EPS/GC

                                   NEWSLETTER  -  JANUARY 2008

Dear Parent

With the new term underway here is my first newsletter of 2008. 

Rev. G. Smart

It is with great sadness that I learned of the death of Rev. G. Smart, former minister of Armadale Parish Church.  Mr. Smart worked tirelessly for the community and was a great source of support to the school.  I am sure you will join me in sending condolences to his family. 

Charter Mark

As previously intimated the school was awarded the Government’s Charter Mark award for customer service excellence.  I am delighted to report that I received a letter from the Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown M.P., Prime Minister, congratulating the school on this achievement.  This letter will be framed along with a certificate and commemorative plaque.  They will all be put on display in the entrance foyer.

Assemblies/Services

Our end-of-term Christmas service was held in Armadale Parish Church on the morning of 21 December.  Many thanks to the Rev. Mackay and to all the children who contributed.  A collection was taken for the CHAS Appeal (Children’s Hospice of Scotland).  This was added to the monies collected at the Nativity Plays (13 and 14 December) to make a total of £330.82.      

The P6 (Mrs. Matheson’s class) assembly will take place in the school hall on 22 February.  As always the starting time will be 9.30a.m. and seats will be available for adults. 

Please note that the P2 assembly due to take place on 25 January and the   P1 assembly due to take place on 7 March will now take place on later dates.  Details will be issued in due course.

Congratulations to Lucy (P4) who won the headteacher’s award for a piece of writing covering the Christmas story.  She was presented with a certificate and a sticker at an assembly on 20 December.  She also had a photograph taken for the school newspaper.

On 7 December we were pleased to welcome Philomena Walsh who spoke to the pupils about her work for the Bolivian street children’s charity.

Mr. McKay conducted a P1-P3 assembly on 11 January.

Details of our Easter service will be issued in due course.

Staffing

Unfortunately, Miss MacKenzie (P5) is currently absent due to ill health.  I am sure you will join with me in wishing her a speedy recovery.  In her place I am happy to welcome Ms. Brand.  I am pleased to report that Mrs. N. Hamilton (P4/3) has now returned to school.

As was the case last year we are targeting funds towards raising children’s attainment.  We have therefore employed two teachers to work two days a week each (Tuesdays and Wednesdays) from 9.15a.m. to 2.45p.m.  This started on 8 January and will last until just before Easter.  Welcome to Mrs. R. Clarke and Mrs. M. Moran.   

This term we are pleased to welcome a student  from Stirling University, Mr. N. McGaw.  He will work in P1B (Miss Gray) for one week and P6/5 (Miss Kidd) for two weeks.

Mrs. Lambie has left her job in the kitchen.  In her place I am pleased to welcome Mrs. Susan Smith.

Christmas 2007

As always the school had a varied programme of Christmas events.  A list was provided in the November newsletter.

Special mention must go to Mrs. Gray and the P1-P2 teachers for organising the infant show, “The Very Hopeless Camel”.  Thanks also to the parents and non-teaching staff who helped with the costumes.  Well done also to the P3 teachers who worked with their children to perform a show written by Miss Carlyle, “The Nine Days of Christmas”.

I am indebted to Mrs. Baxter for all the work she put into decorating Santa’s grotto for the PSA Christmas Fayre on 30 November.  I am pleased to report that the Fayre made a profit of £1,144.23.  

On the afternoon of 11 December Mrs. Gray, Mrs. McDonald and I took a group of carol singers from local schools to sing to residents of Ochilview, Colinshiel and Heatherfield.   This was part of a cluster anti-sectarianism project.  The following schools each chose six P5 pupils to take part – Eastertoun, St. Anthony’s, Windyknowe and Armadale.  Well done to Charley , Stuart , Ryan, Ebony, Kirstie  and Rebecca  who represented our school.  

We held a special assembly on 20 December to present prizes to winner of various competitions.  Certificates were provided to the children who had worked well and consistently throughout the term. 

As was the case last year the school held competitions in which the children were asked to design a school Christmas card (P1-P3) and a school calendar (P4-P7).  Class winners were as follows-: Zoe (P1A), Elyssa (P1B), Connor  (P2), Ross (P3/2), Rebecca (P3), Nicole (P4/3), Ellie (P4/3), Brooke (P4), Rebecca (P5), Jennifer (P6/5), Katie (P6), Hazel (P7A) and Robyn (P7B).  Rebecca’s card and Katie’s calendar were reproduced and sent on behalf of the school.

Well done to the children of P6/5 (Miss Kidd) who won the “Chimney Challenge” competition for behaviour and effort (October to December).  They were given a reward during the last week of term.  Miss McTiernan has organised a new challenge for this term.

Many thanks to Mrs. Brough for knitting a santa for a “Guess the Birthday” competition.  The winner was Miya  from P1A who chose the correct date – 16 April.

Certificates will be given to pupils who attained 95-100% attendance between August and December.

Thank you to everyone who donated money for the school crossing patrols.  A total of £66.90 was raised.  Hampers were bought for both Mrs. Clark and Mr. Jeffrey

Suggestion Box

A reminder that a suggestion box is situated on the table in the entrance foyer of the school.  We would be very grateful for any suggestions you provide.  Similarly, you are welcome to write them down on the tear-off slip at the end of this newsletter.  I am grateful to the parent/carer who requested a sign for the car park reminding drivers that they should not drop children off or pick them up from the car-park.  I have forwarded this to the relevant department. 

Parent/Staff Council

PSC Committee members continue to work hard organising events and raising money for the school.  The next meeting will take place in the GP Room on Wednesday 23 January, starting at 7.15p.m. 

Winners of the Christmas raffle were as follows-: J. Waddle, R. Love (two prizes), Z. Brunton and L. Fisher.    

There will be a beetle drive and quiz night in school on 30 January.  Details will be issued in a separate letter.

The next discos will take place as follows - : 18 February (P1-P3) and 20 February (P4-P7).

PSC funding allowed each teacher to spend £50 on Christmas resources. 

Uniform

I am delighted by the number of children wearing school uniform on a daily basis.  Thank you for all your help in this important area.  There is a weekly competition in which children are awarded points for their classes.  Well done to the following classes which all had a 100% rate for September to December-: P6/5, P3, P2, P1B and P1A.  The average for the whole school was 99.14%.

A non-uniform day was held on 30 November.  This raised £127.08 for school funds.  Dates for this term will be 25 January and 22 February.

Parent/Teacher Consultation Sessions

As you know these took place on 22 and 23 November.  The attendance rate was 98.5%.   Because Mrs. N. Hamilton was absent the P4/3 sessions did not take place.  They will, however, be held on 23 January. 

 The next sessions for all classes will take place on Thursday 6 March (5.30p.m. to 8p.m.) and Friday 7 March (2p.m. to 3.30p.m.).  A book fair will also be held.  The school earned £895.13 in commission from the last book fair.  This will be spent on books.

 Samples of your child’s work will be sent home on 1 February and 14 March.

 Sign language interpreters can be arranged for deaf or hard-of-hearing parents/carers who use British Sign Language (BSL).  If you would like to use this service during the above sessions please contact the school or phone 01506 418125 (voice and text).  There is also a mobile number - 07876 131482.

 Valuables

A reminder that children should not bring valuables to school.  This includes electronic games.  As a rule mobile phones are not allowed in school.  However, if there are special circumstances and a parent/carer wants a child to have one in school I would ask that a letter be sent.  Mobile phones are kept in the office or by staff until the end of the school day.

 Competitions

Congratulations to P7A children who were runners-up in a competition they entered last session with Mrs. Matheson.  This was organized by the Dogs Trust.  Special commendations were also given to Corey, Daniel, Emma  and James.  They were presented with their prizes at an assembly on 23 November. 

 Armadale Library organised a Christmas competition with the following winners – Connor (P2) and Scott (P4).

 Congratulations also to Tegan (P3) and Katie (P6) who were the winners of a competition organised by Catering Services.

 Our PE Teacher, Mrs. Beer, runs a competition to encourage children to bring PE kit, to behave well during lessons and to have a positive attitude.  Well done to P6/5 for being the most recent winners.  Runners-up were P4 and third place went to P5.  The most improved class was P7B.   

 Photographs

As you know the photographer visited us on 23 October to take individual class groups.    I am pleased to inform you that the school made £242.64 in commission from sales.

Bulbs

Many thanks to everyone who took part in the recent bulb growing promotion.  Our target was to sell £3,500 of bulbs to make a profit of £1,000.

 The children of P1A also sold bulbs on the morning of the nativity performance, 14 December.  Thanks to Mrs. Henderson for her help.  P7B sold Christmas baskets on the same morning. 

 Visits/Visitors

The West Lothian dog warden visited P7A and P7B on the morning of 11 December.

 P6/5 and Miss Kidd visited Dynamic Earth on 12 December.

 On 13 December James Duncan visited P7B to deliver a “Bits ‘n Bobs” workshop.  This gave the children the opportunity to make decorations from recycled materials.

Later that day Colin McKay from Edinburgh’s Storytelling Centre visited the P6 class.

 The following classes are visiting the library on a fortnightly basis throughout this term –: P2, P3/2, P6 and P7B.

 Children’s author, Keith Charters, visited us on 11 January to speak to P4-P7 children.

 I am pleased to welcome textile artist, Anna Cocciadiferro, who will work with P7B throughout the term on a heritage project entitled “Threading Together”.  This will enable the children to create their own textile banners based on the history of the West Lothian Friendly Societies.

 Heather Gray of the National Youth Choir of Scotland will come to the school on

1 February to conduct singing and games workshops with P1A, P1B, P2 and P3/2.  

 P7A (Miss McTiernan’s class) will visit Glasgow Science Centre on Tuesday 11 March.

 As part of the anti-sectarianism project a group of P5 pupils will visit Windyknowe Primary on the afternoon of 27 February for a Challenge Afternoon.  An adult from the school community will also be on the school team. 

 Holidays/Training Days

Please note that the school will be closed on the following dates-:

                                      Monday 11 February  -  mid-term holiday

                                Tuesday 12 February        -  mid-term holiday

 Tuesday 12 February was supposed to be a staff training day.  However, staff have been given this as an extra holiday because West Lothian Education Department has won the Charter Mark customer service award.  It also recognises the achievement of the schools which have been awarded it.  As previously intimated we were given this award on 20 November.

 Classes resume for all pupils at 8.50a.m. on Wednesday 13 February.

 School will close for the Easter holidays on Thursday 20 March at 3.15p.m.

 After-School Clubs

The following clubs are taking place for all or part of the term-: Home Learning, Choir, Newspaper, Gymnastics, Craft, Active and Handball.  The Eco Club will resume later in the term.

 Well done to the children and staff of the Eco Club who have planted flowers in the Quiet Area.

The most recent edition of “The Eastertoun Herald” was issued just before Christmas.

 I must remind parents/carers who collect children after clubs held in the school that they should be picked up from the entrance foyer of the school and from no other location.  I must also ask that you give prior notification in writing if for any reason your child cannot attend a session or if there are any other changes to arrangements.

 ‘Phone Calls from Parents

Parents sometimes ‘phone the school to ask that messages be passed on to pupils.  Under these circumstances we try to ensure that the message is given to the child in question by the end of the morning or afternoon as requested.  I would ask, however, that parents do NOT leave such messages on the answering machine.  This is sometimes not checked until after the end of the school day by which time it is obviously too late.  If you are leaving such a message and the line is busy, please keep trying until you get through and speak to someone.  In this way your message should reach your child in time.  I would also ask that parents/carers try to limit the number of these calls.  Office staff are  busy and it can be time consuming for them to deal with them.

 Money Brought to School

I should like to ask for your continued co-operation in ensuring that all monies brought to school are in a container, envelope or bank bag.  This should be clearly labelled with your child’s name and class.  The amount of money should also be written on the outside together with what it is for.  This cuts down the amount of time given over to collection and helps with the problem of lost monies.

 Attendance

I am concerned by the fact that a significant number of children are absent on the last day of each term.  This happened again at Christmas.  I must remind you that your child should attend school as normal on these dates unless he/she is ill or there are exceptional circumstances.

 Promotions

Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the recent Tesco promotion.  A total of 16,886 tokens were collected.  These will be used to obtain playground games equipment.  I am grateful to Mrs. Hamilton and P7B for counting them.

 School Review

We have just received notification that the school is to be reviewed this term.  A team of education officers and another headteacher will visit on 5 and 6 March.  The review will look at all aspects of the work of the school, our strengths and achievement, the environment for learning, if we are meeting the needs of all of our pupils, leadership,  management and our links with the community amongst many other areas!  I shall give you feedback in a future newsletter.

 Curriculum Update

I enclose a curriculum update on the teaching of Writing.  This was written and updated by Mrs. Gray.

 Public Holidays

West Lothian Council has given me a list of public holidays during 2008.  These are as follows-:

1 January, 2 January, 21 March, 24 March, 5 May, 25 December and 26 December.

 Donations

Many thanks to Mrs. Walker and Mrs. Hardie for their recent donations.

 School Building

I am pleased to report that work on the installation of smoke alarms is nearing completion.

 There have been several instances of fire-raising recently involving buckets at the rear of the school.  These have taken place out of school hours.  Following one incident,  P7A and Miss  McTiernan had to move into the GP Room for a few days while the wall of Room 13 was checked for structural damage.  They should be able to return within the next few days.  A storage cage for the buckets will shortly be installed at a safe distance from the school.

 Miscellaneous Items

In the interests of health and safety I would remind parents not to send sweets or food to school for consumption by children other than their own.  Also, it is not possible for teachers to distribute mail to pupils e.g. party invitations.

 It is no longer Council policy to issue letters to parents advising them of a case of headlice in their child(ren)’s class.

 A reminder that if you have any questions or would like to discuss any matter you should not approach a teacher directly.  Instead please contact Mrs. Gray or myself.

 The school has a supply of booklets entitled “Choosing a School – a Guide for Parents”.  These are available from the school office.

 As always I hope that you have found the information in this newsletter helpful.  As part of our customer service there is a slip on the next page that can be returned if you have any comments, suggestions or questions.  You are also welcome to contact Mrs. Gray or me.  Miss Smith will be available to discuss non-educational matters.

Yours sincerely

G. Cowan (Headteacher)