Merrylee Primary School

Merrylee Primary School

Newsletter 6 2013

Dear Parent / Carer

Please accept my apology in the late arrival of this February newsletter.

After school clubs

Please note that there will be no after school clubs next week due to Parent Consultation week except for Football on Tuesday.

Staff news

We were delighted to welcome Mrs Sharon Lupton back to work at the beginning of the month. It is great to see her looking so well again. It has been a pleasure to welcome Miss Susan McDougall to our teaching staff. Miss McDougall will be with us until the end of the session as a replacement for Mrs McKillop. I believe she has settled well into our busy school routine and I am sure she will enjoy her time here in Merrylee. Mrs Myra Young is absent from school at the moment as she has broken a bone in her foot in 3 places. She is in plaster and has been told to have complete rest for several weeks. She maintains planning contact with us and is really keen to return to work asap. I am sure you will join me in wishing her a speedy recovery.

Note from Mrs McKillop to the families of Merrylee Primary School; “I would like to say a huge thank you to all the children and their families for the lovely gifts I received on my retirement. I was bowled over by your generosity and kind wishes. I am sure I will enjoy taking it easy for a while but I will also miss everybody at Merrylee. Once again, many thanks for your generosity.” Stephanie McKillop

Dance/Keep fit class for adults

Please come along to the class in school on Tuesday mornings from 9.15-10.15am. It has been poorly attended so why don’t you come along and give it a try. There is no charge for this class as it is being funded through our school health budget.

Donation from £1500 from Parents Association

Following last week’s PA meeting I was delighted to receive a further cheque for £1500 from the committee for school funds. As a school community we are indebted to their fundraising efforts and to your support for them as the extra money available to us enhances the education of every child in Merrylee Primary School.

Assault Course

Thank you again to the PA committee for their organisation of the assault course this week. The children had a great time and hopefully more funds have been raised to provide even more opportunities for our children. Many thanks for supporting this event as every little bit helps. Many thanks also to the numerous helpers over the two days who ensured the safety of the children and encouraged them all to have fun.

Dutch visitors

We were pleased to host a visit form Dutch educationalists who were keen to observe and learn about our enterprising approach to learning and teaching. They were most impressed by our approaches and the practice they saw. Thank you to Mrs Crichton, Miss Brown, Mrs Fishwick and Mrs Campbell and their classes who welcomed the visitors into their classrooms to watch them in action.

OLA/Merrylee P7 Building Bridges project

The P7 children from both schools have worked closely together during February. They have engaged well and shared lots of learning experiences. They will now arrange a small creative project to stand as a lasting symbol of their joint work.

P5 visit to Motherwell Heritage Centre

The children were enthused following their trip to learn more about the Romans in Scotland. They used their experience at the museum to design their own storyboards for their short animation films. Very impressive work P5.

Film making in Merrylee

Last Friday our support staff were the stars of the show of a film shot by a professional film crew for Grounds for learning, a national group which encourages natural play and outdoor learning. The film was shot to be used as part of professional development for other support staff across the country to encourage them to allow the kind of free and natural play our children experience every day. Although protesting shyness and several hair cuts later, it won’t surprise you that the ladies rose to the occasion and found their natural talent. Many thanks to them and to all the children who were also featured during play sessions.

P6 and P7 cake sale

Thank you for your amazing support for the cake sale which was arranged by P6 & P7 to help pay some money towards the cost of the buses to their residential trips. Your donations of cakes etc were amazing! Thank you also for allowing the children to bring in money to spend. The sale raised the amazing amount of £458.05.

Money for Mary’s Meals

We are never short of generous entrepreneurs in Merrylee! Well done to Ryan Gray who raised money at a wedding. To P4 who raised funds by selling juice and biscuits and also to Philip Stewart who raised £76 by having a sponsored hair cut! Well done to all of you.

Glasgow Swimming Championship

Congratulations to Stephanie McDowell who competed in the finals of the above championship. She swam exceptionally well whilst competing against competitors much older than her. Well done Stephanie. She has her sights on representing our country some day.

Talk 2 Gather conference

Congratulations to P6/5 who worked together to collate presentations which a group delivered at the above conference. The conference, which was held in the City Chambers, was attended by children from all sectors and across authorities. The children received excellent feedback. Well done to the whole class as every child contributed in some way to spread the message of Children’s Rights.

Family Fun Night

I believe this was a huge success and those who managed to get tickets seemed to have had a great family experience. Many thanks again to the PA committee who were overwhelmed by the support and enthusiasm for this venture.

Indoor shoes. Please check your child’s shoes when they bring home their kit on Fridays. Many have seen better days and are becoming dangerous. I saw some very dangerous specimens attempting to enter the assault course yesterday.

Disclosure

It has been some time since we had any parents/carers undergo Disclosure Scotland checks. If you are a regular helper in any way within the school and haven’t undergone this check, can I please ask you to consider this? In some situations it is essential that we have enough adults who have undergone this check so it is really helpful to have as many as possible on our list. If you are willing to do this the school will meet the cost of the check. You are required to complete a form which is then sent away for checking by Disclosure Scotland. You are then provided with a certificate. Please contact Mrs Provan, school office manager for further details.

Medication in school

Whilst we are happy to help with medication in schools, can I please remind you that it must be prescribed medication and only after you have given clear instructions etc on the necessary medical permission slip. This slip is available from the school office and also for printing from the school website.

Head lice

After a long lean spell we have had several classes over the past few weeks where children have had head lice. I am very grateful to those parents who contact us to inform the school as we can then warn particular classes of children to be especially vigilant. However it would be advisable if you could check your child’s head on a regular basis and also advise the children to be very careful about head to head contact. I realise that

Parking/ drop off in the tennis club car park

I have met with committee members from the tennis club who have agreed to continue to allow the car park to remain open during our drop off and collect times, on the understanding if the dangerous driving etc continues; they will take measures to have it closed. The Parent Council and the club have agreed on a joint publicity campaign.

Our own car park/drop off zone

The janitor has asked that I also mention our own drop off zone once again as he says it is becoming equally dangerous as cars drive in to drop off in the morning at a ridiculous speed. Not only has both he and Stuart, crossing patroller, had near misses, but also children and other staff. At the PC meeting it was reported that one parent regularly enters the drop off zone at the exit side, drops off and then does a 3 point turn to exit. If that is you, please stop doing this. We operate a one way system.

If you are using the drop off zone in the morning, please enter very slowly and stop only briefly to allow your children to exit the car at the pavement side. Please do not park and then go and watch your child walk up the path. The idea of the drop off zone in the morning is to alleviate the stress in the surrounding streets as cars are still frequently parked on the corners or even mid road to allow children to exit. One boy was almost knocked down by a member of staff as she drove along Friarton Road. A taxi stopped in front of her and allowed the boy to exit on the roadside!

I am so sorry that I continually need to mention these issues in the newsletter as I am sure that the majority of us would never dream of being selfish and/ consider endangering the lives of children, but this is a matter very dear to the hearts of many who simply wish to avoid a disaster. Please help?

Sport your trainers’ day

Please allow your child to wear their trainers on Monday 11th March in recognition of Commonwealth Day. They should wear school uniform and no donations will be required.

Comic Relief Day Friday 15th March

Please come dressed as you please to school next Friday. Please bring a donation for comic relief which raises funds for people in this country and beyond.

Dates for your diary

Mon 11th Mar P1a, P1b, P2/1 ZooLab visiting classrooms

P5-7 To BBC studios

Tues 12th Mar 4-7pm Parent consultations

P3a, P3b To Aye Write

Wed 13th Mar P4a, P4b To Aye write

Thurs 14th Mar 4-7pm Parent consultations

Fri 15th Mar P5 To Science Centre to do Wind workshop

P2/1 To Science Centre to have sky safari in the planetarium

Mon 18/Tues19th Whole school Class drumming workshops

Wed 27th Mar P6/5 P6/5 to showcase their Bands on Tour’ project. 6.30pm

More information to follow.

Thurs 28th Mar P2-4 To watch performance of ‘Pink’ from Hopscotch Theatre

2.30pm School closes for Spring / Easter holiday

Mon 15th April 9am School resumes

Mon 6th May School closed for holiday

P7 leave to go to Ardour Outdoor Centre

Fri 10th May P7 return form Ardgour

6.30-9.30pm Pupil discos

Mon 13th May P6 leave to go to Nethybridge outdoor centre

6.30pm P7 parents information evening at Hillpark

Wed 15th – Fri 17th May P7 To Hillpark induction days

Fri 17th May P6 Return from Nethybridge

Wed 22nd May P7 Hillpark sports day

Fri 24th Mon 27th School closed for holiday

Tues 28th May School closed for staff in-service

Thurs 30th May New P1 children. Induction afternoon

Sat 1st June am School summer Fair

Thurs 6th June 7pm New P1 parents information evening

Wed 12th June pm New P1 children. Induction afternoon

Wed 26th June 1pm School closes for summer holiday

More dates to follow!

Yours faithfully

Liz Mahindru

Head Teacher

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