School Newsletter January 2015
Happy New Year It was lovely to see all the children again after the holiday. The mornings may be dark and blustery, but the children have returned to school with renewed energy for the new term. We are all very jealous. Where do they get all that energy from? Staff Absence We are very sorry that Miss Hutchison is unwell just now and hope that she will be back very soon. In the meantime, Mrs Wright and Mrs MacKinnon have been teaching the class. Both teachers know the class well and have been following Miss Hutchison’s plans. Reading homework is continuing as normal. If you do have any concerns and would like to speak to Mr Devereux, please get in touch with the school office. School Website Since the last newsletter, we have completed our overhaul of the school’s website. Each class now has its blog where you can keep up-to-date with learning and events specific to that class. On the P4-7 blog, many of the posts are written by the children themselves. Save the Children Fund Many thanks to Mrs Little who organised the Christmas Jumper Day, and to all the children for taking part. There were some cracking Christmas jumpers around the school on the day and the children raised £65.70. This is hot on the heels of the Children in Need day which was organised by the pupils’ Fundraising Group, and raised £122.80. The Fundraising Group also has exciting plans for later on this term – see below.
Issue 3
Pupil Parliament Last week we hosted another Pupil Parliament meeting. The three working groups met and made plans. The Working with Others Group hope to invite in folk from the community to talk to P4-7 about their memories of World War II. The Fundraising Group is planning an event to raise money to fight ebola, an issue which is a particularly important one in the children’s minds at the moment. The Outdoor Opportunities Group has planned further improvements to the playground which they hope to begin working on in two weeks’ time.
Cross Country Club The cross country running club, run by Mr McCann, has been enormously successful. Last term this was open to pupils in P4 and P5. This term the club will be open to pupils in P6 and P7 and will restart on Wednesday 14th January. Pupils taking part need to bring a packed lunch as the club starts at 12.30pm and the runners have their lunch after school dinners are no longer being served.
Active Houses! Last week we re-launched the house system and this week the first inter-house tournament is taking place. This is taking the form of a football match involving pupils from P3 to P7. The House Captains have been making difficult decisions about the composition of their teams, and the positions of the players. Mr McCann will be refereeing the match. We will allocate 10 house points to the winner: Peffer or Pendrachan. The lines outside the door have been much quieter and straighter now that a house point can be won for the best line. As the year progresses we are looking forward to other inter-house sports competitions, and the children have asked for an inter-house quiz. We can’t promise a Hogwarts-style sorting hat when children join the school (who’d want to be in Slytherin?), but we have Mrs Cameron who is much better than any sorting hat.
Athlete Visit We are looking forward to a visit on Wednesday 14th from Steph Inglis, a member of the Scottish Commonwealth Games judo team, and silver medal winner. Steph will be taking part in our assembly, telling the children about her experiences. Afterwards she will provide judo taster sessions for both the P1-3 and P4-7 classes. If your child takes part in judo outside of school, please can s/he bring their judo suit to school on the day? We thought it would be a great idea to have a photo of Steph along with our own judo squad. When you go down to the woods today‌ In the summer term our P 4-7 class will be taking part in a project called Living Forests. The class will not just be visiting the woods, but staying the night there! On Thursday 21st of May the class will travel to some suitable woodland, set up camp and cook their tea over an open fire. After arranging their hammocks, the children will bed down for an exciting night, sleeping under the stars. In the morning they will return to school (probably a little sleepy‌) just in time for the weekend, and a chance to rest after all the excitement.
Dates for your Diary January 14th P6/7 Cross Country Club re-starts (remember your packed lunch)
22nd 26th
Burns Supper Nursery to P3 Flavour Workshop Whole School Golden Time
28th
of
France
February 9th P4/5/6/7 poss trip to Museum of Flight th 11 P4/5 at Atheltics Festival (Meadowmill) 16th Holiday (until 22nd) 23rd Back to school 27th P7 Camp monies due P4-7 Indian Music Workshop
Please remember to keep an eye on the school blog http://edubuzz.org/blogs/athelstaneford/ for the most up to date information. If you have any concerns or queries please do not hesitate to contact me. Iain Dervereux Acting Head Teacher .
We are planning other outdoor learning activities for all the classes in the school, working closely with the specialists from the Outdoor Learning Service. We will contact parents as soon as each trip has been arranged to let you know of the details.
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