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Newsletter September 2008

Dear Parents Throughout the school, reading is a high priority and

in October you will have the opportunity, at the
Curriculum for Excellence Learning Festival to see what has been going on.

There has been quite a lot in the press about the All these new initiatives take much time and effort on
Curriculum for Excellence and you probably are the behalf of staff. We are fortunate at Andover to
wondering how this will affect your child’s edu- have such a dedicated and professional team who
cation. spend much of their own time preparing resources
and planning learning that is motivating for the chil-
Curriculum for Excellence will transform the dren.
Scottish Education system. Its purpose is to make
sure that through the best possible teaching our Extra support in class or for making resources is still
young people have the knowledge and skills they required. Some volunteers have come forward but if
need for leaning, for life and for work. you did not manage the Information Meeting and
wish to find out more, please contact me via the of-
There is already a great deal of excellent practice fice.
at Andover but we need to make learning and
teaching more exciting and more relevant. Strike Action

In brief, it will affect penology (the way we Andover Primary will be closed on Wednesday 24
teach) the planning of what we teach and how September as non-teaching staff are striking in sup-
progress is assessed and recorded. port of their recent pay claim. However, children in
P1—P3 should report to school as usual for their
At Andover changes have already been made to planned trip to Dundee. Teaching staff will be carry-
our teaching style. You will have heard your child ing out development work within the school building.
say “we have co-operative work” or “group tasks” I am sorry not to give more warning about this. The
today. This style of teaching gives children more final decision has only been
responsibility over their learning and means les- made.
sons are more active (and maybe noisier!) Chil-
dren enjoy this way or working and it does ensure Parking at the front of the
pupils are engaged with what is going on and not school
sitting passively.
I am disappointed that some parents are still continu-
Active learning is being implemented at the In- ing to park in the bus bay and at the Zebra crossing.
fant stages and fits very well with Co-operative Please keep these areas free. These have been created
strategies. Children are involved through play, for the safety of our pupils and selfish parking may
discussion and use of our new electronic boards lead to an accident. It is illegal to part on the yellow
in learning, especially for maths. Answers are of- lines and the Police will be monitoring this. If you
ten written on individual whiteboards instead of a have to meet your child it might be an idea to park in
workbook and children are involved in setting Scott Street. And let him/her walk through the lane to
their own targets. The latter involves teachers us- meet you. Please be considerate!
ing two stars and a wish for writing.
News
Educational visits
Assemblies
The Infant department will be
visiting Sensation in Dundee
Last week two musicians
and the beach this week as part o f
spend a day in school preparing children for an as-
their Seashore context and next week P7 will visit
sembly with a difference. The members of a drum-
the Theatre in Arbroath for One Giant leap, the
ming group prepared worship songs accompanied
epic tale of Mankind’s struggle to get its head
by shakers, guitar, mandolin and tambourines.
round the universe. Much can be learned from
Photos will be available shortly on the school
these visits and your support with funding contin-
website.
ues to be appreciated.
Two assemblies are held each Tuesday one for the
Badge Day
Infants and one for our upper classes. These are
usually taken by myself but often visitors are in-
Badges will be given to all pupils who hold re-
vited along to speak on a particular topic. Our
sponsibilities within the school on Monday 29
school chaplain visits about once a term.
September. Invitations will be issued to parents of
pupils involved.
These assemblies are in addition to our whole
school Together Time when pupils are told the
Thank you for your continued support.
“Make Ten” rule for the week.
Dates for your Diary
Andover Choir
Wed. 24 Sep. - School
Mrs Barrow has been working
only open for P1-P3
extremely hard with the School
(trip) and staff
Choir to produce “the Button Box” This is to be
Mon. 29 Sep. - Parent Council AGM & Meeting
performed at the Brechin Arts Festival this week
Fri. 3 Oct. School closes at the end of the day un-
and you will be able to listen to some of it at our
til Monday 20 Oct. for October break.
Learning Festival in October.
Wed.29 Oct. 6.30 - 8.30 - Learning Festival and
new Andover 10th Birthday Celebration (Details
Putting on a production takes time and effort and
to follow) Please keep this date free!
we try to encourage the pupils to make a commit-
Wed. 29 Oct. - dress as a book character. All pu-
ment to something like this once they have signed
pils dressed as a book character & contribute £1.
up. It is only too easy to give up when things get
This will offset the price of the puppet show to be
tough or the sun is shining outside. This sort of
performed at the evening event. Consideration
commitment is good training for life! Well done
could be given to costumes over the holidays.
everyone performed for the school on Friday and a
big thank you to Mrs Barrow.
Yours sincerely
Homework

At the start of the session all

Head Teacher
parents were asked to sign each
night’s work indicating that it had been seen car-
ried out). Sadly, particularly at the upper stages
this is not being done. Teachers are setting tasks to
help our pupils by providing practice and consoli-
dation. It is the child’s responsibility to do the
work but it would be much appreciated if you
could give a gentle reminder.