Email: canongateps.enquiries@fife.gov.uk Website: www.fifedirect ...

Canongate Primary School,
Maynard Road, St Andrews,
Fife KY16 8RX
Telephone Number: 01334 659452
Email: canongateps.enquiries@fife.gov.uk
Website: www.fifedirect.org.uk/canongateps
Newsletter – April 2012 Edition
Dear Parent/Carer
Welcome back to you all after the Easter break. Let’s hope the weather didn’t dampen the holiday
mood.
I would like to welcome into school Mrs Claire Alexander who is Class Teacher in P6 on a Thursday and
a Friday replacing Miss Stewart who left at the end of last term and Mrs Gail Trewartha who joined us as
a Pupil Support Assistant.
I wanted to start this newsletter with a little bit of reflection on the work going on in all of our
classrooms and the sterling work of our staff.
Every headteacher is obviously proud of their staff as they are of their pupils and I would like to
highlight one thing for each member of staff.
• Mrs Fraser (P1) has led the literacy project along with Mrs Robertson (Learning Support teacher)
which has greatly enhanced literacy skills within the early years.
• Miss Hynie (P2) led a fantastic literacy experience with her class on the classic tale of the Three
Little Pigs. So successful was the work that her lesson plans can be viewed on the Guardian
Newspaper on line. Go into the Guardian Website type, go into teacher network and type in
Sarah Hynie. Connor Payne and Kyla Mitchell can be seen as well as the plans. Well done Miss
Hynie.
• Mrs Bryson (P2/3) and Mrs Rennie (P3) are currently undertaking work on the Egyptians and
held a very successful open afternoon at the end of last term. They were delighted at the
number of parents who came along to the event. Both members of staff, although relatively new
to Canongate, have brought innovative practice to our school and their classrooms.
• Mrs Innes (P4) again relatively new to the school has brought new innovative ideas to her class
which experience a wide range of teaching experiences. Mrs Innes is also responsible for helping
to set up our new library with the parent council.
• Mrs Robertson (P5) is heading up our eco and gardening club to create our sensory garden for
our 40 th Anniversary celebrations. She has put a tremendous amount of work into this and I am
sure the end result will be very beneficial to the school. Mrs Robertson also can whip up a Burns
Supper at the drop of a hat!!
• Mrs Carmichael (P6) has brought a great deal of enthusiasm to our staff and worked extremely
hard to ensure the job share situation in her class runs as smoothly as it can. After the summer
holidays she will be full-time in school which we are delighted about. Mrs Carmichael is also our
extra curricular co-ordinator.
• Mrs Armstrong (P7) is about to lead up our show for the 40 th Anniversary celebrations. Her
enthusiasm for her job is reflected in the many diverse activities taking place in her classroom.
She has also just been awarded her PGCE (PE) 3-14 from Edinburgh University. Well done!
• Mrs Whyte (NCCT) has involved all of our pupils in many PE activities well beyond the gym.
These include P5 going to the gymnastics festival in Glenrothes, Lacrosse tournament in which
the P7 team got through to the National Finals at Meadowbank Stadium. She organises mini
taster sessions in school so the pupils have a wide and varied experience of physical education.
• Mrs Taylor (ASC) continues to provide a wide range of experiences and outcomes to suit the
needs of her pupils and actively seeks to include them in the wider community of the school
• Mrs Brown, Mrs Fowler, Mrs Palompo, Mrs Danskin, Mrs Innes and Mrs Martin our pupil support
assistants continue to help support our pupils while ensuring they are fully integrated in the life
of the school. And finally the ladies in the office who are at the heart of our school and are
definitely indispensible!
So you can see why I am proud to lead Canongate Primary.

40 th Anniversary Celebrations
As you probably know we are celebrating 40 years in Canongate Primary before the summer
holidays.
We have a small committee who have been working on plans for the event. Here are some dates for
your diary in connection with the celebrations.
Tuesday 29 May – School Show at Kilrymont 6.00pm
Thursday 31 May – School Show at Kilrymont 6.00pm
Friday 1 June – School Show at Kilrymont 1.30pm
More information will come out in the near future regarding ticket sales etc.
Wednesday 20 June – Canongate exhibition of 40 years in school hall. (open all day in school hall)
Thursday 21 June – Exhibition, as above, open all day in school hall.
We very much hope that you will bring family, friends and neighbours to see these events.
We are also still building up our ‘Year in the life of Canongate Primary’ in photographs taken by Peter
Adamson. We are about to set up a page on our web page with a sample photograph of each month for
you to view.
Joe’s Flaishy Jaiket
This year our school production is “Joe’s Flaishy Jaiket” which is a version of Joseph and the Amazing
Technicolour Dreamcoat in Scots language. All children in P3 – P7 will be taking part and will be
expected to attend all performances. Performances will be at Kilrymont to allow a grand production to
celebrate our 40 th anniversary (see dates for the diary).
Ticket prices and availability will be communicated nearer the time. Children are all busy rehearsing at
the moment!
Cookery competition
A sincere thank you to all pupils, parents, grandparents who helped with the cookery competition.
We have had a wealth of fantastic entries.
The recipes and menus have been taken down to the Balgove larder and Mr
Will Docker and Ms Roberta Drummond will judge them. They will have a very
difficult task ahead of them!
Holyrood House
On 9 May Mrs Fraser, Lindsey Brown, Anna Davidson, Cameron Sneddon and Brodie Millar are off to
Holyrood House as part of the celebrations for the Queens Diamond Jubilee.
Mr Craig Sneddon, head chef at the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, worked with the Primary 6 and 7 class
to prepare canapés. Two of their canapés will be presented to the Duchess of Cornwall at the event and
then they will be presented to a 300 strong band! Four schools in Scotland were lucky enough to be
chosen for this event and we were very fortunate to be one of them.
Queens Diamond Jubilee Lunch
On Thursday 31 May we will be celebrating the Diamond Jubilee by having a special lunch in
school, hopefully outdoors in the form of a street party. We will get more details of the
menu etc at a later date. We hope as many pupils as possible will take part in the
celebration.
Kodaly Music
Nursery, Primary 1 and Primary 2 are having a block of Kodaly music from Youth Music Initiative
Scheme. Kodaly focuses on music and movement and is an extremely creative way to teach music.
Smoke Free Revolution
Primary 6 and Primary 7 are having an input from ‘The Smoke Factor’ on Friday 27 th April to promote the
dangers of smoking. This is part of our Health & Well-being programme.

Parent Interviews
These will be held this term and you will soon receive notification of your allocated date and time. The
dates are Tuesday 1 st May from 3.30-6.00pm and Wednesday 2 nd May from 5.00-8.00pm.
Pavia Visitors
Once again our visitors from Italy are visiting us on the week beginning 11 th June. This will
be the third year in succession that they have visited and they are desperately keen that we
have a return visit to Pavia. I hope this will be a possibility in the future.
Sponsored Walk
We are organising a sponsored walk and BBQ to raise funds for our forthcoming book. The walk
is on Sunday 17 th June leaving Canongate at 11.00am and returning back to Canongate at
approximately 2.30pm. Sponsor sheets will be issued shortly and I hope as many of you as
possible will take part to make it a real Canongate Community Event.
P1 Entrant Information Meeting
We hope our P1 entrant parents will come along to an informal meeting on Thursday 7 th June at 2.15pm
in the school hall. We will be discussing the programme for the entrants coming into school on August
2012.
Bring & Buy Sale
P2, P2/3 and P3 organised a Bring & Buy Sale to help meet the cost of their forthcoming trip to
Edinburgh Museum. This is in conjunction with their Egyptian topic. They raised over £500. A
sincere thank you to everyone who handed items in and to all who came along.
Pupil Achievements out of school
We are always very keen to celebrate achievements out of school. During the recent Madrascals
Primary tour to Newcastle Lewis Martin was voted the most improved player of the session.
Congratulations Lewis!
On Saturday 14 April we had three pupils taking in the Kate Kennedy Procession. Spiros Archontis,
Jamie Martin and Declan Stillman carried out their roles fantastically and we were very proud that they
were representing our school.
We also had pupils in the City of St Andrews Pipe Band. Cameron Dalrymple, Lindsay Brown,
Max McGregor and Rebecca Low again did us proud.
Please find dates for your diary on the back of this sheet.
Yours sincerely
Linda Birtwistle
Linda M Birtwistle
Headteacher

Dates for the diary
• Sunday 29 April – School open from 11.00am – 3.00pm for Show preparation
• Thursday 3 May – school closed to pupils due to it being used as a polling station.
• Monday 7 May – Holiday
• Monday 21 May – 25 May – P7 Residential Trip
• Tuesday 29 May – School Show at 6pm at Kilrymont
• Thursday 31 May – Special lunch in school
- School Show at 6pm at Kilrymont
• Friday 1 June – School Show at 1.30 at Kilrymont
• Monday 4 June & Tuesday 5 June – Holiday
• Wednesday 6 June – School closed to pupils In Service day for staff
• Thursday 7 June – Entrant Parent Information Meeting at 2.15 in school
• Friday 8 June – Sports Afternoon (weather permitting)
• Saturday 9 June – School Fair from 12.00 – 4.00pm
• Monday 11 June – Rotary 7’s at 6.00pm
• Wednesday 13 June – Olympic Flame in St Andrews at 7.00pm
• Thursday 14 June – Parent Council Disco
• Friday 15 June – P5 taking part in mini Olympics
• Sunday 17 June – Sponsored Walk at 11am
• Wednesday 20 & Thursday 21 June – Open days for 40 th Anniversary Exhibition
• Thursday 28 June – School finishes at 12.30 for summer holidays. Service in Hope Park
Church at 9.45am