Caithness CWS - Community - Education - Hillhead Primary School - Newsletter

APRIL 2005

Dear Parent

The Spring Fair, which was held last Saturday, attracted a large number of parents and pupils. A variety of interesting stalls were available to participate in. The PTA at the event raised a grand profit of ï¿½559.

Many thanks to all parents who contributed to the fair both by attending and donating prizes to the raffle. Grateful thanks are due to Mrs Anne Duffy, Mrs Bev Hughes and Mrs Mary Thain for the hard work and effort they put in to organising the event. My thanks also to the many staff members who supported the event, including the school chef Andy Green, who produced some terrific pancakes for everyone to enjoy.

The egg box model competition produced some very fine entries. The eventual winners were:

Primary 1 1st Train by Robbie Davis 2nd Spider by Gemma Sutherland 3rd Nest by Kayleigh Scollay 4th Television by Iona Ferrier Primary 2 1st Army camp by David Meiklejohn Primary 3 1st Car by Zoe Wilson 2nd Rabbit by Chloe Sinclair 3rd Robot by Katie Cunningham Primary 4 Ist Military Scene by Robbie Meiklejohn 2nd Television by Kyle Gunn 3rd Graduate by Matthew Sinclair Primary 5 1st Underwater Scene by Declan Mackay 2nd Desk tidy by Cameron Duffy 3rd Parrot in a cage by Jamie Bacon 4th Flowers by Robyn Hughes Primary 6 1st Hen by Matthew Thain 2nd Clown by Lauren Sinclair Primary 7 1st Spring Scene by Jodie Wilson 2nd Spring Pictures by Laura Hughes.
Adult 1st Mr Thain picture of daffodils 2nd Fiona Mackay pictures of lambs 3rd Mr Duffy picture of a hedgehog
Child 1st Ross Thain picture of a calf 2nd Cameron Duffy picture of a bunny beside daffodils. 3rd Declan Mackay - picture with a rabbit.

Pretty as a sunflower - Megan Shearer from the nursery puts her head through the Sunflower cut out. The pictures were made in to fridge magnets for the pupils.

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE QUIZ
Pupils in Primaries 4 to 7 made a good entry to the Easter general knowledge quiz. The first letter of the answers made up the names of the four seasons. Overall winners were Rachel Graham in the Primary 4/5 quiz and Ryan Sinclair in the Primary 6/7 quiz. Well done to the following who all had good entries:

Primary 4 Chloe Robertson, Andrew Gunn, Becky Plowman, Matthew Sinclair, Chloe Macaulay, Kyle Gunn, Robbie Meiklejohn, Nicole Barron, Craig Muir, Kaitlin Bogle, Greg Polson, Kara Plowman, Emma Sinclair, Jasmin Camus, Laura McCombie
Primary 5 Jamie Bacon, Cameron Duffy, Declan Mackay, Jordan Oag, Erin Mackay, Cassandra Henderson, Liam Macleod, Kimberly Lewis, Emma Coghill, Tanya Howden, Alex More, Zoe Sutherland, Jack Fraser and Olivia Turner.
Primary 6 Anna Falconer, Shauna Warnock, Matthew Thain, Oceanne Camus, Lauren Sinclair, Melissa Boyle, Kayleigh Huggins, Lynsey Sutherland, Chloe Graham.
Primary 7 Rory Bamfield, Gemma Smith, Melissa Boyle, Steven Wilson, Tyler Fraser

TSUNAMI RELIEF
In February, a group of Primary 5 and 6 pupils raised some money for the Tsunami Relief by participating in a sponsored walk from Staxigoe to the Lidl store and back. They were John Budge, Paul Cameron, Andrew McCombie and Richard Budge. Altogether they raised a sum of ï¿½133. Well done to these pupils for their initiative. The pupils involved have been very modest about their fine achievement, which I felt merited some publicity.

CHANGES IN STAFF
Following interview, just prior to the Easter holidays, Mrs Karyn Mackay was appointed as the new classroom assistant in Primary 6 and 7. She has commenced work at the start of this term. A new student teacher Mrs Fiona Ferrier is placed with Primary 2 for the first five weeks of this term. Mrs Ferrier will take responsibility for the class for a two-week period.

Mr Wu, the gym teacher who hails from Canada, will continue his visits to Hillhead on Tuesday morning and all day Wednesday for the remainder of this term.

VISIT BY THEATRE GROUP
Hillhead has continued to endeavour to bring professionals from the arts world to the school. Over Thursday and Friday the 14th and 15th April, the Collaborators Theatre Company visited school. This company specialises in work with shadows and puppets. Primary 5 were involved in a workshop on the morning of April 14th. Two shows were then presented to the whole school, one on Thursday afternoon and another on Friday morning. They were enjoyed by all.

HOMEWORK PROJECT SUCCESS
Once again the personal projects carried out by Primary 7 pupils were completed to a very high standard. It was difficult to choose winners but eventually an order was settled on. It was 1st Michael Anderson on a project which looked at Tractors. 2nd Andrew Sinclair with a project on Concorde. 3rd David Cormack who looked at Formula 1 Racing and 4th Melissa Boyle who took womenswear since 1800 as her topic. Well done to those pupils and all of the Primary 7 pupils who produced such good work.

CHESS CLUB ERROR
The last end of term newsletter got it wrong! It was in fact Andrew Plowman who took second prize in the Chess Clubï¿½s competition. Well done to Andrew for this success and my apologies for getting the wrong surname. The Chess Club is currently organising their annual match with the South School, which will take place late this term. Parents of participating pupils will receive information on the arrangements for this trip to the South School.

HILLHEAD BOOK BANKS
All pupils have now received their copies of the Hillhead Book Banks. This is the scheme launched by the pupil council to encourage reading in the school. It will operate throughout this term and awards will be given out before the end of term. Do encourage your child to take part in the scheme.

This week parents will also receive a short pamphlet ï¿½Reading with Your Childï¿½. This contains useful advice and activities to carry out with your children. This publication was produced by a staff working group in a desire to assist parents with reading homework. I would be pleased to hear of any comments on this publication. Please keep it somewhere so you can refer to it.

AFTER SCHOOL CLUBS
This term will see a number of after school clubs. Football will continue on a Tuesday and netball on a Wednesday. In addition a number of new clubs will start.

Mrs Elder will take a singing group for pupils in Primary 6 and 7, after school on Thursdays commencing 28th April. A selection of songs from musicals will be covered in the classes. The singing group will give a performance to the ladies of the Salvation Army in June as well as to the rest of the school at the end of term service.

Mrs Karen Mackay, the classroom assistant in Primary 4 will take cycling proficiency classes commencing after school on Friday 29th April. These are aimed at pupils in Primary 6 who require a bicycle in reasonable order and a cycling helmet to participate in the class. Successful participants will be able to obtain the Scottish Cycle Training Scheme Award.

An Eden Court outreach worker Lorna Sutherland would like to start up a drama group for pupils in Primaries 6 and 7 on Mondays commencing May 16th. Your child should tell the class teacher if he or she is interested in attending these. The classes will depend on numbers interested.

BIRTHS
Danielle Ross in the nursery has a new baby brother James, who was born on March 10th and weighed in at a very healthy 9lbs 4oz. Danielle was very proud of her little brother when I met her in the Somerfield store over the holidays.

A special thought also to another nursery pupil Saffron MacDonald who was so badly injured in a car accident just before the Easter holidays. Saffron broke an arm and leg although is now back home again. We hope that she will soon be back with us at Hillhead.

MAY DAY HOLIDAY
The school will be closed to staff and pupils on Monday 2nd May.

Yours faithfully

A Budge
Headteacher