Latest Parent Information

Dear Parents/Carers,

We are expecting further updates from the Highland Council today so this information may change but at the moment, I would just like to remind you of our school arrangements for the coming week;

·         Tomorrow morning, you will receive an email from  class teachers with a grid of suggested weekly learning activities.  Can I just remind you that we are not expecting you to be teaching your children.  The activities provided should consolidate and support prior learning.  When we return to school, pupils will all be as-assessed and learning will start from where we left off.  Teachers will assume that pupils have been successful in their weekly tasks unless they have heard otherwise.  Please get in touch with any questions or queries.

·         All pupils are expected to register with their class teacher each school day, starting from tomorrow.  Parents are asked to do this by email directly to the class teacher simply to say Name……….is present today.  If this could please be done by 10am each day. This process is likely to change but we thank you for your cooperation in this while we await further guidance.

·         As from today the school is closed for pupils, this includes the school building and the playground.

·        School meals for P1-3 and entitled pupils are being distributed from Portree High School from 11am until 2pm each day this week. We realise this is not ideal and the council are looking at more effective means of delivery after the Easter holidays.  We will keep you informed of updates.

·      Attached again is a list of the home learning arrangements and email addresses for class teachers.  Where classes are taught by more than one member of staff this is indicated on the information above.

·      School staff  should only be contacted by email during school hours.  Please do not use social media platforms or personal email addresses for contacting school staff.

Thank you again for your continued understanding.  Please let us know of any support we can help with.

Arrangements for home learning

Portree Primary School home learning scheduleS

School Closure Letter

Dear P6/P7  Parents and Carers,

Each week P6 and P7 will be assigned a piece of writing via google classroom. Please see the document following. 2020 Parents’ Guide to Google Classroom

The First Minster has just made an announcement closing schools after Friday this week.

Donna Manson, Chief Executive of The Highland Council said:

“Highland Council will need time to assess the impact of this announcement on our workforce, and our communities as well as on the provision of support for our young people.

“Further information will be forthcoming tomorrow, and please be assured that our central education team have been working extensively on providing learning materials for use at home.

“More detail will be given to parents and carers and pupils from the Council later this week.

“As was intimated by the First Minister, details about free school meals will again be forthcoming in the days ahead.

“Thank you for your understanding on this matter.

“We are expecting further information from the Scottish Government on what will be happening for older pupils regarding exams and the Council will provide further updates as they come.

Please be advised there will be a menu change on Friday:

– pasta or tuna sandwich instead of roast.

Dear Parents and Carers,

Find attached a letter from Donna Manson, Chief Executive of Highland Council.

20 03 16 Schools – Coronavirus

Thank you for your co-operation and patience.

Dear Parents/Carers,

Further to the guidance from Highland Council last night, we just wish to confirm the current precautionary arrangements in place at PPS; 

1. All school trips for this term and next will be cancelled.  Further information will be sent to P7 parents regarding the cancellation of the Raasay trip.
2. Parents evenings/open afternoons cancelled until further notice.
3. Swimming lessons are cancelled until further notice.
4. Any Easter celebrations cancelled.
5. Inward visits (e.g. guest speakers or curriculum inserts) will be cancelled until further notice.
6. School lets outwith the normal school day will be cancelled until further notice.
7. Non-urgent meetings are postponed.
8. Extra-curricular activities are cancelled

The government have issued further information for vulnerable groups to avoid social situations.

Attendance remains at the discretion of parents, however, we ask you to please inform the school about absences.  For pupils not attending school, staff are not currently in a position to provide additional work and parents are asked to refer to the additional homework task grid, attached, for suggested learning activities.  Read as much as possible.

Additional Homework Tasks 2020

We will keep you up to date with the quickly changing situation and thank you again for your support at this time.

 Please get in touch with the school if you have any further questions.

Skye and Lochalsh Young Carers have advised us that the group will cease all group work and face to face contact with individual young carers with effect from today.

Support workers will continue to provide support over the telephone to all the young carers.

Thank you,

Dear Parents and Carers,

While we await further official updates from the Highland Council, we are keen to reassure you of additional steps that are being taken at school to ensure the health and safety of our school community.

• All pupils are thoroughly handwashing first thing in the morning when they come into school and also before and after each break/mealtime
• Lunchtimes have been altered to reduce the numbers of pupils in the canteen at any one time. Primary 1-4 are now eating at 12.15 and P4-7 at 12.45
• Canteen staff are now serving salad etc from the servery rather than pupils helping themselves to these items
• We will no longer be sending home shared resources; reading books, word boxes etc and are asking that these are all returned to school by Friday
• All visitors to the school have been cancelled until further notice
• No assemblies or whole school gatherings will take place until further notice
• School swimming lessons have all been cancelled until further notice

We understand how unsettling this is for all and will keep you up to date with any further information.

As always, please get in touch if you have any further questions or concerns.

News and guidance around the COVID-19 outbreak continues to change rapidly and we will pass on updates as they become available.  In the meantime, we have taken the decision to cancel extra-curricular activities and also to postpone the Daffodil Tea, Community Café and Open Morning planned for this week.

At this time school is open as usual and attendance remains the discretion of parents, however, we do still ask you to keep us informed about pupil absences.

We understand that this is an unsettling time and will do our best to keep you up to date as further information becomes available.

Guidance from HPS and the NHS

The Health Protection Scotland (HPS) guidance we circulated yesterday https://www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/web-resources-container/covid-19-guidance-to-educational-settings/ is a key source of advice for all schools and educational settings including early learning and childcare settings.

It is essential that the HPS guidance is disseminated to headteachers and the

managers of all childcare settings, and that you ensure that the key messages from the guidance are actively communicated to parents, carers, children and young people. 

Pupils and parents will look to their school or childcare provider for guidance on how they will respond and manage the risk of COVID-19 infections so it is important that they are directed to the HPS advice.