Another year in the educational development of our children at Hyndland Primary School has passed in almost the blink of an eye, much educational progress has been made, lots of fun has been had, but now it’s time for 7 weeks of well-earned R&R; well, for the staff and children at least!

The children have been engaging in lots of curricular and extra curricular activities, with lots of fun and positive learning during the Sports Day, the P7 Dounans residential trip, the whole school Skip-a-thon (raising £1,700+), summer trips, visitors from Malawi, and, of course, the ongoing success of Hyndland Primary children in various competitions (well done to the P7 football team becoming champions in the Charing Cross Rotary Competition; the selection of three boys to represent Glasgow Football Association; P6 pupils coming in third place in the Glasgow Schools’ Badminton Tournament; P4 pupils reaching the semi-finals of the Glasgow Schools’ Tennis Cup; the P7 Netball team reading the Active Schools Netball Final, etc.), involvement with the Music Club and Ensemble, etc.

The 4Rs school refurbishment was finally completed and the school is in the best physical shape it’s been in for years; let’s hope the wind and rain are kept out of the building for the foreseeable future!

The Glasgow schools’ janny industrial action has gone on for close to 18 months with still no resolution. We were hopeful that the new administration at GCC would address the issues and help ensure the industrial action was called off, as they had indicated they would, but unfortunately that has not happened and further strike action is scheduled for August. The Parent Council, and I am sure more parents at the school, continue to support Janny John and his colleagues in their legitimate and fair claims.

The Afty last week celebrated its 25 year anniversary last Saturday with a fun-filled, enjoyable day with food, music, drinks, face painting, games and a bouncy castle. Thanks for a great day, and congratulations on your silver anniversary landmark. Congratulations, too, for achieving the Scottish Out of School Care Network’s (SOSCN) quality assurance award – Achieving Quality Scotland Gold Award. This is truly a reflection of your dedication, commitment and professionalism, and the simple fact that you genuinely enjoy making the children’s time at the Afty a safe and fun place to be. May you have at least 25 more successful years.

This past year the Parent Council has not been able to be as active in fundraising as it has been in other years, due to people’s availability and other commitments, but we hope to have a more active year in fundraising and social activities, and aim to publicise a programme of activities for the year early next term. Our focus for funding – probably over the next few years – is going to be on active learning and improving the outdoor learning spaces, which will require significant resources. However, we will need more volunteers for such activities and also for the Parent Council meetings and other events, etc., so please come along and get involved. If you have any ideas about how we might best raise funds for such activity/resources, please get in touch with the Parent Council at john.lewis-hpc@hotmail.co.uk or enquiries@hyndlandprimaryparentcouncil.org.

Our P7s – who by all accounts gave a great P7 show and had a ball at the leavers’ disco – will depart the school for the last time on Tuesday 27 June, heading to pastures new. We wish them well and every success in the rest of their schooling and their endeavours in life outside and beyond it.

We should also extend the goodbyes to their parents and carers, many of whose direct association with the school will end. Many friendships have been started, developed and blossomed over this period, and we’re sure that they will continue – along with the development of others – as they, too, leave the school along with their children.

We would like to thank Ms McLaughlin and Mrs Wynn for their positive stewarding of the Acting posts of Depute Head Teacher and Principal Teacher, respectively, over this last year, and wish them well as they return to their substantive posts.

We would also like to welcome the new Depute Head, Mr Stephen Frame, who joins the school from Dumfries and Galloway (though a Glasgow boy), and look forward to working with him with the same level of professionalism, hard work and commitment as Ms Brown, Mr Byrne, Ms Chambers (and Ms McLaughlin and Mrs Wynn) have given to the school. Welcome Mr Frame, and we look forward to seeing you in the next school year and at Parent Council meetings, etc.

We also look forward to the arrival of the new P1s (and their parents and carers), who the current crop will make way for by pushing the existing P2s up into P3 and so on and so forth. Some of you will not be quite so new, however… We hope and are sure that your child or children will have a great experience at the school over the next seven years, meeting new people and making new friends, and we’ve no doubt that you will too!

On behalf of all the parents and members on the Parent Council, we hope that you have a great summer break, and we look forward to seeing you in August. Except of course for those parents whose youngest child is about to leave Hyndland Primary School – in which case, so long and best wishes!

Happy Holidays!

John Lewis
Chair, Hyndland Primary School Parent Council