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School Newsletter 2012 Issue 3

Winter Weather I am so pleased to see so many of our pupil’s still

proudly wearing their uniform to school. As the

Winter draws in the weather has

certainly taken a colder and wetter

turn and I would be grateful if all

children could bring indoor shoes with

them which will hopefully help to keep the school a bit

less muddy and slip free. As previously mentioned I

would also be grateful if you could reinforce the

importance of coming to school dressed warmly and

certainly encourage your child to wear a warm jacket.

Library Opening We had fantastic support from parents and carers

who came along on the day to support

in our official opening of the library.

This is a fantastic space for our

children and will be used for years to come. A huge

thanks also to Cate James for her time and

enthusiasm with the children and also Councillor Tom

Trotter for attending and supporting the school.

After School Clubs Children seem to be enjoying the extracurricular

activities we have been able to

offer. Currently we are very

pleased to be able to offer Art &

Crafts on a Tuesday which is

attended by the majority of the children in our

school. Unfortunately, we will be unable to run the

Zumbatonic class due to numbers and I would like to

thank those who responded to this. These clubs

remain flexible in order that we can respond to Pupil

requests and interest, and so there will be a letter

coming out to parents again in December to let you

know what clubs will be on offer from January to

Summer.

School Parliament This session, we have changed the way in which pupils

make decisions about what happens in our

school. After studying the Scottish

Parliament in class, P5/6/7 decided we

could put this learning into action by

creating our own Parliament. The

elections took place before the holidays and our MSP’s

are as follows:

P1/2 Finlay Blackstock and Astrid Guatelli

P3/4/5 Emma Findlay and Finlay Semple

P5/6/7 Alasdair Bennett and Jo Dewar

The group met last week and were deciding on

priorities to be developed after discussing this in

classes.

In addition to the parliament, we have also set up

committees who will look after specific aspects of the

school. These are as follows:

Environment Corin Woodhead, Findlay Bennett and

Lucy Walters

Health Thomas Fox, Emilia Fox and Anna

Lerpiniere

Fundraising Eva Swan, Jonathan Mostyn and

Jasmine Coppinger

This is a fantastic opportunity for our children to

discuss issues and identify ways forward that are

important for them and the school community.

Pantomime This year’s pantomime Beauty and the Beast has been

booked for Monday 10

December at 1.30pm in the

Village Hall. We have booked a

theatre company this year as we

were unable to secure dates at the Brunton Theatre.

Big thanks go to our Parent Council who have kindly

helped fund this experience this year. Look out via

pupil post for more information next week.

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P1 Enrolment Our Primary 1 Enrolment for session 2012/2013 takes

place on Wednesday 14 November with

plans already underway for transition

activities, helping our pre-schoolers

prepare for their first year in primary

school.

Christmas Fair The Christmas Fair and Lights Switch On this year is

on Saturday 1 December in

the Village Hall and the

Parent Council are already

busy organising this great event. I am looking

forward to the event and hope to see many of you

there. This is a great event for the community and a

lot of hard work for those hardworking members of

the Parent Council fundraising Committee.

Book Fair Following the recent Book Fair in School we received

a commission of £188.88. This money

has gone towards purchasing a variety

of multicultural fiction and non-fiction

books for all stages. Thank you for

choosing to purchase your books from

the travelling fair and helping to continue to

supplement our libraries with appropriate and

relevant reading material.

Soft Start Our first Soft Start will take place on Thursday 29

November from 9am to 9.30am . This is

your chance to come in and learn

alongside your child. The theme for the

day will be around art and design and we look forward

to welcoming as many of you into school on the day.

Community Event Messy Church at Christmas! - Sunday 2 December

3.30pm – 5pm Athelstaneford Village Hall

Messy Church is for ALL the family. It’s a time when

families come together to enjoy being together,

making things together (getting messy

doing arts and crafts!), eating together (a

Christmas party tea), learn about Jesus

and celebrate God together through stories and

songs.

Come and join us and have lots of fun and bring your

families including grandparents!! (For families with preschool and primary school children. Children

must be accompanied by an adult over 16yrs old)

For more details contact:

Sue Camburn Tel: 880321, martynsue@yahoo.co.uk

Pat Robinson Tel: 880387

Feedback from Parents and Carers At both parents and carers consultations and our

learning event, I have asked for feedback in

terms of what we are doing in the school

and how we can improve. This feedback

has been invaluable for us as a staff team

in engaging with you what you feel the learning

experiences are like for your children.

At the learning event, we asked the following

questions and the feedback given is detailed below:

What did I learn? Learned a completely new approach to number

How children look after themselves and others

emotionally

Really helpful to understand reading, writing and

number

A deeper understanding of how children are

taught

There is more interaction in class from children

Ways to ask questions that may illicit answers

How children are questioned to think about texts

The methods of counting and the use of number

lines

What additional sessions could we run? How do we continue to assist children’s progress

Help with P1 homework

A home learning session

Follow up sessions on how improvements have

impacted on children’s learning

At Parent and Carer consultations, we asked:

What are we doing well? Always available and happy to talk over any issues

Appreciate the dedication and personal attention

Teaching and learning is based on real life

Children see how learning is appropriate now and in

the future

Keeping us informed

Approachable staff who listen

Motivating the children

Helping parents feel involved

Maintaining links with the community

What can we improve? Better explanation of home work

More explicit instruction on how parents can guide

children in homework

As a result of the feedback, the main theme is

around home learning and accordingly, I plan to run

two sessions next term to give parents and carers

more information and also answer any questions you

may have. Dates for these have to be finalised and I

will write out once this has happened.

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Dates for your Diary November

13th P1 Enrolement

13th Parent Council Meeting (7pm)

14th Tempest Photography (Family & Individual)

16th Children In Need

19th P5 Basketball Festival at NBSC

25th Saltire Celebrations in Village

30th Saltire Flag Raising

December 1st Christmas Fair (Village Hall)

10th School Pantomime (Beauty and the Beast)

18th Parties – Nursery AM and P1-7 PM

19th School Nativity (Village Hall 1.30pm)

20th Church Service - Parents/Carers all welcome!

20th End of Term

As ever if you have any concerns or queries please do not hesitate to contact me.

Scott Lavery

Head Teacher

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