january 2014 newsletter
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Prestonpans Infant School Newsletter
January 2014
It’s January. It’s cold.
It’s dark. So to cheer
ourselves up, we are inviting
everyone to wear slippers in
school this week. You don’t have to
wear baffies though. Some of the
children didn’t know what the good old
Scottish word ‘baffie’ was but they will all know by now.
It’s Scotland’s first Big Laugh Day in January. Laughter is
good for the soul, especially in dreich January so we are join-
ing in with the day on Friday 24th January 2014. We asked
the Pupil Council what we should do for the day and this is
what they have decided;
Dress up silly or funny.
Wear pants on your head.
Wear a onesie.
Paint your face before you come to school.
Everyone tell a joke.
Do a silly dance.
Watch a funny cartoon.
So our Assembly at 9.15am will be a great big laugh.
Don’t send in money because we are doing all this to cheer up
January. Watch our website or our Twitter for some funny
sights on the day.
Fiona O’Donnell, our MP, is bringing 3 MPs
from Tanzania to learn about Scottish Edu-
cation in Prestonpans Infants on Friday 24
January. I’m not quite sure what they’ll
make of Baffie Week or our Big Laugh Day
but it should be interesting!
It was Fiona O’Donnell who suggested to Save the Children
that our school would be a good school to bring their Families
and Schools Together project to. We have been AMAZED by
your enthusiastic response to this project. 30 families have
signed up already and other forms are still coming in! Thank
you all. Mrs Kettell is phoning everyone to tell them if
they’ve been accepted for the Project starting on Friday 7
February 2014. We will be running the Project again in Sep-
tember/October 2014 so if you don’t get on it this time, you
can put your name down for next time. The leaders of this
project are all from our school and community and they have
already been trained, as you can see here. They are;
Susan Graham, P3 teacher
Lorraine Stevenson, ASN Auxiliary
Chris Wilson, P1 teacher
Stephanie Valentine S3 student PL
Susan Savage, Nursery Nurse
Carolyn Wilson, Foster Carer
Iain Scott, parent
Jill Wallace, parent
Christine Knox, parent
A great team to lead a great project.
Thank you Fiona for recommending us.
P3 children will have the great opportunity in the last week of
term, 31 March to 4 April to spend 24hrs learning outdoors
and staying in Innerwick Residential Centre. The residential
trip will be led by Mrs Graham, a highly trained, very experi-
enced excursion leader. Parents and car-
ers are invited to a meeting in school on
Tues 4.2.14 at 6pm or on Thurs 6.2.14
at 2.15pm to find out more about the
trip. You can bring children along to the
evening session. Innerwick will be fully
funded so there is no cost to families.
P3s will be going to the Primary School again on Tues 4 Feb-
ruary 2014 for Scottish Country Dancing with P4s, as part of
our programme to get the P3s ready for their move to the
primary school in August.
We are celebrating the life of Robert Burns by asking P3
children to learn some Burns poetry in a wee competition.
The winners will be chosen by Mrs Jean Thompson, friend
of the school on Mon 3.2.14. Good luck P3.
Some children in P2 are reading to Hugo the
Labradoodle every Tuesday as this has been
shown to improve the children’s reading. The
children are so excited to snuggle down on our
new ‘sausage dog’s cushions and read to Hugo.
We also run a Reading Club Mon—Wed for children who need
some extra time reading. We have 2 volunteers that help Mrs
Mowatt with this but we REALLY need another volunteer. It’s
from 2.30– 3pm. Could you help?
Thanks to the Scottish Govern-
ment, Dynamic Earth and our own
Parent Council, the children all en-
joyed learning about Scotland and
how it was formed in their recent
visits.
Many of you dads, granddads, uncles and
male carers have enjoyed the two Go Mad
with Dad events. The most recent was a
film day at the Fraser Centre in Tranent.
More news will be coming soon but here’s
advance notice that there will be another
Go Mad with Dad film event in the February holiday on Wednes-
day 12 February from 1-4pm in the Fraser Centre. Tickets from
Dadswork as before.
At times, we have to leave our car park gates open to allow the
bins to be emptied or to give disabled parking access. We have
noticed many families walking their children through the car park
on these days. PLEASE DO NOT WALK YOUR CHILDREN
THROUGH THE CAR PARK ON ANY OCCASION. This is not safe.
The school will be closed for children from
Monday 10 Feb until Tuesday 18 Feb.
Monday 17 Feb is an In Service Day for staff.