Article 29 – Children’s education should develop each child’s personality, talents and abilities to the fullest.

A few weeks ago a group of diving coaches from Sport Aberdeen came into our school to work with P2-7 pupils during their P.E. time.  They were part of a Talent ID group looking to identify potential diving talent in the children.  They participated in a variety of land based activities and from this some of the students were selected to go on to the next phase of the selection process.   The coaches went to 10 schools in total and saw 2000 children during this time and from this 197 were selected for phase 2.  Phase 2 for Ferryhill took place on Sunday the 12th.  Morgan, Amelie, Oskar, Hannah, Joshua, Maisy and Edel performed very well in the next phase with some of them bravely jumping off the 5m diving boards.  This programme has been successful in other areas in the country and they have even had some students participating in the 2012 and 2016 Olympic games.  We want to congratulate our pupils for getting this far and will wait to hear if they will be part of the final 40 to be selected to take part in the diving training program.

UNCRC – Article 28 – Every child has the right to an education…

Today our children were highly entertained by Stuart Reid, author and promoter of children’s literacy.  Stuart talked at length about what inspired him to become a writer and also his experiences of meeting other acclaimed children’s authors … a great deal of hilarity today!

UNCRC – Article 12 – Every child has the right to have their say in all matters affecting them, and to have their views taken seriously.    Pupil Voice…

As part of Fairtrade Fortnight the Rights Respecting Steering committee decided on a special Assembly.  Primary 7 pupils took the lead with an experiment to see which raisins would be the tastiest . .. Result:  Fairtrade was by far the tastiest.  It was great to see pupils involved from all stages – Nursery to Primary 7!  The steering committee has also set all classes a Fairtrade Poster Challenge.

UNCRC – Article 12 – Every child has the right to have their say in all matters affecting them, and to have their views taken seriously.

As part of our commitment to children’s rights, World Book Day was organised by our Pupil Council.  They also set a homework task where pupils had to create their own book cover and blurb.  The pupil council then awarded certificates to their favourite designs in each class at our special assembly.  Pupils enjoyed dressing up as their favourite book character.

UNCRC – Article 31 – Every child has the right to relax, play and take part in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities.

Congratulations to all Ferryhill pupils who competed in this year’s Festival.  Excellent recitals by all.  As in previous years a number of medals were awarded to our talented pupils:

Primary 4:

Jamie McPherson – Silver medal       Owen Barnett – Bronze medal

Primary 5:

Ava Maclennan – Gold medal             Jack Fyfe – Silver medal                     Julia Basniak – Bronze medal

Primary 6:

Max Polson – Silver medal                   Hassan Yildirim – Bronze medal

Primary 7:

Vincent Choi – Bronze medal

Ava Maclennan’s stunning performance earned her first place over all for the Primary 5 groups.  She  will now go on to represent the North East of Scotland later this session.

World Book Day – Thursday 2nd March – Pupil Council ask that you dress as a character from a book.

Robert Burns Festival – Saturday 4th March – Letters have already gone home to pupils involved in this

Stuart Reid – Award winning children’s author – Friday 10th March – Stuart will present at our Assembly and pupils will get a chance to buy his books.  We are sending a letter home with further information about this event.  Please note that parents are under no obligation to buy any books.

P3 Egyptian Show for parents – Thursday 16th March – 1.30pm

Cross Country Championships – Balgownie – Friday 17th March – Primary 5 to Primary 7 pupils who have been selected to take part will shortly get a letter home.  Thank you to the PTA for offering to supply free bottles of water for this event!

Musician’s Concert – Friday 24th March – At Ferryhill Church – all children receiving music tuition within the school will get a chance to perform to family, friends and their peers – 9.30 a.m

Literacy Open Afternoon for parents – Friday 24th March – 2.00pm to 3.00pm – All Primary 1 to Primary 7 parents are invited to attend and get a snapshot of their child’s learning activities in the field of literacy.  Further information to be sent home at a later date.

Easter Service – Friday 31st March – 9.30 start – All family and friends invited to join us for our end of term service

Easter Holidays – Monday 3rd April to Monday 17th April inclusive (Back to school on Tues. 18th)

Senior Pupils Rookie Event – Thursday 20th April – Lifeguard and First Aid tuition at RGU

Week Beginning 22nd May – Health Week – lots of activities around the theme of ‘Health’ for the whole school

Dalguise Information Evening for Primary 7 Parents – Thursday 25th May – 6.00 pm to 7.00 pm.  We encourage all P7 parents whose children are going to Dalguise to attend this meeting

The Hobbit – Tuesday 30th May – Performance by M & M Theatre group for P1 to P7.  Paid for by the PTA

Parents Evenings – Tuesday 30th May and Thursday 1st June

Travelling Books – Tuesday 30th May to Friday 2nd June – Pupils will be able to buy books with a percentage of the sales going to the school.

Charity Run at Duthie Park in aid of NSPCC – Friday 2nd June – The P7 Sports Captains will organise this for the whole school.  Families are invited to join us.  More details will follow nearer the time.

Dalguise Outdoor Activity Week – Week beginning 12th June –  Primary 7’s residential trip

Build a Den Day – Charity event in aid of Save the Children – Global Citizenship – Friday 16th June – more details to follow at a later date

End of Year Service – Friday 30th June – led by Primary 7 pupils

UNCRC – Article 12 – Every child has the right to have their say in all matters affecting them, and to have their views taken seriously.

In Ferryhill we have 3 pupil committees – Rights Respecting, Pupil Council and Eco Council.  Pupils collect ideas from their classes before reporting these at meetings.  This enables them to make changes to improve their school as well as make decisions surrounding special days such as World Book Day, International Day etc.

This week your child will come home with our latest Rights Respecting Leaflet.  Logan and Euan two of our P7 members of the Rights Respecting Schools steering group have recently updated our previous leaflet.   Please take time to discuss this with your child, highlighting our expectations in Ferryhill School. You can preview this by clicking on the link below:

rrs-leaflet

UNCRC Article 31 – Children have the right to join in a wide range of cultural, artistic and other recreational activities…

We had a very exciting Assembly this week where all the winners of our P1 to P7 Burns poetry recital competition were able to present to the rest of the school.  Ex-Ferryhill pupil Ross Thomson did an excellent job of  piping us in.  This was quickly followed by superb performances from our Highland Dance Club.  Scottish poetry recitals from all pupils were delivered with confidence.

First, Second and Third places for P4 to P7 will go on to represent this school at the NE Burns Federation competition in Portlethern on Saturday 4th March.

UNCRC Article 31 – Children have the right to join in a wide range of cultural, artistic and other recreational activities

Last week the infant department were treated to a visit by Kidsgloves Puppet Company. They enjoyed watching several mini shows based on well known fairy tales and fables.  Today some of the children have been writing about the stories they saw.  It was a lovely treat enjoyed by all.