Welcome to our school
News, 2nd March 2010
School Closure
This appears to have gone extremely well. Thank you to all our Round Robin Volunteers. Only a very small number of people did not receive the information and only one child turned up at the school. Thanks also to the staff who manned the telephones and stayed until everyone was informed.
One or two minor issues about answer services seem to have arisen. If you have BT call minder you need to check that you have a message. Also if you are not at home can you inform Shona Barrett (550003), who has all the numbers? With a possible deterioration in the weather due for later this week, it is best to be prepared again.
Please see the other excitement on that morning:
Ardentinny - P6
Further information will be given out at the end of this week.
Interim Report
A second Interim report will be sent out on Tuesday 23rd March in preparation for the Parent Appointments. Times will be given out next Tuesday 9th March.
Parent Focus Group
Please come to the office at 1.30 to sign in and then meet in Saplings.
P7 Brainiacs – Rotary Quiz 24.02.10
Unfortunately this event had to be postponed due to the severe weather conditions that night. As soon as the new date is known, Mrs Tempest will let the team know. At least it gives our team extra time to prepare!
World Book Day – Thursday 4.March 2010
This year World Book Day, the biggest annual celebration of books and reading for children in the UK and Ireland falls on Thursday 4 March. As in previous years, schoolchildren are receiving a £1 Book Token which can be exchanged at all participating bookshops for one of six specially published £1 books. Every child will be given their token today in school. These special books by top authors cater for a wide age group. To find out more about World Book Day, other related organisations, and the many planned activities, please visit the website at www.worldbookday.com.
To celebrate this event on Thursday, Mrs Tempest and Miss Mackenzie are inviting pupils to come to a ‘book sharing’ session during lunchtime on Thursday. Details are displayed in school. Pupils can bring books which they particularly enjoy reading or just come to hear other children talking about their favourite books. This proved very popular last year when Mrs Tempest ran it and hopefully it will prove popular again on Thursday.
School Helpers Scheme
This scheme was discussed at the Parent Council meeting last Tuesday 23rd February. Thanks to those parents who came along to put forward their views.
We agreed that in principle the scheme was a good idea. We will start with a pilot which will be evaluated to help us decide how the full scheme will work. The pilot will involve around 5 or 6 parents for a 4 week period, initially helping with “hands-off” tasks like preparing displays, classroom materials and worksheets. They and the teachers who they are helping will be asked to complete a questionnaire before and after the pilot to evaluate the impact the school helpers had and identify any issues we need to address before the full launch.
We envisage that the full scheme will start after Easter, with more parents being involved and working more directly with the children.
Many of you have already expressed an interest in becoming involved with the scheme. Please now contact Carol Gibb on 441 030 or Heather McArthur on 550 137 so that we can draw up a schedule of when people are available. Thank you.
Pat MacCowan
Headteacher.