Well done to the Captains and Vice Captains of Jura and Mull who raised a total of £836 for their four chosen charities:

1. Cash for Kids
2. Coats for kids
3. Maggie Centre
4. Riverbrae school.

We will announce the winners of the teddies next week when P1-7 are all together.

Tomorrow is the Christmas lunch – this had to be pre ordered.  If you haven’t ordered a lunch then a packed lunch is required.

Charity day tomorrow – own clothes with a Christmas jumper if possible.  Donation for this and some stalls will be set up for those wishing to guess the name of the teddy, have their nails painted etc.

The P1-3 Nativity is looking great!

We still have a significant number of tickets available for Wednesday at 1pm and Thursday at 9:15am.

Please call the office to request more.  We are hoping that there will be a big audience for all of the shows.

Thanks!

We are looking for a crib/Moses basket for the pantomime. It could be full size or a dolls one. We will look after it but please don’t send it in if it is precious as it will be taken on and off stage by children etc.

If if you have something we can use, please bring it in or call to tell us on Monday.

Thanks!

Hi all,

We need a special man for Wednesday afternoons p1-3 Christmas party. Red suit and gift wrapped presents provided.

If if you can help, please call the office on Monday!

Thanks

Own clothes with a Christmas jumper if you have one for a donation- suggestion £1.

Jura and Mull will have stalls on the day for 20p-50p.

All money raised will be split between the 4 chosen charities!

The Parent Council have set up a pop up shop with gifts for all the family, even pets! £2 per gift and your child can surprise you on Christmas Day!

When they are gone, they are gone!

Secret room open from Monday!

Thank you to everyone who supported, attended and organised the Christmas fayre last night!

Over £4000 was raised!!!! What an incredible amount!

This money will improve learning and engagement for our children.

Thanks,

Mrs Mavers

This is the grit plan the Janitor has been given for ice and snow.

Please follow us on Twitter and hit the heart button 💙

Well done! Recognised for going over and above!

P1 made a pretend fire during play. Mrs Gooding then allowed them all to experience how to toast marshmallows on a real fire!

Well done Craft Club and Kim!

Orla and Mara collect gifts for charity each Christmas. They are supporting Quarriers and are looking for toys, games, soft toys etc. The items need to be new and unwrapped.

We have chosen charities each year based on the wishes of our House Captains. Although this is not a chosen charity (the girls aren’t even eligible to apply for Captain as they are too young) we are always keen to promote the work of our responsible citizens.  We supported a pupil in Brave the Shave before the holidays and we are happy to raise awareness of this appeal.

Gifts can be brought to p6 and p3. It must be made clear that they are for Quarriers and not for the Christmas Fayre. This is completely optional.

Thanks

We are looking forward to our games night on Monday 29th October!

P1-3       5:30-6:30pm

P4-7      7-8pm

If you come along then you will get a game to take away.

We look forward to seeing you.

We have already celebrated our first Accelerated Reading Word Millionaires!!!! Congratulations to our P6 girls. I am so impressed.

You are also on Twitter!

Well done!!!!

Well done to Lewis who nervously Braved the Shave in front of the whole school!!!

You can still donate money until Friday- send it into school if you wish.

The videos are on Twitter!

Lewis in p6 is braving the shave next Wednesday!!! This will be live in Barsail. He will have a donation box on the day incase anyone wishes to donate. There is also an online donation page.

Working together during House Tutor time on Friday. The children were expressing their views and helping to shape school improvement. There were opportunities for pupil leadership too.

We have registered the school in

http://scottishsunfreebooksforschools.co.uk/

Vouchers will appear in the paper between 24th September and 18th November.
We need to collect 3500 vouchers to get the school £550 of free books!! We are asking if everyone can please start collecting and send the vouchers into to school when you do!! Ask neighbours and relatives too.

The Parent Council are leading on this initiative- thank you!

One of our parents, Matthew Wearing, responded to a plea on the newsletter and cut back several bushes at the school this morning. He braved the wind and has really tidied up the plants outside the office.

We would like to say thank you!

He runs a company- Wearing and Sons Gardening who are on Facebook.  It was so kind to take the time to do this.

Mrs Mavers

We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded the School Sport Gold Award!!!!

Mrs Gibney led the effort to achieve this award. Her hard work has paid off! Special thanks to Joanne McDowall for her involvement in improving sporting opportunities in Barsail. A massive thanks to Iain Shearer who is our Active Schools coordinator.

This is the result of awesome teamwork involving the whole school!

Woohoo!

I attended a leadership conference this week. I heard from John Swinney (Deputy First Minister), Gayle Gorman (Education Scotland), Sir Tom Hunter and many more inspirational speakers.

I also connected with a group of Head Teachers who attended Columba 1400 with me last session.

I genuinely feel that Barsail is heading in the right direction. I’m feeling invigorated and positive.

What is important?

Relationships

Moral purpose- our children at the heart

Values

Empowering

Collaboration

Everything we do should improve learning and teaching.

We are very keen for more children to sign up for Badminton.

Some clubs are full but we have plenty of spaces in lots of our sporting clubs.

Cooking and Recorder- only for pupils who haven’t taken part before.

Rugby- we are extending to p3-7 as we only had 2 people signed up and the club cannot run like that.

Film Club and Cooking do not start until after the September weekend. They are longer each week but do not run for the same number of weeks.

Chess- Mr McQueen will run the club next Tuesday at lunch as the usual day is a holiday. It will be Fridays thereafter.

Online sign up closes on Friday to allow us to organise the registers etc.

Maths Week Scotland has been fun so far.

Please check out our tweets @Barsail_Primary

Follow us and like our tweets.

Remember that you can share how you use Maths in everyday life on twitter- @Barsail_Primary @AttainRen @PMCmathematics #MWSREN

It was great to see so many families get involved in the Maths trail today!

MATHS IS FUN!

We will order the snakes and ladders table table top as this was the most popular choice. We have more choices for next week!

The Renfrewshire theme for Maths Week Scotland is ENGAGEMENT!

Please show your support to Barsail by tweeting about Maths next week and adding @Barsail_Primary @AttainRen #MWSREN

If you take part, there will be a prize for the best tweet using the handles above!

You could take a photo during the fun Maths homework tasks which include a Maths trail/quiz around the school grounds and also showing how you use Maths in every day life.

Please follow us on twitter and tweet to show your engagement!

What a team of young leaders we have here!!!

Well done to these pupils who were recognised for going OVER AND ABOVE Barsail Standard!!!! We had a good chat, hot Chocolate and a biscuit while listening to music.

Such a pleasure to end my week with superstar students!

Mrs Mavers

You could always check if the book has an Accelerated Reading quiz! That way, you can read on your tablet/phone and still head towards being an AR Word Millionnaire!

Well done 🌟

‌‍Monday 3rd September

Drop in event

5-5:30pm Loch Insh P7 meeting in the Hall

5:30-7pm Pop into your child’s class to chat to the teacher and look around. Visit other specialists e.g. Mrs Sinclair in the Music Room.

6-7pm P1 presentation for parents in the classes

7-9pm Parent Council AGM

Join the summer reading challenge. Who else will complete it?

Remember to tweet and include @Barsail_Primary

Please take part in the library summer reading challenge! You will have fun and get rewards as you read. This is also a Renfrewshire competition- come on Barsail!

Take photographs and tweet them. Add  @Barsail_Primary

Hope you are enjoying the lovely weather.

Mrs Mavers

Well done! What a team. It was such a close race. Great community event.

The children paid 20p to throw wet sponges at the house and vice captains today.  This money was added to the total raised on Friday. The grand total is £679. This will be split between the three chosen charities.

Outstanding citizenship.

Well done!

Erskine Gala Day

Saturday 23^rd June

Walking Parade

Barsail Primary are delighted to be supporting and taking part in this community event.

Details:

Meet and sign each child in at the Farmhouse at 10:45am. We will be leaving at 11am.

There will be a food bank donation at the Farmhouse. You can hand items in on arrival if you wish.

Parade with other groups and schools to Park Mains – 11am until approximately 12pm

Parent / Guardian to sign each child out at Park Mains race track – 12pm

N.B. parents who enter the Gala day at Park Mains will require a wrist band (£2). There will be an entrance to the race track to collect children without paying.

THERE WILL BE A TOILET AT THE FARMHOUSE BUT NO TOILET FACILITIES BETWEEN THE FARMHOUSE AND ARRIVAL AT PARK MAINS.

The theme is nursery rhymes. Barsail will be dressing up in a sweet / sugar theme.  Here is our rhyme:

Jonny, Jonny,

Yes Papa?

Eating sugar?

No Papa.

Telling lies?

No Papa.

Open your mouth…

Ha ha ha!

Please wear bright coloured clothes and add sweetie wrappers / sugar wrappers to your clothes / hair.

We are encouraging adult helpers to dress up too!  This was great fun last year.

All tear off slips must be returned asap.

Volunteers accompanying the children will need to pay the £2 entry fee to the Gala Day. Volunteers can do this in advance by sending in £2 with the tear off slip and they will be given a wrist band to wear on the day.  Alternatively, you can buy a wristband for £2 at the Farmhouse on the day.

Please complete the tear off slip below if your child wishes to take part.  If you have lost the letter, you can send a note with your child’s name, whether an adult will be there and a contact number for the day.

Thank you,

Emma Mavers

Head Teacher

_____________________ would like to be involved in the walking parade on Saturday 23^rd June and will be at the Farmhouse at 10:45am.

I am happy to volunteer to accompany the walking parade.

I wish to purchase the wristband in advance and have enclosed £2.

I do not want to accompany the walking parade and I will sign my child in and out on the day.

N.B. Children to wear bright colours and add sweet themed accessories / wrappers.

Parent / Guardian signature__________________________ Date_____________

Phone number to reach parent / guardian on the day in case of emergency _____________________________

P6 were the first to complete 90km for Kinda Kili! P3 completed the most laps of the schools, collectively running the longest distance.

Corrine Hutton is climbing Mount Kilimanjaro later in the year.  We loved doing Kinda Kili!

Follow us on Twitter…

What an incredible day- a visit from a Scottish champion gymnast, parents V pupils football then Sports Day! Please follow us on twitter and like our tweets!

A

Star Awards

1st in the Renfrewshire Sumdog competition!!! This is the second time he was won!

Achievements 

Thank you so much to Steve Blackmore (local artist) and Leanne for creating this amazing design on our container. It is better than we could ever have hoped for!

The children who designed the animals are thrilled!

Honesty Octopus

Empathy Elephant

Ambition Armidilo

Respect Rhino

Teamwork Toucan

Success Shark

Hearts Values!

Well done to the finalists in the Takent Show- what an array of talent!

Thanks to the Pupil Council and Mr Armstrong for organising this slick, high quality event.

Check out the videos of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and two highly commended acts on the school twitter feed!

We are delighted that Mrs Gooding and Miss Morrison were asked to showcase work their classes have been doing. The children have been learning about Mathematics through a real life context.

Over 100 teachers were in attendance at the Renfrewshire event where practitioners were sharing good practice.

Barsail WON the football tournament today!!!!!

A nail biting finish with penalties deciding the final against St Anne’s!

Thank you so much to Duncan who coaches the team! Thanks to Mrs Baldacci who assists Duncan.

Of course I am not competitive at all 😂 Safe to day I am delighted!

#proudheadteacher

Enjoy learning about Science together at this free event!

This is a local uniform bank run by volunteers. If you would like us to request uniform for you then please contact that school office.

Well done girls! You did Barsail and Renfrewshire proud. What a fantastic achievement to be selected for this competition. Great results in your categories.

Please help us create den building kits. We need:

old suitcases to store the kits

tarpaulin

material

old table cloths/bed linen

rope

pegs

Any other items to create dens.

Please send items in ASAP.

Thanks!

Community Police have been involved in reviewing CCTV footage as items in our playground have been vandalised recently. The playhouse has been broken several times. The new picnic benches (which are extremely heavy) have been moved.

One of our pupils has created this poster and I wanted to share it with our families. Help us to spread the word. We are happy for children to enjoy the grounds, play on the trim trail, use the MUGA etc. All that we ask is that you respect our playground.

Today at assembly we discussed how important it is to SHOW our values.  We all KNOW them but the hard part is to SHOW them.

H onesty

E mpathy

A mbition

R espect

T eamwork

S uccess

This clearly had an impact on lots of pupils as I had a constant stream of pupils at my door during Friday Fun. They had all chosen to make values posters, cards and poems. I was delighted! What a lovely way to end the week.

Have a fabulous long weekend.

The staff will be working together during inservice tomorrow to review the pupil and parent views expressed in questionnaires, self evaluate and set priorities for next session.

I look forward to seeing P7 as they arrive back tomorrow!

#proudheadteacher

Mrs Mavers

Saturday chess competition winners! The boys competed against other schools and won first place! Three gold medals and a trophy for the school!

74CCCAC8-9572-4B20-9FDB-8C15BD892472

Well done to the Captains and Vice Captains of Bute and Skye who organised a whole school fundraiser. £736 was raised for Beatson, Erskine and Alzheimer UK. These are charities chosen by the children.

Our Badminton team got through to a semi final today. The did us proud!

Well done to the two pupils who were asked to play in  the Renfrewshire Schools Band. One pupil was playing the accordion and the other pupil played the guitar. The video is on Twitter!

Our basketball team reached the finals in a Renfrewshire competition! They played well and were second overall. This is the second year running that we have been pipped at the post.  They are winners in our eyes!

Well done to our team who came first in the Active Schools dodgeball regional finals!

Thank you so much to Aura Homeworks, Cutting Edge Landscape Gardeners and family volunteers for creating this wonderful playhouse for the pupils in Barsail Primary. This will be very well used as we develop play pedagogy.

Well done to the Captains and Vice Captains!

I have spent three days and nights at a Head Teacher leadership academy this week. It is fair to say that it pushed me out of my comfort zone and it was tough at times – it was full on from 8:30am until 10pm every day. However- what an experience. I have made connections with primary and secondary Head Teachers from across Scotland. We are determined to ensure that this leads to collaboration and the sharing of good practice.

I am committed to being a Head Teacher who continually learns. I will use what I have learned to continue to build upon the amazing culture we have in Barsail. I will strive to be the best version of myself in doing so.

Values- ambition, teamwork, success

Dream Big, Aim High, Achieve More!

Never stop learning.

Mrs Mavers

We recommended this resource during Maths and Munch!

Click to access IAmAMathematician120517.pdf

Thank you to all those who tagged Barsail in tweets for World Book Day! Please keep tweeting and showing us what you are up to!

We are just a tad excited that David Walliams liked one or out retweets!!!

Woohoo!

Mrs Mavers

World Book Day will now be 9th March as per Seesaw post.

Last nights blog said 2nd but as we are off today that isn’t practical.

Sorry for any confusion and I am encouraged by the fact that many of you spotted the mistake! You are clearly engaging with our communication methods so thank you!

Mrs Mavers

Barsail have received a very generous donation from a family – a defibrillator. We are delighted to have this life saving piece of equipment and have taken the responsibility for it seriously. It is located near the staffroom in the front entrance and is for school and community use. Staff and some Parent Council members undertook training on Friday. We will talk to the children about it at an assembly.

More information to follow in a letter.

Mrs Mavers

The children have been voting for what playground equipment they want the Parent Council to fund.  Monkey bars were the most popular choice.  Asking the children their opinion is important to us.  We will act on this and hope to get them monkey bars to play on soon.

A lovely start to the morning.  This wonderful pupil knows me so well!  I am absolutely thrilled with the new addition to my office.

We are delighted to have Craft Club on offer.  It will start on 14/2/18.  One off £10 payment on week 1 please.  We have not set this club up to pay online.  It will be an hour and a half – 3:15-4:45pm on Wednesday.  Please sign up online by Friday.  After Friday all clubs will be locked.

• Please sign up to BASE Sign up club then choose clubs to go to!

Please sign up by Friday at 3pm as BASE starts next week and we will be making the registers.

We have plenty spaces in the following clubs:

• Play for p1 and 2
• Dodgeball
• Horrible Historians with Mr Armstrong
• Parent and child homework club (snack provided)
• Cheerleading
• Netball
• Football Skill School
• Badminton – ***now P4 children included***
• Fun Fitness
• Treble recorder ***now p7 included***
• Dance
• Girls football

We have no space in gymnastics, coding, yoga, cooking and Lego and there are waiting lists for these clubs.

There may be a few spaces in other clubs but we have good numbers for them.

We have helped families who can’t sign up online so please don’t let that be a barrier- give us a call if you want a place in the clubs which have spaces but can’t get internet access.

Thanks,

Mrs Mavers

We have new VALUES Star Awards!!!

A lovely visitor from this poet today! What a hilarious poem you have created!

Barsail represented Renfrewshire in this competition. The team did very well and came 2nd! Congratulations!

Remember to visit our our twitter feed.

The Cross Country competition is coming up. We would like to encourage all of our pupils to try a park run. If you are in p6-7 then this would help you train for the Cross Country.

This is the junior park run:

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/victoria-juniors/

And in case parents fancy doing one, here is the page for Linwood park run

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/linwood/

Thank you to Joanne, one of our running club coaches, for the information.

Mrs Mavers

Well done to our winning P7 team!

Well done- Primary 1 and invited to the preview of the ‘Inspired’ exhibition in Paisley Museum where his winning entry is displayed!

One of our pupils will have their artwork displayed in an exhibition in Paisley Museum And Art Gallery this month! Congratulations!

Thank you to all of the Barsail family for their continued support. We couldn’t ask for a better group of parents, pupils and staff.

Have a wonderful Christmas.

See you all in 2018!

Mrs Mavers

Well done Jura! Aaron, Cameron and Abigail hosted a fabulous party for their house.

Continue reading Donations →

Our BASE cheeerleading And dance groups performed in a showcase! Well done!

What a fantastic turn out for our annual fayre last night.

The Parent Council have worked tirelessly to plan and organise this event. A sub group led this. I can’t thank them enough.

A profit of approximately £3800 will go towards joint Parent Council, Pupil Council and school plans.

A further £270 came directly from the sale of goods the classes cooked/baked and this will create a cooking fund for classes.

Over £120 will be spent on musical instruments as it came from the ukelele raffle.

A massive thank you to all of the Barsail family for attending, donating and spending. The money raised will improve the experiences of our children. The incredible total raised is only possible through your support.

Mrs Mavers

The choir needs a parent helper to accompany them to Morrisons on Monday 11th December.  They will leave Barsail at 9:30am and return at lunch time.  If you can help, please call the school office and leave your name for Mrs Gooding.

Congratulations to Mrs Cochrane who, after a successful interview, became the permanent Depute Head Teacher in Barsail Primary today.

The local Salvation Army have a large selection of new toys which they want to give to families who would benefit from them at this time of year.  Christmas can be a tough time for families.

They are having a free event from 9am – 12pm on Friday 15th December with light refreshments.  If you go along, you can choose a gift for your child / grandchild.  If this time doesn’t suit, you can contact them for support outwith it.

They have asked us to make our parents aware.

Well done!

These competition winning entries will inspire local artist Steve Blackmore to paint our outdoor container! The animals represent our values!

What a fantastic turn out for the p1-3 Reading event on Friday. We gave away freebies. There was tea/coffee, biscuits and a short presentation followed by a visit to the classes.

Renfrewshire competition!

WINNERS

Barsail – 1st for top class and 1st for top student! We have 9 students in the top 20 and 5 classes in the top 20 🏆. It was Book Week Scotland but we managed to promote Numeracy too!

Kids Christmas Party

Team Mila was one of our chosen charities last session. We want to help raise awareness of this local kids event which will raise money for Team Mila. Check out the Team Mila Facebook page for more details. 

P3 and P7 can bring back their order slip on Friday to get priority seating.  Your letter is being sent home today.

All other classes can order tickets from Monday.

The school is closed on Thursday. It is a holiday for St. Andrew’s Day.

BASE has now stopped.

Choir and chess will continue at lunch time.

Local artist Steve Blackmore has kindly offered to paint our new container. He will be using spray paint therefor it is not safe for the pupils to join in when he is painting. The benefit of this is that paint he will use is more durable.

In order to involve the whole school, I am setting a Head Teacher challenge! I want the container design to incorporate our new school values.

In collaboration with Steve, we have decided to provide the following design brief:

*Choose a value and create an animal design for it.

*Our values are Honesty, Empathy, Ambition, Respect, Teamwork, Success

*The animal name might rhyme with the value / have a good ring to it e.g. Honesty Owl

OR

it might have alliteration e.g. Success Snake

OR

it might be an animal which shows that value e.g. Teamwork Ant

*Consider writing the value / its initial letter on the animal

*You could add a superhero cape

*Draw and colour the animal on A4 paper

*Only one animal should be on each piece of paper

*You can make as many designs as you want

*You will earn 10 house points for every design that you create at home

*Make sure you write your name and class on the entry.

I will review the entries with the artist and we will choose winning designs.

The closing date is Monday 4th December.

Good Luck!

Mrs Mavers

One of our pupils has won the Rotary Club handwriting competition! She will be collected in a limousine and she will switch on the Christmas lights at Bridgewater on 24th November.

 Congratulations! We are very proud of you.

A huge thank you to David Bunting and his company for fixing the broken decking at the outdoor classroom and donating and installing a bike rack at the infant area of the school.

P1-3 this will make it even more convenient to cycle or scoot to school. Remember to chain your bike or scooter to the rack. Please dismount before entering the playground.

Thanks!

What a wonderful project! Thank you Kim and the Craft Club!

1. 

I enjoyed watching Barsail V Langbank today. Great sportsmanship on both sides and a win for Barsail!

Mrs Mavers

Well done girls!  You represented Barsail at the Scottish schools swimming competition.

Both girls swam personal bests. This is tremendous!

We also got a second with a good chance of qualifying for nationals (subject to confirmed qualifying times).

Wow!!!! We have 4 classes in the top 100 in the NATIONAL Sumdog competition!!!

There are nearly 5000 classes taking part!!!

What an achievement! I am a very proud Head Teacher!

P3 – when you left school today you were in the 30s. You must have started your holiday by playing Sumdog and you have made a difference.  The competition is over and you are 15th in Britain! That deserves a treat when you return.  All of our top 100 classes will get a reward.

Have a wonderful October break!

Well done to Term 1 winners Jura!

Here are our class winners. Well done!  We will find out on Tuesday if any of our entries won the cluster competition!

As you know, we have started PATHS in Barsail. This is part of our overall Health and Wellbeing curriculum.

Today Mrs Cochrane and I met with the Educational Psychology team to discuss a whole school ‘Nurturing Approaches’ strategy.

We have a fantastic ethos in Barsail and these new initiatives will strengthen our ethos and Health work. This is all part of our school improvement plan.

Look out for pictures of our new ‘Rainbow Relaxation Room.’

You will soon receive a survey about our positive behaviour policy. You can help shape our revised system.

Mrs Mavers

Next week, Barsail children will be taking part in fun activities linked to Scottish Maths Week. The ‘Magic Mathematician’ pupil group started advertising this focus week today.  Most homework next week will be Maths related. Classes are taking part in a Renfrewshire competition and some stages will be involved in a Sumdog competition.

We hope that we inspire our pupils and increase their enthusiasm towards Maths as well as enhancing their knowledge and skills.

Thank you to Miss Morrison for leading this initiative in her role as Numeracy Champion.

Mrs Mavers

There was a fantastic turn out for Meet the Teacher! Thank you for the very positive evaluations of this event.

We also had new faces at Parent Council. The new committee members are raring to go! Everybody is welcome to attend meetings. Many hands make light work.

Mrs Mavers

Third place in the parade!

I received two lovely emails today which made me smile! Some of our p6-7 pupils represented the school at a girls STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) event. P6-7 pupils were also selected to compete in a track and field competition.

All of these pupils are a credit to Barsail and their families!

Well done to all of our wonderful finalists today! What a show! Thank you to Mr Armstrong who assisted the Talent Team pupil group and spent his lunch time in auditions!

We had a very busy assembly today!  Katy Firth, an archaeologist, visited us to speak about a local excavation!  Some of our classes will be helping with a real excavation dig to find relics from the past!!!

P4/3, P4, P5/4 and P5 also had workshops with Katy today!

P6 were presented with their Play Leader certificates – well done!

We also had so many achievers that we only managed to hear from P1-3 today! We will try to see P4-6 tomorrow!