The Redmyre Review
November 2019
We were delighted to be joined by Alex McGillivray on the 7th of November who came to speak to the children about the NSPCC’s Speak Out, Stay Safe programme. P1-3 and P4-7 had separate age appropriate assemblies during which Alex spoke to the children about their right to be safe from all types of abuse, their right to speak out and be heard and their right to get help when they need it. The P6/7 class then had a more focussed workshop where they could explore some of the issues they had heard about in more depth. If you would like more information about some of the work which the NSPCC do then log on to nspcc.org.uk where you can find lots of information and advice for parents and carers and more information about the Speak Out, Stay Safe programme.
Science Centre Trip Not to be outdone by the P1-4 children, the P5/6/7 class enjoyed their own trip to the Science Centre on the 13th November. The class had a wonderful time exploring all the exhibits and having a focused workshop on Forces. Thank you to Mrs Maxwell for volunteering to accompany the class as an extra pair of hands on the day.
Parent Council News
The Parent Council held an Extraordinary General Meeting to elect a new chairperson following the stepping down of Mr Goulding towards the end of last term. Our new chairperson is now Mrs Louise Matthews and the secretary is Dr Rachel Smith. I would like to extend a huge thank you to Mr Goulding for the work he did as chairperson last session and my best wishes to Mrs Matthews in her new role. Please keep an eye on the Parent Council Facebook Page for details of when the meetings are. It would be lovely to see some more parents coming along; meetings are quite informal, everyone is very friendly. If you want to know more then please get in touch with the Parent Council by emailing [email protected]. The Parent Council were also delighted to have been sent another cheque for £107 this month from the Rag Bag collection scheme. This scheme has proved to be extremely profitable, so please keep popping your old clothes and linen into the collection bin up at the Fordoun village Hall.
We learned about different types of abuse and what
children can do to get help if they need it like phoning
Childline. Harry P6
We learned about how the astronauts use forces to steer their space craft and how they
go to the toilet in space! Chloe P6
What a great fundraising idea we had
for Children in Need The children had a
great time filling Pudsey Bear with silver
coins and the older pupils did a great job
of counting all the coins and getting
them all bagged up ready for banking. It
wasn’t all about having fun though, on the
Thursday before we spoke at assembly
about the important work which Children
In Need does throughout the UK in
ensuring that disadvantaged children are
having their rights met. The children
obviously took this on board because we
raised an incredible £232.97 which is
more than we have ever raised for
Children In Need!
We’ve got to cover all of Pudsey!
Blythswood Christmas Shoebox Appeal
Thank you so much to all those of you
who filled a shoebox for our Christmas
Shoe box Appeal. This annual appeal is a
wonderful way of spreading a little joy
to those who wouldn’t normally receive
anything at Christmas. This year we
collected 18 shoeboxes and they are now
winging their way to their recipients
after being collected by a
representative from Bervie, Arbuthnott
and Kinneff Church.
There were some children who didn’t have time to play
because they had to look after ill mums and dads. Children In Need made a place where they could go
and play for a while. Rhys P3
We wanted to make a shoebox because people
who don’t have anything can get very cold so we put in a
hat and a scarf. We also put some soap in so they can wash their hands so they
don’t get sick. James P4
In Service
Staff spent the two in service days this
month in school, working on aspects of
our School Improvement Plan.
Moderation is currently a huge focus
for us, and we have been doing a lot of
work with Marykirk, Luthermuir and St
Cyrus Schools in developing a shared
and consistent understanding of what
achievement of a level looks like. This
means, of course, that our assessment
procedures must be robust and reliable
so our in service days were spent
auditing our current assessment
procedures and producing an
assessment policy to use across the
school to ensure we have a consistent
approach. Our new assessment policy
has been uploaded on to our website if
you would like to check it out.
ALEC
We had a super day on the 20th
November when we had Andy and
Harold the Giraffe from
Aberdeenshire’s Life Education Centre
with us. The P1/2 class learned all
about ‘My Wonderful Body’ during which
they learned the names and function of
some of the major organs of the body,
the importance of sleep, healthy food
and exercise and the importance of
basic hygiene. The P3/4 class learned
some very similar messages but these
were delivered in a way which was
more appropriate to their age and
included the use of a rather
wonderful t shirt which connected up
to an iPad and allowed us to see
inside the human body. The P5/6/7
were learning about the risks
associated with alcohol, tobacco and
other drugs and about aspects of
peer dynamics and pressure
surrounding these things.
‘Validated Self Evaluation’ Visit
I spent two days at Dunnottar Primary school with colleagues from Hillside Primary and Mackie Academy last week. This was part of ‘Validated Self Evaluation’ which we were conducting for Dunnottar. As you may be aware, a school’s quality assurance involves us in self-evaluating our own practice against a number of quality indicators laid out by Education Scotland. During the two day visit, our team observed classes, scrutinised paperwork and spoke to groups of staff and children as we investigated whether we think Dunnottar’s own self evaluation is ‘valid’. It was so lovely to be able to spend this time in such a great school with such committed staff sharing good practice with colleagues and pinching lots of good ideas! It will be our turn next session as colleagues from Hillside and Dunnottar will come to validate (or refute) Redmyre’s own self- evaluation.
We learned the dangers and effects of drugs and alcohol and how we can
resist being pressured into these things. William P6
Panto Fun
It was all fun and games yesterday afternoon as we were visited by the theatre group who treated us to the
pantomime Cinderella. It was very clever the way 4 actors were able to make quick changes behind their backdrop to make it
look like there were lots of different characters. We all had a real giggle at the
antics of the ugly sisters ‘Skanky’ and ‘Manky’ and were able to sing long to the
songs. Here are the verdicts of some of the P1/2 children…..
French Fun On Friday our P7 pupils and some of our P6s
were having the opportunity to practice
some of their French phrases when we had
a visit from 2 senior pupils from Mearns
Academy. Charlotte and Jorja who are
both studying higher French, spent 45
minutes delivering a French lesson to the
children. They certainly seemed to be
having lots of fun and making lots of noise
(in French) as I went past.
Fortnightly Lending library- 10/12/19 Please return all borrowed books Fairtrade Community Café 04/12/19 Christmas Show – Evening 11/12/19 Christmas Show (Morning and Evening) 12/12/19 Christmas Jumper Day 13/12/19 P1-3 Christmas Party 17/12/19 P4-Christmas Party 18/12/19 Christmas Lunch 19/12/19 For the parties, children should come to school in their uniform as normal but take party clothes in their bags. Staff will help the younger children to change into their party clothes if required. Last Day of term 20/12/19 Back to school 06/01/20 School Fundraising Ceilidh 31/01/20 (Tickets selling fast….contact the school)
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