Newsletter
October 2012
Echt
Westhill
Aberdeenshire
AB32 6UL
Ph: 01330 860510
Email:
School information line for snow closures:0870 054 4999 PIN 021650
or on website:
Newsletter
October 2012
Newsletter
October 2012
End of Term Arrangements
It is hard to believe that the first term of 2012-13 has finished with all of our new children having settled well into life at EchtSchool and Nursery. We are looking forward to a busy and exciting Term 2, leading up to the most exciting time in school, Christmas!
Staffing
We are delighted to tell you that Mrs McRae has been appointed as Echt School Administrator following a very successful interview.
Mrs McRae will be in the school office all day Wednesday and Thursday and till lunchtime on Friday and Mrs Gammie, Clerical Assistant, will be in the office all day Monday and Tuesday.
Yearly Calendar
All families should have received a copy of this session’s calendar. We hope to stick to these dates as far as is possible throughout the year, but occasionally we do have to alter the date of some events. You will be well informed if this is the case.
Meet the Teacher Evening
It was lovely to welcome so many of you along to the Meet the Teacher Evening in September. The children love showing you their school and telling you what they have been working at inclass.
Visiting Specialists
Our Term 2 Visiting Specialists will be Mr Cahill – ICT and Miss Thornton – Music. Miss Thornton will be in school all Tuesday afternoon and Mr Cahill will see the children on Thursday afternoons. The children, school and nursery, will also have Kodaly Music on Monday afternoons.
Parent Council News
The Parent Council have paid for the paint we are going to paint the school corridor and inside doors with.
We are looking for as many people as possible to help us paint the school corridor next term. The paint has arrived and we now just need you to volunteer to help with the work! Please contact the school office to add your name to the list of volunteers.
Parent Council News (cont)
Trim Trail
We have managed to secure £3,500 of funding towards the "Trim Trail" which we hope to install in the PleasurePark just over the dyke from the school.If you haven't seen the plans for the trail there is a copy on the wall outside the Nursery classroom. We have another application for £1,000 that we're awaiting a decision on, but our application to the Tesco Foundation was unsuccessful. Even if we get the £1,000 we'll still need a further £5,000 so if you have any suggestions for other organisations to try please contact a member of the Parent Council.
School Library
Currently Fiona Walker and Louise Paterson are issuing and returning the children's books butit would be great to get some more parents involved. If we can get four parents in total wecould set up a rota so that each of us wasonly on duty once a month. Training on how to use the "Junior Librarian" computerised catalogue would obviously be given to all parent helpers. Library sessions are on a Wednesday afternoon at the moment (to coincide with PE sessions) but the timing may change each term as visiting specialists change. If you could spare a couple of hours once a month to help with the library please contact Fiona Walker on 01330 860738.
Curriculum Afternoon
This will take place onWednesday 7th Novemberat 2.00pm – details to follow in a separate letter. The Scholastic Bookfair will be available on this afternoon.
Refurbishment Update
The new school office is now completed and Mrs McRae and Mrs Gammie are delighted to be moving in! A huge thankyou to Scott and Angela Findlay for donating the desk for the new office.
Work will now begin on refurbishing the old office, turning it into a staff workbase and putting French doors into the Early Stages room.
Eco Update
We are the nominated Aberdeenshire school for the National ‘Litter Less’ campaign.
The Litter Less Campaign aims to reduce litter and effect long-term behaviour change amongst young people; with a marked reduction in the global litter problem being the eventual goal.
It is run by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) with the support of the Wrigley Company Foundation. FEE is the international organisation which devised the Eco-Schools programme back in 1994.
During the 2012-13 academic year, the campaign will be delivered through the Eco-Schools and Young Reporters for the Environment programmes in 15 countries world-wide, including Scotland. We hope to collaborate with another school in a different country, sharing our litter exploits!
Flag Pole
Thankyou to Kirkwood Homes for donating a flagpole to the school. I wonder who will be the first to spot it when it is put up?
School Hens
Duncan and Connor’s parents have offered to look after the ‘girls’ during the October holidays.
PTCA
The P.T.C.A. have organised a free school disco for pupils and a friend to attend on Friday 12th October from 7pm – 9pm in the village hall.
The Webb Ivory is now due to be handed back to the school and catalogues will then be handed out around the village over the school holidays.
Catchlites photographs are now on order and should be back to school after the holidays. The P.T.C.A. expect to have raised at least £300.00 from this, so thankyou for your orders.
Nursery News
The children have had a very settled first term in Nursery. The Ladybirds have been finding out all about birds and recently erected a bird hide in the classroom, looking out onto the playground and our bird feeders. The Butterflies started off the term looking at birds and this led onto finding out about things that fly. We made kites and had in depth discussions about going on aeroplanes. This will possibly lead to finding out about going on holiday when we return from our break.
We have taken the children outside almost every day this term and hope to continue to do so next term. Please bring your child to Nursery with a warm jacket, hat and gloves each day and a pair of wellies. We are hoping to buy waterproofs for each child next term so they stay dry when we are out.
Aberdeenshire Volunteers Award
Congratulations to Bruce Walker, P7, for clocking up more than 20 hours of volunteering both in and out of school. Bruce has subsequently gained his Silver Volunteering Award and is now working towards his gold award. All of the children are working towards their volunteering award. When they reach 10 hours they will be awarded their Bronze award, 20 hours is silver, 30 hours is gold and 45 hours is platinum.
Dates for your diary
Harvest Gathering: Oct 12th 2pm Echt Hall
PTCA Meeting: Nov 6th 7.30pm
Curriculum Afternoon:Nov 7th2pm in school
School In-Service Days: Nov 12th and 13th
Return Rotary Shoeboxes: Nov 15th
Rotary Young Speaker: For P6 & 7 pupils. Nov 20th, TrinityChurch, Westhill
P4-7 Assembly/Parent Cafe:Nov 30th 9.15am in school
Nursery/P1 Visit to Tyrebagger: Dec 4th 9.30am
Christmas Shows: Dec 5th at 1.30pm and Dec 6th at 6pm in Echt Hall
Nursery Christmas Parties: Dec 17th/18th
Pantomime Trip, School/ Nursery: Dec 19th 10am
School Christmas Party: Dec20th
Christmas Service: Dec 21st 2pm
Holiday dates for 2013-2014 are available on the Aberdeenshire Council website
Rights Respecting Schools Award
Miss Lytton, Mrs Raeside and Mrs Robb recently spent a day together, working on an action plan for taking forwards the Rights Respecting Schools Award across the school. All pupils will be involved as will staff and parents. You will find out more about this on the Curriculum afternoon in November.
P3-7 News Reports
Our school has decided that only the p6 do the cycling proficiency, so that is just Megan and Morven. We cycled to the junction on the main road next to the Tandoori last week on Thursday the 4/10/12. We are hoping to go to Westhill and do our test after the October holiday.
By Megan and Morven
We do Master class on Wednesdays. We have six Masterclasses, and they are:Painting,Baking,Mosaic, Cheerleading, Photography and Patchwork. In painting we paint on huge canvass. In Mosaic they break tiles and they stick the tiles to make a picture on a board. In Baking they bake delicious food. In Cheerleading they make pompoms and do dancing with their pompoms. In Photography they take pictures. We do not know what they do in patchwork.
By Kieran
North Lanarkshire Active Literacy Evening
Thankyou to all the parents who turned out for the Literacy evening despite the bitterly cold weather! If any parents who were unable to attend would like some information on our new Literacy scheme, please contact the school office to make an appointment with your child’s class teacher.
Extra-Curricular Activities
The children are really enjoying the
three extra-curricular groups we have offered this term either at lunchtime or after school. All groups are very well attended. From next term we will be adding a fourth group, namely Echt Young Engineers. This group will run on Tuesdaylunchtimes with Mrs Geddes and Mrs Robb. Iain Gauld, an engineer from Subsea 7 is coming into school to talk to the group about his job as an engineer, the first Tuesday we are back at school.
Chess will continue to run on Wednesday lunchtimes, Gardening club on Wednesdays after school till the weather is too rough and Running club on Thursday lunchtimes till the weather is too rough also.
Spree Books
For those parents who recently purchased Spree Books, please note that if you have a Smart phone, you can download the Spree app onto your phone for nothing. You then have access to all the same offers that are available in the booklet. What is more, you double the amount of offers available as you will be able to use the paper vouchers and the app ones in participating venues.
Newsletter
October 2012
PLEASE SEE BELOW FOR ADVERSE WEATHER INFORMATION
Adverse Weather Website Parental/Carer Information
The Adverse weather website has been revised in light of recent experience.
The key changes have been to reassign the categories to provide parents, carers, pupils and staff with appropriate information relating to their school.
Parents/Carers will still have the option to use the School Information telephone Line.
When accessing the website a familiar screen will be seen
There have been a number of changes to enable you to access information quickly.
Summary of School Status across Aberdeenshire:
The Closure status has been broken down into three main categories which are colour coded
- School open – including partial openings Green
- School closed – to everyone or to pupils onlyRed
- Disruption to transportBlue
You also have the facility to search for your school(s) by clicking on the appropriate letter in the alphabet bar.
Below the list of schools affected by adverse weather there is a list of the unaffected schools.
Register and subscribe to receive email alerts when your school(s) updates their closure status.
Parents are advised to use the facility to receive information and updates about school closures etc by registering to receive emails. Emails will be sent automatically to your email address. If you wish emails to be forwarded to a number of email addresses you will require to register each one individually.
By clicking on the Register and subscribe you will be able to have an email sent to you automatically updating you of any changes to the schools’ status. You will be able to register for updates from a number of schools by following the prompts on the screen.
Aberdeenshire Summary Map
Another option which has been made available is accessing Google maps
School Name: EchtSchool
- Phone Line Number: 0870 054 4999 PIN Number: 021650
- Access the Aberdeenshire Council website:
- Listen to bulletins on Northsound Radio on FM 96.9
- Aberdeenshire Summary Map