We had a lovely Christmas Dinner at Crossmichael today.  Thank you to everyone who helped to make it such as success.

I have been asked to send this information to all families to make you aware of the free help and activities available over the festive period.

Please find attached all of the following documents:

• Christmas Holiday Food Fund Flyer 2019
• Fed Up Community Café Christmas Flyer
• ILS Newsletter December 2019

If you wish to find out more then please contact:

ILS Newsletter December 2019 Christmas Holiday Food Fund 2019 – Flyer Christmas Holidays 2019 – Fed Up Community Cafe Flyer

Gallery

Last week our teams from Crossmichael and Gelston Primary Schools won certificates at the Stewartry Dance Competition.  Crossmihcael won ‘Best Technical Performance’ and Gelston won ‘Most All Inclusive Dance’.  Well done to all involved!!

Collection for Mrs Wilson

Mrs Wilson has been a teacher at Crossmichael and Gelston Primary Schools for several years.  She is leaving at Christmas.  Please remember that all collection money should be handed in to the school office by tomorrow to enable us to organise her leaving gift for Friday.

Diary Dates

Wednesday 18th December  – School Christmas Dinner

Thursday 19th December –  Christmas parties in the morning.  All pupils may arrive wearing party clothes and change after lunch.

Thursday 19th December – Pantomime at The Fullarton theatre in Castle Douglas.  Please arrive at 7.15pm and wait outside the theatre with your designated adult.  Parents/ Guardians can collect children at 9.15pm from the front door.

Friday 20th December – Christmas Service in Crossmichael Parish Church at 9.30am.  Pupils may wear Christmas jumpers (or casual jumpers) to school today.

Wednesday 8th January 2019 – Pupils return to school.  (Teacher training days are on 6th and 7th January.)

Have a wonderful Christmas and thank you once again for your support this term.

With best wishes from,

Mary Lidstone-Scott

Headteacher

Mrs Wilson’s Collection

Mrs Wilson will be leaving the school over the Christmas holidays.   I would like to take this opportunity to thank her for her input at Crossmichael and Gelston Primary Schools.  To recognise her contribution to the school over the years, we will be having a collection for her.  Please send donations to the school office by Tuesday 17th December so that we can present her with a gift at our Christmas Service in the Church on Friday 20th December.

Stewartry Dance Competition – Tuesday 10th Dec from 10am-12pm

We wish our dancers well as they participate in the Stewartry Dance Competition tomorrow in Castle Douglas Town Hall.

Head Lice

Often children will catch head lice.  It can be distressing for children and parents/ guardians but it is easily treatable.  Advice can be found on the NHS website using this link: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/head-lice-and-nits/ .  It is worth noting that regular wet combing of conditioned hair, using a nit comb, should help to eradicate the nits and lice.  In the new year, I would be happy to arrange a workshop with the School Nurse for any interested parents/ guardians.

Diary Dates

Best wishes,

Mary E Lidstone-Scott

Headteacher

Photos of last week from the Crossmichael Bloggers!

Last week we had a Book Fair Breakfast and lots of us came for toast and tea.  £180 was raised on the day and the Book Fair will be open until Thursday 5th December.  Thank you to Mrs Martin for organising it.

We took photos of P3-5 learning about directions.  P5-7 have been learning about climate change and extreme weather.  One group were playing a games about this.

Mr Wilson helped Mr McWilliam and Mrs Scott to clear out the sheds and take the old pallets away.  He put everything on his trailer.  Thank you for helping us to tidy our school Mr Wilson.

From the Crossmichael Bloggers

Diary Dates

Communication and Data Protection

In the interests of Data Protection, we wanted to ensure that we are no longer holding pupil details on unused apps or websites.

Crossmichael Primary no longer uses the ‘Seesaw’ app that was being trialled by Mrs Glover last year.  Pupil details have been deleted from this app and we advise that parents delete the app if they were using it.

I have contacted the administrator of the old websites and I have asked them to delete the websites and URLs.

We still use https://www.classdojo.com/  as a way of recording House Points but we no longer store any email addresses or information other than your child’s first name on this secure website.  We no longer use the ‘Parent Share’ function in Class Dojo.

We continue to send GroupCall texts to your mobile phones.  GroupCall is directly linked to data from our Council based SEEMiS system.

The Expressions app is also linked to GroupCall and SEEMiS but we do not use it after gathering feedback from parents.  You may delete the Expressions app.

Crossmichael Primary Health Group

Pupils from our Health Group wish to encourage healthy eating by having ‘Fruity Fridays’.  On a Friday we encourage pupils to bring fruit or vegetables for snack and they will be awarded House Points.  The group will record numbers over the next few weeks and months and pupils will be rewarded for taking one step towards being healthier.

Scholastic Book Club Breakfast – – Friday 29^th November

Our Book Fair arrives on Thursday 28th November for a week.  It will be open in the mornings and afternoons when Mrs Martin is in the office.  We would like to invite you to our ‘Book Fair Breakfast’ on Friday 29^th November from 8.15-8.55am.  Parents should contact the school office to let us know if you intend to come along to this.

Here are our Pupil Groups in Crossmichael Primary School.

(We will update these to include our House and Vice Captains and our Health Group once all children return from being absent.)

7.11.19

Dear Parent/Carer,

Primary 7 Open Evening

We would like to invite you to a Primary 7 Open Evening at Castle Douglas High School on Tuesday 26^th November from 6.30 – 7.30pm.  Tea and coffee will be available from 6.15pm.

 The purpose of the evening is to inform you about the transition programme and to explain how your child will be supported through the process.  Some S1 pupils will talk about their personal experience of transition and the Junior Leaders will explain their role in supporting the P7 pupils.  The evening will end with a tour of the school where you will have the opportunity to ask any questions you may have.

We realise that moving to High School can be an anxious time for both pupils and parents and we hope that we can put your mind at ease and make it an enjoyable and exciting experience for the young people. Please do not hesitate to contact the school should you have any questions.

Yours sincerely,

Alison Cook

Depute Headteacher, Castle Douglas High School

Parent Council Bingo Night

On behalf of the school and the Parent Council we would like to thank everyone who supported us at our Bingo Night on Friday 15th November.  Thank you for your donations to the raffle and for the tray bakes and cakes.  Thanks to those of you who helped to set up the hall and tidy away the chairs and tables at the end of the evening.  Special thanks go to Liz and Sue for being our Bingo callers.  Also, thanks to Rosie Porteous for providing the beautiful cake for the raffle.  I am delighted to announce that we raised £651.15.

Dumfries & Galloway Parent Council Forum

There is a meeting on Thursday  (21st November) at 7pm at Castle Douglas High School open to parents.  The main focus will be on sharing and discussing next steps for Education Services within the Council as we face budget savings.  We cannot continue to spend money in the same way so we need to ‘transform’ our approach.  Several meetings were held across the region to discuss ideas and this meeting is a chance for you to find out more about what this will mean for our school and our children.  It would be extremely helpful if some parents could attend and feed back to the Parent Council.

 

Best wishes,

Mary Lidstone-Scott

Headteacher

Clerical Assistant

We are delighted to announce that Georgina Benson is our new Clerical Assistant at Gelston on a Tuesday and Friday.   We are waiting for paperwork to be processed so that she can start working with us soon.  She will receive your telephone calls on the days when she is working.  Miss Vicky Campbell is based at Crossmichael on a Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Communication

We are always keen to keep in touch with you.  Here are the main methods of communication:

• write a note in your child’s homework diary
• post comments on the Blog under ‘Recent Posts’
• telephone the school office on 01556 670282 and make an appointment to speak to your child’s teacher
• email the school office: gw08officecrossmicha@ea.dumgal.sch.uk
• contact the Headteacher directly on 07741 686730

Parent Council Bingo Night – Crossmichael Village Hall – Friday 15th November at 7pm

Please support us by attending our Bingo Night to raise money to support our pupils in Crossmichael Primary School.

You can help us by:

• attending our fantastic Bingo Night!! (Books are £3 per adult and £2 per child)
• providing a donation for the raffle (to be handed in at the school office by Thursday 14th Nov)
• providing a tray bake to go along with refreshments (please bring along to the village hall from 5.30pm on Friday)
• helping to set up the village hall from 5.30pm on Friday

We look forward to seeing you there!

P7 Open Evening at Castle Douglas High School

P7 pupils and parents are invited to attend an open evening at Castle Douglas High School on Tuesday 26th November at 6.30pm.

PE Kits

We have noticed that some pupils are forgetting to bring a full PE kit to school with them.  A PE kit should consist of a separate T-shirt, shorts/ jogging bottoms/ leggings, socks and PE shoes (PE shoes can also be used as indoor school shoes).

Clothes and Personal Items

Please label all clothes and shoes with you child’s name.  Also, please check that your child has not accidentally brought home another child’s clothing.  We have a few missing cardigans and jumpers at the moment.