Primary 1-4 from Kells and Primary 3/4 from Dalry visited Clatteringshaws recently as part of their Scotland topic plus Forest Schools activities. Here are some photographs of the pupils at Bruce’s Stone, in the replica of a round house and also involved in a task to build a den for their action figure or doll.
Harvest Thanksgiving
Dr Bartholomew will be joining us for a special assembly on Friday, 12th October at 9.15am to celebrate Harvest Thanksgiving. Parents are most welcome to attend. As always, we would be most grateful if the pupils could bring something for this special assembly, i.e. fresh fruit & vegetables, tins of soup, biscuits etc. All the items brought in by the pupils will then be distributed to elderly members of the community. Please could you let the school office know if you are able to help with the distribution of the food parcels. Thank you.
Macmillan Coffee Morning
Just a reminder that the annual Macmillan Coffee Morning will take place at The Cross Keys Hotel on Wednesday 3rd October, from 10 am until 12 noon. There are a number of ways in which you can support this event and help raise money for the Macmillan charity. For example, you could bake, help out on the day, donate a raffle prize or just attend and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea.
P.E. Kit
All the pupils have now settled in to the new school session and are getting used to their class timetable. However, a number of pupils are regularly forgetting to bring their P.E. kit to school. Please could the pupils bring in their P.E. kit on a Monday and take it home on a Friday so that it can be washed at the weekend if necessary. This means the pupils always have their kit available to them and will not miss out on their regular P.E. with Mrs Johnstone or with their class teacher.
Reading Books
We are missing a few books from the Literacy World scheme which we use in the P5/6/7 class. Please could you have a look at home for any school reading books that have not been returned to the class teacher.
School Photographs
Tempest, the company who now take the school photographs (replacing Angus Leigh) will be visiting Kells to take individual and family photographs on Thursday 8th November. More information will follow in the coming weeks.
Rag Bag Collection
Please remember the Rag Bag Bin at the top of the playground is available at all times for any unwanted textiles. This has generated over £250 for school funds in the last year. Thank you.
Head lice
As I am sure you are aware head lice are a continual problem for all schools and by working together we can try to eliminate them from Kells Primary. It is good practice for girls with long hair to have it tied up at school. It is also important that you check your child’s hair on a regular basis. Please do not hesitate to contact the school if you want additional help and support from the school nurse.
Autumn Walk to School Week
Walk to School Week is taking place from Monday 1st – Friday, 5th October. We would always encourage the children to walk to school if they can, but appreciate that this is not always possible.
Whist Drive
Our next Whist Drive takes place on Thursday of next week, 4th October, and, as always, we would be grateful for any small donations of whist/raffle prizes. The catering will be as follows:-
Sandwiches Biscuits/Home Baking
Mrs. Alison Newbery Mrs. Lynn Grieve
Mrs. Melinda McGaw Mrs. Alison Best
Mrs. Jean Jones Mrs. Jayne Grimwood
Mrs. HelenKirkpatrick Mrs.Ros Edington
Due to children moving on to secondary school, we have lost quite a number of parents who were on our catering rota. Following a recent appeal for more helpers, we did have one mum who volunteered to go on to the rota, but we would welcome a few more! All that is involved is providing half a loaf of sandwiches or some biscuits or home baking once a month. The Whist Drive raises approximately £100 for our school every month which benefits all the children, so if you feel you would be able to help, please give your name to the school office staff. The more names on the rota, the less often your turn comes around! Thank you.
School Lunches & Tuck Shop
The pupils should have brought home the new lunch menu this week. Mrs McSkimming has been delighted with the uptake for school lunches this session and would like to thank the parents for their support.
The tuck shop continues to be a great success at break time each morning.
Prices are as follows –
Toast 20p, yoghurt 35p, milk 16p, apple juice 40p, fruit 40p, biscuit 35p and aqua juice cuplets 30p. Pupils place their order before 9.30am on the day.
Future Events
Tuesday 2nd October – P5/6/7 from Kells and P6/7 from Dalry are involved in a Question and answer session with Alex Fergusson MSP as part of their topic on the ‘Glenkens Commons.’
Thursday 4th October – P5/6 participating in ‘Giants in the Forest’ project at the Otter’s Pool on the outskirts of New Galloway.
Friday 12th October – RSNO Musicians visiting P4-7 pupils to deliver a workshop.
Thursday 1st November – Parent Board Meeting at 6.30pm in the school
Wednesday 7th November – Dalry Small School Sports, P4-7 pupils, 10 -12 noon.
October Holiday
The school will be closed from Monday, 15th October until Friday, 26th October inclusive and will re-open Monday, 29th October, 2012.
John Allison from Active Schools, in partnership with Tesco, has been providing weekly coaching sessions for the P1-4 pupils. The pupils have been enjoying the sessions and their ball skills are improving. Cosmas took some action shots for the blog –
The following pupils have been elected as House Captains and Vice Captains –
Clatteringshaws House Captain is Erin and Vice Captain is Mia.
Bennan House Captain is Amberleigh and Vice Captain is Freddie.
Kenmure House Captain is Hannah and Vice Captain is Poppy.
Well done!
Pupils from P5-7 are currently very busy preparing for the annual Macmillan Coffee Morning at the Cross Keys Hotel in New Galloway. The planning and advertising of the event is almost complete and the P7 pupils are now looking forward to hosting the event next Wednesday. The pupils are keen to match or possibly even beat last year’s superb total of £1000. Please come along and support this very worthwhile event at the Cross Keys Hotel on Wednesday 3rd October, 10am until 12 noon.
Pupils from the P5 classes of Carsphairn, Dalry and Kells visited Carlingwark Outdoor Centre in Castle Douglas for an overnight trip. On the first day, pupils were involved in watersports. An enjoyable time was spent kayaking and sailing on the loch.The pupils went to Dalbeattie Forest on the second day for orienteering. The trip was a great opportunity for the pupils from the Glenkens cluster to be involved in new experiences, work together on challenging tasks and make new friends. Here are some photographs of the residential –
The pupils recently enjoyed the annual Sports Day event. Mrs Johnstone, our PE teacher, organised potted sports activities plus a number of traditional races for the children. After the last race the points were added up and Clatteringshaws were declared the winners with 367 , Kenmure were second with 361 and Bennan were third with 357. All children were presented with either a gold, silver or bronze medal.
Kells Primary School have designed and created a beautiful bottle top mosaic celebrating biodiversity in their school garden.
The idea came to the children when the storms of winter destroyed their longstanding, plastic bottled greenhouse. They decided to combine positive recycling and creativity with community involvement, while demonstrating how non biodegradeable plastic can be.
The Eco Committee organised and designed boxes to be put in the school, the local shops and cafes to collect the bottle tops. They then sorted them out into their colours and P4/5 designed the first mosaic of a sunflower and butterfly.
Pupils from P4/5 participated in the Ultimate Dodgeball Challenge, which is one of the British Heart Foundations’ newest fundraisnig events. Not only was it a great way to encourage the children to be more active, but it was also a fantastic way to raise funds for the charity. P4/5 rasied £219.68 for the heart charity and also had a great time playing the game too.
The pupils at Kells enjoyed a ‘Street Party Lunch’ to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Unfortunately the Queen was rather busy that day so Mrs McIntosh, the Queen of Glenkens, took her place as guest of honour. Mrs Kirkpatrick also baked two lovely cakes for the pupils (see photos below).
In the afternoon the pupils were organised in mixed ability groups to undertake a variety of Jubilee inspired activities.
