Dear Parents / Carers,

Welcome back to all of our staff and pupils. I hope that you have all had a great summer holiday in the sun

and in the rain!

This term we welcome Miss Herd to our school. Miss Herd is teaching in Primary 5 this session. We also

welcome all of our new Primary 1 pupils in Mrs Lang and Mrs Scobie’s classes. It’s great to see all of our

new pupils across the school and to welcome new families into our school community. There are lots of

different activities that you can get involved in throughout the year; BIG Breakfasts, Curriculum Evenings

and helping out on school trips as well as being part of our Meldrum Parent Council.

We are currently reviewing our rewards system in school and you will have had information out about

finding new names for our school ‘houses’. It is great to see the response from so many of our families

with a range of fantastic ideas. I have thoroughly enjoyed looking through all of your suggestions. Once

our staff have chosen the new names the children will be given a new house and we will be looking for them

to design a new logo. Class teachers will be speaking to the children about this next week so look out for

more information. Exciting times ahead!

As always if you have any questions or suggestions on how to improve our school community please feel free

to contact me through the school office or school email address. Our first whole school event is Meet the

Teacher on Thursday, September 12th at 6.00pm. I look forward to seeing everyone then.

Kind regards,

Jennifer Russell

(Head Teacher, Meldrum Primary School & Deans North Nursery)

Meldrum Primary School Head Teacher: Mrs. J. Russell

Westwood Park, Deans 01506 280990

Livingston

West Lothian

EH54 8NW

https://meldrumprimary.westlothian.org.uk/

WORDS FROM THE WISE!

THESE ARE THE THINGS THAT PRIMARY 7 ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS SESSION…

‘I am excited to try the bagpipes and Science.’ (Darcy)

‘I’m excited to go to Dalguise because we get to go on high things, even though I’m scared of heights.

So I can overcome my fears.’ (Brooke)

‘I am excited about our leaver’s party because we get our HOODIES!’ (Ayesha)

‘I’m most looking forward to transition week because I like meeting new teachers and pupils.’ (Lucy)

‘I am looking forward to going to the high school for transition because we get to explore

the high school and learn new things.’ (Kyle)

‘I’m looking forward to P7 camp because the activities sound amazing!’ (Natalie)

‘I am looking forward to Maths and Fractions.’ (Michal)

WELCOME PRIMARY 1

ONLINE SCHOOL PAYMENTS (iPay)

West Lothian Council introduced an online payment

system for school a couple of year ago. At Meldrum we

have a large number of parents who use this instead of

sending cash to school. iPay can be used to pay for

school meals, milk, school clubs and outing. If you have

still to register for this system please contact Mrs

Stephenson who will give you information on how to

register.

West Lothian Council and Meldrum Primary School

accept no liability for money being lost either on the

way to or at school.

Parents who use this already for school meals please

remember to check your child’s balance regularly and

add enough funds to cover the cost of school lunches.

School meals are currently charged at £2.11 per day.

AFTER SCHOOL CLUBS

Information on after school clubs will be published on our

school app. Please check this regularly for updates. At

the moment we currently have the following after school

clubs running:

Tue 3.15 – 4.15pm

(03/09/19-17/12/19)

Dance Club for pupils in P4

– P7

Wed 3.15 – 4.15pm

(28/08/19–11/12/19)

Football Club for pupils in

P1 – P4

Thu 3.15-4.30pm

Trials to take place on 5th

Sept with training starting

on 26th Sept

School Football Team for

P6 & P7 pupils who were

successful at the trial

ATTENDANCE AT SCHOOL & NURSERY

If your child is going to be absent for any

reason, please ensure you call the school office

on 01506 280990. Our school office is open

from 8am until 4pm, Monday to Thursday and

8am until 1pm on a Friday. A message can be left

on our answer machine if calling out with these

hours.

All unreported absence will result in a groupcall

text message being sent to your child’s main

contact. Please either reply to this text or call

the office with an explanation before 10am. If

no reply is received, our next step is to contact

the Safe Arrivals Team within WLC. If there is

still no contact then a risk assessment will be

carried out and the Police may be called.

NUT ALLERGY

We have a number of pupils throughout

the school with various food allergies.

With this in mind we kindly ask parents not to send

children to school with snack or lunch items that

contain all types of nut as these can cause severe

allergic reaction to some pupils.

HEALTHY TUCK SHOP

We have a tuck shop available to all pupils at

morning break. The cost of items range from

10p to 30p. If your child is purchasing snack

from our tuck shop please send him/her with

5p or 10p coins as we do not always have

enough small coins in school to give change.

MELDRUM’S BIG BREAKFAST

Due to our additional class this year we have

had to change the date of some of our big

breakfasts. Please come along and enjoy

breakfast with us. See revised dates below:

Mon 23rd September P7

Wed 2nd October P6

Wed 23rd October P5

Tue 5th November P1

Mon 11th November P1/2

Wed 20th November P3

Mon 25th November P2/3

Mon 2nd December P4

CHILDHOOD ILLNESSES

Please inform the school office if your child has

contracted any notifiable illness e.g. chicken

pox, scarlet fever, slap cheek, foot and mouth

etc.

HEADLICE

Headlice is not a notifiable illness however it is

unpleasant for those who have it. We ask parents to

regularly check their children’s head and hair for eggs

and lice. Information on how to best treat headlice

can be obtained from your local pharmacy. Headlice is

a factor in all schools all year round.

DATES FOR THE DIARY

Tue 3rd September Parent Council AGM 6pm – please come along and find out how you can help.

Wed 4th September P5 pupils to DCHS for swim session 9am – 11am.

Mon 9th September School Photographs from 9am.

Thu 12th September Meet the Teacher Evening 6pm – all parents welcome.

Mon 16th September School Holiday – Nursery open as normal.

Tue 17th September School Holiday – Staff In-Service Day – Nursery open as normal.

Wed 18th September All pupils resume.

P7 Camp Meeting for Parents of children going to Dalguise 6pm.

Mon 23rd September P7 Big Breakfast 9am – 9.45am – P7 parents invited to join us for breakfast.

Wed 25th September P5 Multi-Sports Festival at DCHS.

Mon 30th September P7 away to Dalguise 9am.

Wed 2nd October P6 Big Breakfast 9am – 9.45am – P6 parents invited to join us for breakfast.

Fri 4th October P7 home from Dalguise – approx. 2pm.

Wed 9th October Parents’ Evening 5pm – 7.30pm – more information to follow.

Thu 10th October Parents’ Evening 4pm – 6.30pm – more information to follow.

Fri 11th October Last Day of Term for all school pupils.

Mon 14th – 21st October School Holiday - Nursery open as normal.

Mon 21st October Staff In-Service Day

Tue 22nd October All pupils resume

Wed 23rd October P5 Big Breakfast 9am – 9.45am – P5 parents invited to join us for breakfast.

SCHOOL IMMUNISATION PROGRAMME

NASAL FLU SPRAY VACCINATIONS

WEDNESDAY 20th NOVEMBER 2019

Immunisation helps protect our young people and communities from a wide range of illnesses. The NHS

Lothian Community Vaccination Team carries out an annual immunisation programme for primary school

pupils which provides a flu nasal spray vaccination.

Please ensure you look out for your child’s consent pack (white envelope from NHS Scotland) which will be

sent home with your child. Please complete the consent form and return to school by Monday 9th September

2019.

Flu vaccinations will take place during the school day on Wednesday 20th November 2019. If your child is

absent on this day, you will need to make alternative arrangements for your child to be given the flu spray

vaccination.

DRESS DOWN DAYS

We have a dress down day on the first Friday of every

month. We ask all pupils to bring £1 donation. This year,

each class or group of classes will be given the money

collected to spend on items they need to enhance their

learning. Our dress down dates are:

06/09/19 06/03/20

04/10/19 03/04/20

01/11/19 01/05/20

06/12/19 05/06/20

07/02/20

Our school app is available to down load

to your smart phone or tablet. Go to

your App Store and search for ‘School

App for Parents’. Once downloaded

enter Meldrum Primary School into the

school name section.