Commonwealth Baton Relay
The Commonwealth Baton comes to Falkirk on Tuesday 24th June.
Children from Primary 6 and 7 will walk to Callendar Park to see
the baton relay. We are pleased to announce that one of our
parents, Sharon Kyle, will be carrying the baton at this point on its
journey. Well done to Sharon and we look forward to cheering her
and the baton on its way.
Transitions
The Primary 7 children who are attending Graeme High after the
summer holidays go to Graeme High on Tuesday 17th June for a
variety of activities and a chance to see part of the school show.
We hope this experience will help ease any worries they may have
about moving on to high school.
At Nursery stage there have been a number of opportunities for
children and parents to see first-hand what Primary 1 will be like
when they return after the summer break. The transition
activities have been centred on active learning and shared games in
the hall. Primary 6 have given up their playtimes to go and get to
know their buddies for next year. Nursery staff have commented
on how responsible and caring the children have been. Nursery
children now have a special friend to look to for help in the first
few weeks of school.
Facebook
 We have a duty to remind you that it is an offence to post
comments about staff on facebook which are offensive and of a
personal nature. Falkirk Council Policy on this states, “Where
comments made are of a threatening or abusive nature about any
member of staff, then the Police should be contacted as it is an
offence to cause another person to suffer fear and alarm. This can
be because of a single act or a course of conduct.”
Thank You
To all parents and carers who have given up their time over the
past year to help out in classes, at sports day, trips, and other
events we would like to say a big thank you. Without your help and
support children’s experiences might not be so rich.
Westquarter Primary
and Nursery School
June 2014 Newsletter
Dear Parents and Carers,
The end of term draws near and we look forward to all that brings:
our Celebration of Achievement, school sports, school reports and
the prospect of warm summer days. We thank you for your
continued support throughout the year and hope you have a
pleasant summer.
Celebration of Achievement.
The Celebration of Achievement Ceremony recognises all that is
good about our pupils and their achievements in and out of school.
Awards are made for presentation skills, technology, sport, poetry
performance as well as expressive arts and citizenship. The
school’s most coveted prize, the Williamson Medal, is awarded to
the Primary 7 pupil who has excelled overall in ten identified areas
of the curriculum incorporating enterprise, community and services
to the school. This year the Celebration of Achievement takes
place on Wednesday 25th June 2014. Parent/Carers of prize
winners will be contacted and invited to attend. We ask that they
do not tell their children about the award before the event as the
surprise adds to the special moment when the prize winners are
announced.
Classes for the New School Year 2014-2015
The school role continues to increase with new families arriving in
the catchment area on a more regular basis. A letter with the
proposed classes and teachers will be distributed this week to all
parent/carers. Watch out for it in your child’s schoolbag.
End of Term Service
Due to unforeseen circumstances our planned end of term church
service on Thursday 26th June will not now take place.
Litter
Litter is a problem, or, more accurately, littering is a problem.
Children who drop litter learn from adults who drop litter. We lead
by example. What example are you setting for your children? I ask
this because I am appalled by the response of some children that
it’s the Council’s job to pick up litter. It is everyone’s responsibility
to stop dropping litter. A percentage of your hard earned income
goes on taxes which the Council uses to pay for services. If people
put their litter in the bin then the money used to pay for litter
collection could be used towards more important services. Primary
2 and Miss McCabe are frustrated that no matter how hard they
try to keep the glen free of litter, it keeps returning. It’s not
their job to keep picking up litter but it is our job to raise
awareness of this issue. To educate our children is everyone’s
responsibility. Please do your bit and help eradicate this problem.
Friends of Westquarter
Our Parent Council met on Wednesday 11th June when Mrs Samson
shared the plans for school improvement 2014-2015 with the
parent representatives there. Feedback was given on the progress
made with the 2013-2014 School Improvement Plan and the impact
this had on pupils learning. Other topics on the agenda were
appropriate use of social media sites, fundraising and parent
volunteers in school. The Parent Council have asked that we draw
attention to their e-mail address. This is
westquarterps@gmail.com and can be found on the school website.
Please use this to contact the chair of the Parent Council with any
Parent Council related matters.
Parent Helpers/volunteers
If you would like to be a school parent helper it is our intention to
set up a “jobs” page on the school website. This will “advertise”
jobs which could be done with parents help. Volunteers could then
sign up for tasks and arrange times with school.
Look out for this on the website in the new term.
World of Work
There is still time to get in touch with Mrs Morton if you can help.
Tesco Visits
Many of our classes have been to our local Tesco store in Redding
to take advantage of their “Farm to Fork” initiative which helps
children understand about the journey food makes to get to our
plate. Store staff take the children on a journey through the store
visiting the bakery, butcher and fish counter and offer fruit
sampling to encourage healthy eating. All agreed that it was a
worthwhile experience and we thank the many people in the store
who worked so hard to make the visit memorable.
Going for Glasgow/School Sports
It was unfortunate that the school sports had to be held in the
playground this year but everyone made the best of the situation
and we were delighted so many parents came along to help or to
show their support. With the Commonwealth Games almost upon us
our school sports were based on the 17 sports in the Games
including swimming! Grateful thanks go to Miss Stewart, our P.E.
specialist, parent helpers, the Sports Leaders from Graeme High
and to Miss McLean for her excellent organisation. The whole
morning ran very smoothly. Congratulations to Avon who were the
winning house on the day.
Reports
Your child will have delivered their school report to you via
schoolbag mail. Please complete the feedback sheet which comes
with the report and return this to school before the end of term.
Primary 7 Leavers Assembly
As is tradition at this time, the Primary 7 children will have their
leavers assembly on Monday 23rd June at 1:30pm in the assembly
hall. All Primary 7 parent/carers are welcome to attend.
Holidays
School will close for the holidays on Friday 27th June at 1:00pm
and reopen for the children on Wednesday 20th August at 9:00am.
Contact Details
It is a parent/carers duty to ensure that school contact details
are up to date. If there is an emergency involving your child it is
vital that we are able to contact you.