Dear parent / carer,
Happy New Year everyone! I hope you enjoyed the festive period. We certainly did here at
Windyknowe.
The lead up to Christmas was an incredibly busy time for all of us. The nursery started the
festivities off with their Christmas sing-a-long. It was lovely to have the opportunity to have
grandparents as well as parents come along to share the experience. The P1 Nativity was a
heart warming and impressive performance which really put us in the Christmas spirit. We
received many positive comments from those who came to witness this fantastic production.
The children certainly did us proud! The whole school pantomime certainly went down a treat
with the pupils. The Christmas parties all went well and the PSA Christmas Fayre was very
successful. Thank you to everyone who was involved in making these events a great success.
We have a great team here at Windyknowe; staff, pupils, parents, carers ,volunteers and the
wider community all working together to make everything we do at Windyknowe the best it can
be for our children.
We, at Windyknowe, will continue to work in partnership with you to provide high quality
learning experiences for our children. We look forward to working with you all in 2017 and all of
the successes it will bring.
Thank you everyone for your continued support.
Mrs Rita Angus
Windyknowe Primary
School
January 2017
“If you can dream it, you can achieve it.” – Zig Ziglar
Class Assemblies
Details of all classes which are leading assemblies this term are to be found at the end of this newsletter. Children and
teachers put a huge amount of hard work and effort into planning and preparing for their class assemblies and are
always delighted when parents / grandparents / families are able to support and enjoy them. Class assemblies
begin at 9.00am and afterwards there is an opportunity for you to join the children and their teachers for a cup
of tea or coffee.
“Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful”
Joshua J. Marine
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs
Our Vision
At Windyknowe Primary we strive to create a respectful and trusting community in which all contributions are valued.
We work in partnership to provide a safe, nurturing and supportive environment which encourages each individual to
develop to their full potential to become a healthy, valuable member of society.
Communication
E-mail: [email protected]
Website/Blog:
https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/wl/windyknowe/
Facebook.com
Tel No: 01506 652083
Electronic Newsletter
If you would prefer to receive your copy of the newsletter electronically, please email
[email protected] with your name, child's name and class. More
information can be found on the school website.
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Windyknowe Primary School
Weather
We have had some very wet and cold weather recently which is expected to
continue. Please ensure that your child is wrapped up warm and dressed
suitably for the weather. This includes appropriate footwear. Thank you.
GLOW learning for home and severe weather
With shorter days and cold winds, our thoughts remain with winter weather. In the event
of a school closure, we aim to be prepared for our pupils to continue with their learning
at home through Glow (an online community for Scottish schools). Glow offers a trusted
and safe environment for our staff and pupils to communicate and share learning
materials.
Over the next few weeks we will issue whole school home learning tasks, to help us
establish how many of our children can access Glow from home. The aim of this will be to
identify areas for improvement, so that in the unlikely event of a school closure, our
pupils can log in to Glow successfully. Full instructions will be provided and we thank you
in advance for supporting your child with this.
Snow days Information
In the event of severe weather conditions information can be obtained from:
The council website www.westlothian.gov.uk, which publishes up to date information on
weather, roads and schools
West Lothian Facebook page
Real Radio, Forth One and Galaxy
School email - [email protected]
School blog - https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/wl/windyknowe/ Facebook.com
Groupcall messages, where the office will send a message to mobile phones.
“Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibil-
ity on him, and to let him know that you trust him.”
Booker T. Washington
Page 3
Late/Early Arrivals
We have noticed an increase in the number of
latecomers recently. Please be reminded that school
starts at 8:45am and playground supervisors are in place
from 8:25am. We ask that children do not arrive at
school before 8:25am unless they are attending the
breakfast club which starts at 8:15am. P7 classroom
monitors should arrive for their duties in school
no earlier than 8:15am. Children arriving before
these times are at risk as there will not be
anyone available to supervise them.
Scots Poetry Recitations
Over the next two weeks children will be asked to learn a Scots poem for
class competitions. The best two recitations from each class will go
forward to the grand final which will be on Wednesday 25 January.
Mrs Malcolm and Mrs Simpson will join Mrs Angus on the judging panel
and will select the best 3 within 3 categories: Nursery – P1, P2-P4 and P5-
P7. Please encourage your child to participate.
“Tell me and I’ll forget; show me
and I may remember; involve me
and I’ll understand.”
Chinese Proverb
Swimming Assessments
P5 Swimming Assessments will take place on the morning of
Wednesday 1st February. A bus will be provided to take the children to
Bathgate Sports Centre.
Pupil Council
We have a very active pupil council here at Windyknowe. The pupil council reps have been doing a fabulous
job of taking on board the ideas and suggestions from their peers and bringing these to meetings. They have
been working with Mr Barrowman to participate in the schools recent assessment for Level 2 Rights
Respecting Schools, sharing all the good work that goes on within our school. The reps have also been
working on updating the welcome booklet which is given to new pupils starting at Windyknowe. The children had been asked
to consider that information they would like if starting a new school and the booklet is being updated to include their
suggestions. As well as all the other tasks that the children have been involved in they have also been collating the suggestions
that their classes had for Golden Time games. This list has now been passed to the PSA who kindly offered to buy us new
games/toys.
St Andrew’s Day
As always, we marked St Andrew’s Day in various ways in the
school. Our main event was an inter-house Scottish Quiz.
Once again we were very impressed by the knowledge of our
pupils and on this occasion, the Birniehill team were the
champions. Congratulations to Jay P4, Kael P5, Charlotte P6
and Ethan H P7!
Staffing
We would like to welcome Mrs Webber and Mrs Gallagher to our staff team. Mrs Webber will be teaching Primary 7l alongside Mrs Welsh, whilst Mrs Gallagher will be teaching Primary 4b.
Attendance
If your child is going to be absent from
school the absence should be reported to
the school office before 9:30am. Failure to
do this will result in the absence being
registered as unauthorised. We must follow
the West Lothian Council policy. If we have
not been given a reason for your child’s
absence then a group call will be sent. If we
receive no response then the next step is to
contact the safe arrivals team.
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Dates for your diary
Wednesday 11 January—P3k, P3m and P3/2 National Youth Choir Workshops
Wednesday 18 January—P5a No Voice Beats Workshop
Friday 20 January—Lendrick Muir Coffee Morning (Class times to follow)
Monday 23 January—IEP week
Tuesday 24 January—P4 Handball at Armadale Community Centre
Wednesday 25 January—Scots Poetry Recitation Finals in school
Wednesday 25 January—Danceworld performances
Friday 27 January—P6b leading our assembly
Monday 30 January—SSPCA visiting the school
Wednesday 1 February—P5 swimming assessments
Thursday 2nd February—P7c and P7l Generation Science
Friday 3 February— P6c leading our assembly
Monday 6 February—P5a and P5h/s Generation Science
Tuesday 7 February—PSA Evening Meeting
Wednesday 8 February—P3k, P3m and P3/2 Generation Science
Wednesday 8 February —P6 Skiing
Thursday 9th February—P2h and P2m Generation Science
Thursday 9 February—P6 Skiing
Friday 10 February—Holiday for all
Monday 13 February—Holiday for all
Tuesday 14 February—Holiday for all
Wednesday 15 February—PSA Afternoon Meeting
Wednesday 22 February—P4b and P4h Generation Science
Friday 24 February—Procession Float Coffee Morning
Monday 27 February—P6b and P6c Generation Science
Tuesday 28 February—P1c, P1f and P1p Generation Science
Thursday 2 March—P2—P4 show
Friday 3 March - Primary 5a Assembly
Monday 6 March—P7 to Lendrickmuir
Tuesday 7 March—P3k, P3m and P3/2 Multi Sports at Armadale Community Centre
Tuesday 7 March—Parent Council
Friday 10 March—P5h/s assembly
Friday 17 March—Wider Achievement Assembly
Thursday 23 March—Parent Consultations
Friday 24 March—Special Golden Time
Wednesday 29 March—Voice Beats Performance at Howden Park Centre
Friday 31 March—Easter Assembly with Reverend Shaw
Friday 31 March—Easter holidays begin
Tuesday 18 April—All return
Advice from NHS
A number of children will be affected by the common cold. This will often involve a sore throat, slightly raised tempera-
ture, runny nose and possibly a cough. This can result in a short time off school. Most of the time, you can care for your
child by offering plenty of fluids, rest, and extra comfort
Occasionally it is a little more serious and your child may have the ‘Flu’. It's important to get medical attention immediately
if your child seems to be getting worse, is having any trouble breathing, has a high fever, has a bad headache, has a sore
throat, or seems confused. While even healthy kids can have complications of the flu, kids with certain medical conditions
e.g. Asthma, Diabetes and Cardiac Conditions are at more of a risk. However, these children should be offered a flu vaccine
at their local health centre. If you think your child might have the flu, contact your doctor.
Please remember to wrap up warm, get plenty of fresh air and regular exercise. It is important to continue to eat a healthy
diet including plenty of fruit and vegetables, which will provide you with the essential vitamins required to prevent or fight
infections.
Parents wishing to discuss concerns relating to the health and wellbeing of their child can contact the School Health Team
by telephoning:
The Department of Community Child Health
St John’s Hospital
Howden Road West
Livingston EH54 6PP
01506 524403.
“A child’s life is like a piece of paper on which every person
leaves a mark. “
Chinese Proverb
Windyknowe Primary School Christmas Fayre 2016
I am delighted to share that the total raised from the Christmas Fayre
last year was £2393.64! Many thanks to all of our parents, staff and
children for all of their hard work preparing for the event
and helping make it such a huge success.
Learn It! Log It! Blog It!
Every two or three weeks each class in school is taking time to reflect on their learning by posting an update on our
school blog. It really encourages the children when they see comments from parents in response to their post. It is easy
to write a response.
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you
do not stop.” – Confucius
Windyknowe Primary School
“I would like to read
more about history.”
Reece P3k
“I want to make sure that everyone
knows the rules of the school.”
Charlie P6b
Some of our
aspirations for 2017
“ would like to read more
regularly and with more
confidence.”
Erinn 3k
“I would like to try to
use VCOP in my writing
more.”
Sehar P7c
“I want to get better at
Roblox.”
Louie P4h
“I would like to get
better at playing
football.”
Bailey P1c “ I would like to bake
more often”
Ali P3k
“I would like everyone to be
happy in our school”
Mya P6b
“I would like to get
better at my Maths.”
Struan P3m
Windknowe
Primary
School
Head Teacher
Mrs Rita Angus
Windyknowe Crescent
Bathgate
EH48 4BT
Phone: 01506 652083
E mail [email protected]
If you have any comments or suggestions to make about any-
thing you have read in this newsletter or about Windyknowe Pri-
mary in general, I am always keen to hear them. Please do not
hesitate to contact me .
Complaints Procedure
Schools in West Lothian have been advised of changes which have recently
been made to the West Lothian Complaints Procedure. To make a complaint to
Customer Care in West Lothian in writing it should be addressed to:
Customer Care Education Services West Lothian Council Civic Centre Howden Road South Livingston EH54 6FF 0800 328 5143