The Christmas Concert

A total of over 400 people came to see this years Christmas Concert either on Thursday 11th December or the afternoon performance the following day.
Although the program was slightly smaller than in previous years due to staff absences in the music department there were still lots of talent on show which went down well with a very appreciative audience.
A new feature this year were performances from two of the finalists in the annual talent show organised by the children called, "Papdales Got Talent".
Once again the children in P3 rose to the challenge and performed brilliantly in their play, this year called, "Its a baby", which was a fitting finale to a very enjoyable evenings entertainment.
For video footage of the concert click on the links below.

Brass Band

Electric

The Little Frozen Girls

Cello Ensemble

P6 & 7 Chanter Group

P7 Bagpipes

P4 & 5 Vocal Ensemble

Junior Choir

P3 Play -Part 1

P3 Play - Part 2

P3 Play - Part 3

Strictly comes to Papdale

The annual Strictly Come Dancing Competition organised by Mrs Smith, our PE Teacher took place on 10 December with a record turnout of 49 couples taking part from the P5-P7 classes.
The show this year was hosted by Mr Robinson in his usual flamboyant style which got everyone in the mood for the fantastic show.
After three heats, a semi final, a final and some very difficult decisions for the judges, the prize winners were announced. Click on the links below to see the show.

Heat 1

Heat 2

Heat 3

Semi Final

Final Part 1

Final Part 2

Prize Reading

P1/2 Christmas Songs

Video footage from this years Primary 1 & 2 Christmas Songs performances in the Infant Hall.
Click on the links below to get into the festive spirit!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

A new addition to the school uniform range

KT sports have added a one size fits all beany hat to their school uniform collection. It will be available in a variety of colours and will come complete with the Papdale School viking ship logo.

Hats will cost £6.50 each and can be ordered from KT sports.
Any orders placed by 10th December would be ready in time for Christmas.  

Eco Club gets ready for Spring!

It may still be weeks away from Christmas but this didn't stop the Eco club thinking ahead and planning for the spring. They braved the wet conditions and went out with our Head Janitor Mr MacKinnon and Deputy Head Teacher Mrs Dufort to plant some daffodil bulbs.
Everyone got a bit wet and muddy but thoroughly enjoyed themselves and as a result we can now look forward to a more beautiful and colourful playground when spring comes along.

The bulbs are ready to go

Worm alert!

I didn't know cats enjoyed gardening

A good job well done

Billy says, "Be safe, be seen"

Be Seen Billy is doing his bit to help encourage the infant children to remember to wear their high visibility vests to and from school.
Mrs Spence took Billy along to the business meeting to reinforce the message and to let the P1 and P2 classes know that Billy would be staying in the class who has the most children wearing their high visibility vests.

Be Seen Billy and his horsey friend Bright Betty

To promote safety we would encourage all children to wear high visibility clothing to and from school. This is particularly important during the winter months when it is much darker and more difficult to be seen.

An amazing £1954.66 raised for Children in Need

Children in Need was once again a highlight of the school calendar with the P7 classes pulling out all the stops to organise a week full of fun and great fundraising ideas. The week started at the Business Meeting with the Papdales Got Talent Competition winners being announced with all the proceeds going to Children in Need. All through the week raffle tickets for the big prize draw and Children in need wristbands were being sold at break times at reception by P7 pupils.
The week culminated on Friday with the P7 Children in Need Day Extravaganza. In line with this years theme everyone was invited to come to school dressed as a hero. This proved very popular with lots of superheros, big and small, roaming the school corridors. The main action of the day was focused on the P7 classrooms which were decked out in the hero theme and brimming with stalls offering everything from face painting and nail varnishing to bric a brac and home bakes. There were also a huge range of games and challenges for everyone to enjoy. All the classes, including pre-school, visited the extravaganza throughout the day to take part and spend their money contributing to a fantastic total of nearly £2000 raised.
Our special thanks must go to the school kitchen staff for providing all this years homebakes as well as parents and local businesses who contributed prizes, bric a brac and whatever else was asked of them. Without their help this would not have been possible.
Finally our P7 teachers and pupils deserve special praise for organising the whole fantastic event. With a Poster Competition still to complete the £2000 barrier may still be broken before the fundraising for this year finally comes to a close!

Mini League

The first round of Mini League this session has now been completed with the winners in all the different leagues being decided following finals week.
Mini League is open to all children from P4 to P7 in a number of different sports with games being played during the lunch break. It is managed with the help of the Games Parliament, which is made up of a pupil representative from each of the P4 to P7 classes. They regularly discuss Mini League issues at their meetings and come up with ideas on how to improve it in future.This time around the sports being competed in were: Netball, Football and Dodgeball.

P6/7 Netball Winners - Puganators

P6/7 Netball Finalists - Emmanators

P4/5 Dodgeball Winners - Pugachan Champs

P6/7 Dodgeball Finalists - Buxton Brothers

P6/7 Dodgeball Winners - Sizzlers

Football Wuinners - Red Army

P6/7 Football Finalists - Buxton Army

P4/5 Football Finalists - Man United

P4/5 Football Winners - Stars

Chess Club

Chess Club restarted this term with nearly 20 children attending. Five minute games were played to make sure everyone had the chance to play against as many different opponents as possible. Other favourites played at Chess Club are 'Team Chess' where the children team up in pairs and 'First off the board' where the aim is to be the first player to lose all your pieces!
There are several mini competitions during the year which take into consideration the different skill levels of the children taking part and the annual Papdale Chess Championship which takes place early next year so the children will have plenty of opportunity to practise and hone their skills to get ready for their bid for glory!

Homework Survey

Thank you to everyone who completed the homework questionnaire at the Parents Evenings held in October. We had 255 responses which gave us a very good picture of how parents are feeling about how homework is managed at Papdale. The results seem to suggest very strong support for the existing arrangements.

• 90% felt that Learning jotters were a very useful way to communicate between home and school. 
• 84% felt that their child was spending about the right amount of time on homework with 75% saying their child spent between 10-35 minutes each evening.
• 90% felt that homework was pitched at the right academic level with 83% saying it covered a wide range of curricular areas.
• Probably the most impressive statistic in the survey was that over half (58%) of the children had a willing/keen attitude to homework!      

Famous childrens author visits Papdale

Vivienne French, the well known childrens author, visited Papdale recently along with a group of Edinburgh University students who were doing a book illustration course.

Vivienne led a week of workshops with our P4 children where they discussed their ideas for a fantasy tale with an Orkney twist. Once the story was formed it was then up to the Edinburgh University students working in collaboration with the children to come up with fantastic illustrations to make the story come to life. The children made the most of this opportunity and had a fantastic time.

Radio Orkney came along on the last day to do a feature for their morning programme which included interviewing some of the children who spoke very well. The results of the weeks work were also displayed on Parents night. 



Scrapstore opens

Tuesday 16 September was another big day in the playground development at Papdale as the Scrapstore playpod opened amid great excitement.  

The idea of the playpod is to create a stimulating, creative, innovative and inclusive play experience using safe scrap materials encouraging children to risk manage and problem solve for themselves whenever possible whilst under the supervision of our trained playground supervisors.

If the first days are anything to go by the children are going to have great fun and produce some very interesting and unique play experiences.

The Scrapstore is opened during lunch break every day.

A tarpaulin and carpet tile make a great slide

 Fishing for children ?

Who knows what this might end up being

The daleks are coming!

Cycle training begins

Only one week into the new school year and the cycle training begins for primary six children. Training sessions are held weekly in the playground for seven weeks during term 1 culminating in a final on road assessment in the last week.

Following the assessment all children will be issued with certificates highlighting their progress and a badge to celebrate completing the training.

Playground development is a big hit!

The new playground development has certainly made a big impact on the play experience for our children. The diversity of the activities and areas available to children now is fantastic and children seem much happier and engaged during break times. There is literally something for everyones tastes, whether you like sitting quietly, hiding in the willows, climbing trees, performing, ballsports, gymnastics, free running, climbing, sliding etc, etc, etc!

And its not finished. In a few weeks time the Scrapstore will open creating another play opportunity to complete our fantastic new playground.

Free running

Little drummer girls

Chimes

Whose going to be first to the summit?

Tree were made for climbing

Take That!

Chilling out with a friend

P1/2 Christmas Songs 2013

Video footage from the P1/2 Christmas Songs in December 2013. Click on the picture and enjoy the show!

P1/2 Christmas Songs 2013