December 2016 Newsletter
Shieldhill Primary School
Dear Parents and Carers,
Staff News
Congratulations go to Miss Tonagh (P2), who got married in the October week, is now Mrs Farrington and
also Miss Adamson (P4), who got married at the end of November, is now Mrs Macdonald.
Electronic information
Falkirk Council are committed to cutting back on paper communications and have asked all schools to now
send written communications home electronically. Mrs Bruce has been piloting the new system we have
and asking parents to respond, so we know who is getting what. This will be the last newsletter we send
home via pupils. We will also send it electronically (please let us know if you don’t get it by email).
If you do not have an email address and have no way of setting one up, please let us know and we can
leave copies of letters in the front office for you to collect. Thank you.
Twitter
As you may be aware the teachers are now making much greater use of the school’s Twitter feed. This is a
great way for parents/carers to keep up to date with events and activities which are happening in our
school. You can follow us @shieldhillps and tweets are also automatically displayed on our school website
which can be found at www.shieldhill.falkirk.sch.uk
GLOW
Glow is a national safe and secure online community for pupils and teachers which has been developed
exclusively for Scotland’s educational community. It can be used both at school and at home and can help
link a child’s learning. Very soon your child will be given a username and password to enable them to
access the GLOW site. This may be used by some classes for homework tasks, but will also be used by all
teachers as a means of communicating with pupils in the event of a school closure e.g. severe weather etc.
Please make sure your child is able to log in to the site and let their teacher know if there any difficulties
around this.
Values
Last month I asked parents to contribute to a survey on values at Shieldhill PS. The children in P5-P7 also
contributed to this. The top five were
 RESPECT
 HAPPINESS
 KINDNESS
 LEARNING
 HONESTY
I will now use these to build our Curriculum Rationale, which forms the heart of our curriculum planning.
Nativity
P1 are performing the nativity on 14th December at 9.30am. Tickets are limited to three per P1 pupil.
Children under two will need to sit on parental laps and children enrolled at other schools are not
permitted to attend. The primary school children will see it on Tuesday at the dress rehearsal.
Buggies/prams are not permitted in the hall, but can be left in the front foyer.
Christmas Dinner
This year out Christmas dinner is on Wednesday 7th December. You should have already had an order form
for this. A reminder that the P1-3 children do NOT need to pay for this. P4-7 should bring their money on
Monday 5th December.
Christmas parties
Children can bring a change of clothes for the Christmas party and the teachers give them time to change
beforehand. Alternatively they can go home for lunch that day and change at home. Pupils should wear
their uniform in the morning of their party day.
Enrolment for P1 children due to start in August 2017
The times of enrolment are
9th January 9.15 – 10.30am and 1.15-2.15pm
10th January 9.15 – 10.30am and 1.15-2.15pm
12th January 9.15 – 10.30am and 1.15-2.15pm
13th January 9.15 – 10.30am
Enrolment for nursery children for start between August 2017 – April 2018
23rd January 9.15 – 10.30am and 1.15-2.15pm
24th January 9.15 – 10.30am and 1.15-2.15pm
26th January 9.15 – 10.30am and 1.15-2.15pm
Please bring proof of address and your child’s birth certificate for both enrolments.
A place is not guaranteed unless children are enrolled at these times. Please pass on the information to any
friends/neighbours who may not get this letter. Thank you.
Full Circle Uniform Shop
Don’t forget that the PA have a uniform shop for good quality used uniform. The new year might be a good
time to review that you could donate or purchase! The opening times and dates for the shop in December
are: Every Monday from 2.45-3.30pm
Finish for Christmas
We finish for Christmas on 21st December at 1.30pm. Dinners that day will be a choice of Hot Dog or
assorted finger rolls only.
Back to School
We start back for the new term on January 5th at our usual time.
I hope you all have a happy Christmas holiday
Yours sincerely
Robyn Wisbey
Head Teacher
December
January
February
Sunday 4th
Monday 12th
Wednesday 14th
Thursday 15th
Friday 16th
Monday 19th
Tuesday 20th
Wednesday 21st
Thursday 5th
Thursday 19th
Monday 27th
PA Christmas Fayre 12-2.30pm
Pantomime in school - pm
P1 Nativity 9.30am
P6 & P7 Christmas Party
P5 Christmas Party – P1 Craft Morning 11-12noon
P2 Christmas Craft 1.30-2.30pm, P3 & 4 Christmas Party
P1 & P2 Christmas Party
School closes 1.30pm
School opens 9am
Parent Council – Library 7pm
P7 – Sports Afternoon Braes High