On Wednesday we had a very exciting morning as the photographer was in school for his annual photo-shoot. Everyone was looking great. He took some super individual and family photographs which will be available to purchase in good time for Christmas.
Today was Miss Nicholl, our violin teacher's last day at Rasharkin Primary School. We want to thank her for the great start she has given to many violin and viola players in our school over the past number of years. We have five new violin players starting this year and they are looking forward to working with their new teacher, Miss Bell.
We are very grateful to the team of parents who come in to school each Friday to prepare fruit for our children at break time. We still need a few parent volunteers to help out. If you are available for an hour or so, up until 10.30am on a Friday morning, and would like to help out, please contact Karen in the office on 028295 71383 or speak to Laura Calderwood who coordinates the rota. You would only be on the rota about one Friday per month. Helping with Friday fruit is also a great opportunity to get to know other parents.
P1 and P2 have been learning about Autumn time. This week they were eagerly awaiting their outdoor play time which focused on Autumn. Despite the rain, the children had a great Outdoor Play session. They made shelters for hibernating animals using leaves, twigs and pine cones. They explored our garden area which has now been extended. They made shelters, did outdoor art, used the mud kitchens and made forest phones.
This year we are getting the fantastic opportunity of working with local poet, Maura Johnston, as part of the Poetry in Motion project. Maura will be coming into school to teach us about poetry and how to write our own poems. We had a great first session writing poems about Autumn Leaves, and we are all looking forward to the next session.
For the next few weeks, P4 and P5 will be taking part in some technology and construction challenges on Thursday afternoons. So far, they have been working in small groups at different activities. One group had the task of planning and creating a bridge that had to stand at least 10cm tall. The only resources they had were marshmallows and spaghetti pasta.
Another group also had the same challenge, using K'nex and Meccano. The last activity challenged the children to create a Lego marble run for their friends and teachers to try out.
The children thoroughly enjoyed their first session. They have showcased their skills in creative thinking, problem-solving and good teamwork. The children will continue to build these skills as they rotate around the various tasks. Have a look at the photos and also at the video of their first session. Click here to view video
P6 and P7 were doing Maths outside on Tuesday. They were working out how much space there is in the Solar System.
There are millions of kilometres between each planet so they made up their own scale by using toilet paper. One sheet of toilet paper represented 50 million kilometres! The furthest planet from the sun, Neptune, was 90 sheets of toilet paper away. They were surprised how far apart some of the planets are, especially the planets furthest away from the sun. They came to the conclusion that SPACE IS HUGE!
We are indebted to all of our governors who freely give of their time to help run our school efficiently. The Annual Report of the Board of Governors, gives more detail of the work that was carried out during 2016/17, and is now available on our website. Please follow For Parents – Links- Other – Annual Report of the Board of Governors 2016/17 to view this report. This document also gives details of the areas we as a school staff decide to develop each year. For this current school year, we will be working on Spelling, Using ICT, Poetry and Mental Maths. If you would like more information about any of these, please speak to a member of staff.
We are delighted that the ‘Tour of our School’ video, which our children made last year, is now available for you to view. We are indebted to staff from Nerve Centre who shared their expertise to make this possible. We hope you enjoy it! You can find it on the 'Our School' page of the website. You can also view the video here. Click here to view 'Tour of our school' video.
The results of the Accelerated Reading Survey, September 2017 are now available to view on our website. Please use the following link to view this document –For Parents –Links – Accelerated Reading – Accelerated Reading Survey Results. OR click here to view document
Today there was great excitement in school as the annual RAF Wings Appeal got under way. Each year the children get the opportunity to support this charity by buying, badges, teddy bears and ducks. Some of the P6 and P7 children will be in charge of selling these items at lunchtime. The Wings Appeal badges etc. will be available to buy for the next two weeks.
As a whole school we have decided to look at how we can help children improve their spelling in writing. These are words which children ‘should’ know, but often misspell when writing a sentence. These words will be taught in school and are not part of nightly spelling homework.
A list of the spelling for each class can be viewed by clicking on - For Parents - News- Spelling in Rasharkin Primary School. You can also view the list by clicking - Click here to view list
Today some of the P5 - P7 pupils attended the first session of Netball and Basketball training after school. Connor Kelly from the Joey Dunlop Centre was their coach and he will be there for the next four Tuesdays. They all had great fun learning about, coordination, watching, listening, moving and working together as a team.
Each year in September, the children have a competition to write a prayer which will be said throughout the year by everyone in the dining hall. We had some really great prayers this year. The winning prayer was written by Harley in P7. Other winners were, Flora P3, Lucy P4, Ella P5, Cameron P5, Stephen P6 and Andrew P6.
During the first few days of our new term, all the children in school were asked to think about how the choices they make in school can affect themselves and others. They were encouraged to think about 'good choices - green choices' and 'bad choices - red choices'. They had lots of super ideas for good choices eg. be a good friend, tidy up, share with others and wait patiently. The red choices that they should not make included - leaving the table without asking, running inside school, taking other people's things and leaving people out. They drew pictures and wrote about their choices. In assembly they all agreed to always try to make GREEN CHOICES, so that our school can be a happy environment for learning in.
We are delighted to welcome twelve new children into P1. We have four boys and eight girls. They have already settled into the routines of school. They have been enjoying learning in their classroom and also in the playroom.
Congratulations to everyone who received certificates for Accelerated Reading in P4 - P7 for the summer term. The cup winner for the child who reached his/her target and had the highest percentage accuracy in the quizzes taken, was Grace in P5. Well done Grace!
P7 organised the annual Rasharkin's Got Talent Show. We were thoroughly entertained by our two hosts Tom and Joe. Mrs Millar, Mrs Dundas and Mrs Gilmore had the very hard task of choosing the winners. We all enjoyed a great variety of acts which included, singing, dancing, gymnastics, piano playing, football skills, ankle hopping, skipping, horse jumping, puppets, movie animation, joke telling and a magic act. The overall winner was Flora in P2 who sang 'Castle in the Clouds'. Second was Lydia and Lily with their synchronised gymnastic act and third was Ella who did some tap dancing. The most original act was Isaac's Movie Animation, the cutest was Wiktor and the most entertaining, Hannah and Susanna. Well done to everyone who took part.
On 28th June we had our Prize Day to mark the end of another very exciting and successful year in the life of the pupils of Rasharkin Primary School. We were delighted to welcome many parents and friends for this special occasion. All children took park in various singing items and Sam and Nicole played their violins.
Gareth, from Scott McGarry Fitness, presented the certificates and our special guest Rev Jeffrey Blue presented the special prizes. We also said goodbye to Mrs Millar and Mr Bell who have been with us since October. Mrs Calderwood expressed her thanks to them for their time in Rasharkin and she also thanked all staff and parents for their work and support throughout the year. Rev Blue reminded us all that at the end of another year there will be changes for everyone when they start another new school year in September. He left us with the verse from Hebrews 13 verse 8 - Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Rev Blue also thanked Mrs Calderwood for the excellent way she has carried out her role as Acting Principal in the absence of Mrs Howe. Tea was served by the Parents' Association.
We wish all the P7's success in their new schools in September and we hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable summer holiday.
On Monday 26th June we had our annual visit from Ian Getty for a football day. All classes had a football session with Ian, where they were taught many new skills.
