Jan/Feb 2012 Newsletter

School Newsletter Jan - Feb 2012

Issue 3

Thank you!!

Website

I wanted to start by saying a huge thank you for all the support since taking up post. I have appreciated how welcoming the whole school community has been and look forward to working with you all in the coming year.

The website continues to be a great source of information on what is happening in our school. I would like to encourage more of the school community to leave comments for the children on what they have been learning and achieving. This gives them real encouragement that their efforts are being recognised and supported by all of us.

Staffing We welcome Mrs MacDonald to our school. Mrs MacDonald is a PGDE student at Moray House and will be working with P3/4 until Friday 24 February.

Coffee and Chat Thank you to all parents and carers who came along for coffee and chat. It was great to find out more about the school from your perspective and also for me to get to know you more. I plan to run similar events on a monthly basis. Dates and times are detailed below for your infomrtaion. This is an opportunity for us to meet informally and to discuss what is happening in the school.

Friday 10 February 09.00 Friday 16 March 09.00 Friday 20 April 09.00 Friday 18 May 09.00 Friday 22 June 09.00

Parent/Carer Consultations A reminder that these take place on Wednesday 9 February and Thursday 10 February giving you the opportunity to speak with the class teachers about his/her progress. Time slots will be forwarded to you in due course.

SoftStart Soft Start gives you the opportunity to come into school and experience learning with your child/children. We plan to hold our first event later this term to give you an experience of what a maths lesson is like.

More details to follow in due course.

Winter Weather As previously mentioned in our last newsletter I would be grateful if you could reinforce the importance of coming to school dressed warmly and certainly encourage your child to wear a warm jacket. I would be grateful if all children could bring indoor shoes with them which will continue to help keep the school a bit less muddy and slip free.

Uniform It is great to see all of our children wearing the appropriate uniform and taking pride in this. Can I remind you all that any football colours are not permitted to be worn in school and I appreciate your support with this.

After School Clubs We will be continuing to offer extra-curricular experiences to our children this term. Mrs Lord continues to run her Guitar club and Mrs Patterson will be starting her Scottish Country Dancing Club. More details of other opportunities will be sent out in due course.

Parking We have had a few reports of people parking on the zig zag lines outside the school. Can I ask that cars are not left in this area for health and safety reasons.

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Walk to School Week Iain Reid from East Lothian Council was in school last week to present us with our prize for being the most improved school during Walk to School week in October. I will be meeting with the JRSO team Jasmine and Rachel to find out what their plans are for the monies we received. A great achievement for us as a school community.

Burns Day Celebrations A huge thank you from all the staff for your support in helping our children learn their Scots poetry. We had our annual gathering where children recited their poems. A team of judges were brought in especially for the event (thanks to Mrs Cameron, Mrs Darrie and Mrs MacDonald). The winners from each class were Maja Semple (P1/2), Lucy Walters (P3/4) and Frazer Short (P5/6).

The Olympics Preparations are underway for our Olympic topic after the February break. We have decided that each week a challenge will be given for all classesto complete relating to the Olympics.

• • • • •

How did the Olympics start?

Where have the games been held?

What makes a great Olympian?

How do Olympians train?

Olympics in Athelstaneford

In addition, each class will be exploring one of the Olympic values we have in the school and at the end will share their learning with the rest of the school and the wider community. We will update you on our progressthrough the school website.

Class news Here is an update from the children of the learning in their classrooms since coming back after the holidays.

Nursery The nursery have been learning all about the Zoo and the animals you would find there. They have been very interested in finding out more about the new Pandas who arrived there. They have also had their own Scottish theme running in the nursery and Imogen and Louisa’s mum came in and helped make shortbread with the children. They also did some Scottish dancing.

P1/2 In P1/2 we have been reading Katy Morag stories written by Mairi Hedderwick. We have been learning about maps and creating our own ones. We have also recreated the island from the book. We have also written letters and stories about the books.

By Maja and James

P3/4 Primary 3/4 have been learning more about Scotland and its culture. We found out more about clans and created our own crests in pairs. We made kilts, wrote poems and made leaflets about Scotland. We also had a Scottish food tasting, where we tried haggis, neeps and tatties, shortbread and cranachan – which was a great experience. In maths, our learning has focused on money and being able to use this in everyday situations.

By Lucy and Robbie

School Improvements

P5/6

We continue to make progress through our improvement plan in terms of what we set out to do. One aspect we are currently addressing is around Health and Wellbeing and in particular Emotional Wellbeing.

We will be introducing a new resource to the school called Creating Confident Kids which focuses in on 8 themes relating to this area throughout the year. The work in this relates to our Wellbeing Wednesday focus. I plan to hold an informatioon evening on Wednesday 7 March to give you the opportunity to find out more about the resource and how it will be used.

The topic this term has been about the Highland Clearances. We have written a letter to the Countess of Sutherland and we were imagining that we were Kirsty or Davie who are some of the characters out of the book. It is called the Desperate Journey. We have also learned about the clan system, their crofts and why they were evicted.

By Anna and Alastair

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DATES FOR DIARY: 8 Feb – Parent and Carer Consultations 9 Feb - Parent and Carer Consultations 10 Feb – Coffee and Chat – 09.00 10 Feb – School Closes – February Break – usual time 20 Feb – Pupils return 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 pleasedo not hesitate to contact me.

Scott Lavery Acting Head Teacher

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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Achievements Tear- Off Slip ______________________________________of Class_________has successfully participated in ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________

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