St Albert’s Primary School
Christmas Newsletter
16th December 2013
Dear Parents/Carers
As we approach the Christmas Holidays it is important to take some time to reflect on all of the learning experiences your children have been involved in since the summer. They have worked hard and worked collaboratively and successfully and I am very proud of all of their achievements.
Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest sympathy to the family of Mrs Naheed Ibrahim, one of our class teachers, who sadly passed away last week. Naheed joined us, as a permanent member of staff, in August. Her role was developing the curriculum for children who have English as an Additional Language (EAL). As a teacher Naheed was very skilled and, in her short time here, made a huge impact on our understanding of EAL. Naheed worked with many of your children and all of the children at St Albert’s will benefit from the work she completed here. We are proud to have worked alongside her and hope, with the consent of her family, to plant a tree in her name. We are remembering her and her family in our prayers.
Staffing Changes
Miss Sinead Docherty, one of our class teachers, has accepted a teaching job in Abu Dhabi and will be starting her new post in the New Year.Sinead has worked hard developing Outdoor Learning in the school and is an outstanding class teacher. Her pupils and all staff will miss her very much but we all wish her well on this amazing adventure.
Parental Involvement
Since October there have been several opportunities for you to become more involved in the school:
- We had a very successful Open Afternoon on Thursday 28th November. Many of you came into class and worked alongside your children. Here is some of the feedback:
‘It was a great experience I enjoyed it very much. Class atmosphere is very relaxed and helpful’
‘Really enjoyed the class interaction, really well behaved children’
‘Great idea, very interactive afternoon with the children. Gives the parents a chance to see how they’re doing as well as encouraging the children.’
Thank you to all of you who attended and we hope to organise more opportunities next year.
- Miss Brooks ran interesting and tasty healthy lunch workshops. Children and parents worked together with our partners from Urban Roots learning how to support pupils to make health choices. Again the feedback was very encouraging and supportive.
- Mrs Ahmed, one of our EAL teachers has been running a ‘Learning Together’ club for parents of Primary 1 pupils some of whom are new to English. Again this received some excellent feedback:
‘It was a very interesting group really looked forward to coming every week. It gave me more insight in my child’s learning and also gave me lots of techniques to help my child with her homework.’
Strong partnership with parents is key to successful learning in school. We have other opportunities coming up including a playground games project which has been funded by the EAL support service and an Outdoor/Science/Growing project which has been funded by the Central Scotland Green Network. All of these opportunities foster strong literacy and numeracy skills as well as strong home school links.
Early next session we will be asking your opinion on other school matters including homework, organising workshops and volunteering within the school.
Other Events
I am delighted to inform you that our Christmas Fayre raised over £800 for the school fund. As you know this money will be spent directly on your children. Thank you for supporting the day. Not only was it a great fundraiser it was also a fantastic learning opportunity for your children; financial education, numeracy, literacy and expressive arts. A very worthwhile event.
Thank you also for supporting the recent trip to the Citizen’s Theatre. All of us enjoyed the experience especially watching the children smile, laugh and join in the action.
We are all looking forward to this week’s events including our school Nativity and Concert on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. I hope all of you can make it along. The children have worked hard and the show is fantastic.
Well done to St Albert’s football team who won 4-2 on Saturday. They have secured sponsorship from a generous donor Stephen McFadden and have chosen bright new strips. I hope that this is us on the road to regular wins for the team.
Thanks to Catherine Gallagher for hosting a training event for teachers from all over Central Scotland who were here to look at the way we are developing outdoor learning and play. All of those who attended were very impressed with your children and their learning.
Finally, thank you again for your continued support. I am very proud to be Head teacher of such a wonderful school and every day when I talk to your children I take time to think how lucky I am. I would like to extend my warmest wishes to you at Christmas. This is a time to celebrate joy, love, peace and respect. These are qualities that I see in your children every day.
We finish on Friday 20th December at 2.30pm and open again Monday 6th January 2014 at
9o’clock sharp.
Clare Harker
Head Teacher