Struthers Primary School. Newsletter. December 2018

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1 Struthers Primary School Newsletter December 2018 Dear Parents/Carers, We re nearly there! The Christmas holidays are fast approaching and December has, as always, been a busy month at Struthers. This month, we have enjoyed all the Christmas festivities and celebrations, but also continued to learn in classes and celebrate achievements. CHRISTMAS FAYRE Thank you so much to all who attended our Christmas Fayre at the end of November. Our classes had all worked exceptionally hard during Finance Fortnight to produce items to sell and it was an extremely successful evening. The bottle stall and chocolate tombola seemed to disappear in record time! Thank you to the Fundraising Committee for their fantastic organisation and superb raffle prizes. Thank you also to the teaching staff and pupils who gave up their Friday evening to support this event. Our classes all raised lots of money which will go towards funding their next class educational visits. LUNCHES At the end of November, we introduced a new lunch system, following consultation with pupils. Pupils had voiced that the previous system was not particularly fair, with the same pupils always having lunch first and similarly, the same pupils always at the end of the queue. Inevitably, this resulted in some pupils never getting the choice of lunch they would prefer. We have trialled a rota system, whereby each class takes turns to come for lunch first. This is managed by our House Captains and I m delighted to say that the new system is working very well. We plan to continue this system in the New Year. PANTOMIME At the start of the month we thoroughly enjoyed the pantomime Pinocchio performed in school by M&M productions. Thank you to the Fundraising Committee who kindly paid for this fabulous performance which was enjoyed by all. Mrs Lockie and I may not have enjoyed it quite as much as the others, after having had to go up and dance with the cast!

2 STAFFING Miss Leck will join us permanently as P1 teacher from January Today, we interview for a part-time class teacher to replace Mrs Love from January to June whilst she is seconded to Kirkmichael Primary School. It will be early in the new term before I am able to confirm the successful candidate when all staffing checks have been completed. Until such a time, we will ensure the transition for all pupils is as smooth as possible. EARLY YEARS CENTRE We have recently had an unannounced visit by the Care Inspectorate, which was very positive. They praised the experiences provided for children and the nurturing interactions with staff, amongst other things. A report will be published shortly. Thanks to all parents and carers who took the time to complete questionnaires or stop and chat to the inspector on the day. Congratulations to our Early Years Team! All pupils in our Early Years Centre are invited to join us at the Church on Friday morning at 10am. Please note, there will be no pm session on the final day. NATIVITIES Both our Early Years pupils and Primary 1 and 2 pupils performed fantastic nativities this month. P1 & 2 gave us a nativity through the eyes of the courtroom in Straw & Order! Thank you to Derek Peat at St Meddan s Church for accommodating our pupils, staff, friends and families on the evening of Thursday 13 th December. It was a great evening! Our EYC performed Wriggly Nativity in the school hall. Both the morning and afternoon sessions did a super job and we definitely have some performers in the making! SING OUT FOR HANSEL Thank you to our P5 pupils who went to the Rivergate Shopping Centre in Irvine on Friday 14 th December. They formed a beautiful choir to Sing out for Hansel. Mrs Brearley and Mr Kerr were very proud of our pupils who represented the school in a very responsible and respectful manner. Well done Primary 5! BOOK WEEK Mrs Love organised a fantastic Book Week to raise the profile of reading even further in our school! Classes enjoyed visits from members of the public who popped in to read their favourite books to them. At certain points throughout the week a short bell rang and this signified a time to Drop everything and Read. These were undoubtedly our most quiet

3 times during the school day! P4-7 also took part in a very competitive quiz at the end of the week. PARKING A parent kindly wrote to me during the week and made a suggestion to try and ease congestion at drop off/pick up times. I passed this information to members of our Parent Council and they too believed it would be a good idea. Although not enforceable, if all parents were to follow this suggestion from January, I do believe it would help our current situation. The proposal is: Whilst building works are ongoing, parents operate a one way system during drop off and pick up times Vehicles enter Staffin Road, turn left on to Euchan Place, right on to Sark Drive, then right onto Garry Place and drop pupils off on Staffin Road. I would urge parents to try the proposed one way system in the New Year and we will monitor this situation. I will provide an update in January s newsletter. Tomorrow for our Church Service, there will be Police Officers present on Staffin Road from 8:45 am in the morning. This will be to keep the road clear for buses to arrive from 9am and get as close to the school as possible. SITE VISIT Our pupil Council were taken on a site visit last week with manager, Kenny. They enjoyed seeing the changes inside and out of the school and got to ask lots of questions. Our Pupil Council will be reporting back to all pupils at assembly in the New Year. P7 TRANSITION Our P7 pupils attended Marr College on Monday this week for an informal Walkabout when the senior pupils took them a tour of the school. They enjoyed seeing all the different departments and are looking forward to visiting again in the New Year. PARTIES Christmas Parties have been in full swing this week. Thank you again to the Fundraising Committee who supplied juice, crisps and a gift from Santa at our parties! Our P7 pupils decided to favour an outing to the cinema over a party and enjoyed watching The Grinch at the Odeon in Kilmarnock. Thank you to the parents who kindly helped out by driving our pupils to the cinema.

4 RIGHTS RESPECTING SCHOOLS COMMITTEE Our Rights Respecting Schools Committee have produced their own Newsletter to tell you all about the work that has been ongoing in school over the past two terms. This has already been ed to parents and is also available on the school website, Struthers.sayr.sch.uk we hope you enjoy it! CHURCH SERVICE We hope you are able to join us tomorrow at St Meddan s Church at 10am for our Christmas Service. Everyone is welcome to join us and celebrate the end to a fantastic term. On behalf of all the staff at Struthers Primary School, I would like to wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year when the time comes. I look forward to seeing all pupils rested and back at school at 9.00am on the 7 th January for another busy term! Best wishes, Gail McKellar Head Teacher DIARY DATES st Church Service 21 st School closes at 2.30pm for holidays January th School re-opens at 9am 7 th Start of Scots Fortnight 17 th Curriculum Evening 6-7pm

5 25 th Scots Poetry Competition February th Local Holiday 12 th In-service day 13 th School re-opens at 9am March th Parent s Appointments 6:00 8:30pm 21 st Parent s Appointments 3:30 5:30pm 29 th Easter Service 29 th School Closes at 2.30pm for holidays April th School Re-opens at 9am 19 th Local Holiday May th Holiday 24 th Sports Day and Bounce-a-thon 27 th Holiday 28 th In-service Day 29 th School re-opens at 9.00am June th Football Summer Cup 1.00pm 14 th Bump-Up 25 th P7 Leaver s Service 27 th Church Summer Service 28 th School closes at 1pm for the holidays