Head Teacher: M.R.Tremmel

Head Teacher: M.R.Tremmel

Gullane Primary School

Muirfield Terrace

Gullane

EH31 2HL

Tel/Fax: 01620 843455

Dear Parents/Carers

I hope you are all well and the better weather is keeping you all cheerful. Apparently, snow may come soon! The children have all been working hard and all seem well at present. There have been a few bugs around so we are reinforcing hand washing and such like. It is lovely that they are all so well turned out in their school uniforms-such a pleasure to see all these smart young people.

Following our Meet the Teacher session we have decided that it may not have suited all of you. I have talked this through with our Parent Carer Council and we will work on something that suits the majority next session. There were those that liked being here straight after school and others who were not so keen. Trial and error!

Parent/ Teacher Consultations are next week for the bulk of our families and we are looking forward to seeing you in and around school. You should all have your appointment times and we hope all runs smoothly. Please ask any child you bring to sit very quietly in the hall or outside the class area. Bring a book or quiet game.

School Photographs

The photographer will be in school next Tuesday (8th October). We will coordinate families and individual children. The afternoon nursery group will also be accommodated. It would be extremely helpful – and make for a better photo – if all the children were as smart as new pins and carried some form of brush or comb to ensure they look their best. We do have some in school and use antiseptic wipes between hair dos. We will endeavour to keep them all as clean as possible!

We would like to welcome you all back after a fabulous summer. For those of you who are new to the school, the PTA holds a number of events throughout the year to raise money for the school. At the end of each school year, Mrs Tremmel and the PTA agree on how the money raised should be spent. For the 2012 -2013 school year, £7,500 was raised – a fantastic amount! The contribution from parents, staff, pupils and the wider Gullane community was crucial in achieving this. Thank you for all of your support. Mrs Tremmel has used some of this money to purchase a new sound system, projector and screen for the school hall – something that will benefit all of the children. We will let you know how the rest of the money is spent as soon as we release the funds.

The PTA committee changes every two years and this year will be the current committee’s last. In April, we will be looking for volunteers to create a new committee for the period 2014-2016. Please let one of us know if you are interested. The current committee members are Lucy Mackay (Chair), Lynne Malcolm (Secretary) and Laura Smith (Treasurer) along with Fiona Ferguson, Kerrie Brown, Caroline Syme, Michelle Liston, Melissa Leadley, Toe Flockhart, Louise Gill, Kirsty Duncan, Gwen McNeil and Hannah Fyfe.

Our planned events up until Christmas are as follows: -

Quiz Night 4th October, 8pm at the Golf Inn’s function room

£20 per team (max 5 people). Only a few tables left. Auction and raffle.

Monster Mash 31st October 5.30-7.00pm in the school hall

Children only but parents welcome to stay. £2 per ticket. Snacks, drinks and Halloween goodies for sale

Ticket order forms will be sent home the week beginning 7th October.

Christmas Hamper Raffle

Sign-up sheet for donations will be available at the parent consultations. Raffle tickets will be sent home from mid- November.

Christmas Calendar

Order forms will be sent home in November and calendars will also be sold at the school office and at the Christmas concerts

Christmas Disco 19th October 7-8.30pm in School hall

£2 per ticket. Order forms will be sent home at the beginning of December

Thanks for your continued support!

The PTA

Harvest Festival

P4 are managing this event again this session. The assembly is open to all and please feel you are welcome to join us from around 9.15am in the hall. We have decided to support a local food bank this year. Many families struggle to feed their households and there are food banks in East Lothian supporting East Lothian families.

We are happy to accept donations of any canned goods, dried goods such as rice/pasta/pulses, long life milk or juice, biscuits, jams, marmalades, teabags, coffee, sugar. Please send your donation in to the class any time from the date of this newsletter. Please do not send fresh fruit and veg this year. Thank you.

Adopt a School Charity Dinner Tuesday 29th October 2013

Albert Roux, world famous chef, has adopted Gullane Primary as his school in East Lothian. Each year he has held and funded a charity dinner in Gullane Primary where all proceeds go to a local cause. The Primary 7 pupils prepare and cook the meal as well as manage the service for the evening. The school hall is transformed into a cosy,well set out dining room for the evening. The dinner starts at 7pm and will be concluded by 9.30pm. The menu has been lovely the last three sessions. The tickets are £20 per person. Some organise a group to come along. There are only 75 tickets available, so please book early. If you wish to purchase a ticket please send your name, how many tickets you would like and the right amount of money – cheques made payable to East Lothian Council and enclose in an envelope for the school office’s attention. The charity that has been chosen by the P7 children is the RNLI in North Berwick.

Walk to School Week 7th – 11th October 2013

This is a focus week again for schools in East Lothian. It is there to encourage families to leave the car at home and walk. If you are unable to do this – maybe you live outside the village – then park and stride is encouraged.

Achievements of all kinds outside school

Please remember to let us know if your child has done something out of school no matter how small or large – we love to know and we put up a card in school and mention the child and the achievement in our newsletters. We are also happy to accept the text for the information via email.

We also appreciate feedback on the work we do. Please feel free to email or write to school.

Well done!

Well done to…Emma Chapman. Competed in the Wee Wonders British Championships Grand Final 2013 at St Andrew’s this past August. Well done.

And a well done to…Robbie Wallace (P7) has been selected by the SFA to take part in the 2020 football programme. Children from across East Lothian were invited to take part in trials and he will now go on to participate in 10 months of training with SFA coaches. This is all part of the SFA's strategy to build a stronger national team in the year 2020.

Kind regards

M. R. Tremmel

26th September 2013

Community News and Information

Instead of many flyers going home and adding to a paper mountain we put all such events in this section. If you are organising an event please write what you would like as information and we will endeavour to include in this section for you. We do not take any responsibility nor do we screen the quality of any the community projects and events advertised

North Berwick Juvenile Pipe Band

September 2013

North Berwick Juvenile Pipe Band has just finished its first summer of engagements. These have included: The Community Festival in the Lodge, The Colts Football Festival, the weekly Wednesday night performances in the Lodge in July and August, and playing down the street after the North Berwick Highland Games.

The Juvenile band continues to feed into the adult band and we have already had three members of the juvenile band graduate to the adult ranks. There continues to be a good number of beginners eager to learn the pipes and drums, but we are always happy to see more people come and learn to play.

Practices are on Wednesday evenings in St Andrew Blackadder Church Hall, St Andrew’s Street, North Berwick. Chanter lessons start at 6.30pm, drumming lessons start at 7pm and the band starts at 7pm.

Anyone interested can just come along, or for more information contact the President of the Pipe Band, John Starr on Tel. 01620 893500 or by email

26/9/13P6 Hockey Taster in school

27/09/13Macmillan Coffee Morning 10-11am in the school hall

October 2013

1/10/13P6 Hockey Festival NBHS

2/10/13Vision Screening in school – pre-schoolers only

1/10/13Parental Consultation Evening – 1800 – 2030 hrs

3/10/13Parental Consultation Evening 1630 hrs – 1900 hrs

Some specific arrangements depending on staff

4/10/13PTA Quiz Night Golf Hotel 8 pm

8/10/13Tempest- Family and Individual Photos-in school

8/10/13P7 Hockey Tournament Meadowmill 9.30-12

9/10/13P6 Golf Inn Dessert Competition

10/10/13Harvest Assembly 9.30 – all welcome. P4 will coordinate the collection of food gifts later this term.

11/10/13School finishes, for half term break, closure at usual times.

21/10/13In- Service for staff

22/10/13Pupils Resume

22/10/13P7 Rugby Taster in school

23/10/13P7 Girls Indoor Football Festival Meadowmill am

24/10/13P7 Rugby Taster in school

28/10/13P1 through to P4. Giraffes Can’t Dance – in school(drama/music session)

29/10/13P7 Charity Dinner with Albert Roux. Tickets soon. £20 per head – great evening! Tickets on sale now. There are only 75 tickets so be quick!

30/10/13P7 and P2 to Dynamic Earth

31/10/13P7 Tag Rugby Meadowmill

31/10/13P3 and P3/4 Museum Visit – all day.

31/10/13Monster Mash! PTA Halloween Event- in school hall.

November 2013

Early NovemberPoppies on sale

4/11/13P1 through to P4. Dance – in school(drama/music session)

13/11/13Parent Carer Council Meeting 7 pm in Golf Hotel – all welcome

14/11/13P5 Basketball taster in school

19/11/13P5 Basketball Festival NBSC am

21/11/13Saltire Storyteller for P5- in school

27/11/13P7 Sportshall Athletics Meadowmill am

28/11/13P7 Ceilidh at NBHS – more details to follow.

29/11/13Concert Dress Rehearsal from 9.45 am

December 2013

4/12/13Matinee Performance of concert for P1&2 children only 2pm start

4/12/13Evening performance of concert – P1-7- 7pm start

5/12/13Evening Performance of concert – P3-7 only. No P1&2 children. 7pm start

Tickets on sale after October break.

On Thursday 5th and Friday 6th December the children will be allowed to come into school for 10am. All staff will be in class areas if you have to have them here for the usual time.

10/12/13Nursery Nativity am – in hall.

13/12/13Brass Band will visit from NBHS

16/12/13P3-4 Christmas Party in hall – pm

17/12/13Church Service 9.45

17/12/13P1-2 Party in hall pm

18/12/13Pantomime in school hall ‘Sleeping Beauty’ – cost per child £3. Details of when to send in money to follow.

18/12/13P5-7 Christmas Party in school hall pm

19/12/13Nursery Parties – details to follow.

19/12/13PTA Christmas Disco – see letter above

20/12/13School closes for the term at 12.00 for all P1-7 pupils. 11.00 for the nursery class.