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JANUARY 2005
Dear Parent,
Welcome back to another year at Hillhead. Many thanks to you all for the
many cards and gifts, which I received at the school. Of course it all
seems a little time ago now as things seemed to have moved on quickly.
Fortunately the school suffered no damage in the storms on Tuesday and
Wednesday. This is a busy term for all classes and I am sure you will see
this reflected in the individual class newsletters which you will receive
shortly. This is a new development at the school and was an idea I picked
up from my recent trip to Canada. I am sure you will find them useful.
BRING and BUY SALE
If like me you are wondering where you are going to find storage space for
all of the gifts your child received at Christmas time, then we have the
ideal situation. The Primary 7 pupils are to hold a Bring and Buy sale on
Wednesday 26th January to raise funds for their trip to York. This is
normally a super event for the children and they really enjoy their time
at it. If you do have any thing, which you can contribute to the sale,
then we would be very happy to receive it at school before the event.
THEATRE VISITS
Just before the Christmas holidays, pupils in Primaries 3, 4, 6 and 7 were
fortunate to visit the Lyth Arts Centre to see the performance of the
Emperor’s New Kilt. Primary 6 and 7 pupils were given the opportunity to
enter a competition to draw a poster for the play. Some fine entries were
produced and Primary 6 pupil Rona Plowman produced a winning entry. Rona
was presented with some art materials and a theatre hat at the end of term
ceilidh.
PRIMARY 3 SANTA’S
LETTERS
You may have seen a feature in the local press, which showed a number of
letters from Primary 3 pupils throughout the county. The Hillhead Primary
3s featured a number of times and four of them have been rewarded with a
prize for their efforts. Caren Bell, Erin MacDonald and Sean Lewis have
all won a framed set of Christmas stamps. Emma Duncan will receive two
children’s’ books.
SPONSORED WALK
Two Primary 6 Hillhead pupils Matthew Thain and Rona Plowman recently
completed a sponsored walk to Newton Hill. Their purpose was to raise
funds for Trinity Hospice in Blackpool. Their uncle John was a patient
there and unfortunately has since passed on. Rona and Matthew’s super
effort raised £138 for the hospice.
NEWS CUTTINGS
We once again intend to use the pupil noticeboard to display the
achievements of pupils. For the last few months it has looked at how the
school is meeting the National Priorities in education. If your child’s
photo does appear in the local press, in connection with local sporting
groups or clubs, please take the cutting in to school with a little piece
of writing by the child about what they have done. It is important that we
celebrate the success of the whole child and not just what happens in
school. The other pupils are always interested in reading this.
DATES, DATES, DATES
Many of you will have received new diaries and calendars for 2005, so here
are some of the important school dates to put in them.
Thursday 10th Feb: School closed to pupils for in-service day
Friday 11th February and Monday 14th February: School closed for long
weekend
Thursday 24th March: Last day of term, school closes for Easter
holidays
Monday 11th April: School closed to pupils for in-service day
Tuesday 12th April: School opens to pupils for new term
Monday 2nd May School closed for May Day
Friday 1st July Last day of session, school closes for summer
holidays
Session 2005-2006
Monday 15th August: Staff return to work. In service days for
teachers have yet to be published for this session but generally there are
two in October/November. I will advise you of these when they come in.
Tuesday 16th August: First day of term for pupils
Friday 7th October Last day of term, School closes for October
holidays
Monday 24th October School opens for new term
Thursday 22nd December: Last day of term. School closes for
Christmas holidays
Monday 9th January 2006 School resumes. |
TSUNAMI APPEAL
The school is currently working on a small fundraising project to assist
with the Tsunami appeal. Further details will follow.
WEBSITES FOR PARENT and
CHILDREN
An increasing number of families are now ‘on line’ at home and the
following two sites are well worth a visit.
www.parentzonescotland.gov.uk is a web site specifically
designed for parents of Scottish schoolchildren. It offers a range of
advice to parents on schooling. Currently one of the headlines on the home
page details Peter Peacock’s initiatives on homework. The site offers
parents many ideas on how they can assist their child with homework.
Another site, which offers
pupils a variety of educational games and activities, is available at
www.gridclub . The
Scottish Executive has granted every school access to this site as it has
been recognised as a good on-line educational resource for pupils in the
7-12 age range.
You are required to enter
a user name and password. User name and password can be obtained from the
school
I would be interested to
hear of any comments you have on these sites.
ADDITIONS and
SUBTRACTIONS
As many of you will be aware the school cook Ibby and school secretary Mrs
Bruce both received presentations from the pupils at the Christmas
service. Ibby the cook received a jewellery box and earrings whilst Mrs
Bruce received a necklace. Both ladies also received a bouquet of flowers.
In the kitchen Mr Green
has replaced Ibby. Two 4th year students from Aberdeen University are to
be placed with Primary 6 and 7 this term. Andrea Angus will be with
Primary 7 and Nicola Coghill with Primary 6. The students are with us for
the entire term. Mrs Elder will be taking over the secretary’s role on a
temporary basis until interviews are held which I hope will be some time
in January. Mrs Elder’s classroom assistant duties will meantime be taken
over by Mrs Carter who is a supply classroom assistant. Of course also a
warm welcome back to Miss MacDonald who returns to work after her arm
injury. We hope that all these individuals will settle well in to the
Hillhead community.
CINDERELLA
Pupils in Primary 6 and 7 treated the rest of the school to a wonderful
production of Cinderella in the last week of term. Mrs Elder had done a
fantastic job rehearsing with the pupils at lunch times and after school.
Complete with a cast of around 40 pupils, costumes and theatrical make up;
all who saw it enjoyed the show. Special word of praise to the pupils who
took the leading roles. They were Ugly sisters: Matthew Thain and Jake
Crawford. Cinderella – Naomi Sutherland, The Prince- John Budge, Fairy
Godmother: Laura Hughes and step-mother-Tyler Fraser. Lauren Sinclair and
Jodie Wilson also did a fine job as the narrators of the performance.
Jake and Matthew make two ugly sisters
with attitude
CHRISTMAS SERVICE
The Christmas service again attracted a large crowd and a collection of
£400 was taken at the door. This money will be split between the
palliative care services at Wick’s Timbury Unit and SCIAF – a charity that
provides livestock for needy families around the world. As a result of the
collection at the service and the collection in school, the charity will
be able to donate nine sets of a ram and ewe to poor families in India.
CHRISTMAS CEILIDH
The pupils were treated to a range of performances at the traditional end
of term talent show known as the ‘Ceilidh’. Everyone enjoyed the event.
Two raffles prizes were
also drawn. Caitlin Lamb in Primary 1 was the owner of the lucky lamb
which was drawn from all those who had paid to put a lamb of the nativity
scene in the library. She won some art materials.
The winner of the raffle
for the knitted Santa was Primary 7 pupil Kimmy Lai. Kimmy was
exceptionally kind and immediately presented the Santa to Gemma
Sutherland, her buddy in Primary 1.
Yours faithfully,
A Budge
Headteacher
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