281 February 2018 - Gryffe Advertizer

50
Houston Toddlers
the advertizer
Lovely to see old and new faces at toddlers since we started back in January. We are all busy making new
friends and enjoying having fun while its pretty miserable outside.
We have some valentines crafts on offer on the 8th February so come along to make something special for
someone special!
We welcome all children age between 0 - 4 years old, together with their parents, grandparents or carers to
join in with the games, crafts and play on offer every Thursday. The children can enjoy playing, making friends
and of course snack time while the adults can catch up with a cuppa.
We meet between 9.30am - 11.30am so come along when you are ready to the West Hall, Main street
Houston PA67EL (next to the Carrick centre) ~ We look forward to meeting you all!
Houston Primary School
Scotland Street School
The pupils of Primary 6 have been learning about the Victorians and
to enhance their learning, Mrs. Conaghan, Miss Brown and Miss
Adam arranged a trip to Scotland Street School. The pupils made
comparisons with the classrooms
and the teachers, and are very glad
to be attending Houston Primary in
the present day.
Maths Whizz
Lewis Edge of Primary 5 took part
in the Sumdog online challenge to
complete 1000 math questions in
a week. He did this and scored an
amazing 968 achieving an overall
4th place within Renfrewshire. Well
done!
Solar Lamps
Last year Houston Primary School
donated £400 to purchase solar lamps for pupils in Zambia. They
are now on their way to a school in Mwandi and should arrive by
February.
This means that there is now
sufficient lighting for each pupil in
years 9 and 12 to study. We aim
to support this worth while cause
again this year.
Happy Reading!
Pupils at Houston Primary School
and Nursery are being encouraged
to nurture a lifelong love of books and reading through a new
challenge set by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
The challenge will encourage children to read as many books as
possible each year from a selection chosen by a special panel of
academics, experts and teachers, with the First Minister’s chosen
book taking the fi rst place on the list.
The pupils in P4-7 will record their reading progress in a reading
passport and be encouraged to write a short review of the books
they read.
In the Nursery the pupils take a book home to read each week.
For every story read they place a ping pong ball in their group jar
and then they count them to see which group has read the most
books.
Bridge of Weir Primary
The festive season is always
busy in school and this year
was no exception. Hopscotch
Theatre Company put on an
impressive pantomime for the
whole school and all stages had
great fun at their class parties
(Santa even managed to fit in
visits to the nursery, P1 and 2
despite his busy schedule!).
Our Christmas jumper day raised lots of
money for the St Vincent’s Hospice and
Primary 7 pupils showed real Christmas
spirit by writing personal seasonal stories
for their P1 buddies.
Our Christmas Celebrations may seem
like a distant memory but we wanted
to say a huge “well done” to all of the
Primary 1 to 3 pupils who sang their
hearts out in our nativity and “thank you” to everyone who came along,
provided costumes and helped in so many different ways. Primary 4 to 7
also deserve credit for the very high standard which they achieved singing
a real mix of challenging, unusual and entertaining Christmas songs.
There’s nothing quite like Christmas in a primary school!
We are very proud of two of our Primary 3
pupils whose artwork was selected for the
Inspired exhibition at Paisley Museum & Art
Galleries. This annual event showcases
the best artwork from school pupils across
Renfrewshire and will run until 15th April.
Anya and Elena created their work during art
classes with Mrs Devine who accompanied
them to a special preview reception for all the
exhibitors. This was a really special event
and the girls were very excited to attend.
As part of their learning in Health and Wellbeing Primary 2 pupils visited
our local Tesco store in Linwood where they took part in a Food Trail to
help them understand about the importance of a balanced diet They went
shopping for healthy foods (although they had to put the items back!) and
Cara and Connor in Primary 2b both agreed that the best part was getting
to eat the fruit kebabs they made themselves. Many thanks to all of the
staff at Tesco for facilitating this very worthwhile visit.
Strawberry Field Out of School Care
We have had a very busy December with lots of Christmas activities, with our theme being I saw 3 ships go sailing by. We made our own ships and
displayed them outside along with all our Christmas decorations. We also had a visit from Santa at our party and all got a nice present. Over the next few
weeks we will be concentrating in fi nding out about Historic Houston with a variety of activities and visits planned.
Staff will be getting training on Physical activity and well-being which will further provide us with skills for getting children of all abilities to take part in,
and overcome any barriers to getting active. The training will also look at further benefi ts for physical activity in terms of developing children’s skills and
attributes and will look in more detail at resources and activities promoting inclusion, self-awareness and goal-directed behaviour.
If you wish to enquire about our Out of School Care please call us on 01505 615315 or alternatively email sam@sfnursery.com
deadline date for our march issue - Friday 16th February - You don’t want to miss it!!
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