August 2017 Volume 1

Duncan

Forbes

The latest news and updates from Duncan Forbes Primary School…

In this month’s newsletter –

After School Clubs

School Improvement Plan

Flu vaccinations

Breakfast Club

Assessment Results

Millie’s Fund-raising

Burns Supper

Library Visits

Community Building

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Dates for your diary…..

29.08.17 – P1 Parent Information meeting, 1.45pm

04.09.17 – Parent Council AGM, 6pm

12.09.17 – Whole School Photograph on the field

18.09.17 & 19.09.17 – In-service training, school closed to pupils

22.09.17 – Open Afternoon, 1.30pm – 2.30pm

04.10.17 – Harvest Assembly (tbc)

06.10.17 – Term 1 finishes at 3.00pm

After School Clubs

The After School Clubs are starting up again. Keep an eye on the blog and the Duncan Forbes parents facebook page for registration options. We should be up to full options in a couple of weeks.

Breakfast Club

Our new breakfast club is proving very popular! It is currently running in the Nurture Room from 8am. For £2 children get a selection of toast, cereal, yoghurt, fruit, fruit juice, diluting juice, milk and water. We can take up to 25 in the room but if demand increases we can look to moving to a larger room.

Library Visits

All classes will have the opportunity to take books out from the library in Term 1 and Term 4. The team at Culloden Library will be delighted if you want to make use of the library in-between these terms.

School Improvement Report & Plan

I have had our plan approved by the Quality Improvement Officer for the school. Our 3 main areas for development this year are –

1. Embedding effective teaching practices – pace and challenge, moving learning on, skills based

2. Wellbeing, equality and inclusion for all learners – breakfast club, target setting and quest skills

3. Raising attainment in numeracy – mental maths, pace and challenge of progress in maths

Assessment Results

As an authority, we are required to submit summary of personal progress results along with standardised assessment results to the Scottish Government annually for each school with regards to reading in P4 and P7. I am very pleased to inform you that Duncan Forbes pupils are attaining above the authority average at both stages. 94% at P4 and 91% at P7. This is great news for us as it reflects the improvement work we covered on raising attainment in comprehension last year which is now a national priority so Duncan Forbes is leading the way with it. We will continue to develop this throughout this session.

Flu vaccinations

Letters have gone out this week, please return promptly for the school nursing team.

Staffing for 2017/2018

Below is a full staff list for this session. As you can see our staffing numbers have increased a great deal and we have a number of new members who we extend a warm Duncan Forbes welcome to.

Head Teacher Mrs Wendy Mackay

Depute Head Teacher Mrs Sandra Bell

Principal Teacher Mrs Debbie Murray

Class Teachers

P1 Miss Nicola Brodie

P1/2 Mrs Kellyanne Wilson

P2 Miss Shona Leggatt

P2/3 Mrs Donna Grant & Mrs Debbie Murray

P3 Mrs Alex Henderson

P4 Mrs Louise Tolmie & Mrs Laura Matheson

P4 /5 Miss Sophie Shepherd & Mr Ralph Allmond

P5a Mrs Angela McGoran

P5b Miss Megan McIntyre & Mr Ralph Allmond

P6 Miss Emma Milne & Mr Ralph Allmond

P6/7 Mrs Susan Morrison & Mrs Janet Spence

P7 Miss Shona Macdonald

Class Contact Reduction Time

Mrs Lorraine Scott (P.E. Tuesdays)

Mrs Aneta Smedra (P.E. Wednesdays)

Mrs Alison Forbes (Music Thursdays)

Mr Ralph Allmond (Technologies Mondays)

Nursery – Early Years Workers

Mrs Vicki Grant, Mrs Sheila Nicholson, Mrs Vanessa Morrison, Mrs Donna Mitchell, Mrs Angela Blake, Mrs Lesley Dingwall, Mrs Joanne Harper, Mrs Angela Anderson, Mrs Laura Reid, Mrs Helen Mathieson

Clerical Assistants Support For Learning Teacher

Mrs Fiona Gibb Mrs Wendy Gill

Mrs Pauline McKenzie Mrs Janet Spence

Pupil Support Assistants Childrens Service Worker

Mrs Caron Duffus Mrs Yvonne Johnstone

Mrs Joanne Smith

Mrs Helen Benzies

Mrs Brenda Battison Catering Staff

Mrs Maureen Foster Ms Liz Simpson

Mrs Mandy Vass Mrs Dawn Scott

Mrs Maureen Suttie Mrs Fiona Calder

Miss Jen Owens Mrs Wendy Woolley

Mrs Debbie MacKenzie Mrs Caroline Ratcliffe

Visiting Staff

Strings Instructor - Emma Donald (Friday Afternoon)

Active Schools Sports Co-ordinator - Lynne Fraser

Chanter Instructor - Jim Macgregor (Tuesday Morning)

FMA

Mr Jim Johnstone

Road Crossing Patroller

Mrs Lorraine Cook

Highland Council School Closure Emergency Number

08005642272

School Pin Number

041940

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Millie’s Fund-raising

Millie Keogh has been chosen to walk across the new Queensferry Crossing for charity. She has chosen to raise money for the School, her Brownie Troupe and her Tang Soo Do class. Her granny has provided the school with ‘Guess the Bridge’ picture quizzes which can be bought for 50p from the school office. Let’s support Millie with her challenge. To find out more you can visit: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/milliescrossing?utm_id=2&utm_term=2WkXNPd9X

I hope you all had a lovely summer break and are ready to continue building our fabulous Duncan Forbes community. The support that we receive from our families makes our job so much more fulfilling. If you would like to continue receiving newsletters then please complete the slip attached. Here’s to a great session! Mrs Mackay

Global Citizenship

Mrs McGoran will be leading the school through Global Citizenship/Learning for Sustainability. From November there will be a Global Goal and a Right for children to learn about.

Community Building

We’ve got some exciting developments coming your way for community links and cross-generational work. Once details have been confirmed information will be sent out. This will be brought to the next Parent Council meeting.

Burns Supper

There had been some discussion around which class was best suited to hold the Burns Supper. This year Feis Rois are working with P5’s and we did think that their projects tie in better. However, after much thought we would like to continue with P6’s as it is tradition for fund-raising for Dalguise. We will be looking for other ideas to develop with P5’s.

Supporting and motivating learners in a friendly environment to be successful and achieving

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