Twitter: @DunbarPrimary
Website: www.edubuzz.org/dunbarprimary
Dear Parents and Carers,
Once again we come to the final few weeks of the school year and as a school community we have much to be proud of! We have seen success on the sports field, in our quiz teams, cluster events and Children’s University. In assemblies we have celebrated Mathletics awards and AR results. Our Millionaire Readers board at Lochend is overflowing with almost 70 pupils reading over 1 million words this session! Take a look at our school website for the list of millionaires.
Parents have witnessed top quality performances in music and drama events, with more to come at the end of term. Pupils have participated in a variety of fundraising and enterprise activities which have raised a considerable amount of money for various charities across the UK.
School Review
As a school we are always evaluating our learning and teaching and in May we were delighted to welcome a review team in to provide additional feedback on the positives and development needs of our school. This involved the Head of Education, staff from ELC Education Department and Headteachers from other schools within the council. I will be providing additional information on this review as part of the Meet the Teacher evening in August and in the Standards and Quality report that will be available online from the start of term. However, there were some key messages that I wanted to share with you.
Key Strengths
· The headteacher is a strong leader who values her team and knows the school very well.
· Shared leadership across the school is well developed and staff feel empowered to use initiative.
· Polite and well-behaved children who are well-cared for by staff.
· There are examples of very good classroom practices in learning and teaching.
· Teachers plan medium term plans together in stage teams and include assessment information when evaluating the success of learning and teaching.
· Focus on Inclusion through well-established partnerships and initiatives.
Areas for Improvement
· Continue to develop practitioner enquiry and measures to demonstrate the impact of initiatives and approaches to support outcomes for children.
· Encourage children to be more independent and to develop skills to lead learning.
· Increase challenge in learning through consistent approaches to planning for differentiated learning.
· Increase the rigour of professional dialogue using assessment to inform planning for next steps in learning. Develop a framework of assessment linked to tracking and monitoring activities.
· Develop a sustained whole-school focus on equity and excellence through self-evaluation and robust evidence to demonstrate impact for learners.
Electronic Device Reminder
Please remind your child that their mobile phone must be switched off when they enter the school grounds. We have had recent reports that a very small number of pupils are using their mobile phones during break and lunch. We would like to remind parents that if their child brings an electronic device to school it must be given to the class teacher at registration who will lock it away in the classroom safe.
Little & Large Cooking Competition
On Thursday 25th May, P6 pupils Paige Woods and Oliver Moises went forward as the Dunbar Cluster representatives to the final of this competition at Musselburgh Grammar School (unfortunately Anushka in P6A was unable to attend so thank you to Paige for stepping in!). They did extremely well on the day and Campie Primary School were the eventual winners. All pupils left the competition with their own apron, the food they made and a certificate. Well done Paige & Oliver!
Primary 7 Show ‘Pantastic’ and Leavers Dance
We look forward to seeing the parents/carers of our P7 pupils at the performance on Wednesday 28th June at 1.15pm at John Muir Campus. Due to hall space there is a maximum of two seats allocated per pupil. Tickets will be sent home soon. The P7 Leavers Dance begins at 6.30pm on the same day at Lochend and we hope parents will join us from 8.15pm for a final dance.
World Mission Stamp Appeal
In 2016, the stamp appeal raised a wonderful £4,334 across Scotland and we would like to take part again this year. This year’s appeal is raising money for the Giffen Institute in South Sudan which unfortunately has had to relocate twice in order to ensure the safety of its staff and students. Money raised from this year’s appeal will provide them with much needed resources, including books for their library. If you have any used stamps, please send them in to either campus as a box is located in each office. Thank you.
School Fair
The rain held off for another fantastic School Fair on Saturday 27th May. Hundreds of you came along to support the school on the day and it was wonderful to see how much fun everyone had. Thank you to everyone for your donations of home baking, books, tombola prizes etc and of course a huge thank you to our wonderful Parent Council for organising such a successful event!
P7 Rotary Quiz
Well done to the P7 Rotary Quiz team who attended the second round at Prestonpans Primary School two weeks ago. The team included Woody Morrison, Lucy Kilfara, Jared Stevenson & Milly Green. They finished in second place and the top two teams move forward to the final held in Carluke this weekend! We wish them luck and will let you know how they get on via twitter and the school website.
Sporting Success
Recently we have had great success in a variety of sporting competitions and I wanted to say well done to all the pupils involved but also a big thank you to Mrs Lyle, Mr MacKenzie and Mr Taylor who have been instrumental in ensuring the teams were ready and motivated for each competition. I am also delighted to say it was reported that the teams were polite, hugely supportive of each other and gracious in winning – a great reputation to develop. Congratulations to the athletics team and hockey team (see photos below) who both came back as champions!
Volunteers
A BIG THANK YOU to everyone who volunteered in both school campuses over the course of the year. We are so grateful to all the unsung heroes who come and help us in lots of different ways: supporting reading focus groups, helping on school visits, library volunteers, gardening helpers, World of Work visitors, healthy snack volunteers, Parent Council reps and many, many more! Our school is much better for your support and of course we often could not offer the activities to our pupils without your help.
Children’s University Graduation Ceremony – Wednesday 7th June at John Muir Campus 6.30 pm.
Huge congratulations to all the pupils who are invited to our in school Graduation Ceremony. Over 50 pupils will be recognised for their out of school learning.
End of Term Finishing Arrangements – Friday 30th June 2017
We will soon be saying au-revoir to 138 Primary 7s and we wish them all good luck as they start at their new schools. We know they are well prepared and confident for the challenge ahead and ready to show their talents and skills! We look forward to welcoming our new P1 pupils.
We are aware that lots of parents have pupils in both P3 and P7 so in order to enable them to see both clapping out ceremonies the P1- P3 pupils will leave very sharp at 11.45am.
We know that parents, younger siblings, grandparents and other parents and pupils will want to come and see P7 leave so we will ensure that the Primary 7 classes do not leave the Lochend building until nearer 12.10 allowing those who wish to come to see them to do so.
· 11.00 am - P1, P2 and P3 clap out P7 at John Muir Campus after our whole school assembly.
· 11.45 am sharp – P1 and P2 clap out the P3s at John Muir. P1 and P2 will be dismissed from the playground.
· 12.10 pm (approx) P4–P6 clap out P7 from Lochend - this will allow parents and younger pupils to attend and join in too!
Finally, I hope you all have a lovely summer holiday and fingers crossed for warm, sunny weather. We look forward to welcoming everyone back on Wednesday 16th August 2017 at 8.45 a.m.
With best wishes and thank you for all your support.
Helen Gillanders