This term we are continuing our theme of traditional Scottish music with an input from 2 new presenters from Feis Rois, a group based in Dingwall in the Highlands who have presenters covering a wide variety of traditional Scottish music and instruments. Grant MacFarlane and Claire Mann are here for an eight week block to bring to us music which includes the use of accordian, fiddle and tin whistle amongst others. Here they are having introduced themselves and some of their instruments to P.6 and 7, before moving through to P.4 and 5. Their music is gauranteed to set our toes tapping in time to the beat!

On Monday 13th January a parents’ information evening was held at Hardgate School. Parents from our partner schools in our new cluster were also invited to attend. The focus was on numeracy and in particular the guides which staff produced to help parents with ideas to involve themselves with numeacy along with their child at home. the guides are in three stages in line with Curriculum for Excellence. The majority of pupils will have completed up to the end of level 2 by the end of primary school, and there will also be a number who have progressed onto 3rd level. Below you will find the guides for early, first and second levels. If you wish to print these guides, then click on the one you want and it will open up as a PDF which you can then print for your own use.

Early level

First level

Second level

From January 2014, the following 3 schools, Hardgate, Springholm and Lochrutton have become a cluster and are under the management of Mrs Susan Ramage. This has resulted in each of these schools appointing a Principal Teacher to be in charge when Mrs Ramage is not on site. The PT for Hardgate is now Mrs Tracy Martin as from 10th January. Contact can be made at any time in the usual way, and appointments made if you have any queries regarding any school matter.

Here you can see Verity with the puddings ready for sale, complete with her winning label. We have boxes of these special puddings ready to sell on Friday 13th December at our Festive Fun Night. Come along  between 6 and 8 pm  to enjoy some Christmas spirit and fun.

Alliteration was the theme of author Stuart Reid, when he made a flying visit to our school to talk about his books. Stuart is new to writing, having had another career in the hospitality industry as a manager with a large company. He decided to change direction in life and start to write childrens’ books. His series about Gorgeous George has just taken off and at present there are 3 books, with a 4th in the making. He entertained the children in a very lively style and hopefully inspired young writers to continue with their efforts to improve their writing skills and also fuel their imagination. The content of his books is appealing to all ages and both genders, and several sales were made for bed-time reading. Stuart then signed the books which were bought by the children. Check out his web-site on the link below.  http://www.mylittlebigtown.com/gorgeousgeorge/

Rockets and Writing in the infant class go together to make an explosive display on the classroom wall. The children were writing poems about fireworks and then made these very colourful rockets to display alongside their writing. This display makes a lovely colourful entrance to their classroom.

Once again, several shoe boxes from Hardgate School filled with presents and wrapped in Christmas paper will be on their way to boys and girls in an Eastern European country in time for Christmas. These boxes go to children in the hope that they will bring a little bit of Christmas cheer to an otherwise bleak outlook at this time of year. The contents are simple, but useful and fun for the children who receive them and are very welcome. Here you can see the boys and girls gathered around the boxes which are now on their long journey, in time for Christmas.