P1's and P2's Christmas Songs

Another full house awaited the P1 and P2 children as they took the stage. There were lots of smiles and waving as the children scanned the audience for familiar faces. Mrs Gillon then introduced Music teacher Miss Beams who lead the children in a re-telling of the Christmas story through song, including some new songs as well as some old favourites.
The children performed brilliantly not only remembering the words but also doing actions for some of the songs too. Once again the audience were very warm and encouraging bringing the very best out of the children to make for an entertaining afternoon.
To view the video of the performance click on the link below:

P1 and P2 Christmas Songs

Eco Club thumbs up for Green Flag status

Every two years, the Eco Club must apply to renew our Green Flag status.  Mrs Dufort got a phone call last week to discuss it.  Eco Schools Scotland were very impressed with our renewal application and gave us a big thumbs up for all our wonderful work.  Congratulations to present and past Eco Club members, we have done it again.  Be proud Papdale Primary! 

Christmas Concert

The Christmas concert once again entertained big audiences on both its afternoon and evening performances.  The Brass band, Strings group and P4/5 Choir all performed a selection of Christmas songs led by Mr Jones (Brass instructor), Mrs Griffiths (Strings) and Miss Beams (Music teacher) respectively. Also performing this year were three of the acts who made it to the finals of the Papdales Got Talent competition which is organised each year by the children.
The P3 play, A Midwife Crisis,  rounded off the concert brilliantly with great performances from all the children bringing frequent roars of laughter from the very appreciative audiences.

To view the performances click on the links below:

Brass Band

Papdale's Got Talent Gymnasts

Strings Group

Papdale's Got Talent Singers

P4/5 Choir     

P3 Play - A Midwife Crisis

P2 Netball Nippers looking good!

The Wednesday night P2 Netball Nippers group pose for the camera in their new t-shirts. You can tell from the facial expressions they were all delighted with their new tops and thought it made them play better as a team. The shirts were bought from the subscription fees paid this term. 

Strictly Come Dancing 2015

Papdale's annual Strictly Come Dancing Competition  took place on 7th December with 42 couples competing. The event was once again organised by Mrs Smith, our PE Teacher with Mr Spence acting as this years host and Mrs Coltherd verifying the voting.
After three heats all the children in the P5 to P7 classes voted for their favourite couple with the top 16 going through to the semi final. While the votes were being counted  everyone got onto the dance floor for a huge 'strip the willow'. For the semi finals the resident judges took over. Mrs Bruce, Mr Robinson and Mr Balfour then had to pick 8 couples to go through to the semi final before chosing the first, second and third placed couples from the final dance off. The standard of dancing this year was very good making the judges job even more difficult than usual.

To view video of the event click on the links below:

Heat 1          Heat 2         Heat 3       Semi Final        Final          Results

A mass 'strip the willow' gets underway

The semi finalists ready for action  

Host Mr Spence and guest judge, Mr Robinson prepare to announce the winners 

The winners take a bow!

Norwegian Musicians visit

Three Norwegian musicians who were in Orkney to attend the Kirkwall Tree Lighting Ceremony took the opportunity to visit Papdale to play at the P4-7 children's weekly assembly.
Harald Kvasnes, Gjermund Fredheim and Edvard Mjanger entertained the children with a variety of tunes from across the world including a beautiful Orcadian melody played with a Norwegian twist.

Christmas is coming!

St Andrews Day heralded the start of the schools Christmas preparations with a beautiful big tree being set up in the school foyer. The classes all make their own decorations to hand on the tree with the theme colour for this year being gold and sparkly!

Mr Mackinnon and Mr Linklater make a start. 

Reinforcements needed in the playground for Children in Need Day!

To make sure the excitement of Children in Need Day didn't get out of control some of the playground supervisors took the law into their own hands and donned police jackets, hats and truncheons. There were also some sheriffs on standby just in case.
It seemed to do the trick as everyone was on their best behaviour with lots of the children taking the opportunity to dress up to join in the fun. Thankfully the police truncheons were never called upon!

Mrs Mowat gives a final warning to three girls for being "too silly in a public place"

Mrs Rosie apprehends a "buddy" with a dodgy wig with the help of a sheriff

                                                 The Papdale Law enforcers glowing with pride:                                                                          
Mrs Cairns, Mrs Walls, Mrs Norris, Mrs Rosie and Mrs Mowat

Meet the Children in Need Masterminds

Taking a few seconds out of their busy schedule are the two architects of this years P7 Children in Need extravaganza. P7 class teachers Mr Hill and Mrs Coltherd have harnessed the incredible energy and resourcefulness of all the P7 children to put on another spectacular mix of games and activities for the whole school to enjoy raising over £1600 in the process.

Mrs Coltherd and Mr Hill setting the tone for a day of silliness   

Christmas Card Project raises over £600

Miss Spence and Mrs Gray busy sorting the cards for collection

Thanks to a very positive response to our Christmas Card fundraiser £600 has been raised for school funds. Over 7400 cards and 1300 gift tags were ordered in total!
The cards and gift tags arrived this week in plenty of time for the Christmas rush creating a big headache for Mrs Gray and Miss Spence in the office who had the big task of sorting them all out for collection.
Special thanks must also go to our Art Teacher, Mr Hodgson, for helping the children to produce their pictures. As a result this year friends and family of Papdale children can look forward to something a bit special at Christmas when opening their cards!

Chess Club

Chess Club, which runs during  terms 2 and 3 restarted again with  20 children attending on week 2, including some who were new to the game.
It is a great  opportunity for the children to  hone their chess skills, teach others who are learning the game and catch up with their friends.
While chess might be seen a thoughtful, solitary, quiet pursuit the Papdale version certainly doesn't fit these stereotypes with lots of conversation and lively debate going on while they play.

Check mate perhaps?

 

Just in case you forget why we're here!

Pudsey visits Papdale

Pudsey directs operations at the Business Meeting

Monday 9th November will need to be renamed 'Teddy Bear Day' at Papdale because no sooner had 'Buddy' Bear been introduced to the Business Meeting than Pudsey Bear arrived.
Pudsey was there to help promote the P7s Children in Need fundraising events at Papdale and also to say hello to all the children who were very excited to have such a famous celebrity in their midst.

Pudsey shook lots of hands and even did the Usain Bolt victory salute before leaving to continue with his busy schedule.

Meet Buddy the Bear, our new school uniform champion!

To try encourage children to wear their school tops a new 'pupil' arrived at school today. He is 'Buddy' the giant Teddy Bear, who loves wearing his special Papdale School red buddy top.

To help Buddy settle in at Papdale he will be staying with the class who win the monthly challenge and have the most children wearing school tops. Not only would Buddy stay in their classroom but he could also go with the class to the Business Meeting to catch up on all the school news!
The winning class would also have to bring Buddy back at the end of the month and do a short 'Buddy Broadcast' Presentation at the business meeting to tell us why everyone should wear a school top to school.

Buddy checking out the Papdale School website.

For more information on our school tops visit our  school uniform website page to get details of the range and cost. We also have a small range of free second hand school tops available from Papdales 'Topshop' in
the school foyer which were kindly donated by parents. These tops are free of charge or you can make a voluntary donation towards school funds. We would also like to encourage parents to donate any school tops their children have outgrown to increase our Topshop selection.

For more information please ask at the school reception.

Eco Club reminder about our Eco Code and Targets

Papdale's Eco Club Members 2015-16 

The Eco Club members spoke at our Business Meeting reminding everyone about our Eco Code and the Eco Action Target areas. 

We would like to remind everyone about our ECO CODE.  

We will give you a hint it is three simple words beginning with 
L – T – E    (LOVE THE EARTH)

L – T – E also stands for three Eco Action areas which we are working on. 

L for Litter - T for Transport - E for Energy

Try to remember: 

LOVE THE EARTH - LITTER, TRANSPORT, ENERGY

FACTfinders gets the Infant Hall bouncing!

FACTfinders (Fathers and Children Together) held their November meeting in the Infant Hall to accommodate two big bouncy castles. The dads had their work cut out keeping tabs on the children as they raced between the castles having loads of fun. Everyone stopped briefly for a snack before choosing between another session on the bouncy castles or a game of football in the ball court.Unfortunately the session was over before the dads could have their turn!

FACTfinders meets  on the first Sunday of every month between 2-4pm usually in the Life Centre, East Road and is open to all primary aged children providing dad comes along too.

Our School - Parents Questionnaire Results

The responses from the parents questionnaire circulated in September have now been collated into a report which paints a very positive picture of how parents feel Papdale School is performing in meeting the needs and aspirations of both our children and parents.

To view the report in full click on this link  

Cycle Training Completed for P6 Classes

Six weeks of Bikeability 2 Cycle Training ended this week with the final assessments. These included the children answering questions on safety equipment, clothing and road traffic signs before an on road assessment of their cycling skills. Certificates were presented to all the children showing the results of these assessments along with a Bikeability badge.
 

P6M 

P6E  

Multi-sensory Learning - Parents Evening Term 1

During our two Parents Evenings recently, our three Support for Learning Teachers organised a Multi-Sensory Learning Workshop with PowerPoint presentation and activities to guide what it is and what it looks like. 
Multi-sensory learning is an engaging way to learn and help all children achieve to their full potential. For a copy of the Power Point presentation click here… and for photos of the activities on the night click here   

Children in Need Visitor

In recognition of their excellent fundraising efforts over the years our P7 children and staff had a visit from Mary, who is in charge of  Children in Need Scotland and its pocket of money and Julie from the Bank of Scotland. 

They were both very impressed by the children, their behaviour and commitment. Mary was also really impressed by the deep thinking, tough questions the children had for her to answer.

  

Once again this year our P7 classes will be organising lots of fun fundraising activities for the whole school to enjoy on Children in Need Day which is on Friday 13th November 2015.

Winter Reminders from Orkney Islands Council

Orkney Islands Council have issued their winter newsletter for 2015-16 which gives helpful information and advice relating to school closures, school transport as well as general safety advice as the darker nights rapidly approach.
High visibilty vests will once again be issued to all our P1 pupils just before the October break.

To view a copy of the OIC's Winter Newsletter click here

Worlds Largest Lesson

On September 25th 2015, 193 world leaders will commit to 17 Global Goals to achieve 3 extraordinary things in the next 15 years. 

1. End extreme poverty. 
2. Fight inequality & injustice. 
3. Fix climate change.      

The Global Goals for sustainable development could get these things done.  
In all countries. For all  people. 



These goals were discussed with the children at this weeks Business Meeting and both Infant and Primary Assemblies. 
They also watched a short cartoon film called The Worlds Largest Lesson which helped to highlight the issues.  

For more information go to the Global Goals website    

Parent Council give the IT provision at Papdale a massive boost

We recently took delivery of two wireless trolleys housing 32 new iPads and 2 air printers. The total cost of the equipment came to over £12,000, which was entirely funded by the Papdale School Parent Council.

Head Teacher Mrs Bruce said, “we are indebted to our Parent Council for the tremendous support they have given to enhance both the children’s learning and their school experience at Papdale. Over the past few years they sought finance and managed the £160,000 Papdale Play Area Development Project which transformed our playground. The latest provision of iPads ensures that the IT provision available to our children will be excellent, thanks once more to the Parent Council”.

The ipad trolleys should be set up and ready for use after the October break.

Papdale's Big Family!

Mrs Rosie gets started on the marathon task 

A feature of recent years which has proven very popular is Papdale's Big Family Notice Board located in the gallery corridor which has displayed pictures of every child and adult working at Papdale School. 

You can appreciate the enormity of this task when you see the size of the notice board needed to contain the 600 photos of the"family" members. 

Mrs Rosie, one of our auxilliary staff, is pictured getting started with the class of 15-16 with parents night as the deadline for completion!

P6 Classes off to Hoy

The P6 Residential trips to Hoy have been taken forward from Term 4 to Term 1 this year which gives the classes an excellent opportunity to strengthen their friendships and learn exciting new skills early in the school session.
P6E had a great time last week in some beautiful weather and Wednesday 16th September heralded the start of 6Ms Hoy experience!

6M head off  suitably dressed for that tropical paradise called Hoy  

As you may be able to see from the photograph the sun was not very prominent when they departed school but I am sure this will not manage to dampen their enthusiasm as they set off on their exciting adventure.
Whatever the weather they will return home on Friday brimming with stories of bravery, daring, fun and general silliness!


 

Class Photographs 2015-16

 Tuesday 15th September was a very busy day for photographer Leona Allan who was asked to do our Class Photographs this year. The PE hall was set aside as the studio and classes came through in turn throughout the day to get their photographs taken.

Preparing for the onslaught!

The day went very smoothly with the children being very patient and helpful making Leona's challenging job that bit easier. After 6 hours and seventeen classes the photographs had been completed!

P2/3S get into position

The photographs will be displayed at the Parents evenings on 30 September and 1 October.
Order forms will also be available for those who would like to purchase copies.

Janitors show off their latest inventions!

Our enterprising Janitors unveiled their latest inventions this week.

The "Crisp Bag Muncher" bin was an idea suggested by the eco club to try and address a problem of crisp bags being removed from bins by birds after break and then dropped causing litter in the playground. A prototype was made last year which is still in use but this new version has some improvements on the original which should make it more durable and user friendly. The idea is not only to the stop the birds from stealing crisps bags but also to free up space in the normal bins for all the other litter which should help keep the playground nice and litter free.

Prototype 2 in the Crisp Bag Muncher Range

The Playground Equipment Trolley was custom made to hold the hoops, skipping ropes and stilt walkers to make it easier to tidy up and store equipment at the end of break times.

The Equipment Trolley is wheeled out ready for use

Not only are these new inventions well made, showing off some serious carpentry skills, but they are also very eco friendly as they were made largely using odds and ends of wood and other scrap scavenged from around the school. A round of applause please for our innovative, eco friendly Janitors, Mr MacKinnon and Mr Linklater!

Lidls Health Bus Comes to Papdale

The Lidl Health Factor bus came to Papdale on Friday 4th and Monday 7th September to do some health promoting activities with all our P4,P5 and P6 classes.
Each class had a one hour long session which was divided into two halves. One group went on the bus to learn how to make smoothies using a selection of fruits while the other group took part in some physical activities in school.
The positive benefits of healthy eating and physical exercise were stressed throughout the sessions to try and encourage the children to make healthier choices in future.
As a thank you for hosting the sessions Lidl gifted each child with a banana and some money off vouchers for their store so if you want to avoid some sticky school books please remember to check you child's bag when they get home!

The Lidl Health Factor bus ready for business in the main car park

4E show off their Smoothies

P6 Bikeability Cycle Training

P6M get ready for day 2 of their cycle training

  The P6 Bikeability Level 2 Cycle training is underway again with both classes settling down to learn the basic skills needed to cycle safely. The training will continue for most of this term with an on road assessment the final part of the training. Parents will also get details of the assessment so that they know what progress has been made and what areas may still need to be worked on.

While we recommend that children should not cycle to school before doing this cycle training it is ultimately the parents decision to decide whether their child is safe to cycle to and from school.

P1s Settling in beautifully

The new P1classes doing a text book line up for the camera!

The new P1s always have a steep learning curve for the first few weeks of term with so many new people and procedures to learn. One part of this process is to get used to the dreaded whistle that signals the end of playtime and time to line up to go back into class.
As you can see from the picture this years P1s are learning very quickly with beautifully straight lines overseen by the new P7 Buddies. Hopefully the smiles will follow as  they relax into life at Papdale.

Horrible Histories illustrator visits Papdale

Martin Brown, illustrator of the Horrible History Series, came to Papdale last session in May 2015. He really enjoyed his visit as we did immensely.  He has kindly gifted our school with 6 lovely books.  P4 to P7 classes will take it in turn to have the set of books to explore for a couple of weeks before they move on to another class.  Once all the classes have had a chance to use this resource, they will be put into our school library.  Many thanks Martin!

P7s Farewell

The P7 farewell concert was held in the Infant Hall on Thursday 25th June in front of a large audience of family and friends. This is always an emotional occasion for staff and children as favourite stories are retold and highlights remembered from their time at Papdale.

To view a slideshow of images and favourite memories from all our P7 children click  here.

To view a video of the P7 Farewell Concert click on the picture below.

Wild about Scotland

The Wild about Scotland double decker rolled into Papdale's car park on Thursday 25 June for a visit. The bus has been fully converted to provide a unique teaching space for schoolchildren and provide lessons delivered by the Royal Zoological Society for Scotland Education team. 
Both our P5 classes were invited to visit the bus for activities that were designed to create respect for Scotland's wildlife and the importance it plays on wider conservation issues affecting not just Scotland but the whole world.

Staff v Pupils Challenges

The annual battle for the Margaret Hay Shield started on Monday 22nd June with a 3-0 victory for the staff over the Pupils in the football. Two goals from Mr Hill and one from Mr Linklater were enough to seal victory in what was an evenly contested game. The game was well refereed by former pupil Lewis McManus from KGS.

The Staff and Pupils Football Teams

Mr Hill receives the Shield
for the Staff Team

The netball match was played the following day in beautiful sunshine. It was an excellent game, with some beautiful teamwork from the girls. The scores were level at half time but the Staff team just managed to get their noses in front to win by 16-14 by full time.
 

The Staff and Pupil Netball Teams 

Mrs Smith receives the Shield
for the Staff Team