Activities Week
It was fantastic to see activity week coming together, and I have had very positive feedback from pupils. Activities week started as a back-up plan when we realised school trips weren’t possible. Ideas were thrown about in the staffroom, and while many didn’t come to fruition, the few that did were great. Here are some of the things we’ve got up to this week:
- Cinema Visit
- Whole School Golden Time
- Fire Engine Visit
- Archery
- Highland Hustle dance/music/exercise
- Arts and crafts
- Local walks and visits
- Lots of play and lots of fun!
Thank you to all who supported us putting these events on.
I was also very pleasantly surprised to be thanked by many of the children in the school for allowing them these experiences. Their gratitude is of course unnecessary, but it is a nice reminder of how lovely and polite our children are.
Community Café
The community café last week raised a sum of £432.71 for Skye and Lochalsh Young Carers. Thank you to everyone in our school community and beyond for joining us and making the event such as success. Thank you as well for all the kind donations of money on the day, or of baking beforehand. All very much appreciated!
I don’t know if many of you noticed the Community Café banner that we display on the fence outside the school? It’s in a pretty sorry state just now after being damaged by wind at the start of the year. I will be looking to retire this soon and would value any recommendations that you may have for companies that would be able to provide a replacement, roughly 2.5m by 0.5m custom vinyl banner. Please be in touch if you do.
Visit by Paul Whittaker
On Friday last week we also had a special visit from Paul Whittaker. Paul is a well renowned and talented musician, as well as an inspirational speaker. He is also profoundly deaf, and was in the school to provide workshops to P2/3, P4, and P6 which included music and British Sign Language (BSL). Pupils were delighted with the infectious energy and enthusiasm that Paul brought to the workshops, and it was great to see them picking up some BSL. Thanks for the visit Paul.
Open Morning
Our final Open Morning of the school session will be today at 11.30am. See you there!
Pupil Sponsored Walk
I was delighted to hear that one of our P5 pupils, Alisha, was keen to do a sponsored walk. I was even happier when I heard that she wanted to raise money for the school! Alisha is planning to walk Bruach na Frithe in the Cuillins in August. At 958m high this is no wee stroll! If you would like to support Alisha by sponsoring, then please see the details in the poster below. Thank you Alisha for your thoughtfulness and determination.
Parent Council Donation Request
Parent Council will have a stall at the forthcoming Agricultural Show. If you would like to donate a bottle for the Tombola could you drop it in to the school office please?
Transitions and ‘Moving-up days’
Next week the P7 class will be on their transition visits to Portree High School from Wednesday 19th – Friday 21st. We wish them well on this visit.
We will also be doing our school transitions next week. On Thursday afternoon and Friday morning all classes will ‘move-up’. It will be lovely having the new P1s joining us in the school, and for everyone else to settle into a new class. As has been the case over the past several years, we are still awaiting confirmation of our staffing for next session. If we do not receive this confirmation by Wednesday, then we will go ahead with the transitions based on a ‘best guess’ of what our classes will look like. I will share information with you about this next week.
Prizegiving and Leaver’s Assembly
Our annual Prizegiving and Leaver’s Assembly will take place on Wednesday 26th June at 9.30am. We will use this assembly as an opportunity to celebrate pupil success this year, as well as to bid farewell to our P7 class. Parents of pupils in P7 are invited to attend, as are parents of prize winners in other classes. We will notify you next week if your child is a prize winner.
Shinty Equipment Return
Could all shinty helmets and sticks that have been borrowed this year be returned to the school next week please? I would like to audit our stock of equipment so that we are well prepared for loaning helmets and sticks next year.
Parent Council
Our school Parent Council is on the lookout for new members. Parent Council plays a key role in representing the views of parents, supporting the school, fundraising, and much more. However, as a voluntary body it is reliant on members of the parent community offering their support. To find out more about the Parent Council, please see the information on the school website: https://portreeprimary.wordpress.com/parents/parent-council/what-does-the-parent-council-do/ .
I would ask all parents to please consider supporting the vital work of the Parent Council.
Schools Out Programme – Active Schools
Please see message from Sarah Ross at Active Schools, with poster at the end of this email:
Please find attached a copy of our planned activities across the summer for pupils age 3- 15 if you haven’t had the chance to book already. We have activities running in Portree, Broadford and Dunvegan so we hope there will be something for everyone.
A reminder that all activities must be booked online at https://booking.highlifehighland.com/
If you have any problems getting booked on then please get in touch with sarah.ross@highlifehighland.com
We hope to have some additional activities, but will update schools and our Portree Active Schools page as soon as they are confirmed, so make sure to keep a look out.
Key Dates for this term
| Friday 14th June | 11.30am | Open morning. |
| Wednesday – Friday 19th-21st June | / | P7 Transition visit to Portree High School. Other classes will be having transition time ‘moving up days’ on 20th/21st . |
| Wednesday 26th June | 9.30am | Prizegiving and leaver’s assembly |
| Thursday 27th June | 12 noon | School closes for last day of session 2023-24. |
portreeprimaryschool.com 