Carolside News

October 2014

Dear Parent/Carer

Welcome to our first news booklet of the session! Your children have settled very well in

the nursery and in their new classes this session and continue to be a credit to all parents.

We are delighted with the children’s approach to learning, homework, behaviour and uniform and would like

to thank all parents for their support. It’s Good To Be Green, our positive behaviour programme, continues

to be successful and most children are staying on green. Well done to all who have achieved this! We are

now at the end of a very productive and successful first term and I would like to thank all pupils and staff for

their hard work.

The children continue to display positive attitudes to class work and school life, striving to achieve their best.

We recognise and celebrate class achievements each week at assemblies. In addition, one pupil from each

class is presented with a Responsible Citizen Award each month of the year. This award can be received for

many reasons including showing consideration to others, being kind and caring or setting a very good

example to others. There is a display in the foyer showing photographs of our monthly winners. Please take

time to look at these when next in school. Teachers also gather pupils’ wider achievements and these are

celebrated regularly in class and many are highlighted at assemblies.

Our pupils have now elected new committee members for a number of our citizenship groups including our

Pupil Council, Eco Committee, Equality Committee and Health and Wellbeing Committee. We wish all new

committee members every success this year and hope all Carolside pupils give them their full support. All

committees work hard to gather views, share ideas and plan school improvements for the benefit of all

children and the wider school community. Peer Mediators, Play Leaders and Young Leaders also do a

wonderful job, providing support for younger pupils. We much appreciate the additional tasks all committees

and pupil support groups take on board each year.

Our new Parent Council has had one meeting and all members are keen to support the school by helping to

take forward school plan developments and various school improvements. This year they intend to take

forward parking and traffic issues and assist us with our plans to promote reading for pleasure across the

school. Our thanks go to the new Parent Council for their ongoing interest and support. We wish Mrs Karen

Cohen every success in her second year as Chairperson of the Parent Council.

Our new joint PTA Chairs, Mrs Louise Thurman and Mrs Judith Currie, have met with their new PTA

members and have started to plan a number of exciting events for the children and parents including discos

for our pupils, selling pupil designed Christmas cards and the annual Christmas Fayre. Well done to Mrs

Sheena Hamilton and Mrs Joanne Geldard, last year’s Chairs and all the committee for a most successful

year. We are extremely grateful to the PTA for providing additional classroom resources, subsidising school

outings, P7 yearbook funding, Education City and funding a number of school playground improvements.

The work of the PTA is excellent and we hope you will continue to support the PTA by participating in

events over the school year.

The new School Improvement Plan has been shared with our Parent Council and is available on the school

website for any parent who would like to have a copy. It outlines our aims and targets for the school this year

and details a number of developments we plan to take forward. As always your support with school

improvements is much appreciated.

May I wish all families and staff members a very enjoyable and relaxing October holiday.

Please do not hesitate to contact the school with any issues or concerns. Thank you for your continued

support.

Yours sincerely

Mrs Carol W Frew

Head Teacher

NURSERY NEWS

The children have settled into the nursery routines and are enjoying the range of learning environments in the main nursery and the Cabin. They have taken part in a successful obstacle race organised by the PFA and learned about Eid this week through activities organised by some of our parent helpers. Mrs Finlayson, Mrs Breen and Mrs Dougal led a very successful Information and Outdoor Learning session for all nursery parents with very positive feedback.

PRIMARY 1

Primary 1 children have settled into school life very quickly and are enjoying being in Primary 1.

Parents and carers were invited to share lunch with their child to experience how school lunches are

organised. Parents and carers enjoyed a visit to the infant classes to meet their child’s teacher and

learn about the different activities in the P1 classes. All classes are planning to visit the local shops

as part of their topic after the October holiday.

PRIMARY 2

Primary 2 pupils have settled into their new classes and have spent time working in small groups.

They have been learning how to sequence a story in literacy and use openers in their writing. This

term they have been learning about the weather and have visited Whitelee Windfarm to learn more

about this topic.

Primary 3

P3 children have settled well into their new classrooms and lots of hard work has taken place

already. They are working on The Community for their social studies topic and enjoyed planning

their Bring and Buy sale. In maths, pupils focused on revision of the three processes of addition,

subtraction and multiplication and are continuing work with multiplication tables. They have also

looked at graphs – venn diagrams, histograms and pictograms. In literacy, comprehension skills

have focused on predicting and sequencing and imaginative writing has also been a focus where the

children have been busy re-writing well known fairy tales with their own twist. In French they have

been learning animal names.

Our thoughts…..

Grace in P3d enjoyed learning about adding with carrying and subtracting with exchanging.

Bobby in P3d enjoyed learning how to join his letters correctly.

Anjali in P3d liked learning about the sun, moon and earth.

Amira in P3a enjoyed learning about the community and how to draw 3D buildings in art. She

made a community high street.

Kirsty in P3a likes being back at school as she has learned lots of new things. Her favourite

subject is numeracy.

Steven in P3a liked the sun, moon and stars science topic and the social studies topic about the

community.

Primary 4 P4 children have settled well into their new classrooms upstairs and have been working hard over

term one. They are working on their Glasgow and Famous Scots topic and have been looking at

buildings in Glasgow - their uses long ago and their uses today. They have produced works of art

based on the style of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. They are enjoying using Literacy Worlds for

reading and have been focusing on prediction, summarising and note taking in comprehension.

They have produced some interesting pieces of writing on their families and have been learning

how to write in paragraphs. In French P4 have been asking questions. Maths work has included

division, division with remainders, multiplication tables, 3D shape, HTU, addition and subtraction.

Callum P4a Katie P4a

Cara P4a

Jessica P4c

Humza P4c

PRIMARY 5 P5 pupils are happy and settled both in class and the upper school P5-7 playground and have been

working hard in class. This term the social studies topic for P5 is Scotland focusing on mapping

skills, Scottish landscapes and their formation. In Maths they are working on having their

multiplication tables as sharp as possible and maths topics have included area, perimeter, 3D shape

and grid references. In reading, the children are enjoying their Literacy Worlds readers and are

continuing to revise the four roles of Literacy Circles and are also looking at sequencing for

comprehension skills. The RME topic this term is Churches and Living Things is the focus for

Science. P5d helped the upper school to celebrate Harvest at assembly.

Blair P5a Ross P5d Jamie P5d

Carla P5d

I have enjoyed learning

division with remainders.

At first it was quite tricky

but then I practised and got

better.

I have enjoyed my maths

because we are learning

division with remainders

and I like it.

I love maths! I enjoyed learning

about symmetry and drawing lines

of symmetry.

I liked learning about the

Tobacco Lords in our topic

about Glasgow and famous

Scots.

I have enjoyed learning

about Charles Rennie

Macintosh because there

is so much information

about him.

I liked learning about

the importance of

friendship and being

friends with people.

I really enjoyed our class assembly on

Harvest and I am finding the Scotland topic

interesting.

P5d – I have really been

enjoying the art we have

been doing in P5.

I really liked doing

football with Mrs

Donaghy in PE.

Alastair P5d

Findlay P5a Maya P5a

Primary 6

I found it interesting to

learn about how mountains

are formed in our Scotland

topic.

I enjoyed having ICT lessons about

graphic tools. I think I will definitely

use the ‘shape fill’ and ‘shape outline’

tools again.

In ICT we have done lots things like doing

our PowerPoint presentations on our topic

about the solar system. We got to work in

pairs and make successful PowerPoints. In

the PowerPoint we had to put a hyperlink

to a website and a link to a BBC learning

zone video and do slides about the

planets. We also did tessellation with a

partner and worked with different shapes

to make colourful patterns. We tried to do

this in Microsoft Paint but found it worked

better on Microsoft Word.

Achint P6a

This term I have enjoyed the solar system

topic. I have enjoyed learning all the facts

about the planets and the dwarf planets. I also

enjoyed linking in to ICT doing PowerPoints on

the solar system. We also got to link it with

our writing time when we wrote an imaginary

story about going to Mars and writing an alien

description. In art we made pictures of the

solar system with paint, glitter and chalk. We

also used chalk in the playground to measure

the distance the planets are away from the

sun exactly. It was a fun topic.

Alexandria P6a

It has been a fun term. I got chosen to be on the Eco committee and I am now helping our school

get a green flag. In Social Studies we have been learning about the Solar System finding what the

planets look like and how far away they are from the sun. A place called the Pod has started up for

P6 children if they are really feeling down. In P6 it is really fun because you do active maths as well

as textbook work. I can’t wait for the next term if it is going to be as much fun as this term.

Eilidh P6a

P6a shared some Golden Time recently with P1a to read and share stories together. It was a very

lively time, with the P6 children having the opportunity to enjoy books that they have not read for a

few years, and to read with expression. For the younger children they had the chance to meet the

older boys and girls and enjoyed sharing their favourite books with their new reading buddies. This

is something almost all children said they would wish to repeat.

I enjoyed cutting and curling

pieces of paper to make a

realistic highland cow as part

of our Scotland topic.

Primary 7 Residential Trip to Lockerbie Manor

Primary 7 pupils enjoyed an action-packed residential week at Lockerbie Manor from September 1-5.

The sun shone for the entire week as pupils had the chance to try out a range of exciting activities from abseiling and archery to fencing and zip-wire. Opportunities for team-building, leadership and decision making were emphasised and the excellent instructors ensured that everyone (teachers included) rose to the challenge.

A full programme of events also featured a range of evening activities including a general knowledge quiz, a very scenic evening hike, campfire sing-a-long (including hot chocolate and marshmallows) and a fantastic disco.

Food was in plentiful supply and the heaped plates were a sure sign that the children had all worked up healthy appetites.

The adults who accompanied the trip were all very proud of the children’s behaviour and manners and the instructors from Lockerbie Manor were only too willing to praise the Carolside pupils’ conduct over the course of the week.

Everyone returned to Carolside on the Friday, sorry for the week to be over but glad to be re-united with families and excited to share their news.

PTA

The Parent Teacher Association (PTA) is a group of volunteer parents

and teachers whose aim is to organise fundraising events for both

children and adults, that will benefit Carolside Primary School.

Last year we raised over £14,000 and working together with pupils,

parents and staff, we made funds available for playground improvements

(we are in the process of implementing these), purchased Kindles as a

learning resource, provided wet weather play and craft materials for all

classes, bought tracksuits and cheerleading outfits and we gave our P7

leavers a fantastic send off. Each year group benefited from subsidised

school trips and we continued the school’s subscription to the Education

City website.

This year we are intending to fund even more playground improvements

and again, we plan to provide funds to support two

school trips for every child, Education City and the

P7 Leavers. We’ve also asked the pupils, via the Pupil

Council, for other ideas by which we can enhance

their learning and play resources.

To enrich the Carolside Community, we are organising fundraising

events throughout the forthcoming year.

Recently, our P1 children and their parents were treated to an

evening with Silly Billy which was a great success, both financially

and socially

Throughout the year, we will also be hosting discos for the children

Christmas Fair

Summer Fair

Social fundraising evenings for the parents.

Your children will soon be designing their own Christmas

Cards in class (yes, already!) so when you receive the

forms and designs please remember that every order you

make provides valuable funds to benefit all of our children.

Our Family Photograph Day will be a busy time too.

Look out for our Newsletters and Facebook updates (“Like” the Carolside

PTA page), for more exciting events later in the year!

Some PTA dates for your diary

Discos: P2/3 and P6/7 Friday 3 October

Discos: P1 and P4/5 Friday 24 October

Family Photograph Day Saturday 25 October

Christmas Party Night Saturday 22 November

Christmas Fair Saturday 6 December

Much work goes into organising our events but without your support

these would not be the fantastic successes that they are. We value your

help in any way - whether it’s coming along to the events, volunteering

to help with the events, donating raffle prizes, sponsoring or giving us

innovative ideas or new contacts. It’s easy to contact us for whatever

reason:carolsidepta@gmail.com or Facebook Carolside PTA.

We look forward to seeing you at our next event and thank you for your

continued support.

Judith Currie + Louise Thurman Joint Chair

SPORTS CLUB

Carolside Sports Club provide football training for boys and girls on Sunday afternoons at Williamwood High School. We also have football teams at all ages who participate in local Saturday morning East Renfrewshire and Paisley District leagues. Our club is run exclusively by parent volunteers from Carolside. All volunteer coaches are trained by the club following the SFA Coach Pathway for coaching children, so that our children receive the best possible coaching. We are affiliated with the SYFA, with all coaches PVG Disclosure checked (all provided by the club) to keep our children safe.

We are a registered and recognised Scottish FA Quality Mark Development Level Club.

P1s are training on Sunday afternoons inside Williamwood. All the boys and girls are all learning new skills, meeting new friends, playing games and having loads of fun. P2s have 3 teams playing at Pro Soccer at Rouken Glen Park. All teams are really enjoying their first taste of ‘fun fours’, 4-a-side football. All the boys and girls are loving the experience. P3s are playing ‘fun fours’ at Netherlee playing fields. We also have 3 teams competing really well in this age group. P4s are playing 5-a-sides at Woodfarm. The teams are playing using goalies for the 1

st time and coping well. All

3 teams are doing great in the new format and are getting used to now being able to pick the ball up! P5s are playing 7-a-side at Cowan Park, Barrhead. Currently we have 2 teams at this age group. Both teams are doing great, but we are looking to enter a 3

rd team during November due to demand from the children.

P6s have moved to Muirend and are competing well within their league. P7s are now playing in Paisley and District league and are rising to the challenge. Keep up all the hard work and effort – it’s paying off !!

Some of our football teams participated during the summer in international football tournaments. Well done to all

who took part in; The Glasgow City Cup in Paisley and the annual Barrhead football tournament, with teams from as far away as Bermuda!

If you think your child would be interested, please come along to Sunday training at Williamwood £2/session on a

drop in basis. Remember water bottles and shin guards!

3 -4pm for P1 / P3 4-5pm for P2 / P4 & P5

Sunday training returns on 26th

October – see you then.

Have a look on our carolside sports club facebook page (gives us a ‘like’) and our website for more information http://www.carolsidesportsclub.blogspot.co.uk/ We are also hosting our annual fundraiser – a disco and race night on the Saturday 29

November in

Carmichael Hall, Rouken Glen. Tickets will be available at the front desk on Sunday trainings £5/ticket. Going by past years, it promises to be a great night for all the parents and coaches to get together and raise much needed funds to help keep costs low.

Watch this Space! We are planning to launch a new basketball club early in 2015!

Helpers?? As always the club could not run without the help of volunteer parents. If you feel you could help ‘man’ the front desk to take the Sunday training register to helping with general admin duties behind the scenes please get in touch with us.

Thanks to everyone for their continued support.

CAROLSIDE

Pupil Council The Pupil Council has had a number of meetings with Mrs Frew since the session began and attendance has been excellent. Reps have been enjoying their new roles and are carrying out their duties with enthusiasm. Congratulations to Aedan Duncan and Cara Baker who were elected as Chair and Vice Chair. Reps decided that the first fundraising event of the year should be a onesie/pyjama day on October 8th and all proceeds will be donated to Help for Heroes. Other ideas have been discussed and more

charities will be supported throughout the year – last year Carolside raised over £12,000 for a variety of good causes. Reps realise that they have an important part to play in contributing to the School Improvement Plan in order to make Carolside the best it can be. They have been consulting with classmates on two very important issues: anti-bullying and promoting reading across the school. Initial ideas on these two issues have been shared at meetings and reps are currently designing anti-bullying bookmarks.

Head Lice

From time to time the school is notified of an outbreak of head lice. May we take this opportunity to remind

parents of the need to be vigilant in checking their children’s hair for head lice on a weekly basis. Local

pharmacists will be able to advise if any treatment is required.

WANTED

SCHOOL CROSSING PATROL OFFICERS

There is a current shortage of lollipop men and women. If you are interested in a local School Crossing Patrol position, please visit

the Jobs Fair at Thornliebank Primary on October 10, 10.00am – 2.00pm

Diary Dates

Tell us what you think……..

Please complete this slip if you wish to comment on the newsletter or have any helpful suggestions

about future issues.

Thank you

Comments / suggestions

Parent/Carer’s Name___________________________

Child’s name______________________Class________

October

Friday 10 In-Service Day

Monday 13 – Friday 17 October holiday

Monday 20 Return to school after October holiday

Wednesday 22 Flu Immunisations

Tuesday 28 Parent Council Meeting 7.00pm

Friday 31 Jotters and targets home

November

Wednesday 18 Cluster ASN forum for parents 2.15pm

Monday 24 – 28 Book Week Scotland

Tuesday 25 Parent Council Meeting 7.00pm

Friday 28 Jotters home

December

Wednesday 10 P1a,1c,2a,2c Nativity Carolside Primary

P1b,1d,2b,2d Nativity Carolside Primary

9.30am

11.00am

Thursday 11 Carols and Shortbread

Carols and Shortbread

P3 9.30am

P4 11am

Thursday 11 P5 Party 1.35 - 3.15pm

Friday 12 P4 Party 1.35 - 3.15pm

Friday 12 P1a,1c,2a,2c Nativity Carolside Primary

P1b,1d,2b,2d Nativity Carolside Primary

9.30am

11.00am

Monday 15 P3 Party 1.35 - 3.15pm

Tuesday 16 P2 Party 1.35 - 3.15pm

Wednesday 17 - date TBC Nursery Nativity - The Cabin 10am and 2pm

Thursday 18 P1 Party 1.35 - 3.15pm

Friday 19 Christmas Service

Close for holidays

9.45am

Close 2.30pm