I have decided to keep on the festive song themes as my titles! it is apt considering that I am indeed snowed in and have been all week. We live fairly high up and look over the Forth Valley. From my house you can see over Falkirk, Clackmannanshire, Fife, Lothian and Stirling. We have lived here over twenty years and I can count the number of times that we have been snowed in on one hand. However this latest snowfall is unbelievable! Our Westie keeps disappearing into snowdrifts and our son is stuck at a friend’s house only 10 minutes drive away but can’t get back up to us.

Husband and the three other “retired gentlemen of the cul-de-sac” are averaging 4-6 hours shoveling a day trying to keep a pathway clear. As a result we have a huge mound of snow in the middle and everyone’s gardens are piled high (I can’t see our car behind our pile).I have no idea how to put a photo on this blog but I have sent a few to friends in Australia and NZ as well as son in Iraq. The son is hoping it is still here in January so he can go skiing! Seriously, I just want to be able to get out and be back at school. Thank goodness for e-mail and telephones! but, it is not the same as being there! A neighbour tried to get out yesterday but only got a couple of hundred yards before being stuck and having to get dug out. Even the gritters could not reach the main part of our village yesterday, let alone get into us. However, fingers crossed for tomorrow. It is quite scary when you realise that you are pretty cut off. I have never seen the appeal of living  in the middle of nowhere and this has strengthened that view. I need people (and shops!)

Like most teachers I rarely leave school without papers and other work so I have been keeping busy but this is Christmas time! we have to all be together and be getting on with the frantic business of all things festive! My telephone has been doing a “round robin” of calls to various staff about it all. At one point last week before school closed my PT Mrs Petrie, who is chief director and producer of the nativity, was trying to start rehearsals but she was being understudy for two shepherds and three narrators! It is this time of year more than any that we teachers all turn into Joyce Grenfell type characters and we hear “Please do not annoy the donkey” or “Angels to the left!!” in pained tones and we love it! We also have our hand held microphones which give wonderful ad lib moments throughout the performance as cues are hissed around the stage and folk, loving their moment in the spotlight, refuse to hand it over to the next speaker! We really are at the mercy of the weather this year  as to whether our fabulous production will be ready in time.

I have just checked in with school and all is well. Not too many pupils in but almost all staff. People are really doing there best to keep things going. I am off to see how the nothwest passage digging team are doing. It has stopped snowing (well, almost). Maybe I will get back to school before spring break after all!

In the immortal words of Noddy Holder “IT’S CHRISTMAS!!!” well, OK it is still November but we have been to the pantomime and it is snowing and Wednesday is the 1st of December so it is absolutly on its way!!! Brilliant!

Now, I love all things Christmas but I also know just how hectic and busy it can all be both in school and at home. This is where my obsession with lists comes into its own! I have to be organised (yes, the presents are all bought) and so does the school. All the staff have been working  behind the scenes to get organised for all the festive fun that is coming our way alongside all the learning and teaching that carries on throughout.

I love all the traditions that are woven into our school community. Like our own family traditions; when you put up the tree, do you have a star or an angel on top, what do you leave for Santa to eat etc, we have school traditions that are special to us. The November in-service days mark the start of Christmas at school with Mr Evan’s finding all the decorations and art work so that we can make repairs and think about new additions. Over this coning week the school will be decorated with lights, trees, tinsel and all things glittering and sparkly. In between all this will be the carol singing , nativity rehearsals and social dancing practice. CD players will be playing Christmas songs and the buzz of excitement will just grow and grow. Mr McLaren will do his “Bah Humbug” bit but we know he enjoys it really!

As I was typing away about all the interesting stuff Dylan Wiliam’s was talking about last week I forgot all about the best bit: Clackmannan Primary School Samba Band! We opened the conference and boy were we loud! it was great! Well it wasn’t all our brilliant Samba folk because lots of familieshad arrangements for the in-service days but there were certainly enough there! this also included two of our teachers; Mrs Elins and Mrs Clark. I was bursting with pride, and for those of you who know my musical abilities I was offered a place but declined! (I know they were being kind, as usual). Many thanks to the parents and Mrs Elins who helped transport our drummers ,and to Mrs Clark who put all the seats down in her car so that the kit could get back to school.

I love Samba Bands and jumped at the offer by Mrs Middleton our great music specialist, to set one up in school a couple of years ago. Let’s just say my enthusiasm outweighs my ability greatly! However, when I get along to the lunch time club I am always made very welcome (and given an easy beat to follow). I usually manage to make the P7 pupils take pity on me at the Leavers Assembly in June and they let me join in.  

Our teaching and support staff did a great job at reviewing our main school policies. We had already decided the ones we believed were important to our school and taken into account Authority policies and guidelines too. Now that we have  a fair number of draft policies which reflect not only Curriculum for Excellence but also our newly acquired pre and pre-pre school children . Our next step is to let everyone have a look at the policies which pairs and trios of staff worked on, comment and add to (the joy of sticky notes!) and then we are ready to ask the wider community for input and suggestions. Our main way of doing this will be to involve the Parent Council and the Pupil Council but we will be open to any other ideas too. Our policies are important to us but they are working documents, that help us shape the learning and teaching in our school. They also play a central part in our continuous improvement agenda. Everyone gets involved because they are important to us. I’d be really interested in finding out how other schools engage their community in this.

Right, I am off to look at the class blogs that staff have set up. Mr McLaren did tell me how to leave a message but as usual I have forgotten! Guess he’ll have to revisit that with me !

Last week ended in an open afternoon for parents. We decided to keep it really informal; we just wanted folks to have an opportunity to see round their child’s classroom and hear about everything that has been going on. Like most mum’s all I ever got in answer to the question “what were you doing at school today?” was “nothing much.”

Despite the grim November weather the school had a steady flow of visitors and the comments were all really positive. We have just had our formal Parents’ Nights and we have a bi open evening planned for later in the session but this “open doors” for the last hour of Friday afternoon has proved to be really worthwhile.

It is always a challenge to arrange school events, large and small, so that everyone who wants to come along can do so. We have the issue of time and of course space. We are lucky enough to have a fairly large hall and a good sized stage. However, we also have a fair number of children! so fitting them all in, plus visitors is always a challenge (usually for Mr McLaren and Mr Evans who, after a bit of grumbling, always manage to sort it out some way). On Tuesday we had our annual Scots Event which, as ever, would bring a tear to a glass eye! The classes sing and recite an eclectic mix of traditional and contemporary Scottish songs and verses. From Flower of Scotland to Yi Canni Shove Yer Granny Aff the Bus the children entertain marvelously. This event has been a long standing tradition of our school but it was only three or four years ago that we decided to open it out to others. Again due to space etc we debated long and hard about who were going to invite. We agreed on grannies, Grandpas and elderly citizens of the village. Over the last three years our visitor numbers to Scots Event have gone from around 60 to 80 to over 90 this year! It really is a lovely event and our audience is just right! Our Parent Council also got involved this year by making lovely homemade tablet and wrapping them up as small “mindings” of the occasion. Great Stuff!

Still basking in the glow of such a community event where all the children emulated the four capacities of CfE brilliantly we got into the swing of in-service yesterday. There is always such a lot to cover in these days. Today we are “GLOWING”  up in the computer suite with Mr McLaren taking the staff through the wonders of blogging. I am supposed to be doing paperwork before joining in, but haven’t actually got around to that yet! I have been mulling over all things assessment after the day with Professor Dylan Wiliam yesterday; that was very, very interesting. We have dipped our toes in this water and even had a paddle about! but hearing Prof Wiliam and meeting up with our colleagues from across the authority was really worthwhile. Mrs Cartwright and Mrs Clark were with Mr McLaren and I, and they will be leading our Teacher Learning Communities which I think are going to be great. Watch this space! Now I must get on with what I am supposed to be doing as I have a meeting to go to and not a blow struck!

I am watching the clock because I have a meeting this afternoon that I must go to and I keep getting involved in pieces of work and the time just zooms! Just now I am checking up with progress in lots of school areas . The staff and I will be doing a check on our focus areas in this session’s School Improvement Plan during next week’s in-service days; some areas are spluttering along while others are at a gentle to brisk jog! time to take stock. It is also check-up time on other aspects of school work and ofcourse  we have already started the preparations for Christmas! The Early Years’ staff are already beginning to look a bit flushed at the mention of the word nativity! The office staff have been checking dates, times and all things parties and  Cakes and Carols. Balancing all the sparkly stuff and the core hub of school (Learning and teaching) can be tricky but it is a great time to be in the world of children.

Just getting ready to go home after another busy week. The parents’ nights were really good with lots of people getting to know each other.

Our celebration assembly today had a really good mix of school and wider community achievements plus celebrating our participation in authority swimming and football events.

Today I was looking over the weekly class plans from the last few weeks and I was amazed at how much learning was being covered. Each day is so busy and packed with such a range of things from writing stories, to active maths, PE, music, art and craft activities and everything else in between! no wonder we are all ready for the weekend. I know I am.

 Middle son is just back from Iraq.It has been 8 weeks since he was last home so it is always nice to get him home for a few weeks (he works 8 weeks away, three back home). I have just got a text to say he has been picked up by his Dad and brother and is safely in his own house so I’ll pop in on the way home. Who knows, I might get the offer of lunch tomorrow!

Where is all this rain coming from?! The weather last week had some lovely Autumn days in it. Is it an age thing? I seem to think that the seasons are all running together. When I was at primary school I vividly remember the changing seasons and the excitement of wearing  new sandals every summer (I liked red but my mum usually went for brown for school) and going to Falkirk to buy boots  and wellies for all the snowy days. It is hard to get the children out and about when the weather is like this but we are trying to use our great outdoor spaces for learning throughout the year.

Our Tuesday Parents Night was busy and informative for everyone and we are set to do it all again after school today. Several parents were talking about the changes with Curriculum for Excellence , especially ensuring that everyone knows where the children are in their learning and what we are doing to support and challenge their development. Mr McLaren is putting together an information tri-fold that will outline the plans we have regarding  tracking and assessing  our pupils’ attaiments and achievements. As well as getting this information on our school web-site over the next few weeks, we will attach a leaflet to our December newsflash which should be with folks at the very start of next month.

We are getting organised for our Parents nights this week. The first one is tonight. It is always a really long day for us (teachers can’t keep to time! it is in our blood). However, it is really good to meet with as many folks as possible, put names to faces and swap stories! On  a serious note, it is a vital part of our communication with parents and carers. Each year I am reminded just how important it is that we work closely with the people at home.  Please remember we would rather hear from you than have you (or us) worrying, or being concerned about anything.

I am delighted that today, every pupil in school came with a jacket on! Yes, I know that they leave home with one but it can be an issue over breaks and lunch time, especially as the weather changes. The Quiet Zone has now opened for the P4-7 pupils and our P1-3 will have inside options too when it is very chilly outside. Fresh air is important and all well and good, however, a  lot of our older pupils do just enjoy having somewhere to sit and chat, or read over break and lunch time.

Although the nights are drawing in I am starting to GLOW!!!!
Mr McLaren has just set up a Heedie’s Blog for me to jot down thoughts and ideas so…….
Every day is an interesting day here in school and I will be writing about all the things that are going on in and around school and all the times I laugh (which are rather a lot I am glad to say!)

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