This newsletter is intended to update you on lots of activities that have been going on in school since we returned in January, and to highlight some forthcoming events for the next half-term. You should all have received a year stage newsletter giving you details about what’s going on in the classroom and how you can support your son/daughter - please contact the school office if this did not get delivered.

Together We Count – Maths Day

We had great fun at both campuses on Friday 24th January when nearly every pupil came to school in some imaginative costume linked to maths – there was a dice in each class, lots of calculators, some chimney sums, clocks, pencils and rulers, a 007 and some 118s to name but a few! As usual, thank you parents for getting involved by helping your children with their outfits – we had great fun and the £500 raised will go towards the maths murals at John Muir and outdoor maths games for both campuses.

Together We Count evening – Tuesday 18th February 5pm – 6.30pm – John Muir Campus

We would like to invite you to a Together We Count evening aimed at parents of P1 – P3 pupils at John Muir Campus. There will be a short introduction to the evening in the main hall starting at 5.00pm.

Dunbar Primary teaching staff will then be running numeracy workshops to demonstrate the teaching of early maths, active maths, addition, subtraction, early multiplication and division as well as using technology to enhance maths skills. There will be a chance to play (if you want to!) some of the Active Maths games and get online with Education City which we use with the pupils.

We will not be asking you to do any Maths yourself! It will be fun but will also help you to understand more about how your child learns numeracy skills. For more details contact Mr MacRury or Mrs Gillanders.

A Very Personal ‘Thank You’ to Dunbar

A massive thank you from all the Balharrie family; Angela and family would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who kindly donated to the collections for P1 pupil Eilish who is currently undergoing treatment for leukaemia. A total of £161.13 was raised at the brilliant P1 'I Spy Christmas' performance for the haematology/oncology ward 2 at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh where Eilish is being treated.

The family were extremely moved by the very generous personal collection for Eilish which is a massive help towards the associated costs of her illness such as the many trips to hospital for ongoing treatment. Eilish is being very brave and is responding well to her treatment and is even managing a few half days at school much to her and our delight. The family say it is such a massive boost being part of a community like Dunbar where everyone is looking out for us and wants to help in any way possible to support Eilish's journey back to health. Thank you so very much to everyone who has contributed to the collections, it means such a lot to us all!

Rotary Club - Purple Pinkie Day

Once again we have decided to support Dunbar Rotary in their efforts to make polio a disease of the past. They are coming into school on Wednesday 26th February for Nursery - P3 and Friday 28th February for P4-P7. On these days we would be very grateful if the pupils could bring in a donation and could wear something purple. For every £1 we raise 3 children will be immunised against this disease. The pupils will be putting their pinkie finger in purple paint and putting it onto a big world map to show where the disease has been eradicated. It currently only exists in 3 countries – Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Rotary clubs across the world hope efforts such as ours will enable this to be eradicated by 2018.

This work links in with the work we are doing to become a Rights Respecting School - UNICEF Rights of The Child – article 24 states: Every child has the right to the best possible health. Governments must provide good quality health care, clean water, nutritious food and a clean environment so that children can stay healthy. Richer countries must help poorer countries achieve this.

PE at Dunbar – Kit Fit!

This year as part of our school improvement programme we are focusing on PE, both ensuring we are meeting the Government requirement that pupils get 2 hours per week but also that our lessons are motivating, focused on developing skills and challenging for all pupils. In order for this to be successful, we need your support in making sure your son/daughter has an indoor and outdoor PE kit in school every day. We also need you to help by ensuring that they have shoes that are suitable for gymnastics, hockey, Scottish country dance or basketball. Crocs, Uggs and school shoes are not ideal and we would really appreciate your support in kitting them out with either pumps or trainers. Slip on pumps are preferable to velcro straps as they last longer. Thank you very much. We will send kits home for washing and gym shoes for checking – Please remember to send kits back on the 18th.

Primary 7 World of Work (Tuesday 18th February – Friday 21st February)

The event will be a high impact, week long programme of work and career related activities, designed to develop children’s awareness, knowledge and skills for the world of work and adult life. We hope it will raise pupils’ aspirations and allow children to identify careers they may be interested in. Check out the website for details during this week – over 17 speakers are coming in to talk about their jobs to inspire our youngsters.

Dunbar Library

Afree P4 - P7 Homework Club runs every Monday and Thursday from 3.30 – 4.45pm in Dunbar Library. If you would like more information, please pop in to Dunbar Library or phone 01368 866060 for more information.

Douglas Allen Trophy Primary 7 5-aside Football

Having successfully beaten every team in their section the P7 team went onto the finals where they came a very hard fought and honorable third – being narrowly beaten by the eventual winners – Windygoul Primary. Well done to : M Lawler, F Gallagher, L Brunton, R Cooper, S Purves, T Leitch, T Twist.

Children in Need – Well Done!

Thanks again for all the donations to the annual Children in Need appeal – we raised a fantastic £1685 with our PJ and Onesie day!

Request for small items for John Muir Campus

During the recent spell of wet weather we have sent lots of girls home with a change of tights and boys with a change of trousers, unfortunately we have now run out! Could you please return any trousers/tights that were borrowed from school. If you have any spare tights or trousers that your children have grown out of we would be very grateful for donations.

Friday School Run at Lochend Campus

A reminder to all Primary 5, 6 and 7 pupils that ‘School Run’ has started again for 2014 – why not come back and see if you can run a ‘personal best’. The run starts at 8.15am every Friday and if you have never tried it come and try it after the half-term break – the good weather is coming!

Rotary Quiz 2014

Last week seven teams from across the cluster competed in the Rotary Club Primary School Quiz. Dunbar Primary entered two teams and finished in 1st and 2nd place! They were followed in 3rd place by pupils from Belhaven Hill School. The winning team will now move forward to compete in the regional final against school pupils from across East Lothian. Well done to: The Winning Team – Thomas Leitch, Archie Williams, Alicia Lancaster and Rhian Dowding and the Runners Up – Eva Dowding, Rowan Daff, Emma Welsh and Conor Bamford, a great team effort!!

Coming Soon – The Big Pedal 3-14 March

Once again Dunbar Primary School is taking part in The Big Pedal and this year we are hoping to win the overall prize. That means we need as many people as possible coming on a bike – scooters count but not as much. We are sending out a newsletter once we come back from half-term with more details but maybe think about getting your bike out of the shed ready to go!

I hope you have enjoyable half-term holiday - A reminder that pupils return to school on Tuesday 18th February

Helen Gillanders

(School website: edubuzz.org/blogs/dunbarprimary)