School Newsletter September 2013 A Holiday already! The September Weekend (remember schools are off tomorrow and Monday) and I’m delighted to say how well everyone has settled back into school life particularly our new P1’s and nursery children, who have settled incredibly well from day one. Since August our children have been reestablishing and building their communities in each of the classes, so vital for effective learning to take place. I have thoroughly enjoyed the start to the year and am excited by our plans for the session ahead. We have been trying to refresh our skills in blog posting and hope to have this fully up and running again with regular updates from each of the classes. It really is very easy to leave a comment and the children really appreciate comments that their parents may have left for them and their class. http://edubuzz.org/blogs/athelstaneford If you visit the site you can subscribe by filling in your e-mail address to make sure you never miss a post! School Day Children should be ready to come into school at 8.50am, lined up with their peers and it has certainly been a great start to the year as far as this is concerned. We fully appreciate your support in ensuring children are ready on time and likewise, we shall do our very best to have your children ready to be collected at 3.15pm for P1/2 and 3.20pm for P3-7. School Uniform The children look great in their school uniforms and it is very much appreciated by the school that children continue to wear this. Please ensure that all items that come into school are clearly labelled with your child’s name.
Issue 1 Parent and Carers Consultations Please note the dates for the first set of consultations are Wednesday 9 October and Thursday 10 October. Further details will be sent to you in due course. Physical Education We were delighted to welcome Mr McAnn as our PE specialist on a Wednesday morning and he has thoroughly enjoyed his first few weeks getting to know each of the classes. In order to fulfil the requirement of two hours PE there may be times when class teachers take children outside. Each class will have received a highlights sheet which will have outlined any other days children will need their PE Kit in school and it would be helpful if all children could make sure they have clothing suitable for indoors and outdoors at these times. We would appreciate any feedback you may have on how useful the recent Highlights Sheet was to families as a way of sharing the learning experiences planned for your child this term. Attendance If your child is unable to attend school for whatever reason, please let Mrs Cameron know by 9.30am on the day. Any absences not reported to us will be followed up and if we cannot contact you, this is then referred to the Attendance Team at East Lothian Council. School Improvement Plan The priorities from the School Improvement Plan will be put up on the blog for everyone to see but for those that would like more detail then a copy is available from Mrs Cameron in the school office for anyone who wishes to read the full document.
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Shared Start Following on from the successful events last session we are keen once again to have parents joining us in class to share in the experiences your child has in different curricular areas. If there is a particular area you would like to know more about please let us know and we can accommodate this. We shall be holding an event for parents next term and shall give plenty of notice for those that need to arrange time off work to join us in the morning. Assembly and Awards Assemblies continue on a Wednesday afternoon with our first assembly focussing on New Beginnings. We talked a bout the song ‘Start of Something New’ and shared all of the things that were new for us. We also had a think about other songs that could be appropr iate and came up with some great suggetsions including: Enjoy Yourself Sing Reach for the stars The best 'term' ever Following the Parent Council meeting we also spoke at assembly about our favourite books in an attempt to put together an additional list of books to supplelment our very well stocked school library. Now that P3-7 are back up and running on Accelerated Reader we are delighted by the Parent Council commitment to conitnue to fund new books on an annual basis. We are also back on track for our Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards and so please continue to ask your child how they are getting on with this. We look forward to being able to give out some awards and invite parents back in to assembly to see children receiving their certificates. Please continue to let us know of any achievements your child has out of school as this is an important part of achievement assemblies. There is a slip at the end of this newsletter if you have time to pop down a few words and send into school these can then be recognised at assembly.
Pupil Parliament We shall be looking at identifying positions within the School Parliament over the next 2 weeks and aim to have them in place as soon as possible along wth the many responsible positions that our senior pupils undertake within the school. Following feedback from parents and pupils we are looking for our Parliament to be as inclusive as possible with as many of our children involved and contributing as we can accommodate. Playground Given the lovely weather and the requirement for two hours PE we have started to look at how best this space can best be used. This was discussed by parents at Parent Council last week and the conversation started with children at assembly. A trial is to start next week involving football with the children having voted and decided that two days a week will be allocated to a football game and the other two days given over to more traditional playground games. We shall also be reinstating the Play Team with their official Play Team Baseball Caps to support play in the playground. If you have any great ideas about how to spruce up our bottom playground or would like to get involved with some gardening please do get in touch. Please see separate letter with information regarding a meeting to discuss possible playground plans. Thank you to the Parent Council and to Mrs Little for taking this forward so early on in the term. Trips and Excursions This week we have been out for some exciting archaeology events. We were very lucky to be offered two classes out of only 4 (Dirleton being the other two!) to attend a live dig site in Haddington. They worked with archaeologists and took part themselves, even uncovering historical artefacts when they took part in the dig on the Pineapple House within Amisfield Walled Garden. I have heard from some children that they are taking their families to the dig this weekend to have a go! Look out for the Time Team presenters of the future having attended Athelstaneford Primary School!
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Finally, I would like to thank you all for your continued support for your school. I appreciate fully that coming back after the summer and hearing that I would also be looking after Dirleton was not what was expected but I have been incredibly impressed by how well this has worked for both school communities and thank you for your support. As you may be aware Dirleton have now advertised for a permanent head teacher and hope to be in a position to proceed with interviews within the next few weeks. Once I have more information I will of course let you know but in the meantime I shall continue to make myself available to parents and families as before and am always contactable by email or by telephone via the school office if not in person
September 13th& 16th 26th 27th
October 1st 7th 9th 10th 11th 22nd
Dates for your Diary School Holiday Mrs Reid’s Last Day Roald Dahl Day
P6/7 Hockey Festival Book Fair in school all week Parent/Carer Consultations Parent/Carer Consultations End of Term Pupils Return to School
. Please remember to keep an eye on the school blog http://edubuzz.org/blogs/athelstaneford for the most up to date information. As ever if you have any concerns or queries please do not hesitate to contact me and should I not be in school and am at Dirleton, I will get back to you as soon as possible. Catriona McKinnon Head Teacher Finally, it was discussed at Parent Council last week that the school benefits from funds raised by clicking on the website www.edupayment.co.uk when doing your on-line shopping. If it helps, perhaps the little reminder below could be stuck on the fridge or family computer as a reminder to help boost school funds:
Shop and raise school funds! If you buy online there is now an easy way to earn vital school funds. By visiting eduPayment.co.uk and locating a participating retailer our school will earn commission from your purchases. Leading online brands are participating in the service including, HMV, Amazon.co.uk & New Look. You pay no more, there are even special offers to help you pay less. Please visit www.edupayment.co.uk for more information.
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Achievements Tear-Off Slip
______________________________________ of Class _________ has successfully participated in ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Signed:
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Date:
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