Paper Free Communication after the Holidays

Please remember that after the October holidays, we will be sending out weekly newsletters via email and they will be available on our website under the heading ‘Recent Posts’:

 

Crossmichael Primary School: https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/dg/crossmichael/

 

Please let us know what you think and feel free to leave comments under posts. (All comments will be checked before being made public.) We are keen to provide you with more information about your child’s learning and hope that the websites will evolve with your help.  We are aware of children whose names and photos will not appear online but please contact the school if you have any questions.

 

Sponsored Walk

Thank you to everyone who joined us on our sponsored autumn walk around Crossmichael Community Woodland on Thursday.  We have a lovely time and we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.  We have received many sponsor forms and would like to thank you for raising so much money.  We will share the total amount raised after the October holidays.

 

October Holidays

We hope all pupils have a wonderful October holiday and we look forward to seeing you again on Monday 28^th October for the new term.

 

Indoor Shoes

After the holidays we ask that all pupils change into indoor shoes at the start of the school day (not slippers) to help keep carpets clean.  Indoor gym shoes will suffice as pupils wear these for PE lessons anyway and it will save extra expense.

 

Halloween Party

Teachers are organising a Halloween party in school on Thursday 31^st October from 1.15pm-3pm.  Pupils are invited to bring in their costumes and will change into them at lunch time.  Our Parent Council have kindly agreed to contribute to the cost of apples and other items.  Teachers will be in touch after the holidays to arrange parent helpers.  Thank you for your support.

 

Staffing

We welcome Ms Mary Smith who is a PDGE student and will be with P3-5 until 13th December.  We also welcome Stuart who is a Castle Douglas High School student on work experience for a few hours each week.

 

Teacher, Miss Katie Rae will be teaching P3-5 on Monday-Thursday for the first two weeks after the October holidays.  Mrs Burton returns on Monday 11th November.

 

Mrs Wilson continues to be absent and we wish her a speedy recovery.  In the meantime, Miss Rae has been teaching P1-3 each Thursday for continuity.

 

ALDI Fundraising Campaign

ALDI have launched a fundraising campaign where parents receive a sticker for every £30 they spend in store.  We are collecting the stickers at Gelston and Crossmichael schools.  When we have a poster full of stickers we can enter a prize draw to win £20K for each school.  Please start saving your stickers for us!

 

‘Scottish Football Association’ After School Club

The SFA continue to run two after school clubs on a Friday at Crossmichael Primary School from 3-4pm and from 4-5pm.  These are open to pupils from both Crossmichael and Gelston schools.  For further details and to book sessions, please contact Castle Douglas Swimming Pool on 01556 502745.

 

Parental Volunteers

Thank you to everyone who has contacted us to help out in school.  I plan to set up a timetable soon and we will get in touch with you after the holidays.

 

Gelston Clerical Interviews

I am interviewing for the Clerical post on 11^th October and we hope to have someone in post soon.  This means that someone will be available each day to answer telephone calls across the partnership.  Thank you very much for your patience this term.  I know that it has been difficult to contact the school at times.  In case of emergency my Headteacher’s mobile number is: 07741 686730.

 

Best wishes,

Mary E Lidstone-Scott

Partnership Headteacher

 

 

Diary Dates:
Monday 14th Oct – Friday 25th Oct	October Holidays
Halloween Party 1.15pm-3pm	Pupils will bring costumes to school and change at lunch time.  The party will be organised by teachers and supported by parents.  It will be held in the Village Hall.
Wednesday 13th Nov from 5.30-7.30pm	Parents Evening (LATE) Appointments will be given nearer the time.
Friday 15th Nov from 7pm	Parent Council Bingo Night in the Village Hall To raise funds for school.
Thursday 21st Nov from 3.15pm-5.15pm	Parents Evening (EARLY) Appointments will be given nearer the time.
Friday 13th Dec at 2pm	Achievement Assembly All parents and families are invited to the village hall so that pupils can share their achievements in learning within and out with school.
Friday 20th Dec at 9am	Christmas Service Parents and families are invited to join us for our Christmas Service in Crossmichael Parish Church.

 

Please vote for us on the website below by carefully clicking on our photo. There are two similar ones but ours has our school name beside it. 🤩

Land Art Competition

 

Pupils in P1-7 shared their learning with parents and families at our Achievement Assembly this afternoon.  Thank you to all who came to watch us.

 

This week, Finlay, Charlie, Joe and Sam have demonstrated the school aims of showing kindness, being respectful and working hard.  As a reward they joined Rev Sally Russell for tea, toast and a chat in the staff room before play time.  Well done boys!  We are proud of you.

Mr Peter Norman, Project Officer from South West Scotland Environmental Information Centre (SWSEIC), came to talk to pupils in P3-5 about moths as part of their Art project.

Pupils helped him to set moth traps on Monday and on Tuesday they looked at their catch.  Mrs S Beilinksi (Art Specialist) worked with pupils to create Art work inspired by the colourful moths.  Pictures of pupils’ art work will be posted next week.  Here are some photographs and comments from pupils in P3-5 about the moths:

 

Here are lots of different kinds of moths – Logan

There are 2500 types of moth in the UK – Harris

I had no idea there were so many different types of moth – Ruby Wild

Moths eat flies – Lucas

When the tiger moth hears a bat coming it folds it wings and drops to the ground to get out the way – Maria

I didn’t know that there were about 1000 species of big moths in the UK and about half of them can be found in Scotland -Bruce

When a bird is coming a tiger moth shows the bright marking on its wings to scare the bird away – Imogen

Moths and butterflies are basically the same – Eva

We could find up to 350 different moths in Crossmichael – Euan

Nobody knows why moths are attracted to light – Alison

I didn’t know that there were lots of different colours of moth I thought they were all brown – Keira

Moths only live as moths for about 2 weeks –Zoe

I didn’t know that a swift moth doesn’t eat – Keiran

Most moths fly in the day time – Duncan

There are no moths that are dangerous to humans – Ruby Williams

 

 

Our P7s from Crossmichael and Gelston participated in  a variety of workshops provided by the emergency services to teach them about internet safety, fire safety, electrical safety, first aid and firework safety.  The children were a credit to our schools and were fully engaged in their learning.  Thanks to all involved and to parent, Susan Hall for accompanying the children with Mrs L-Scott.

 

 

Our P7s from Crossmichael and Gelston participated in  a variety of workshops provided by the emergency services to teach them about internet safety, fire safety, electrical safety, first aid and firework safety.  The children were a credit to our schools and were fully engaged in their learning.  Thanks to all involved and to parent, Susan Hall for accompanying the children with Mrs L-Scott.

New Websites and Blog

We now have a new website for the partnership schools and separate websites and blogs for each school. Our previous website had a costly subscription whereas these websites are free.

 

It is our aim to update our blogs weekly so that we can share our weekly news with you. We will have a group of pupils known as the ‘Crossmichael Bloggers’ to help gather information for our blog.

 

Our weekly newsletter and minutes of Parent Council meetings will also be included on blogs attached to the website. (We will also be sending letters home via email so if you haven’t already signed up then please note your email address below and send the slip back into school. All email addresses will be ‘BCC’ meaning that you will not be able to see other parents’ email addresses and vice versa.)

 

Check out the three websites:

Crossmichael and Gelston Partnership Primary Schools: https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/dg/candg/

Crossmichael Primary School: https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/dg/crossmichael/

Gelston Primary School: https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/dg/gelston/

 

Please let us know what you think and feel free to leave comments under posts. (All comments will be checked before being made public.) We are keen to provide you with more information about your child’s learning and hope that the websites will evolve with your help.

 

Parent Council

Our Parent Council met on Friday and brainstormed ideas about how to find solutions to providing high quality education for our children in the face of the 10-15% cut to the budget by 2021. This feedback will be included in a letter to D&G Council to support them in ensuring that our children continue to receive the education they deserve. If any parent is interested in attending consultation days at the Bridge in Dumfries, then there are meetings on Friday 27^th Sept and Friday 11^th October where you can become more involved. Please get in touch with Gilli Hodson (Chair of the Parent Council) if you wish to find out more information or alternatively contact the school.

 

Parental Volunteers

We are looking for parents to volunteer to help out in class. You could help to prepare resources, photocopy, sit with groups of pupils to help them concentrate on their learning, read to pupils, etc. We would welcome more parental involvement in class. In terms of Child Protection, you will always be in class with the teacher present and I will explain D&G procedures to you to ensure that safeguarding procedures are followed. If you are interested then please contact the school.

 

(Newsletter continues overleaf)

ELECTRONIC CORRESPONDENCE

Please return to school:

 

 

 

Name of child:______________________________ Name of parent/ guardian:_______________________________

 

Email address(es) you wish school to use to communicate electronically:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

ALDI Fundraising Campaign

ALDI have launched a fundraising campaign where parents receive a sticker for every £30 they spend in store. We are collecting the stickers at Gelston and Crossmichael schools. When we have a poster full of stickers we can enter a prize draw to win £20K for each school. Please start saving your stickers for us!

 

‘Scottish Football Association’ After School Club

The SFA continue to run two after school clubs on a Friday at Crossmichael Primary School from 3-4pm and from 4-5pm. These are open to pupils from both Crossmichael and Gelston schools. For further details and to book sessions, please contact Castle Douglas Swimming Pool on 01556 502745.

 

 

Best wishes,

 

Mary E Lidstone-Scott

Partnership Headteacher

 

 

 

Diary Dates:

 

Friday 4th Oct at 2pm	Achievement Assembly All parents and families are invited to the school so that pupils can share their achievements in learning within and out with school.
Thursday 10th Oct at 12pm	Lunch and Our Sponsored Autumn Walk Parents and families are invited to join us for lunch in the dining hall followed by a sponsored Autumn Walk to raise funds for the school. P1-3 parents and pupils will have lunch at 12pm and P4-7 parents and pupils will have lunch at 12.30pm. We aim to leave for the walk at 1pm.
Monday 14th Oct – Friday 25th Oct	October Holidays
Wednesday 13th Nov from 5.30-7.30pm	Parents Evening (LATE) Appointments will be given nearer the time.
Thursday 21st Nov from 3.15pm-5.15pm	Parents Evening (EARLY) Appointments will be given nearer the time.
Friday 13th Dec at 2pm	Achievement Assembly All parents and families are invited to the school so that pupils can share their achievements in learning within and out with school.
Friday 20th Dec at 9am	Christmas Service Parents and families are invited to join us for our Christmas Service in Crossmichael Parish Church.

Friday 4th Oct at 2pm	Achievement Assembly All parents and families are invited to the school so that pupils can share their achievements in learning within and out with school.
Thursday 10th Oct at 12pm	Lunch and Our Sponsored Autumn Walk Parents and families are invited to join us for lunch in the dining hall followed by a sponsored Autumn Walk to raise funds for the school.  P1-3 and parents have lunch at 12pm and P4-7 and parents have lunch at 12.30pm.  We aim to leave for our sponsored walk at 1pm.
Monday 14th Oct – Friday 25th Oct	October Holidays
Wednesday 13th Nov from 5.30-7.30pm	Parents Evening (LATE) Appointments will be given nearer the time.
Thursday 21st Nov from 3.15pm-5.15pm	Parents Evening (EARLY) Appointments will be given nearer the time.
Friday 13th Dec at 2pm	Achievement Assembly All parents and families are invited to the school so that pupils can share their achievements in learning within and out with school.
Friday 20th Dec at 9am	Christmas Service Parents and families are invited to join us for our Christmas Service in Crossmichael Parish Church.

The Tour of Britain passed through Crossmichael on 7th September 2019.  We entered the Land Art competetition and are now down to the final five!!!

Special thanks go to Mrs Martin who had a vision of what this would look like and did much of the work behind the scenes!  Thanks also to Mrs Beilinski, Mrs Clifton, Mrs Stevens, Mrs Hodson and the pupils in P3-5 who helped prepare the Land Art in time for the race.

We were mentioned THREE times on ITV4 and had our aerial view displayed on TV!!

Thank you to Mr John Nelson and Mr Geoff Fleming for showing P7 around the new Crossmichael Heritage Centre.  The children enjoyed learning about Crossmichael through the ages.