Welcome to Darvel Primary School Campbell Street East

Welcome to Darvel Primary School Campbell Street East, Darvel KA 17 0 BP - 01560 320257 We know how exciting, yet worrying a time this will be for you and your child, due to the new ‘normal’ we are all experiencing and we want to make the transition from the ECC to Primary School as special and as safe as we can. This may mean a few small changes along the way and we will do our best to keep this communicated to you, through the ECC Glow page, FB page and emails. Change is hard but we will all get there together and we hope the following information will help by showing you around our school! Miss Watt DHT & Miss Cassels PT

Welcome to Darvel Primary School § We are all really looking forward to your child starting school with us in August and we will email details of all the information that you will need e. g. your child’s class/class teacher, start dates and times as soon as we can. This will also be uploaded on the ECC Glow page. § We know that you have lots of worries and questions, which the ECC are currently collating for us to answer for you. We will answer these through Glow/email and will send you a detailed overview of all the information you will need, before the end of this session. § Over the next few weeks we have some P 1’s and P 6 Buddies who will speak to you all, stories from staff, a ‘Virtual Sports Day’ for you to take part in and some extra activities to keep you all going and excited about school!

What do I need? Here is our school uniform. Our school colours are blue and silver. To support social distancing we are looking at ways to help make things a little easier for the children and we know it may be challenging to buy a full uniform just now. It will help teachers if children wear clothing that are less formal and easier to change in and out of independently e. g. t-shirt, jumper, jogging bottoms/leggings – with no school ties or buttoned shirts, for now. It would also help over the holidays to try and learn how to zip up jackets and to be able to change in and out of shoes - laces can be really tricky without help from the teacher! Please make sure your child’s name is on all items of clothing!

What do I need? § We are going to provide the children with resources to use in school, to save the transition of carrying items between home and school e. g. pencils & pens. § We will update you as soon as we can about school bags, gym bags, pencil cases and lunches. § Please do not worry about this! We are all here to help and we want to make sure we take things slowly to make sure we get everything right! The priority is your child feeling safe, settled and secure; building key relationships with staff and their friends, so please do not overthink the ‘material things’ and rushing to have these in place for August. The most important thing is the connection with staff and being with their friends again – the rest will fall into place. § Hopefully you will recognise a few familiar faces now……………

Meet the Senior Management Team Miss L Watt Depute Head Teacher ealynsey. watt@glow. sch. uk Mrs K Doncaster Head Teacher eakirsty. doncaster@glow. sch. uk Mrs P Mc. Callister Principal Teacher eapaulamccalister@glow. sch. uk Mr C Orr Depute Head Teacher eacomeron. orr@glow. sch. uk Miss K Cassels Principle Teacher eakylie. cassels@glow. sch. uk

P 1 Teaching Staff Miss White – Primary 1 a Teacher Hi boys and girls. I cant wait to meet you all! I hope that you are all staying safe and having fun at home just now. I am at home too and spending lots of time going on long walks with my dalmatians, Niko and Roo. At school we will read lots of stories and my favourite book is The Tiger Who Came to Tea. I am looking forward to hearing about all of your favourite stories in August. Take care and I will see you soon! Miss White eabrogan. white@glow. sch. uk

P 1 Teaching Staff Mrs Stewart – Primary 1 b Teacher Hi boys and girls. I am Mrs Stewart and I'm going to be your new teacher when you come into Primary 1. I live at home with my husband three children Kirsty, Emma and Adam. I like my garden and going long walks. I am very excited about meeting you all and looking forward to doing lots of exciting things together when you come to school in August. Mrs Stewart eakaren. stewart@glow. sch. uk

Classroom Assistants Our Classroom Assistants are so excited to meet you all! They will be with you to help you play, make pictures, share stories and to look after you all; in school and in the playground.

Parent Council David Hill Parent Council Chairperson Hello everyone and welcome to all the new and existing parents/carers. I am David Hill, the current Chairperson of the Parent Council. The Parent Council helps to support the school in many ways. These include providing valuable feedback to the school regarding the education of our young people, taking the Council to task on areas regarding the school building and surrounding area, helping out at parents’ evenings, school trips and of course running school discos and the Christmas Fayre. We are a group of parents from all different backgrounds who meet monthly with the Head Teacher and senior leadership staff to ensure parents are informed about what is currently happening in the school. We also organise fundraising events to help subsidise the cost of school trips and other items required by the school. We are here to support any parent who may be worried or unsure of anything school related. We have an email address darvel@gmail. com where you can email with any concerns or questions you may have. We look forward to seeing you in the new session. Many thanks The Darvel Parent Council

Parent Council Claire Robertson Parent Council Vice Chairperson Gillian Harman Secretary

Lets go on a tour of the school…. This is the main entrance into the school building and the top playground, where we will play at break and at lunch time.

The school office When we come into the school each morning, we all say ‘hi’ to Miss Mc. Fadden in the school office. Here is Miss Mc. Fadden!

Small gym hall We then go through the double doors and into the small gym hall. Can you see the great big hall where we can play?

Small gym hall Here is the small gym hall. We play lots of games in here, dance and do lots of sporting activities. Miss White loves playing games where she gets to run about. Mrs Stewart really likes the ‘Sticky Kids’ tapes and following the instructions to dance!

Look! We have arrived in P 1! This is where we play games, draw, learn our sounds, read stories, count, and do lots of amazing things with our friends and class teachers!

We do lots of great things in P 1! A key worker from the ECC will be with your child in P 1, to help support the transition, in August.

Preparing for learning § Play as much as you can together over the holidays, sharing games, taking turns, reciting nursery rhymes and going for lots of walks; talking about what you see. § Help out lots in the house too by making beds, taking your plates to the kitchen, practicing using a knife & fork and helping with the washing. § Read lots of stories together, talking about the pictures, characters and favourite parts. § Support your child on their journey to learn to write through play – playdough, colouring, drawing, cutting, playing outside, digging in the dirt, sensory play, dressing up, puzzles and throwing balls. These will all help their hand development and when they are physically ready to write – they will! § Talk! – Talk about everything. Share as many ‘blethers’ as you can but practice your listening skills too! § Count everything – steps, toys, jumps, biscuits, stairs and how many times parents/carers ask for a tidy bedroom! § Look out for letters, words, numbers, colours and shapes……. . everywhere!

Where next? This is the corridor that takes us to the cloakroom to hang up our jackets. These are the pegs where we hang our jackets although we may need to keep them with us, on our chairs, for a wee while when we start school.

Here are the toilets Don’t they look great and we know this is where you will take your time to wash your hands really carefully!

We are now in the big gym hall We have now walked to the bottom of the corridor, past the cloakroom where our pegs are and past the toilets. In the big gym hall is where we go for our lunch and meet all the lovely dinner ladies. When we start school, we may need to have our lunch in our classroom but we will be able to eat in here really soon!

What a great tour of the school! Danny the school bear has worked with us to make your presentation of the school and he has been a fantastic help. Thanks Danny! Look out for Danny over the holidays on Glow as he wants to keep in touch with you all! Have a great holiday and we are so proud of you all for keeping safe and looking after your friends and family! Miss Watt DHT & Miss Cassels PT