School blogs

Week ending 30 June 2017   PE Kit & Swimming Kit Please could ALL pupils have both swimming kit and PE kit in school every day now until the end of term. We hope that the swimming pool will be in use from next week and there will also be frequent practices for Sports Evening, so please ensure that your child(ren) are prepared with both kits in school. Thank you.   Thank You A huge thank you to Mr and Mrs Burnell and Mrs Green for working so hard with the children who attend Gardening Club. The gardening club section of the school grounds looks amazing and the crops of potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, sweetcorn etc look like they are flourishing. Thank you also for brightening up the front of the school with hanging baskets and for keeping them watered!   MEERKAT Champion of the Week We are delighted to share the names of our "MEERKAT Champion of the Week" award in each class last week as follows; Reception – Joel V Class 1 – Harry W Class 2 – Nate M-B Class 3 – Lizzi...

Emotional goodbyes…. ….to Mrs Ross this morning as the children from Morning Nursery had their graduation ceremony. Always a few damp eyes around, but today there were also parents and childminders saying heart felt farewells, not just for the summer, but ‘for good’, to Margaret Ross. Margaret joined Pencaitland Nursery when it opened and has been there ever since. 23 years of looking after our youngest PPS pupils – but with changes to the numbers for next session, Margaret is being re-deployed. This is very hard for all the staff who have worked, laughed, cared and shared with Margaret for so long. And hardest for Margaret herself. As memories and special times are shared – we, the Parent Council, join all the other voices past and present, in saying we wish you more laughter, more happiness and more wonderful experiences in your new place of work and we hope you will keep in touch and know you always have a home from home in Pencaitland. We will mi...

We were lucky with the weather for Sports Day, everyone showed great sportsmanship and we hope you liked the new layout in the top field. Here are a few photos of the event. KS2 KS1 Check out the Year group pages for more photos in due course.

KS2 Sports day will start at about 9.15am and KS1 sports day will start at 1:30pm. Parents attending either event are requested to sit on the left side of the TOP field towards the hedge (children will sit on the side nearest to the Courts). There will be limited seating on school benches for parents so we would encourage you to bring your own chairs. This year we have put the track on the top field, with field events taking place in Dobinsons Paddock. Please can we remind you not to cross the track to be with your child and not to bring food into school for your child during the event. Kites will be selling ice lollies costing 50p after the KS1 event. Let’s hope for good weather – in the event of inclement weather, we will take a decision on cancellation by 8.30am and communicate this by text or email. The reserve day is Wednesday 28th June.

#GetConnected East Lothian Council. Parents and Carers of Children and Young People with Additional Support Needs will be pleased to hear about the work of Get Connected East Lothian. Get Connected is an project that aims to make it easier for young people with additional support needs and their families to find and contact activity providers. The mission is to find what groups, clubs, organisations and activities can and do support children and young people with ASN. Whatever the nature of the additional support need, East Lothian wants to make this information far simpler to discover – AND – build networks, share how to make other activities (etc) inclusive through different groups / individuals sharing their experience and expertise encourage the support of children and young people to enjoy as many opportunities socially as possible. A new site and a lot of opportunity contained within it. Contact is through Lauren Ritchie (pictured here on the right, with Sharon Saund...

  Ofsted Visit on 21 June 2017 As you will know, Ofsted visited school on Wednesday. Our last Ofsted inspection was in February 2013, so this inspection was expected as good schools (as we were rated last time) are due to happen around every 3 years.  This inspection was a ‘short inspection’, which is a one day inspection designed to ensure the existing good rating still applies. We are unable to share the outcome of the inspection until we receive the written Ofsted report but we can say that we are very pleased with the outcome. This is fantastic news and is due to the hard work and dedication of Mrs Turner and all members of staff.  The inspector was particularly impressed with the ‘business as usual’ attitude given he was in school when Class 3 and several members of staff were at Woodlands!  Thank you to parents for their continuing support of the school and in particular those who took the time to respond to the Parentview survey. More information will follow...

It was a pleasure to take a fairly raw group of Year Five cricketers to the annual Oratory Cricket Tournament this afternoon. This is one of the bigger events in the area and usually draws a good number of primary school teams – often with established Club players. Our team of Lucas T, Joe W, Joe M, Ben A, Sam A, Max H, Edward H-K and Will J did not all count themselves as regular cricketers, and indeed were not necessarily amongst the best individuals, but as a team they proved themselves unbeatable and with a 100% record lifted the trophy! Huge credit is due to them all, and to see them bond so well with each other, encourage each other unquestioningly, and reap the rewards was very satisfying. It is fair to make special mention only of Lucas who captained the team with great style and focus – but everyone played their part. Please see below for a couple of pictures from the event. With many thanks to Ms Brett, Mrs Killick, and Mr Winpenny for transport and support, and...

Oxford County Council have some free software licence available for making and hosting Wiki websites, which they have asked us to let you know about. Wiki websites are a powerful tool which can be used by families and young people to create interactive website using through pictures, words, videos and sound. Although originally designed for those with learning disabilities, wiki websites can be used by a wide range of children and young people. At SCPS children in Year 4 do an ICT module using wikis so they are familiar with them and a wiki website can be made accessible to others if the family gives permission. As your child attends an Oxfordshire school you are entitled to apply for a free licence, see here for more information: Wiki Information .

Family Fun Friday Quiz Mr Andrews and Mr Foley are hosting a family quiz from 6pm on Friday 30th June in the hall. Are you up for the challenge?! Get together a team of 6 people that must be made up of one to two adults and four to five children. Entry is £12 per team payable on the day. Soft drinks and snacks will be available. To reserve a place contact Mr Foley at dfoley@sonning-common.oxon.sch.uk with the name of your team and the people in it. Places will be limited. Good luck!

A big thank you from the PTA to everyone who helped make the fair a special day. As well as everyone enjoying themselves we raised a fantastic £4000! Here are a few highlights:

Hot off the Press! To see who is teaching where, take a look at the note to parents and carers Here:_Staffing for session 2017  

YOUR PARENT COUNCIL INVITES YOU To our Annual General Meeting  on Monday 26th August ’17 . We are bursting at the seams to share what we’ve been up to – and share plans and developments for 2018 – a double whammy of PPS – The Year of the Community AND Scotland’s – The Year of Young People 2018 . For More Info: Agenda PPSPC – 26 06 17- AGM

The Magic Key – No More! It’s time to say farewell to Biff, Chip, Kipper and Floppy….PPS Infant Dept (P1 & 2) are waving hankies…and making space for A new literacy programme that the school have undertaken training for and will be introducing in 2017/18 session. Find out more here :

FYI weekly publications. To hear huge amounts of information across East Lothian, it’s a good idea to check Area Partnership Weekly Newsletters , or sign up for the FYI by email. To share information about an event in East Lothian, you can sign up and do this through WHAT’S ON, operated by The List. List your local community events for free and find out what’s on in East Lothian at www.whatsoneastlothian.com

Hot on the heels of the Avengers in Edinburgh – is  Ironman 70.3 in East Lothian!  Pencaitland is one of the locations which will have the event running through our picturesque environs. Heading out to support the competitors on Sunday 2nd July will be worth getting up for – and cheering them on during the first visit to E. Lothian for this event.   They will cycle through Pencaitland after having already swum in Preston Links – and they will finish with a run through Holyrood Park. (I’m exhausted typing it!). IRONMAN 70.3 EDINBURGH Sunday 2 July 2017 View road closures and timings here:  imed access leaflet 2017 04 24 : (see bottom of post for jpeg format).     Dressing up as Ironman or other superheroes is optional, but bound to spur them on I reckon          

A.S.D. – Family Information Service. Plans are afoot…..can you take part and help with a pilot in East Lothian? With the right collection of information, it is hoped to create a family based approach in E. Lothian Book your (free) space for this event – and share with others too, but be quick – time is running out for this 1st event. For families / carers with children 0-18 yrs on ASD spectrum.

Well, apart from the simple answer to “What’s the best homework for children in Primary School” – the research says “None”… How about this as inspiration – Take on the summer with a Play approach.    

Find Minutes from this school year (2016/17) here .    

Being a Carer is something that touches most of us at some point in life – to some it touches all of their lives.  If you are a Carer, or you know someone who is, you may be interested in taking part in the Carers’ Strategy Breakfast. You can book a (Free) space by emailing or phoning: 01620 827755   Here’s a lovely blog post from Dementia Friendly East Lothian celebrating Carers’ Week June 2017.