269 February 2017 - Gryffe Advertizer

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Abbey Nursery
Duchal Nursery School
There is something
exciting about starting
a new year and our
practitioners are full
of wonderful ideas
for activities and new
experiences they want
to organise for 2017 for
the children to enjoy.
We are also delighted
to welcome back Sherie
following her recent
teaching role in Dubai.
To celebrate the
wonderful world
we live in the
Grasshoppers early
years playroom will
be exploring Our
Planet as their
chosen topic and
along with looking
at space and the
planets we will see
where the children
lead this learning - That is always the exciting part and they never
disappoint!
New term plans for the
Busy Bunnies has a big
focus on Science and
our Eco Schools project.
Within science we will be
looking at the weather,
and making a rain gauge
to measure how much
rain falls over time
(never a lot in Scotland
of course!). The children
will also be talking about the wind, adding wind chimes to our outdoor
area and listening to the different sounds they make. Light and
shadows will be explored with our lightbox and we will attempt to
build a volcano and make it erupt (fingers crossed). We will also be
creating a herb garden in our outdoor area over the coming months.
Chinese New Year will
be celebrated across
the nursery – the
year of the Rooster –
and this will bring in
opportunities for lots
of creative activities;
Dragons, new food
experiences and lots of
fireworks.
Activities for the Little
Ladybirds will continue
with lots of singing,
rhyme and stories, interspersed with cuddles and laughter. However
we appreciate that our Rising 2’s are looking for more challenges and
we will be following their interests in animals and working on colours
and extended language. We will also be continuing with our regular
visits to the Scout Hall where the children will further develop their
physical and listening skills during games and activities.
Kilbarchan Parish Church
Tots’ Club
The club takes place on Monday mornings from 9.15am - 11.30am in
the church hall, where there is a large variety of toys and a bouncy
castle for the tots - from birth - 3 years - and coffee and friendly chat
for the accompanying adults, cost £1 for each adult. The club will be
on holiday on Monday 13th February and continues until 3rd April.
We’ve had a great start to the year beginning our Winter and Winter Sports project
– especially as we’ve experienced rather a lot of winter weather in the last few
weeks – snow, rain, and wind!!! We’ve created a fantastic frieze that is on the wall
depicting all that Winter entails!
New Entries to Duchal:
We are now beginning to offer places for the new intake for August 2017. If your
child will be of nursery age after the summer and you are looking at your pre school
options, please do get in touch to have an informal look around. With our new
extended hours offering greater flexibility of care and our purpose built facilities,
Duchal nursery, now in it’s 50th year, is a fantastic place to begin your child’s preschool
education. Please take a look at our website for more information – www.
duchal.com and find us on Facebook. If you would like to come and visit the
Nursery and meet the teachers please contact Head Teacher Jean McCarthy on:
Tel: 874358.
We are looking forward to celebrating Chinese New Year at the beginning of the
month – which usually involves lots of messy fun with chopsticks – wish us luck!!
Bridge of Weir Primary
Our 2017 term got off to a great start when local
author Lindsay Littleson came to visit P4-7 on
our first day back in January. Lindsay spoke
about writing her children’s novel ‘The Mixed
Up Summer of Lily McLean’ and how exciting
it was to see her work published. She spoke
about the importance of
perseverance and hard
work if you want to achieve
something worthwhile,
whatever that may be.
You have to be resilient
and keep going even
when things don’t go
your way. Never give
up, instead ask yourself
what did I learn and
what could I do better? Pupils thoroughly enjoyed this
opportunity to learn more about what’s involved in the writing process
and had lots of questions to ask Lindsay at the end of her presentation. Perhaps
some of those listening might be our authors of the future?
This month our P7 pupils are organising their annual ‘Bring and Buy’ sale. Children
will be encouraged to bring in unwanted toys and will be able to purchase different
toys on 3rd February. All funds will be donated to our school charity Phantasanja,
which supports underprivileged, abused and neglected children in Thailand.
16 of our P5 pupils who took part in a squash tournament last term at Strathgryffe
Tennis & Squash Club did tremendously well when they managed to win the
competition. The run of good luck continued with P5 pupil Abigail Fleming coming
first in the Paisley Arts Competition and winning £50 for herself and also £50 for
the school. Great achievements!
Once again the audience at our Christmas Celebrations were blown away by
the quality of the children’s performances. Nursery pupils entranced everyone
with their seasonal poem and songs, and everyone in Primary 1-3 shared the
story of the first Christmas in this year’s nativity play “It’s A Baby!”. The theme for
Primary 4-7 was “A Christmas Carol” which was dedicated to our Head Teacher
Mrs (Carol) Vallance and included all of her favourite Christmas songs. Keeping
this a secret from her during the weeks of practice prior to the concert was no
mean feat, but we managed it and “surprised” is perhaps an understatement for
how Mrs V felt when she realised what had been going on!
Now that the tinsel is packed away we are preparing for our annual Scottish
Concert which will take place on Thursday 9th February. This is a special event
which is free for grandparents and senior citizens of the village. In addition to
singing, dancing and recitations there is the promise of Janice in the Kitchen’s
famous shortbread and a cup of tea for all attendees.