| |
|
|
| |
6th July 2007 |
|
| |
Dear
Parents,
Just over
two months ago I walked around the school on the
first day of my first term as a headmaster. I
checked nobody was looking as I tried what I
thought was the code to the Pre-School door and I
was in. The children took one look at the white
haired man in the suit … and carried on with
what they were doing. There were far more
interesting options on offer and I really
shouldn’t have been surprised by their
indifference.
Now? The
two transition groups have redefined the
boundaries. No longer is the headmaster’s
study a place where that man sits behind the desk,
it’s the room they come to when they have
found treasure, been painting, or maybe when Mrs
Jenkins is taking them to PE and they want to
show me bean bags and hoops. Whatever the reason,
these times are some of the best of the day.
Equally, my trips to the Pre-School are
characterised by waving and smiling children
still engrossed in what they are doing.
St
George’s Day produced sandwiches that The
Queen was probably not eating, there have been
bubbles everywhere, caterpillars, chrysalides and
butterflies have been monitored as they grow and
change. The life sized portraits continued the
living growing theme and the visit to
Auchingarrich put everything into context.
Recently, there have been pirates everywhere with
all the fun and imagination that goes with them.
My personal favourites have been the grass
heads.
|
|
| |
The
pavement artists at work |
|
We
grew them ourselves! |
|
Pirates
ahoy! |
|
The
Care Commission inspection at the end of
last term struggled to find any fault in
the quality of the experiences the
children are fortunate enough to have and
I would like to thank those parents who
returned the questionnaire to them.
We
wish those children moving to Form I a
smooth transition and hope they enjoy
their new environment. It is an exciting
time to be moving: I announced at Prize
Giving yesterday that over the holidays
the teaching blocks and Main House will
all be networked using a cabled system
and each classroom will have a computer
linked to the network. This will have
many advantages for the pupils in terms
of teaching and learning and paves the
way for the installation of more
smartboards. It will also allow the
school to run more smoothly in terms of
its administration, as well as increasing
communication within the school and with
outside parties. The Pre-School and Gym
Hall are next on the list and we hope to
have them networked for the start of the
2008/09 academic year.
|
Do
you like our flowers? |
|
|
Auchingarrich
Wildlife park |
|
Fees
in the Main School will increase for next
year by just under 3.8% (the national
average last year was 5.7%) to £2750 per
term while those in the Pre-School will
rise by just over 3% to £165 per session
per term. I hope you will agree that this
is very good value. The new late prep
arrangements have worked well but clearly,
having a designated member of staff to
look after the Pre-School children also
has a financial implication and so the
charge for this facility, which I know is
very important to a number of you, will
rise to £4 per hour or part thereof. |
|
|
Our
butterflies |
|
Finally,
many thanks to you all for making
Alex, who enjoyed enormously her time
doing late preps, and I so welcome
and for your support over our first
term. We hope you all have a very
enjoyable holiday.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Term dates:
August
30th – December 14th (Half Term October
22nd – 26th)
January 8th – March 20th (Half Term
February 18th and 19th)
April 16th – July 4th (Half Term May 26th
and 27th)
School
Calendar
|
|
|
