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School Newsletter May 2012 Issue 5

What’s Happening?

I can hardly believe we are already three weeks

into our new term. Many thanks to

all parents and carers who came in

on the last Friday to share our

learning about the Olympics. It was a great

event and the children appreciated the

comments you left in the visitor book.

In the nursery, the children have been learning

about frogs and tadpoles and have

their own tadpoles that they are

looking after. They have also been

finding out more about themselves and how they

have grown up from being babies. Look out for

the baby pictures in the nursery and see if you

can tell who is who.

Primary 1/2 have already started on their topic

around the theme of the Teddy Bears

Picnic. They have been learning more

about money and have set up their

own café. They have been measuring

clothes for the teddy bears to wear. They have

also been making houses for the teddy bears to

live in. Our morning nursery children have also

been working alongside Mrs Lord’s class on some

of the tasks as part of our transition into P1.

In Primary 3/4, the topic this term in about

Ancient Egypt. There is a great

deal of enthusiasm already in the

class. The children have decided

they want to find out about:

Where Egypt is in the world

The River Nile, which they told me was the

longest river in the world.

The Pyramids and why they were built?

What was farming like in Ancient Egypt?

How did the Egyptians write?

In Primary 5/6 the children are working on

aspects of the John Muir Award

and their learning is focused on

developing an understandng of

different eco systems. From this

knowledge, the children will be designing their

own wildlife area in our playground to encourage

different living things into our environment.

Staffing

We welcome Miss Humphries to our school as

our new Music Specialist. Miss

Humphries is covering for Mrs

Broadley whilst she is on maternity

leave. She is with us on a Friday morning and

has already made a good start in getting to

know the children.

Play in a Day

The children in Primary 3-6 had the opportunity

to work with Amy from Konflux Theatre in

Education to create an Olympic

Play in one day – ‘Going for Goals!’.

She helped the children to learn

their lines and actions, building up the story line

ready for a performance to the rest of the

school, parents and carers at the end of the day.

I was particularly impressed by the children’s

enthusiasm and determination to put on a show

that was outstanding. The team work and

support was fantastic.

Many thanks to our Parent Council who funded

this fantastic experience for our young people.

Mrs Cameron is currently working with David

Gilmour from East Lothian Council to look at how

we get the performance on the website.

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Archery

Primary 3-6 got the opportunity to take part in

Archery sessions run by Martyn

Pegg from our Outdoor Education

Service. A great experience was

had by all and more information and

photographs can be found on the school blog.

Coffee and Chat

A reminder that the next date for Coffee and

Chat will be Friday 18 May at 9am.

The focus for this meeting will be on

school improvement and involving you

in this process. As a staff, we have

identified four key areas for improvement

which we will be addressing:

Literacy

Numeracy

Health and Wellbeing

Curricular Design

Underpinning all these areas is assessment and

how this is used to identify next steps and show

progress.

This is your opportunity to be involved in

shaping the way in which we move our school

forward in order to best meet the needs of our

children and I look forward to seeing as many

of you as possible on this day.

Olympic Torch Event

All North Berwick cluster schools have agreed

an event to mark the Olympics during

the last week of term where an

Olympic torch will be travelling

around the cluster. We will be

receiving the torch on Thursday 28 June and I

feel it would be a good opportunity to organise

some sort of community event. We had

discussed the idea of the theme around flags as

we are the home of the Scottish Flag. I am

looking for any volunteers to attend a meeting in

school on Friday 11 May at 9am to discuss this

further.

Soft Start

This idea has been spoken about at coffee and

chat meetings. Our first official

Soft Start will be on Thursday 7

June from 9am to 9.30am. We look

forward to welcoming as many

parents and carers along and you are free to go

to all classes you have children attending.

After School Clubs

Many thanks for all the feedback in terms of

After School Clubs this term.

Following this I can now say that

the Sports Club will run on a

Tuesday and Bikeability training

will run on a Wednesday. More information

about both these clubs will be sent to you as

soon as possible.

Transition

Plans are already in place for the transition of

our nursery children into

Primary 1. Visits have been

arranged for the children

throughout this term. We will

also be holding a transition

morning on Thursday 21 June

from 9.30am until 11.30am where all children will

be with their new class and teacher and finding

out more about what they will be learning next

session. Further details about this will be sent

in due course.

Dates for your diary

7th May Holiday

8th May In-Service day

17th May Olympic Legacy Day – Tennis focus

18th May Coffee and Chat

24th May Spring Clean Day

4th June Holiday

14th June Sports Day

21st June Transition day – am

22nd June Reports due to parents

28th June Olympic Torch Event

29th June End of Term – Church Service

9.30am

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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.

Scott Lavery

Acting Head Teacher

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