Congratulations to our P4/5 Glee Club for performing at the Ayrshire Music Festival. The group sang two Easter songs and achieved a merit for their entry. The adjudicator commented that they had a sweet tone, their words were very clear and they sang with feeling. They also paid great attention to the conductor, Mrs Slider, who has led the club this year.
All posts by Mr Hardy
Show Racism the Red Card
As part of our work within Health and Wellbeing, pupils across the school took part in the ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ competition. The theme of the creative competition was ‘Scotland for All’. We are pleased to announce that one of our Primary 1 pupils is a finalist. All the P1s will enjoy a trip up to Hampden to the award ceremony and get a tour of the stadium too.
West FM – School of the Week
This week we are the ‘School of the Week’ on West FM. You can hear our pupils in the morning around 8.35am and after school just after 3.30pm
Red Nose Day
Th
is year we will be raising money for Comic Relief. We will be having a Non-Uniform Day, which will take place on Friday, the 24th of March 2017. Pupils who wish to take part are asked to pay a donation of £1 (voluntary) and dress up in red.
Red noses will go on sale at Holmston from Wednesday, 15th March 2017 for £1.00.
We’re Watching You – Kids Shame Motorists
Well done to our JRSOs – their campaign to help keep us safe by photgraphing cars parking on the zigzag lines is featured in the Ayrshire Post this week (page 15). Please see the post below if you are unsure about parking near the school.
JRSO Safe Parking Campaign
During February, our ‘Getting It Right For Every Child‘ (GIRFEC) focus is SAFE. Our JRSOs have been very busy in the mornings and at the end of the school day taking photos of the drivers that have not followed our repeated requests to park safely and choose to ignore the very large yellow banner attached to the school railings. If you are driving your child to school, please DO NOT park like the cars in the photo gallery for the safety of all the children. We have informed our campus cop of the campaign and he is also spot-checking the area for us.
Parking will be even more difficult over the coming weeks due to the Virgin Media cable laying, so we recommend leaving five minutes earlier to find a suitable parking space.
Examples of how you should not park:
MacTuff Event – Saturday 25th March
Please click here for the flyer for a great event being organised by Active Schools and the Youth Sports Council. It is an exhilarating obstacle course consisting of 15 different challenges. It will test your endurance, team work, adaptability and your sense of adventure.
Please note this is a weekend event that children attend themselves – this is not a school organised event.
West FM School of the Week
Today, Zoe Kelly, the DJ from West FM came in to record some of our pupils. We have been chosen to be ‘School of the Week’ in the near future. We will post dates when we have them confirmed.
Classical Music and Ship Building
Last week Primaries 4, 5 and 6 went to the Glasgow City Halls to enjoy the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra perform the 10 Pieces Concert. The event was hosted by Barney Harwood from Blue Peter, helped out by Hacker and Dodge. Some of the pupils commented: “I liked how they told stories through music,” and “I’ve never been to anything like this before!” You can find out more about the 10 Pieces by clicking here.
Primary 4 also visited the Maritime Museum in Irvine and found out more about the Titanic and what it was like for the ship builders and their families.
Safer Internet Use
Please see the links to the right for further information on how to encourage your child to be safe when they are using the Internet, social media or gaming platforms.
World Book Day Winners!
We are proud to announce that we have been named runner-up in the third annual World Book Day Award announced today (Thursday 2nd March) on World Book Day. The school was chosen as one of 10 third prize winners for the Award, each winning £1,000 worth of books for our library.
Each year, schools are invited to take part in a creative challenge, which celebrates reading for pleasure – this year picture book giant, Oliver Jeffers and acclaimed fine artist, Sam Winston asked schools to create their own ‘world of stories’ inspired by their new children’s book, A Child of Books, published by Walker Books, who have funded the Award for 2017.
We are the only school in Scotland to win an award this year. Please take a look at our entry under the Creativity tab at the top of the page and tell us about your favourite book too.
The P7 organised this year’s World Book Day events – this included a house quiz, Where’s Wally Hunt and a book swap. It was a huge success.
SCOTTISH BALLET AUDITIONS FOR CHILDREN – MAY 2017
SCOTTISH BALLET is looking for Primary School children to audition for their Junior Associate Programme! Click here for the poster.
Auditions will be held in May – closing date Monday 24 April 2017.
Children who are currently in Primary 5 or Primary 6 are invited to apply. No previous dance experience necessary. Every child who applies will be offered an audition.
Full details can be found on the website – http://www.scottishballet.co.uk/education/junior-associates.html
Civil Engineer Visit – Wendy Pring
This week we had a visit from engineer, Wendy Pring of KCP Environemental who is a Civil Engineer, and the managing director of the company along with her husband. She was inspiring and talked to the pupils about STEM careers that will be around when they are leaving school. Developments like the Spaceport in Prestiwck. She also told us about an engineer in Prestwick who has discovered that he can produce a plastic type cover for packaging out of the 90% waste that comes from shellfish. She also told us about how they are using shredded vehicle tyres mixed with tarmac for road and palypark surfacing. Very inspiring.
Euroquiz 2017
Well done to our Euroquiz team. They thoroughly enjoyed learning lots about Europe and taking part in the quiz. They were great ambassadors for the school. Congratulations go to Alloway Primary who were these year’s winners.
Releasing the Alevins!
Today, P6 released their alevins back into the River Ayr. The class have been carefully monitoring the water temperature and watching the young trout hatch from their eggs and grow. But it was time to set them free. Struan and Gordon from the Ayrshire River Trust came back to help release them and answer any questions. You can see more about this project in the P6 class blog.
Parent Voice Meeting Wednesday 1st March 2017 19:00
Our meeting this term has been scheduled for Wednesday 1st March 2017 at 19:00 in the school staff room.
As I am sure you will appreciate not everyone can attend every meeting, therefore, it’s important that we have as many parents as possible on our group. By being a member of the Holmston Parent Voice it allows you to have your say and find out what’s going on within the school at the earliest opportunity.
We are keen to have a representative from each class so please come along to the meeting on Wednesday night to support the school and help to enrich your child’s experiences at Holmston.
Education Scotland Parents and Carers Newsletter
P7 CLASS PHOTOGRAPH
Please note that the Ayr Advertiser photographer will be in the school on Thursday, 23rd February 2017 to take a class photograph of our P7 pupils.
Please could we ask that your child wears their white polo shirt and green sweatshirt on this occasion.
If you do not wish your child to be photographed, please let the school know in writing prior to the event.
WORLD BOOK DAY March 2nd
Holmston Primary will be celebrating World Book Day with a variety of reading activities throughout the day. We will be holding a design a book cover competition, a Where’s Wally? Competition and an Inter House Book Quiz.
Pupils are encouraged to bring in their favourite book to share and dress as a book character for the day.
Events also include a book swap. Pupils can bring in books that they no longer want from home and swap them with others in the school. Tokens will be given for each book brought in. Each token can be used to ‘purchase’ a new book during the book swap.
We would be delighted if any parents/grandparents/relatives would like to join us by reading an extract from your favourite book to the children. If you are available, please contact the school office by Friday 24th February 2017.
P1 – P3 Future Me Campaign
The ‘Future Me’ campaign as part of Read, Write, Count, encourages families across Scotland to share their children’s dreams for the future.
‘Future Me’ aims to support families to start a conversation with their P1-3 children about their hopes and aspirations, which will ultimately help to improve their lives in the future. It asks families to share those dreams, either as a picture, letter or film on the ‘Future Me’ wall at www.futureme.scot. The campaign builds on existing Scottish Government efforts to tackle educational inequalities and raise attainment in early years and beyond. With increasing time pressures on families, Read, Write, Count highlights easy activities built around everyday things families are already doing. Whether it’s going to the shops, travelling to school or at mealtimes, Read, Write, Count offers parents and carers simple ideas that will help children do their best at school.
All families in P1 – P3 will recieve a ‘Future Me’ leaflet home from school.
Click here for a copy of the toolkit.
