Shaw and Miss Horner, both of whom will join us in the new session to teach their new classes. We welcome Mrs Anderson, NQT to our staff on a 1 year contract.
We also welcome Mrs MacDonald, PT ASN back followinglong term absence this week. As previously mentioned, Mrs MacDonald will work Monday – Wednesday 0.6 fte and Mrs Reid Thursday and Friday, 0.4 fte.
We say a huge thank you to Mrs Thornton, who retires from Seafield after many years of service and show- casing of good practice in the Early Years. We wish to thank Mrs Thornton for her experienced eye and hard work. Her contribution has been invaluable and we will miss her.
We also say thank you Mrs Donegan, who has been a valued member of our teaching staff team, leading on many initiatives over the years from Junior Road Safety Officers to homework club, craft club and STEM. We will miss Mrs Donegan at Seafield and wish her all the very best in her new post at the brand new Linkwood Primary School, which will be built in the near future.
Joanna McQuaker, our Child Counsellor is retiring, after working with us at Seafield since 2015. This has included valuable training sessions for staff. We wish to thank Joanna for adding value to our staff team and giving pupils that additional level of emotional support when they most need it.
Moray Skills Pathway
All that we do in school should link to the Moray Skills Pathway. The Moray Skills framework is on display around the school. Look out for the copy which is on display in Reception for parents and carers to browse. We are trying to work more closely with local employers and businesses to skill pupils up for working life. During the recent In-Service days, I met with Sarah Baxter, Developing the Young Workforce Manager for Moray. Sarah will be able to support us with this agenda.
Infant School Day A further reminder that, as from August 2018, the infant day will be exactly the same as the upper day in line with National practice. At Seafield, this will mean that P1-3 pupils will come to school at 9am and go home at 3pm. Lunch will be from 12.10pm – 1pm for P1-3 and for P4-7 12.40pm – 1.20pm. All pupils will go out for morning interval from 10.40am – 11am.
Communication We continue to use every method of communication possible to fit with preferences of parents and carers. As you know, we are no longer able to use the amazing Class DOJO, however we hope to hear about an approved alternative shortly, so will be in touch as soon as we know.
Please log onto Twitter in the meantime for the daily Seafield update @SeafieldHT. Our website contains more general information and paper copy newsletters continue to be issued and displayed on each noticeboard. Please check your child’s bag daily for this form of communication as letters and flyers seem to get lost in many cases. Thank you.
Pupil Equity Funding
The team we have as follows continue to work with individuals and smaller groups of pupils -
- Kay MacIntosh – Support for Learning Additional Teaching Time
- Annie Glynn – Pupil Support Assistant
- Donna Hyndman – Associated Admin
- Mandy Rands – Home School Link
- Sandra MacKinnon – Inclusion Support
- Bill Kerins – Family Therapy/Coaching
In the new school session, we have been awarded £62k to meet the needs of pupils who will benefit from this Scottish Government Funding. We have used our evaluations of this year’s funding to make plans for the new session.
We are going to add to the existing team by adding Prince William Award for 1 full day weekly. This award, which focuses on building skills such as confidence and resilience with lots of Outdoor Learning, will be invaluable to pupils at Seafield.
We will also add Child Counselling 1 full day weekly into this budget and welcome Donna Davies to Seafield to work with individual pupils. Home School Link will increase to 0.5 fte, which will be shared with East End Primary School. Finally, an increase to 0.5 fte Administrative Support is currently being advertised.
Attainment Champions As part of Pupil Equity Funding, we continue to offer the opportunity to parents, carers and members of the wider community to support the children’s learning by becoming an Attainment Champion. These invaluable helpers are fully PVG checked and have been working in classrooms to support Learning. Please come forward if you feel you wish to give up some time to join in with this Pupil Equity initiative.
Transition Arrangements – Classes 2018/19
Our Transition Days on 20th and 21st June see P7 pupils heading to Elgin Academy.
Our Step Up Day for our new P1 – 7 classes is on 20th June, when children get to meet their new class and teacher, where possible.
We have been working on forming the new classes, of course adhering to Moray Council policy. A big thank you to Miss Stuart who has worked so hard on this.
All staff have the opportunity to contribute to ensure that pupils get the best possible chance to learn to the best of their ability. Our numbers still indicate 15 classes, so we hope that this will remain static. However, as you know, things can change over the Summer holidays.
We will be in touch by letter with details of your child’s class and teacher, please look out for this in school bag mail, thank you.
Visiting Teachers 2018/19
We would like to thank Mrs Gray, Music and Mr Wormald PE for their contributions at Seafield. As part of the new time-tabling, Mrs Gray and Mr Wormald will be time-tabled at different schools. We wish them all the very best in their new ventures.
In line with the increased infant day, P1-3 pupils will now benefit from our new team of visiting specialist teachers as follows.
- Mr West – 3 days PE Thursday, Friday, Monday
- Mrs Kelman – 2 days Music, Tuesday and Wednesday
- Mrs Taylor – 2 days Art, Thursday and Friday
Parental/Carer Questionnaires
Please find attached some important end of session questionnaires to gather your views. The first of these have been on display in our Reception and asks you about Vision and Values. The second is asking about Curriculum in the context of the Seafield community. Your views will help us to shape the future in terms of Vision and Curriculum.
Holiday Dates
A reminder that we close for the end of session on Friday 29th June at 2.30pm for all pupils. Nursery will be in touch separately with arrangements for Nursery pupils that day. School opens to all pupils P1-7 on Tuesday 14th August, with staff attending for full In-Service Agenda on Monday 13th August.
I hope to see lots of you in and around the school between now and the end of session. For those of you I don’t see, I would like to wish all families a happy and safe summer filled with lots of sunny days.
Yours sincerely
Morven Snodgrass
Head Teacher
Please complete the following 2 questionnaires and return to school.
Thank you for your co-operation.
Seafield – The Vision and our Values
The 3 BIG Questions
- What makes Seafield special to all members of the school community?
- How will we know we are meeting the needs of all children in our school?
- How can we optimise the strengths of our community to enhance all pupils’ Learning?
Seafield Primary School
Skills for Life and Work
The Curriculum – May 2018
We are doing lots of work to make Learning better at Seafield, so we would like to ask you some questions about specifically about Learning.
In class, we spend most of our time on the 3 core areas of Literacy, Numeracy and Health and Wellbeing and then we spend the rest of our time on the other areas of the Curriculum. We especially want to ask you about these other areas.
We are going to stop doing some of the old topics at Seafield and start doing some new Learning.
Thinking about this year in school, tell us which top 3 topics you feel your child/children liked best and would want to keep as our Seafield favourites.You may also wish to add if you had parental/carer involvement in these.
1……………………………………….
2……………………………………….
3………………………………………..
Thank you for your views