valentine’s disco – Stane Primary School and Nursery Class

Head Teacher’s Blog – Monday 6th February 2017

The nursery children were very excited to have the chicks back in the playroom today after their ‘wee break’ over the weekend. Mrs. Lindsay took them home with her on Friday afternoon and took very good care of them – they even got to watch the rugby on the television! The children in the nursery have been so caring to the little chicks and are looking after them very well. We will miss them on Friday but are pleased that they are going to a lovely farm to have a happy life.

I had a lovely morning visiting P6/7 and then P3/4 to join in with their Taught Writing lessons. Primary 6/7 were writing in the persuasive genre. They had chosen to write letters to persuade their audience to improve the provision of outdoor activities in Shotts. They were able to use some very persuasive language and used facts and data to make their arguments. I was very impressed with their hard work and concentration.

Mrs. Robert’s class were working on Narrative stories linked to their interdisciplinary topic ‘Knights and Castles’. They used their topic vocabulary about a knight to make their narratives very detailed and used a video clip of ‘Mike the Knight’ to help develop their descriptive language. I was very pleased to see the children involved in peer assessment to improve their work and was delighted with the concentration and focus of all children.

As a school, we encourage daily activity to focus the children’s attention and concentration. I joined P6/7 for a little bit of their afternoon activity where they were running a mile around the trim-trail. It was nice to see the children energised and enthusiastic for their work afterwards.

I am always very grateful by the kindness and generosity of our parents/carers and families. Today alone, our school has benefited from parent helpers working in classes, grandparents and parents helping with some DIY and ground maintenance and other parents donating items for our Loose Parts Play. Thank you to each and everyone of you who has given of your time over the past few weeks to assist.

Tomorrow, P1/2 and P2/3 will be taking part in a healthy eating workshop with Warburtons. I will be visiting P5/6 and P4/5 to join in with their Taught Writing lesson and to finish the day, the Parent Council will hold their annual Valentine’s Disco. Glad rags on everyone!

Head Teacher’s Blog – Friday 3rd February 2017

It’s been a while since I last added a Head Teacher’s Blog to the school website. I will make it a belated New Year’s Resolution to try and blog more often!

January has been a very full month in our wee school and it is hard to believe it has zipped past already.

Enrolment of the next intake of Primary 1 pupils who will begin in August 2017 took place in the second week of term. 22 children from our catchment area enrolled for next session – our biggest intake in a few years! This will bring our school role to approx. 145 pupils in August.

The nursery children have had special visitors this week – 10 little eggs to look after and hatch into chicks. The children were excited to welcome the chicks this week and are amazed at how quickly they have grown. Their learning has centred around caring for the chicks – the children wrote their own rules for taking care of them. The chicks will stay with us for another week until they are big enough to go to a local farm where they will live in a free-range environment.

The children in P1-7 have been enjoying ‘Art Focus Fortnight’ which ended today. Everytime I have visited a class throughout the week, the children were painting, creating or learning about art by focussing on well know artists. Each child has created a canvas inspired by their work and every class except P6/7 have also produced a framed print too.

Instead of a second piece of artwork, P6/7 were set the task by Mrs. Parker (Senior CLD Worker) to create a piece of video art as part of a ‘Voluntary Action Fund’ project called ‘What My Mother Means to Me’

Mrs. Parker and Mrs. Byrne from Calderhead High School worked together with pupils from S3 to offer a ‘Special Effects Make Up’ tutorial for our pupils in P5/6 and P4/5.

All of the work from our Art Focus Fortnight will be displayed during our Art Exhibition on Friday 10th February 2017. We hope you can join us.

January has also seen some building work in our playground. Thanks to an Awards for All Grant of £9600 plus donations collected from non-uniform days, we have purchased an Outdoor Classroom for our playground. We are so pleased with it – we are just waiting for a final panel to new be supplied to finish it off and the children will be able to start using it.

We’ve also purchased new outdoor games and storage and the children were very exciting when these were being put out for them to use.

Last Friday, the Parent Council held their annual Family Film Night. I would like to extend my gratitude to them for organising a hugely successful evening and also to the friends, families and relatives who came along and supported the school. The children who attended were extremely well behaved and a great night was had by all.

Next week, I will be completing ‘Learning Visits’ to every class in the school to see their ‘Taught Writing’ work. I am looking forward to seeing the wonderful work of the children and staff!

Don’t forget that the Parent Council Valentine’s Discos take pace on Tuesday 7th February 2017. Nursery to P2 from 5.30pm-6.30pm and P3-7 from 6.45pm-8pm. The cost of entry is £1.50 which is payable on entry.

Have a lovely weekend.

Week Beginning Monday 15th February 2016

General Information

This week’s lunch menu:

There’s lots happening at Stane Primary School and Nursery class this week:

M&M Theatre Production

As a special treat, the children in P1-7 will enjoy a performance of ‘The Little Princess’ performed by the wonderful M&M Theatre Company. This will take place in the school gym hall from 1pm. The school will meet the cost of this.

To allow the performance to start on time, lunchtime will be earlier on Monday (12pm-12.45pm).

Valentine’s Disco

The Parent Council Valentine’s Disco will take place on Tuesday 16th February in the gym hall.

Nursery to P2 – 5.30pm to 6.30pm
P3-P7 – 6.45pm-8.00pm
£1.50 per pupil, payable on entry.
Tuck shop and glow sticks available to buy during the disco.

P6 Enterprise

The P6 Enterprise Group will hold their ‘Ice Cream’ initiative this week. They will take orders in the morning and deliver ice-cream after lunchtime. (On Monday, it will be delivered after interval due to the theatre visit)

Children can order:

a Cone or a Tub – 50p (2 scoops of strawberry, chocolate or vanilla)
added extras – 10p (sprinkles or raspberry sauce)

Rugby After School Club (Monday)

This club is cancelled this week as the coach is unavailable.

Nursery Football Taster Sessions:

Active Schools are delivering Mini-nippers Football Taster sessions on Tuesday (9.15am-10am and 1.15pm-2pm).

SSPCA Visit

Staff from SSPCA visit primary schools every year to deliver workshops on animal safety/prevention of cruelty to animals. This will take place this Thursday at the following times:

P6/7: 9.30am-10.30am

P1-3 11am-11.30am (Gym Hall)

11.30am-12.30pm P4/5 (or as soon as possible following return from swimming).

1.20pm-2.20pm P5/6

Other events this week:

Monday 15^th February 2016

12.00-12.45pm: Early Lunch
1pm-3pm: M&M Theatre Production – “The Little Princess”. You can find out more about this at http://www.magicoftheatre.com/shows/classic/little-princess
3.00pm-4.15pm: P4-6 Fun Fitness After School Club with S6 Sports Leaders (PE Kit and Water Bottle required)
3.00pm-4.15pm: P4-7 Arts and Crafts Club with Mrs. McGurk.
Tuesday 16^th February 2016
Approx. 9.15am: Willie Yeoman from Clyde River Foundation in school – delivery of Fish Eggs to P6/7 and P5/6.
9.15am: Nursery Football Taster Session (Gym Hall)
10.45am-11.45am: Jean-Baptiste (French Assistant from Calderhead HS) working with P1/2.
11.15am-12.15pm: Library Bus in school for P4-7.
3.00pm-4.15pm: P4-7 Dance After School Club with S6 Sports Leaders (PE Kit and Water Bottle Required)
3.00pm-4.15pm: P4-7 Cross Country Running Club with Mr. Clark (Outdoor PE Kit and Water Bottle Required)
3.00pm-4.15pm: P4-7 Science Club with Mrs Robert (Outdoor footwear required).
5.30pm-8.00pm: PC Valentine’s Disco. (See above)

Wednesday 17^th February 2016

9.00am-3.00pm: Nursery pre-school children vision screening.
9.30am-10.15am: Celebrating Success Assembly.
1.15pm-3.15pm: Fiona from Childsmile will be in school to visit P1-7 re Tooth brushing.
1.30pm: Miss Law in P2 for Roots of Empathy Programme.

Thursday 18^th February 2016

9.15am-11.15am: Primary 5 Swimming Block Week 10 – Swimming and PE Kit required
10.00am-11.30am: Mr. Clark accompanying Cross-Country runners to tournament at Shotts Community Centre.
3.00pm-4.15pm: P4-7 Football After School club led Active Schools Coach (PE Kit and Water Bottle Required)
3.00pm-4.15pm: P1-3 Arts and Crafts Club led by Miss Thomson

Friday 19^th February 2016

9am-3.30pm: Mr. Clark attending Nurturing Lives and Communities Conference
1.00pm-3.00pm: Nursery ABC Music Support Session.
1.15pm-3.00pm: Claire Cassidy from Strathclyde University to working with P2 on Primary School Philosophy.
2.15pm-2.45pm: Golden Time.