KINTORE PRIMARY SCHOOL BULLETIN NO 14
Dear Parents/Guardians
Aberdeenshire Wellbeing Festival
As part of the above we are holding an open event on Friday 12 May 2017 from 1.30 pm -3.30pm.
During this we will be hosting a range of stalls from local groups as well as the leisure and business community. We hope to cover all aspects of wellbeing, including relaxation, beauty, physical and mental health.
There will be opportunities to find out what is available locally and perhaps even try a few taster sessions. Refreshments will be available and we would love it if you came to see what is on offer. Bring a friend!
PTA Activities
Please note the following:-
There will be no Quiz Night as indicated in the annual calendar, instead the PTA will go ahead with the following:
-Thursday 25 May – Bags to School collection.
-Saturday 10 June – Annual football tournament. This event takes considerable organisation and the PTA would be delighted to hear from anyone who can help out on the day or with the prior organisation. Please contact either Tracey Smith (0784 170320) or any other member of the PTA.
As usual all funds raised benefit all of the children.
Class Photographs – P1, P3, P5 and P7
These will take place this week, Thursday 27 April; apologies for not informing you sooner. We will have these taken in the usual ‘informal’ format and pupils should be in school uniform.
Nursery Photographs will take place on Monday, 15 May.
Change in Menu
There is a change in the school menu for Tuesday, 2 May. Choices are homemade cheese and tomato pizza and chicken curry instead of chicken and potato and broccoli bake.
Basketball
Coaching resumes on Thursday 27 April and will finish on Thursday 22 June.
Parental Questionnaire on Homework
We are currently reviewing our homework policy in light of feedback from parents and research findings about the effectiveness of homework. Staff recently attended an event run by James Nottingham who is the founder of ‘Challenging Learning’. His passion is in transforming the most up-to-date research into strategies that really work in the classroom. At this event James Nottingham spoke favourablyabout homework tasks called ‘Preview’. This is where your child’s task would be to explore some new learning at home, increasing the opportunity for personalisation and choice and greater pupil engagement. This allows children to gain prior knowledge before concepts are worked on in school, allowing deeper learning to take place in the class. Research provides strong evidence that homework of the right kind and when used appropriately, has an impact on pupil attainment.
John Hattie’s research shows that much of homework in Primary Schools has little effect on attainment unless it’s the ‘right type of homework’.
A Parent/Teacher working group has been established to gather views about current ways of working and what changes could be made to our homework policy. We are interested in getting views from all
parents and would like to invite you to complete a Survey Monkey questionnaire. Please access this via the link below.
You may wish to complete more than one survey if your opinions change depending on your child’s age.
Garden
We have taken a calculated risk and gone ahead with re-covering our greenhouse ready for the growing season. In an attempt to cut down the vandalism we are in the process of installing motion sensitive lighting and security cameras have been re-positioned.
Apart from engaging the services of a security guard, there’s not much else we can do.
Session 2017 – 2018
We are now at the stage of looking at class formation and staffing for next session. If you intend to move your child to Midmill we would appreciate you letting us know as soon as possible allowing us to determine how many classes to form. I dare say Mr Calder at Midmill would appreciate this too!
Schools Swimming Gala
The Garioch Amateur Swimming Club will hold a Gala for schools on Saturday, 17 June 3.00 pm – 5.30 pm. This is mainly for club swimmers and we would happily support any parent keen to put together a team for this. Please contact us if you wish to discuss this further.
P5 TamO’Shanter with Scottish Opera
As intimated earlier, P5 pupils will perform the above with Scottish Opera at 2.15 pm on Tuesday, 2 May. It may be possible, accommodation wise, for brothers and sisters to come along to the short performance. Something to look forward to.
Nursery/Primary 1 – Teddy Bears’ Picnic
Take care in Gauchhill Woods on Wednesday, 3 and Thursday, 4 May as P1 pupils and the Nursery children will be enjoying a picnic and other activities in the woods. This is just one of the many activities designed to ease transition into Primary One. Fingers crossed for decent weather.
P7 Field Trip – Inverclyde
A representative, Graham Randell, from the recently re-furbished centre will be with us on Wednesday, 17 May. In the afternoon he will meet with the children attending the trip and from 6.30pm – 7.30pm will meet with parents.
Please indicate on the attached slip how many adults will attend the evening session.
Nursery Open Evening – Tuesday, 30 May
We have managed to cause a bit of confusion over this. The Open Evening will take place on Tuesday, 30 May, as in the letter sent out to the new intake. The date on the blue calendar (Wednesday, 31 May) will not go ahead.
Staffing
Teaching Staff
We would like to welcome Ms Laura Dunn and Mrs Alison Taylor to our teaching staff. Ms Dunn is already settled into P1S and Mrs Taylor is currently working in a range of classes but will move to support for learning.
Mrs Wilson is building up her time in school but finding it more tiring than she anticipated. As she builds up her time, Susan will move to providing non-contact time for classes.
Mrs Amy Young will return from maternity leave before the end of term working two days each week.
P.S.A. Post
We currently have advertised a 10 hour per week PSA post which is short-term, finishing Easter 2018.
Administrator
MrsRhona Rafferty will take up our administrator post in mid-May; a big thank you to our existing staff for keeping us on track.
Mrs Stephen
Mrs Stephen has decided to retire and spend time with the grandchildren and doing the things she loves. Jane has been with us as Depute for around twelve years and has proved to be dedicated and hardworking whatever the task she is given.
We will certainly miss Jane when she leaves us at the end of the session.
ASD and Anxiety
SCILL have organized a talk on the above to be held in Aboyne-Dinnet Church Hall on Thursday, 25 May. To book a place contact or call 07913 326816.
Details of other events can be seen on their website
Easy Fundraising
We are delighted to have received a cheque for £76.68 for all the confirmed donations raised up to and including 31st December 2016. Please continue to support us by registering online when you shop with Sainbury’s, Expedia, John Lewis, Argos, Aviva, Booking.com.
Community News
Library News
Come along to the Home Energy Scotland Roadshow at Kintore Library on Friday, 5 May 2.30 pm –
4.30 pm, to find out how you could save money and live in a warmer/greener home or find out about how to switch energy suppliers. Everyone welcome.
Inverurie Boxing Club
Boxing Training for all children aged 7 – 16 is available weekly from Tuesday, 2 May 7.00 pm – 8.00pm in the Inverurie Town Hall.
Forthcoming Events
Monday, 1 May -Holiday
Tuesday, 2 May- Scottish Opera Workshops and Performance
Wednesday, 3 May- Nursery & P1 Teddy Bear Picnic
Thursday, 4 May- Nursery & P1 Teddy Bears Picnic
-Scottish Parliament Education Outreach (P6)
Friday, 5 May-P2P Assembly
Saturday, 6 May- Rotary Quiz
Tuesday, 9 May- Nursery to Castle Fraser
Wednesday, 10 May-Netball Festival
Thursday, 11 May- Nursery to Castle Fraser
-Cluster Ceilidh (P5) held in Kintore
Friday, 12 May- P2S Assembly
-Wellbeing Café 1.30 pm – 3.30 pm
- Scottish Parliament Education Outreach (P6)
Tuesday, 16 May- PTA Meeting – all welcome
Wednesday, 17 May- Jazz Sessions begin – P6
-Visit/talks from Inverclyde Representative
Friday, 19 May- Learning Showcase/Open Afternoon
Friday, 26 May- P1K Assembly
Monday, 29 May- Visiting Theatre Group – ‘The Hobbit’
Tuesday, 30 May- Nursery Parent Open Evening
Friday, 2 June-P1S Assembly
Monday, 5 June- Local Holiday
Tuesday, 6 June- Parent Council/PTA AGM
Holidays for 2017
Monday, 1 May 2017 -May Day Holiday
Monday, 5 June 2017 -Local Holiday
Friday, 30 June 2017 -Last Day of School before Summer Break
Tuesday, 22 August 2017 - Term 1 starts
Monday, 16 October 2017 – Friday, 27 October 2017 -October Break
Monday, 25 December 2017 – Friday, 5 January 2018 - Christmas Break
WILMA WALKER 26 April2017 TYPED BY M Meyer
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Bulletin No 14 Parent Comments
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InverclydeField Trip Presentation -Wednesday, 17 May 6.30 pm – 7.30 pm
Number of adults attending ……………………………………………………….
Child’s Name ………………………………………………………….………………….. Class ……………………………………………….
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