It’s been a shorter week here at PPS due to our in-service day. Next week will only be four days as well due to the holiday on Monday 6th. Let’s hope the spell of lovely weather holds up!
Staffing
Today is Mrs Caleigh MacDonald’s last day working in Portree Primary. Caleigh has worked in the school for the past 8 years as a PSA, and has supported hundreds of learners in that time. As she leaves to embark on a new career with the NHS, we wish her all the very best.
P5-7 Generation Science Workshops – Creative Coding
We are excited to welcome in the team from Generation Science next week to do some ‘creative coding workshops with pupils in P5-7. Please see information below about these sessions.
PROGRAM A DANCING ROBOT
Get your class programming together to complete challenges and create a robot disco in
this hands-on interactive workshop. Students will use the programming language Scratch to
program Marty the Robot™ to follow commands and navigate its way around our obstacle
course. As they explore programming students will develop their logic and problem-solving
skills all with a little help from our humanoid robots.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
• Describe what robots are and why they are useful
• Create basic computer programs for robots to perform simple tasks
• Troubleshoot basic computer programs to identify why a robot is not performing as expected
• Recall how different sensors can be used to control a robot’s movement
• Explain the concept of a ‘loop’ when referring to a computer program
• Explain the concept of ‘if-then’ statements when referring to a computer program
Cross Country
The Skye Active Schools cross country event will take place next Wednesday 8th May. Representing the school will be two teams of boys and girls who were the top performers in P5-7 from our school cross country event. Permission slips have been sent home and should be returned as soon as possible.
Assembly
Our whole school assembly this week was a pupil showcase. It was fantastic to see a range of talents including art by Isaac (P6), Tarran (P5) and Ellie (P5), music by Lilly and Caterina (P5), storytelling by Joni (P5), and magic by Skye (P5). There were lots of children in P1-4 who wanted to participate in showcase but we sadly ran out of time (45 minutes was not enough!). I look forward to seeing them at the next showcase assembly.
Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood (RSHP)
This term pupils in P5-7 will be receiving lessons on relationships, sexual health, and parenthood (RSHP). This is an important aspect of our health & wellbeing curriculum. More information on the topics covered will be shared with parents in the coming weeks.
End of Year Reports
End of year reports will be going home to parents near the end of May. Reports will be taken home by your child. If you require an additional copy of the report (for example in the case of parents who don’t live together), please let the school know so that we can get one to you.
Online Bullying
I was very disappointed this week to receive reports of online bullying involving some of our pupils. There have been instances of pupils engaging in some very serious verbal abuse of others in the context of video gaming. We will be working as a school to remind pupils that bullying is bullying – regardless of whether that is in person or online. I would ask that parents continue to closely monitor their children’s online behaviour, as it is an environment that can leave them very vulnerable.
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://portreeprimaryschool.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.
Prizegiving trophies
Thank you to those who have returned prizegiving trophies. A reminder that I require all trophies to be returned to the school by Tuesday 7th May.
Soccer 7’s
Last weekend’s Soccer 7s event in Portree was a great success – ell done to all of the pupils involved. We had a team from P4, P6 and P7, and each of them represented the school brilliantly. Thank you to the parent helpers who coached the teams on the day – we can’t send teams to these events without the support of volunteers, so it is much appreciated.
We’re already looking forward to the next (and final) event of the session which will take place on Saturday 18th May in Kyleakin (please note that this is different to the date which has appeared in the weekly update for the last few months.) This will be a competitive tournament, with fixtures drawn on the day.
Permission slips for this event will go out next week. I will need these returned by Monday 13th May as I have a deadline for submitting teams of Tuesday 14th.
Future Soccer 7s events will take place on:
Date | Time | Location |
18th May 2024 | 10.30am-1pm | Kyleakin |
Active Schools
Please see message from Sarah Ross at Active Schools, with poster at the end of this email:
ACTIVE SCHOOLS ACTIVITIES- ONLINE NOW!!
Our community activities starting from Monday 22nd are now online for booking! Please see poster attached for what’s taken place. Please make sure that you re- book your child onto activities for the new term.
All these activities will take place at the Fingal Centre. We will have more information going out to individual schools about activities happening in your local area soon.
It would be great to have some new faces along, so make sure to book your place online at https://booking.highlifehighland.com/ You do not need to be a member to come to activities, but you will need to set up a pay as you go account to register.
Information about an exciting new Shinty session will be coming soon!!
We rely entirely on volunteers to deliver and support our activities in the community and across all our schools, so if you would like to set up something new for your school/community or keen to support our current activities, then we would love to hear from you! Please get in touch with sarah.ross@highlifehighland.com
Key Dates for this term
Date | Time | Event |
Friday 3rd May | / | School Eco Day. |
Monday 6th May | / | School closed for May holiday (reopens Tuesday 7th). |
Tuesday 7th May | Morning | Rocks and volcanoes workshop for P4 & P7 by Celeld Rocks http://www.celeldrocks.co.uk/ |
Wednesday 8th May | 11am-1230pm | Skye School Cross Country P5-7. |
Thursday 9th May | / | Generation Science Workshops for P5-7 ‘Creative Coding’. |
Wednesday 15th – Thursday 16th May | / | Childsmile – fluoride varnishing. |
Thursday 16th and Friday 17th May | / | Musician visit and session with all classes. Solo LMNS cellist, Katy Bell – click here to find out more. |
Saturday 18th May | 10.30am | Soccer 7s – Kyleakin |
Friday 24th May | / | Sports Day. With a ‘rain date’ of 31st May. |
Wednesday 29th May | / | Pupil reports to be issued to parents. |
Wednesday 5th June | / | Visit from Andy McKechnie of Jammin Fitness to do the session: Olympic Street Jam – Pathway to Paris. More information to follow. |
Week beginning 10th June | / | School trips hoped to take place this week. Tbc. |
Friday 14th June | Tbc | 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 | Tbc | Prizegiving ceremony. |
Thursday 27th June | 12 noon | School closes for last day of session 2023-24. |