November 2003

Mrs George Retires!

Mrs George left the staff of Duns Primary School on Friday 14 November after nearly 28 years of service to the school! We had a special 'Star' Assembly in the hall where every class presented Mrs George with its own interpretation of a star. Oldest and youngest children in the school presented Mrs George with a flowering cherry tree and a cheque for over £400!! The day was rounded off with a 'tea party' in the staffroom. I hope Mrs George has a long, happy and very well-deserved retirement.

Children in Need

Two of our P7 girls, Catriona Webster and Rebecca Horne have made £145.17 for Children in Need. They ran a raffle selling tickets at the Open Evening last Thursday and in classes on Friday. The prize was a 'Virtual Birthday'!

The lucky winner was Rachel Melvin of Primary 7M. Her 'Virtual Birthday' prizes included a giant birthday cake, a personal CD player, a chocolate orange, a video, chocolate buttons, some practical jokes (not to be used in school!!!), an Advent calendar, a Simpson's pencil holder and a pack of pencils!! A fabulous idea and very well done to both girls!!! Many thanks to Catriona's and Rebecca's parents who kindly donated the cake and the 'birthday presents'!!

Dalguise Trip

A meeting about the P7 trip was held for P7 parents during the Open Evening. A letter will go out along with this newsletter asking parents if they wish to sign up for the trip.

Bird Table

As part of our Courtyard Garden Blitz, Mrs Melvin, one of our parents, has donated a wonderful bird table for the school. It is already in use in the courtyard outside P2/3T classroom window. The menu looks quite exciting - if you are a sparrow! - and we look forward to seeing many birds booking a table!

Open Evening

A very successful Open Evening was held in the school last Thursday. It was very well attended in all classes and I hope everyone enjoyed the evening and found it worthwhile.

Christmas Lunch

This will be on Thursday 11 December. It will be a traditional Christmas lunch and the cost will be £1.50 per child. Details are attached.

Scholastic Book Fair

Our annual book fair took place last week. As always this was highly successful with £2752.74 worth of books being sold. This is a new school record!!! This means that the school will be able to get free books to the value of about £1650 as a result. A huge thank you to all our helpers whose expert skills made it all run so smoothly!

PTA Christmas Coffee Morning

This will be held on Saturday 6 December. Details about this will be sent out before the end of the week.

Christmas Boxes

Just a reminder that any boxes should be in by Friday 5 December. Many thanks to all those who have already sent in boxes.

Other Christmas Activities

A very full programme has been planned and will include:

	the Christmas post box - from Monday 8 December
	Christmas tree and decorations - the theme this year is 'Christmas Carols'
	a performance of 'The Grumpy Sheep' by infant classes
	class parties
	class visits to Paxton House and the cinema
	nursery 'sing' to nursery parents
	the Church Service (10am on Thursday 18 December)

More details about these will be sent separately.

Children's Organisations

We are often asked by parents for information about activities that are available locally for children. The school would like to build a database of contact details for any children's organisations in and around Duns. If you know the contact details of any of these organisations please let the school know.

Communication

I am aware that we will be sending out a lot of information about a variety of topics over the next few days. I apologise for this but it is just a reflection of what a busy time this is!

In addition all schools have been asked to circulate information by a variety of other agencies. I hope that you will find most of these self-explanatory.

This newsletter should be accompanied by:

	a letter about the Dalguise Trip (P7 parents only)
	a flier from British Telecom
	a booklet, 'children, physical punishment and the law' and 'The Additional Support for Learning Bill, A Guide for Parents' from the Scottish Executive

Baa Baa Black Sheep!

Have you any wool? If so, please send it into school with your child. This is needed for certain art and craft lessons throughout the school and would be most appreciated - even a small amount will make a difference.

PTA News

The recent Hallowe'en Disco was very well attended by all ages of children. The costumes were fantastic! Well done Mums and Dads! Mrs Torricelli would like to compliment all pupils on their very good behaviour throughout the evening.

Pencils and Rubbers

Mrs London is selling pencils (price 10p) and rubbers (price 15p) from the office each morning from 9am to 9.30 am. Please try to have the correct change if you wish to purchase!

Ink Cartridges

We have enrolled in a scheme whereby we collect empty computer ink cartridges and in return we receive a small donation to the school fund. If you have any empty cartridges, please seal them in a plastic bag and send them into school. Every little helps!

Road Safety Competition

The winner of the 2003 Scottish Road Safety Campaign competition, "Spot the Faults" was Ross Apted from P7M. Ross is a keen cyclist and was over the moon to have found out he had won a splendid mountain bike in this national competition.

Ross already has his own helmet, but just to keep him a bit safer on his bike, the SRSC also gave him lights to make sure he was seen in the dark mornings. Well done Ross!!

Shop Local - Competition

Recently, a Scottish Borders School Art Competition was held and some children from our school entered. Out of a total of 568 entries, Bradley Aitchison from P7 was awarded first prize. Bradley will be accepting his prize on Friday 5 December. This will go out live on Radio Borders - we will advise you of times should we hear before that date.

Badminton

Andrew McQuarrie, Michelle Stewart and Jodie Hutchinson have been selected for inclusion in the Borders Primary Schools Badminton Training Squad for this season. From this squad, teams will be selected to represent the Scottish Borders in the Scottish Schools Primary Inter Area Tournament and the Anglo Scottish Schools Competition.

Congratulations to them and we wish them well in their endeavours over the season.

Mini-Hockey Tournament

A very enjoyable day was had by all at Tweedbank, Galashiels on Saturday 1 November when some pupils from our school took part in the tournament supervised by Moira Anderson and Sheila Thorburn.
The weather was kind and the sun shone for the duration of the tournament. The teams represented Duns Primary very well and we are very proud of their behaviour. They all played with enthusiasm and good sportsmanship throughout but unfortunately all their efforts were not rewarded with a place in the semi-finals.
As a small consolation, they were treated to a 'wee sweetie' from Moira and Sheila. The pupils who took part were, Kelly Aitchison, Jamie Apted, Ross Apted, Fiona Carnie, Eilidh Duncan, Bob Forrest, Cally Gilchrist, Emma Keddie, Rachael Melvin, Jessica Powner, Jamie Semple, Rhona Shiell, Alec Sim, Kathryn Taylor, Tessa Thorburn and Alex Watney.

Well done to you all!

2nd Duns Brownies

The Brownies meet at Duns Primary School on Thursdays during term time. Brownies are between 7 and 11 years of age. The pack is full at the moment, but if you would like to put your daughter's name on their waiting list for a future vacancy please call Alison Taylor on 01890 818752.
Guiders - The Brownies are looking for volunteers to become Guiders with the pack. Two of the three Guiders will be leaving in June 2004 so we urgently need to find 1 or 2 people who would be interested in taking their places. Training is given to gain the necessary Guiding Warrant. If you are interested, please call Alison Taylor on 01890 818752.

Old CDs

Miss Wilson in Primary 2W is planning something special using old CDs. If you have any at home, perhaps from AOL or other computer freebies, please send them in to school.

Good Spells for Hallowe'en!

These spells were written by Mrs Burchick's class for Hallowe'en. They are really, really spooky!!!!

Diary Dates

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