Kippen Primary School

Newsletter Kippen Primary School Main Street Kippen October 2015 Stirling Phone: 01786 870372

Acting Head Teacher Mrs Carole Logan

Dear Parent/Carer, I hope you have all had a good term and made the most of the lovely weeks of sunshine before autumn started and the rain came. It has been a busy term for everyone. Our new pupils and staff have settled in well and have been made very welcome by our school community. Thank you once again for your support throughout the term. It is much appreciated.

The Parent Council recently sent out the following communication: ‘The Parent Council Committee would like to inform all parents that the council have advised us there were no suitable applicants for interview for the head-teacher's position at this time. The council will re-advertise the job in due course and we will let you know as soon as we have a date for this. If you have not received this communication from the parent council, please update your email details directly with them on [email protected] or send a note in to the school marked for the attention of the parent council.

Term Time Holidays Our Learning Community consists of Balfron, Buchanan, Buchlyvie, Drymen, Fintry, Killearn, and Strathblane Primary Schools and Balfron High School. Attendance information shows that Kippen Primary has the lowest attendance percentage of all the primary schools in our learning community. Please note that holidays within term time are marked as unauthorised in all but exceptional circumstances. If your child will not be attending school due to holidays, please inform the school in writing of the date(s) that your child will not be attending school. There is an increasing trend for a day or two to be added on to weekends or holiday periods. We have already had 33 days of holidays taken by pupils over the first 8 weeks of this school year.

Teachers are unable to replace a day of being in school with a set of worksheets. On return to school teachers will make every effort to compensate for the teaching that your child has missed and may send home additional work to support this where appropriate. It may be that your child misses key assessments which will need to be rescheduled for another date.

Absence due to Illness If your child is absent due to illness, our procedure is to phone the school on 01786 870 372 before 9:30am and either speak to a member of staff directly or leave a message on the answerphone. We follow the Management and Control of Communicable Diseases for Forth Valley Schools Guidelines. Pupils with vomiting and/or diarrhoea should remain off school for 48 hours after the last episode of vomiting/diarrhoea. Please contact the school if you would like information on school exclusion periods for a range of illnesses and infections (e.g impetigo, conjunctivitis, hand, foot and mouth, chicken pox).

Upcoming Events

Rookie Rocks Stars Kippen Primary will be taking part in a musical experience, becoming Rookie Rock Stars for a week! The experience gives children the opportunity to work with members of an established band to learn original songs, record a CD and perform in a concert and aims to promote confidence, self-esteem, and positive friendships. Pupils will learn a range of songs with the theme of friendship – which will be a focus of our sharing assemblies in November as November is anti-bullying month. Pupils will learn songs on the Monday to Wednesday and then record a CD on the Thursday. The CD will be available to purchase. The following week pupils will perform a concert in Kippen ViIlage Hall –in full Rock Star style! Tickets will be available to purchase nearer the time. Diary Dates

Friday 9th October 3:15pm End of term School closes for October holiday Monday- 12th October to 16th October Friday October Holiday School closed to staff and pupils Monday 19th Oct 9am Start of term 2 School reopens for Winter Term Tuesdays 12:45-1:15pm Balfron High School P3, 20th Oct for 5 sessions Sports Leaders P4 Lunch Clubs P5-7 Netball Club Thursday 22nd October P1-3 Parent Council £2.50 at the door 6:15- 7:15 Halloween Discos P4-7 7:30- 8:45 Tuesday 27th October am P4 Touch Rugby P4 pupils Festival Thursday 29th October 6pm Parent Council All parents/carers welcome meeting Monday- 2nd November –5th Rookie Rock Stars All pupils Thursday November mornings Wednesday 4th November 11am Flu Vaccination All pupils with consent onwards Friday 6th November Individual/family All pupils group photographs Thursday 12th November Rookie Rock Starts All pupils 6:30pm concert KippenVillage Hall – ticket info to follow Wednesday 18th November 5-7pm Parent/ Teacher By appointment – letter to follow nearer Thursday 19th November 4-6pm consultations the time Monday 23rd November Road Safety Week Thursday & 26th November In Service Days School closed to pupils Friday 27th November Thursday 10th December P5-7 Victory Party P5-7 parents 2-3pm Friday 11th December Nativity Dress P4-7 pupils Rehearsal Monday 14th December 2pm P1-3 Nativity P1-3 parents/guests Tuesday 15th December 2pm P1-3 Nativity Ticket info nearer the time Wednesday 16th December Community Concert Kippen Church Evening All pupils – tickets from Parent Council nearer the time Thursday 17th December 1:30pm P1-4 Xmas party P1-4 pupils Friday 18th December 12:15pm Christmas lunch All pupils – choose a school dinner Xmas meal or packed lunch Monday 21st December 1:30pm P5-7 pupils P5-7 pupils Tuesday 22nd December End of Term Service Kippen Church Provisional date All pupils. All Parents and community To be confirmed members welcome Tuesday 22nd December 12:15pm End of Term 2 School closes at lunchtime Wednesday 23rd December to 6th January -Wednesday Christmas Holiday School closed Thursday 7th January 9am Start of Term 3 School reopens for Spring Term

Further dates may be added in due course, through emails, notes and in future newsletters

Individual/Family Group Photos Please note a change of date. Photos will now be taken on Friday 6th November. Visiting Teacher Kippen Primary will be hosting a visit from an overseas teacher, Maria Dahlin, from Vällsjöskolan in Sweden. She is coming to observe in our school for a week (28th October to 4th November) and we are looking forward to the opportunity to share and exchange thoughts and experiences. I know she will be made very welcome as this is something that all our visitors comment on when visiting us.

News Round Up

Meet the Teacher / Parent Council Thank you to the parents who came to meet the staff and hear about the work of the Parent Council at the meeting on Thursday 3rd September.

P1 Homework Workshop Mrs Stirling, P1 teacher, held a parent workshop in the classroom prior to the meet the teacher event. If any parents have any questions or issues with homework please contact your child’s class teacher. Please feel free to add comments or questions in homework jotters.

P1 Parents Open Afternoon P1 parents enjoyed a visit to the classroom on Tuesday to see the work of the new P1s. The P1s have quickly settled into the routine of school and are making good progress with their learning.

Lendrick Muir P6&7 Residential Trip All P6 and P7 pupils attended the Residential Trip at Lendrick Muir from 8 th – 11th September. Many thanks to Miss Alexander (staff) and Mr Brownlie and Mrs Robb (parent helpers) for accompanying us on the trip. The pupils were a credit to Kippen Primary throughout. The activities were a mixture of group and individual challenges and pupils started the John Muir award scheme. Everyone had so much to say when asked what were the best bits – basically everything! At the parent consultations we will have laptops out in the spare classroom for all parents to come and see photos from the trip. Parents of P6&7 are welcome to bring a memory stick to save your favourite ones to take home with you. There are quite a few! The P6&7 Residential Trip runs every 2 years so that pupils have the opportunity to attend in either P6 or P7.

Child Smile Oral Health P1 and P2 pupils were visited by Linda from Child Smile. Many of the pupils recognised Linda from her visits to the nursery so she enjoyed a warm welcome. P1 and P2 have been busy brushing their teeth in class. I’m sure they will have been keeping you right at home too!

Internet Safety P6 and P7 pupils experienced an Internet Safety workshop from Caught In The Net. Pupils learned about their digital footprint and how what you say online can be interpreted in many ways. One emoji can have so many different interpretations. All pupils had positive comments from the session and went away reflecting on their internet use and what they had learned. We will be involved in a focus group to discuss the pupils’ learning and possible future development of the workshops after the holidays.

‘I have learned more about the age that you should be and what could happen if you aren’t careful on the internet – like sending pictures of you or things that tell people too much about you. I also learned that if you do send things away, you don’t normally get them back. I enjoyed the way they turned it into a game to help you learn rather than just sit down and do it by talking. Playing with paper aeroplanes taught us about messages being sent away and not managing to get it back.’ Kelsi P5/6

‘When Fraser came to our school he tried not to sound like a boring teacher (no offence teachers) and he made the lesson fun as he did lots of activities – like moving to show what your reply would be when he asked a question. He included a lot of drawing and stuff like that which was fun. Usually when you go on sites you don’t usually think about things like if sites are safe or if you need to update apps. He told us about the safest things to do like update apps instead of ignoring updates as most updates are security ones, reject friends request if you don’t know them and make passwords quite hard with capital letters, numbers and punctuation.’ Ruaridh P6/7

Author Visit P1-4 enjoyed a visit from Badger The Mystical Mutt and enjoyed hearing about his adventures. The Carse of Stirling Partnership Thank you to Mr Anderson for coming to speak to pupils in our Sharing Assembly about the Carse of Stirling Partnership Clover Project. Clover gives nitrogen to the soil and enriches the soil. Clover is also good for providing nectar and pollen for pollenating insects. Its easy to plant – Throw and Sow, Stamp and Grow! We sowed some seeds in the playground to make our own clover patch. All pupils got a packet of seeds to take home. What did you do with your seeds? Let us know how your clover grows.

World War 2 Primary 5-7 have enjoyed several visitors in to enhance their learning about WW2. Mrs Hadley-Stove came in to speak about her experience in the army and also came in to cook ration packs with the pupils. Zara’s relative Mrs Ferguson came in to speak about her experience as an evacuee. She came to Kippen Primary as an evacuee at the start of WW2. She enjoyed speaking to the pupils, answering their many questions and touring the school. She was in the P5/6 classroom when she was here in 1939. We showed her the school log book from that time. There were 85 evacuees attending Kippen Primary at one point. Thank you to our visitors for their contributions so far. See dates for the diary for the P5-7 Victory Day Party when P5-7 parents are invited to visit P5/6 and P6/7 classrooms.

Jeans for Genes Day The pupil council organised for our school to take part in Jeans for Genes Day and raised £121.70 for the charity. Thank you to everyone who participated. A big thank you to Georgina Leith’s Mum who brought Georgie’s brother Archie to our sharing assembly to explain to pupils how Archie’s brain is different to ours and how this effects his daily life. Archie really enjoyed being at our assembly and we enjoyed the chance to ask lots of questions.

Sports News Rugby P3/4 have participated in a series of rugby tasters led by Active Stirling to develop rugby skills. Unfortunately the planned P4 rugby tournament had to be postponed due to conditions at the rugby ground on the day. It has been rearranged for Tuesday 27th October.

Athletics P5s participated in Fun In Athletics Festival at Balfron High School following the P5/6 Athletics taster sessions. Due to girl/boy ratios, Kippen P5s joined up with Buchlyvie and Fintry Primaries to form 2 mixed teams. The pupils reported enjoying the track and field activities.

Active Stirling coordinated the transport arrangements for both the athletics and rugby events. Being able to share buses and benefit from a negotiated discount resulted in a reduced transport cost of £4 per pupil for each participant across the learning community. Normally bus fees would be in the region of £10 per person to attend an event and in the past costs have prevented us participating in some events. We appreciate the efforts that went into the group arrangements for these events.

Football P5-7 have been enjoying a lunchtime football club on a Monday lunchtime. Thank you to Neil from Active Stirling for supporting this.

Balfron High School Sports Leaders Lunch Clubs High school sports leaders visited the school on to meet with the Tuesday lunch clubs that will be running after the October holidays. The clubs for this session will be P3, P4 and P5-7 netball. It was great to see several former pupils in this year’s squad.

Have a happy and restful holiday and I look forward to welcoming back pupil for the Winter Term on Monday 18th October.

Kind regards

Carole Logan Acting Head Teacher