Information for New Parents

Basic Information

St Columba’s is a denominational primary school that is situated within Oban Primary Campus.  We currently have seven classes and a school roll of 215. This session, the classes are structured as follows:

P1 – Mrs MacIntyre

P2/1 – Miss Allan

P2 – Miss MacGregoe

P3 – Miss Smith

P4 – Miss MacLean/Mrs MacLellan

P5 – Miss Smith

P6A – Miss K Chisholm

P6B – Mrs Feist/Mr Kelly

P7 – Miss Haigh/L Wotherspoon

Head Teacher – Miss M MacLellan

Depute Head Teacher – Mrs A Campbell

Principal Teacher – Mrs S MacLellan and Miss L Allan

Specialist Teachers

PE – Miss H McQuillan (One day per week)

Support for Learning Teacher – Mrs J MacLennan (Two and a half days per week)

Class structures change from year to year, depending on the number of children at each stage.

School contact details – 01631 568091 or email enquiries-stcolumbas@argyll-bute.gov.uk

Our School Vision

In St. Columba’s Primary School, we have a shared vision to develop as a community of faith while providing the highest possible standard of education.  We will ensure that our young people are equipped with the skills, confidence and desire to achieve what is right for them within an inclusive and nurturing Catholic ethos.

Statement of School Aims

In St. Columba’s Primary we aim to:

• Be open to new thinking and ideas
• Have ambitions in life
• Have respect for others
• Be resilient
• Have secure values and beliefs
• Be able to use literacy, communication and numeracy skills effectively
• Be able to work independently and as part of a team

Our school values are central to our school and are referred to frequently in every day school life.

Our School Values are:

• Kindness
• Respect
• Love
• Fairness

School Ethos

St Columba’s prides itself on our school ethos.  The school has a genuine ethos of mutual respect and the staff and pupils deeply care for each other.  This has created a ‘family’ atmosphere within our school.

This was commented on during our most recent from His Majesty’s Inspectors for Education in May 2022.  They stated that St Columba’s pupils, “Benefitted from being part of a very caring ethos built on strong Catholic values”.  The school staff know each individual pupil and their families which enables us to ensure that pupils continue to feel safe and well cared for.

Quality of Education

Saint Columba’s were recently visited by His Majesty’s Inspectors for Education as part of a series of visits made to schools across Scotland to support educational recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic.

The highlights of their findings during their visit to Saint Columba’s are as follows:

Highlights regarding Educational Recovery and Continuity of Learning

• Led strongly by the headteacher, staff had taken effective steps to sustain continuity in children’s learning over the pandemic. Staff responded to the periods of remote learning with skill, creativity and professionalism.
• The headteacher’s calm, measured responses to the many challenges of the pandemic have been key to protecting continuity in children’s learning. Her regular communication with parents was welcomed as clear, frequent and reassuring. These commendable qualities remained clearly evident over recent months, despite continuing serious shortages of staff. Staff summarised the headteacher’s leadership as inspirational. Parents expressed their deep appreciation of the efforts of the whole school team.
• Senior leaders identified the negative impact of the pandemic on children’s attainment, confidence, independence, social behaviours and engagement with learning. Staff remain alert and responsive to gaps in children’s progress in learning and in wellbeing.
• Staff continue to provide learning experiences which meet individual children’s specific needs.
• The headteacher and staff team have continued to achieve improvements in their professional practice. They are actively addressing concerns about children’s attainment which have become more acute as a result of the pandemic.
• Senior leaders and staff make good use of assessment information to identify gaps in children’s attainment.
• The two principal teachers make important, skilful contributions to school improvement, in some cases influencing practice across the local authority.
• Support assistants play important roles working with the most vulnerable children
• Staff are working hard to reinstate important broader experiences for children. These include a recent P7 trip to Glasgow, movie nights, sports days and a performance of Peter Pan.
• The school’s improvement plan sets out priorities, well-chosen to address the impact of the pandemic. These positive features place the school well to continue to support recovery in children’s learning.

Highlights regarding Health and Wellbeing of Pupils and Staff

• The entire school community were involved in reviewing and refreshing the vision, values and aims in August 2021. The refreshed values and aims have a clear focus on recovery.
• During periods of remote learning, parents were able to share wellbeing concerns and receive support quickly. They valued the support provided through material resources, additional contact and practical advice. Staff have continued to communicate regularly with families.
• The staff team adapted the health and wellbeing curriculum to ensure a strong focus on recovery. Teachers now plan lessons using national wellbeing indicators. Children feel the curriculum is relevant to their lives and community.
• Staff provide effective support to children at points of transition and on arrival when new to the school. Parents value staff’s efforts highly. Parents believe their children, including those with additional barriers to their learning, have flourished as a result of the support the children have received.
• The headteacher maintained daily contact with staff during periods of absence and isolation. Staff appreciate her commitment to supporting their wellbeing. Staff provide each other with practical and emotional support, strengthening further the strong teamwork at St Columba’s Primary School.

Safeguarding and Child Protection Procedures

• The school’s approaches to safeguarding and child protection are fully effective. Senior leaders and all staff keep well informed about best practice. Children benefit from staff’s strong teamwork and commitment to their welfare. Children are confident that teachers or support staff will deal sensitively and well with any concern they might raise.

P1 Induction

Firstly, let us reassure you that we know that sending your child to school is a daunting prospect and that no question is a silly one.

Following school registration, we then invite all of the pupils who have registered with us to come in to school to spend some time with us on a regular basis from February until June.  This ensures that the children are familiar with the staff, the school building and the school routines before they start in August.  This also enables the class teacher to get to know the pupils before they start with us to ensure that when they start in August, they are working at a level that is appropriate to them.  These afternoons focus on developing the children’s literacy and numeracy skills.

‘Columba Cat’ is central to the transition process in Saint Columba’s.  The children will be introduced to this soft toy during their visits and he will go home with each of the children for a week and they will be encouraged to keep a diary of the things they do with him which will then become a focus for conversations with the school staff when they bring him back.

Teachers from Saint Columba’s will also visit the nursery that your child attends to observe them in the nursery environment and to discuss their progress with the nursery staff.

We will also invite the children and their parents in to have a school lunch in June so that the children know what to expect in the dinner hall when they start in August.

When our new P1 pupils start school with us in August, they are all given a P7 buddy.  This buddy stays with them in the playground and they go to the dinner hall with them for the whole of term 1 to ensure that the new P1 pupils have someone they know and are familiar with at all times.

The school day is starts at 9am, break time is from 10.30am – 10.45am, and lunch time is from 12.15pm until 1.15pm for P1, 2 and 3 and lunch is from 12.30pm – 1.30pm for P4, 5, 6 and 7. School finishes at 3.15pm.

What Should We Expect in St Columba’s?

School Meals

All P1, P2, P3, P4 and P5 pupils are entitled to free school meals.  P6 and P7 pupils who would like a school lunch should contact the school office who will create an account for online payments for them.  The school does not accept cash to pay for school lunches. A menu will be sent home so that parents know what is for lunch each day, the menu works on a four week cycle.  Pupils can take a packed lunch to school if they would prefer.  Pupils should bring a snack with them to school every day to eat at playtime.

If your child is in P6 or P7 and you think you are entitled to free school meals, please complete the application form that can be accessed via the Argyll and Bute website.

Below is an example of a school menu.

School Uniform

The school uniform is green with either black or grey trousers, skirt or shorts.  Green jumpers and cardigans with the school name and badge on them can be purchased online but parents are under no obligation to purchase them and may buy plain green cardigans and jumpers.

School uniform can be purchased here at the Andrew Hyde website which is ahyde.co.uk. You should then select St Columba’s from the drop down menu. School ties, hair bobbles, caps, gym bags etc can all also be ordered from the school office.

If you think you are entitled to receive a clothing grant to help towards the costs of buying your child/children school uniform, the application form can be accessed from the Argyll and Bute Council website.

We ask that all school uniform be clearly labelled.

Personal Learning Plans

All pupils will take home their Personal Learning Plan (PLP) within the first few weeks of starting school.  Their PLP will give parents information about what their child is learning about in school and gives parents a chance to comment on the work their child is doing.  This PLP is shared with parents termly via Google Classrooms and it informs parents to what extent their child has achieved their targets and shows some samples of the learning which has taken place.

Homework

Homework will start during the first week of September and issued to all pupils on a Monday and is expected back in school on a Thursday or Friday.  All pupils will be given ‘Tricky Words’ and ‘Learn Its’ to complete at home.  Learn Its will not be sent home with your P1 child until your child has started working on addition. P1 children will also be given a ‘sounds tub’ that will include all of the sounds that your child has learned.  When you child is confident at blending sounds together such as c-a-t = cat they will be given a Dandelion reading book.  The words in this book can all be sounded out so this helps to build your child’s confidence with reading.  As your child progresses through the school and becomes a more confident reader, they may use ‘Bug Club’ reading books.  These books are in eBook form and your child will be issued with login details to access them.

Any other homework such as spelling etc will be set on Google Classrooms.  Your child will be issued with their Glow login details to ensure that they can access their account. Please note that while we do encourage parents to complete homework with their children, it is not mandatory.  It’s also worth mentioning that homework is set to consolidate learning that has already taken place in the classroom.

Homework in not issued in August, December or June.

Physical Education

All pupils will have P.E. twice a week, for a total of two hours physical exercise.  You will be told which days your child has PE and they may wear comfortable trousers or shorts on those days along with their school jumper or cardigan.  P5-7 benefit from at least one lesson per week from a specialist PE teacher.  No football colours are allowed in school.

Communication

Monthly newsletters are sent home to parents via email to keep everyone up to date with what is happening in the school. Permission slips will be sent home in advance to pupils going on any school trips that must be signed and returned to school as quickly as possible via email.

If parents have any queries or concerns then we encourage you to contact the school immediately.  It is important that we know if something is concerning a parent or a child as it enables us to deal with it before it becomes a bigger issue.

If your child’s teacher has any concerns regarding your child then we will let you know immediately.  This helps us to build good relationships within our school community and to ensure the best outcomes for our children.

School Reward System

The whole school operates the same reward system.  Pupils are awarded ‘spaces’ or ‘mini rockets’ to a rocket they each have in their classroom for good behaviour, good work etc.  The pupil who has the most ‘mini rockets’ at the end of the week will be awarded with the Pupil of the Week certificate for their class.  Pupils will also be awarded for achieving a level for their Tricky Words and Learn Its.  A ‘Star of the Week’ award is also given out in each class to reward pupils for things such as being kind to someone else, making a special effort etc.

Parents’ Evenings

Parents will be invited in to attend a parents’ evening in November and February of each year and an end of year report will be issued in May.  Personal learning plans are also sent home termly. We ensure that we create as many opportunities as possible for parents to come and see their children in school.  All events will be shared with parents well in advance.

School Discos

We have a school disco in early September to welcome the P1 children to the school which is then followed by a Halloween Disco, a Valentine’s Disco and an end of term ‘prom’ in June.

School Photographs

School photos will take place either late in term 1 or early in term 2 to ensure that they are available for families before Christmas.  Some local newspapers also come to take a class photograph of the pupils within the first few weeks of them starting school.

Clan System

We operate a clan system in Saint Columba’s.  We have four clans that have a colour assigned to them as follows;

Derry – blue

Clonard – yellow

Gartan – red

Iona – green

P7 Clan Captains and Vice-Captains are elected early in the new school year and these children organise Clan events to try and win as many points as possible for their Clan.  Families are kept together in the same clan but children new to the school will be allocated a Clan at random. Some pupils choose to wear their Clan colours to PE and to Sports’ Day.

We also have two schools captains that are elected each year.

What Makes St Columba’s Different to Other Schools?

RERC

All pupils in our school take part in a minimum of 2.5 hours of RERC (Religious Education – Roman Catholic) each week.  This time is usually split up so that pupils are learning about RERC for around 30 minutes each day.   Learning about the importance of caring for ourselves and others is at the core of all of our learning, as well as ensuring that we celebrate and recognise each individual child’s God given talents.  As a faith school, success is not just measured in terms of academic success but also in terms of personal development and actions which show a commitment to meeting the needs of others.  This contributes to our caring and inclusive ethos.

iPads

P4-7 pupils in St Columba’s have an iPad each that is fully funded by the school.  There are iPads in the P1-3 classes for all children to access. These iPads are used to further raise attainment by ensuring that our pupils have the very highest standard of digital skills which enable them to learn in a variety of different ways.  Pupils are more engaged in their learning and much more motivated since their introduction and have made a range of films, animations and e-books to an increasingly high standard.

Pupils who do not have their own device at home are allowed, following consultation with the class teacher, to take their iPad home to ensure that they can access their homework tasks.

Reading

The children in St Columba’s follow an individualised program for reading and therefore are not in traditional ‘reading groups’.  Pupils start reading the Dandelion reading books.  These books are fully decodable so they really increase the children’s confidence with reading and ensure they have a ‘can do’ approach to it. As they progress through Dandelion reading books, they may also be allocated Bug Club reading books. These books include words that don’t follow usual phonics rules and cannot be sounded out phonetically.

Each pupil will be allocated a colour of books that they will be working on Bug Club and they will work on this via e-books as well as with ‘real’ books.  The e-books ensure that children understand the books that they are reading as there are comprehension quizzes incorporated into it.  Pupils can work on this at their own pace and as a result, they will not be held back working within a group.  They are also allowed to pick the books, within their colour, that they want to read themselves ensuring that the books the children read are of interest to them. The books on Bug Club have a huge variety of genres to appeal to children’s personal interests. They include books with engaging characters and themes such as Shaun the Sheep, Angelina Ballerina and Lego. In class, there is a focus on teaching children reading skills which ensures that they become fluent, confident readers as soon as possible.  Pupils sit an annual standardised reading test which gives us a reading age for reading comprehension, reading rate and reading accuracy.  Since using this approach, our reading attainment has dramatically increased and most of our pupils are very enthusiastic about reading.

Writing

When the pupils start in P1, they are encouraged to write as often as possible for a range of purposes.  This includes writing about what they did at the weekend to creating shopping lists.  We encourage mark marking as much as possible.  There will also be a focus on listening to stories to understand how they are structured and to ensure that the pupils have developed their own ‘writing voice’ before they are asked to construct stories independently. Lots of activities and lessons will be planned around ensuring that the children have the necessary motor skills to do formal hand writing within the first six months of them being in school.  Formal handwriting usually starts after Christmas.

As well as classroom based phonics and spelling work, pupils will also all be given ‘Tricky Words.’ These are words that do not follow usual spelling patterns.  All children start working on Bronze words, when they have been achieved they move onto Silver, all the way up to Genius words.  This ensures that pupils have a good understanding of words that have irregular spellings.  Pupils are expected to practise these words at home on a daily basis.

Mathematics and Numeracy

We follow comprehensive and structured ‘progression pathways’ for all areas of numeracy and mathematics to ensure that all pupils are challenged and are working at an appropriate pace.  Pupils are also given ‘Learn Its’.  Initially, the ‘Learn Its’ consist of doubles and number stories to 10.  They progress as each child achieves a level to the final level which consists of all the multiplication tables.  Children undertake weekly, timed tests to ensure that they can recall these facts quickly and with ease which, in turn, ensures the highest possible attainment in numeracy.  Pupils also sit annual standardised tests which give teachers an insight to areas in which each child is attaining well and areas that need more consolidation.

We very much believe that children must learn numeracy and mathematics in real life contexts to ensure that their learning is meaningful and relevant and we strive to do this as often as possible.

Outdoor Education

St Columba’s believes that we must take our local area into account when building our curriculum.  All classes are given opportunities per year to develop their team working skills, leadership skills and also learn about the local environment.

Our P6 children also take part in an annual residential trip with a focus on outdoor learning.  In P7, our pupils take part in a city trip where they visit a city for three days, two nights and learn all about the place they are visiting.  They use their budgeting skills to organise their lunch every day and they are shown how to use the buses and underground systems.  This trip focusses on showing pupils what a city has to offer in the hope that if children decide to go onto further education, the city will be a place that may appeal to them.

This school session, we are also working closely with Hebridean Pursuits to maximise the opportunities available to our pupils to enhance their experiences of outdoor education.

Swimming

All of our pupils from P3-P7 take part in an eight week block of swimming every session.  We believe that, because of our local area, that it is vital that all of our pupils are able to swim. Two of our staff are qualified swimming instructors and this enables them to plan, co-ordinate and deliver the swimming programme. Competent swimmers in P6 and P7 take part in the Rookie Lifeguard Award to further enhance their skills.

School IDL

We take a whole school approach to IDL (Interdisciplinary Learning) topics.  A wide range of topics are chosen to ensure a breadth of learning for our pupils and they are planned by the whole teaching staff, alongside the pupils, and the success criteria is set depending on where within a level each child is working.  This is explained more fully in the section about Progress and Achievement. Put simply, this means that not all pupils within one class will be working at the same level.  This ensures that all pupils are challenged and supported, depending on their individual abilities and needs.

We also ensure that we make the best use of any businesses or services in our area that are able to support and further enhance the children’s learning.

Sacramental Preparation

In P4, children who have been baptised will be asked if they wish to receive the sacraments of Reconciliation and First Holy Communion followed by Confirmation in P7.  If parents wish for their child to receive these sacraments, the preparation for these sacraments will be done in school, in conjunction with parents and our local parish.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is St Columba’s in our catchment area?

St Columba’s has the same catchment area as Oban High school excluding Mull, Colonsay and Coll.  Therefore, it is likely that you do live within our catchment area. If you live more than 2 miles away from the school then your child will be entitled to free transport to the school. If you live within two miles of the school, the expectation is that either your child will walk to school, parents transport them or parents arrange for them to get a bus.  If you do live more than two miles away and require transport then just contact the school office who will ask you to complete a form.

Does my child have to be baptised Catholic to attend St Columba’s?

No.  St Columba’s is a faith school that is open to all children regardless of their background.  Non-Catholic pupils are treated in exactly the same way that Catholic pupils are and, apart from Sacramental preparation, take part in exactly the same things.  However, we do ask that all parents and pupils who attend our school are respectful of the Catholic faith.

What happens if my child is going to be absent from school?

If your child is absent from school because they are unwell then we ask you to contact the school office by 9am to let the school know that they will not be in that day.  This will be marked as an authorised absence.

• If your child has an appointment through the school day then, again, contact the school office and your child will be ready for you to collect them at the time you have specified. This will be marked down as your child having permission not to be in school for the specified time of the appointment.
• If your child is attending a special family occasion, such as the wedding of a close relative, you should write to the school to inform them and this may be marked down as an authorised absence.
• If you are taking your child out of school to go on holiday during term time, you should write to the school to inform them and the school will write back to you informing you that this will be marked down as an unauthorised absence.

What do I do if I’m concerned about something that is happening in school?

We actively encourage parents to speak to the school immediately if there is anything that is concerning them via phone or email.  We do not want parents or children to be worrying about something that could, potentially, be fixed very easily so we would ask you to contact the school as soon as possible.  We ensure that we respond to any phone calls by the end of that day and give parents appointments to speak to the class teacher or head teacher at a time that is convenient to them.

My child is going to be getting the bus to school, which bus do they go on?

If you are unsure about what bus your child should go on, contact West Coast Motors who will be able to tell you which bus would be most appropriate depending on where you live.  If you live more than two miles from the school then you may be entitled to free transport to school and you should contact the school office to complete an application form.

Children who attend School’s Out are picked up from school by School’s Out staff and put on the appropriate bus.