As we quickly approach December, there are quite a few items to draw your attention to this week;
Tartan Day in aid of School Funds
In order to mark St Andrews Day on Monday, we will be holding a Tartan Day at school. Pupils are invited to wear tartan in place of school uniform; this can be a small splash of tartan or kilted out from head to toe. We are hoping to use this event to raise some money to fund upcoming Christmas Events; craft mornings, panto, Christmas parties etc. Pupils are asked to make a donation, regardless of amount, for the privilege of the non-uniform day. These will be collected on Monday morning. We thank you in advance for your support in this.
Christmas Events
As part of our virtual assembly next Wednesday, we will be switching on the school Christmas lights to mark the start of December and the festive season. An updated December calendar is attached. We have added two events on the final day of term, Tuesday 22nd December. We will have an online Christmas Service that morning and will then take the pupils on a Christmas walk through the village. Pupils are welcome to wear Christmas hats, tinsel etc. to help spread some Christmas cheer through the streets that morning. Due to these two events, we will have our online panto on the morning of Monday 21st December. The canteen staff will provide some Christmas goodies to classes that morning.
Pupils wishing to give out Christmas cards this year will be able to do so within their own classes. Each class will have a system in place which will allow for cards to be handed in by Friday mornings to be given out each Monday. This will ensure that all cards posted will have been quarantined over the weekend before being handed out. We will not be able to give cards out with pupils own classes.
Christmas lunch for P1-3 will be held on Wednesday 9th December and for P4-7 on Thursday 10th December. Christmas lunch will be traditional roast turkey with all of the trimmings with vegetarian/vegan options available. On the Wednesday, Christmas dinner will be the only option for P1-3 pupils and the option for P4-7 will be hot dogs that day. On the Thursday, Christmas dinner will be the only option for P4-7 and the option for P1-3 will be hot dogs.
Classes are busy preparing for the recording of our virtual concert and class teachers will be in touch if any particular clothing or prop items are required. We will be able to record strings pupils in school, however, due to risk assessments around chanters and pipes, these are currently not permitted in school. Pupils wishing to participate in the concert are asked to record their songs at home and email these to Mrs Matheson by Tuesday 8th December
Wet Weather
We continue to be required to have pupils outdoors as much as possible. With the very wet weather we have had we are finding that many pupils are coming back into class with very wet feet. Waterproof footwear is advised where possible, however, we would also request that all pupils have a spare pair of socks which they can leave in their trays at school in case these are needed. P1-3 pupils have previously been requested to have a full set of clothes to change into and we thank you for sending those in. If pupils in P4-7 could each take in a spare set of socks or wear waterproof footwear for outdoors, that would be appreciated.
Drop Off Zone
As part of the ongoing construction work around the Community Centre, resurfacing works are expected to take place from 30th November – 4th December. We realise this will impact the school drop off zone and have agreed with Compass that parents will be permitted to use the diversion in place, pictured below and that pupils can be dropped off at the entrance to the car park. A footpath will be retained from that point up to the existing footpath and Compass will ensure that personnel are present when construction vehicles are there to ensure safe crossing. We appreciate that this is less than ideal, however, these works were intended to take place over the October holidays and were unable to proceed at that time. Please see the following information from the project coordinators below and thank you in advance for your understanding of this.
Park Road will be closed to traffic (Monday – Friday) commencing 30 November with a diversion in place to allow cars to access the Car Park between the new LSHA development and the Community Centre. Access to pedestrians will be maintained around the existing footway network and depending on the exact stage of works a crossing (pedestrians) may be permitted from the Car Park under control of the contactors traffic management.
Homework
In accordance with our school homework policy, homework will be reduced through the month of December and will consist mainly of reading. We hope to be able to provide some photos on Google Classrooms over the month of December to provide you with an idea of classroom life at PPS. We appreciate that the lack of open events and parents evenings has limited your ability to see classrooms in person and hope that this will be useful.
As always, we thank you for your ongoing support and ask that you please get in touch with any questions or concerns that you may have.
Regards,
Sara
portreeprimaryschool.com 