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

MARCH 2005

Dear Parent,

As ever the time seems to fly in this year. Already it is the third monthly newsletter of the year.

INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE IN SCHOOL
You may recall that before Christmas the school was involved in a card exchange with six countries from across the globe. One of these countries was India. The cards were of great interest there and received much media coverage. Indiaï¿½s national newspaper - The Indian Times ï¿½ ran an article on the card exchange. In addition Mr Hendersonï¿½s primary 7 class had produced a CD with photographs and video clips of the card making process. at Hillhead This was sent to each of the schools and part of this was actually shown by an Indian television station.

CHINESE NEW YEAR
The celebrations for the Chinese New Year passed away successfully at school last week. A number of activities were involved and all pupils played some part. Many thanks are due to Mr and Mrs Lai from the Hong Kong restaurant in Dempster Street, Wick. (Tel: 60 5552).

On Wednesday 22nd February Mr Lai gave two demonstrations of Chinese cooking. The Chicken Fried rice was much enjoyed by all of the pupils in the nursery and Primaries 1 and 2.

On Tuesday 22nd February, Mrs Lai took on the huge job of writing the name of every pupil and staff member in Chinese characters. A bright red paper was chosen as Mrs Lai had told us that red is a lucky Chinese colour. These were then laminated to make little table mats. I am sure your child will probably have taken their one home already.

Mrs Laiï¿½s character formation is really beautiful and it was most interesting for the pupils to watch. Indeed such was the popularity of Mrs Laiï¿½s writing that at the forthcoming Spring Fayre to be held in school on the morning of Saturday 16^th April she will again be in attendance. She will be able to write names, house names, pet name, phrases or whatever you choose in Chinese. This will be a rare opportunity to have something translated in to Chinese characters.

All pupils had the opportunity to design a Chinese bookmark and all classes made some very fine entries. They are currently displayed in the dining hall. A winner was eventually chosen from each class and the prize winners from each class can be seen in the accompanying picture. Winners received a Chinese hat, fan and flag.

They were:
Back row: Primary 6 Rachel Munro, Primary 7 Chloe McKiddie, Primary 5 Jamie Bacon
Middle row: Primary 1 Kayleigh Scollay, Primary 4 Kaitlin Bogle, Primary 3 Emma Plowman
Front row: Primary 2 Cheyenne Warnock and Nursery Michael MacLeod

PUPIL NOTICE BOARD
The pupil notice board contains press cuttings, which show Hillhead pupils and staff involved in the wider community. This month has seen a number of pupils in the local press. Cassandra Henderson (P.5) and Euan McCombie (P.3) featured in an article about the new climbing wall at the Wick Scout Hall. Laura Hughes and Jodie Wilson (both P.7) had helped Tsunami fundraising with the 4th Wick Guides. A special mention this month for staff members. Mr Mackintosh won the Caithness indoor bowls championship and Miss Mowat was runner up in the Thurso squash championship. Do send in any press cutting, which shows your childï¿½s photograph. A short piece of writing explaining the picture is also very helpful. They will all be displayed on the pupil notice board in the dining room.

SCHOOL CHEQUES
Just a reminder that cheques for school lunches should always be payable to ï¿½The Highland Councilï¿½. It is also very helpful if you place the name of your child and home address on the back of the cheque. Thank you for this.

DINING ROOM IMPROVEMENTS
The 42-inch plasma screen has now been installed in the dining room and has been running for a number of weeks now. It shows pictures of the pupils involved in various activities throughout the school. Sweatshirt and fruit results are also shown.

The Pupil Council has also recently chose four extra tables and eight benches at which pupils having their packed lunch can now sit. The benches are similar in style to the dining room tables. The pupils opted for a dark walnut finish on the tables. They are now used daily by those pupils having packed lunches taken from home.

FORTHCOMING SPRING FAYRE
The recent PTA meeting decided that a Spring Fayre would be held in the school on the morning of Saturday 16th April between 10.00am and 12 noon. A number of exhibits and activities will take place for parents and pupils.

Bulb Corner- Pupils to take in their bulb for the event or if it is flowering before this, to take it in to school and weï¿½ll take a photograph of it with the pupil.

Face painting and fridge magnet making using a photograph of pupils with flower petals around their face.

A Spring Photo competition: an adult and pupil section in this photographic competition. So come on all you budding photographers, lets see if you can capture spring for us. Photos or digital images, any size are acceptable.

A construction competition, which asks pupils to produce a model from an egg box ï¿½ it can be a chocolate egg box or a traditional egg box. It can be a model of anything as long as it uses an egg box in some way.

A Treasure hunt around the hall with spring items
Chinese character writing Mrs Lai can write your words in beautiful Chinese script. Whatever words you choose can be translated in to Chinese characters. This will be a rare opportunity to have something translated in to genuine Chinese script.

A stall similar in operation to a bottle stall will operate, although instead of bottles, prizes will be put inside a glass jar or plastic containers. Any donations of prizes in a jam jar or Easter egg insert will be most welcome.

A number of raffle prizes will also be required. Any donations of items for raffle prizes will be gratefully received at the school.

BOOK FAIR
The recent school book fair held over two days was a great success. Many pupils used their World Book Day token to make a purchase. The total sales reached over ï¿½1070. This was an excellent sum and profits raised will be used to buy more books for the school library. Many thanks to parent helpers Mrs S. Graham, Miss Bain, Mrs Thain and Mrs Cameron.

BAG PACKING for PRIMARY 7
On February 19th number of Primary 7 pupils and their parents assisted with some bag packing in the Coop to raise funds for the Primary 7 trip to York. A total of ï¿½385 was raised. Many thanks to all those parents who assisted with this. A number of others also volunteered but we were unable to fit them in to the schedule. The bag packers were Daniel and Mrs Budge, Rory and Mr Bamfield, Andrew and Mrs Plowman, Gemma and Mrs Smith, Jodi and Mrs Wilson, Nicolle and Mrs Newlands, Stephen and Mr&Mrs Crawford and Laura, sister Robyn and Mrs Hughes. Final information on the cost of the trip to York will be handed out next week.

TSUNAMI RELIEF
The schoolï¿½s efforts to raise money for the Tsunami Relief Effort made a total of ï¿½420. The total raised by all of the schools in Highland was over ï¿½64,000. Many thanks to all who contributed to the fundraising.

EDUARDO the PERUVIAN MIME ARTIST
The whole school will enjoy a show by Eduardo the Peruvian mime artist and contortionist. We have, as it were, bent over backwards to accommodate this contortionist! A late booking for this gentlemen has been made for the afternoon of Wednesday 9th March. I am sure the children will enjoy the performance.

Yours faithfully

A Budge
Headteacher