DECEMBER 2010 NEWSLETTER
STONEYHILL PRIMARY SCHOOL
Dear Parents,
P1-3 PUPILS PROUDLY
PRESENT –
THE NATIVITY
This is the time of year when the school positively
sparkles with glitter and excitement. P1 to P3 are
taking charge of the Christmas performance and P4
to P7 are looking forward to visiting the Brunton
Theatre. Not to be outdone, the Nursery is off to
Campie for their Christmas treat. Hopefully, by the
time we hand your children over on the 23rd they will
be tired out and ready for a quiet festive season –
we certainly will!
I would like to take this opportunity to wish all
staff, pupils and parents a Joyful Christmas and a
Very Happy New Year.
Calling all Early Years
parents, from P1 to P3,
remember
to
keep
th
Monday 20 of December
free if you can!
The
Early Years staff were buzzing with excitement as
they met to discuss how we would share the Christmas
message on stage. We have decided to go for the
traditional story as part of a Christmas Service led by
the children themselves, called, The Nativity. This is
the perfect and straight-forward telling of the
nativity story – exactly what it says on the cover. It
includes a simple script with short lines for all of the
key characters along with the 8 catchy new songs
from Niki Davies. The children will also choose their
favourite carols, so be prepared to join in. In Writing,
they are looking at Christmas poems, which they will
share with you as a special Christmas prayer. Some
classes will also be looking at programmes and leaflets
in language and producing an order of service.
Curriculum for Excellence allows the children to
explore this topic through Language, Health and
Wellbeing and Religious, Moral Education and the
Expressive Arts and share it with you as a real life
experience and not something done only in the
classroom.
We look forward to seeing you on the 20th and
starting off the Christmas week with fun, singing,
dancing and the Christmas message.
Morning Performance: Gym Hall Fire Exit Doors
open 9.15a.m. Please be seated by 9.25a.m.
Afternoon Performance: Gym Hall Fire Exit Doors
open 1.15.p.m. Please be seated by 1.25p.m.
PAYMENTS TO SCHOOL
All payments made to the school should be sent in
with the pupils in an envelope, with the pupils name
and class and the reason for payment clearly marked
on the envelope, to be handed to the class teacher.
Payments will not be accepted at the reception desk
as this increases the chances of money going missing
or being misplaced. This applies to all payments
made to the school, including all payments, queries
etc for the PFG.
HOLIDAYS
The school closes at 3.15 pm on Thursday the 23rd
December and re-opens, for pupils, at the usual time
on Tuesday 11th January 2011.
SCHOOL COUNCIL
The next meeting of this group takes place
in Musselburgh Rugby Club at 7.30 pm on
Thursday 2nd December. All parents are
welcome to attend – the more the merrier.
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CHRISTMAS LUNCH
This will take place on Thursday the 16th
December. The cost will be £1.80. In
order to make sure that we can cater
for all those who would like to attend
a separate letter, with a tear-off slip,
will be sent out shortly.
CONGRATULATIONS
We would like to send our warmest
congratulations to Mrs Mercer and Mrs
Taylor on the arrival of their babies.
Findlay Taylor was born on the 6th
October and Eve Mercer was born on the
18th of November. Mothers and babies are doing well
and we are looking forward to welcoming them into
school soon.
LATE ARRIVALS
An increasing number of children are
arriving at school too late to enter
through their normal door. As a result,
they enter via the main entrance where Mrs
Melrose is trying to deal with requests from
parents and answer the telephone. Children who
regularly arrive late, and we do not get a written
explanation or a phone call from parents, will be
given a break time detention.
SPARE CLOTHES
We would be delighted to receive
donations of spare clothing for older
children, boys in particular, as our
supplies are very low.
ROAD SAFETY
In the interest of the safety of your
child/ren, we would continue to urge parents
not to use the car park. Children should, where
possible, be encouraged to walk to school or, if they
have to be brought by car, dropped off in one of the
neighbouring streets.
If you do have to bring your child by car, please
consider the safety of the other children who may be
using this route to school. We would encourage you to
ensure that your child gets out on the pavement side
rather than on to the road in the path of traffic.
CHRISTMAS PARTIES
Once again we would like to thank the
PFG who have kindly agreed to supply and
organise the food for all class Christmas
parties. We would appreciate any offers
of assistance from parent helpers for
each class. A charge of £1.50 will be made to the
children from P1-2 to cover the cost of Santa’s
presents and prizes. Of that money, 50p will cover
the cost of a novelty for each child, with the rest of
the money being put towards a class present from
Santa and prizes. Primary 3-7 parties will costs
50p to cover the cost of prizes. Information on
how to pay for parties will be sent out in a
separate letter.
HEALTH PROMOTION
Our extremely enthusiastic health
promotion representatives have been
very busy looking after the tuck shop
selling fresh fruits snacks, water
bottles and home baking every day at
Christmas party times:
All P5, P6 and P7
PM – 21st December
All P3 and P4
PM – 22nd December
All P1 and P2
PM – 22nd December
Nursery (both sessions) AM – 23rd December
playtime.
Remember - Healthy Children are Happy Children!
W Shiells
Health Promotion Co-ordinator
P1 and P2 parents please note there will be a slightly
later finishing time for pupils to allow for Santa’s
visit!
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AROUND THE CLASSES
CHRISTMAS POST/GIFT IDEAS
As in previous years, for reasons both
environmental and educational, we will
not be delivering children’s Christmas
cards during school hours. If they wish,
children can deliver their own cards
before school begins or they could make
one card for the whole class.
Should you be considering a present for your child’s
teacher, we would like to suggest that instead of
buying a gift you could, for example, buy £5 worth
of a classroom that would be built in Africa.
Although teachers appreciate presents at Christmas
we know they would be touched by receiving a
present that could be used by children in Africa. If
you are interested in this idea here are 2 links to
look at –
www.oxfamunwrapped.com
then click on school scene or
www.savethechildren.org.uk/wishhot
and you can choose a school present from there.
Thank you to all those who dressed
down for the day and helped to raise
the sum of £315.
Well done, everyone!
The nursery children are really
looking forward to Christmas!
Throughout Advent the children
will be learning parts of the
Christmas story. They will have the opportunity to
retell events in a range of ways throughout. Hopefully
they will be able to act out the whole story by the end
of term.
The children will be creating a range of Christmas
artwork and will be developing their knowledge and
understanding of 2D shapes and patterns in Numeracy
and Mathematics. They will also be learning a range
of Christmas songs. We are all looking forward to
attending the Stickykids Christmas performance on
Tuesday 21st December.
In Health and Wellbeing, we are learning different
party dances in preparation for our Christmas fun
session on Thursday 23rd December. At this session a
special visitor from Lapland will join us. All the
children from BOTH classes are invited to come in the
morning!
Thursday 23rd December
Start between 9.00 and 9.15 am
Finish between 12.05 and 12.15 pm
(PLEASE NOTE: There will be no afternoon session on
this day.)
We would like to take this opportunity to wish all the
children and their parents/carers a very happy
Christmas.
DATES FOR THE DIARY
Thursday 2nd: Forth One will be
visiting the school to record P5
singing ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’.
 Wednesday 8th: P4 – P7 will be visiting the
Brunton Theatre for this year’s pantomime.
 Friday 10th: Special Assembly
 Thursday 16th: P5 will be singing at Greenfield
Care Home
 Friday 17th: PFG Hamper prize draw
 Monday 20th: P1-3 performance, ‘The Nativity’.
 Tuesday 21st: Nursery to Campie for StickyKids
P5, P6 and P7 Christmas party
 Wednesday 22nd: P1, P2 , P3 and P4 Christmas
Party
 Thursday 23rd: Nursery Christmas Party
Christmas Assembly
P1 are beginning a new IDEA
on Christmas. Our work in
RME, music, art and design
and drama will be taught
through this theme as we work towards the P1-3
performance of The Nativity. The children will also be
writing letters to Santa, retelling the Christmas story
through a range of different learning styles and
learning about why Christians celebrate Christmas.
In Maths, we will be continuing with our work on
addition by learning the number stories within 10. We
are also learning about pattern and will be designing
our own Christmas wrapping paper using a repeating
pattern of shapes and colours.
Reading will continue on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Everyone is trying really hard to learn his or her word
wall words and sounds. Your help at home is greatly
appreciated. P.E. is held on Mondays, Wednesdays and
BBC CHILDREN IN NEED

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Thursdays. The children are all enjoying Basic Moves
and we have been learning lots of new games in which
to apply these skills.
P1 are very excited about Christmas and would like
to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy
New Year!
children went outside to sketch a winter tree and
then built on that experience by creating a tree using
a charcoal pencil, adding snow with white chalk and
then using glitter. The result was beautiful and lots of
people have admired them. It was particularly pleasing
to see the enthusiasm and skills of the children in
dance. I am looking forward to Scottish country
dancing
as
part
of
our
next
IDEA.
The children will be working hard in the coming weeks
to learn some new songs for the Early Years Nativity
and as part of the experience we will be joining with
primary
one
and
primary
three.
Throughout December, P2 will have an opportunity to
join in some lunchtime fun activity sessions in the gym
hall. These sessions will give the children a chance to
keep fit through skipping, hoola-hooping, dancing,
playing team games etc. Some of the children were
keen to learn how to turn rope and jump rope. The P2
record at the moment stands at 17 jumps, achieved by
Nicole and Jacob! Well done. We even managed to
have four children jump rope at the same time!
After Christmas the children will have gym with the
P.E.
specialist
on
a
Tuesday.
I would like to wish all the children and their families
a very happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.
P1/2 are looking forward to an
exciting December! P1/2's new
IDEA is Christmas, through this
theme we will be focusing on the
following curricular areas; RME,
Art, Drama and Music. We will be
learning the Christmas story and
exploring how Christmas is celebrated. We will be
creating storyboards, acting out the story and using
song. P1/2 are really looking forward to
participating in this year's Nativity and will be very
busy learning songs, drama and creating beautiful
Christmas artwork to share with the audience.
In Writing, we will be learning how to write letters,
including a letter to Santa and an invitation for a
visitor. We will also be using our imagination to
write stories using a variety of winter and Christmas
inspiration.
In Maths, P1 will be continuing to focus on learning
the number stories and P2 will be continuing to use
addition and subtraction strategies. They will also
be developing numbers within 100 and using number
doubles. We will also be exploring pattern, creating
our own designs with colour, shape and objects. We
will be printing our own Christmas wrapping paper
with our patterned designs.
In Science, we will be learning about the body. We
will be identifying the main body parts and
describing what they are used for. We will be
describing how we change as we get older and will be
learning some of the tasks involved in looking after a
baby.
PE will continue to be on Monday, Wednesday and
Thursdays. Reading on a Monday and Thursday.
Phonics home learning will come home on Monday and
should be returned on Thursdays.
Have a wonderful Christmas and I look forward to
seeing you all in the New Year!
P3 have had an interesting and fun
time learning all about Endangered
Animals as part of their IDEA.
We have used shared knowledge,
books, videos and the Internet to
research a variety of animals and
their habitats. Each child then made their own fact
files on an animal of their choice. Popular animals to
study were giant pandas, gorillas, polar bears, Bengal
tigers and our very own red squirrel. We were very
lucky to have a visit from Calum and his Cool
Creatures. He showed us an endangered snake,
chameleon and scorpion. We were all really brave and
held at least one of the animals! For fun Calum took
along his pet hedgehog, Lugsy, who was very friendly
and not too prickly! We did lots of animal art work and
made our own animal masks and animal landscape
collages. We had lots of fun experimenting with
different materials and mediums! As homework we
had to prepare an oral presentation on an endangered
animal of our choice and present it to the rest of the
class. We really enjoyed this and were able to give
two stars and a wish to everyone.
This year P3 are taking part in the Nativity with P1
and P2. We are looking forward to sharing the story
P2 have had a very busy time using
the IDEA "Cold Lands" to create some
lovely artwork of penguins, polar
bears, winter trees and snowmen. The
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of Mary, Joseph and the Baby Jesus. As Christmas
is our next IDEA we will be doing lots of singing,
drama and artwork leading up to the main event our performance!
In Literacy, we have all been trying hard with our
reading. We are learning how to write an imaginative
story by looking at traditional tales like Little Red
Riding Hood. We have been learning about
characters, setting and logical sequencing. As
Christmas is just round the corner, we are going to
look at letter writing and will write our own letters
to Santa.
In Numeracy, we have been practising multiplication
tables as well as number work like adding,
subtracting, multiplying and dividing. We have also
been learning about maps and directions, having
made our very own treasure maps!
In Health & Wellbeing, we have been looking at the
different feelings we have, when we might have
them and how to deal with them. We have also been
learning about how to travel safely. PC Smith paid us
a visit and talked to us about people who can help us.
He even took us out to see his police van where we
took turns to sit in the back – he even played the
siren!
We are all looking forward to the festive season and
hope we have lots of exciting learning experiences!
P4/5 are very busy just now
delivering, and listening to, the
interesting talks they have prepared at
home. It's clear that a lot of
preparation has gone into researching
information as well as making posters and pictures to
support their learning. This means that the audience
have been enjoying very worthwhile experiences and
learning lots of facts about a variety of creatures.
Thank you for all the support and help you have given
your child. We all thoroughly enjoyed a visit from
Calum, from Cool Creatures, who delivered a
presentation about endangered animals as well as
offering a handling session with a chameleon, a
scorpion, a snake and a very cute long eared hedgehog.
Calum was full of information about these animals and
it was a really valuable learning experience. Please look
on the website to see the photos from this event.
We are coming to the end of our Endangered Animals
IDEA and will be moving on to a short science based
IDEA on Electricity. This will involve lots of practical
experiments
and
will
be
lots
of
fun.
In Maths, P4 will be starting to recognise money up to
£20, doing calculations and working within a given
budget. P5 are moving on to division having worked on
multiplication. They should continue to learn and
revise their multiplication tables, which should help
them a great deal when working on division.
In Writing, we have been concentrating on characters
and settings in order to write descriptive stories.
This term we will also be looking forward to a visit to
the pantomime as well as our Christmas parties.
P4 have been very busy learning
about endangered animals. We had
Cool Creatures in for a visit and we
got to hold some interesting
animals. A couple of weeks ago it
was P4’s turn to do an item at assembly. Some of the
class decided they wanted to show something to do
with our endangered animals topic, while others
decided they wanted to tell the school a bit about
Children in Need. The class split themselves into
small groups, and each group decided themselves
what they were going to do and then managed to
prepare their section by themselves. It was a big
success on the day, well done everyone! Another big
well done to everyone for all the hard work carried
out at home to make fantastic masks for our animal
parade, and for the interesting and exciting
presentations and posters. Thanks for all the hard
work, it is hugely appreciated. We will now be moving
on to our new topic learning about electricity and
how electrical circuits work.
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P5 are now coming to the end of our Endangered
Animal IDEA. We have been busy doing lots of art,
including animal masks, pencil sketches and junk
habitat models. The children worked really hard to
research and prepare the presentations and this
helped us learn about some more endangered animals.
We also worked really well in groups to prepare and
participate in a group debate on the topic of Zoos.
Another exciting element of our IDEA was our visit
from Cool Creatures. Calum brought in some exciting
creatures e.g. a scorpion, a hedgehog and a boa
constrictor snake for the children to see and told us
lots of interesting facts about his animals. To finish
off our topic P3-5 are having an animal parade to show
the rest of the school what we have been finding out.
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Until Christmas break, we will be working on our
next IDEA- Electricity. We will be finding out all
about the uses of electricity and experimenting with
circuits and batteries. There will be lots of exciting
things to look forward to on the lead up to
Christmas; the Brunton Panto, Forth One Radio
Christmas Song recording, class parties and the
school Christmas show. The children will also be
doing some Christmas carols in and around the
community with Mrs. Rae.
opportunity for parents/carers to visit the exhibition
if they wish to.
P6/7 will be continuing to learn
about WW2. It has already
proved to be a very interesting
and popular topic. We have
already learned how the war
started, information on evacuation
and made evacuee suitcases. The
children have also been researching the main leaders
during WW2 and have been learning about The Blitz
and the role of women during the war. In Art, we have
been looking at the work of WW2 artists and, in
particular, we have been looking at propaganda
posters and re-creating our own. For homework, the
children are currently writing a war diary and making
gas masks. The children are going to learn more about
evacuation by getting ‘evacuated’ from school to the
Museum of Flight in East Fortune. We are all really
looking forward to it! We are continuing to read and
discuss our class novel, ‘The Boy in the Striped
Pyjamas’ and complete tasks on it. We are going to be
learning about the different types of shelters used
during the war and learning about Hitler and the
Holocaust. Children will also be learning about
rationing and ‘Make do and Mend’. We are then going
to learn how the war ended and celebrate with a
Victory Tea Dance where the children will listen to
wartime music and dance the jitterbug.
The classes are also going to continue to learn German
as part of our WW2 IDEA. In topical science we have
already learned some Astrophysics and Forensic
Science and will continue to look at current scientific
issues. Children will continue to learn about fractions,
decimals and percentages in Maths and pupils will be
taking part in Maths challenges to improve their
multiplication tables. We will also continue to have the
P.E specialist, Mrs Sellwood, on a Tuesday so please
ensure your child has a P.E kit in school at all times.
We also have a visiting drama specialist working with
the class.
P6 are fully immersed in our World
War II topic, which the children are
thoroughly enjoying. Thank you for all
the contributions from home, which
have enhanced their experiences. As
we head into December, we are looking forward to
our ‘evacuation trip’ to the National Museum of
Flight, when we will be able to make use of our
evacuation suitcases and homemade gas masks. The
children should continue to complete their wartime
diaries, recording their character’s experiences of
World War II. Thank you for your support with
this.
Also, continuing the link with our IDEA, we are
learning some basic German phrases and are having
fun perfecting our accents.
In Health and Wellbeing, we have had fun learning
some basic swing steps to 40’s music and hope to
host a Tea Dance in December to show off our fine
footwork. Also, having completed our rugby tasters
the children now have the opportunity to participate
in Handball sessions. The children will continue to
work with Mrs Sellwood in P.E. and Mrs Roberts in
music.
In Maths, we continue to explore fractions, decimals
and percentages, particularly looking at the links
between these and how they are used in everyday
life.
Our involvement in a Musselburgh Cluster initiative,
Childhood Role Models, will run into December. We
have been lucky enough to have two excellent class
buddies, who have been able to give the children
first-hand incites into Post-War Britain. We have
been comparing role models from different eras and
the children will now work with a local artist to
produce some digital imagery around this. Their
work will be presented at an exhibition in the
Brunton Theatre in January. Invites will go out
nearer the time, but I believe there will be an
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P7 have been very busy this term and
we have achieved a great deal. The
class are really enjoying our IDEA
topic of World War II.
It has
certainly sparked a great deal of
discussion and debate; the class are
showing a genuine interest and
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using modified equipment and covers the 3 basic golf shots.
Kate Green, the Junior Golf Development Officer, will visit
each class for one of these sessions and set up a miniature
golf course in the school playing fields. This gives the
children the chance use their golf skills to play a round of
golf!
Following their firstclubgolf sessions the P5s will be invited
to continue to learn to play golf by progressing on to
clubgolf Stage 1 at a local golf club. Coaching is available
in:
Musselburgh, Haddington, Longniddry, Aberlady,
Gullane, North Berwick and Dunbar.
clubgolf Stage 1 is open to children in P5, 6 and 7 so even if
you didn’t sign up in P5 you still can!
Coaching costs £2.50 per hour and children will be using
metal clubs, which are provided if needed. All abilities are
welcome as players progress at their own speed. Short
introductory coaching blocks are offered initially so that
children can come along with their friends and give it a go.
Stage 1 consists of 40 hours of coaching spread over 2
years. This is the first of 5 clubgolf coaching stages with
Stage 5 being when you are playing for Scotland and we’re
hoping that might be some of you!
Clubgolf East Lothian is more than just coaching though
there are also lots of fun competitions to play in. Look out
for the East Lothian Junior Golf Fixture List, which lists
competitions that are open to all junior golfers in East
Lothian. So whether you’re attending clubgolf coaching or
not you can come along practice, meet other golfers and
have some fun!
If you would like to register your child's interest in golf
coaching or the fun competitions please contact Kate Green
for further information.
Parent/Guardians/Golfers: We need your support.
Clubgolf Stage 1 is delivered by Level 1 Volunteer Coaches.
This helps to ensure we can keep golf affordable. Please
get in touch if you would like to find out more about how to
support Junior Golf as a Volunteer coach or as a Coaching
Helper.
enthusiasm. We have covered a great deal already
and in the run up to Christmas we still have some
very interesting areas to study and research. Our
“evacuation” trip to East Fortune Museum of Flight
will be another great way for the children to learn in
a real context.
The class have enjoyed learning some basic German
this term as part of our IDEA. We will be returning
to our French roots in Term 3 after New Year.
With Mrs Selwood’s specialist input in Health &
Wellbeing the children have being doing gymnastics
and a number have taken part in an indoor athletics
tournament this term. In term 3 the class will have
Mrs Roberts the music specialist again.
Our new IDEA next term will be the Solar System
so there will be an increased focus on the science
aspect of the curriculum. However, this term the
children have been looking at topical science issues
and so far we have looked at the Universe in terms
of comparing the sizes of planets, star and nebulas
and we have also looked at the basics of forensic
science.
Maths levelling will continue in the New Year and our
next topic will move away from the number system
and into other areas of Maths and Numeracy.
Seonaid McGillivray
Kate Green, Junior Golf Development Officer, East Lothian
Council
Tel: 01875 619071
email: kgreen@eastlothian.gov.uk
Check out my website for further information:
http://www.sportsdevelopmenteastlothian.co.uk/golf.asp
firstclubgolf
All P5 children in East Lothian have the opportunity to
experience golf in school. They will be receiving 6
firstclubgolf sessions during PE. firstclubgolf is delivered
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