Yester Primary School

Newsletter –February 2017

Volume 1, Issue 5June 2015

Easyfundraising.org.uk

Yester is now part of this scheme. When you shop online, please go through this portal. A small percentage of what you spend is donated to the school by the retailers at no cost to you.

Half term

I hope you all have a lovely half term and that you return to school refreshed on Tuesday 21st February.

Risk from Bin Lorry

Parents have contacted us about the local bin lorry being in the vicinity of the school near the start of the day. They have raised concerns about the potential risk to pupils who are walking to school. We contacted the environment department to pass on these concerns. The route-planners have assured us that the bin lorry will not be in roads leading directly to the school (eg Walden Terrace) at 8.30-9.00. However, the bin lorry will be in the village during this period working on other roads. The environment department has pointed out that their staff can’t stop work for half an hour. We will all need to work together to ensure the safety of children if their route takes them near roads used by the bin lorry at that time. This could mean choosing a different route to avoid the bin lorry. For younger children this means supervising them on their walk, and for older children ensuring they are given adequate instruction and supervised practice of travelling to school by your chosen route.

Open Hour

After your comments last year we are holding another Open Hour on Thursday ,23rd February between 11am and 12pm. This is an opportunity for you to join your child in his/her classroom and see some of the work they are doing. There will also be teas and coffees and some displays in the hall for you to look at.

Sainsbury’s Tokens!

This year Sainsbury’s is again running their Active Kids offer and we are collecting the tokens. If you (or more likely) other family members, colleagues or friends shop at Sainsbury’s, please ask them to pass these to you and your child can bring them in to school. Last year we did really well and were able to order some stop watches, playground toys and resources for supporting our Funky Moves group. We are hoping to do even better this year!

Nigel Bird

We welcome Nigel Bird as our new Support for Learning teacher to Yester.

Mr Bird writes:

Nigel has been working as a teacher in primary schools for almost thirty years.

The first ten years of his career were spent in Hampstead, North London. This was followed by a year at Craiglockhart Primary School at a time when JK Rowling was among the parents in the school community. A detour from mainstream education came next when he spent four years working at Donaldson’s College, Scotland’s National School for the Deaf, in the Language Unit there.

He moved to East Lothian and took up the position of Support for Learning teacher at what was to become Sanderson’s Wynd Primary School in Tranent and stayed there for twelve years before heading to Yester. He has been working in Humbie and Saltoun Primary Schools since October 2016.

Nigel is also a published author. Though he writes in a variety of genres, the bulk of his work lurks in the murky world of crime fiction. He lives in Dunbar with his wife and three school-aged children.

Dressed for School

I’m sure you’ll know that there’s a dress code for all the schools in the Knox Academy Cluster. At Yester we have always benefited from very strong parental support for this. When we canvassed the parent body a number of years ago, 100% agreed to abide by our dress code. The pupils are proud of our school identity. However, this session we have seen a drop in standards, with rising numbers of pupils not following the dress code. We are seeking your support to put things back on track.

There are three areas which concern us:

Trousers: our policy states that jeans are not included in our dress code. We ask pupils to wear plain dark coloured (navy/grey/black) trousers or skirt/pinafore. Please can you help by ensuring your child doesn’t wear jeans to school?

Sweatshirt: this is the foundation of our dress code and ensures all pupils are wearing the same colour top. There are various alternatives to the blue Yester polo shirt, but the sweatshirt has always our number one item of uniform. We have several second hand sweatshirts for sale and many lost tops waiting to be reunited with their owners.

Sportswear: on Fridays we allow pupils to wear sportswear so they can take part in run-a-mile. Recently some pupils have been wearing clothing which is more of a fashion item, rather constrictive and not appropriate for taking part in sport. We expect to see joggers, shorts, tee-shirts and hoodies. Tightly-fitting jeans and fashion wear aren’t practical for sports activity.

We appreciate that buying school uniform can be expensive. Families in receipt of Job Seekers Allowance, Income Support and Employment and Support Allowance will qualify for a grant from the Council for school clothing. Other cases may also be considered in the case of exceptional circumstances.

Parents who wish to apply for the scheme should complete an application form which is available from Resources and People Services, Business Unit, John Muir House, Haddington, EH41 3HA.

Here’s a reminder of our dress code that you may not have seen since your child enrolled.

Yester Primary School Dress Code

Principles

A school dress code helps to:

Increase the sense of pupil identity with the school and instil a sense of pride.
Readily identify our children when they are outwith the school itself e.g. on school trips.
Develop a partnership with parents in decision-making about what is or is not appropriate dress for school.
Contribute to an ethos which sees school as providing primarily a working rather than social environment.
Reduce the element of competition between children in terms of clothing style and “labels” worn.

The dress code itself is comprised of the following:

Yester sweat shirt - blue
Yester polo shirt- blue
Plain dark coloured (navy/grey/black) trousers/skirt/pinafore

Optional items:

Yester fleece
Checked blue & white summer dress
White/blue/grey shirt (worn under sweatshirt)
School tie (to be worn with a buttoned shirt, not polo shirt)
Nursery sweatshirt in blue or gold

Footwear may cause some difficulties for parents. Accordingly, while we recommend that pupils wear shoes to school rather than trainers, we recognise that it might be difficult – for a variety of reasons – for parents to meet this requirement. Children must have a change of footwear for indoor use to avoid mud and dirt being trailed through school. Most of our children at present keep a pair of gym shoes for this purpose.

The following items of clothing, however are not included in the dress code:

Jeans
Long ‘dangly’ or hooped earrings
Make-up

We take orders each year at the beginning of the summer term. There is also a second order at the beginning of the new school session. A small supply of sweatshirts areavailable at other times of the year.

All pupils need a painting overall/old shirt.

All clothing worn in school, including gym shoes and outdoor shoes, should be clearly marked with the child’s name.

We have a lost property box in the janitor’s office.

PE kit

A tee-shirt together with gym shoes/trainers and shorts/tracksuit bottoms are essential kit for all P.E. and games activities. Pupils who do not bring P.E. kit to school will not be able to take part in P.E. lessons. Jewellery, and in particular ear-rings, should not be worn to P.E. Football tops are not acceptable to wear.

Diary Dates:

Monday, 13 FebruaryHoliday week

Monday, 20 FebruaryIn Service Day

Tuesday, 21 FebruaryPupils resume

Tuesday 21st February P4 Athletics

Wednesday, 22 FebruaryP1 Museum

Thursday, 23 FebruarySchool Open Hour: 11.00 – 12.00

Thursday 2nd MarchWorld Book Day

Monday, 6 MarchSPCA visits

Thursday 9th MarchP6 Space Base- Generation Science

Monday, 13 MarchParent Council meeting

Thursday 16th MarchP6 Euroquiz

Tuesday 28th MarchRag Bag Collection

Wednesday, 29 MarchEaster Assembly 11.00am in school

Thursday, 30 MarchParents’ Evening – further details to follow

Friday, 31 MarchTerm ends