Welcome Back to everyone after the Easter Holidays. I hope you all had a lovely and restful break.

Spring certainly seems to have arrived and dare I say that summer is just around the corner? We have another busy term planned and hope you will be able to join us at some of our events.

As always if you do have any concerns or questions please do contact me.

Next session – I have been in discussion with East Lothian Council about classes and staffing for next year. As soon as a final decision has been made I will update you all. Similarly I will let you know as soon as I do when your lovely new HT Karla Pearce will be starting.

Charity Fundraisers – Thank you to everyone who donated to our recent fundraisers. Money raised is as follows:

Red Nose Day – £128.01

NSPCC Big Board Game Day – £37.74                         Thank you very much everyone!

 Nursery News – The nursery had a lovely puppy to visit and learned how to be safe with dogs. The children are now enjoying vet role-play. We have also found out about the zoo on our recent trip to Humbie. Other upcoming events this busy term are: Little Giants science workshop (learning about bees); making a bee themed planter for Gardening Scotland; starting transition activities for our pre-schoolers; enjoying some trips to Strawberry Woods; visiting the Scottish Seabird Centre, and practising for Sports Day at Humbie.

P1/2 News – P1/2 have said goodbye to their Tin Forest – it has gone to Kinwegar Recycling Centre; the accompanying artwork will be displayed in the offices there. The resulting space in the classroom will now be used to create a ‘Play Café’ as our current topic is ‘Food and Where it Comes From’. We have been cooking in school and look forward to inviting you all in for a taster session towards the end of term. To support this topic we will once again be visiting the Royal Highland Show. We are delighted to welcome Rosie Swinton into P1 – your children have made her feel very welcome.

 P3/4/5 News – P3/4/5 will be investigating Fairtrade this term, as well as further developing our skills in football, rugby, athletics and swimming.

We are very excited to be designing and creating a planter for Gardening Scotland, based on a Mary, Queen of Scots theme. We are learning lots as we grow our own plants from seeds, cuttings and bulbs. The title of our venture is ‘’Castle Cuisine’’ and we can’t wait to show you the finished product!

We are looking forward to working with P6/7 this term to rehearse and perform our summer show:

Superkids Rock! (The Planet)

P6/7 News – This term P6/7 topic is Big Business, which we are very excited about. Pupils have been split into 3 teams; Money Makers, Saltoun Summer Stars and the Dandy Daffodils. Each team has brainstormed ideas of a product to design, make and sell at the summer fair. The remit was that the product must be eco and also linked to the garden. Teams have made their prototypes and next week are taking them out to a group of consumers to carry out market research.

We have also made links with local businesses in Tranent inviting them in to talk about how they run their business – marketing, accounts, etc.

Green Flag Award Ceremony – Rachael Hamilton MSP came to our school at Saltoun to help raise our Green Flag which we achieved after 18 months of hard work. We had a whole school ceremony to commemorate our achievement which included singing and dancing followed by a reception where Rachael and Acting Head Teacher Mrs Dorothy Hilsley cut a cake to celebrate this. Rachael’s write up is below with a couple of photos.  Achieving The Green Flag Award is a great achievement and represents a lot of effort from the pupils and staff and I would like to thank everyone involved.

Thank you !

Eco coordinator Claire Hunter for Saltoun Primary

‘This was a fantastic event and marked a great day for Saltoun Primary school in raising their green flag.. Being awarded the Green Flag is true recognition of the fantastic work Saltoun Primary school has done and continues to do.We should all take a leaf out of Saltoun Primary school’s book and do that little bit more to help our communities be that bit more greener.’

Rachael Hamilton, South of Scotland MSP

House Keeping

 Absence from school

Please remember to contact the school office as soon as you know your child is to be absent for any reason – this is the school’s and council’s policy. Please call or email before 9.15am and if emailing use the general admin email (admin@saltoun.elcschool.org.uk ) so as to avoid any message being missed in the unlikely event of Ms Edwards not being in school. You should also continue to phone daily if your child is absent unless you have already informed us of this. If your child is sick or has diarrhoea they must remain at home for 48 hours after this has stopped.

Signing Pupils In/Out/Collecting at the end of the day

If your child needs to arrive or leave school during school hours they should be signed in/out in the school office by the person dropping off/collecting them.

Dog walking

There are several member s of the community walking dogs in the playground and as a result we are finding dogs mess lying around. I have written to the Community Council about it but if anyone has any ideas on how we could get this message across can you please let us know?

Vision, Aims and Values

 You will receive a letter explaining about the work we will be doing on Vision, Aims and Values on Monday. So that we can get your views there will be a Monkey Survey available from Monday 8^th May which will run for 2 weeks.

Social Media Game- Blue Whale Challenge

We have received information from our colleagues within NHS Scotland concerning a social media ‘game’ called the Blue Whale Challenge. This activity encourages young people to self-harm followed by sending a picture as proof. There are no reported cases in Scotland however, we would like to make you aware of this and if you have any concerns your child may be at risk please get advice by contacting Mrs Hilsley.

Our schools provide children and young people with information on keeping themselves safe within the Health & Wellbeing curriculum delivered within schools. East Lothian Council also promotes the safe use of the internet and if you wish to access further information on the safe use of technology online see www.getsafeonline.org

The School Day

Nursery

8:50 start

12:00 finish

P1-7

8:45 1^st warning bell

8:50 2^nd bell, pupils line up to come into school

12:15 P1/2 lunch starts

12:35 P3-7 lunch starts

15:00 P1/2 finish for the day

15:15 P3-7 finish for the day

 Please drop off promptly to allow staff to settle the children to get the most out of the day. Please collect promptly to allow staff to prepare for the next working day.

 Open Door Policy

The staff are always happy to help and discuss any concerns you may have but please can we ask that if you wish to speak to a teacher that you catch them at the end of the day rather than at the start? This allows the teachers to get their classes settled in a timely fashion first thing in the morning. You are of course welcome to make an appointment via the school office if you would prefer.

School Office

Please remember that the route to the school office is via the back stairwell. The staffroom is often used for teaching and meetings as well as being a staffroom.

New School Entrance

We will soon be using a new school entrance and once some painting has been done and some signs erected more details will be issued.

 Sporting Events and General Events running over several weeks.

Nursery

Strawberry Woods

Visiting every Wednesday morning from 24.5.17 to 21.6.17

P3-5 Class

Swimming Lessons (P4 and P5s)

Continue on Thursdays, the last session will be 15^th June.

Football Tasters (P3s, P4s, P5s)

Continue on Fridays, the last session will be 19^th May.

P6-7 Class

Contact Rugby (P6s and P7s)

Fridays from 26.5.17 to 9.6.17

P7 Transition Events:

Ross High School – continues on Wednesday mornings, the last session will be 31.5.17

Pencaitland Primary School – continues on Fridays, the last session will be 26.5.17

Ross High School – 2 day transition – 14^th and 15^th June

 General Diary Dates

May

8^th -12^th    Walk to School Week

10^th            Generation Science Workshop for Nursery Pupils

Parent Council Meeting 7:00pm to 9:00pm

11^th            Courier Special Edition – Nursery Class Photos

P6 Little and Large Cookery Competition at Ross High School *

16^th            Kakatsitsi Drumming Workshop for P1-7 pupils

22^nd           Staff In-Service Day 5

24^th            P6/7s to Foxlake Adventures

June

1^st              Courier Special Edition – P7 Leavers Photos

Nursery Outing to Scottish Seabird Centre*

7^th              P1 and P7 Dental Inspections

13^th            Sports Day P1-7

15^th            Nursery Sports Day at Humbie

21^st            P3-7 Show – Superkids Rock! (The Planet)

22^nd           P1-7 Visit to Royal Highland Show*

29^th            Leaver’s Assembly

* more information to follow shortly