I was delighted to attend the senior Prize Giving at St. John Ogilvie High School this week. I was very proud to see so many former pupils receiving prizes including the award of Junior Dux!
This week I had the opportunity to visit the classes to speak to children about their learning. The children have settled well into classes and routines and were keen to share their experiences.
On Wednesday evening we had two parent meetings. Peter from Ardentinny gave a very informative input about the residential experience for P7. I don’t know who was more excited the pupils or the parents! At the moment we almost have every Primary 7 eager to go.
Following on from this, we held our Primary 1 Parent Workshop. My thanks to Miss McLaughlin, Miss McKale and Miss McKillop, our Home School Partnership worker, for providing an excellent input aimed to enable parents to best support their child at this important time. The feedback about our whole induction programme was very positive. Thank you to the parents who took time to attend.
In the classes ….
Inside Out characters appeared in Primary 1 to help children think about their feelings. They continue to learn their sounds and numbers. In RE Mrs Hall has been teaching the creation story and the children made their very own gingerbread men to help understand that we are all unique. The smell from the cooking room was very good! The children thoroughly enjoyed this activity.
In Primary 2, the pupils are continuing to work hard on their mental recall of numbers to 10. They have also been learning about the months and seasons of the year.
Primary 3 have begun their new focus on Pets. They listened to a story about a lost dog, Galleta, and have started to make posters to find him.
Scotland is the focus for learning in Primary 4. They have been developing their use of the Scots language – this is always a great source of fun. All pupils have set their literacy and health and wellbeing targets for their learning journeys.
In Primary 5 the Rainforest will be the focus for learning this term. They have been using maps to locate rainforests around the world. Some children have begun to use the book circle approach to reading, developing new skills and their independence.
It was interview time for our Primary 6 pupils who applied for the position of Nursery Buddy. Only a few candidates are left for interview this week and then the pupils will be told who has been successful. This initiative was very successful last year with the nursery children and contributed greatly to the successful start of our Primary 1 children.
Primary 7a have been learning about the Spanish festival La Tomatina. They reenacted this in the yard – fortunately with red paint rather than tomatoes! After this activity they used similes and metaphors to write Tomatina inspired poetry. There has also been a focus on children’s rights and consideration about the experience of children in countries like Syria.
In Primary 7b the children have been learning about the daily life of an MP. They will use this information to write a diary for an MP.
In the nursery ….
All of the new children have now arrived and settled very well. Unfortunately quite a few children have been unwell but we hope they return fully fit next week. Out focus is Traditional Tales. So far we have read Jack and the Beanstalk and Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
The children have been creating super displays to go with their work. Lots of learning has taken place outside as children were climbing and balancing like Jack. They were also moving like a giant. What a fright I got every time I visited!
Mrs Hall had children in the cooking room learning to make porridge. It was ‘too hot’ after it was made so the children enjoyed going for a walk and returning to the cooking room when it was ‘just right’!
We look forward to Friday this week – our garden tidy day! We have hired a skip and would welcome any parent with a wheelbarrow to come along and lend a hand. Please contact the school of you can help the Eco Committee and Primary 7.
Thank you for reading my blog,
Mrs Hendry
