An amazing achievement for St Nicholas this morning coming first place for our Aladdin Galaday Float!
Thank you to all of our amazing parents, pupils and teachers who supported in creating the fantastic float.
Category Archives: Parents as Partners
A message from Active Schools
Would you like to help your school? Do you have an hour a month or an hour a week? Do you enjoy sport? If so please contact Ross in Active Schools for information on helping at your child’s school. As little or as much as you like. If you would like to come and watch a sports club and have a chat about how you could help or just fancy some more info please just get in touch with me on 07990 565 846 or ross.logan@westlothian.gov.uk . visit us at www.activewestlothian.com
P6 Career Talks
Mrs Cook, Mrs Walker and Mrs Spence have really inspired some of our primary 6s in this week’s career talks. Thank you very much!
Career Chats in Primary 6
Primary 6 have been so lucky to hear about a variety of jobs from parents who have been visiting our classes over the past three weeks. Today we heard from Mrs Spence who explained how her job will influence the future and lifestyle of prospective jobs for our pupils and showed how life may be in 2037 – it was fascinating and certainly food for thought. Many pupils have been inspired by these presentations and have started to think about their future employment. We would like to say a huge thank you to the parents who took time to pay us a visit.
St Nicholas Writing Competition – The Judging Begins
Our Pupil Council began the judging process today, looking at entries for the St Nicholas Writing Competition. Here they are hard at work reading the entries. The standard of writing was very, very high. Winners for the both the reading and the writing competitions will be announced on Friday 11th of January at assembly. Thanks Pupil Council for your help and giving us your views and insights into what makes a great story.
Nursery Parents Feedback Questionnaire
At St Nicholas nursery class we value your opinion and appreciate any feedback you give us. We appreciate that not all parents get a chance to come into the nursery so this gives you an opportunity to express your ideas and opinions. Please take a few minutes to answer the following questions.
Please go to bit.ly/stnicsnurserydec18 to answer the questionnaire.
Thank you.
Mindfulness Session in P6
Mrs Dickson, a parent from P6a visited our classes to share her knowledge about mindfulness. She helped us to understand the importance of mindfulness by showing us a jug of water and stirred some glitter into it. The water represented our brain and the glitter represented our thoughts and it showed us how busy our brain can become and this is why it is so important to have quiet, calm time …mindfulness.
We then participated in some exercises. Mindfulness eating with a raisin, sitting like a frog whilst listening to a CD from this book:
Ruby said, “I found the mindfulness very calming.” Molly added, “I really enjoyed the mindfulness eating as it made you savour your food more.”
“Mindfulness helps you to get into a place where you can think about your problems or relax without feeling stress.” said Callum.
We would like to give Mrs Dickson a big thank you for teaching us about mindfulness.
Written by Clara and Nicola
Talking about learning…
Thanks to everyone who came to our curriculum cafe today to discuss their children’s learning with them over tea and a biscuit. Our St Nicholas children were very proud to show their families evidence of all their hard work and effort. Our cafe was very, very busy today – thank goodness our Pupil Council and parent partners were on hand to help. Thanks also to Avril Fitzpatrick and Agnes Boyle – ladies from the local community who organise our teas and coffees and who we couldn’t do without.
Our next curriculum cafe will be on Friday the 4th of May.
An Invitation to you…
Preparations are well under way for our first FAST session of this term on Thursday 26th October at 3.30pm in the P5 classrooms.
If you have a child who attends pre-school year at Nursery, Primary 1 or Primary 2 then we would be delighted to see you along with the rest of your family at FAST. We welcome older and younger siblings, parents and grandparents to participate in our sessions.
Here are some quotes from the families who participated in January:
· I’ve realised since starting FAST that my daughter is more independent than I thought.
· My two children and I have really enjoyed FAST. It has also helped me by meeting other parents.
· It has become the highlight of my daughter’s week, when we pick her up from Nursery, “Fast Families” is the first thing she says.
· Our son has spoken a lot about FAST and enjoyed it very much. It has given him confidence.
· FAST has given me the chance to see how my son is in school. I now know he is confident and finds FAST very enjoyable.
· I now understand the importance of play at home. It has developed the quality of the interactions between my daughter and I.
· Through FAST we have developed our play, learned new words in English and made contact with new friends.
· My son loves the diversity of the activities. Drawing, singing and talking about emotions. He always asks, “Is it FAST today?” He can’t wait for the next FAST session.
· Our boys enjoy the kids time the most and my wife and I enjoy the parents time. We talk about everyday problems that we all encounter and learning how to cope with them has been very useful.
· The best thing about FAST has been developing new relationships. Having the opportunity to meet other parents and develop friendships. My son has met new friends who are not in his Nursery class and this will help when he starts P1. It has been great getting to know the FAST team too.
A lovely ‘family fun’ hamper worth £25 will be going home with two families on Thursday evening and we will be enjoying a delicious Italian meal from Gianninos ….all FREE OF CHARGE.
Please join us on Thursday for fun, food and FAST families. To book a place please contact Miss Morgan through the school office.
Today’s Curriculum Cafe
Another successful curriculum cafe today. Our cafes – facilitated by parents – provide an opportunity for parents to talk about their child’s learning and see some of their latest and best work. Comments from today’s cafe include:
“Children can talk openly about their work. Better than parents’ night.”
“Really good idea to hold these sessions. I find my daughter actually talks to me about what she finds difficult without moaning as she would at home. Basically, she’s willing to talk in a more mature manner. Great to see her work at school.”
“Nice to chat with my child in an informal manner over a cuppa and see school progress.”
“I like spending time with my mum looking at school work together”.
Invitation – St Nicholas Curriculum Cafe – Friday 5th of May
You are warmly invited to another of our curriculum cafes on Friday 5th of May (drop in from 10.45am until 12 noon). The purpose of this cafe is to encourage children to talk with parents – in an informal way over tea and a biscuit – about their school work. This gives our children the opportunity to talk about their learning and achievements so that they can be challenged, motivated and supported. Research shows that children being able to talk about their learning – and identify their next steps – is one of the biggest factors in educational success. Comments from parents at our previous cafe include:
“A great way to take time to have this discussion with your child – I never seem to get much time to do this normally.”
“It was a good opportunity to have a 1-1 with my child. It was a good in depth conversation!”
“Great to be involved so you can keep up with child’s development as they progress through the school.”
” It was useful for me to know where to help my child to improve.”
“Great idea. Nice to calmly discuss learning with children and see their work. Thank you.”
We look forward to seeing you on Friday.
Tobacco Education Parental Workshop
At part of our family learning to promote Health and Well being in school, at home and in our local community, Primary 7 would like to invite all parents to a Tobacco Awareness Workshop on Wednesday 8th March from 2.30pm – 3pm.
Pop in for a tea/coffee and let us share our learning with you.
FAST Launch at St Nicholas Primary
St Nicholas Primary have been given a wonderful opportunity to host FAST sessions at our school. The programme was developed by Middlesex University and is funded by Save the Children.
The FAST programme runs after school for 8 weeks. The weekly sessions are 2.5 hours long where a series of structured family activities take place including; communication, listening, turn taking, community building, meal sharing and relationship building. These are key techniques to help build stronger families.
Our programme will run every Tuesday from 3.30pm until 6pm, starting on Tuesday 17th January 2017 and our final session will be on Tuesday 14th March.
On this occasion we are offering the programme to children who are in their pre-school year at Nursery or in Primary 1. We have places for 20 families to participate.
The video link above will give you a flavour of how the programme works. Our FAST team members are also delivering a short presentation at the Nativity performances this week.
An information leaflet and invitation will be sent home soon to the pre-schoolers and Primary 1 pupils. We hope you can join us in the New Year.
Message from the Parent Council – Review of Education Governance
Last week, Andy Weir, chair of St Nicholas’ Parent Council, was at a Scottish Government event about Education Governance. The Parent Council would like you to note the following information-
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Scottish Government review of Education Governance.
In September, the Scottish Government announced a review of how education services are run – from early-years through to secondary school. The review isn’t just looking at schools, it’s considering all levels of education, qualifications, pupil support, integration with other services.
This is a wide-ranging review, so it is likely to impact on our children’s education in the coming years. There’s full details on the Scottish Government website (make this a link to:https://consult.scotland.gov.uk/empowering-schools/a-governance-review) that we’d recommend you read.
The consultation is running until 6 January. We’d encourage parents and carers to share their views to make sure as many voices are heard by the Scottish Government as possible.
If you’d like to submit feedback through the parent council, please email us at parentcouncil.stnicholasps@gmail.com and we will collate your responses. Alternatively, complete the Scottish Government online survey.
40th Jubilee Mass and Walk Down Memory Lane
On Friday the community took part in our 40th Jubilee Mass and following that, there was a reception with a chance to view old St Nicholas memorabilia. St Nicholas staff and friends of the school from the past mingled with the new, and a great time was had by all.
Many thanks to the parish of SS John Cantius and Nicholas for gifting the school with a beautiful new chalice to celebrate this important occasion.
St Nicholas Parent Council – Who’s Who?
Back row:
Andy Weir (chair), Jo Cook (secretary), Linda Quigley (vice-chair), John Donnelly (treasurer), Lyndsey Swinney, Val Chiriac, Father Jeremy
Bath (church representative),
Front row:
Nicole Scherer-Dickson, Jenny Morrison, Carene Hay, Jenny Skeldon, Claire Roxburgh (vice-treasurer), Karen Neilson
It’s our 40th birthday!
And to celebrate we’d like to invite all parents and friends of St Nicholas to come to our Jubilee Celebration on Wednesday the 30th of November at 1.30pm. The children will sing a variety of songs from the decades that show St Nicholas’ journey from 1976 to the present day. To see your invitation click below:
Pupil Council – New House Shields
Our Pupil Council met with our House and Vice Captains today, to start the design of their house shields. Clyde, Forth, Spey, Tay, Almond and Esk house teams will soon have these displayed prominently in the school. These unique shields will capture what is special about St Nicholas. They will be displayed along with a tally of their house’s points. The Pupil Council and House Captains/Vice Captains will keep you updated on our progress…
Parent Council Meeting Minutes
Click below to view minutes from the parent council meeting on Monday 10th of October:
10th-oct-2016-minutes-from-st-nicholas-primary-school-parent-council-meeting-mrs-mcguire
New Parent Council
Hi there,
We’d like to introduce you to your new parent council.
At a meeting called by Mrs Brown on behalf of the Parent body of St Nicholas on 10 October, each of the 10 parents in attendance were welcomed on to the new Parent Council.
The group then nominated and approved the following people into the key roles in
line with the Parent Council constitution:
Chair – Andy Weir
Vice-chair – Linda Quigley
Secretary – Joanne Cook
Treasurer – John Donnelly
Vice-Treasurer – Claire Roxburgh
Father Jeremy Bath – Church representative
General members – Jenny Skeldon, Jenny Morrison, Nicole Scherer-Dickson, Val Chiriac, Karen Neilson, Lindsey Swinney and Carene Hay
The Parent Council look forward to representing your views and letting you know how you can get more involved in the life of St Nicholas Primary School.
Our next meeting will be on 7 November 2016 at 18:30.
If you have any questions or issues you’d like discussed at our next Parent Council, please contact us at
parentcouncil.stnicholasps@gmail.com and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
Andy Weir
on behalf of the Parent Council.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/60fd7zkvh3bgoml/ParentCouncil_intro_note_draft.pdf?dl=0
