Our wonderful choir are now internet superstars! A selection of their songs can be found on the West Lothian Council Youtube site. We bet you can’t NOT join in on their very catchy tunes and choreography! Well done choir and Ms Barr!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_WMJutFQ1I
What a busy week for P6! Monday evening saw us present our annual ceilidh event. The children presented their learning about who St Andrew was, how he became a saint and what we can be proud about Scotland for. We sang ‘Caeledonia’, ‘Half the World Away’ and a firm favourite ‘500 miles’. Witnesses did see Mrs Stewart reach for he hankies but this is still to be confirmed!
After our presentation we showcased our highland dancing – then invited our parents and carers to join in. It was really good fun and we received lots of positive feedback from everyone!
Congratulations to our anti-bullying / kindness week competition winners! Everyone worked hard to create high quality posters to celebrate our positive attitudes towards kindness. Mrs Stewart had a VERY difficult job but decide she did…
Well done to Beth Kinroy P6, Amy McMillan P6, Eilidh Gray P7a & Emese Gupcsi P7a!
Your posters will soon be on their way to the printers to become banners which will hang proudly @ Bankton.
The Parent Council have been working extremely hard to make the Christmas Fair on Saturday, 28th November a great success. The Great Hall will be the venue for our gift and craft stalls with activities for children to ‘design and make’. Santa will also make a special appearance in his Grotto and there will be home baking, teas and coffees in the Small Hall. If you have any home baking to hand in, please do so by lunch time on Friday. (Please also mark your containers clearly with your child’s name and class so that they can be returned!)
Many thanks to all parents and families who have already supported us through the raffle – you have the chance to win some amazing prizes when the raffle is drawn at 1.30pm. I look forward to seeing you all on Saturday!
You may notice something highly unusual about our assembly audience this morning…. Yes you’ve guessed it and all for a fantastic cause – Jak’s Den, a charity very close to our hearts here at Bankton. Watch this space for the grand total!
One of the many topics we will discuss at our ‘Meet the Teacher’ Evening (10.9.15 at 7pm) is how to keep your child safe online. Children love using technology and are learning to navigate websites, online games and consoles, and touch screen technology like ipads and smartphones from a younger and younger age.
To help you understand the full extent of online safety I would urge you to read the document which has been uploaded to the Useful Documents Page.
This document gives links to 7 of the most valuable websites and will give parents sound advice on a range of topics including:
Cyberbullying, Parental Controls, Social Networking, Gaming, Online Grooming, Apps and keeping Safe Online.
www.childnet.com/parents-and-carers/need-help
This is an excellent source of information for all parents with clear strategies about how to deal with all of these safety issues for our children.
A very busy and eventful day at Benmore for all activity groups! Two of the groups were very successful in their orienteering. Megan Hunter was fast and efficient and could now give Mrs. Herman and Mrs. Reilly some lessons as they got lost momentarily looking for others in their group. The climbers and abseilers were brave. Amber was excellent in both and was particularly helpful to others – helping to adjust their clips and harnesses. Sean Burnett had an unexpected cold ‘dip’ during canoeing but completely recovered after curry and cake! Two groups accepted the cave challenge while another group worked as a great team encouraging each other on the high ropes. Leah, Erin, Emma, Sonny, Shaun Simpson and Ms Kennedy made it to the top of the podium and jumped off (fully harnessed) to catch the trapeze! After an evening scavenger hunt it’s off to bed ….. I’m sure by the time I’ve finished this Blog Post ….. They will all be sound asleep! P.7 – we miss you!
Congratulations to all of our ‘confident individuals’ and ‘successful learners’ who performed Scots Language poetry in front of the whole school at the successful Burns Assembly organised and co-ordinated by Mrs. Murdoch, Principal Teacher. All adults in the school had a voting sheet and all participants scored over 200 points!
Adam Brown in P.3/4 was the overall winner of the school based competition with 265 points! His rendition of ‘The Wee Malkies’kept everyone in The Great Hall highly entertained with drama and performance from start to finish. Well done Adam!
The pupils who will represent Bankton at the West Lothian heat of the National Burns Competition are:
Kai Wilson – P.6/7 ‘A Parcel of Rogues in a Nation’
Katie Tripney – P.6/7 ‘The Joyful Widower’
Beth Kinroy – P.5 ‘Scots Wha Hae’
Eric McLeod – P.4 ‘Street Talk’ by JK Annand
One of our talented brass musicians, Louis Hartl Hazette, will also go through to the local heat, playing a confident rendition of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ on his trumpet.
We have our fingers well and truly crossed for all of you! Some of our honourable runners-up will have another opportunity to perform their poem at this term’s assemblies
Many thanks to staff who contacted me both last night and this morning to reassure me that all is well at camp. Our P.7s thoroughly enjoyed their soggy, muddy activities on Monday afternoon and relished the challenges of the Nightwalk in the pitch dark which proved to be a great team building and bonding experience. All children were exhausted and in bed by 9.30pm.
Needless to say, the girls were up early and organised for breakfast while the boys …….. had to be wakened and encouraged to get out of bed by the teachers! After scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast they were looking forward to a day of varied activities which included orienteering, climbing and abseiling, forest walk and mountain biking.
Ms Kennedy reported that there had been a light dusting of snow everywhere which made the landscape particularly beautiful. I look forward to the photographs!
P.7 who are not at camp have enjoyed William Morris art work and additional outdoor tyre park time with Mrs. Ferguson and The Supermarket project and French activities including singing with Mrs. Balfour.
The Bankton Learning Community have all been greatly shocked and saddened by the news of the death of Jak Trueman, son of Ms. Barr, our much loved Music Teacher. Today we send all of our love, thoughts and prayers to Ms. Barr and her family. There is great sadness across the school at this news today and children in all classes want to reach out to the family through cards, letters and drawings to show the depth of their love.
Throughout his treatment for a rare form of cancer, Jak has conducted himself with dignity and great strength of character, showing he is indeed an inspiration to many young people in the same situation.
As you are aware, we have already raised money for Clic Sargent, who supported Ms Barr and many other families during the early stages of treatment. Pupils and staff would now like to contribute to Ms Barr’s fundraising efforts for leukaemia research through a ‘Game-a-thon’ organised by staff and some of our P.6/7 pupils.
This event will take place in school on Thursday, 12th February. Pupils should come to school dressed for P.E., wearing tracksuits, joggers, Tshirts /sweatshirts. Classes will be timetabled throughout the day. Pupils should bring a minimum of £1 to take part, but can bring anything your family wish to donate to Ms. Barr’s fundraising.
We know that everyone’s life is touched by this dreadful disease at some time or other, but we, in Bankton, have been especially touched by Jak’s dignified battle.
The Parent Council will discuss other possible fundraising at their meeting next week.
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