As you will be aware,  Moniaive, Dunscore & Duncow Schools will be partnered under one head teacher at the beginning of next term, and the process of making a permanent appointment to this post is now underway.  Interviews are to be held on Friday 6th December when representatives of the parents, pupils and staff of all the partnered schools will have a chance to meet the candidates, ask them questions and provide feedback on their preferred choice.

A decision is normally made on the day and once we know who the successful candidate is we shall be sure to let everyone know.

Thank you to everyone who came along on Saturday to support our Christmas Craft Fayre.  We had some very talented crafters come along again this year, plus our own pupils who had made some lovely baubles and beautiful Christmas mugs and plates.  And, as always, we were impressed and proud of the pupils who had taken their own stalls – their entrepreneurial spirit and the effort they had put into producing products to sell was great to see.

We are also indebted to our parent helpers who manned the door (despite the cold draft!), sold raffle tickets, and helped set up and tidy everything away.  A big thank you also to Glenda Anderson, our catering manager, who organised all the refreshments.

Thanks to everyone’s efforts we have raised a fantastic £627.

One of the most popular fundraisers at this time of year is the beautiful Christmas hampers kindly donated by the Macklin family.  This year the squares for the children’s hamper sold out on Saturday, so we were able to draw the winner at the end of the Fayre – Kian and Ollie McNeil were the lucky winners.  Squares for the main hamper also sold fast, and the this sheet is now full.  However, a number of people have said how disappointed they were not to have been able to get a square so we will be making extra squares available.  The final draw will take place at our annual Helpers’ Tea Party on Thursday 19th December.

Thanks again for your support.

You won’t guess who dropped in on Saturday afternoon after the Christmas Craft Fayre?  It was Santa!!

He had heard that many of the children had been writing him letters and, since he was in the area , he thought he would pop into the school and pick them up (we think is was checking out who’s being naughty or nice so that he can make up his list).   He told Mrs Moyes that these are some of the first letters he’s received, and is so glad that the children have written to him early because it lets the elves get on with making the presents.

However, when he started to read them he noticed that a child hasn’t given him their address.  Now Santa is very magical:  he can squeeze hundreds of presents onto his sleigh; and visit all the children of the world in one night; and make sure that all the children get the right presents, but … he isn’t convinced the post man will know where to deliver his replies if he doesn’t put the right address on the envelope!

So, if you know either of the following, Santa has asked that you let Mrs Moyes know where they live so that he can write back.

• There was one letter with no name on it at all, but the person asked for an elephant, balls, monkey, dolly, skipping rope and necklace (which is strange since these are all the things that were pictured on the paper).

If you know who this child is please contact the school and we will pass their details on to Santa.

We know that many of you will be shopping online this Christmas – in fact you may already have started.  Online shopping makes it easy to shop around and compare prices, and saves struggling through crowds of Christmas shoppers.  Of course, another big advantage is that you could also be raising money for our school fund while you shop, without it costing you a penny.

By registering with www.easyfundraising.org.uk you could be earning a donation for the school everytime you shop with one of the thousands of retailers who participate in their scheme.

Although each purchase may only contribute a few pence, over the last couple of years we have raised nearly £300!  At the moment we have 18 people supporting us, so just think what we could achieve if every family joined in. And there’s nothing to stop friends and relatives to joining in too!  Or your employer (lots of business suppliers are part of the scheme too)!!

So please, if you haven’t already done so, please sign up for Christmas and download the Easy Fundraising tool bar to make sure you don’t let any donations slip away.

Thanks you!

The Parent Council have kindly agreed to fund a visiting theatre company to perform a panto for the children as a Christmas treat this year.

In consultation with the Pupil Council, Peter Pan was the most popular choice and we are looking forward to welcoming actors from Pendle Productions to the school on Thursday 5th December.

We can’t wait!

After consulting with their classes, our Pupil Councillors have decided to support an international animal group and have chosen the World Wildlife Fund as their charity this year.

We hope you’ll support their fundraising events in the coming year.

To celebrate St Andrew’s day, Glenda is doing a special Scottish themed menu on Monday 25th November.  As haggis is usually associated with Burns’ Night, the children were asked to suggest some other foods that they think of as typically Scottish.  They had lots of good suggestions (fortunately, deep fired Mars bar wasn’t one of them), and here’s the menu for the day:

MorningBreak:

• Porridge
• Hot filled rolls: Lorne sausage, haggis or bacon

Lunch:

• Scotch broth
• Scotch pies, mashed potatoes and beans (a vegetarian option will be available)
• trifle
• shortbread
• yoghurt

This menu will replace the planned one for children who normally take school lunch.  If you usually bring a packed lunch but would like a school meal that day, please let the kitchen know.

A visit from Zoo Zone is always a popular event, and we were pleased to welcome them back to the school again last month.  Pupils were fascinated by the unusual creatures, such as a giant snail, which they brought with them, and almost everyone was happy to get hands on with animals that are not usually considered cute.

At one point, though we thought we were going to have a new school pet!  The giant centipede escaped from its box and all eyes were peeled to see where it had got to.  Fortunately it hadn’t gone far, and was found in the bag that the animals were transported in.

Here are some of the animals P1-4 had a chance to handle.

Only 5 weeks to the holidays!  And what a busy time it’s going to be.  Here’s an overview of what’s coming up:

• Christmas Lunch – Tuesday 17th December – Menu’s to follow soon
• Christmas Service and Nativity – Wednesday 18th December – 2.00 pm to 3.00 pm – We hope you can join us this year at the school.
• Helpers’ Tea Party – Thursday 19th December – 11.00 am to 12 noon – our chance to say ‘thank you’ to everyone who has been a friend to the school over the past year.
• Christmas Party – Thursday 19th December – afternoon – a fun and festive end to the term.  We suggest, for practical reasons, that children wear their uniform in the morning and change into party clothes at lunchtime.  Children will go home in their party clothes.

Then it’s the holidays!!!  We’re sure you’ve all got lots of special things planned, but remember it’s back to school on Monday 6th January 2013.