The Redmyre Review

November 2019

We were delighted to be joined by Alex McGillivray on the 7th of November who came to speak to the children about the NSPCC’s Speak Out, Stay Safe programme. P1-3 and P4-7 had separate age appropriate assemblies during which Alex spoke to the children about their right to be safe from all types of abuse, their right to speak out and be heard and their right to get help when they need it. The P6/7 class then had a more focussed workshop where they could explore some of the issues they had heard about in more depth. If you would like more information about some of the work which the NSPCC do then log on to nspcc.org.uk where you can find lots of information and advice for parents and carers and more information about the Speak Out, Stay Safe programme.

Science Centre Trip Not to be outdone by the P1-4 children, the P5/6/7 class enjoyed their own trip to the Science Centre on the 13th November. The class had a wonderful time exploring all the exhibits and having a focused workshop on Forces. Thank you to Mrs Maxwell for volunteering to accompany the class as an extra pair of hands on the day.

Parent Council News

The Parent Council held an Extraordinary General Meeting to elect a new chairperson following the stepping down of Mr Goulding towards the end of last term. Our new chairperson is now Mrs Louise Matthews and the secretary is Dr Rachel Smith. I would like to extend a huge thank you to Mr Goulding for the work he did as chairperson last session and my best wishes to Mrs Matthews in her new role. Please keep an eye on the Parent Council Facebook Page for details of when the meetings are. It would be lovely to see some more parents coming along; meetings are quite informal, everyone is very friendly. If you want to know more then please get in touch with the Parent Council by emailing RedmyreParentCouncil@hotmail.com. The Parent Council were also delighted to have been sent another cheque for £107 this month from the Rag Bag collection scheme. This scheme has proved to be extremely profitable, so please keep popping your old clothes and linen into the collection bin up at the Fordoun village Hall.

We learned about different types of abuse and what

children can do to get help if they need it like phoning

Childline. Harry P6

We learned about how the astronauts use forces to steer their space craft and how they

go to the toilet in space! Chloe P6

What a great fundraising idea we had

for Children in Need The children had a

great time filling Pudsey Bear with silver

coins and the older pupils did a great job

of counting all the coins and getting

them all bagged up ready for banking. It

wasn’t all about having fun though, on the

Thursday before we spoke at assembly

about the important work which Children

In Need does throughout the UK in

ensuring that disadvantaged children are

having their rights met. The children

obviously took this on board because we

raised an incredible £232.97 which is

more than we have ever raised for

Children In Need!

We’ve got to cover all of Pudsey!

Blythswood Christmas Shoebox Appeal

Thank you so much to all those of you

who filled a shoebox for our Christmas

Shoe box Appeal. This annual appeal is a

wonderful way of spreading a little joy

to those who wouldn’t normally receive

anything at Christmas. This year we

collected 18 shoeboxes and they are now

winging their way to their recipients

after being collected by a

representative from Bervie, Arbuthnott

and Kinneff Church.

There were some children who didn’t have time to play

because they had to look after ill mums and dads. Children In Need made a place where they could go

and play for a while. Rhys P3

We wanted to make a shoebox because people

who don’t have anything can get very cold so we put in a

hat and a scarf. We also put some soap in so they can wash their hands so they

don’t get sick. James P4

In Service

Staff spent the two in service days this

month in school, working on aspects of

our School Improvement Plan.

Moderation is currently a huge focus

for us, and we have been doing a lot of

work with Marykirk, Luthermuir and St

Cyrus Schools in developing a shared

and consistent understanding of what

achievement of a level looks like. This

means, of course, that our assessment

procedures must be robust and reliable

so our in service days were spent

auditing our current assessment

procedures and producing an

assessment policy to use across the

school to ensure we have a consistent

approach. Our new assessment policy

has been uploaded on to our website if

you would like to check it out.

ALEC

We had a super day on the 20th

November when we had Andy and

Harold the Giraffe from

Aberdeenshire’s Life Education Centre

with us. The P1/2 class learned all

about ‘My Wonderful Body’ during which

they learned the names and function of

some of the major organs of the body,

the importance of sleep, healthy food

and exercise and the importance of

basic hygiene. The P3/4 class learned

some very similar messages but these

were delivered in a way which was

more appropriate to their age and

included the use of a rather

wonderful t shirt which connected up

to an iPad and allowed us to see

inside the human body. The P5/6/7

were learning about the risks

associated with alcohol, tobacco and

other drugs and about aspects of

peer dynamics and pressure

surrounding these things.

‘Validated Self Evaluation’ Visit

I spent two days at Dunnottar Primary school with colleagues from Hillside Primary and Mackie Academy last week. This was part of ‘Validated Self Evaluation’ which we were conducting for Dunnottar. As you may be aware, a school’s quality assurance involves us in self-evaluating our own practice against a number of quality indicators laid out by Education Scotland. During the two day visit, our team observed classes, scrutinised paperwork and spoke to groups of staff and children as we investigated whether we think Dunnottar’s own self evaluation is ‘valid’. It was so lovely to be able to spend this time in such a great school with such committed staff sharing good practice with colleagues and pinching lots of good ideas! It will be our turn next session as colleagues from Hillside and Dunnottar will come to validate (or refute) Redmyre’s own self- evaluation.

We learned the dangers and effects of drugs and alcohol and how we can

resist being pressured into these things. William P6

Panto Fun

It was all fun and games yesterday afternoon as we were visited by the theatre group who treated us to the

pantomime Cinderella. It was very clever the way 4 actors were able to make quick changes behind their backdrop to make it

look like there were lots of different characters. We all had a real giggle at the

antics of the ugly sisters ‘Skanky’ and ‘Manky’ and were able to sing long to the

songs. Here are the verdicts of some of the P1/2 children…..

French Fun On Friday our P7 pupils and some of our P6s

were having the opportunity to practice

some of their French phrases when we had

a visit from 2 senior pupils from Mearns

Academy. Charlotte and Jorja who are

both studying higher French, spent 45

minutes delivering a French lesson to the

children. They certainly seemed to be

having lots of fun and making lots of noise

(in French) as I went past.

Fortnightly Lending library- 10/12/19 Please return all borrowed books Fairtrade Community Café 04/12/19 Christmas Show – Evening 11/12/19 Christmas Show (Morning and Evening) 12/12/19 Christmas Jumper Day 13/12/19 P1-3 Christmas Party 17/12/19 P4-Christmas Party 18/12/19 Christmas Lunch 19/12/19 For the parties, children should come to school in their uniform as normal but take party clothes in their bags. Staff will help the younger children to change into their party clothes if required. Last Day of term 20/12/19 Back to school 06/01/20 School Fundraising Ceilidh 31/01/20 (Tickets selling fast….contact the school)