February 2019 newsletter

Blacklands
Primary

Newsletter

February 2019/No9

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newsletter.

Head Teacher’s Message

Dear Parents/Carers,

It is a pleasure to be writing my first Head Teacher message,
though it was definitely mixed emotions saying 'see you later’
to Mrs McNeil last week. Mrs McNeil thanks you for all your
support, good wishes and generous gifts as she moves on to
Glebe Primary.

I am delighted to appoint Mrs Lynne Gibson as Acting
Depute Head. Mrs Gibson is coming from Dykesmains
Primary and she brings with her a wealth of knowledge, new
skills and enthusiasm! She will start on Monday 18th
February and I know you will look forward to meeting her.

I am hoping that you will not see any real changes here at
Blacklands, as our staff share a vision in continuing to move
our school forward.

Term 3 is well underway and there is lots happening as ever!
Please continue to check your child’s Pupil Planner for
information as well as our School App.

In partnership,

Susan Lauder
Head Teacher

Message from the Office

Dear Parent/Carers

Welcome back to term 3. Could I please ask that you phone
the school no later than 9am if your child is going to be
absent from school. We spend a lot of time phoning to see
where children are - and this becomes a child protection
issue if we cannot make contact with you.

Can we also take the opportunity to remind you of the
importance of returning parent/carer consent forms. We are
constantly chasing children for these and this takes up a lot
of time… and could result in your child not being able to
take part in trips or activities.

As you know, we have our school app up and running -
which sends you updates and reminders of what is
happening. We would really urge you to download the app
to keep up to date with everything that is happening here at
Blacklands! This is a way of keeping our costs down and a
way of keeping you informed of school activity.

Kind regards
Mrs Smith

SCHOOL CLUBS

This term’s Clubs include:
Daily - Breakfast Bounce (P1-7)
Monday - Construction club (P2 & 3)

- Cross Country club (P5-7)
Tuesday - Confident Girls (P6) then Confident Boys (P6 & 7)
Wednesday - Netball (P5-7)

- Football (P5-7)
Thursday - Family Challenge Club (P1-7)

- Hockey (P3-5)
Also at break and lunchtime:
Library club, Art club, Lego club, Film club and lots more coming
soon!

Zero Heroes

Primary 5/6 are proud to be working with Mr Graham,
embracing their role of ‘Zero Heroes’ in our school.
The children are anti-bullying ambassadors and are each
responsible for a class in our school. Their newly
purchased caps make them very visible in the playground
and we think they are doing a great job!
We are looking forward to hearing more about their journey
at assembly over the next few weeks!

SPORT SCOTLAND GOLD AWARD

We were over the moon to be presented our Sport Scotland
Gold Award by Jane Leary from Sport Scotland. We also
welcomed a variety of visitors at our celebration on Friday
18th January.
Vanessa, from KA leisure rounded off the event with a dance
routine for us all to join in with. Lots of fun!

LEARNING CONVERSATIONS

Thank you to all our parent/carers who came to our
Learning Conversations last week. Look out for your
child’s targets which will be stuck into the back of their
Pupil Planners.

We had a great response to the parent/carer survey
which our Captains and Vice Captains took
responsibility for.

• 98.4% agree or strongly agree that your child enjoys school
• 98.4% agree or strongly agree that your child finds school

activities interesting or challenging

• 100% agree or strongly agree that teaching is good and

teachers set high standards

• 100% agree or strongly agree that learning conversations

are helpful and informative

• 91% agree or strongly agree that they feel comfortable

approaching the school about a query or problem

• 100% agree or strongly agree that the school seeks parents

views and takes account of their suggestions

• 98.4% agree or strongly agree that staff explain how to help

their child at home and provide appropriate homework

• 98.4% agree or strongly agree that there are a good range of

clubs for their child to attend.

VALENTINE’S DISCO

Our fabulous Parent Council is once again
organising a Valentine’s Disco. This will be held on
Wednesday 13th February in our school gym hall.

EYC - P3 5.30-6.30pm

P4 - 7 6.45-8.00pm

(All nursery children must be accompanied by an adult.)

Parent Council members will be selling tickets
from Monday 4th February. Tickets cost £1.50
and include a drink and a snack.

Please ensure that contact details are written on
the back of all tickets.

‘See you later’, Mrs McNeil!

Mrs McNeil had her
last day as Head
Teacher at
Blacklands on Friday
25th January.

All classes took at
turn at presenting
Mrs McNeil with
something they had
made… or
entertained her with
their performances.
What a laugh!

WASTE AWARENESS!

We had a visit at
assembly from NAC’s
Waste Awareness
team who told us
where out east goes
and gave us top tips
for being even more
Eco friendly!

We learned more about the new purple bin which is
coming to all our houses and how the collection
frequencies are changing for the other bins.
We even did a quiz - which we were great at!

PRIMARY 7 TRANSITION

Primary 7 enjoyed their first visit to the academy
last week… the first of many visits!


Dates coming home in schoolbags soon once
confirmed by Kilwinning Academy. So many
exciting opportunities for our oldest children in the
school… all leading up to their residential trip to
Dalguise in June.