P1 parents and carers – a special update. Friday 28th August 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

It’s hard to believe that we’re already at the end of our third week of the school year! We want to let you know how our new Primary One pupils are settling in. We are very pleased with the progress they are making as they are getting to know their peers and the adults working with them, whilst they also adjust to completely new routines and safety procedures.

We recognise that adjusting to Primary One has been a significant change for your children, especially as normal transition activities could not take place during lockdown. Imagine if you can, what it feels like for every single thing you do to be completely new! To ease the children into Primary One we have provided a P1 experience that is as close as possible to their Nursery experience, within the current constraints. We are seeing the positive benefits of this, as children are gradually adjusting and settling in.

During a ‘normal’ transition to Primary One, we would have invited you to attend a parent meeting and a Meet the Teacher event to share information with you, which we will aim to do slightly differently under the circumstances. Next week Mrs White and Miss Robertson will be making phone calls to each family to provide a more personalised update on how each child is settling in.

In the meantime, it would be very helpful if children could practice the following at home to support their independence:

  • Packing their own bags and school bags
  • Opening and closing containers and bags within their lunch boxes (if they bring a packed lunch)
  • Dressing themselves, especially practice with shoelaces or Velcro
  • Toileting independently

We appreciate your help in encouraging your little one’s independence.

To share ways in which you can support your child’s learning, we are in the process of preparing a video, which will provide information about Emerging Literacy, Emerging Maths and Play-based Learning. This video will further explain our approach in P1 and provide some examples of fun, practical ways to help your child develop. We will share the video on September 11th. Please bear with us as none of us ever anticipated a career in film!

As always feel free to phone the school to speak to Mrs Pearce with any questions or concerns.

Kind regards,

The P1 Team