Lumsden Primary School
Lumsden
Huntly
AB54 4JR
Tel. No. 01464 861703
[email protected]
www.lumsden.aberdeenshire.sch.uk
18th May 2017
Hello everyone,
The weeks are flying by so I thought it would be a good time for a wee bit of a catch up with things
that have been happening in school.
You will all have received photos of the visit by the Speyside
Falconry a few weeks ago. This was an ideal chance for the
younger children to round up their work on “The Owl Who Was
Afraid of the Dark”. The children learnt some fascinating facts
and were able to write about the visit. Darren Lowe’s work can
be seen at the end of this Newsletter in the ‘Children’s Gallery’.
Of course, the older children and Mrs Walker couldn’t resist a
sneaky peek too and were able to hold the owls.
The older children have been learning lots about the Jacobites
with Mrs Walker, researching facts and looking at how that
time in history has shaped Scotland today. We were lucky
enough to have an art specialist, Mr Livingstone, teaching a couple of weeks ago. The children
produced some fantastic Jacobite portraits that are on display in the hall.
The younger children also had an art lesson with Mr Livingstone and produced scarecrow pictures
using line and pattern. Maria Stronach wrote about how they drew the pictures and her work is in
the gallery below.
Last Monday some of the Science staff from Alford Academy visited the P4-7 class. They brought
lots of great equipment and a pig’s pulmonary and respiratory system for the children to look at and
touch. It was a great opportunity for the children to consolidate their understanding about organs of
the body.
We had a successful café earlier this month and the children continue to show how responsible they
are, serving and chatting with members of the community. Thank you once again for all the help
from all the parents that help us bake and run the café. Our last date for this year will be on the 20th
of June at 2pm. It would be great to see as many of you there as possible.
The Mary Fair was a great success. I think I saw almost all the children attend. We ran out of cupcakes on our ‘Build your own Cup-Cake stall’. It was amazing to
see how many toppings some of the children managed to pile on
top of one small cake! Thank you to all the parents who helped to
make the cakes and serve on the day. Thank you, also to Mrs
Thomson who provided all the cake toppings. The children made
scarecrows with Mrs Duncan and swept the board with 1st, 2nd and
third prize.
We are in the process of organising the end of year celebration
and have two dates booked, the second as a back-up if the
weather is not kind. The plans are sketchy but we will have a
morning of fun with potted sports activities and refreshments
available. There will also be a short assembly to give out prizes
and certificates and a chance to give the P7 children a good send off. All parents are welcome to
attend.
The council have moved to using Skype technology for communication and therefore all school
phone numbers will be changing on a phased basis. The school phone number will be changing
before the end of term. The new set-up will give us more options for you to leave messages if the
office is unmanned. We will let you know nearer the time the new number.
The school photo shoot went well last week and Melissa has now released the photos so you can
access them online, using your password that your child was given on the day. If you would like to
order photos please have your order to Melissa by the 7th of June to ensure they can be processed
and returned to you by the end of term. Melissa will be available on the 24th of May at school for you
to view photos on-line should you need to. Please let us know by Monday the 22nd of May if you
would like this option.
Please find attached with this email, a calendar of dates for your diary. It does get very busy at this
time of year so take a little time to check the dates and add them to your calendar.
Finally, we are working on the structure of the classes for next year. We are working on a 2 class
structure with a P1-4 class and a P5-7 class. Miss Glass will be the registration teacher for P5-7 and
Mrs Walker and I will be the registration teachers for P1-4. We will be working very flexibly within
these set classes to maximise the support that we can give all the children. There will be a mixture
of team-teaching and working with registration classes. This is a work in progress and once we have
finalised the plans we will give you an opportunity to discuss this further.
Head Teacher
Children’s Gallery
ART with Mr Livingston
For art p4 to 7s did Jacobite’s and p1 to 3s did scarecrows. Here is how to make the scarecrows –
* Step one make a T
* Step two do an O on the T to make a head
* Step three make a triangle from the top of T to make arms then triangles from the bottom of the
arms to make legs.
* Step four add shapes then add lines to be stiches
* Rub over the pencil with a paper towel to smudge it
* If you use the pencil to colour in an area then get a rubber and rub a
pattern
* You will now have finished your scarecrow
By Maria Stronach, Primary 3
Scarecrow by Hector Starkey
Jacobite by Charlie Milne
Speyside Falconry Visit
We had a visit from the Speyside Falconry. It was interesting and Miss Glass made us think we
were going to do boring work but it was surprisingly epic. The owls they brought for us were friendly.
Brogan was a European eagle owl her wings were going to be as big as the person who came for a
visit. It was for funny when she went Mrs Gould’s shoes .They also brought Simon the barn owl. He
was the same kind as Plop in the owl who was afraid of the dark. He was cheeky because he
pooped on the towel twice. He flapped his wings to get comfortable. We found out that when their
feathers get wet it makes it harder to fly this kills barn owls. They are more nocturnal than a tawny
owl. The African Scops owl Lana came too. We got to hold her. She closes her third eyelid to
protect her eyes when she does that her eyes go blue. She is a cool transformer owl. Her
camouflage is awesome it is like she not there. They also have two falcons and one snowy owl.
By Darren, Primary 3
Poem
Ducks are blathering for their ducklings
Piglets are gazing for mum’s milk,
The calves enter the dirty rings
Farmers are figuring out where to put the silk.
The piglets are getting beefy
Lambs, start to grow wool,
A wee camel ate a fishy
To paint the bunnies shed I need a stool.
Goats feed their kids
There’s a new born foal,
At night the farmer closes the water lids
The baby donkey he has is cruel.
Hay is what I feed the cows
Chickens eat seeds,
The farmer moves pigs into rows
Carrots is what sally (the pig) needs.
By Sophie Lowe