As always, this time of year is very busy. Last week, our P7s enjoyed their Christmas Party with all the P7 classes from across the cluster at Belmont.
Our P1, 2 and 3 Nativity, ‘Prickly Hay’ was thoroughly enjoyed by parents and families and the pupils enjoyed themselves too!
Meanwhile, members of P5 and P6 went to Bellevue Nursing Home to perform a selection of songs for the residents.
Earlier this week, Holmston hosted the final of the Primary Engineer competition. Schools from all over Ayrshire participated in partnership with GE Caledonia and we had two successful teams. Our P5 team achieved Best Communicators at the Engineer Level and our P3 team were runners up in the Apprentice Level. The cars they made had to go through a series of challenges. The engineers also arranged a visit from a jet engine for us to look at.
Primary 7 are very excited to be learning with pupils from Southcraig School to experience inclusive Sherborne Developmental Movement Therapy. Sherborne is based on natural movement play activities inspired by the philosophy and Theory of Human Movement by Rudolf Laban. It offers all participants the inclusive opportunity to develop body and spatial awareness skills. As the children work through the Sherborne Movements each week they will learn to build positive relationships through demonstrating sensitivity as a responsible partner, an awareness of communicating and working together and a shared enjoyment of the movement and play.
I am very pleased to announce that the school was successful in achieving our Gold Award from UNICEF. Everyone worked very hard and the assessors were impressed with the work that is happening around rights at the school. They identified particular strengths of the school as:
Day 1 of our Forest, Farms and Mines themed fortnight kicked off with a visit from the bee keepers. They told us all about their jobs and the importance of bees in pollinating flowers. We got to see how the bees live and also got to taste some of the honey. Yum!
Article 17
You have the right to get information that is important to your well-being, from radio, newspaper, books, computers and other sources. Adults should make sure that the information you are getting is not harmful, and help you find and understand the information you need.
Mrs Reid took representatives form each class to Waterstones, Ayr to choose books from our World Book Day prize of £1000. The pupils had consulted with their classmates about the types of books they should choose. The pupils are looking forward to the new books arriving in our library.
Article 12
You have the right to give your opinion, and for adults to listen and take it seriously.
We finished the term with our Easter Service – this year led by our Primary 3s and Southcraig Campus. Southcraig pupils shared their achievements that they felt proud about and sang wonderfully. The Primary 3s performed a play to explain what happens at Easter and the whole school sang Easter hymns. Our Glee Club and P1s also showcased their entries from the South Ayrshire Music festival. We would like to thank Mr. Gemmel for letting us come to the church. We wish you all a very happy Easter and we look forward to seeing you back on Monday 16th April 2018.
Article 14
You have the right to choose your own religion and beliefs. Your parents should help you decide what is right and wrong, and what is best for you.
Almost all of our P6 and P7 classes took part in the Active Sports cross country competition at Rozelle Park today. The pupils really challenged themselves not just to beat own personal bests but also to finish the course.
A huge congratulations to the pupils in Primary 4 to Primary 7. Their school production of “Robin Hood and the Sherwood Hoodies” was fantastic. The audience left with smiles on their faces at the great performances and one-liners! Thank-you goes to all the staff for staging the show. What an achievement!
Well done to our Digital Leaders for representing Holmston at the Cluster Mindstorm Competition. They demonstrated their programming knowledge before delivering a presentation on Water Consumption and then finally getting their robot through some very tricky challenges. Thank you to Miss Bell for running the lunchtime club and to Kincaidston Primary for organising and hosting.
Article 29
Your education should help you use and develop your talents and abilities. It should also help you learn to live peacefully, protect the environment and respect other people.
Last Friday we had the official unveiling of our playground charters and hosted a Fair Trade afternoon for parents and families. The pupils demonstrated their understanding of Fair Trade through a range of activities including negotiating fair prices, locating different countries on maps and making art work from Fair Trade coffee beans. It was great to see so many family members turn up to enjoy working with their children and have a cup of fair trade coffee or tea too!
Article 32
You have the right to protection from work that harms you, and is bad for your health and education. If you work, you have the right to be safe and paid fairly.
Well done to our P4 Fair Trade ambassadors for leading our work in Fair Trade. As a result of their continued commitment, Holmston is now a FairAware school.
We hope you can join us next Friday (9th March) at 1.45pm as we unveil our playground charters and then move into the classrooms to share our Fair Trade journey so far. (Further details will be sent out)
Article 29
Your education should help you use and develop your talents and abilities. It should also help you learn to live peacefully, protect the environment and respect other people.
We are very please to announce that thanks to the hard work of the whole school community, under the direction of Mrs Messener, we achieved a silver award in this year’s World Book Day Competition. The prize is £1000 worth of books from our school library.
Well done everyone. Please have a look at our work under the creativity tab of the website or have a look at all the winners on the World Book Day website.
The pupils and staff have had a fantastic day dressed as their favourite book characters and joining in with quizzes, competitions and shared reading. Pupils able to go home with some new books from the book swap – what better way to spend a snowy and cold weekend than snuggling up with a new book!
Well done to our Euroquiz team for being excellent ambassadors for the school at the recent Euroquiz competition. They have all been working very hard remembering lots of facts and figures about Europe. Congratulations goes to Ayr Grammar for coming first.
Article 30
You have the right to practice your own culture, language and religion – or any you choose. Minority and indigenous groups need special protection of this right.
Our display for World Book Day is now complete! Thank-you to all the staff, parents, grandparents and clubs that were involved in bringing this work together – it has been a real team effort. Please have a look at the World Book Day 2018 page under the ‘Creativity’ tab at the top of the page or click here to find out more.
Please leave us a comment and tell us about your favourite book on that page too.
Article 29
Your education should help you use and develop your talents and abilities. It should also help you learn to live peacefully, protect the environment and respect other people.
Well done to all our pupils reaching the Burns Poetry Recital Competition 2018. The standard was very high and the judges had their work cut-out. A big thank-you goes to Mr. Gemmell for being our guest judge this year. We were also entertained by some of our musicians and P5 and P6 performed ‘Auld Lang Syne’. Once again a very enjoyable event.
Article 28
You have the right to a good quality education. You should be encouraged to go to school to the highest level you can.
Please click here to see the flyer from CLD/ Young Scot regarding a programme of fun activities open to all young people over 8 years of age, during February in and around Ayrshire.
Article 15
You have the right to choose your own friends and join or set up groups, as long as it isn’t harmful to others.
Article 31
You have the right to play and rest.
Our Winter Wonderland has been a highlight of December. All the pupils were involved in planning and organising this event. The focus was on developing creativity skills including: asking good questions; researching information; listening to others; thinking differently about ideas: inventing; solving problems; persistence and co-operation. All the classes visited the event and tried out all the games and experiences. They also had the opportunity of purchasing Christmas ornaments that had been designed and made from re-cycled items.
Our Glee Club visited Belleview Nursing Home today to perform a variety of Christmas songs to the residents. They sang beautifully and enjoyed a snack and a chat with the ladies after the performance. They were excellent ambassadors for the school.
It certainly feels like Christmas now that the P1 – P3 Nativity has been staged. All of the pupils enjoyed performing ‘A Midwife Crisis’ to parents and families today and yesterday. They sang and acted with great confidence – it was an absolute pleasure to watch.
At the shows, Primary 6 sold Christmas ornaments that had been made by pupils. The decorations were made from recycled materials and will also be sold next week during our ‘Winter Wonderland’ – an event organised by the pupils as part of their work on developing creativity skills. Excess stock will be sold to parents on Wednesday 20th December in the Infant Playground.
