Blackfriars Primary

YOU SAID!

WE DID!

School Meals could be better

Cordia provide our school meals. They have a very varied menu and I have my lunch in the hall but, if you have any complaints/concerns/dietary requirements around school meals, please contact Cordia directly.

All students/pupils should be encouraged to wear a particular uniform.

It is important that we provide a range of options within our uniform to allow it to be affordable for all.

Communication regarding studies

We provide an opportunity for parents to “Meet the Teacher” in Term 1, Parents’ Nights in Terms 2&3 and an Open Afternoon in Term 4. In addition to this our class teachers send home class newsletters each term. We also provide written reports in June. If you require additional information please contact the School Office for an appointment with a member of the Senior Leadership Team.

Increase reading time to improve reading skills

Literacy and Numeracy are key features in our curriculum and weigh heavily on each class timetable. Can I suggest that if you would like your child to have more reading time that you read your child as many stories as you can when you have them at home. Reading to your child is a most wonderful thing to do and teaches them lots. You can get books from the library.

Challenging children to achieve more

Although we are continuously challenging our pupils here in Blackfriars academically please remember that a Curriculum for Excellence, our Scottish Curriculum, is based around developing the 4 Capacities of our children. We focus very highly on developing Successful Learners but also Responsible Citizens, Effective Contributors and Confident Individuals.

Cooking classes and healthy eating

Healthy Eating is very much part of our Health & Well Being Curriculum. This, in conjunction with healthy lunches and our advice to only give your children healthy snacks.

We have tried parental cooking classes but we had to abandon this idea due to Health & Safety. Can I suggest that “baking” and “cooking” are wonderful activities for you to do with your children in the safety of your own home.This certainly gives your children skills for Learning, Life and Work but more importantly allows you and your children some quality time together. This is invaluable.

More Music classes, History, Art projects and Classics Book study.

Music, History and Art is all covered in our Curriculum for Excellence. You can find information about our Scottish Curriculum online. Music and Art are included in Expressive Arts and History in Social Subjects. We have progression pathways in every curricular area for every class which ensures your child has positive experiences in all areas. Classis will be taught at Secondary School.

After school classes for children

We have Sumdog clubs every day for children after school. We have moved the After School Sport Clubs to Lunchtime clubs. This allows all children to attend our clubs as we didn’t have very many children attending our clubs after school so we moved their timings to give everyone a chance to go to the clubs.

Have more “fun days”. E.g non uniform days, dressing up for Halloween, crazy hair day, taking part in national days for things like Children in Need, Comic relief, World Book Day etc.

It is really important that we maximise our learning time in school. Although I do realise that it is important that we are good citizens and encourage enterprise opportunities also. We are concentrating on raising attainment and although we will have some other “fun days” we need to be mindful of how much these days can cost families and also that we have some children with language and communication needs who can get really anxious and upset when we have days which are different.

Exploring skills and careers for the future

We have started looking at this just now and have introduced some activities into our planning and curriculum but we hope to build on this next session by including Developing the Young Workforce in our School Improvement Plan for session 2020-21.

Strengthening literacy and numeracy skills even more in pupils to strive to meet the attainment gap.

This is our core business at the moment and if you read our School improvement plan you will see that this is at the heart of everything we do.

Blackfriars’ Blether

We have moved the “Blether” to coincide with class assemblies so that if you get time off work to come to a class assembly then you can come to the “Blether” too. We usually have parents from across the school coming to the “Blether”, some members of staff, members of community groups and some representatives from our Parent Council too!

I have read your feedback about Meet the Teacher Event.

I will talk to staff and we will try to make the timings more accessible next session.

Thank you for your feedback.

Please remember that I always have a “Dates for your Diary” at the back of the Newsletter. The Newsletter can also be found on the Website and the APP.