Minard S Duck Derby

Furnace and Minard

Primary Schools

39th Edition Newsletter June 2016

Minard’s Duck Derby

On Thursday the 2nd

we held Minard’s annual fundraising Duck Derby. It was a beautiful day, one of the best in the history of the Duck Derby’s! Luckily there was just enough water in the burn for the ducks to race (ok, they did need a bit of encouragement at times!) and a total of 14 races were run. The 14 winners then were entered into the grand final with Mrs Goodwin’s cat winning the main prize of dinner for two in Taynuilt hotel. The runner up was Barbara and Jim Costello and they won dinner for two at the Smiddy in Lochgilphead. We are extremely grateful to all who bought a duck and to the local businesses who donated prizes. A total of £300 was raised for school funds.

New Head Teacher appointed

We are pleased to be able to welcome Mrs Robyn McIlroy as the new Head Teacher following Mrs Munro’s retirement. Mrs McIlroy will take up post on the 15th of August.

Cycle Proficiency Test

Congratulations to P.J and Eilidh from Minard and Eilidh from Furnace on passing their cycle proficiency test on the 10th. Thanks to Mrs Baird for her training sessions and helper Mrs Hannah.

Samba Performance

On Friday the 10th the two schools came together for a performance of their Samba playing achievements. Mark, the tutor, led the children through the pieces they had rehearsed and all played their parts very well. Well Done!

Fun Activity Day

On Thursday the 16th we

held a very successful joint

fun activity day at Minard.

The children were split into

teams and they went round

activity stations throughout the day. These included den building, fabric printing and making the frame from branches, making crowns and being challenged to build the tallest tower with 20 sticks!

Ms Rhona cooked a BBQ for us but unfortunately it rained and we had to eat inside!

Everyone had a great day especially when we finished it off with ice creams and ice-lollies!!

There are lots of photos on both schools websites and face book pages.

Minard visit to Fire station

On Friday the 17th the

children in Minard had a

visit to Minard Fire Station.

The children chose this for

their end of term reward. Gail Cook and Frankie Penman were super in making this an extra special experience for the children. They got dressed in Firefighter’s jackets and hats, sat in the fire engine and got to use the water hose. Gail then explained about how many firefighters are trained in First Aid and she then showed us how to bandage different parts of the body using the children as ‘casualties’. We are very grateful to Gail and Frankie for doing this for the children.

Joint school sports

We held our annual school

sports on Wednesday the

22nd at Minard. We were

worried about the weather before we started but the rain cleared away and rewarded us with lovely sunny weather! (Even the midges were kind to us!)

The children were split into teams called after countries that are competing in the Olympics. There was a mix of team events and individual races with all points scored going towards their team. Everyone had a great time and there were lots of laughs attempting the obstacle race in outsized wellies!

The winning team was from Kenya and the team members were P.J, Jeremi and Tyler from Minard and Eilidh from Furnace. Well done to everyone and a big thank you to Mrs Floyd for organising and running the sports!

P7 trip

On Thursday the 23rd the P7

girls in both schools enjoyed a visit to Oban with Mrs Munro. They visited the cinema to find out about how a community run business works. Jennie, the manager, explained the background to taking over the cinema and showed the girls ‘behind the scenes’. A group of Oban High School pupils were coming to watch a film for their end of term reward so the girls were given the chance to serve in the shop and then, a special treat, to start the film. They came away from the cinema with big grins and armfuls of posters that Jennie had given them.

We went to the Oban Chocolate Shop next as Helen, the owner, set up the business herself straight from University and was given a grant to help her. She has since built up a very successful business. The girls enjoyed a chocolately lunch and then chatted to Helen about the highs and lows of running your own business.

Grateful thanks to Jennie and Helen for their time.

St Conan’s Kirk art competition

On the way back from Oban the P7’s stopped off at St Conan’s church in Loch Awe village as the children in Minard had entered their art competition. We had learned that morning that the pictures were on display as part of the churches exhibition on architecture. The children had been asked to draw pictures based on the beautiful arches in the church.

We heard on the 28th that Tyler’s painting was chosen as a runner up and he will have his painting framed. It will be handed in to school at the beginning of term. Very well done Tyler!

‘Furnard’s Got Talent!’

On Tuesday the 28th the children ended off their music lessons with Ms. Chapple in style. She had organised a talent show for the children to show off their musical skills gained over the term. The teaching staff acted the role of judges giving marks out of ten in three categories. When all the scores were added up we discovered we had joint winners! They were, Jeremi in Minard (playing the piano) and Marie in Furnace (singing Mama Mia). Ms. Chapple presented them their certificates and badges. Everyone else received certificates and medals for all their hard work and wonderful achievements.

To round off the morning, Ms. Chapple had made up a music quiz and the children split into two teams. There was lots of excitement as we neared the end and the points were close. Well done to everyone as they were able to show off all their musical knowledge.

Knit and Natter

Over the past year Minard had been running a monthly ‘Knit and Natter’ group with ladies from the local community visiting the school. It was agreed that squares (many of which were added to by the ladies at home) would be knitted and Elizabeth Hay volunteered to sew them into blankets. Some of these have already gone to the Salvation Army but the latest have been made up into lovely blankets for children and donated to

the Glasgow Hospital for Sick Children. As Mrs Munro’s daughter works on the Oncology ward they were taken there as many of the children are on the ward for long periods of time.

The Minard children received a lovely letter from the Sister on the ward expressing their delight at being given such a lovely gift.

End of Term Service

We will be holding our end of term and leavers service at Cumlodden Church on Thursday the 30th at 11a.m. All very welcome.

Dates for your Diary

August

15th and 16th – Inservice days for staff

17th – Children return

23rd , 30th – Provisional dates for swimming lessons

September

5th – Joint Parent Council meeting at Furnace at 6p.m.

6th, 13th, 20th and 27th - Provisional dates for swimming lessons

A very special thank you to all parents, staff, children and members of both school communities for all their help and support over my 3 and a half years as joint Head Teacher. I take with me many happy memories. Debbie Munro

Hope you all have a lovely summer holiday.