Dear Families and Friends of Crossmichael and Gelston Primary Schools,
Reflecting on the Year
Our school year is coming to an end which gives us the chance to reflect on everything that we have accomplished this session.
In August, our pupils returned to school and learned to adapt to health and safety requirements and changes to routines caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. We enjoyed being back together again and although we had to rethink Halloween and Christmas celebrations, we were still able to have fun!
In January, the schools were closed again until 22nd February when our P1-3 pupils returned, closely followed by our P4-7 pupils on 15th March. Our children, staff and parents adapted once again to remote learning and enjoyed seeing each other on video calls via Microsoft TEAMS.
After a well deserved Easter holiday, all pupils returned for term 4. Across our schools we have had, two sports days, two Fun Days, our P6/7 pupils visited the Galloway Activity Centre and we are having two end of term assemblies this week. Unfortunately, parents are not yet allowed access to school but we have enjoyed keeping lines of communication open via our closed class Facebook pages, the school blogs, via telephone and email. Our P7 pupils and new P1 pupils have been involved in transition activities too.
I wish our Primary 7 pupils well as they transition to secondary school. It has been a pleasure to work with them and their families. I wish you all every success in the future!
I would like to thank pupils, parents and staff for all their hard work this year. I feel so proud to be your Headteacher.
End of Year Pupil Progress Reports
On Friday, we sent you a copy of your child’s end of year report along with a letter explaining the curricular levels. It would be useful to gather some feedback about the layout and content of the reports. Please feel free to email your comments to your child’s teacher or to the school office email address.
Crossmichael P4/5 and Feis Rois
For the last eight weeks, pupils in P4/5 have been working with Feis Rois over TEAMS. Feis Rois is a traditional Scottish music initiative. This year our learning had to be completed remotely so we changed our approach and created a digital postcard.
They created a poem about Threave Castle and Sir William Douglas. They learned about sound effects and created a melody to play behind their poem. Some children created an image and others recorded the poem. This was collated and printed professionally on a postcard before being sent to another school somewhere in Scotland.
Here is the link to view the postcard and to listen to the finished product. (Hold your phone camera over the QR code and it will take you to a link to hear our masterpiece).
You can print this out if you wish and you can share with your wider family and friends.
Dangers of Starting Fires and Hoax Calls
Here is a message from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service:
“The school holidays are coming up and you may be looking to do lots of fun, exciting things. However, please do not be tempted to start any fires. Even if you think a fire is just a small one they can grow very, very quickly and you or your friends may get injured. You might also damage property or kill wildlife.
Never make hoax calls either as this will take fire engines away from being able to help someone who is in real trouble – at a fire or in a road accident.
If you start any fires yourself they are called deliberate fires. These are dangerous and we will tell the Police about them and they will investigate them. If you make hoax calls we will know who you are and we will pass that on to the Police as well.
However, if you see a fire that is unattended please phone 999 or tell an adult. You will never get into trouble for being honest.
Have a safe and fun holiday.”
School Holidays
Schools are closed to pupils from Monday 28th June until Thursday 19th August. (Staff return on Wednesday 18th August for a training day.) We wish everyone a lovely holiday!
Best wishes
Mary Cruickshanks (formerly Mary Lidstone-Scott)
Headteacher
