This week we had our first COGS meeting. This stands for Collecting Opinions to Grow our School. It is part of our School Improvement Plan this session. This approach involves ALL pupils from Primary 1 to 7 and ALL teaching staff enabling everyone to have the opportunity to contribute to school improvement. The COGS initiative is being led by Miss McKendry which means that I have the pleasure of being attached to one of the groups. The children meet in sub groups of their houses with each group having approximately 20 pupils. The first meeting was chaired by the associated member of staff but the intention is that this role will be handed over to the House or Vice Captain. The agenda items were distribution of House Points, Pupil Feedback and the School Values. I was most impressed with the children I worked with. The confidence to give their opinion in such an articulate way was outstanding. I was even more pleased, but not surprised, when I heard this was the case across all the groups. Miss McKendry circulated all groups during the session and reported a very calm, purposeful atmosphere with groups engaged in positive dialogue. Miss McKendry will collate all minutes of groups and then feedback on our next steps. I am very excited about the power of this approach to further enhance the experience of all our pupils. We will publish some comments on our school app for all to read.
Many thanks to all families for their very generous support to our Christmas Fayre collection on Friday. The Parent Council will need extra help to sort the many, many donations! Thank you! Please remember our first Christmas Fayre is this Friday in the school hall from 3pm. Please come along and support your school and I believe there will be a very special visitor making an appearance before he packs his sleigh!
Primary 4 hosted an excellent Afternoon Tea for Mary’s Meals on Thursday afternoon. They showcased their learning through word, song and dance! This study enables the pupils to consider how they can support and help others less fortunate than themselves. Well done Primary 4, Mrs Boyd, Miss Thompson, Mrs Kinnie and all other staff who supported on the day. Many thanks to so many parents / carers, family members and friends who came along too. Over and above this, the class also organised over 30 backpacks to be collected this week.
In the classes …..
P1 completed their study of Piet Mondrian. They created their own Mondrian inspired pieces using primary colours. In Literacy they developed their reading skills through the Bear and the Piano, learning how to describe a setting. They also watched and discussed the trailer for Despicable Me 3 in preparation for their cinema visit this week.
P1/2 continue to focus on time learning about o’clock and half past. In Science they have been learning about living and non-living things and sorting items accordingly. They have been busy making their crafts for the Christmas Fayre.
P2/3 have been learning about alphabetical order and extending this to the second letter. They have been working hard learning songs for the nativity. In preparation for their cinema visit they have been discussing the characters of the film they will see.
P3 have worked so hard on their singing and sound like angels for the Christmas Nativity! All the speaking parts have now been allocated and they are working hard on their script. They too have been studying time in maths. As well as this they are making their crafts for the Fayre.
P4, as you heard earlier, had their super afternoon tea. The pupils were rightly proud of their achievements. They also visited the cinema and had a very enjoyable time!
P5 have been investigating floating and sinking in Science. They have been writing their fireworks poems this week accompanied by firework art. They too had a fantastic trip to the cinema.
P6 have been multiplying 2 digits by 2 digits while revising all their tables. They are developing their reading strategies and some very tricky spelling rules. In technology they have been creating PowerPoints about natural disasters and their causes. They also constructed a den for their nursery buddies! It was so good the nursery would like another one!
P7 have also been developing their reading skills through Reciprocal Reading tasks. They are continuing to develop multiplication in numeracy. They have been putting their finishing touches to their arts and crafts for the Fayre.
In the nursery, children have continued to work on activities related to Room on the Broom. They went outside to retell the story through drama and also made chalk pictures of fireworks. In the creative area they made magic brooms and in Science they made magic potions! The children loved this experience so much we put the recipe on the nursery door for anyone brave enough to try at home!
We visited the school library on Wednesday to change our books and had a Sticky Kids session too. We have also started to listen to our songs for our nativity. We enjoyed group snack this week talking to our friends and learning about good table manners.
Once again a very busy, productive week throughout our school!
Many thanks for reading my blog,
Mrs Hendry
Head Teacher
