Are you who they’re looking for?

We urgently need more people to take the plunge and find out about fostering with East Lothian Council.

East Lothian Council’s Education and Children’s Services spokesperson Councillor Shamin Akhtar says:

‘We have children and young people who need foster carers urgently. The demand is always growing and we need more people to come forward very soon and give their love and support to some vulnerable children and young people who really, really need them.

‘As you know, we set great store in East Lothian in keeping our looked-after children in or very close to East Lothian, so that very vulnerable children don’t have to change schools or lose touch with their friends and wider families. Not every fostering agency thinks this is important but we do – we really see the value in not sending children far away from everyone and everything they know. So, I’d just like to say how grateful I am to all our current foster carers for choosing to Foster East Lothian and for the fantastic job they do – they make a difference every day. I hope that there will be a number of people reading this article now who will also be able to make that difference and be the ones that our children so desperately need.’

School and nursery to re-open tomorrow Monday 5th March. Please ensure that all children  enter the main door of the school building on arrival. All children can gather in the main gym hall before being dismissed to class. Please read the following information which contains advice from east Lothian council.

Schools and Nurseries

All East Lothian Council schools, nurseries and specialist education provision will re-open tomorrow (Monday).

We are working closely with providers who transport pupils from more isolated rural areas (outwith towns and villages) to and from our schools. Transport providers will contact parents directly if there are any difficulties collecting pupils from these locations due to road conditions.

There has been a huge amount of effort by our teams to clear snow from pathways – thanks to parents and residents for their assistance with this. Please be aware of surface conditions given the low temperature. Ensure children walking to school have appropriate footwear and are dressed to the conditions. In the interests of the safety, children and young people should go straight into the school building on arrival.

Kind regards

Stephanie McDonald

Dear parents/carers

I will be going into school today to assess the situation and feeding back to the authority.

I will keep you informed as the day continues.

Thanks

Stephanie McDonald

Amidst all of your snow ⛄️ games, your sledging with friends and family, your igloo building and then snuggling up with some hot chocolate ☕️ and a good book 📖, why don’t you take a moment of calm and try one of these mindfulness tasks. The Mindfulness Group started practising these on Monday in school. Why don’t you give them a go at home.
Mrs Hayes

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are all having great fun in the snow and most importantly staying warm and safe!!

Myself, Mrs Carlyle and Mrs Fettes have been working together to come up with some fun activities for Primary 1 and 1/2 to try while school is closed.

• Make a den with some blankets in your house and read books together to celebrate World Book Day Today.
• There are lost of fun interactive games/resources and story telling videos on World Book Day website http://www.worldbookday.com
• Do some research on our topic Primary 1’s are learning about weather, seasons and Outer Space. Primary 2’s are learning about the Human body and keeping healthy.
• Primary 1 and 1/2 very much enjoy being active. There is a fantastic online resource call ‘Topmarks’. Particularly for Literacy and Numeracy. It is highly interactive and talks the children through their task.Numeracy-The categories available to choose from covers the majority of what we are covering in class and will allow the children to consolidate class learning at home. https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/3-5-years/counting Literacy-The categories available to choose from cover Reading, Writing, Spelling, Common words, Letters & Sounds, Speaking & Listening. Which will help support children with blending words, word making, sentence building and learning tricky words. https://www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/3-5-years/letters-and-sounds

• Other online Literacy and Numeracy resources are:

https://www.bbc.com/education/levels/zgckjxs

http://www.doorwayonline.org.uk

All the above resources are familiar to the children and they will be able to use them independently.

• Stay active by making an indoor obstacle course or a treasure hunt.
• Make a snowman or Make balloon marbles- fill a balloon with water (not too much) and food colouring, put it outside to freeze. Once frozen remove balloon and you will have colourful frozen ball in the garden.
• Use your ‘Making Thinking Visible’ skills to draw and write about what you ‘See’, ‘Think’ and ‘Wonder’ about the world outside your window.

Happy Learning and remember to STAY SAFE!!

Miss Alongi, Mrs Carlyle and Mrs Fettes

Hope you are all enjoying the snow – here are some activities which  you could be completing during your time off school:

Show Practise

P4-7: If you are inside keeping warm please keep on practising the songs for We Will Rock You (as we have missed a few rehearsals due to the snow! – The Show Must Go On! #Freddie Mercury)

World Book Day

As it is World Book Day, you could choose a book and complete on (or more) of these activities:

• Design a new front cover for it
• Write a review for the book (you could do this as a blog and put it on our website or Twitter)
• Write an alternative ending for the story
• Write a summary or create an illustration for your favourite part
• Think of a super power that would help the main character in the story, then design a poster which illustrates the power and how they use it
• Write a set of questions you could use if you were going to interview a character from the story (good one for P6!)

Writing

Write a story about a Beast from the East invading or attacking Tranent! Remember to include interesting descriptions of characters, setting and events.

Science

If you  feel like being creative and investigative in the snow you could carry out this insulation Science experiment:

• Get 2 or 3 (or more) clear plastic cups and fill them with snow.
• Wrap each cup in a different material (make sure you leave one with no wrapping – this is your control)
• Observe how long it takes the snow to melt in the cups
• The one which takes longest to melt has the best insulation

Maths

Try to get a bronze, silver or gold Mathletics certificate?!

Enjoy! 🙂  Mr Campbell

St. Martin’s is to remain closed to all nursery and school pupils.

I hope that all children are making the most of the snow by sledging and making snowmen. As long as you stay safe.

Kind regards

Stephanie McDonald

St. Martin’s is to remain closed tomorrow, Thursday 1st March for all pupils in school and nursery.

Keep safe.

Mrs Stephanie McDonald