Burns Poetry Competition Winners

Last week Mr and Mrs Cathro listened to pupils as they recited their Scottish poems.  We are delighted to announce that the winners were:

P1 – Kali

P2 – Niall

P3 – Kyla

P4 – Zosia

P5 – Freddie

P6 – Alexa

P7 – Graham

Well done to all pupils for taking part.

 

Royal Scottish Country Dancing Society (RSCDS) Bronze Award

Each year our pupils participate in Scottish Country Dancing as part of our curriculum.  We also put forward teams to participate in the Stewartry ‘Day of Dance’ event.  This year it was called ‘Jigs and Reels’ and we entered a mixed team of pupils from Crossmichael and Gelston Primary Schools.

 

Lousie Coupar, our Active Schools and Community Support Officer, has been in touch to say that the Royal Scottish Country Dancing Society (RSCDS) wish to recognise the effort of all pupils within the school.  Therefore, they are awarding us with an accreditation.  This means that our school will receive a BRONZE award and each pupil will receive a pin badge to recognise their achievements.

 

Transport Costs and Attendance at Events out of School

We always try to involve pupils in as many events out with school as possible so that they receive a variety of learning experiences.   Sometimes this is not possible due to the costs associated with transporting pupils.  We are fortunate to have so many supportive parents who offer to transport pupils when we have a handful of pupils attending an event.

 

I now wish to share the information that will be going into the Dumfries and Galloway Volunteer Policy. This is still in draft form but the information below has been included in conjunction with our legal team:

 

“(*A parent volunteer can transport their own child to a school event, and other parents can make private arrangements between themselves about transporting children to school events.  The school may act as a facilitator for communication between parent volunteers to coordinate transport however, they must ensure that parents understand that this is a private arrangement between themselves, and it is for parents to satisfy themselves as to the adequacy of such arrangements.  This is because Dumfries and Galloway Council has no control over the existence of appropriate insurance or the whether the vehicle in question is adequately maintained.  In addition, the volunteer’s driving credentials, and existence of previous driving convictions will not have been checked.)  Schools should draw attention to the above (* ) in all correspondence re trips where these private arrangements apply. School children should only be transported on school related trips by a contracted company such as a bus or taxi firm, or by a teacher using a DGC pool car, or their own vehicle where appropriate business insurance is in place, a current MOT in is in place, the teacher’s driving licence has been registered and checked with the Council’s fleet management service and all of these matters have been verified in advance by the Headteacher of the School.” 

Castle Douglas Junior Golf Development Programme

Here is a note from Wayne Blackburn, the CDGC Junior Convener:

 

“Leading junior golfers of Castle Douglas Primary & surrounding schools to the golfers of tomorrow

Encourage your child to get involved in golf with the Castle Douglas Golf Club Junior Development programme for children ages 5-16. With fun coaching sessions mixing games and practice, we teach boys & girls the value of golf and vital foundation skills that they can spend their golfing lives building upon. Monitoring progress is part of these programmes, which aim to get juniors confident and playing on the course as soon as possible. Junior sessions are available in term time on selected days after school and some weekends.

The programme will be run by Hugh & Ailsa Brannock & Alan Learmonth and a team of volunteers.

We will be having a family fun open day in the Easter holidays with lots of activities.

Dates for above sessions & fun day tbc.”

 

 

Gelston Diary Dates

Monday 17th – Friday 20th February	School holidays (Teacher training days on 19th and 20th)
Thursday 12th March 3-5pm	Parents Evening
Wednesday 18th March 5.30-7pm	Parents Evening
Thursday 2nd April at 6.30pm	School Show – ‘Pirates of the Curry Bean’
Friday 3rd April at 2pm	Easter Service in Village Hall

 

Gelston Bloggers

P4-7 pupils are learning to sew using cross stitches and running stitches.

They are also programming Lego robotics toys using coding.  Oscar and Andrew programmed a racing car and Chloe and Macy programmed a helicopter.