Author: Mrs Nouillan

Dunlop ECC ‘The Bridge’ Time Capsule Ceremony

It was a great honour to take some of our ECC children to be part of the Time Capsule Ceremony held recently at The Bridge – the new Dunlop Early Childhood Centre.
Dunlop, East Ayrshire, GBR – 21 May: A time capsule ceremony took place at the new Dunlop Early Childhood Centre on Tuesday 21 May 2024 in Dunlop, East Ayrshire.
Photo: David Gordon for EAC

We were joined by Leader of the Council, Councillor Douglas Reid, Councillor Elaine Cowan, Councillor Maureen McKay, local member Councillor Stephen Canning, Linda McAulay-Griffiths, Chief Education Officer and Head of Education, representatives from Facilities and Property Management and the main contractor, Ashleigh (Scotland) Ltd.

Our Chief Education Officer and Head of Schools, chatted with the children and they shared that they are very excited to have a new nursery.  They also shared with her, a list of toys they would like to have!

Dunlop, East Ayrshire, GBR – 21 May: A time capsule ceremony took place at the new Dunlop Early Childhood Centre on Tuesday 21 May 2024 in Dunlop, East Ayrshire.
Photo: David Gordon for EAC

All the children from the ECC had been working hard preparing items to be included in the time capsule which includes drawings, a photograph of all the children and staff, and a letter to the ‘Future Finder’.  The letter shares with the finder a beautiful description of life in 2024 and the village of Dunlop, and how it is a privilege for us all to be part of Dunlop’s wonderful history.

The ECC, which is called The Bridge, is due for completion in June. The design will ensure that children have access to quality learning opportunities and experiences both indoors and outdoors.

This project is the Council’s first Passivhaus building. This means that the ECC is being built to a world-leading energy efficiency and thermal performance standard. Heat loss from the building will be minimised reducing energy usage and helping the Council move towards achieving sustainability targets while providing an environment with a high standard of internal comfort.

Councillor Cowan, Spokesperson for Education, and Children and Young People said: “It was wonderful to join Dunlop ECC at The Bridge for the time capsule ceremony and to view the progress on site. It was a glorious day and the view of Arran from the mezzanine floor was really lovely. I can’t wait to come back and visit the completed facility once the children have moved in.

“This development builds on our commitment to both tackling the climate emergency, by building to the Passivhaus standard, and ensuring that every young person in East Ayrshire benefits from the very best facilities possible.”

Hopefully in August, we will have lots of happy children loving their time in their amazing new ECC.  It is a wonderful building with lots of super playing and learning spaces and the outdoors is like a park!
Dunlop, East Ayrshire, GBR – 21 May: A time capsule ceremony took place at the new Dunlop Early Childhood Centre on Tuesday 21 May 2024 in Dunlop, East Ayrshire.
Photo: David Gordon for EAC
From a very excited, Mrs Nouillan.

Rotary Quiz 2024

Well done to our P7 team for representing Dunlop Primary School at the annual Rotary Quiz.  A fun evening was had with rounds of different categories, including a Taylor Swift question!

Mr Anderson and myself were very proud of our team and we had fun trying to answer the questions too – we didn’t get the Taylor Swift question either!

Question: How many streams does Taylor Swift have on Spotify overall?

Answer: 73,949,801,255 (that’s a lot!)

Apologies for the quality of the photograph, but the Laigh Kirk in Kilmarnock had strange lighting!

Kind regards, Mrs Nouillan

Robert Burns World Federation Schools’ Competition

It was a privilege to attend the Robert Burns World Federation Schools’ Competition on Saturday 2nd March 2024 to watch the very talented children of Dunlop Primary School compete and show their verse speaking skills.

Both myself and the parents who were their supporting the children, were exceptionally proud and hugely impressed by the talents and confidence of the children.  All children received a certificate for participating.

 

A huge congratulations is extended to our exceptional P7 pupil who received a Robert Burns World Federation Certificate of Merit, these certificates are highly sought after and are awarded to the final 6 children in each heat.  It was wonderful to watch her compete in the finals where she performed strongly demonstrating excellent understanding and performance of Tam O’Shanter.

Robert Burns World Federation Certificate of Merit

Kindest regards, Mrs Nouillan

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

WINDOWS, MIRRORS AND SLIDING GLASS DOORS: ENSURING ALL CHILDREN SEE THEMSELVES AND OTHERS IN LITERATURE

In 1990, Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop published an essay about the importance of providing readers with books that reflect the diversity of the world.

In the essay, Dr. Bishop coined the phrase “Windows, Mirrors and Sliding Glass Doors” to explain how children see themselves in books and how they can also learn about the lives of others through literature.

Dr. Bishop makes the point that it’s crucial for all children to see themselves in the books they read.  Dr Bishop says, when books don’t serve as mirrors to children,, they learn a powerful lesson about how they are devalued in society.

In addition to acting as mirrors, books can also serve as windows that give readers a glimpse into the lives and experiences of others.

Therefore we have the critical task of making sure the children of Dunlop Primary and ECC have access to books in our classrooms and libraries that serve as both windows and mirrors.

As part of our school improvement planning, we have been developing the class libraries to ensure the books available to the children for personal readers are diverse and representative of the children and families of Dunlop Primary School and ECC.

So far we have provided each class with about 25 new books and plans are underway to continue to ensure visibility of all children.

Sarah, from The Book Nook in Stewarton is aware of our development plans and she very kindly gifted £160 worth of books to add to the class libraries.

The Captains and Vice Captains went to receive the books from Sarah and thank her for her generosity, whilst there, Sarah read to the children and provided some snacks.  As a thank you to Sarah, the Captains and Vice Captains entertained her and the other customers with their Scottish poetry.

Thank you Sarah for your kind generosity and thank you to the Captains and Vice Captains for representing the school in the community.

Regards, Mrs Nouillan

 

 

 

Festive Fun with Fabulous Fraser

The children from the ECC – P3 had a very special guest visit them this week as part of their Festive Fun Day.  Fabulous Fraser truly lived up to his name and there was a lot of fabulous fun!  He entertained the children with magic, balloon modelling, games, audience participation and mahem!

Fabulous Fraser really helped make this day magical!

A huge thank you is extended to the very kind family (who want to remain anonymous) who gifted this to the school for the children to enjoy, it was a very generous and thoughtful gift and we cannot thank you enough.

It was a fabulous day!

Kind regards, Mrs Nouillan

Bud the travelling Poppy Museum

In December, Bud the travelling Poppy Museum arrived in Dunlop for two days of workshops and museum visits.

Bud has been on the road since April 2019, travelling across Scotland sharing the story of the poppy. Bud further supported the children’s understanding of  the poppy and remembrance, helping keep remembrance relevant all year round.

All children and staff enjoyed their visit to Bud and it was a privilege and honour for us to have Bud visit us in Dunlop!

On behalf of the school, the Captains and Vice Captains thanked the Bud staff for coming to visit and provided the staff with coffee and cake from Idle Hands.

Kind regards, Mrs Nouillan

Tree Trimming 2023!

A huge thank you to our Captains and Vice Captains for taking on the role of Dunlop Tree Trimmers!

This year was a huge task as we have taken ownership of a gigantic 10 foot tree and as the children can only put decorations on to their arm’s length, a lot of climbing up and down the ladder fell to me, although I was directed on where exactly I was to place the baubles!

The tree looks beautiful in the hall and our visitors at the Winter Fair commented too!

A huge thank you also goes to our Captains and Vice Captains who worked tirelessly in the lead up to the Winter Fair, they wrote letters to local shops and businesses for donations for the raffle, organised  the Tombola (which was an enormous success) and organised the donated toys and books.  Then they all came out on Saturday and worked all morning at the stalls.

We all say a huge thank you for all you hard work and everything you do to make sure Dunlop Dazzles!

With regards, Mrs Nouillan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lest We Forget 2023

The Captains and Vice Captains attended the Church Remembrance Sunday Service with Mrs Kelly and myself as representatives of the school and family community.

The children had the honour of laying the wreath at the War Memorial to pay our respect.

The role of House and Vice House Captain is one of privilege, pride and responsibility. These roles are more than just a title and badge, and they require dedication and commitment for an entire year as they take part in active citizenship.

We are always immensely proud of our Captains and Vice Captains as they are exemplary role models.

With sincerest regards, Mrs Nouillan

New Class Library Books

As part of our improvement plan for this year is to further develop resources which promote Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, we have made a significant investment in our classroom libraries. We have spent £800, £500 was from our core budget and £300 was from our Pennies in the Park fundraiser in June 2023, and again I offer a huge thank you for your support with this!  Our new library books promote more diversity of characters, story-lines and authors, and they are intended to deepen understanding of disability, religion, faith, beliefs and culture, but all through the context of age and stage appropriate stories.  Moreover, our new resources will ensure all of the children of Dunlop Primary School have visibility and know they are represented and valued.

The Captains and Vice Captains have been working with me to allocate books to each class and they are excited about these new books going into the classrooms!

Should you have any questions about our resources or our improvement plan for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, I’m an always available to meet with you.

With regards, Mrs Nouillan

EAC P6 and P7 Cross Country

Congratulations and well done to our elite runners from P6 and P7 who took part in the Cross Country event at Ayrshire Athletics Arena in Kilmarnock.

P6 and P7 Cross Country Runners

Our cross country runners have been training with Mrs Kelly at lunchtime and I know many of them have also been out in the evenings and weekend too, and today, the hard work paid off!

We secured 1st and 3rd place for the P6 East Ayrshire Boys and everyone in Dunlop is so proud of them!

All our children showed their stamina and completed the course in good times, and it was fabulous to see the camaraderie as they cheered each other on!

From the 24 schools taking part, the results overall as as follows:

P6 boys – 2nd overall

P7boys – 4th overall

P7 girls – 3rd overall

Go Team Dunlop – we are delighted with this result and that our wonderful children, represented our small school and community so well!

from a very proud, Mrs Nouillan