Stenness Community School
Newsletter 1
25th August 2016
Welcome Back
After a long, long, long summer break, it is great to be back!
All of us are enjoying catching up on each other’s news and making our new children and
staff welcome.
With changes to staffing, new children and transitioning within the school, there are lots
of special welcomes this year.
A very special welcome to Lavinia Hallaran (P5) and Presley Hallaran and Caity Wright (P7).
On behalf of us all, children, parents and staff, a warm welcome back to our Art Teacher
Ms Ruth Thompson.
Reminder: Should you have any queries, concerns or suggestions which you feel will better
help us meet your child’s/children’s needs do not hesitate to contact their teacher(s) or
myself.
From Stenness to Rio Day (Community Fun Day)
Message from Mhairi Hughes on behalf of the Community Association:
Stenness Community Association would like to thank everyone who came along to the "From
Stenness to Rio, Family Fun Day"! We were delighted to see so many of you there and the
sun put in an appearance as well!
We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and hope you did too. Thanks again to all those who
helped with preparations, cooking, tidying up etc, all much appreciated.
Finally, we hope to do a similar event next summer.
There are a couple of photos here but for many more check out the Stenness Community
Association Facebook page.
PTA Holiday Fundraiser
Words fail me. The PTA café at the Ness of Brodgar Open Day on Sunday profited over
£800 for school funds! This is an unbelievable amount of money. I, on behalf of the PTA,
would like to say an enormous thank you to everyone who spent time baking, making
sandwiches, making soup and coming along to help throughout the day. We are enormously
grateful for your support of this event in the school holidays.
I would also like to say a huge thank you to Vicky Dixon and Norna Groundwater for the
time they spent organising the day. You are both very, very much appreciated.
School Values
These are enclosed with the newsletter.
We hope you can display these in a prominent place in your house and use these in
discussions with your children. These discussions really work if you are “catching them
while they are good”.
School Dinners
School lunches still cost £2.10 daily (will be reviewed in April 2017) and milkshakes remain
at 20p. The ordering arrangements are the same as last year; you should all now have
menus for the year and the children choose each day the combination they would like from
the list below. If you need another menu just speak to Donna.
Dinners can be paid for daily, weekly or termly.
Choice 1
Soup & main
course
Choice 2
Main course and
pudding
Choice 3
Soup, sandwich,
pudding
Choice 4
Baked tattie &
pudding
Choice 5
Soup & baked
tattie
All P1-3 children automatically receive free school meals if their parents wish.
Please contact the school as soon as possible if you need a form for Free School Meals
(P4-7) and clothing allowances (P1-7) for this school session.
Staffing 2015/2016
Teaching Staff
Bruce Pilkington
Vickie Leonard
Lorna Scott
Ingrid Taylor
Anne Pottinger
Fiona Manson
Elizabeth Duncan
Ruth Thompson
Susan Ferguson
Alice Beams
Support for Learning Assistants
Katrina Gray & Amanda Upton
Secretary/Auxiliary
Donna Hibbert & Sue McNeill
Janitors
Maureen Johnston & Hazel Walker
School Meals
Firth School Kitchen Staff
Head Teacher
P5-7 Teacher & Principal Teacher
P1-4 Teacher (Mon, Tues)
P1-4 Teacher (Wed, Thurs, Fri)
Support for Learning Teacher (Mon am, Tues)
Nursery Nurse
Violin Tutor (Wed am)
Art Teacher (Fri pm)
PE Teacher (Mon am)
Music Teacher (Wed pm)
Class Structure
With the current class sizes (P5-7 = 23 and P2-4 = 12), should the senior class exceed 25
later in the year I will have to consider restructuring the classes.
Newsletter
The fortnightly newsletter is issued every second Thursday to the oldest child in each
family attending the school.
As well as school news, events and samples of children’s work it also contains a “Community
Notice” section to advertise events, items for sale and any other community information.
Donna reserves the right to edit any notices.
Pupil Consent Forms
Attached to this newsletter are consent forms for all children:
 Excursion and Medical forms covering all Level 1/2 schools trips during this school
session (Level 1/2 refers to all regular or routine trips such as visits to historical
sites, trips to the library, carol singing at the Day Care Centre etc).
The emergency contact numbers on the above forms are the ones we use in
every instance. Please make sure that your emergency contact knows they will be
listed on the form and may be contacted at some point in the future.
 A general consent form for all other permissions
Absences/changes to arrangements
If for any reason your child will be late or absent from school do contact us by 10.00am.
Also, should you make any changes as to how your child will travel home from school, let us
know by 3.00pm.
Both of these requests are necessary to avoid confusion and, most importantly, to ensure
your child/children’s safety.
If you have a regular pattern of childcare for your children after school that affects who
may collect your child and/or if they are not on the bus, do inform the school and we can
make sure all the staff know.
Parish Football Penalty Shootout (Dounby Show)
Our thanks to Euan Mathers who did a grand job of representing our parish at the Dounby
Show. Whilst not winning, Euan performed very well in such a competitive event.
Term Calendar
Please keep this in a prominent position. There will be additions as the term wears on which
we’ll keep you informed about.
Fluoride Varnish (N-P7)
Tuesday 6th September
Those who get fluoride varnish administered at school will have already been given
consent/notification slips.
Science Festival Events
We are planning a fair few events for the Science Festival:
Tuesday 30th August
Friday 2nd September
Monday 5th September
Tuesday 6th September
Wednesday 7th September
P5-7
P2-7
P2-7
P5-7
P2-7
Molecule Workshop
Bodyworks On Tour
Soap Bubbles
Arcs & Sparks (tbc)
Destination Space
All of the above will come to the school so, thankfully, no bus hires are required.
PTA AGM
Thursday 8th September, 7pm in the staffroom
All families are encouraged to have a representative attend. An agenda will be sent out
nearer the time.
School Session Dates
Enclosed for your information are the school term dates for the next three school years.
These are really useful when planning family holidays and the like.
Looking forward to a very busy year full of exciting challenges and learning.
Thank you
Head Teacher
Reminder – Where to contact me
Monday
am
pm
Orphir
Stenness
Tuesday
am
pm
Orphir
Stenness
Wednesday
am
pm
Stenness
Orphir
Thursday
am
pm
Stenness
Orphir
Friday
am
pm
Orphir
Stenness
Contact Nos:
Stenness 850212
Orphir 811265