After a long journey to kilbowie we arrived safely! After our lunch we enjoyed 
an afternoon of sorting our equipment and getting used to our surroundings. 
Some of us went a walk and some of us went canoeing and jumped in the sea. We 
had a lovely tea of chicken fajitas. Last night we played two games outside in 
the sun before having supper and going to sleep!We were a wee bit tired this 
morning but ready for a busy day ahead of skiing, canoeing, hill walking, 
gorge walking, climbing and going on safari! We are looking forward to our 
dinner of steak pie and more fun and games this evening. I'm sure we will all 
be sleeping much quicker tonight!!!

Following on from the success of the school’s ‘Royal Rockstars’ experience, Primary 4, as part of their Commonwealth topic have written and recorded their own song to spur on the Scottish team in the Commonwealth Games! The children wrote the lyrics during literacy and composed and rehearsed the tune during music time. The song was then recorded this Friday on the iPad using the free GarageBand app. During this time Room 12 was turned into a recording studio and the children not only all sang the choruses and rapped during the ‘middle 8’ or ‘bridge’, but they also sang the verses in small groups and all overdubbed percussion and handclaps. They are delighted with the results and want to share them with you all! If you click the link below (or copy and paste it into your browser), and select ‘download’ you will be able to download the song to your computer to play at home! We hope you enjoy it and look forward to your comments!

Primary 4 and Mr. MacLeod

Dear Parents,

10th June 2014

Thank you for your excellent support throughout this session. I can’t believe that I am now writing the final newsletter of this year. The school will participate in the Gala Day on Saturday 14th June as per the arrangements in the letter issued by the Parent Council.

Progress Reports

As you are aware, we are implementing Curriculum for Excellence. The format we use to report to you has changed. Your child will be issued with his/her report on Friday 20th June. Please talk to your child about his/her progress and complete the enclosed questionnaire. We do value your comments and as always I am keen to gather feedback from you to improve the service we provide for our children.

Primary 5 Parental Consultations are scheduled to take place on Thursday 12th June with Ms Barlow. An appointment time will be issued to you.

Parent Council

The final Parent Council Disco takes place on Thursday 12th June 6.30-8pm. Tickets cost £1 and are on sale from Mrs Dempster at the school. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs Walker for her commitment and loyal support in the role of Chairperson. I would also like to thank Mrs Taylor for efforts in the role of Treasurer. Please note that the Parent Council will need to appoint new Office Bearers at the A.G.M scheduled for 1st September 2014. More details will be provided after the summer holidays.

School Outings

Throughout this month, classes will be participating in a range of outings. Please note that the children should wear their school uniform in line with risk assessment procedures. The maximum amount of spending money is set at £3 per child. Please note that a packed lunch is required and those in receipt of free school meals will be provided with a packed lunch.

Uniform

If you have any items of school uniform that your child has outgrown, but are still in good condition, please send them into school as we can ‘recycle’ them to other families. Thank you.

Queens Baton Relay at Newmains Primary.

This is planned for Monday 23rd June 2014. The Baton will arrive at 12.04 and depart at 12.19pm. I will issue information from the Active Schools Coordinator as soon as I have it!

Success at Shotts Highland Games

I am very pleased to announce that our school team finished 2nd at this annual event. We were awarded £100 for our efforts. I would like to thank our Janitor, Mr McArthur and Mrs Dempster for giving freely of their time to support our children. Congratulations to our boys and girls who participated too!

Primary 7- News

The annual disco for Primary 7 takes place on Thursday 26th June at St. Brigid’s Centre from 7-9pm. We join with Primary 7 children from Morningside and St Brigid’s for this celebration.

Sports Days

Our children are currently participating in a range of events at school. This is part of our arrangements to mark the Commonwealth Games later this year. I am confident that your child will enjoy the activities organised for P1-P3 on Tuesday 17th June throughout the day and P4-P7 on Thursday 12th June throughout the day. Some competitive races will take place in the afternoons. Please note all events are subject to weather conditions. Thank you to Miss Keating for all her hard work to plan both events.

Transport- School Buses

If your child is in receipt of a privilege pass, you will need to reapply for starting back in August. Please contact Mrs Burt at the School Office, if you need more information.

End of Term Arrangements

The Summer Celebration will be held in Coltness Memorial Church on Wednesday 25th June at 10am. You are most welcome to come along and join us. School will close at 1pm on Friday 27th June. The usual arrangements will apply – children who get the bus home will leave about 12.30pm and the rest of the children will leave at 1pm. Sandwiches will be served for lunch for those in receipt of a free meal or for those purchasing a lunch.

I will aim to keep you informed about our classes for next session as soon I as have our staffing confirmed. Please bear with me!

We re-open for the new session on Monday 18th August at 9am; our new Primary 1 children will start at 10am.

PVG Checks

We are as always looking for parents to be disclosed so that they can help in school. If you are able to do this, please contact Mrs Johnston at the office.

On behalf of all the staff, have a wonderful summer and may the sun shine for all of us!

Yours sincerely,

E CLINTON
Head Teacher

NEWMAINS PRIMARY SCHOOL 28th May 2014

UK Safer Internet Centre

A new portal with internet safety advice for parents was launched on 13 May by the 4 biggest Internet Service Providers in the United Kingdom- BT, Sky, Virgin and TalkTalk as part of the Government’s push on the use of parental controls in the home. http://www.internetmatters.org/ offers a lot of sound advice and practical information to parents either by issue (cyberbullying, grooming, privacy and so on), type of technology (social media, mobile, gaming etc.) or by age. Amongst its supporters are the NSPCC, Childnet, Lucy Faithful, CEOP, OFCOM and many others and is worth exploring!
Use the link above to access a wealth of information including where to find safety settings on various games consoles, mobile phone networks and operating systems. Parents will find this information extremely helpful.

Please find school holidays (including in service days and local holidays) for the school year 2014/2015.

First term:

Teachers return Thursday 14th & Friday 15th August 2014 (in service days).
Pupils return Monday 18th August 2014.

In service: Thursday 18th September 2014.

September weekend: School closes Thursday 25th September 2014, re-opens Tuesday 30th September 2014.

October Break: School closes Friday 10th October, re-opens Monday 20th October.

Christmas: School closes Tuesday 23rd December 2014.

Second Term:

School re-opens Monday 5th January 2015.

Mid-term: School closes, Friday 6th February 2015, in service Wednesday 11th February 2015, school re-opens to pupils Thursday 12th February 2015.

Spring Break: School closes Thursday 2nd April 2015, re=opens Monday 20th April 2015.

Third Term:

School closes Friday 1st May 2015 re-opens Tuesday 5th May 2015.

In service: Thursday 7th May 2015.

Mid-term: School closes Thursday 21st May 2015, re-opens Tuesday 26th May 2015.

Summer Break: School closes Thursday 25th June 2015, teachers return for in service days on Friday 14th August and Monday 17th August 2015. Pupils return Tuesday 18th August 2015.