Category Archives: Newsletter

May 2016 newsletter

Dear Parent/Carer,

With a heavy heart I am writing to inform you that at the end of this school year I will be leaving Mid Calder Primary School. I am returning to Northern Ireland to take up a head teacher post close to my family.

As most of you will know, I came to the school in 2013 and have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know you and your children. I feel so privileged to have been part of your child’s life and to watch them learn and blossom. Your children are such a credit to you and I am proud of every one of them as they strive to succeed in everything that they do.

I am also very proud of everything that the school has achieved in such a quick timescale. This is largely due to the dedicated staff team at Mid Calder as well as the support from our parent body and local community.

I will miss everyone here and would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for making me feel so welcome. I know that you will all do the same for my successor. An advertisement for the post will go out very soon with a view to appointing a new head teacher as soon as is possible.

 

Yours truly,

Nicola Thompson

Head Teacher

May 2016 Newsletter

April 2016 newsletter

Dear Parent/Carer,

I hope you had a relaxing Easter break and hope you are looking forward to the long weekend – it looks like we could be spending the weekend enjoying the snow!

I am appealing to all parents/carers who drive their children to school. Over the past week there have been two near miss accidents at the school gate. The first was due to unsafe parking and the second was due to parents/carers using the school car park when collecting children.

As a school we work in partnership with Police Scotland to promote safe and responsible parking, however, we all have a responsibility to ensure that our children are safe. I am appealing to everyone to make sensible decisions when dropping off/collecting children. I would like to remind you that parents/carers should not be using the car park.

Thank you in advance for your support.

Nicola Thompson

Head Teacher

April 2016 (1)

March 2016 Newsletter

Dear Parent/Carer,

It was lovely to see you last week at the Parent Consultations; as always our P7 pupils did a great job welcoming and looking after parents/carers and keeping everyone to their ten minute appointment. As a school we strive to continually improve our practice and would appreciate if you could spare five minutes to complete our Survey Monkey questionnaire which can be found on: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RR5ZD56 by Friday 15th April.

I hope you are able to join us in the Kirk of Calder church on Thursday 24th March as we celebrate Easter. As always we require parents/carers to walk with us to and from church and we would appreciate if you could meet us in the infant playground at 1.10pm.

I wish you all a relaxing Spring break and I hope the sun continues to shine. I look forward to welcoming pupils back on Monday 11th April.

 

Nicola Thompson

Head Teacher

March 2016 (1)

Nursery March Newsletter

Dear Parent/Carer,

February and March have been very busy months in the nursery. Most of the children participated in a nature walk to the wildlife area adjacent to the school field. They learned about molehills, moss and studied the birds living there. They collected sticks and used these to create stick models such as wind chimes.

A group of morning children visited the lovely Park View café to prepare for our pop in and play visits. We looked closely at the menus, the table decorations and the buntings around the walls. Some of the afternoon children visited the local Post Office to post invitations to our Pop In and Play sessions. The resulting Pop In and Play sessions were very well attended. Thank you very much to all who visited us and spent time playing with their children.

Thank you to all parents/carers who attended our Maths Curriculum Evening. You can find our presentation on how you can develop early maths skills on the school blog.

Our children are blogging about their learning on a weekly basis with Mrs Findlay. This allows your children to reflect on their learning and consider the skills and knowledge they have been developing as well as thinking about their next steps in their learning.  You can read their posts on: https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/wl/mcps/category/learning-stories/nursery-am/

As you know we had our Care Inspectorate inspection in January 2016 and the report has now been published. You can find a copy in the nursery entrance or on the Care Inspectorate website. The nursery was assessed against four care indicators:

  • Quality of care and support – Very good
  • Quality of environment – Good
  • Quality of staffing – Very good
  • Quality of Management and Leadership – Very good

The report recognised that staff worked hard to improve the aesthetics and create a pleasant environment in the nursery and that there are plans in place to build a new nursery building. On that note I have received an update that work on  our nursery building will start at the summer.

 

Fiona Barber

Nursery Teacher

March 2016 newsletter

February 2016 Newsletter

Dear Parent/Carer,

I hope that you had a lovely mid-term break and it is hard to believe that we are on the countdown to Easter. We have  a busy term ahead with our STEM focus week; celebrating Fairtrade Fortnight and National Book Day. We also celebrated Mrs Bokhari’s silver anniversary as this month marks her 25th year of working in Mid Calder Primary School.

Just to give you forward notice – the primary school will be closed on Thursday 5th May due to the Scottish Parliamentary Election and on Thursday 23rd June due to the European Union Membership Referendum. The nursery will be open as usual on these dates.

Nicola Thompson

Head Teacher

2016-02-23 February Newsletter

Mid Calder Bake-Off Email and Blog

January 2016 Newsletter

Dear Parent/Carer,
I hope that you all had a lovely festive period and wish you all a very happy new year. We have a very exciting term ahead at the school. Every class will experience the curriculum through a topic designed to stimulate children. Primary 1, inspired by British astronaut Tim Peake, are learning about space; Primary 4 and 5 are applying key maths skills in their Grand Designs project and Primary 6 and 7 are going back in time to learn about Jacobites. Primary 2/3 are finishing their topic from last term and before starting a very exciting topic on Mid Calder. You will find more details in your child’s Learning Letter and on the school blog.
Nicola Thompson
Head Teacher

January 2016 newsletter

November Newsletter 2015

Dear Parent/Carer,

Our pupils are beginning to rehearse for the nursery and the school nativity and I am sure that you will enjoy both the performances as our children showcase their talents. Following feedback from last year we will be issuing a letter on Monday 23rd November setting out the procedures for purchasing tickets. Please note that there will be no additional performances this year and it is the responsibility of each parent/carer to purchase tickets within the set timescales. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Nicola Thompson

Head Teacher

November 2015

October Newsletter 2015

Dear Parent/Carer,

As Money Fortnight draws to a close there has been a buzz around learning about money around the school. From setting up a café in the nursery role play area to costing out a trip to Japan in the upper school. The children are very excited about sharing their learning with you this afternoon (Thursday 15th October) and at home it would be beneficial if they had opportunities to apply this learning in real life contexts, information on this is included on our school blog under homework. I hope you all have a lovely October break and look forward to seeing you in the new term.

Miss Thompson

October 2015

September Newsletter

Dear Parent/Carer,

It was lovely to see so many of you at the recent Meet the Teacher event. Our House Captains made an excellent presentation to parents outlining the school Positive Ethos policy. This was their first House Captain duty and they delivered their key messages in an engaging and informative way and are a true asset to the school.

I hope you all have a lovely September break.

Miss Thompson

September 2015 newsletter