Latest Parent Information

Weekly Update 7th March

World Book Day 06/03/25

It was great to see so many pupils dressed up or in their PJs to mark World Book Day yesterday. Lots of fun was had throughout the day, and lots of reading was done! All pupils should have received a book and a book token. The book token can be redeemed at Carmina Gadelica who have the following available:

Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s The Wolf Trials
Pokémon: The Epic Pocket Guide
Julia Donaldson’s and Axel Scheffler’s Who’s in Acorn Wood?
The Adventures of Paddington: Farm Escape!

Soccer 7s

The next Soccer 7s tournament will take place tomorrow (Saturday 8^th March) in Portree from 11.30am onwards.

All participants have received an information letter. We are delighted with how many pupils are taking part, as we will be able to field 3 teams for the first time in the 2024/25 season.

Skye and Lochalsh Young Carers will be hosting a fund-raising café while the tournament is going on. This will be open from 10am-1pm and will be in the small kitchen in the high school reception area. Please pop in to support this café.

Portree Nursery Survey

Portree Nursery are currently assessing the need for out of school care services at the nursery, and have created a survey to gather feedback from families in order to better understand the demand for this within the community.

The nursery have asked me to share this survey with you and ask that you please spare a couple of minutes to complete it. it covers areas such preferred hours, types of activities, and cost expectations. All responses are confidential.

Survey can be accessed at this link:https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GFNM6GL

Girls Shinty

Please see message below from Sarah Ross regarding Girls Shinty:

Active Schools will be restarting girls shinty on a Wednesday evening from 5-6pm at the Fingal Centre, Portree.

These sessions will be open to any girls P2-P7, running up until the Easter holidays.

If you have any pupils who would be interested in m attending, then please pass this on.

Booking is essential, so make sure you get booked on through our online booking system at High Life Highland Activities under General Activities. You do not need to be a highlife member to get booked on, but you will need to have a pay as you go account to be able to book. If you have any issues getting booked on then please get in touch with sarah.ross@highlifehighland.com

A big thanks goes to coaches Sadie and Catherine and our Young leaders for getting this session running again.

We hope to see some new faces along this term.

Thanks

Sarah 😊

Sarah Ross

Active Schools Co-ordinator

High Life Highland

07841677447

01478 614810 (Portree high school) ext 240

E sarah.ross@highlifehighland.com

P1 & P7 Dental Screening

Pupils in P1 and P7 will have received a letter about dental screening. This will take place in school on the 27^th of March.

Parents’ Evening

We will have our next parents’ evening on Tuesday 25^th and Wednesday 26^th March. We will again be using our online booking system to allow you to choose a convenient day and time. Bookings open at 5pm on Monday 10^th March. You may book an appointment at: https://parentsbooking.co.uk/portreeprimary

If you have any problems making a booking, then please let me know.

Primary 5 parents please note that due to an unavoidable calendar clash, your parents evening will take place on a different day – Thursday 20th March. My apologies if this causes inconvenience to families with children in other clashes.

School Uniform Offer

One of our school uniform providers Andrew Hyde, currently have 10% off across their website: https://ahyde.co.uk/collections/portree-primary.

Use code: AHUNIFORM10 at checkout.

Mountain Warehouse Discount Code

20% off for our school community at Mountain Warehouse until June 2025.

If you would like to take advantage of this, the promo code is: CC202473. This can be used at: https://www.mountainwarehouse.com

Key Dates for Term 3

Date	Event
Tuesday 11^th March	Basketball Festival P7 – 10.30am-2.30pm
Wednesday 19th March	Balfour Beatty ‘Big School Visit’ – Engineering sessions for P5
Wednesday 19th March	Parent Open Afternoon 2.30pm
Friday 21^st March	Red Nose Day
Tuesday 25^th March and Wednesday 26^th March	Parents’ Evenings P1, P2, P3, P4, P6, P7
Tuesday 25^th March	Basketball Festival P6 – 10.30am-2.30pm
Thursday 27^th March	P1 and P7 Dental Screening
Monday 31^st March	P1 and P2/3 School Trip to Armadale (tbc)
Tuesday 1^st April	P6 School Trip to Culloden (tbc)
Wednesday 2^nd April	P3/4 and P5 School Trip to North Skye (tbc)
Friday 4^th April	Last day of Term 3 (school re-opens Tuesday 22^nd April)

March 7, 2025

Weekly Update 28th February

Sporting Success – Shinty

Huge congratulations to everyone who took part in recent shinty tournaments including the P5 & under team, and the girls team. All who participated represented the school in an exemplary way. I have had numerous comments from spectators about how well our teams did, both in terms of performance and attitude. Our P5 & under team finished as runners-up – this was a fantastic achievement which we are all very proud of. Well done!

World Book Day 06/03/25

World Book Day takes place on Thursday 6^th March. To mark the day, we are encouraging pupils to come to school dressed either as their favourite character from a book, or in their pyjamas. We will be encouraging reading throughout the day, and will also be holding a school-wide ‘big read’ event.

I have spoken to local bookshop Carmina Gadelica who have advised that they have stock of some titles for World Book Day. Pupils will receive a book token which they can redeem for a book in the shop. The titles available are:

Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s The Wolf Trials
Pokémon: The Epic Pocket Guide
Julia Donaldson’s and Axel Scheffler’s Who’s in Acorn Wood?
The Adventures of Paddington: Farm Escape!

In addition, Highland Bookshop in Fort William have supplied every pupil in the school with one of the World Book Day titles. We will distribute these to children next week.

Parents’ Evening

We will have our next parents’ evening on Tuesday 25^th and Wednesday 26^th March. We will again be using our online booking system to allow you to choose a convenient day and time. Details of how to access this will follow shortly.

Open Morning Change of Date/time

Please note a change of date for our Open Morning in March. We had originally scheduled this to take place on Friday 21^st March, however due to a clash with our planned Red Nose Day activities that day, we will have to change this. Instead, we will have an Open Afternoon on Wednesday 19^th March at 2.30pm. Parents may take their child home slightly early after this if they wish, please just inform the teacher that you are doing so.

Soccer 7s

The next Soccer 7s tournament will take place on Saturday 8^th March in Portree. Permission slips were issued to interested pupils on Wednesday this week and must either be returned or completed online by Tuesday 4^th March. Online permission slips can be accessed at: https://forms.office.com/e/Q0y1nXZjqN

Gaelic Survey

Please see survey at the following link regarding attitudes towards Gaelic in education: https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/uhi/parent-questionnaire-24-phs-duplicate

This survey will support PHD research undertaken by Sheena Amos, who has recently been visiting schools in the area to gather information on pupil attitudes to Gaelic.

For Attention of P6 and P7 Parents – Free School Meals

Please see letter attached to this email regarding free school meals. “The Scottish Government have advised that from February universal free school meal provision applies to Primary 6 and Primary 7 pupils whose parents are in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment.”

Information for Parents and Carers – Free School Meal Expansion Download

School Uniform Offer

One of our school uniform providers Andrew Hyde, currently have 10% off across their website: https://ahyde.co.uk/collections/portree-primary.

Use code: AHUNIFORM10 at checkout.

Mountain Warehouse Discount Code

20% off for our school community at Mountain Warehouse until June 2025.

If you would like to take advantage of this, the promo code is: CC202473. This can be used at: https://www.mountainwarehouse.com

Key Dates for Term 3

Date	Event
Monday 3^rd March	P6 Basketball Training at PHS – 11.40am.
Thursday 6^th March	World Book Day. Pupils may come dressed as favourite character from a book or in their pyjamas.
Tuesday 11^th March	Basketball Festival P7 – 10.30am-2.30pm
Wednesday 19th March	Balfour Beatty ‘Big School Visit’ – Engineering sessions for P5
Wednesday 19th March	Parent Open Afternoon 2.30pm
Friday 21^st March	Red Nose Day
~~Friday 21^st March~~	~~Open Morning 11.30am~~
Tuesday 25^th March and Wednesday 26^th March	Parents’ Evenings P1, P2, P3, P4, P6, P7
Tuesday 25^th March	Basketball Festival P6 – 10.30am-2.30pm
Monday 31^st March	P1 and P2/3 School Trip to Armadale (tbc)
Tuesday 1^st April	P6 School Trip to Culloden (tbc)
Wednesday 2^nd April	P3/4 and P5 School Trip to North Skye (tbc)
Friday 4^th April	Last day of Term 3 (school re-opens Tuesday 22^nd April)

February 28, 2025

Weekly Update 14th February

Dear parents/carers,

Please note that the school will be closed on Monday-Wednesday next week for the February break. We look forward to welcoming pupils back for a short week next Thursday 20^th February. I hope you all enjoy a well-earned break.

Please see this week’s update below.

Staffing

It was with great sadness that we had to bid farewell to Mrs Janice MacDonald this week. Janice had worked in the school as a PSA for the past 15 years, but has decided to move on to pastures new. We really value the skill and years of experience that Janice has brought to her role – she has made such a difference to the lives of many of our learners over the years, and we will miss her greatly. All the very best Janice!

We do now have a vacancy in our PSA team which has been advertised with a closing date of Monday 17^th February. Please see the following link if interested in applying: https://myjobscotland.gov.uk/councils/highland-council/jobs/pupil-support-assistant-1-17-hpw-fixed-term-until-03-july-2025-portree-primary-school-411518

P1 Health Assessments

Primary 1 parents/carers please note that the health team will be visiting the school on Thursday 20^th to carry out the P1 routine health review. Information on what this is for can be found at this link: https://publichealthscotland.scot/population-health/early-years-and-young-people/child-health-data-and-intelligence/child-weight-and-growth/routine-health-review/

Indoor Shinty

Well done to those youngsters who represented the school in last weekend’s indoor shinty competition. I have received several comments about how well they did, and I am very proud of all of them.

School Uniform Offer

One of our school uniform providers Andrew Hyde, currently have 10% off across their website: https://ahyde.co.uk/collections/portree-primary.

Use code: AHUNIFORM10 at checkout.

Mountain Warehouse Discount Code

20% off for our school community at Mountain Warehouse until June 2025.

If you would like to take advantage of this, the promo code is: CC202473. This can be used at: https://www.mountainwarehouse.com

Key Dates for Term 3

Date	Event
Monday 17th – Wednesday 19^th February	School Closed (February Break on 17^th/18^th, the staff in-service on 19th)
Wednesday 26^th February	Balfour Beatty ‘Big School Visit’ – Engineering sessions for P6
Monday 3^rd March	P6 Basketball Training at PHS – 11.40am.
Tuesday 11^th March	Basketball Festival P7 – 10.30am-2.30pm
Wednesday 19th March	Balfour Beatty ‘Big School Visit’ – Engineering sessions for P5
Tuesday 25^th March	Basketball Festival P6 – 10.30am-2.30pm
Friday 21^st March	Open Morning 11.30am
w/c 24^th March	Parents’ Evenings
Friday 4^th April	Last day of Term 3 (school re-opens Tuesday 22^nd April)

Kind regards,

David MacLean

Acting Head Teacher

February 14, 2025

Weekly Update 7th February

Dear parents/carers,

My apologies that I didn’t manage to send a parent update last week as I was caught up in the excitement of our Community Cafe!

Please see this week’s update below.

Community Cafe

Thank you so much to everyone who made it to last Friday’s Community Cafe. There was a strong turnout and over £300 raised through donations, with a further sum of £240 raised by the Parent Council through their raffle. We had earmarked any donations for our school fund and will take suggestions from our pupils and staff on how they would like to see this spent.

Well done to pupils in Primary 6, I was so impressed with their maturity and determination to make the event a success.

Unfortunately our Community Cafe’s are becoming more difficult for us to deliver – this is due to the staffing capacity in the school being squeezed. We will endeavour to continue these events where possible as they are great learning experiences, however they may not always be possible. Parent volunteer support with future events will be much appreciated.

P6 and P7 Basketball

The Primary 7 class enjoyed a basketball training session at Portree High School yesterday and will be back next week for another one. Primary 6 will have a session next Monday (10^th February) and again on Monday 3^rd March. Pupils in P6 should come to school on Monday with (or wearing) their PE kit – including suitable footwear for indoor basketball.

The basketball Festival will take place later on in March for our pupils in P6 and P7.

Balfour Beatty ‘Big School Visit’

Pupils in P5-P7 will have the chance to participate in sessions on engineering over the next few weeks. These sessions are run by Balfour Beatty as part of their ‘Big School Visit’ project and will take place in the school.

Pupil Success – P6 Creative Writing

Our P6 class took part in a creative writing competition in December. The task was write a mini saga (less than 100 words) using the prompt of a magical map as inspiration. This week I have received notice that many of our pupils have had their work selected to be published in a book, The Magical Map – Worlds of Wonder. Well done to everyone who had their work selected – it is a great achievement that so many of our pupils will be able to call themselves published authors!

A letter has gone home to selected pupils as parents must give permission for children’s work to be published by 16/02/25. Please follow instructions in the letter to give your permission as soon as possible.

Indoor Shinty Qualifiers

Good luck to our pupils who will be representing the school in tomorrow’s indoor shinty qualifiers at Portree High School.

School Clubs and Activities

Computer Club –This is a weekly club from 3.30-4.30pm. This session will be run by some P6 pupils and supervised by a member of staff. All welcome.

Shinty training for P1-3 – Last session will be next Thursday 13^th February.

Young Leaders in P6 and P7 are also running a variety of clubs at lunchtimes/breaktimes including sport/dance/games/chess/art/crochet.

Breakfast Boogie – A short weekly dance session before the start of school (8.50am) every Monday. Again this, will be run by young leaders. This will run as a trial until at least until the February break.

Toy donations

If you are having a clear-out of old toys and games, would you consider donating them to the school for the P3/4 class to sell in their toy stall during Red Nose Day? Although this will not take place until March, we will start collecting donations now – these can be left at school reception. Thank you!

School Uniform Offer

One of our school uniform providers Andrew Hyde, currently have 10% off across their website: https://ahyde.co.uk/collections/portree-primary.

Use code: AHUNIFORM10 at checkout.

Mountain Warehouse Discount Code

20% off for our school community at Mountain Warehouse until June 2025.

If you would like to take advantage of this, the promo code is: CC202473. This can be used at: https://www.mountainwarehouse.com

Key Dates for Term 3

Date	Event
Monday 10^th February	P6 Basketball Training at PHS – 11.40am.
Wednesday 12^th February	Balfour Beatty ‘Big School Visit’ – Engineering sessions for P7
Thursday 13^th February	P7 Basketball Training at PHS – 1.45pm.
Monday 17th – Wednesday 19^th February	School Closed (February Break on 17^th/18^th, the staff in-service on 19th)
Wednesday 26^th February	Balfour Beatty ‘Big School Visit’ – Engineering sessions for P6
Monday 3^rd March	P6 Basketball Training at PHS – 11.40am.
Tuesday 11^th March	Basketball Festival P7 – 10.30am-2.30pm
Wednesday 19th March	Balfour Beatty ‘Big School Visit’ – Engineering sessions for P5
Tuesday 25^th March	Basketball Festival P6 – 10.30am-2.30pm
Friday 21^st March	Open Morning 11.30am
w/c 24^th March	Parents’ Evenings
Friday 4^th April	Last day of Term 3 (school re-opens Tuesday 22^nd April)

February 7, 2025

Weekly Update 17th January 2025

It’s been great to have a full week of interrupted learning. All classes have managed to get back into the swing of things and are looking forward to a busy term ahead.

Please see our weekly update below.

P5 – Work on Skye Event and Lucky2BeHere Training

Our P5 class were invited to attend the ‘Work on Skye’ launch event at the Community Centre on Tuesday. They were able to browse the various stalls at the event and were also fortunate to receive some training from Lucky2BeHere. The class really enjoyed participating and conducted themselves very well throughout their visit. Any parents at the school gate on Wednesday afternoon may have been wondering why so many kids came out with bandaged heads – there weren’t any real head injuries I’m glad to say!

Science Skills Workshops

Both Primary 6 and Primary 7 classes will attend a full day science skills workshop on Monday (P6) and Tuesday (P7) next week. This will take place at the Community Centre and will be on the theme of robotics and mathematics. These skills workshops have always been very well received by pupils in previous years, and we are very much looking forward to this one.

Makaton

There will be a Makaton level 1 training on Wednesday 5^th and Wednesday 12^th February. This will be hosted by UHI North, West and Hebrides (Portree) and the workshop will be run by one of our PSAs – Maria Pelletta – who is also a qualified Makaton tutor. This is at a much-reduced price of £60 for the 2 sessions and includes the £50 Manual. For more information, or to sign-up, follow this link: Makaton Level 1 – Portree Tickets, Wed 5 Feb 2025 at 17:30 | Eventbrite

Active Schools

Please see the message below from Sarah Ross:

ACTIVE SCHOOLS ACTIVITIES FOR 2025

We are looking forward to kicking off the new year with our community activities starting from the 13th of January.

Activities are now on our online booking system at https://booking.highlifehighland.com/ so please ensure that you book onto activities for this new block to guarantee your space.

Due to our senior pupils having prelims coming up then we will not have girls shinty this month, but hope we can run something following the February break

It would be great to be able to add to these activities, so if there is something you would like to see happening across the island and could support in getting it started, then please get in touch to discuss how we can help.

I look forward to seeing all our regular participants back and welcome lots of new ones too for 2025!

If you have any issues getting booked on or would like to discuss any volunteering opportunities, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Sarah at sarah.ross@highlifehighland.com

Sarah Ross

Active Schools Co-ordinator

High Life Highland

07841677447

01478 614810 (Portree high school) ext 240

E sarah.ross@highlifehighland.com

Mountain Warehouse Discount Code

20% off for our school community at Mountain Warehouse until June 2025.

If you would like to take advantage of this, the promo code is: CC202473. This can be used at: https://www.mountainwarehouse.com

Key Dates for Term 3

Date	Event
Monday 20^th January	P6 Science Skills Workshop
Tuesday 21^st January	P7 Science Skills Workshop
Friday 31^st February	Tbc P6 Community Cafe
Saturday 1^st February	Soccer 7s – Portree
Monday 17th – Wednesday 19^th February	School Closed (February Break on 17^th/18^th, the staff in-service on 19th)
Tuesday 11^th March	Basketball Festival tbc.
Friday 21^st March	Open Morning 11.30am
w/c 24^th March	Parents’ Evenings
Friday 4^th April	Last day of Term 3 (school re-opens Tuesday 22^nd April)

January 17, 2025

Weekly Update 20th December

On behalf of the staff at the school I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We all very much appreciate the support that you have offered the school over the past year, and look forward to more of the same in 2025.

Please see a very short weekly update, along with some known dates for Term 3.

Christmas Service

The school will attend a Christmas Service at Shepherd’s Way Church today (Friday 20^th December). Families and members of the community are also invited to attend. The start time for this service is 10am, and members of the community are invited to stay afterwards for refreshments. We look forward to seeing some of you there.

Staffing

Today is Tessa Cooper’s last day with us, and we are very sorry to see her go. Tessa has been working with us as a PSA for the last few months and has quickly established herself as an important member of our team. Thank you Tessa for all of your hard work, and all the very best!

Festive Walk

Yesterday we took almost the whole school for a festive walk through the village. It was lovely to see our youngsters interacting with members of the community and wishing them a Merry Christmas. We stopped in at the Square and enjoyed singing a few Christmas Songs. Thank you to the parent volunteers who joined us on the walk, and thank you to those who came to listen.

Mountain Warehouse Discount Code

20% off for our school community at Mountain Warehouse until June 2025.

If you would like to take advantage of this, the promo code is: CC202473. This can be used at: https://www.mountainwarehouse.com

Key Dates for Term 3

Date	Event
Monday 6^th January	School opens for first day of Term 3
Wednesday 15^th January	Parent Council Meeting – 6pm
Wednesday 15^th January	P7 Dance Leadership
Monday 17th – Wednesday 19^th February	School Closed (February Break on 17^th/18^th, the staff in-service on 19th)
Tuesday 11^th March	Basketball Festival tbc.
w/c 24^th March	Parents’ Evenings
Friday 4^th April	Last day of Term 3 (school re-opens Tuesday 22^nd April)

December 20, 2024

Weekly Update 13th December

Christmas Show

It was great to see such a healthy turnout for our Christmas Show on Monday night. Our pupils did themselves proud as always with their determination and effort, despite some technical issues including a lack of stage and no working curtains. There were some tired faces in the school on Tuesday morning – pupils and staff!

A sum of over £200 was raised through donations towards our school fund, and over £500 was raised in the raffle for Parent Council funds. Thank you all for your generosity.

Christmas Parties

Next week each class will have their Christmas Party. They will have music, games and party food in the gym hall, and we are also expecting a special visit from Santa Claus on Tuesday afternoon!

Pupils will each receive a small gift which has generously been paid for by the Parent Council.

Canteen Christmas Lunch

Please note that the canteen lunch menu next Thursday 19^th December will be Christmas Lunch – turkey with trimmings.

Home Farm & Tigh na Drochaid Visits

Pupils in P2/3 and P5 visited Home Farm on Tuesday this week to entertain residents. They were in fine voice, singing a selection of Christmas songs.

On Thursday this week the P2/3 and P3/4 classes visited Tigh na Drochaid to entertain service users. Again, they performed brilliantly.

It’s always lovely to take the talent and charm of our pupils out into the community – the children always give it their all.

Dance Festival

P6 and P7 took part in the Dance Festival at Portree High School on Tuesday. It was a great opportunity to meet and mix with children from schools across Skye, and to put their recent social dancing lessons to good use.

Christmas Service

The school will attend a Christmas Service at Shepherd’s Way Church on the last day of term (Friday 20^th December). Families and members of the community are also invited to attend. Time tbc.

If you would prefer that your child did not attend, please let the school know. Children who do not attend the service will remain at the school to do Christmas crafts.

Late coming

A request for parents to ensure that their children arrive to school on time. The school day starts at 9.06am, and we expect that pupils are on time. Arriving on time is important for morning routines, and to ensure children are set-up for the day and ready to learn. I appreciate your support with this.

Last Call for Lost Property

Last call for lost property – please check in this week as we have lots of unlabelled lost property which has been sitting for some time. Unclaimed items will be donated to charity at the end of term.

Community Christmas Event at Shepherd’s Way Church

Please see flyer below about the upcoming community Christmas event taking place at Shepherd’s Way Church on 14^th December.

Mountain Warehouse Discount Code

You may remember that in May this year Mountain Warehouse offered all in our school community 20% off across their range. They have kindly agreed to run this discount until June 2025.

If you would like to take advantage of this, the promo code is: CC202473. This can be used at: https://www.mountainwarehouse.com

Key Dates for Term 2

Date	Event
Friday 13^th December	Christmas Jumper Day.
Tuesday 17^th December	Dance Festival at Portree High School (P5 attending)
Thursday 19^th December	Canteen Christmas Lunch.
Friday 20^th December	Last day of term 2 and Christmas Service at Shepherd’s Way Church.

Active Schools Activities

Please see message below from Sarah Ross regarding current Active Schools activities.

All activities are required to be booked on our online booking system at https://booking.highlifehighland.com/. You do not need to be a member to come along, but you will require to create a pay as you go account to create an account for booking.

As always, our activities only go ahead with the support from our parent volunteers. If you would be interested in supporting any of our current activities or could help to set up something different in your local school or community then please get in touch and I can provide the support and help to do this.

We look forward to seeing you there.

December 13, 2024

Weekly Update 6th December

It has been a very busy week with parents’ evenings and Christmas Show preparation.

Christmas Show

Our school Christmas Show will take place on Monday 9^th December at 6.30pm at The Venue at Portree High School. We would be grateful if pupils could arrive no later than 6.15pm, to allow us enough time to get them organised before the start of the show. We look forward to seeing you all there.

Pupils will be attending the Venue this morning and again on Monday morning for rehearsals. Stagecoach are very kindly providing a bus to transport pupils in P1 and P2/3, while the other classes will walk.

Our Parent Council will be holding a raffle on the night of the show (see poster below). If you are not able to attend, but would like to buy raffle tickets, then please contact them by email on portree.primary@highlandpc.co.uk

Christmas Jumper Day

Friday 13^th December will be our Christmas Jumper Day, in aid of Save the Children. Pupils will be encouraged to wear a Christmas Jumper and if possible, make a donation of £1.

If you have any Christmas Jumpers which are no longer required (too small, etc.) you would be welcome drop these off at the school for others to use.

Christmas Service

The school will attend a Christmas Service at Shepherd’s Way Church on the last day of term (Friday 20^th December). Families and members of the community are also invited to attend. Time tbc.

If you would prefer that your child did not attend, please let the school know. Children who do not attend the service will remain at the school to do Christmas crafts.

Soccer 7s

Soccer 7s takes place tomorrow (Saturday 7^th December) at 11.30 a.m in Plockton. An information letter has gone home today to children involved.

Lost Property and Second-hand Uniform

We still have lots of unlabelled lost property in the school including jackets, hats, gloves, and everything else! Please visit the school office for a look. We do not have the storage space for this and will be donating any unclaimed lost property to charity shops at the end of term.

We also have a large number of very good quality second hand school uniform available. Please visit the school to have a look and take what you need.

X-Programme

Please see message below and leaflet attached regarding the X-Programme, this may be of interest to some parents.

X-Programme-leaflet Download

Hello,

Please find some information attached about the X-Programme. This is an NHS programme which offers support with health, weight and wellbeing for families and children of all ages. It is a family focused lifestyle change programme which motivates and supports participants and their families to feel positive about making sustainable lifestyle changes to support their health and wellbeing.

For more information please visit www.thexprogramme.scot.nhs.uk or contact Connie at c.spouge@calachildcare.co.uk.

Community Christmas Event at Shepherd’s Way Church

Please see flyer below about the upcoming community Christmas event taking place at Shepherd’s Way Church on 14^th December.

Mountain Warehouse Discount Code

You may remember that in May this year Mountain Warehouse offered all in our school community 20% off across their range. They have kindly agreed to run this discount until June 2025.

If you would like to take advantage of this, the promo code is: CC202473. This can be used at: https://www.mountainwarehouse.com

Key Dates for Term 2

Date	Event
Friday 6^th December	Christmas Show Rehearsal 1 at The Venue – 9.30am
Saturday 7^th December	Soccer 7s in Plockton at ~~10.30am~~. 11.30am
Monday 9^th December	Christmas Show Rehearsal 2 at The Venue – 9.30am
Monday 9^th December	School Christmas Show at 6.30pm.
Tuesday 10^th December	Dance Festival at Portree High School (P6 & P7 attending)
Friday 13^th December	Christmas Jumper Day.
Tuesday 17^th December	Dance Festival at Portree High School (P5 attending)
Thursday 19^th December	Canteen Christmas Lunch.
Friday 20^th December	Last day of term 2 and Christmas Service at Shepherd’s Way Church.

Active Schools Activities

Please see message below from Sarah Ross regarding current Active Schools activities.

December 6, 2024

Weekly Update 29th November

Open Morning Friday 29^th November

All parents and carers are invited to attend our Open Morning today (Friday 29^th November from) 11.30am.

This is a chance to visit your child’s class and spend some time looking over their classwork and pupil profile with them.

Please note that if you wish to take your child home slightly early that Friday after your visit you may do so, however you must ensure their teacher knows!

We look forward to seeing you there.

Parents’ Evening

A final reminder that appointment bookings for Parents’ evening is currently open (link and instructions below) but will close on Monday, ahead of appointments taking place on Tuesday 3^rd and Wednesday 4^th December.

To login you will need to enter your name and your child’s name ([First Name] [Last Name]) and date of birth. The login details you enter must match those we have on record for you. Please follow this link to login: https://parents-booking.co.uk/portreeprimary

The booking system is very easy to use, but if you do encounter any difficulties then please let us know and we can help you.

Homework

A reminder that our school homework policy relaxes during the month of December. This helps to relieve pressure on pupils at a very busy time of year.

Update to school closure protocols

Highland Council have recently updated guidance on school closure protocols. I have attached the latest guidance for parents to this email, but in summary:

The school closure 0800 telephone line has now been withdrawn and should no longer be used.
Parents should use the school closures website for information on closures: School closures | The Highland Council (this website used to only be updated from 8am, however it will now be automatically updated as soon as the school is closed – regardless of time).
In addition, I will continue to advise parents of school closures by email and Facebook updates.

School Closures (Adverse Weather) Guidance Nov 2024 Final Download

Light-Up Portree

Thank you to all pupils who represented the school by singing at the light-up Portree event on Wednesday. They braved a freezing cold night, but sang brilliantly. The group did not have as much rehearsal time as planned due to school closure last week, but they did us all proud. Well done!

Tigh na Drochaid

P2/3 class visited Tigh na Drochaid on Tuesday this week to perform a dance routine for service users there. It was fantastic to hear how well the class did and how positively they were received. All classes in the school get dance tuition from Skyedance once per week, and it’s great to see the hard work in their lessons paying off.

Shinty

Children in P2-5 enjoyed a shinty coaching session delivered by Katie Drain (Shinty Development Officer) on Tuesday this week – great fun was had by all. Thank you Katie for visiting the school.

Well done as well to the children who represented the school last night at the Jenny MacKenzie indoor shinty tournament in Kyleakin, and thank you to our dedicated volunteer coaches for helping prepare our players for this tournament.

Parent Council Update

Parent Council have been busy fundraising over the last several weeks and have raised just under £600 from Halloween Disco and their stall at the reindeer parade. The Parent Council use funds raised to support various initiatives in the school (for example providing funding for Christmas gifts for children), and we are very grateful for their support.

Soccer 7s and P1-3 Football Festival

The next Soccer 7s event will take place on Saturday 7^th December in Plockton at 11.30am. Permission slips have gone out today to interested pupils, please return these by Tuesday 3^rd December, as this is my deadline for submitting teams. Alternatively parents may complete the permission slip online at this link: https://forms.office.com/e/h6hRBEHTYF

There will also be a P1-3 football festival the same day from 12-1pm in the games hall in Plockton High School. We do not have to register players or teams for this, but the organiser would like an idea of numbers from each school. If you plan to take your child to this, could you complete the form at this link: https://forms.office.com/e/sZeicREN0N

Christmas Show

Our school Christmas Show will take place on Monday 9^th December at 6.30pm at The Venue at Portree High School. Tickets for this should have gone home to parents yesterday (possibly today for some). Apologies for the delay as we had hoped for these to have gone home last week.

If you know that you will not be attending, then please return your tickets to the school so that we can re-allocate them.

Please note that we will be taking pupils to Portree High School next Friday (6^th) morning for a rehearsal, then again on the morning of Monday 9^th for final rehearsal. We will all be walking to and from the High School on those days.

Community Christmas Event at Shepherd’s Way Church

Please see flyer below about the upcoming community Christmas event taking place at Shepherd’s Way Church on 14^th December.

Mountain Warehouse Discount Code

You may remember that in May this year Mountain Warehouse offered all in our school community 20% off across their range. They have kindly agreed to run this discount until June 2025.

If you would like to take advantage of this, the promo code is: CC202473. This can be used at: https://www.mountainwarehouse.com

Key Dates for Term 2

Date	Event
Friday 29^th November	Parent Open Morning (all parents welcome into school to view their child’s work).
Tuesday/Wednesday 3^rd/4^th December	Parents’ evening appointments.
Friday 6^th December	Christmas Show Rehearsal 1 at The Venue – 9.30am
Saturday 7^th December	Soccer 7s in Plockton at ~~10.30am~~. 11.30am
Monday 9^th December	Christmas Show Rehearsal 2 at The Venue – 9.30am
Monday 9^th December	School Christmas Show at 6.30pm.
Friday 20^th December	Last day of term 2.

Active Schools Activities

Please see message below from Sarah Ross regarding current Active Schools activities.

We look forward to seeing you there.

November 29, 2024

Weekly Update 22nd November

Staffing

Today is Ms Korri Henderson’s last day with us. Korri has been covering PSA maternity leave for the past year, and has become an invaluable member of our school team. We thank Korri for her flexibility and hard work, and wish her all the very best for the future.

We welcome Mrs Sarah Nisbet back to work next week and very much look forward to having her back with us.

Children in Need

I was so proud last week to see the school come together to fundraise for Children in Need. The school was awash with yellow, and there was some amazing crazy hair (I dare say some parents may still be scrubbing hair colouring off kid’s heads!).

A total of just over £580 was raised – an absolutely brilliant amount which will help do a lot of good for children across the country.

The Primary 6 class must take the lion’s share of credit for all the effort that they put into organising the day. They took their duties very seriously and acted with incredible maturity to ensure everything went smoothly. Well done P6!

Thank you to all families who supported us by contributing items for raffle, jumble sale and the bake-off, or by sending your child in with cash for donations. It was all very much appreciated.

Parents’ Evening

A reminder that appointment bookings for Parents’ evening is currently open (link and instructions below). Over 60% of parents have already booked their appointment, but there is still plenty of time to do this before they take place on Tuesday 3^rd and Wednesday 4^th December.

The booking system is very easy to use, but if you do encounter any difficulties then please let us know and we can help you.

Open Morning Friday 29^th November

All parents and carers are invited to attend our Open Morning on Friday 29^th November from 11.30am.

This is a chance to visit your child’s class and spend some time looking over their classwork and pupil profile with them.

Please note that if you wish to take your child home slightly early that Friday after your visit you may do so, however you must ensure their teacher knows!

We look forward to seeing you there.

Light-Up Portree and Reindeer Parade

Please note a change to the plans for the Light-Up Portree event and Reindeer parade tomorrow. Due to poor weather forecast the organisers have decided that the Light-up event will now take place on Wednesday night 5-6pm. The children who have signed up to sing for this should therefore not attend tomorrow night, but should attend on Wednesday if they are able to.

Also, the reindeer parade will be going ahead, however pupils will not be able to join in the parade (though of course they can still watch).

Shinty

There will be no shinty practice this Tuesday 26^th November as our volunteers will be on a coaching course that day.

The Jenny MacKenzie indoor shinty tournament will take place next Thursday 28^th November. We will be sending two teams to this – permission slips have gone home to those taking part. Please return these by Tuesday 26^th November. Best of luck to everyone involved.

Skyedance Showcase

Last Saturday’s Skyedance Showcase has received rave reviews from many in attendance. Congratulations to everyone of our pupils who took part. I know how much determination and effort went in to practicing their routines, and I am so delighted to hear how it went so well on the night.

Thank you to Allison at Skyedance for being so supportive of our dancers and helping to get them performance ready.

Christmas Show

Our school Christmas Show will take place on Monday 9^th December at 6.30pm at The Venue at Portree High School. All families will receive two tickets for this which will go home with children today. If you require additional tickets, then please contact the school office to join the waitlist and we will do what we can to accommodate you. The seating capacity of The Venue limits how many tickets we can give away.

If you know that you will not be attending then please return your tickets to the school so that we can re-allocate them.

Asda Cashpots

The school is now signed up to Asda Cashpots. This is a reward scheme which means Asda will donate a percentage of any shopping you do with them to the school. To get involved you need to download the Asda rewards app and select the school. Information about how to do this can be found here: https://www.asda.com/cashpotforschools

Mountain Warehouse Discount Code

You may remember that in May this year Mountain Warehouse offered all in our school community 20% off across their range. They have kindly agreed to run this discount until June 2025.

If you would like to take advantage of this, the promo code is: CC202473. This can be used at: https://www.mountainwarehouse.com

Key Dates for Term 2

Date	Event
Saturday 23^rd November	Light-up Portree and Reindeer Parade.
Friday 29^th November	Parent Open Morning (all parents welcome into school to view their child’s work).
Tuesday/Wednesday 3^rd/4^th December	Parents’ evening appointments.
Saturday 7^th December	Soccer 7s in Plockton at 10.30am.
Monday 9^th December	School Christmas Show at 6.30pm.
Friday 20^th December	Last day of term 2.

Kind regards,

David MacLean

Acting Head Teacher

Active Schools Activities

Please see message below from Sarah Ross regarding current Active Schools activities.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Thanks

Sarah Ross

Active Schools Co-ordinator

High Life Highland

November 22, 2024