Weekly Update 2nd February

After a wet and windy end to January, we look forward to a short month ahead, busy as always and with a mid-term holiday to look forward to!

Food, Mood and Behaviour – Parent Seminar

We are delighted to be welcoming Dave Rex, Specialist Dietitian, to deliver a parent information seminar, ‘Food, Mood and Behaviour’.

The session will be virtual through MS Teams, all parents are welcome – it would be great to see you there.

To join the meeting follow this link https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-teams/join-a-meeting?fbclid=IwAR0DdeojBuGVn76KFTt-RHBBx46i93erfxem25FLEfPMuMja1f0DiZE8Me4 and enter:

Meeting ID: 341 235 696 964

Passcode: T6HuMZ

“Dave Rex has been a Specialist Dietitian for Highland Council for 20 years and has decades of experience in the food industry, Food Policy and Nutrition. He also speaks regularly for the Food and Behaviour research charity. He will provide a seminar on:

• How nutrition affects mood, learning and behaviour

• The difference between long term and short term effects

• How we can influence food preferences in children and young people”

Community Café

Our community café event last Friday raised £275 for Mary’s Meals.  The ‘Double the Love’ initiative means that the actual contribution was doubled, so this very worthwhile cause received over £550 from our efforts – a figure to be proud of!  Well done to our Primary 6 class for leading the event and for all their efforts on the day.  Thank you to everyone who managed to pop in for tea and cake, it was lovely to meet you. 

Community Pantomime

Our Primary 4 and Primary 5 classes attended the Community Pantomime production of Cinderella last Friday and had a great time.  I was so happy to hear how much the children enjoyed it.  A special mention to Mr MacKay and Mr MacLeod, two parent volunteers who helped with transport on the day – thank you so much!

I was really proud to have some of our own pupils involved in the production.  The following pupils performed in the show and were a credit to themselves and their school:

Well done to Caterina and Skye in P5, Arthur, Cleo and Olivia in P6, and Leah, Iga and Natalia in P7.

Showcase and Values Assembly

Our assembly this week was an extended one where we both gave out our value awards and gave pupils the opportunity to ‘showcase’ their talents.  Our sign-up sheet for showcase was so full I had to print a second one!  It never ceases to amaze me how confident and outgoing so many of our learners are.  Our showcase gave us a fantastic mix of talent including great musical performances from Hamish (P4) on chanter, and Lilly (P4) on fiddle.  We had a dance routine from Annie (P1), some gymnastics from Jaeyleen (P2) and football skills from Oscar (P2).  There was some vivid story telling from Finn S (P2), jokes from Zander (P4), and art from Leah (P7).  Unfortunately, we didn’t have time for everyone who wanted to showcase to do so, but I look forward to seeing these talents at a future assembly.

We issued 29 value awards this week.  These are for pupils who have demonstrated one or more of our school values of Determination, Respect, Kindness, Enjoyment, Friendship.

Great job everyone!

Primary 2/3	Harrison, Cameron, Malia, Aonghas, Ahmed, Mollie for showing great determination to learn how to use the Chromebooks. You worked well with the P4s.
Primary 4	Addie, Aislynn, Alex, Kieran, Ben, Rudy and Eva for supporting the Primary 2s with developing independence when logging onto their Chromebooks.
Primary 5	Skye & Caterina – amazing performances at the Community Panto Maisie – determination to do her best in school even with sore feet after her operation Callen – making an improved effort to complete his work to the best of his ability
Primary 6	Isaac for showing enthusiasm and considerable knowledge for our new topic on Europe. Angus for working hard across the curriculum and for making big improvements with his writing skills. Roidh for working hard in Maths and being a reliable member of the class.  Arthur, Olivia and Cleo for performing so well at the panto.
Primary 7	Iga, Natalia and Leah – Performing so well at the Community Panto and being good role models. Liam, Daniel and Grant – Working harder and showing more enjoyment with reading, and cooperating well in your group.

Makaton sign of the week

Extracurricular activities

• P6/7 basketball Thursdays 3.30pm-4.30pm
• Nan’s band – Tuesdays after school
• Skyedance – timetables have been published.
• P1-3 Disney playmakers football – hoped to resume after February break (more details to follow)

Soccer 7’s

Future Soccer 7s events will take place on:

Date	Time	Location
10th February 2024	10.30am-1pm	Portree (Astro)
2nd March 2024	10.30am-1pm	Plockton (Astro)
27th April 2024	10.30am-1pm	Portree (tbc)
28th May 2024 **please note change of date from 18/05/24**	10.30am-1pm	Kyleakin

Known Dates for this term.

Please see below our school diary of events for this term.  PPS is always a busy place and there will likely be more events to be added:

Date	Time	Event
Friday 2nd February	11.15am	P4 Reading session with pre-school
Sat 3rd February 2024	10am	P5 & under shinty tournament at Portree High School
Sat 3rd February 2024	1pm	Girls shinty tournament at Portree High School
Tue 6th February 2024	10.30am-2.30pm	P5-7 Girls Football Festival (Active Schools)
Tue 6th February 2024	6pm	Evening Parent Workshop with David Rex “Food, Mood and Behaviour”
Mon/Tue 19th and 20th February	/	Mid-term break.  School closed.
Wednesday 21st February	/	In-service day.  School closed to pupils.
Mon 26th February	/	Primary 6 Science Skills Workshop
Tuesday 27th February	/	Primary 7 Science Skills Workshop
Friday 1st March	11.15am	Whole school open morning.
Tue/Wed 19th and 20th March	/	Parents’ Evening
Wednesday 20th March	tbc	Whole School Spring Herring Project workshops.  More details to follow.
Friday 29th March 2024	/	Good Friday.  School closed for first day of Easter Holidays.  Pupils return on Monday 15th April.

Pupils Travelling by Bus

With a growing number of pupils taking the bus, could you please ensure that you let your child’s class teacher know directly when this is the case, in order that they are dismissed on time.  Bus pupils leave class at 3.25pm each day to catch the bus, however, recently there have been pupils running late as staff have not been aware that they are taking the bus.  Equally, the 3.25pm dismissal is only for pupils who are travelling on the bus that day.

Information about Head Lice

Head Lice are a common problem in school aged children. They can’t be prevented, but regular checking ensures early detection and treatment if necessary. Parents and carers should check their children’s head once a week during hair washing. You need your usual shampoo, conditioner, and a detection comb – ask your local pharmacist to recommend a suitable one. Remember that you are looking for living moving lice, the only evidence that your child is infected. If you find a living louse, ask your local pharmacist, school nurse, health visitor or GP for advice regarding treatment.

For further information see: http://www.nits.net/bugbusting http://www.nhshighland.scot.nhs.uk – search on head lice.