Nursery News:

* The vision checks for our pre-school children all went well.

* Thank you for all your support with the Duraphat application. Nearly all our children participated in this.

* We have a teaching student Miss Baillie working with us until the October holiday.

* We are also being joined by Zoe Harvey who is an Early Years Educator student at Forth Valley College. Zoe is visiting this week and will then be with us each week on Thursdays and Fridays until January.

* The nursery photographs will be held on Friday 23rd October (this is not the same day as the P1-7 children). Photographs that include younger siblings will be done first so if this will be your choice, please be at nursery for the start of the session.

* Many thanks to our group of library helpers and for the parent helpers who have been with us on our walks when we have been out and about.

* Class Dojo is proving to be very popular throughout the school. Please make sure that you have signed up to this service so that you can get instant access to our nursery day through the class storyboard as well as using the messaging service. Any advice or issues just ask a member of staff who will be happy to help.

* School is closed to all pupils for our November in-service days on Thursday 26th and Friday 27th for staff training.

* Please remember that if your child has sickness and/or diarrhoea they should be clear of all symptoms for 48 hours before returning to us.

* The nursery Halloween party will be going on throughout both sessions on Friday 30th October. We look forward to seeing all the costumes but please remember not to make anything too scary! Costumes do not have to be Halloween themed.

* Our children change into gym shoes when we start our nursery session. Please make sure that your child has a pair of soft shoes to change into. Velcro makes the job much easier.

* Our popular Stay and Play sessions will take place as follows until 10.00am and 1.30 pm respectively;

* Blue Group 26th October

* Green Group 27th October

* Red Group 28th October

* Orange, Yellow and Purple Groups 29th October

Pantomine Visit: This year the McRobert Art Centre are taking us all off to the kingdom of “The Little Mermaid”. As always we are all going along to enjoy this whole school festive event. P1-7 classes and the school team will be waving Mr Crews goodbye on Tuesday 1st December. The price of the outing is £9.00 per child. Our Parent Council has secured the funds for our buses through everyone’s generosity and hard work. Our grateful thanks as always. All payments should be with the school office no later than Monday 23rd November. Information and payment slip will be sent home at the beginning of November. If you do not want your child to go on this outing then please contact the school so we can discuss alternative arrangements. We are away until lunchtime. All lunches will be packed that day. These can be provided by the school meals catering service but must be booked in advance. Please advise us on the payment slip if you are ordering a school packed lunch that day.

As we notice the change in outdoor temperatures can I ask that all our young people be sent to school with appropriate outdoor clothing. We all enjoy using our outdoor spaces at playtime and lunchtime but also throughout the day as classes take learning activities outside. We also take part in sporting events that are held outside at this time of year. This session, we have all been inspired by The Daily Mile at St Ninians Primary School, and here at our school every class is participating in the Clackmannan Kilometre either using the park or the muga as we run, jog and walk for 10 minutes or so each day if possible.

We all influence our young people. Here in school we lead and work by example and support our young people as they gain their skills and knowledge of themselves and the wider community. It has been brought to our attention that several adults visiting the school grounds at the start and end of the school day are using inappropriate language. We would ask that everyone respects the standards we set in school for our young people and lead by example by not swearing in and around our school.

Our colleagues in the police were out and about recently after concerns by members of the public about parking issues and safety for everyone. Please be a courteous and thoughtful driver. We have lots of very young people in school and it is important that they are able to cross safely especially at the beginning and end of the school day.

Class Dojo: We are getting great feedback from parents about the use of this personal messaging service between school and home. If you aren’t signed up yet please try to do so. The Class Story facility has replaced our Class Blog posts and really does give instant access to the learning in the classrooms. Don’t forget that you can also follow us on Twitter. Check out our new look website with the ever growing number of features to help us share our busy days in school with our friends and families.

This morning is a very exciting time for some of our primary 6 children. Over the last few weeks the teachers have been talking with the children about who would like to be deputy head boy and girl and,more importantly, what skills and qualities they would bring to the job. This morning we have a shortleet of six children who will be presenting to Mrs Wieczorek and Mr McLaren and then answering some questions…. We await the results with bated breath!