December information

As we move rapidly into the busiest and most exciting month of the year for our children, I wanted to take this opportunity to provide you with some important dates and update you on our festive plans. 

In her message via the School App on 12th November, Linda McAulay-Griffiths explained that Scottish Government guidance for schools still does not permit large gatherings of pupils indoors which means that we continue to be unable to offer visits to pantomimes and concerts.  All Ayrshire authorities have agreed that, given the continued prevalence of positive Covid-19 cases in schools, parents and carers will not be invited into schools and ECC’s to attend events.  Although we appreciate how disappointing this will be for you, please be reassured that we will continue to look at creative ways to offer these experiences to our children. 

Our children in the ECC, Primary 1 and Primary 2 are all working hard on their Nativities.  The ECC will perform “The Big Little Nativity” and Primary 1 and Primary 2 will perform “Whoops-a-daisy Angel”.  These performances will be recorded and shared with parents and carers.  Further information regarding how to access the recordings will follow. 

Our Primary 6 and Primary 7 pupils are working hard to prepare for their performance of Elf.  Further information will be shared by Base 4 staff.  Elf will also be pre-recorded with showings on Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th December at 7pm. 

We have booked an online Christmas Pantomime for our children to enjoy – Aladdin – 3 wishes, 2 vaccines & a genie!  All of our children from the ECC through to Primary 7 will have the opportunity to enjoy the Panto with their class during December. 

Thursday 16th December will be a Christmas Fun Day for all children at Gargieston.  The children are welcome to come to nursery and school wearing a Christmas jumper or their Christmas party outfit for the day.  Christmas lunch will also be served on this date. 

We are expecting a socially distanced visit for our children in the ECC, Primary 1 and Primary 2 from a special guest on Friday 17th December.  We will have a Grotto prepared for him in the ECC courtyard and the children will visit him outdoors.  

School closes for the Christmas holidays on Wednesday 22nd December at 2.30pm and reopens for the new term on Thursday 6th January. 

Thank you for your continued support this term.  We are hopeful that 2022 will bring further relaxations in the guidance for schools to enable us to reinstate further school events.  We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with you in the New Year. 

Kind regards, 

Julie McKee

Shelter Christmas Cards

Just a reminder that Shelter’s Christmas cards with Abbie Russell’s winning design on them are now for sale – £2.49 for 10.

Abbie visited the Prestwick shop last weekend, where she saw her cards for sale and received a gift from the staff.  Abbie, we are so proud of your achievement.

 

If anyone would like to buy a set of Abbie’s cards and support this Scottish charity as we head towards a difficult time for so many, please follow the link below:

Home for Christmas charity Christmas cards, pack of 10

Home for Christmas | Shelter Charity Christmas cards – Shop for Shelter

Reverse Advent Calendar

Primary 7 are organising a reverse advent calendar for the food bank.   We would love the ECC and School to take part.

During the month of December, we are asking your child to bring in one non-perishable food item to give to Ayrshire East Food Bank. Every child will receive a number and this will correspond with a date up to the 17th of December. Therefore, if they are number one they will bring their item on the 1st of December and so on. If their number falls on a Saturday or Sunday, they will bring it in on a Monday. Your child will receive their number as soon as possible.

We would really appreciate your help with this as we know some families will be struggling over Christmas time.

Thank you for your help.

One Kind Word – Anti-Bullying Week

This week is Anti-Bullying Week. At Monday’s assemblies we focused on the theme for this year which is One Kind Word. Kindness is one of our school values and, as we all know, kindness has never been more important.                                                                                  At the P4-7 assembly we looked at different scenarios and, in each of them, what we could do in each situation to be kind and supportive towards others. We all know that Anti-Bullying Week is for every week!!                                                                                                                      On Tuesday, to show our support for Anti-Bullying Week children wore odd socks to school. As you can see from these photographs, it made for a very colourful display!!                                                                             In the last 2 photographs, can you match the pupil to the socks??

More Sporting Opportunities in East Ayrshire!

Ayrshire Gymnastics Community Club Poster V2 – P5+6

Cluarankwai Judo Community Club Poster – P5+6

Sakai Karate Community Club Poster – P1-7

Free Netball Grange Leisure Centre –  P4-7

P6 – Pupil Leadership

Primary 6 are really enjoying being part of Columba 1400’s Pupil Leadership Programme. Yesterday’s session was on focus and we all looked at the qualities of a leader. We created our own leaders using a way of our choice!

We also discussed modern, fictional and community leaders before each pupil decided on their Leadership Dream Team! 💙

Gymnastics Opportunity

Click here to register!

Parent Council Meeting

The next meeting of the Parent Council and Gargieston Fundraising Group will be held on Tuesday 9th November at 7pm via a Teams meeting.

A warm welcome is extended to all parents and carers. The meetings can be joined by dialling in from your phone, or via video call from a smartphone, tablet or laptop.

For joining details please email gargiestonparentcouncil@gmail.com by 12pm Tuesday 9th November and an invite will be sent to your email address.

If you are a current member of our Parent Council an invite has already been sent.

…….and more achievements!

What a week for amazing achievements by our Gargieston pupils. Zoe Brown from P4A also took part in the 2K Hallowe’en race at the weekend to raise money for Cancer Research.                                                  Corey Hudson, also in P4A, did a charity run in aid of the Crosshouse Hospital Children’s Fund.                                                                                       Very well done! We are very proud of you both.

The Achievements Keep Coming!

A big shout out to Annie and Sam Warburton who ran a 2K Hallowe’en race at the weekend to raise money for Cancer Research. Annie and Sam, we are so proud of you for putting others first as you ran in the rain!

Here are some pictures from the day.