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Pulteneytown Academy
Newsletter 3 May 2005

May 2005 Newsletter

Dear Parent

The staffing situation is, unfortunately worse and not better than indicated in my last newsletter. Since then, my nursery teacher has been transferred to Crossroads school to cover a maternity leave until the summer so Mrs Budge will be supporting the Nursery staff for the remainder of the term. P1 parents rest assured, Mrs Duffy will do all of the cover and have the P1 class 2 days a week as she did last term. I would have resisted this change if I thought it would have been a disadvantage for the P1 pupils, but I am confident it will not be.

Mrs Foubister is still off, but I will endeavour to continue to provide plans for appropriate work for this class and they will be taught by a combination of the support teachers, Mr Lannon when he is available and by myself. Unfortunately Miss Omand is also unwell and will be off this week. As her work is already planned this will be carried out by Learning Support teachers and/or myself. On the positive side, this will get the P7 pupils used to working with many different teachers in a week as will be the case in High School next term. However, it will inevitably have a knock on effect for other pupils who usually work with the support team.

We are coming to the stage in the term where a number of National Assessments tests are planned and I will move heaven and earth to ensure these are in no way disrupted during this difficult time.
I am very lucky to have such a hard working, dedicated, obliging staff, who will do their very best to keep everything going with the minimum disruption. Please, as parents, understand we are doing our very best, but if your child does not have their reading done as often as usual or has to wait an extra week or two for a new book, I hope you will accept this.

PSA News – The meeting last week was attended by 9 parents and 2 staff and the decision was taken to have a Medieval Fair this summer as the PSA main fundraiser of the year. Thanks to all of you who responded with ideas – the winner of the bottle, drawn at random from the returned forms, was Catherine Sargent’s mum. 13 returns suggested moving the event to a Saturday, but it was felt this was not enough to make this change. The date has been set for Friday 24 June. Changes to the usual BBQ include -

  • Moving the event to start at 6.00 until 8.00 thus allowing people to get home from work and ready before they come out.

  • Having soup and sandwiches available as well as the burgers on the BBQ.

  • Having more attention paid to the fancy dress with a catwalk for contestants and times given for different age groups to take part.

  • A publicised programme of events with things happening at specific times e.g. fun races and jousting, as well as stalls running throughout the evening.

  • Reinstatement of the competition for the children to take part in before hand to include individual and family entries.

The next planning meeting will take place on Monday 30 May at 7.00 in the staffroom – All welcome. Remember if lots of you do not volunteer to help out with preparation and by running events at the Fair, it may not be possible to go ahead. So do come along to the meeting or let Carole know if you can volunteer your services in any way (602649).

Book Fair – Books should be arriving next week and you are welcome to come in and have a look between 9.15 – 12 noon or 2 – 3 p.m. on 11, 12 or 16 May.

Walk to School Week 23 – 27 May – again we will be taking part in this Highland wide initiative. Hopefully the weather will be kind to us that week and let us see if we can get everyone walking at least part of the way to school even if they cannot walk the whole way. P7 pupils who have passed their Cycling Proficiency are welcome to cycle to school.

Uniform – Since putting out the order slips we have been informed by our supplier that the zipped cardigan starts at size extra small and not 9-10. If anyone has placed an order for the smaller sizes can you please see Carole/Valerie to sort this out. Instead of this we have taken in two other cardigans which start at sizes 3-4 up to large. One cardigan is in the same fleece material as the sweatshirts and is priced at £8.50 for sizes 3 – 12 yrs and £11.50 for xs to large. The other is a crew neck knitted cotton blend cardigan priced at £10.50 for sizes 3- 12 yrs and £12.50 for sizes xs to large. These can be seen any morning from 9.30 to 12 noon or Monday – Thursday afternoons 1.30 – 2.30 p.m.

Dates for the Diary
Wednesday 4 May – Cake day (30p)
Monday 16 May – Travelling Art Gallery for P4-7 pupils
Week 23-27 May – Walk to school week
Wednesday 1 June – Annual Pupil Reports issued
Week 6-10 June – Caithness Music Festival (no further details yet)
Tuesday 7 June – Cake day
Tues 14/Wed 15 - June Parents’ Evenings
Tues 14/Wed 15 – P7 pupils at Wick High School
Thursday 16 June – Senior Sports (weather permitting)
Friday 17 June – Infant Sports (weather permitting)
Friday 1 July – School closes 12 noon

Nursery visit to P1 and new nursery visit to be decided.

Yours sincerely
LILIAN M WARK
Head Teacher