Category: Calderwood Chronicle
Calderwood Chronicle: 08/12/22
Please click here to download: Calderwood Chronice_08_12_22
Calderwood Primary Chronicle: 08/12/22
Chronicle and Calendar are also attached to this email.
Calderwood Commitments (Actions):
- P1 Nativity tickets donations open on iPay
- Milk for term 3 is currently open on iPay to order, until 20th December.
- A gentle reminder that all children should have outdoor footwear left in school so they can play on the grass/ outdoors in all weathers. We also recommend that children bring a change of socks and bottoms to keep in school in case they get wet playing outdoors. Please let us know id you need any support with this.
- We continue to request that all families order their lunch on iPay, prior to the start of the school day. Children in the morning take part in a range of Stag Start activities to help them settle into the school day, stopping to ask them to order their lunch interrupts their learning time.
- In this calendar you will find a list of all events until the end of term please ensure you read so you and your child can be prepared: Christmas Countdown Calendar
Calderwood Calendar:
- In this calendar you will find a list of all events until the end of term: Christmas Countdown Calendar
- 9th December: 11:15am: Bluebell Calderwood Connects: Email invite has been sent out to families – 2 guests per child can attend.
- 11th December: Community Christmas Service
- 13th December: West Calder High School: Evening of Music
13th/ 14th December: P1 Nativity: Tinsel: See tickets for times - 16th December: Christmas jumper day, jumpers on top, uniform on bottoms
- 16th December: P2-7 Calderwood Connects: Christmas Around the World: One family member invited
Capturing Calderwood (Twitter):
- Christmas at Calderwood
Calderwood Communication (for information)
- We have a range of uniform available at our front foyer for free or for a donation, please have a look.
- If anyone has pots, pans, tyres, wooden spoons and metal spoons that they could donate to the school to please let us know, as we are trying to develop our outdoor areas.
- Calderwood Choir at the Christmas lights switch on: Have a look at their video here.
Calderwood Compliments:
- Bramble Clan Connects: A huge well done to the children and champions in Bramble Clan, for their assembly last week and to the clans this week. It taught us all so many new facts about the brain and we loved their creative, confident, knowledgeable and inspiring performance!
- Congratulations to our Book Week Scotland: Be an Author Winners!
- Congratulations to our Nativity scenery winners!
- Last week we had our first ever Christmas Fayre, organised by our Parent Council. That you so much to everyone who worked behind the scenes and on the day. Thanks to everyone who attended, to support our school.
- From our Parent Council about the Christmas Fayre: The P7s were amazing, thanks to them and the staff helpers for staying late to help. They were amazing and we couldn’t have done it without them.
Calderwood Primary Chronicle: 01/12/22
Calderwood Commitments (Actions):
- Christmas Panto payment on iPay – £2 per child: 28/11/22 – 05/12/22: Please let us know if you require support with this.
- P1 Nativity tickets donations open on iPay
- Calderwood Can Chats Feedback
Calderwood Communication(For information):
- East Calder Scouts Santa Sleigh Event
- Leg it to Lapland
- Safe routes to school in icy weather: A reminder that path at Glenshee Gate (along Nethershiel Road) is not gritted by the school. If anyone in the community can support us with gritting they playground on frosty mornings, please let the office know.
Calderwood Calendar:
- 1st December: 6pm: Calderwood Christmas Tree Light Switch on: Choir members have received an email
- 2nd December: 9:30am: Bramble Calderwood Connects: Email invite has been sent out
- 2nd December: 1:00-3:00pm:Parent Council Christmas Fayre
- 5th December: Panto: Please see social story
- 7th December: Christmas Lunch Day: Children can wear a Christmas jumper to school, and normal school uniform on bottoms, orders for Christmas lunch are closed
- 9th December: 11:15am: Bluebell Calderwood Connects: Email invite has been sent out
- 11th December: Community Christmas Service
- 13th December:West Calder High School: Evening of Music
Calderwood Compliments:
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- Thistle Clan Connects: A huge well done to the children and champions in Thistle Clan, for their assembly last week. It showcased their literacy learning in a fun creative, digital and engaging way!
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- Thank you to everyone involved in our Primary 2-3 safari excursions this week. The children really enjoyed the opportunity to experience learning in a real life context. Thank you to all our parent/ carer helpers.
Kind regards,
Miss Burton
Calderwood Primary Chronicle: 25/11/22
Calderwood Commitments (Actions):
- Christmas Jumper Swap Shop
- Christmas Lunch to be ordered on iPay by 28th November. Please note if your child is having a packed lunch that day.
- Christmas Fayre donations open on iPay: 28/11/22 – 03/12/22
- Christmas Panto payment on iPay – £2 per child: 28/11/22 – 05/12/22: Please let us know if you require support with this.
- P1 Nativity tickets donations open on iPay
Calderwood Communication (For information):
- East Calder Scouts Santa Sleigh Event
- Parent Council Minutes: 15/11/22
- Sustrans iBike Project
- Safe routes to school in icy weather: A reminder that path at Glen shee Gate (along Nethershiel Road) is not gritted by the school. If anyone in the community can support us with gritting, they playground on frosty mornings, please let the office know.
- If your child is going to be absent please ensure you have rang or emailed the school by 9:15am, failure to do this will result in having to use the next steps in the safe arrivals policy to ensure your child is safe. It is also important that you note the reason for absence if you send an email, or leave a voicemail, otherwise the office will have to contact you for further information. If you have a diagnosis of an infectious illness following a consultation with the doctor, can you please inform us.
Calderwood Calendar:
- 25th November: 11:15am: Thistle Calderwood Connects: Email invite has been sent out
- 2nd December: 9:30am: Bramble Calderwood Connects: Email invite has been sent out
- 1st December: 6pm: Calderwood Christmas Tree Light Switch on: Choir members have received an email
- 2nd December: 1:00-3:00pm: Parent Council Christmas Fayre
Capturing Calderwood (Twitter snapshot):
- Calderwood Counts
Calderwood Compliments:
- Capturing Calderwood: Book Week Scotland Feedback
- Glasgow Institute of Architects Awards for Calderwood
- Thank you to everyone who was able to pop in for Calderwood Can Chats, we look forward to offering more of these opportunities over the school year.
- Congratulations to Miss Miller for her graduation this week – Masters in Professional Education and Leadership.
- Today is Mrs Love’s, last day for now, as she leaves to go on maternity. We wish her lots of love, health and happiness. We are excited to meet the newest edition of the Love family.
- Book Week Scotland Learning
Kind regards,
Miss Burton
Calderwood Primary Chronicle: 18/11/22
Calderwood Primary Chronicle: 18/11/22
Calderwood Commitments (Actions):
- Christmas Jumper Swap Shop
- Calderwood Cares – Draft policies and strategies – Please have a look and complete the consultation
Calderwood Communication (For information):
- Christmas Fayre
- Scottish Child Payment Advice
- Cost of Living Advice
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We have noticed that an increased number of children are wearing digital watches that allow them to make calls, we recognise that this is a way to support your child in being independent when travelling to and from school. Unfortunately, children have been using these watches to make calls in the playground and in the clan rooms. If your child does wear one of these watches, can you please ensure the call function is switched off during the school day. If children are feeling unwell or there has been an incident, the office or their champion will give you a call.
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We have the ongoing concern of sugary snacks in school for break times, for example lollipops, ‘brain lickers’, share bags of sweets and crisps, etc. I understand that some of this will be following the Halloween period, could you please try and ensure these types of treats, especially ones like lollipops (that are a choking hazard) are not brought in for break time. We have fruit available at the front foyer for any child that requires a snack.
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I love that children can scoot and cycle to school, increasing their independence and daily exercise, however I am aware as our roll increases, the path along the front of the school and nursery is increasing busy in the morning and at pick up. We would like to recommend that children walk their scooters and bikes in this area (like they do when exiting the playground) to ensure everyone is safe when using the path.
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Now that the weather has taken a turn for the winter, we are aware that more families are choosing to use the car park. Unfortunately, our families and champions this week, have reported their health and safety fears. More families are using the carpark at pick up that what it has capacity for, meaning that people are double parked, making it difficult to safely cross the car park and champs are not able to get out of spaces at the end of the day (staff have different shift patterns). If you are choosing to use the carpark, please ensure you are considerate of others and the safety of our children, families and staff, and are parking in a space.
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Champion update:
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– Mrs Love, Skye Clan Champ, starts her maternity leave on 25th November, we wish lots of luck and love for this exciting time. Mrs Bryson will take over as Skye Clan champ for the rest of the session.
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– Mrs Birrell joins us on 21st November and will support with teachers non contact time, initially in Mull, Orkney, Shetland and Skye.
Calderwood Calendar:
- Term 2 Calendar
- Christmas Countdown Calendar
- 18th November: Sharing the learning event
- 19th November: Day of Japanese Culture
- 22nd November: Calderwood Can Chats: Sharing the learning event
- 23rd November: Nasal Flu Sprays
- 25th November: Thistle Calderwood Connects: Email invite has been sent out
Capturing Calderwood (Twitter snapshot):
- Book Week Scotland
Calderwood Compliments:
- Thank you to everyone who donated to our Poppy Scotland Appeal.
- Congratulations to Ben Lawers for hosting our first Clan Connects for families last week, we are very proud of you all!
- Thank you to our champs for organising as exciting Book Week Scotland.
- Thank you to everyone who attended our Parent Council event, in person and online.
Kind regards,
Miss Burton
Calderwood Primary Chronicle: 10/11/22
Calderwood Commitments (Actions):
Calderwood Communication (For information):
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A gentle reminder that following West Lothian Policy, no dogs are permitted in the playground. Unfortunately, we do not have the capacity to set up individual arrangements for families with dogs who require their children to be brought to the gate.
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We understand that life is busy for everyone and occasionally items for school can be forgotten or daily routines change last minute. Currently, we are experiencing a large number of forgotten items (lunch boxes, break time snack, clothing) dropped off in the morning or last minute messages needing passed on to children about pick up time, this results in other office tasks not being able to be actioned. If children do occasionally forget their break time snack time, we do have fruit that they can take, so please don’t worry about having to make another trip to drop off a snack.
Calderwood Calendar:
- Term 2 Calendar
- Christmas Countdown Calendar
- Book Week Scotland Events
- 11th November: West Calder High Remembrance Service
- 18th November: Sharing the learning event
Capturing Calderwood (Twitter snapshot):
- House Elections
Calderwood Compliments:
- A huge congratulations to our new House and Vice Captains, and to our champs and families for supporting them through this process. we are very proud of them.
- Congratulations to Jude in Ben Lomond who came first place in the West Lothian Active Schools P7 Cross Country event.
Kind regards,
Miss Burton
Calderwood Primary Chronicle: 27/10/22
Calderwood Primary Chronicle: 27/10/22
Calderwood Commitments (Actions):
- Values Consultation
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Click here to sign up to be a parent/ carer volunteer. Please share with other family members who might be able to help us with excursions, community walks, etc.
Calderwood Communication (For information):
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Mrs Armit our PSW Champ finishes with us on 4th November, and we wish her luck as she moves on to a new school. We welcome Mrs Irvine to our Champ team starting on 31st October, she will support at Breakfast Club and with our Primary 2 Clans. Mrs Mungall has joined our PSW champ team, supporting Primary 3-5 clans.
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Halloween Celebrations: Last session we organised Creepy Calderwood, as children were still living through some lockdown restrictions, which included limited indoor mixing. The original plan for Halloween was to hold Halloween Parties out with school time, organised by the Parent Council but this was unable to happen. The Parent Council have approached the school this week about a organising a dress up day, however as it was not originally in the school calendar. As we have recently had the food bank collection and soon will have dress up for Book Week Scotland, I did not want to put families under pressure to partake in a last minute event, where some children may then feel excluded. I hope that the wider school body understand, and I apologise for any child who feels upset that they won’t have the opportunity to wear a costume to school, they will hopefully have other opportunities to dress up at home and in the community. As suggested by the Parent Council, we will look at how we can incorporate a Halloween dress up/ down day to the calendar for next session. Children will have the opportunity to take part in learning opportunities about Halloween in their clan, finding out more about the tradition and using it as a stimulus for learning, as part of our curriculum offering.
Calderwood Calendar:
- Term 2 Calendar
- Week beginning 7th November: Poppies on Sale for a donation
- 7th November: School Photo Day: Individual and sibling photos by Tempest – no P.E. uniform please
- 11th November at 9:30am: Ben Lawers Clan Connects (Assembly) – 2 family members per child are invited to attend,
Capturing Calderwood (Twitter snapshot):
- Achievements
Calderwood Compliments:
- Congratulations to Miss Miller for achieving her Masters in Professional Education and Leadership, we are very proud of her.
- Thank you to our office champs for organising the collection of our Christmas Card fundraiser, on behalf of our Parent Council.
- Thank you to Ben Lawers for organising our first ever food bank collection and thank you to our community for collecting 630 items to donate to the foodbank.
- Thank you to our volunteers who went on our community walks this week (even in the rain!)
Kind regards,
Miss Burton
Calderwood Primary Chronicle: 20/10/22
Calderwood Primary Chronicle: 20/10/22
Welcome back to term 2!
Calderwood Commitments (Actions):
Calderwood Communication (For information):
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Those children who have received a place for Term 2 afterschool clubs have now received their acceptance letters.
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Mrs Yule will be joining us a lunchtime champion from 27th October.
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As we move into colder weather, can you please ensure children have their outdoor shoes in school, and a warm jacket, hat, etc. If you require any support with this, please let us know.
Calderwood Calendar:
Capturing Calderwood (Twitter snapshot):
- Staff Collaboration on the Inservice Day
Calderwood Compliments:
- Thank you to our Parent Council for running the Halloween costume swap shop last night, and to everyone who donated.
- Our champions had a fantastic inservice day on Tuesday, discussing and adapting our Calderwood Cares relationship strategy, which we hope to share with you soon.
Kind regards,
Miss Burton
Calderwood Primary Chronicle: 06/10/22
Communication update:
Following discussions at our recent Parent Council we have formed a group to look at suggestions from families as to how we can better streamline communications from Calderwood Primary. Some suggestions have included:
- A short weekly email with links to actions/ information on the blog (separated into the two categories) rather than a long monthly email.
- Separating the blog from twitter, with twitter being a showcase for targeted events, for example: Maths Week Scotland.
- Monthly Calendar email.
- The blog will continue to be a one stop shop but we will improve the categories for navigation.
- Reviewing the new strategies in November.
Calderwood Commitments (Actions):
- Christmas Cards Order by 20th October
- Values Consultation
- Food Bank Collection – 21st October
- A reminder that Friday 7th by 11amis the last day to order milk for Term 2, requests after this time cannot be taken.
- For morning break, we would request that children please bring a light healthy snack. We are seeing an increase in larger snacks being brought at this time. For those children who forget their snack, we have fruit available outside the office.
Calderwood Communication(For information):
Calderwood Calendar:
- The school is closed 10-18th October.
- Term 2 Calendar
- Primary 7 Meeting at West Calder High School
Capturing Calderwood (Twitter snapshot):
- Maths Week Scotland
- Challenge Poverty Week
Calderwood Compliments:
- Thank you to our Primary 5-7 children for helping us ensure our Champion Conversations ran so smoothly.
- Thank you to every who donated to our recent dress down day, we raised £474 which will go towards our numeracy Sumdog subscription for P2-7 and numeracy play resources for Primary 1.
- Our Ben Lomond children have been an absolute credit to Calderwood, planning a fundraising event for all things Primary 7. It’s no easy job to successfully run an event for over 350 children, in the rain! The event raised £417.98 and donations from local businesses raised £650 (Thank you to Stirling Developments, Taylor Wimpey and Linwater). These donations will be used to purchase their leavers hoodies, subsidise their residential trip and support end of year celebrations. Thank you to everyone who supported this event by donating items or money, the children had such a fun day!
- It was lovey to welcome so many families to our Calderwood home last week for our Champion conversations and hear your feedback on how well our champions know your child and the progress they are making.
Thank you all for your support during a busy first term, I hope you all have a lovely October week!
Kind regards,
Miss Burton