Update from M-K Glasgow during Covid-19

Dear Parents, Friends and Supporters of the school. I hope this newsletter finds you well and safe in the Lord’s hands.

It has been a challenge to get the school year started with the need to implement a large number of new guidelines owing to Covid-19. We are very grateful to David Murray for helping us with the school’s Covid-19 risk assessment.

There are positives that have come out of this, however. The children have been enjoying their staggered breaks, with more break time and more space to play in. Having Assembly twice a week has meant we have been able to set some of the Bible lessons to a more appropriate level for the older and younger classes respectively. The school is very organised and clean. With all of pupils’ items in boxes and volunteers cleaning the school thoroughly at the end of each school day. We are very grateful to all of the parents and other volunteers who are volunteering to clean, organising the cleaning rota and helping to purchase the needed cleaning supplies.

We are very grateful for Mrs Snell who joined us from South Africa in February this year and is now teaching the Primary 1-3 class. We are also very thankful that Anna Stewart is able to teach at the school again for one day a week and is able to support the school as Depute Head as well. Nonetheless, we are currently operating with less staff than we had last school year, but with more pupils. Therefore, we are very thankful for all the volunteer classroom assistants who have stepped forward to help at the school at this time, without which, running the school would be very difficult, if not impossible.

Owing to the current restrictions, it has been impossible to organise our usual activities as normal. Thankfully, though, we still managed to go ahead with Reformation Day, and although parents were not able to join us at the school, our volunteered recorded parts of the event for parents to view from home. The children still had a wonderful time dressing up in their Reformation outfits, learning more about the Reformation and enjoying a large variety of snacks. We are also unable to go ahead with our traditional ‘Winter Cafe’ fundraiser, but are very thankful to all the parents who are working on individual fundraising initiatives on behalf of the school as well as to all who have made other donations of funds, time or other resources.

Our school currently has 30 pupils, which is 6 more that we had last year. We also have a number of applications to start Primary 1 in August 2021. Robroyston Church of Scotland has been very generous in allowing us to use extra space in their building to accommodate for Covid-19 guidelines as well as for additional pupils applying to join the school. This comes at an additional cost, however, and is not a permanent arrangement. Therefore, would you please join us in praying that we will be able to move to our new temporary location at New Life Church in Parkhead as soon as possible and that we would be allowed to have more pupils at the school in this new location.

Thank you for your continued support.

Samuel Markoff
Melville-Knox Christian School Head Teacher