School Newsletter October 2013 End of term already! I can hardly believe we are now only a few days away from the October break – time flies and already we are thinking about leaves falling from the trees, planning for the Nativity and Christmas Fair, clocks turning back and the dreaded snow –yes I said it! Staffing Update We were all very sad to see Mrs Reid leave us this term for a well-deserved retirement. However, we were certainly delighted when she returned with some retirement cake for us all last Thursday! We hope she will continue to visit us often! As for our post of Dining Room Supervisor, there is now a preferred candidate for the position who will hopefully start with us shortly. In the meantime we are lucky to have help from the great team down in Haddington. It was great also this term to welcome Miss Harley to the Nursery for her Nursery placement as part of her teacher training and look forward to welcoming her back to spend time with P1/2 after October. We are also delighted to have Mrs Darrie back with us now full time although sad to say goodbye to Mrs Finnegan who has been a valued member of the team since she joined us – thank you for all of your help and recognising the important role everyone plays in a small school, we will miss you. Finally, this brings me on to the fact that this week is Mrs Andersons’ last week with us at Athelstaneford which seems to have come round very quickly, is it just me? Mrs Anderson has already started working with Ms Haines this week, who will be officially starting here on Monday 21 October, to ensure a smooth transition for her P5/6/7 class. We are all very sad to see Mrs
Issue 2 Anderson leaving us, yet very pleased for her that she will now have the time to start make some very exciting plans. She has certainly made an excellent start to this by booking a holiday for Monday 21 October. She can now think of us all receiving our training on risk assessments and what to consider when planning educational excursions while she checks-in at the airport off on her own excursion! After 18 years’ service to this school and community it will certainly be a very well earned break, before we attempt to entice her back on the odd supply teaching job! We all wish you all the very best Mrs Anderson and hope to hear regularly from you with tales of your adventures from North Berwick and beyond! 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. If you have any old school uniform that you would like to donate to the school we can always make use of this, particularly during the winter months when trousers can become a little muddy! Reminder of Homework Days We hope that everyone is now benefiting from the new approach to homework and the flexibility you now have as a family to choose whether homework is done during the week or at the weekend. The final day for handing in homework is a Monday although you can of course choose to do this earlier for some tasks if this suit s you best as a family. We are very keen that all children have their homework handed in so that class teachers then have enough time on Monday to correct this and plan for the next homework to go out the following day.
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