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8th
July, 2005 |
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Dear Parents,
Whilst preparing to write this particular end of
term letter, I was reminded of one of the
comments made on Prize day that suggested that
‘collaboration is what makes ordinary people
attain extraordinary things’.
Never a truer word has been spoken about the past
few months, particularly in relation to the
building project. We are now almost there!
Completion should be in a couple of weeks.
Completion, that is, of the actual structure.
Then begins the fun. We have to move the contents
of all the classrooms, paint rooms in the middle
school, replace the hall floor and one classroom
floor in the middle school, renovate the
surrounds to the new building including lots of
tarmac, upgrade the kitchen, reorganise the main
school building for music and other things, and
so on. The result of this is that we will not be
able to have ‘open house’ in quite the
same way as we normally do. I would ask therefore
if any visits to see the children’s new
classrooms could wait until the week beginning
August 16th. Even then, we will ask forgiveness
that all may not be shipshape. Angela and I will
be around for almost all of the holiday and Wendy
or Pat will be at work between 9.00am and 3.00pm
every day to answer queries, but we will not be
able to gain access to pristine classrooms until
late in the holiday.
The staff are, of course, an integral part of the
whole process. As a body, they will be playing a
full part in the movements from August 21st
onwards. In terms of personnel, the changes
brought about by maternity leave will see Liz
Henderson’s classes taught by Jimmy Cox,
whilst his R.I. classes will be taught by Charlie
Reynolds. Both are obviously well known to the
children. Sue Brown’s classes are being
shared between Morag-Ann Elder and a new teacher,
Mrs. Dorothy Cyster who will cover the remainder.
Ruth Grahame’s replacement is a new member
of staff, Marie McLauchlan. Marie has impressive
qualifications, and comes with an enthusiasm for
the children and for the range of activities on
offer at Craigclowan. She also adds to our
international flavour by being fluent in
Norwegian!!
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Choir Tour to Iceland |
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Scripture Union Barbecue |
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Form VII on “Ocean
Spirit” |
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Events this term
have again been numerous in quantity and
high in quality. Much was said on Prize
Day, but I would again like to endorse
the enormous value to the children of the
choir trip to Iceland, the huge range of
sporting and other activities and the
week-end expeditions. If you have never
seen it, the website at www.craigclowan-school.co.uk
is well worth a visit. The events page is
updated every Friday, and the
parents’ page is about to offer a
wide range of helpful information to add
to that already available.
Information that you do need at this
stage concerns fees. I am delighted to
say that the fee increase has again been
kept on the low side at 4.25%. In spite
of the building, and notwithstanding the
ever increasing direct and indirect costs
of employing 70 people, we are managing
the business in a way that keeps the
increase as low as we possibly can, and
lower than the national average which is
around 5%. Whilst thinking of fees, the
issue of Charitable Status comes to mind.
I enclose a paper written by Judith
Sischy, the Director of the Scottish
Council of Independent Schools which best
sums up our position. She is optimistic
as you will read, but I guess there is an
inevitability that we will face another
‘mountain’ of paper to complete
in order to show that we can satisfy a
test of ‘public benefit’ at
Craigclowan. (Please excuse the SCIS
spelling of Scottish on Page 1!)
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Comenius Day |
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Sports day and Fête |
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Still on the
subject of money, can I thank you all in
general and Barbie Young and her Parents
Committee in particular for the huge
efforts that they made with the fete. The
school has received a cheque to be used
to improve the I.T. facilities in the
school. This will go towards the
estimated total cost of wiring the new
building so that a network of all the
classrooms in the new building, together
with the Computer Room in the
‘old’ new building, can be
brought into action using a new server
and an interactive white board in the new
science lab. Other interactive white
boards will follow as funds permit and as
they are appropriately placed. We could
not have improved our facilities so much
so quickly without such dynamic help.
Uniform: The list of shoes that are
permitted is enclosed. If you do, for any
reason, have to choose other makes,
please ensure that heels are not more
than 1” or 2.5cm and that the treads
are as shallow as possible as this saves
large amounts of mud being transferred
into school from outside.
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F.IV River Study |
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As from September
1st, all pupils in Form IIA and above
should have the new track suit which is
available from Aitken and Niven. We hope
that the new batch of new track suits
will address the problems which have
arisen over the last year. Also, from
September 1st the old track suit is no
longer school uniform.
Before we know it, the year has gone, and
the new school year begins! Savour the
holidays if you can. Measure your travels
in friends made rather than miles covered,
and come and see us towards the end of
the holiday when we hope to be cruising!!
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With best wishes,
Yours sincerely,
Mike Beale |
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