Kinnaird Primary School

NEWSLETTER
4th February 2016

Learn to Live. Live to Learn.

A Word from the Headteacher
It is with very mixed feelings that I write to inform you that I will be leaving my post as
headteacher of Kinnaird Primary to take up a post with Her Majestys Inspectorate of
Education. I am currently awaiting details of my start date and will advise you of this in due
course. I felt it important, however, that you were aware of forthcoming changes and that
transition planning is now being undertaken.
This is a landmark year for our school, as our current P7s were the three-year olds in the
nursery when we were first established back in August 2007. Having now led an entire
generation of pupils through the school I felt that the time was right to move on to the next
chapter of my career.
I feel extremely privileged to have been the given the rare opportunity of leading the birth
and development of a brand new school. Kinnaird has been my life and passion for the past
nine years so leaving has not been an easy decision to make. The job has been both
challenging and rewarding and I am extremely proud of what we have achieved so far. I have
no doubt that the school will continue to flourish in the future.
The schools strong local, national and international reputation was made possible by the
dedication and hard work of our staff team, excellent pupils and the strong support of
parents. I am hugely grateful for this and know that my successor will be too.
The Parent Council will be heavily involved in the recruitment process for my replacement.
Mrs Mari Darling will become acting headteacher until the recruitment process has been
concluded and the new headteacher takes up post. Although Mrs Darling currently has
specific responsibility for the Thistle Wing, she is a very active member of our Senior
Leadership Team and is well aware of current whole school issues and developments. She has
already begun to shadow me as preparation for this handover.
Once again I would like to thank you for your support over the years and wish you all the very
best for the future.

Pamela Adamson
Nursery Staffing Update
We welcome Amber Carey to our nursery team. She has been appointed on a temporary
contract to cover the Green Group until the end of June.
Leoni Forgie, Early Years Officer with responsibility for the Red Group, has just been
appointed to a permanent post at Airth Primary Schools Nursery Class. Her last day at
Kinnaird will be Friday 5th February. We wish her every success in this new post. Lorraine
Maxwell, who has been covering the vacancy in the Green Group, will take on responsibility
for the Red Group from Mrs Forgie from 8th February.
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Burns Supper

The Primary 7s provided a wonderful evenings entertainment for their parents on 27 th

January. The packed programme included all the traditional elements you would expect at a
Burns Supper; speeches, toasts, poetry, music, song and dance. The children also
demonstrated a range of musical talent with guests treated to performances played on
whistles, guitar, flute, clarinet, cello . and best of all the bagpipes!
Mrs McLean and her kitchen team ensured that all of the guests were well fed with the
traditional haggis, neeps and tatties. Thanks also to Walkers, Tunnocks and Sainsburys for
their donations of shortbread, tea cakes, Irn Bru and cups. The parents home-baking of
tablet was also much appreciated as was the amazing Jeely Piece cake (which was worthy of
a top baker prize in the Great British Bake Off!)

We will be supporting Internet Safety Day on 9th

February. Here are some links you might find
useful to help ensure your childs safety when
using the internet at home.
http://www.kidsmart.org.uk/beingsmart/
http://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-andresources/parents-and-carers

Poetry Recitation Competition Winners

P1 P3 winners
P4 7 winners
Its always a real pleasure to hear the pupils recite their Scots poetry with such confidence
and enjoyment. Our class winners entertained us with their winning poems at this weeks
assemblies in front of their peers and their parents. Well done all!

Results of Homework Survey

Parent Responses
We had an excellent response from parents to our recent review of our homework approach
with 77% of families returning the comment sheet provided.
We asked how much time your child spends on homework each week. You told us that:
P1 and P2 spend between 30 minutes and 1 hour on homework each week.
P2, P3, P4 and P6 spend between 1 and 2 hours on homework each week
P5 and P7 spend around 2 hours on homework
We asked if your child enjoyed homework. Your feedback shows that most children in P1 P4
do enjoy homework, however the number disliking homework increases to around a third of
pupils in P6 and P7.
The majority of parents believe that homework benefits their childs learning. Primary 1
parents feel most strongly about this, with 94% stating yes to this question. The belief that
it benefits their child reduces to between 70% and 74% in the middle and upper primary.
We asked what you felt was working well with our current homework approach. The most
frequent responses were:
The benefits of homework being set weekly to enable families to fit this around family
life. Some particularly liked being able to do homework at the weekend, others didnt.
You liked the variety of tasks set
You valued the reading tasks
You felt that the tasks reinforced the learning that was taking place in the classroom
You like that homework provided an opportunity for parent/child interaction
You felt that the homework was an opportunity to see how your child was doing, seeing
their progress
You liked the topic-related research tasks
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You told us to consider changing the following things:

Reducing the quantity of homework set
Providing clearer instructions
Providing more curricular information for parents
Reducing the amount of craft
Focus on the basics i.e. literacy and numeracy
Increasing the use of worksheets
Increasing the use of personalised homework
We also asked you what we should stop. We had few responses
to this section however 14 wanted creative tasks stopped while
8 specifically asked for nothing to be stopped. Six parents wanted homework stopped
altogether.
Pupil Responses
Our Pupil Council representatives undertook a similar survey with their classmates (P3 P7).
When asked if they enjoyed homework the responses varied with the most significant,
consistent, response being that their level of enjoyment depends on the nature of the task
itself. The majority of children feel that homework helps them learn but again, a significant
number stated that it depends on the task set.
The children were also able to identify a range of tasks which help them to learn across a
range of subject areas. They have provided us with lots of suggestions of what to change,
although these vary greatly and tend to reflect personal interests e.g. stop reading v
increase the amount of reading, stop computer work v increase online research. The most
common request was for an increase in craft and art work (something parents wanted
reduced/stopped). Pupils also suggested varying the variety of tasks e.g. reducing to 3 tasks
per week, setting 2 big/2 small, providing 2 free choices.
Next Steps
The combined parent and pupil responses have certainly given the staff food for thought.
There are clearly issues with regards to pupil enjoyment and perceived relevance in the
upper school which need to be addressed.
During the February In-service day on 11th February (and again on the Election closure day on
5th May) the staff team will be embarking on a review of our curriculum rationale. Homework
plays an integral role in our curricular approach and the information gained from this recent
consultation will help inform this development work. In the meantime, staff have taken
particular heed of your request for clarity of task explanation and a reduction in craft
activities and will use this when planning future homework tasks this session.

Car Park Safety

Please note that dogs are not

permitted on school grounds. This
includes the main entrance area.
Thank you for your assistance.

We would like to remind all parents that the car park is

for staff use only, with the exception of the spaces on the
right of the exit road, beyond the football pitch.
Parents should not use the main car park area as a
waiting area. Children are not permitted to walk through
the car park to reach them.
The 4 disabled parking spaces are reserved for blue
badge holders only.
Thank you.
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Dining Room Refurbishment

The children love their new look dining room. The new tables, with bench-style seating, have created
much more space while increasing seating capacity. This, in addition to a new additional servery area,
has resulted in the time taken to serve dinners being reduced by 15 minutes!
Its not every day you get an audience with the First
Minister! Michael Young, P5B, took his campaign to
have the NHS support the use of new drug Translarna
straight to the top. Used to treat muscular dystrophy
in other EU countries, the drug is currently being
assessed by the Scottish Medicines Consortium here.
Michael has taken part in this trial himself and wants
other boys to be able to benefit from it too.

Parent Council

The next meeting of the Parent Council will take place at 6.30pm on Wednesday 2nd March. The
agenda will be available on their facebook page (www.facebook.com/kinnairdparentcouncil). If you
have an item you wish to be included please email kinnairdparentcouncil@gmail.com.

Ticket requests in sealed envelope with

money to school office. Please enclose details
of number of paying adults and free children.

Please keep separate from any other

monies.

Have there been any changes to your home or emergency contact details?
Have there been any changes to your childs medical needs?
If so, please let the school office know.

Dates for your diary

11 Feb.
12 Feb.
15 Feb.
26 Feb.
29 Feb.
2 March
2 March
3 March
3 March
4 March
7 March
9 March
11 March
14 March
14 March
16 March
16 March
17 March
18 March
18 March
18 March
21 March
25 March
28 March
29 March
30 March
30 March
1 April
4 April
18 April

In-service closure day

Holiday
Holiday
Foodbank Friday
P7s Mock Court Final, Edinburgh
HT drop-in surgery 5.30pm 6.15pm (NB: Time change)
Parent Council Meeting 6.30pm. (All parents welcome)
P1 & P7 dental inspections
World Book Day (Our World Book Day Learning Team are currently events for this.)
Thistle Wing Red Room Caf
P7D attend Larbert High all week
Musical evening 7pm
Keep the Date!
Thistle Wing Green Room Caf
P7M attend Larbert High all week
April nursery intake induction meeting for parents
P1 & P2 disco (6.15pm 7.30pm)
Day of Dance, Falkirk Town Hall
P3 & P4 disco (6.15pm 7.30pm) P5 P7 disco (7.45pm 9pm)
Sport Relief charity day
7pm
Nursery caf (9.30am 10.30am) and (2pm 3pm)
Wed. 9th March
Thistle Wing Blue Room cafe
Parents Evening 4.30pm 7pm
Musical performances
by pupils, staff and
HOLIDAY
parents.
HOLIDAY
Thistle Wing Red Room cafe
Tickets will be on
April nursery children induction visit
sale after the Feb.
Parents Evening 4.30pm 7pm
holiday.
Foodbank Friday
CLOSE FOR EASTER HOLIDAY
Reopen

MUSICAL
MOMENTS

Kinnaird Primary School

McIntyre Avenue
Kinnaird
FK5 4TQ
Tel. 01324 503370
e-mail address: kinnairdprimaryschool@falkirk.gov.uk
website: www.kinnaird.falkirk.sch.uk
Twitter: @kinnairdps