All posts by Mr Gray

April Newsletter

Staffing Update

Mr. David Steward, Head Janitor from Dalry School, will continue to provide some cover for Mrs. Daly until she returns in June.

Mrs. Jackie Povall is currently working with us as our temporary cleaner.

P7 / S1 Transition

P7 pupils will continue to visit Dalry School every Thursday morning. This term the pupils will be doing French, PE, Geography and Information Technology. Transport arrangements will be as before.

P5-7 ‘Tri-Golf’

Mark Turner, our Active Schools co-ordinator, has organised four Tri-Golf sessions for the upper primary pupils in association with New Galloway Golf Course.  The sessions will take place on a Friday morning, starting on the 1st May.

P1-4 Multi Sports After School Club

This will continue this term with a block of four sessions. The dates are Thursday 30th April, 7th, 14th and 21st May. P1-4 pupils should have brought home a letter. Please contact the school office if you need any other information.

Pupil Absence

In light of the tragic case in West Lothian in 2005 we have been advised to put procedures in place to ensure the safety of all the children in our care. In order that our procedures work efficiently and effectively we require your co-operation in the following matters:

Parents are asked to ensure that:

  1. The school is informed if the family is running late.
  2. Any legitimate absence is notified to the school by telephone before 9am on the first day of the absence without fail, and that further calls, before 9am, are made on every subsequent day of the absence.
  3. Contact telephone numbers, whether for home, for parents at work or for other emergency contacts, are kept up to date and are genuinely numbers where a response will be received. This is particularly important with mobile phone numbers.
  4. The school is kept informed of the absence and the likely return date.
  5. Any planned absences are officially notified to the school, in writing, in advance.
  6. Latecomers report to the school office on arrival at school.

Staff will ensure that absences are checked every day and follow up the whereabouts of any child for whom we have no explanation. Due to the amount of extra work involved and necessity of having the correct information, I would ask you to make a note of the above requirements and ensure that you follow through the procedures to ensure the safety of all our children.

Whist

The next monthly Whist Drive will take place on the evening of Thursday 7thMay.  This provides a regular income for the school and we are very grateful to those of you who help out with catering and raffle prizes.

Netball

Mrs. Maxwell has decided to give up the Monday after school netball sessions at Kells as a result of other netball and cricket coaching commitments. We are very grateful for the contribution that Mrs. Maxwell has made over the years at Kells and we wish her well in her new coaching roles.

Replacement Water Bottles and Caps

Replacement water bottles and caps can be purchased at the school office.  The prices are £1 for a new bottle and only 20p for a new cap.

Rag Bag Collection

Our Rag Bag collections continue to raise money for school funds. Last term we banked another £112 as we had collected 280kg. The total money banked so far this session from the Rag Bag Bin is £258. Please remember the Rag Bag Bin is available at all times for any unwanted textiles. Our next scheduled collection is on the 25th June.  Thank you.

Book Club

All orders to be received by 13th May, please.

PTA Communication to Parents

The PTA are keen for the parent body to be kept up-to-date with decisions made at their meetings. Please could you pass on your e-mail address to Mrs. Best if you would like an electronic copy of the Minutes. A paper copy of the Minutes can also be found on the Parent Noticeboard at the main entrance. Thank you.

P5-7 Carbon Busters

The Crichton Carbon Centre will be delivering six workshops on the following topics to the upper primary class:

Introduction to climate change

Energy, transport and climate change

Food and climate change

Waste and climate change

Biodiversity and climate change

Forests and practical session

The sessions started on the 22nd April and continue weekly until the 27th May.

P1-4 Marie Curie ‘Mini Pots of Care’ Appeal

Many thanks to those families who supported our daffodil mini pots of care appeal.  We have donated £88.17 to Marie Curie to help those living with cancer. Well done P1-4!

Sunny New Galloway!

Hopefully the recent good weather will continue for the rest of the term. With that in mind, it is a good idea for the children to have a hat or cap in their school bag which can help protect them from the sun at break times or when they are outside for PE. Pupils would need to apply their own sun cream. Thank you.

Dates for the Diary

Mon. 4th May                         School Holiday (May Day)

Thurs. 14th May                    Tempest Class Photographs @ 1.30pm

Fri. 29th May                          Pupil Holiday / Staff In-service day

Tues 2nd June                       P6 Glenkens pupils at Operation Safety in Stranraer

Mon. 8th June                      Pupil Reports issued to parents

Wed. 10th June                     Parent Consultations

Wed. 17th June                   Sports Day

Tue. 23rd June –                  P7/S1 Transition

Fri.  26th June                     (Tue & Wed – in Dalry school/Thu & Fri – Stronord)

Galloway Music Festival Results

DSCF2675 - Copy

P1-4

Class 18: Recorder Groups – 2 or more parts

Swinging Kells                                                    84 MERIT

Class 16: Recorder Duets

Sarah & Sophie               Beg.       Ode to Joy          85 COMMENDED

Teri & Freya                   Beg.       Ode to Joy          86 COMMENDED 3RD PLACE

 

Class 12: Descant Recorder Solos

Freya                  Gr1         Scherzino                            3RD PLACE

Sarah                  Beg.       Old MacDonald                 3RD EQUAL

Teri                      Beg.       Dear Liza                              2ND PLACE

Brooke                 Beg.       Old MacDonald                 1ST PLACE

Sophie                  Beg.       Dear Liza                              3RD EQUAL

 

P5-7

Class 51: Primary School Choirs

My Teacher must be an alien                      83 MERIT

Dark Island

 

Class 43: Vocal Solos

Sophie                               Beg.       86 COMMENDED   –  WINNER OF THE CREE CUP

Florrie                               Gr1         86 COMMENDED

Charlotte                          Gr2         82 MERIT

Georgiana                         Gr2         2ND PLACE

Amy                                   Gr1         82 MERIT

Evie                                    Gr2         83 MERIT

Laura                                 Gr2         83 MERIT

 

Class 11: String Duet Beginner

Evie  & Georgiana          85 COMMENDED

Class   : Viola Solo Beginners

Georgiana                    82 MERIT

Class 4: Violin Solo Beginners

Evie                          82 MERIT

Class 21: Clarinet Solos Beginner

Amy                            88 DISTINCTION   1ST PLACE – WINNER OF THE CARTY CUP

Whole School

Class 73: Scots Verse

P1-3                       Summer                78 MODERATE

Dante                    79 MODERATE

P4                          Brooke                   82 MERIT

Sarah                     82 MERIT

Teri                        83 MERIT

P5                           Sophie                   83 MERIT

Henry                    83 MERIT

P6                           Arran                     82 MERIT

                              Charlotte               82 MERIT

Ben                         82 MERIT

P7                           Finlay                     87 DISTINCTION   2ND PLACE

Florrie                   83 MERIT

Amy                       82 MERIT

 

Well done Brooke, Sophie (P5) and Amy on winning your respective class and also to all the pupils for the way they performed at the Festival.

Easter Assembly 2015

The Easter Assembly was held in the Hall as normal for the pupils and parents on Thursday 2nd April. Dr Bartholomew spoke to the pupils about the meaning of Easter. He was ably assisted by upper primary pupils who did the Bible readings. Both classes also  entertained the parents with some of their items from the Galloway Music Festival.

DSCF2629

Annual Scots Verse Competition

Scots Verse Winners - Copy

On 19th February we held our annual Scots Verse competition. Staff were delighted that Mr Mike Duguid was once again able to visit the school and listen to the pupils reciting their poems and decide the first, second and third places in each year group. The pupils who were given a place will now represent Kells at the Galloway Music Festival in March. Well done to all the pupils involved!

 

House Captains at Kells

It has been brought to my attention by a very observant pupil that I did not post the result of the House Captain elections back in August. My apologies to the following pupils –

Bennan

Captain – Florrie

Vice Captain – Georgiana

 

Clatteringshaws

Captain – Amy

Vice Captain – Finlay

 

Kenmure

Captain – Evie

Vice Captain – Laura

 

 

British Heart Foundation

On Friday 6th February the three schools in the Glenkens Cluster supported the British Heart Foundation’s ‘Wear it. Beat it’ campaign.

Dalry Nursery, Primary and Secondary plus the pupils of Carsphairn and Kells were encouraged to wear red on that day and show their support by making a £1 donation to the charity.

In total £202.10 was raised to help the British Heart Foundation’s campaign to fund research to transform the lives of children and adults living with heart and circulatory conditions.

Well done!

Kells BHF

Annual Rotary Club Quiz

Amy, Evie, Florrie and Finlay represented Kells in the Castle Douglas Rotary Club Quiz on the 5th February at Castle Douglas Primary School. The pupils performed very well throughout and were joint leaders going into the last round with Castle Douglas Primary. The team finished in third place after a tricky final round on sport.

Final scores were as follows –
1st Castle Douglas 72
2nd Lochrutton 71
3rd Kells 70
Well done to Castle Douglas Primary who now go forward to the region wide competition! Great effort Team Kells!

 

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Rotary Club Quiz Feb 15