Three of our classes have been heavily involved in the Leavenseat Trust Project this term. Primaries 5/4, 6/5 and 7 have all been flexing their artistic muscles and have adopted the roles of film producers and animators to produce short films about our heritage in Stoneyburn. Primary 5/4 have been concentrating on Mining, Primary 6/5 on Landowning and Primary 7 on Farming. All three classes have been learning how to use Stop Frame Animation software to produce their artifacts, which will be assessed on Tuesday, 11 October by a Leavenseat Assessor. Good luck to all our classes.

The after-school club season will be with us shortly. Although we have some ideas for clubs, we’d like to know what kinds of after-school and lunchtime clubs you would like to see running in our school (a touch of reality please – hang-gliding just isn’t going to be in there!). You can make your views known by emailing the school at stoneyburn.ps@wled.org.uk or by posting a comment to this Blog. We look forward to hearing from you.

Our annual Harvest Assembly will take place in the school hall on Friday 30 September at 9.00 a.m. Parents and friends are warmly invited to join us to celebrate this event. It is traditional to organise a food collection for Harvest which is then later disbursed to a worthy cause. We would be very grateful for any donations of non-perishable foodstuffs that we could then pass on to the Bethany Trust Project in West Calder. Donations of tins, packets, jars. bottles, etc., should be sent into school by Thursday 29 September to allow Primary 7 pupils to set up the Harvest Table in readiness for the asembly. We look forward to welcoming as many of you as can make it along on Friday.

Thursday 22 September saw Primary 2 children taking part in the Whitburn Cluster Mini-Olympics. Reports from teachers, parent-helpers and organisers have all highlighted the excellent standard of behaviour and attitude shown by Stoneyburn pupils at this event, To cap it all, everyone had a great time. Bring on the other festivals is what we say!

Today, Jack Nisbet and Tylia Ferris thrilled 48 schools and nurseries in West Lothian with their performance of ‘Don’t Eat the Teacher’ in the Glow West Lothian Early Years Story Room. The pair read the story and also displayed the art work done by the rest of the Primary 7 class to complement their excellent narration. The quality of the pictures was exceedingly high and was commented upon by many of the participants – all connected up together through GLOW, the Scottish Schools Intranet. If you remember your GLOW password, you can go online and watch the performance for yourselves. Choose West Lothian from the sidebar and then West Lothian Glow Groups. Choose the Early Years Storyroom and scroll to the bottom of the page, then View Recorded Stories.

Following the success of this initiative in past years, Stoneyburn Primary School is having another Rag-Bag Appeal. If you are having a clear out of clothes, textiles, etc., that you no longer need, why not donate them to the Rag BAg Appeal?  Bags and information have been sent home with the details already, but, just to remind you, bags should be brought to school on or just before Friday, 23 September. Thank you in advance for your contributions.

The school photographer will be paying us the annual visit to take individual and family portraits this cominhg Friday, 16 September. So, make sure your hair is combed, your uniform is pristine and you are presenting your best side. The photographs are always of very high quality and come in affordable packages.

Our first big event of the new school year took place on Wednesday, 07 September, when parents were invited in to Stoneyburn Primary School to meet their child’s teachers and examine the resources we use in school. At this event, our new Head Teacher Mr. McDermott introduced himself and his vision for our future direction.

The evening finished with a presentation on our Standards and Quality report for last session and the priorities for the current one. We look forward to sharing this information with you in written form in the near future.