November 2014 Dear Parents/Carers and friends of St. Patrick s, I am finding it hard to believe that we are already more than half way through November and are now thinking about our Christmas Preparations! Since issuing our last Newsletter, we have been involved in a number of initiatives and events. I wish to thank you all for your continued support and for your attendance at some of these events. I look forward to continuing to build closer relationships with all parents and carers in a variety of ways. As always, I am grateful to the team here at St. Patrick s for their continuing efforts, especially in providing the many extra curricular activities on offer. We have been busy up until now, and the next few weeks will be no different! There are lots of great things to look forward to. Please take a careful note of all of the forthcoming events and if you require any further information, please contact us using the information on the back page. Mr Thomas (Acting HT) P5 - OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD We were delighted with the response from children and their families over recent weeks. The children of P5 along with Mrs Wilson co-ordinated the Operation Christmas Child initiative and gathered lots of lovely things, packed them into shoeboxes and these have now been sent of to help needy children. We sent off a fantastic 31 boxes! Well done and thank you to all who contributed. CONSTRUCTION SITE & TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT You will have noticed that the approach road to the school is currently down to one lane and traffic lights are in operation. This is not ideal and obviously may cause inconvenience, especially at busy times. I sent a text out to parents this week to warn you of this and to kindly ask you all to keep the roundabout free from parked cars. However, I was disappointed to see that at 3pm on Tuesday, the roundabout was actually worse than ever. This was a particularly dangerous situation as, not only had people parked on the pavements around the area and at the school gate, but they were also parked on the roundabout. We also had the added congestion of cars and the school bus queuing at the traffic lights. IF THE SITUATION CONTINUES TO CAUSE CONCERN AND PARENTS INSIST ON PARKING ILLEGALLY AND UNSAFELY, I WILL HAVE NO OPTION BUT TO ENLIST THE HELP OF THE COMMUNITY POLICE. PERHAPS YOU COULD PARK AND STRIDE? The police have previously suggested parking on Fisher Avenue or over at the local Football Pitches and walking from there to the school gate. Many thanks to those who park responsibly!
PARENT INFORMATION EVENING Many thanks to those of you who were able to attend the Parent Information Evening which was held on Monday 10th November 2014. Approximately 35 people attended the meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to: 1. Introduce Parents and Carers to Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) and to the new legislation surrounding the named person for every child. You will shortly receive further information about this in the form of a leaflet. Children will also be issued with a small card, which indicates who their named person is. 2. Introduce Parents and Carers to God s Loving Plan, which is the new relationships and moral education resource for Catholic Primary School children in Scotland. Parents were shown a short video and were given the opportunity to review the materials used. Before your child begins to use this resource, an information letter and leaflet will be sent to you. Should you require any further information about either of these initiatives, please contact the school. We will be happy to help! SACRAMENTAL PREPARATION A reminder to all parents/carers who have children in P3 that there is a sacramental preparation meeting hosted by Father Daniel in St. Patrick s Church Hall on Monday 24th November 2014 at 7pm. Please make every effort to attend. ENROLMENT OF NEW PRIMARY 1 INTAKE Monday 12th January 2015 Tuesday 13th January 2015 Wednesday 14th January 2015 Come to school on either of these days during the following times: 9:15am - 10:30am or 1:30pm - 2:45pm ID Required: Council Tax Bill, Birth Certificate, Baptismal Certificate (if Catholic). CELEBRATING 150 YEARS OF THE PARISH OF ST. PATRICK S, KILSYTH The parish aims to gift a special medal to each of our children. In order to do this, these commemorative medals will be on sale in the parish and through our PTA. There are two versions of the medal, one costing 5. The 10 version is presented in a box and is 9ct gold plated. You can contact the school office at any point to make a purchase.
ADVENT MASS ADVENT SERVICES & LIGHTING OF THE ADVENT WREATH During the season of Advent, the children will participate in a weekly service as part of their assembly. Each week we will light another candle in preparation for the celebration of Christmas. Thursday 4th December at 10am in St. Patrick s Church, led by our P6/5 children. ALL WELCOME! Please contact us if you are able to walk with us to the church on this day. CHRISTMAS LUNCH The children will have their Christmas Lunch on Tuesday 16th December. A separate letter will be issued with information about choices and payment for this. Only Christmas Lunch will be served on this day with no cold options. Children not wishing to participate in the lunch should bring a Packed Lunch on this day. CHRISTMAS CONCERT The children have begun to rehearse for this year s Christmas Concert, which is shaping up to be an extravaganza! There will be two parts to our production. P1-3 will perform Shine Star Shine P4-7 will perform the panto Cinders There will be two performances this year on THURSDAY 18TH DECEMBER 2014 At 1pm and 7pm VISIT TO REVIVAL FM RADIO STATION Around 8 of our children will be attending a recording session at Revival FM Studios. This is a Christian Radio Station and the children will share some of their thoughts on Christmas, sing a carol and offer some prayers. What a lovely way to wish everyone a Happy and Holy Christmas from the children and staff of St. Patrick s! We will try to inform you of when to tune in and listen! END OF TERM CAROL SERVICE All parents, carers and friends of St. Patrick s are invited to attend our Community Carol Service on Tuesday 23rd December 2014 at 1pm. Please come along and share in our final event of the term to celebrate of Christmas. Please note the change of date from the last newsletter, due to issues with letting the school in the evening on our chosen date. Information about tickets and costumes will be issued separately. Ticket sales will follow the same format as we had for the Royal Rock Concert. This seemed to work very well. CHOIR VISIT TO ENTERTAIN THE RESIDENTS OF CRAIG-EN-GOYNE & SHOPPERS AT TESCO! On Friday 5th December our school choir will visit Craig-en-Goyne residential home to sing carols and Christmas songs. They will also attend Tesco on 17th December at 9:30am. Thank you to our Choir along with Mrs Mackenzie for all of their efforts!
VISIT TO THE PATOMIME IN HAMILTON The children will be attending Aladdin at Hamilton Theatre on 9th December 2014. This is a whole school event and the children will leave in the morning and return to school at around 1pm. No hot meals will be served on this day. All children should bring a packed lunch with them. Those children who are in receipt of a school meal will have a packed lunch provided. It s nearly Christmas Party Time! The Christmas Parties take place on Friday 12th December. We will have an early lunch on this day, beginning at 12noon and children who are going home can be collected at this point, however, all children must be collected by an adult. Parties will begin at 1pm. School will finish at 3pm as normal. Children can change here at school if this suits better. BRINGING TOYS/CARDS/FOOTBALLS TO SCHOOL An increasing number of children are bringing toys/ cards to school. This causes problems when they are lost, broken or a distraction during class or in the dining hall. I would ask that you do not allow your child(ren) to bring toys/cards to school. The volume of toys increases on a Friday for Golden Time. Please do not send toys to school for Golden Time. We have plenty of games and activities for the children in school. Footballs should also not be brought to school. I will ensure that there are adequate numbers of footballs for children on their pitch days. Thank you for your co-operation with this matter. LATECOMING & COLLECTION FOR APPOINTMENTS We have an increasing number of children arriving late for school. Whilst I understand that, on occasion, this cannot be helped, for some it is a regular occurrence. Please have the children arrive on time for school every day at 9am. We have a system in place for those arriving late: On arrival at school all children must report to the office. A register of late arrivals will be held at the office and should be signed by the adult who is dropping the child off. The reason for the late arrival will also be added to the register. POPE FRANCIS FAITH AWARDS This year, we are taking part in the Pope Francis Faith Awards. 16 of our P6 children are embarking on this journey and we will keep you informed of their progress throughout the year. They will be enrolled for this at our Advent Mass on Dec. 4th. When collecting your child for an appointment: You will be asked to sign the appointments register to indicate that your child is no longer in the building. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT. take St. Patrick s by Storm! Recently we were all treated to a wonderful performance given by our children and the Royal Rock Stars. I am sure you will agree that the children were amazing. It was clear to see that they had learned a lot about friendship, bullying, being special not to mention music and performance! Thank you for supporting this initiative in such great numbers. Thanks also to our rapping Dads, Mums, Grandads and Grannies! I am sure you will agree that they were all brilliant sports!
St. Patrick s PTA Christmas Fayre 2014 Saturday 29th November from 10am - 1pm Horne Sweet Hampers Cafe Face Painting Ladies Handbags & Jewellery Sparkle Gifts School Christmas Enterprise Stall
Please take note of the following dates. We will keep you informed of any changes. Wednesday 26th November Parent Council 6:30pm Tuesday 2nd December P5 Swimming begins Wednesday 3rd December Flu Vaccine Administered All Day Friday 5th December Choir to Craig-en-Goyne Tuesday 9th December Panto (Hamilton) Friday 12th December Christmas Parties 1pm Tuesday 16th December Christmas Dinner Wednesday 17th December Choir to Tesco, Craigmarloch 9:30am PTA Christmas Disco P1-4 (6pm - 7pm) P5-7 (7:15pm 8:30pm) Thursday 18th December Christmas Show 1pm 7pm 23rd December Community Carol Service 1:30pm in the Assembly Hall - All Welcome 23rd December School Closes 2:30pm Lunches will be served as normal on the last day. 5th January 2015 School Re-opens 9am How to contact us... If you require any information about any of the items in our newsletter or need assistance with anything else, please feel free to contact us. St. Patrick s Primary School Backbrae Street Kilsyth, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, G65 0NA Our PTA and Parent Council need volunteers Our PTA and Parent Council work hard throughout the year for the good of all of our children. Both organisations need more members. The PTA meets once a month on the first Wednesday at 6pm. The Parent Council meets once a term. Dates of meetings are published in our newsletter. t: 01236 757659 f: 01236 821538 e: www.st-patricks-kilsyth.n-lanark.sch.uk w: www.st-patricks-kilsyth.n-lanark.sch.uk Keep an eye out for our blog updates! Could you spare some time to help in either of these organisations? Please come along and support this important contribution to the life of the school.