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!