There will be a parent information session on Wednesday 28th February at 3.40pm.  This is an opportunity to hear a little more about this year’s residential activity week and to discuss any questions, queries or concerns you may have.  We hope you can make it along, however don’t worry if you can’t as you can contact the school directly to discuss any important issues.

The pupils attending this year’s camp will bring home a pack on Monday which contains important information regarding suggested clothing/ equipment and forms that must be completed, signed and returned by Friday 23rd February.  These forms will provide vital information regarding medical/ dietary requirements and must be returned in time for the relevant paperwork to be completed and sent to Dounans prior to us attending the activity centre.

Please note all bedding is provided and clothes can become very muddy/ wet during the activities, so pack old/ warm clothes where possible rather than buying new items to take along.

Dounans have been in contact and are finalising the weeks activity programme so we should have an idea of what types of activities will be available and can share this with you on 28th.

Mrs Waugh

Thank you to all the parents who came along to our ‘Families Connect’ coffee morning launch and for those of you who signed up for this programme.  We look forward to seeing you all on Thursday 28th September for our first workshop.  Raffle ticket winner to be announced tomorrow!

We still have spaces available on our eight-week programme which is designed to support children and their families to learn together and have fun through:

• Exploring stories
• Playing with numbers
• Understanding feelings

Through a series of creative activities, techniques and games that parents and children can participate in together, the workshops will focus on three key area; language development, numeracy & maths and social & emotional development.

Activities will include:

• Snack & Starter
• Talk Topic
• Reflection Time
• The Science Bit (helping parents to understand how a particular topic will support a child’s learning)
• Doing it Together (gives parents simple take away activities to try with their children at home.

We know that the home learning environment can have a huge impact on a child’s learning. As well as being the place that provides for the basic needs of a child, an effective home learning environment will encourage strong parent and child relationships that help build self-esteem and security and help every child to reach their full potential.

Building a home learning environment – and crucially, increasing parents’ skills and confidence to support their child’s learning, can have a huge impact on a child’s future.

These informal workshops will run for P2 parents on Thursday afternoons for 8 weeks from 2.00pm – 4.00pm and will focus on getting parents to reflect on what they already do to support their children’s learning, and inviting them to explore new activities, games and approaches that might enhance this.

We are really excited about starting our Families Connect workshops and can’t wait to see it rolled out in Murrayfield over the next year.  We look forward to working with as many of you as possible.

Remember there is still time to contact the school to sign up for this exciting opportunity!

A little clip should you wish to hear a little more about this initiative:

Families Connect Film: https://player.vimeo.com/video/224672230

FAMILIES CONNECT IS SAVE THE CHILDREN’S NEW AND EXCITING INITIATIVE, DESIGNED TO HELP PARENTS SUPPORT THEIR CHILD’S LEARNING AT HOME.

This eight-week programme provides a series of creative activities, techniques and games that parents and children can participate in together. It focuses on three key area; language development, numeracy & maths and social & emotional development.

Activities include ‘Snack & Starter’, encouraging parents and children to spend quality time together, as well as Talk Topic, Reflection Time and ‘The Science Bit’ – helping parents to understand how a particular topic will support a child’s learning.  ‘Doing it Together’ gives parents simple take away activities to try with their children at home.

We know that the home learning environment can have a huge impact on a child’s learning. As well as being the place that provides for the basic needs of a child, an effective home learning environment will encourage strong parent and child relationships that help build self-esteem and security and help every child to fulfil their potential.

Research shows that parental involvement in their children’s learning positively affects the child’s academic performance leading to greater problem solving skills, greater school enjoyment, better school attendance and fewer behavioural problems at school. School quality only accounts for 14% of educational attainment, so the better the home learning environment, the greater the child’s attainment can be.

Building a home learning environment – and crucially, increasing parents’ skills and confidence to support their child’s learning, can have a huge impact on a child’s future.

The informal workshops focus on getting parents to reflect on what they already do to support their children’s learning, and inviting them to explore new activities, games and approaches that might enhance this.

We are really excited about Families Connect and can’t wait to see it rolled out in Murrayfield over the next year.  We look forward to working with as many of you as possible.  Come along and join us for our informal coffee morning on Friday 22^nd September at 10.00am to hear more about this programme and to register your child/ family in the programme.

Please see the links below for further details about this great initiative:

FAMILIES CONNECT FLYER

Families Connect Film: https://player.vimeo.com/video/224672230

Mrs Abigail Waugh & Mrs Angela Mackie

Welcome to Maths Week Scotland, a brand new initiative to help everyone in our nation see maths positively.  The Scottish Government’s aim is for everyone to experience the benefits, joy and beauty of maths in exciting new ways. From September, they hope to see maths being explored and celebrated throughout Scotland, and very much hope that schools will participate in some way.

Maths Week has been created as a result of the Making Maths Count group’s recommendations as a way to raise the profile of maths and its importance in all aspects of our lives.  If you’d like to read more, the report of the group is here.

Murrayfield pupils will experiencing a variety of maths challenges and games throughout this week.  We will be gathering photographs of pupils/ classes participating in these activities in order to create a presentation which will be shown on our LCD screen at the main entrance.  Please look out for this presentation in the coming weeks!

Thursday 31st August 2017

3.30pm – 5.00pm

You are invited to come along and meet your child’s teacher.

This is an opportunity to find out more about some of the teaching resources,

approaches and learning plans for 2017-18.