Skene School

Latest News


Latest News 2020-2021

Primary 1 2020-21

We are delighted to welcome our 13 new Primary 1 pupils this week – we hope you have enjoyed your first day at school :).  Here are some photos of you all working hard.

August 12th

We have had a great first day back and everyone has adapted brilliantly to all of the new routines and measures that we have put in place.  Well done everyone!  Here are a selection of photos to show you what we got up to :)!

Welcome back!

We are delighted to welcome you all back to school today – it has been a long 5 months and I am sure this will be a happy day for many – although some anxieties may be there also.

Please ensure you have read through the parent information letter and watched the short video to enhance your understanding of some of the Covid related changes that we have made.  There is also a copy of our Full time return risk assessment.  They can be accessed here:

Full time return risk assessment – Skene

Return to School Letter August 2020

 Latest News 2019-20

Sunday 12th April – Happy Easter everyone!

Well done and thank you to everyone who entered the Easter/Spring House Challenge.  I don’t think we have ever given out so many points for one challenge – the children certainly rose to the challenge for the bonus points! 

I can confirm the results, as decided by two impartial judges (entries anonymised and sent via power-point), are as follows:

 

Category 1 – Easter Cards

1st place – Owen Reid

2nd place – Daniel Hanley

3rd place (joint) – Alistair Pirie, Erin Cruickshank and Esther Manda

 

  Category 2 – Easter Eggs

1st place – Shayne Duguid

2nd place – Mack Thomson

3rd place – Cameron Fail

Category 3 – Easter Bonnets

1st place – Amy Reid

2nd place – Abbie McPherson

3rd place – Theo and Zac Gregory-Blackett

Our judges also decided to do an overall winner.  This goes to an entry which encompasses all three houses, links to a previous house challenge (Children in Need), shows excellent skill and technical knowledge (I look forward to learning how to do this) and which we hope will bring a smile to everyone’s face.  The overall winner is Isla Kay.  Isla’s entry can be viewed by clicking on this link: https://youtu.be/29kPN4eowTM

A fantastic effort from everyone and the messages really were super –  here is a presentation for each category with the entries.

Category 2 – Easter Eggs

Category 3 – Easter Bonnets

Friday 3rd April

Good news story!

Yesterday was World Autism Awareness Day. James (P6) and his mum Gemma have raised almost £900 for World Autism Awareness Week.

They are doing 7K around their farm this Saturday and have named it #DoingItForDillon: it’s a national wide run/swim/cycle called 7K for 700k.

It was supposed to be a group event but not letting Covid stop them, they have restructured and made it just the two of them.

They are not looking for donations but wanted to bring awareness to everyone about Autism awareness.

Well done to you both from everyone at Skene School! A fantastic cause and I am sure Dillon (and everyone else) will be very proud and grateful to you both.

Tuesday 24th March

Every day at 11am, you can listen one of David Walliams’ World’s Worst Children stories, so sit down, take a break, and enjoy 20ish minutes of reading!

www.worldofdavidwalliams.com

PE:

We are ready to join Joe Wicks for his morning PE session! Anyone else joining in today?

Dan Hancock also offers daily sessions if you fancy a range of experiences throughout the week.

#PEwithJoe #keepactive #staffwellbeingtoo

Thursday 19th March

Some great news in a time of uncertainty…

The final total raised from the family Race Night on Saturday was £1002.55! Thank you to everyone who contributed in any way. I am sure our children will engage with many fantastic experiences as a result when they are back to school and it is safe to do so.

Saturday 14th March – Family Race Night

Please see below some photographs from our Family Race Night – great fun, great sportsmanship and a fantastic total raised for the Parent Council funds!

Well done to all of our jockeys – I hope your arms have recovered.

Thank you to everyone who was involved in any way and a big thank you to the Parent Council for organising.

Thursday 12th March

A busy Craft Club yesterday as we explored origami paper folding. A Japanese culture which links to the current topics in our older two classes.

Tuesday 25th February – Pancake Day!

This afternoon we enjoyed a new house challenge for this session – Flipping Fantastic Pancakes.

We had pancake races, how many flips in one minute, flipping and catching challenges and pancake relays. Great fun had by all – house members, captains, vices and staff!

This challenge was all about teamwork and spirit too 😃!

Results were as follows:

1st – Easterskene
2nd – Garlogie
3rd – Carnie

Well done everyone!

Next, we have our annual Spelling Bee competition on Friday, adapted this year to cater for all ages and stages.

Friday 21st February

We hope you all enjoyed the mid-term holiday.

During the INSET days staff engaged with two busy days of development work including a training session from SensationALL around additional support needs and sensory processing.

Not the most glamorous photos to follow but during the break all of the bathrooms were upgraded thanks to the support of our Business Support Officer – they were painted (no more dark brick work), had new flooring laid, new lights installed and had some of the pipe work boxed in. They are much brighter and fresher now 😃.

Wednesday 12th February 2020

P7 Rotary Quiz

Well done to the Skene School Hoodies who did a fantastic job at tonight’s Rotary Quiz! You did us proud once again and came 2nd overall 🏆 – well done to each and every one of you and thank you to all of your supporters.

British Heart Foundation

Wow – what a busy but fantastic day at Skene School!

All classes enjoyed learning about the heart in their sessions delivered by British Heart Foundation volunteers Mags and Jade. We even had a surprise visit for the BHF mascot Hearty ❤️!

Thank you to everyone who donated money for dress as you please day, via the spare change hearts and all other generous donations also.Our total raised (and going straight to help families and research in our local area) is…

Drumroll please….

A staggering £376.05!!!!

Fantastic work from everyone involved from our Charity champions, families and pupils donating, BHF volunteers, staff and parents counting the money! We appreciate the effort and kindness from every single one of you ❤️❤️❤️!

Here are some of our Charity Champions with the money from the spare change hearts ❤️!

I am not sure the number of coins/size of the heart is truly appreciated in these photos – an amazing amount of money! Thank you!

House Events:

Love of Food Menu

Well done to everyone who entered the Love of Food Valentines menu competition! Each entry received one house points.

Results were as follows:

P1-4:
1st place – Amy (Garlogie)
2nd place – Joe (Garlogie)
3rd place – Daniel (Easterskene)

P5-7:
1st place – Beth (Garlogie)
2nd place – Isla K (Easterskene)
3rd place – Ellie (Carnie)
Commended: Struan (Easterskene) and Jessica (Carnie)

House Quiz

Well done to everyone for their input and efforts in the House Quiz this afternoon.The House Leader quiz (teachers, PSA’s and House/Vice Captains) was won by Easterskene but the overall results for the afternoon were:

1st place – Carnie
2nd place – Garlogie
3rd place – Easterskene

Total scores as of Mid-term break:

Carnie – 411
Easterskene – 467
Garlogie – 448

Tuesday 11th February

Tomorrow is our fundraising and awareness raising day for the British Heart Foundation.

Everyone is welcome to come to school dressed as they please (with a touch of red) for a minimum donation of £1.
Cardboard hearts are due to be returned if you wish to participate. The Charity Champions will collect, collate and count it in a very special way.
Each class will engage with a presentation from the BHF.

We also have 2 House events – The Love of food menus (Valentines/heart theme) are due in and will be judged and the house quiz is in the afternoon.

There is a special Valentines themed lunch replacing the one on the rotational menu (see below).

Monday 10th February

Please see below ‘A Beginners Guide to a Race Night’. We hope that this will help to clarify any questions/queries that you may have about our Race night.

If you, or any family members or friends, would like to purchase a horse or a jockey (must be present at the event to be a jockey or nominate someone who will be) please contact Lynne Pirie on lynne305@btinternet.com. You are welcome to pay by cash or you can now pay by transfer to the Skene School Council bank account with the following details:

Account number: 00119389
Sort code: 83-28-40

The night is set to be great fun for everyone and we look forward to seeing you all there.

Thursday 6th February 2020

P1-4 Outdoor Learning

P1-4 enjoyed their time in the woods this morning. We did some Science, Art, Literacy and Numeracy while enjoying the fresh air.

A big thank you to our parent helpers!

Craft Club – our jewellery holders are making good progress…

***Please note***

On Thursday, 6th February, P1-4 will be spending the morning in the woods. Please ensure the children have jackets, appropriate footwear and are dressed for the weather e.g. waterproof clothing, hats, gloves etc. The children will also need a snack that can fit in their jacket pocket.

Wednesday 5th February

Today P3-7 will begin an iPad music course using GarageBand. This will be delivered by YMI (Youth Music Initiative) Aberdeenshire. We had to apply for this opportunity and are very grateful that our youngsters have been selected to participate.

RSPB Big Schools Bird Watch

P6/7 are taking part in the RSPB Big Schools Birdwatch which finishes this week. Here are some facts they have been learning.

Tuesday 4th February

Today P5-7 enjoyed a session of Bible Alive as part of our Religious and Moral Education Curriculum. This was delivered by Ms Stewart.  Pupils were learning about the Bible and how it is formed with the Old and New Testament’s and how many books are in each.  They also explored the Book of Genesis from the Old Testament.

Sunday 2nd February

In a bid to be more eco-friendly, please see below some alternative ideas to single use plastic for attaching loose coins to the BHF hearts.  Thank you to Ella’s mum for the suggestions.

Parent Council Family Race Night – Saturday 14th March

Please remember to spread the word about our Family Race Night on Saturday 14th March. Please comment below or contact Lynne Pirie at lynne305@btinternet.com if you would like to buy a horse (£10) or jockey (£5). We hope to sell as many of these prior to the evening as possible.

There will be races for adults and children.

Jockeys must be available on the night or you can nominate someone in attendance to jockey on your behalf.

Thank you!

Thursday 30th February

Our House Captains have launched their Valentine’s Challenge for this year and it is called ‘Valentine’s Love of Food Menu’.

Entrants are asked to design a menu including the food that they ‘love’ as they try to tempt the judges with their favourite dishes.  They can include descriptions of each item, use creative names (like Lorraine did for the school menu), include drawings or photographs etc.

Wednesday 29th February

Thank you very much to everyone who has started collecting their loose change for the British Heart Foundation.

This charity was nominated by one of our pupils for the following reason:

“I would like to nominate this charity because close family friends of ours have a daughter who has congenital heart disease. When she was 15 days old, she had a cardiac arrest and was the smallest baby in Scotland to survive open heart surgery. The family do lots of fundraising for BHF and now go around schools teaching CPR to the children. My Granny died of a heart disease and I hope the fundraising to find a cure carries on and one day prevents this happening to anyone else.”

We are very lucky to have the above-mentioned family coming to visit Skene School on Wednesday 12th February. They will deliver a presentation to each class and there will be time for questions also. This is a great opportunity for our pupils to see and understand exactly where their money will go.

Parent Council – Easyfundraising

Did you know that whenever you buy anything online – from your weekly shop to your annual holiday – you could be raising free donations for Skene School Council with easyfundraising?

There are over 4,000 shops and sites on board ready to make a donation – including eBay, Argos, John Lewis, ASOS, Booking.com and M&S – and it won’t cost you a penny extra to help us raise funds.

All you need to do is:

1. Go to https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/skenesc and join for free.

2. Every time you shop online, go to easyfundraising first to find the site you want and start shopping.

3. After you’ve checked out, the retailer will make a donation to Skene School Council at no extra cost to you whatsoever!

There are no catches or hidden charges and our Parent Council will be really grateful for your donations.

Thank you for your support.

Tuesday 28th January

A big thank you to everyone who came along to the Endangered Animal Drive this afternoon and to those who supported by giving a donation. We had lots of fun whilst raising a fantastic £195.74 for WIRES who help support and rescue the innocent victims of the Australian bushfires and droughts.

Thanks also to everyone for helping clear up at the end, your help was much appreciated 😃.

Have a great evening!

Monday 27th January

Well done to all of the acts who presented in our Scottish talent show today. The results were as follows:

1st place – Ellie and Isla
2nd place (joint) – Daniel (P1) and Maura and Corinne
3rd place (joint) – Struan M and Molly

Points awarded for their houses:
Carnie – 25 points
Easterskene – 10 points
Garlogie – 15 points

Thursday 23rd January

Craft Club

It was a messy Craft Club session today as we started making our jewellery holders.  Not everyone got a chance to do it as we ran out of time but don’t worry, we will get the rest done next week.

Scots Poetry Competition

Well done to all of our pupils for using their can do attitudes to learn their poems.  Today, 2 pupils from each year group presented their poems to the rest of the school and our Rotary Judges.  The results were as follows:

1st place – Ellie, P6

2nd place – Abbie, P7

3rd place – Rebecca, P6

Commended – Daniel, P1, Ben, P3, Emilie, P5, Jamin, P5 and Struan, p7.

 

Wednesday 22nd January

Rotary Quiz Results

Immensely proud of ALL of our teams tonight at the Rotary Quiz and what a fantastic result for Skene!

Overall results for the P6 competition:
1st place – Skene Beans


2nd place – Skene Smarties

Overall results for the P7 competition:
1st place – Skene Hoodies ²

Cardboard Hearts

We are looking for volunteers to help us cut out 82 cardboard hearts. ❤️ Would anyone be free tomorrow? It can be any time to suit you – we will be flexible and very grateful!

Rotary Quiz

Tonight it is the turn of our Primary 6 and Primary 7 pupils to participate in the Rotary Fun Quiz.

Good luck to all of our teams:
The Skene Smarties
Skene United
The Skene Hoodies²
The Skene Beans

Tuesday 21st January

Good luck to the Skene Spice Girls and the Galaxy Guys who are competing in the P4/5 Rotary Quiz tonight!

Monday 20th January

Today we are looking forward to hearing the children recite their Scots poems. We asked for the children to use their ‘can do attitudes’ as we know this is not an easy task for everyone. We will support, prompt and assist as required.

Two children from each year group will go through to present their poem at our special Scots Assembly on Thursday.

Chess Club

The children were delighted that Chess Club started again today. Pupils in P3-7 are welcome to come along.

Author of the Month – January

P5/6 have displayed their work on Roger Hargraves.

Thursday 16th January

Craft Club

We had great fun at Craft Club today making our very own book marks. We can’t wait to keep reading our books.

         

French

P1/2 enjoyed their French lesson outside today as they went on a colour hunt and practised their counting. Well done everyone!

Charity Champions

Our Charity Champions have come up with some super ideas for fundraising this term. For their first one, they need to make 81 hearts. We would like to recycle cardboard for this instead of using new card. If anyone has any cereal boxes, Amazon boxes etc that they are finished with, please can you pop them into school this week or next. Thank you.

P.s. Can you guess what Charity they may be supporting?

Parent Council

Please see slides of key information from Head Teacher and Parent Council Chairperson updates from today’s meeting.

Wednesday 15th January 2020

Please see below details of a fundraising event to raise vital funds in support of the animal charities supporting the rescue mission in Australia as a result of the continuing bushfires.

Endangered Animals Drive

Monday 13th January 2020

Our fantastic House and Vice Captains delivered assemblies today to their respective houses. They advertised and discussed upcoming events, shared motivational messages and provided the current scores. Well done to you all – a great job! 🌟

Current scores:

Carnie – 283
Easterskene – 357
Garlogie – 309

Friday 10th January 2020

A copy of the P1 photograph from the 1st Class supplement in the Evening Express.

Thursday 9th January 2020

There was a stampede in the playground today as the endangered animal footprints made their first trip into the playground. These were in Thursday’s playground box that the Concerned Councillors developed. What great fun!

Tomorrow each class will engage with a TechFest workshop.

This fantastic learning opportunity is funded by the Parent Council – thank you very much!

Topics are as follows:
P1/2 – K’Nex Dinosaurs
P3/4 – Amazing Aberdeen
P5/6 – Apollo 7 Challenge
P6/7 – Glorious Germs

Friday 18th October

Please can I ask you all to start saving your empty crisp packets to send into school. Skene School will now be a collection point for the ‘CrispsforHelimed79’ campaign. The Charity Champions will be in touch once we are back but there is some information below from the Charity.

I was going to wait until the start of term but the sooner we start collecting, the more we can recycle.

Reduce, reuse, recycle . Support local.

Thursday 10th October

P1/2 had a visit from the Police this afternoon. PC Stewart and PC Donald answered all of our questions and told us all about being a police officer. We then had a look at the police van and had a turn of sitting in the cage! Luckily we were let back out!

Wednesday 9th October

P3/4 Macduff Aquarium Trip

P3/4 enjoyed their trip to Macduff Aquarium today as part of their ‘Extreme Earth’ topic. They were learning about the impact of plastics and oil on our oceans as well as exploring the marine life on show. They saw some fish being fed and got to hold a star fish.

Thank you to Mr Spicer and Mrs Smart for organising and to Mrs McElroy for helping out.

P6/7 Tudor Houses

Today P6/7 we’re creating Tudor houses out of papier-mâché as part of their Tudors and Stuarts topic. Great fun, learning and life skills (the hoover made an appearance) for everyone.

(Apologies for any messy clothes, everyone was offered the opportunity to wear an apron… but most politely declined!)

Tuesday 8th October

McMeds ‘Splash n Dash’ Swimming Gala

Congratulations to the Skene Swimmers for winning the ‘Splash n Dash’ Swimming Gala today. 1st place overall with a win in every race! Great skill and team spirit from everyone and a fantastic time had by all.

Thank you to all of the parent helpers and supporters also!

Harvest Lunch

A delicious harvest themed lunch today! There were lots of yummy foods to try as well as some firm favourites on the menu. There was a table to explore different ingredients and ask questions. Very positive feedback from the children and now they are thinking of other themes they would like. Thank you Lorraine (and team)!

Aberdeenshire Council are trialling themed lunches throughout the year. The first one will be a harvest lunch on Tuesday, 8th October.

Monday 7th October

A decision was made to cancel Bikeability today due to the poor weather conditions.  Thank you to everyone who has volunteered to support the rescheduled session tomorrow. We can now confirm that the sessions will go ahead at normal times. We will ensure any swimmers move to group 2 to give them a rest.

We don’t like to miss an opportunity so we used today’s session for the theory test (everyone passed ) and some walk through manoeuvres including right controlled junctions and emergency stops.

8:00am

Good morning!

A decision will be made at 12:15 regarding Bikeability. Fingers crossed the wind dies down and rain goes off/to a drizzle. We will notify parent helpers as soon possible. Should we have to cancel we will reschedule, potentially for tomorrow. We will be in touch with more information should the situation arise.

Thank you.

Friday 4th October

Bikeability – Today we introduced a right controlled junction and passing a parked car. Keep practising everyone!

Wishing all pupils, families and staff a happy and fun weekend!

Thursday 3rd October

We have made a great start to our Bikeability sessions this year. The children are working very hard and have learned the start and stopping procedures as well as both left turns (controlled and uncontrolled). We would really appreciate it if the children could do some practise out with the sessions to consolidate their learning and further improve their skills.

A big thank you to all of our parent helpers without whom we wouldn’t be able to provide this opportunity.

Saturday 28th September

Well done to both of our football teams who played in the Cluny tournament on Saturday. Both teams played brilliantly despite the weather. Great passing, excellent teamwork and the all-important goals!

Thank you to the dedicated coaches and parents for supporting the children and braving the torrential rain on the side lines all day.

Saturday 21st September

Well done to everyone who participated in the School Sponsored walk up Brimmond Hill, pupils and family members too. A very big thank you to Mrs Noble for organising the event.  Here are some pictures of everyone having fun:

 

 

Latest News 2018/19

Tuesday 28th May 2019

I have been working closely with House Captains and they have launched a new house challenge encouraging us all to be more environmentally friendly.

Outside we have house coloured bins and inside house coloured recycling bins. We do hope that pupils, staff and parents (at events such as Sports Day) will use the correct bin to earn points for their house.

Outside bins will be emptied and weighed with each house being awarded points based on the weight of the bag.

Recycling contents from all classrooms/office area will be collated and points given based on who has the most etc.

Mrs Blackwood

Week Commencing Monday 5th November 2018

Friday 9th November – House Event: Remembrance

We have been overwhelmed by the response to the Remembrance House event in terms of the number of entries but also the heart warming thought and creativity that has gone into each entry.

It was an almost impossible task to select the winners as they were all more than deserving. We have come to a decision as follows:

P1/2:
1st place – Cameron
2nd place – Ella
3rd place – Charlie

P3/4
1st place – James
2nd place – Alex
3rd place – Emilie

P5/6/7
1st place – Samia
2nd place – Beth
3rd place – Jessica

A very big well done to everyone who entered – please see the photos for the winning entries.

Thursday 8th November – P5/6/7 Perform at Kirkton of Skene Church Remembrance Event

We are all very proud of P5/6/7 after this evenings performance – fantastic readings and beautiful voices sharing touching messages about the war. I don’t know about you but it brought a tear (or two) to my eyes.

Well done to all of the boys and girls and to Miss Law and Mrs Thomson – we couldn’t have done it without you!

Wednesday 7th November – Peter Pan Pantomime

What a fantastic performance of ‘Peter Pan’ this afternoon by M and M Productions. Here are a few sneak peaks of the show to share and discuss with your child/children. Well done to everyone for their audience participation, to Ruby for getting up on the stage and helping Peter Pan and to Mrs Crawford and Mrs Knight for the dancing! We hope everyone enjoyed the show !

With the centenary of the end of World War I fast approaching, we turn our attentions to remembrance for the next House Captain Challenge.

Launched last Wednesday, House Captains have asked their team mates to help them ‘remember’ in any way they wish – this could be a poster, picture, card, painted stone, Poem, Lego model, cross stitch, cake, a letter, a knitted poppy etc. Be as creative as you wish!

 

The theme is remembrance but this could be at any level – an experience, friend, family member or linked to conflict around the world, past and/or present.

Every child who enters will receive a house point with additional points for our winners. We ask for all entries to be handed in on/by Friday 9th November.

Categories will be: P1/2, P3/4 and P5/6/7.

Good luck everyone !

Week Commencing Monday 29th October 2018

Wednesday 31st October – Happy Halloween!

What a super busy day we had at school today but lots of fun too between pumpkin competitions and Samba lessons!

Thank you and well done to everyone who entered the pumpkin competition – the skill and commitment demonstrated blew us away! What creative and talented children and parents we have at Skene !

The winners for each category were as follows:

P1-3 – Erin Cruickshank (P2)


P4-7 – Samia Will (P5)


Adults – Mr Kay

Monday 29th October – Welcome back!

This week we welcome Miss Logan to P1/2 who joins us from the University of Aberdeen for 4 weeks.  She will then return to Skene early in 2019 to work with P5/6/7 for 5 weeks.

P567 Remembrance Art

As part of our Remembrance events, P567 are hoping to create a whole school poppy art installation. We are looking for different sized clear plastic bottles. Please send them in with your child. Thank you in advance and look out for our artwork next week.

Techfest Visit Confirmed – Friday 11th January 2018

We are excited to have secured a Techfest workshop for each class on Friday 11th January 2019. A big thank you to the Parent Council who fund this opportunity annually, we really do appreciate it !

The sessions will be as follows:

P1/2 – Making Toothpaste
P3 – Science Detectives
P4/5 – Codes and Cyphers
P5/6/7 – Dissolving and Solubility

Wednesday 31st October – Jack o Lantern Competition

As in previous years, we will run a Jack o ‘Lantern competition for anyone who wishes to take part – we do appreciate this may not be for everyone. Please see attached posters/pictures created by our House Captains outlining more of the details.

We will have 2 children’s categories – P1-3 and P4-7. For any adults who would like to take part we will also have an Adult category.  The Parent Council will kindly provide prizes for the children.

Please bring your entries in on or before Wednesday 31st.  A polite reminder that battery operated candles or torches are best and no real candles please (especially since we have our Fire Risk Assessment Visit that day!).

Sunday 28th October 2018 – Looking forward to the new term!

Well the October holidays have passed in a flash (for the staff anyway!) and we are excited to see everyone back tomorrow morning to embrace our next term at Skene !

We hope you remembered to pop your clocks back last night and we will see you all at 9am tomorrow morning.

Week commencing Monday 8th October

Cluny Netball Tournament

A big well done to our P4/5 and P6/7 Netball Teams who took part in the Cluny Tournament on Monday 8th October.

P4/5 games were friendly and unscored – the team played fantastic some netball and very well as a team – well done everyone!

P6/7 had a tough challenge, playing on a full size court for the first time.  They gave it their best and played well as a team.  They team came second overall.  Well done to Midmar and Cluny who finished joint first.

Thank you to all of the coaches, supporters and parent taxis, we really appreciate your continued support.

Friday 12th October –

Primary 3 made Egyptian Bread today… delicious was the verdict!

Value – Respect

For the last 2 weeks our Community Time focus has been ‘Respect for Everyone.’  Each group gathered ideas about what respect is, what it looks like and how we can help to grow respect at Skene School.  Here are some pictures of their creative displays for everyone to share…

P4/5 Scottish Opening – Wallace the Bruce’s New Owner

Following a very successful Open Morning, we can now reveal the winner of the ‘lucky steps’ competition.  Wallace the Bruce has a new owner … Toby Graham!  The lucky step was number 142 – although nobody had this exact step, the next number purchased (higher as per the rules) was 150. Well done Toby!

Hats off to our Volunteers!

With the end of term getting ever closer, we would like to say a big thank you to you all for your help and support throughout the term.

A big ‘hats off’ to our volunteers who have assisted with school trips, in the library, casting on knitting, running lunch time and after school clubs, helping at the swimming gala and with school photographs etc. We really do appreciate everyone’s help which allows us to provide such a range of wonderful opportunities for our pupils – we have a display to celebrate this just outside the office (see picture).

Thank you!

Thursday 11th October – Wallace the Bruce

Just a quick email to share an event that we have in school tomorrow.  P4/5 will be selling ‘lucky steps’ to win ‘Wallace the Bruce’ (Scotty Dog in the attached pictures).

We have 246 steps of the Wallace Monument available for £1 each.  We don’t expect to sell them all but the winning number will win the doggie.  If the exact step has not been sold, the closest number above will win.

If anyone would like to purchase a step, please pop money in with your child tomorrow.

Wednesday 10th October – MCMEDS Swimming Gala

Well done to the Skene Team in today’s Swimming Gala – what a great effort from everyone and a well deserved 2nd place overall!

Thank you to all of our parent and staff volunteers (Mrs Kay, Mrs Pirie, Mrs Solomon, Mr and Mrs Robb) for assisting with organising, time keeping, setting up and supervising the children.  We really appreaciate your time and effort.

Thank you to Nicol of Skene for Sponsoring the event – due to its success we can expect to see it on the annual calendar.

Here are a few photos of the event … I think everyone will sleep well tonight!

Tuesday 9th October

Tomorrow we are taking part in the McMeds ‘Splash n Dash’ Swimming Gala.

This is the first of its kind for our small Schools Cluster (Midmar, Cluny, Monymusk, Echt, Dunecht and Skene) and Skene have taken the lead in organising.

We have a team of 12 representing the school. Good luck everyone – swim well and enjoy!Thank you in advance to the parents who have volunteered to help, we really appreciate it.

Fingers crossed it’s a success and becomes an annual event on the calendar !

Week commencing Monday 1st October

Friday 5th October – Snappy September 2018: The Results

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Snappy September Competition – we had 32 entries from across the school, including parents.

The theme was ‘Skene and its local area’.  The results are as follows:

1st place – Georgina, P3

2nd place – Amy, P1

3rd place – Alistair Pirie, P5

Parent Winner – Mrs Grant

Well done to everyone who entered – Mrs Milne very kindly judged the competition for us and found it very hard!  We will ensure all entries are forwarded to the Parent Council to be considered for their calendar.

Friday 5th October – Go Green for Dyslexia Day

Today is Skene School’s ‘Go Green’ for Dyslexia day. We are pleased to be sending £84.12 to the British Dyslexia Foundation.

Thank you to everyone for your support !

#dyslexiaawareness

Thursday 4th October – P4/5 Stirling Trip

P4/5 are having a great time down in Stirling today. We have visited the castle, relived a period of the Scottish Wars of Independence, explored castle life, dressed in costumes from the 1300’s, experienced how heavy chain mail is, visited a lego museum and hiked up the Wallace Monument!

What a great day – we will all sleep tonight!

FAO Miss Law’s P5/6/7 Parents

Please remind the children to bring some cosy clothes in a bag for the walk tomorrow afternoon and to remember their packed lunch. The weather forecast looks like it may just stay dry but please ensure your child is prepared just in case.

Sadly we are still waiting for some permission slips. We have chased for these and without them the child cannot attend. Please ensure it is with them tomorrow morning otherwise they will remain at school with P4/5 – there will not be time for us to chase again in the morning.

Thank you.

Week commencing Monday 24th September

Friday 28th September

Bags2School

Drum roll please…

Today we handed over 91 bags to Bags2School! That is absolutely AMAZING!!! Thank you to everyone who donated/cleared out to help us raise money for new playground equipment.  I will update you on how much money that converts to when we get the final figure from the company.  Above pictured is our Concerned Councillors with some of the bags!

Well done everyone!

Sponsored Walk

Thank you very much for sending in your Sponsored Walk photos from Saturday. Lots of great photos but two of my favourites have been sent in from Liam and Iona.

The first, from Iona, shows a range of people having great fun on the walk – family and friends together taken in what looks like a creative style!

The second, from Liam, is a panoramic view (click on the photo for the full view) – some skilled photography to take in the stunning scenery around Dunecht estates.

I promised an additional £20 sponsorship for the individual/family who sent me the best ‘walk’ picture. Please add my name to your sponsor sheet and I’ll leave the money at the office to add to your total .

Well done again Liam and Iona and to everyone who sent in pictures – I’ll get them displayed in school ASAP.

Thursday 27th September

Go Green for Dyslexia

Our Charity Champions have decided to support one charity per term and this term, with a learning focus, it is the British Dyslexia Association.

Next week, 1st – 7th October is Dyslexia Awareness week. Nessy, a resource used in school by some of our learners, are in partnership with the British Dyslexia Association to help raise awareness and to develop resources and strategies to help children/people with dyslexia to reach their full potential.

On Friday 5th October Skene School will ‘go green’ to pledge our support. We are encouraging pupils, parents and staff to dress ‘green’ for the day. We are asking for a £1 donation from each person who comes to school dressed in green and not school uniform. This money will go straight to the Charity.

Throughout the week we will raise awareness of how we all learn in different ways and will continue to promote our ‘Can do Attitude.’

Wednesday 26th September

One of our values is to have a ‘Can do attitude/growth mindset’. P1-3 have created some minibeasts to share advice re their can do attitudes! Their excellent display is in the gym hall for all to see and learn from.

Well done P1-3!

Every day we are reminded of what a beautiful location and area our school is in .

A reminder that our Snappy September competition is still running and we look forward to seeing your entries capturing the best of Skene and the local area.

Please email entries to the school address, send in on a memory stick or print off a hard copy.

Saturday 22nd September 2018

Well done to everyone who took part in the Sponsored Walk today at Dunecht Estates.

If anyone has any photographs to share, please send them in via this post, messenger or the school email. I’ll add £20 sponsorship for the child/family with the best ‘walk photo’.

We will also create a display in school to share the fun!

Well done again and enjoy the rest of the weekend !

Week commencing Monday 17th September

Community Time:

For the last session on a Friday afternoon we have ‘Community Time’. Our focus for the last few weeks has been the ethos of the school linked to our school values. Here is a piece of work by P4/5 showing ‘what makes our school a happy place.’

One of our school values is ‘Opportunities for All.’ Here P5/6/7 have created an Opportunitree – each leaf will outline an opportunity on offer at Skene School. We will add to it as the year goes on to show how many opportunities our pupils have and how it helps them and the school to ‘bloom’.

This was our start today – well done P5/6/7 and a special mention to Isla (P6) for the creative title! We love it!

Friday 21st September: Updates

There will be no Jogging Club this lunchtime to do the weather conditions.

The Bags2School collection has been cancelled for today and will now occur next Friday, 28th. If anyone has any final donations, please send them into school next week.

Tomorrow is the Sponsored Walk at Dunecht Estate, starting at 10am. The weather forecast is looking better for it ! We hope to see as many of you there as possible.

Yesterday we launched our annual ‘Snappy September’ photograph competition. Please find the details on the file below and enjoy explroing and capturing our local area!

Snappy September 2018

Good luck to all you budding photographers (parents welcome to participate too!)

Week commencing Monday 10th September

Friday 14th September 2018 – House Challenges

Well done to all of the entrants of our House Challenges. Our winners are:
Playground Design P1-4:
1st place – Gus
2nd place – Toby
3rd place – Sacha
Bedroom Budget Design P5-7:
1st place – Maura
2nd place – Struan
3rd place – Beth

Playground Equipment Challenge P1-4

With the playground a big focus for this years fundraising, it looks like we have just made the job even harder…
Children in P1-4 have been designing what equipment they would like to see in our playround for their first house challenge of the year. I will be sure to pass all ideas onto our design team to see what they can do!
The competition will be judged by Mr Drew (University of Aberdeen) and Mrs Stevenson (Depute Head Teacher, Bennachie Campus). Results will be revealed by the end of the day.
Well done everyone!

Bedroom Budget Challenge P5-7

WOW! It is amazing what a £500 budget can buy for your dream bedroom. The designs submitted by our pupils in P5-7 for the House Challenge are fantastic! I don’t envy the judges their job (Mr Drew from the University of Aberdeen and Mrs Stevenson, Depute Head Teacher of Bennachie Campus). Results will be revealed by the end of the day.

Well done everyone!

Wednesday 11th September 2018

This morning we had Linda, the School Photographer here.  Please look out for proofs in your child’s school bag.

This afternoon P5-7 went to Dunecht Hall to watch ‘Is this a Dagger? The Story of Macbeth’.  What a treat it was – a one man show sharing Shakespeare’s famous tale.  We hope you all enjoyed it.

Week commencing Monday 3rd September

Thursday 6th September

This year we are excited to be taking part in the ‘Theatres in Schools’ project with exciting opportunities for all of our of our pupils to engage with.

P1-4 pupils will engage with ‘Martha’ on Tuesday 9th October 2018.

P5-7 pupils will engage with ‘Is this a dagger? The Story of Macbeth’ on Wednesday 12th September 2018.

Please look out for an email with more information and how to opt out if you would prefer that your child did not participate.

Monday 3rd September – House Competition 2018/19

Today we had our first House Assemblies of the year. Our applicants for Captain and Vice presented to their house members and a democratic vote was cast.  Our House Captains for this year are…

 House Captain: Rhys Donald

Vice Captain: Jessica Aitken

House Captain: Struan Knight

Vice Captain: Isla Kay

House Captain: Finn McElroy

Vice Captain: Isla Beltran

All of our new pupils were allocated to a House – hopefully they can remember the name or colour for it:

Red – Carnie
Yellow – Easterskene
Blue – Garlogie

We also launched our first challenges which can be found below…

Construction Challenge P1-4

P5-7 Budget Challenge

Entries will see teams awarded their first points of the year. Good luck everyone!

Week commencing Monday 27th August

We now have all of our Pupil Groups confirmed following votes within each year group.  We have Concerned Councillors (Pupil Council), Charity Champions and Website Whizzes… Leaders really are ‘popping’ up all over Skene School.

Thursday 30th August – School Photographs

We have the Tempest photographer in school on Wednesday 12th September. Please look out for letters in school bags tonight/tomorrow for more information and so you can let us know by return what you would like for your child.

Thank you.

Please click below for a copy of the Welcome Newsletter for each class:

P1-2 P3 P4-5 P5-6-7

Week beginning Monday 20th August 2018

Skene School Office Hours:

As we are a small school, our office only operates part time.  Please feel free to leave a message if we cannot answer when you ring and we will get back to you as soon as possible.  Voice messages for absences and changes to pick up are welcomed.

Below is a note of the hours our office is manned:

Monday – 9:15 – 3pm (lunch 1 – 1:30pm)

Tuesday – 9:15 – 3pm (lunch 1 – 1:30pm)

Wednesday – 9:15 – 2:50pm

Thursday – 9:15 – 10:35am and 2pm – 2:50pm

Friday – 9:15 – 10:35am and 2:15 – 2:50pm

The Head Teacher is non-class committed on a Wednesday/Thursday and Friday and will answer the phone when possible.

On Monday we welcomed our 9 new Primary 1 pupils to Skene.  They will join us for half days for 2 weeks before starting full time on Monday 3rd September.

Tuck Shop

Tuck Shop is available on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday break time from the servery. Aberdeenshire Council’s policy states that we can no longer sell juice at lunch time. Juice will be sold at Tuck Shop.

Lunchtime Clubs

This term we will be offering the following lunch time clubs:
Monday – Chess (P3-7)
Tues/Wed/Thurs – Play Leaders
Friday – Jogging Club (P1-3) and Choir (P3-7)

Sunday 19th August 2018

Tomorrow marks the end of the holidays for all of the staff (as we head into school for the first in-service day of the year) and the last official day of the holidays for the children.

I would like to say a heart felt thank you to all of the staff (and some of their family members) – they have all given up some of their own time in the holidays to make sure classrooms/areas/systems etc are ready and raring to go for the children on Tuesday. There just aren’t enough hours to get everything done during the busy end to the summer term.

We are excited to see everyone back on Tuesday and to welcome our new P1’s/any new families to Skene! I am sure there will be lots of holiday stories to share and fun to be had as we get to know our new classes/teachers !

Week commencing Monday 2nd July 2018

Friday 6th July

Well that is it for another year and what a great one it has been!

A couple of final things to mention:

A very big well done to Beth Pirie who won the Nicol of Skene design competition for Skene School.  Beth’s and 3 other designs will be collated with the final design having elements of all 4.  The grand unveiling of the Suction Excavator with its new design will be on 17th August at the Friends of Anchor Wipeout Day.

P1/2’s Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch yesterday was a great success.  I have popped some photographs onto the school website for you to enjoy.

Good luck to our P7’s as they move up to the Academy and to any pupils/families moving on also.  We wish everyone a happy and safe holiday!  See you back in August.

Over and out!

Thursday 5th July

P1/2 Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch

P1/2 had a great time yesterday creating their own version of ‘The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch.’  They made their own picnic lunch and picnic baskets.  Here are a few photos …

End of Year BBQ

Thank you to everyone who came along to the End of Year BBQ Celebration tonight! We hope you all had a great night. What a super, fun yet relaxed way to end another fantastic year.

One more day of school than it’s a well earned break for everyone.

Thank you all for your continued support.

The Skene Team

House Challenge Tuesday

Here is a selection of photographs from ‘House Challenge Tuesday.’  Thank you very much to the P7’s for organising the day.  It was superb!  Some of the activities included: Capture the Flag, Cone Tig, Dungeon Ball, Dodge Ball, Rounders and Bring Me.

Monday 2nd July Summer Reading Challenge Assembly

Today we welcomed one of our Community Librarians, Mrs Gourlay, to Skene to tell us all about the Summer Reading Challenge. We had lots of enthusiastic children – remember to head along to Westhill Library to get registered !

She also shared some exciting activities that the Library are hosting over the holidays – please see the photographs for more details. You can just drop in for most sessions but the ones with a * require you to sign up via the TechFest website.

House Championships

It looks like it will be a nail-biting end to the House Championships this year with just one point in it at the moment…

Tomorrow we will host ‘House Challenge Tuesday’ which will see the children participate in a range of events/activities to gain vital points for their house. The P7’s have planned a day of fun and teamwork for everyone.

Please can the children come to school in their PE kits with no need for uniform. If they would like to come dressed in House colours, they are more than welcome to but this is not a requirement.

The overall winners will be announced on Wednesday at the Leaver’s Assembly.

Who will it be?!?

Week commencing Monday 25th June 2018

GREC Anne Frank Awards

After an adventurous journey to get there, P7 enjoyed a morning at Cineworld Union Square for the GREC Anne Frank Awards. The children did a fantastic job introducing and presenting their movie ‘The Greatest Showclass.’ One of the photos shows them proudly showing off their Anne Frank Award. It was amazing to watch the movie on the big screen!

Well done P7, two very proud teachers tonight!

A big thank you to Mrs Clark and Mrs Knight who helped us out last minute to get the children to the ceremony after the bus broke down . Life is all about adventure!

Kodaly/Violin Concert

Please remember that our Kodaly and Violin concert is Thursday 28th June at 11am.  We hope to see as many of you there as possible.

I am delighted to share that we have progress with a new crossing patroller. Mrs Powell will now have 3 roles at Skene – PSA, Admin Assistant and Crossing Patroller. She will undergo training in the next couple of weeks and be ready to take up post from the start of the new school year in August. This is fantastic news for everyone!

Thank you Mrs Powell !

Saturday 23rd June 2018

Echt School Football Tournament

Congratulations to our P1-4 Football Team who won the Echt School Tournament on Saturday!  The team were undefeated all morning and won the final with an impressive 3-0 victory.

Well done to all team members and coaches :)!

Week commencing 18th June 2018

Friday 22nd June – Jogging Club Update

WOW!!! This term the Jogging Club have a FULL MARATHON distance!!!  This is roughly the equivalent of running from school to Loch Kinnord, where we did the school sponsored walk earlier in the year.

What a fantastic achievement for everyone involved.  A special thank to you the 3 ladies who run the club every week, giving up their time to do so.

Wednesday 20th June 2018 – P7 Film Night

Our P7’s are having a film night at school tonight. We are watching ‘The Greatest Showman’ as we used this as our inspiration for our entry to the Anne Frank Award.

At 6pm we will be joined by the P7 families to have the premiere of their film, ‘The Greatest Showclass’ all about diversity and equality.

Echt Show Netball and Football Tournaments

Last night we had teams playing in the Echt Show Netball and Football Tournaments.  Well done to both teams for excellent play, great sportsmanship and for representing the school once again.  Although the Football team did not place, they played well as a team and kept their spirits up, passing well.  The Netball team were runners up – well done!

Above: a photo from the recent Keig Tournament – our Netball team.  The team finished as runners up.  They all played really well and had obviously been listening to their coaches as they passed well and used bounce passes a lot against their taller opposition.

Please may we ask that every child brings a carrier bag/reusable bag into school in the next few days.  Pupils should store these in their tray until needed.  As we near the end of term, we will begin to send work and belongings home as we prepare for more classrooms moves in preparation for next year. Thank you for your help.

Music Celebration: Kodaly and Violin

Please come along and join us in an end of year music celebration, featuring classes performing their favourite songs from their recent Kodaly sessions and our Violin/Viola players sharing their progress from this year.

We hope you can make it!

Week commencing 11th June 2018

Aberdeenshire Libraries Summer Reading Challenge 2018

Please see the pictures below for more information about how to join in the fun!

Thursday 14th June

This morning we revived our certificates for the Effective Hand Washing Course that all pupils and staff participated in a few weeks ago. You might have heard about the ‘cool light’ that shows you all the germs on your hands!

Well done everyone and thank you to Mrs Smart for arranging this opportunity for us all.

Monday 11th June

The P6/7’s and Miss Law have arrived safely in Barcaple.  They have settled into their rooms and are off out on their first afternoon of activities.  Have a great time everyone!

Week commencing Monday 4th June 2018

Friday 8th June

Today marked the end of another successful Bikeability Programme. Well done to all of the children in P5/6 who completed the Level 2 training today. Everyone did a great job this morning with just a few recommendations given to ensure safe cycling on the roads.

A very big thank you to Mr Robb and Mrs Knight for assisting me with the Instructor role and to all of the parent volunteers for their time supporting the sessions.

FAO P6/7 Parents

The Barcaple trip has crept up on us and Monday will be here before you know it!

A reminder that everyone must be at the bus by 6:40am at the latest. The bus will leave from Crombie School.

All medication should be placed in a clearly labelled and sealed bag with details of dosage and frequency inside. Also a signature to show your permission to administer. This must be passed to Miss Law at the bus on Monday morning.

All pupils require a packed lunch for the bus. If possible this should be in a throw away or recyclable bag. No fizzy drinks and we recommend not too many sweeties/sugary items.

Phones and electronic deceives are allowed on the bus but the children must not access the Internet or make calls with these. Please reinforce this message to your child.

Happy packing! If you have any questions please just ask in the comments and I will do my best to answer and when I can. Otherwise I will see you all at the bus nice and early on Monday morning !

Thursday 7th June 2018

What a glorious day for PE outside! Here are some of P4/5/6 playing ‘Meg in the Mud’.  Look at that view as well – we are so lucky at Skene!

P5/6 Play Leaders

Congratulations to everyone in P5/6 who had their Play Leader Assessment today. Everyone did a great job and will now have the opportunity to join the Play Leader Rota after Summer.  Well done everyone!

Wednesday 6th June 2018

Congratulations to all of our cyclists in P5/6 who all passed their Level 2 Bikeability Theory Test today.

Please keep practising at home for Friday’s practical assessment. Tomorrow we will go over all manoeuvres again and allow for lots of practise.  Well done everyone!

Tuesday 5th June 2018

Kemnay Netball Festival

Well done to all of our Netballers who played at Kemnay tonight.  Skene A finished 3rd overall but great effort and sportsmanship from all players.

Well done everyone and a big thank you to the coaches and parents for allowing the children this opportunity.

Swimming Lessons

Just a reminder that P5 Swimming Lessons start tomorrow. Please ensure the children come to school with the necessary clothing, towels etc.

Swimming is on for the next 4 Wednesday’s, up to and including 27th June.

Tomorrow’s Bikeability Session will be slightly shorter to allow the children to get to the pool on time. We compensated by adding slightly longer onto the sessions yesterday and today.  If everyone can be as sharp as possible and ready to start at the Milne Hall as close to 9am as possible, we would be very grateful.

Bikeability – Week 2

This is week 2 of Bikeability.  We have sessions every day this week with the practical  assessment on Friday.  Please do take bikes home and practise when you can – practise makes perfect!

Netball and Football Training

Just a quick reminder that there will be no Netball or Football training this Tuesday, 5th June. This is due to us taking part in a Netball festival.

We wish all of the children taking part good luck and hope they have fun! Thank you to the coaches for arranging this opportunity and to the parents transporting and supporting the teams.

Saturday 2nd June – What an AMAZING day for Skene School!

Fun Day including Football and Netball Tournaments

What a fantastic day for our Fun Day! A great turn out, super weather (almost too hot), lots of fun and excellent play at the football and netball and a great team effort from pupils, parents and staff at Skene.

A very big thank you to everyone who organised, helped set up, manned a stall, organised the tournaments, coached our teams, served the food and drinks and cleared up. Also to everyone who came along and supported the day by joining in and having fun.

Fingers crossed for a great profit which is all going towards upgrading the playground for the children.

Congratulations to all teams who took part in both the Netball and Football Tournaments.  The winners were as follows:

Netball P4-7 – Midmar A

Football P1-3 – Tough

Football P4-7 – Cluny A

The photos below show Skene A and Skene B who entered the P4-7 Football Tournament (left) and Skene’s Senior Netball Team who entered the P4-7 Scored Tournament (right).  We also had junior teams in both competitions (Football – bottom left and Netball – bottom right).

Take the Plunge

Well done to ‘The A Team!’ Our swimmers were fantastic tonight!!Completely outnumbered and each swimming in almost every race, they did us super proud!!! Our youngest swimmer was only in P2 but it did not stop her. A truly dedicated team with fantastic sportsmanship!!! Lots of tired arms and legs tonight for sure, enjoy the rest everyone!

A big thank you to the parents who attended to lead the team, be timekeepers and to cheer the team on.

Week commencing Monday 28th May 2018

Friday 1st June 2018 – Snapshot Jotters

Snapshot Jotters should have come home tonight and this weeks focus was Reading. Please have a look through and share these with your child. We would appreciate and acknowledgment in the form of a signature, initials or comment.

For P7, there is also a small snippet of our work on Story starters. As the P7’s are only with us for two days next week, we decided to include writing over 2 weeks, this and next.

For all, next weeks focus is writing and when the jotters come home, they do not need to be returned on the Monday. They are yours to keep as a snapshot of your child’s work and progress over the year.

Our Funday is nearly here! Remember that there is parking at the Milne hall which should help congestion – please park there and walk if you can.

Also, a reminder to be cautious when crossing from the Half Miley to School. Although the flashing 20mph signs will be working on Saturday, we have to rely on cars obeying this.

The Council are aware that the sign coming up the hill from the A944 is not working but a part has been ordered to fix it. The other two signs will flash 20 for the duration of the Fun Day.

6 members of our dedicated team have been busy updating/completing their First Aid certificates this week on both Tuesday and Thursday evening. A strong pass for everyone however we are hoping that we don’t have to put these skills into practice anytime soon! Well done everyone and thank you.

Wednesday 30th May 2018

After 15 weeks of waiting … our Library sofas are finally here and we can continue with the development of the space. Our new emoji cushions look very comfortable on the new sofas and hopefully the children will be too!

We have moved things around a little in the space next to the Library to create a quiet working area for small groups, targeted support and ASL teaching.

This week the children have all engaged with a reading task I set to ‘sell’ their favourite book in 20 words or less. With this we are creating bunting to brighten the Library with an image of the cover, a character or their favourite scene on the other side.

We will keep you updated with more photos as things continue to take shape !

Funday: A message from the Parent Council…

Count down is on to our first ever fun day at Skene School and the weather forecast is promising a perfect day on Saturday!

The Fun Day is from 10am-2pm. As well as netball and football tournaments we will have burgers and hotdogs, tea, coffee and home bakes, strawberries and cream and ice lollies to cool everyone down!!

To keep everyone entertained there will be a bouncy castle, bottle and sweetie tombola, plant stall, balloons, face painting and tattoos.

Please come and support our fun day.
Remember we need donations of homebakes, bottles and sweeties for the tombola.

All the money made at the funday will go towards our new playground and will benefit every child at skene.

See you all on Saturday !

Thank you…

A very big thank you to Aberclean for coming to sweep our school playground on Saturday morning. It looks fabulous and will make Saturday’s Netball and Football much safer. Thank you from all at Skene School !

Tuesday 29th May 2018

Tomorrow our P5 and 6’s will start their Play Leader Training. After the Summer holidays the children will have the opportunity to volunteer 1/2 lunch times per week to organise games and fun sessions for our younger pupils in P1/2/3.

House Scores…

With 6 weeks to go, these are the current house scores. We have added on the Sports Day results and all events to date.  The trophy will be presented at the Leaver’s Service on Wednesday 4th July.

Week commencing 21st May 2018

Bikeability starting Tuesday 29th May…

A reminder that Bikeability starts on Tuesday (29th May). Please check over bikes this weekend so they are ready for next week.

If you want to drop bikes off on Monday that is no problem, we can lock them in the Janitor’s store or in the school overnight. We can do this each night also although we would prefer the children to take them home for practise, if possible. We will work with you to find a solution that works for you/your child.

Snapshot Jotters – Maths

Please note that Snapshot Jotters are coming home today with a focus on Maths. If the children have come to the end of a jotter, we have added sheets of paper instead of giving out a new jotter. This late on in the year we have decided to save the jotters for next year and hope you understand.

Friday 25th May – Sports Day

What a fantastic Sports Day 2018!!! A great day in terms of weather, fun, achievements and sportsmanship!

Well done to all of the children for taking part and having a go! Thank you to the families for supporting and an extra special thank you to the adults who joined in the races too!

A great day all round and here are just a few photos of a great day!

Have a great weekend when it comes!

Thursday 24th May 2018 – Playground Clear Up

What a fantastic effort from everyone who came along to help at the Playground Tidy Up tonight! Children, parents and grandparents all chipped in to ensure fantastic results! Here are a few photos of the work carried out…More to follow tomorrow.

A big thank you to everyone who came along! We really appreciate it!

Jogging Club Update

Last week the jogging club (despite the high temperatures) took their total distance to 35.8km. This is the same distance as Skene School to just beyond Dunottar Castle. A fantastic result and now they are less than 5km off achieving a marathon distance!

There will be no Jogging Club tomorrow as it is Sports Day.

Skene School Chess Champion 2018

Congratulations to Innes in P7 who is our 2018 Chess Champion. A big thank you to Rev Rodgers for running the School Chess Club throughout the year and for running the competition to find our ‘Skene School Chess Champion’ every year. Well done Innes!

Name Labels

The Parent Council have joined forces with ‘Label Planet’ – a company who produce multipurpose name labels – to earn money back for our school whilst keeping our belongings safe.


‘Stikins’ are hard-wearing yet soft, plastic labels that can be stuck onto the wash-care label of clothes and also shoes, dishwasher items and other general school items (pencil cases etc). Great at the start of a new school year to simply stick in your child’s belongings and they stay…through the washing machine, through the dishwasher!

Your child will come home with an information leaflet today. If you are interested you can order by post, over the phone or online at the link below.  Labels will be sent First Class to your home address. When ordering, please remember to quote our School fundraising number (18078) to ensure we get our 30% commission on every order placed.

https://www.stikins.co.uk/?NAME-LABELS=18078

<a href=”https://www.stikins.co.uk/?NAME-LABELS=18078″ target=”_blank”><img src=”https://www.stikins.co.uk/images/LP-125×125.gif” alt=”Click here to visit Stikins Name Labels” border=”0″></a>

<a href=”https://www.stikins.co.uk/?NAME-LABELS=10878″ target=”_blank”><img src=”https://www.stikins.co.uk/images/LP-125×125.gif” alt=”Click here to visit Stikins Name Labels” border=”0″></a>

This is a great fundraising opportunity for Skene Parent Council so please support this if you can!!

Here is an example of what the labels will look like…

Sports Day – what to wear?

Following my email last night, I would like to clarify that the children have not been asked to wear House colours on Friday, just their PE Kits. They can wear House colours if they would like to however we do not want people to go out and buy/spend money when they do not have to.

For Potted Sports there are 9 teams, 3 from each house so we know who is earning points for each House. The winners of the races will report to a designated member of staff to record their House also.

We will go over all of this with the children also.

FAO P5/6 Parents – Bikeability

With Bikeability due to start one week today, we have issued all participants with a Parent’s guide, Tales of the Road (Bikeability Theory) and A Cyclists Guide.

Please check school bags for these and encourage the children to read the Tales of the Road in preparation for their theory test.

The photograph shows the Bike check that will be undertaken on Session 1, Tuesday 29th May by Mr Robb. Please note that it is the parents responsibility to check the bike at home and ensure it is fit for purpose. The bike check in school is a final check to ensure instructors are happy that all bikes are safe and ready for use.

No BMX’s allowed for Bikeability.

Skene School Playground Tidy Up – Thursday 24th May

This Thursday evening we are having a Playground clear up to make sure the space is safe and welcoming for the children to use and in preparation for Sports Day (Friday) and our Fun Day (Saturday 2nd June).

We plan to fix and paint the tattie boxes, weed and look after the plants, sweep the tarmac, remove the dead leaves from the corners, remove any rubbish/litter etc. Lots to be done.

Please come along if you can, any time you can give will be gratefully received. If you can bring along paint brushes, sweeping brushes, simple gardening tools etc that would be great!

There is also a Parent Council meeting from 5-6pm to discuss plans for developing the playground. All welcome to this also.

Many hands make light work :)!

Week commencing Monday 14th May 2018

Skene School Sports Day 2018Skene School Sports Day 2018 will be held on Friday 25th May.  We will start with Potted Sports at 9:15am. There will be 9 teams, 3 for Carnie, 3 for Easterskene and 3 for Garlogie. Each team will move around the 10 stations and gather points for their house.

We aim to have break at the usual time, 10:30 – 10:45am.

After break the children will sit in their classes and have the opportunity to compete in a variety of races, starting with a straight sprint and finishing with team relays. We will have a younger siblings race, a ladies race and a men’s race too so bring your trainers if you are keen to take part!

We aim to finish at 12pm, just in time for lunch.

The weather forecast looks good at the moment so fingers crossed it stays that way :).

We hope to see as many of you there as possible.

SMARTIES

The total raised from the Smarties fundraiser was a fantastic £374.11. A very big thank you to those who returned tubes or donations. Unfortunately we only had about half returned so if anyone would still like to return theirs or make a donation, we would be very grateful. All money raised is going towards new playground equiment. The Parent Council meeting next Thursday, 24th May at 5pm, will focus on this.  Well done everyone and thank you!

Saturday 12th May 2018

P3/4 have been learning about Fairtrade. Their display banner looks fantastic at the Church Fayre this afternoon.

FAIRTRADE

If you can pop along it’s on from 2-4pm at the Milne Hall.

Midmar Festival

A very big well done to all of the children who represented Skene at the Midmar festival.  We had teams entered for Netball and Football.  All the kids played really well and enjoyed themselves. No trophies this year but the older team scored lots of goals and the little ones won a penalty shoot out against Dunecht which had them all very excited!  Participation certificates will be handed out on Tuesday.

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A big thank you to the coaches for their continued commitment and to all of the parents who transported and supported the teams.

Week commencing Monday 7th May 2018

Friday 11th May 2018

The Jogging Club were clocking up the miles again today.  They have now run the same distance as Skene School to Stonehaven Harbour.   Not too much further to reach the marathon target!  Well done, everyone!

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Our P6 children enjoyed a 2 hour taster session on the Loch of Skene today.  Thank you to the Parent Council for funding this opportunity.

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Wednesday 9th May 2018

Jogging Club Update

What a great success at Jogging Club on Friday with 14 members attending.  The children have now covered an impressive 25.6km which is roughly the distance from Skene School to the Alford Transport Museum.  What a fantastic distance!!  Well done everyone!

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Tuesday 8th May 2018

Netball Training

Busy and fun Netball/Football sessions last night developing throwing and catching, dribbling and control skills for transferring into games. With festival/tournament season upon us, we wish all of our teams, Netball and Football, good luck in all events.

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School Uniform

We are moving to a new system for ordering school uniforms this year. Orders will be placed online with delivery direct to your door instead of the school. Prices are coming in slightly cheaper which is great news for everyone and you can order at any time of year.

More information will be coming home this week so please look out for this. We hope to go live on the website at the start of next week.

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Prices are as follows:

Navy Sweatshirt – £9.95 

Navy Cardigan – £9.95

White Poloshirt – £8.95

White T-Shirt – £4.95

 Navy Full Zip Fleece – £12.95

 Navy R207 Core Jacket – £19.95

 

Monday 7th May 2018

lighthouse

P1/2 are going to me making their very own lighthouses but they need some kitchen roll tubes to help. If you have any could you please bring them into school this/next week? Thank you.

Week commencing Monday 30th April 2018

MENU CHANGE FOR WEDNESDAY 9TH MAY 2018

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Menu Change …
 
Please note that due to the Holiday on Monday and kitchen orders, we will have the proposed menu for Monday 7th May on Wednesday 9th May instead.
 
To confirm, Wednesday’s menus is:
Hot Choice 1 – Beef Burger in a bun
Hot Choice 2 – Baked Fish Nuggets
Baked Potato with Cheddar Cheese
Ham or Tuna Sandwiches
Pudding – Iced Sponge with Custard
Apologies for any inconvenience.

Swimming Lessons

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I am delighted to confirm that our P5 pupils have been offered a 4 week block of Swimming Lessons from Wednesday 6th June to Wednesday 27th June.  The sessions will be from 10:30 – 12pm, leaving school at 10:30 and returning for 12pm.  We will finish Cycling 5/10 minutes earlier on Wednesday 6th June to ensure they get to the pool on time. A busy time for everyone!

Thursday 3rd May 2018

Please see below a link to the Reporting Feedback and Next Steps letter.  Emailed to all parents this morning.

Reporting Feedback May 18

Wednesday 2nd May 2018

pe KIT

Please may we ask for your support to ensure that all children have their PE kit at school every Thursday as well as trainers for PE lessons outside.

Thursday is a rather busy day in school with PE, Violin and Kodaly so we do try to use the outdoor space when possible.

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Our young joggers in P1-3 have been busy clocking up the km at the Friday lunchtime club. Between them they have now run a total of 16.9km which is FANTASTIC! To give a better idea of how far that is, it is just 1km short of running from Skene School to Duthie Park!

Well done to all of our joggers and a continued thank you to the ladies who run the club. London Marathon here we come!

Week commencing Monday 23rd April 2018

police scotland

On Friday 27th April our P7 pupils will engage with our Community Police Liaison Officer, PC Mairi Page, exploring ‘Substance Misuse’ and on 21st May, P5 and 6 will explore Internet Safety with her.

We look forward to working with PC Mairi Page and looking for future opportunities for her to support learning at Skene School.

WE NEED YOU – TAKE THE PLUNGE COMPETITION!

Please may We remind you that we are looking for forms to be returned for the ‘Take the Plunge Swimming Competition’ on Saturday 2nd June at Westhill Pool. We are looking to form a team of 12 but have not had many responses so far. Please check your emails for more information and the application form.

Scottish Education Awards

P4/5/6 have entered the Scottish Education Awards ‘Steven Brown’s McCoo Art Competition!’ The children had to create and name their very own McCoo. Here are just a couple to let you see the talent of the pupils at Skene. Well done everyone!

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Week commencing Monday 16th April 2018

Well done to P1/2/3 who have successfully raised £100 to send to the Rainforest Foundation UK.

Their enterprise project creating and selling environmentally friendly shopping bags went down a treat and after covering all costs, we made a profit of £96.62 which we have made up to £100 to send off to this great charity, recommended to us by Dr Potts during our Rainforest Café in March.

Thank you to everyone who supported the enterprise project and for all donations at the café.

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A message from the Parent Council…

SMARTIES

Hope you all had a good Easter Holiday. It seems a long time ago but at the end of last term the children were all handed a tube of Smarties to fill with 20 pence’s over the holidays. Please could we get all the filled Smartie tubes returned by this Friday, 20th April.

The money raised will go towards funding new playground equipment. We will be looking at the children’s choices for what they would like in their playground at the next Parent Council Meeting which is on Tuesday 24th April 6-8pm at school. All welcome.

Sunday 15th April 2018

With the new term fast approaching, we hope you have all had a great holiday and are ready to embark on the final term for this session.

Here is the interactive menus for the new Spring/Summer Lunch menu. A paper copy should have come home in school bags during the last week.

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Here are the photo card menus which we display in the younger classes also – I know some of you like to use them at home to help with choice selection:

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Thursday 29th March – Easter Egg Competition

Well done to everyone who entered the Easter Egg competition.

Winners were:

Category 1 – The Easter Story
Winner : Owen P4

Category 2 – Easter Eggstravaganza
Winner: Gregor P7

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, Runners up: Ruby P1 and Ben P2

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Here are some pictures of the entries!

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Monday 26th March 2018

Today we launched our Easter Competition.

Decorate a boiled egg and this time instead of age categories there are 2 design categories.

1 – The Easter Story
2 – Easter Eggstravaganza

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Please bring your entries to school on Thursday with a label/sign stating your name, which category you are entering and your house.

Prizes for the winners of each category .

Good luck everyone!

Saturday 17th MarchDon’s Day Out

This afternoon we have some families at the Don’s Day Out – Aberdeen v Dundee match. Thank you all for supporting the school and we hope it’s a great game! Wrap up warm! #COYR

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What a great result for Aberdeen in their match yesterday. As well as a win for Aberdeen, the Don’s Day Out raised a fantastic £271 for the school. A big thank you all who attended (we hope you have warmed up now) and an especially big thank you to Mrs Hanley for organising the event.

The boys and girls met the team mascot, Angus the Bull.

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Friday 9th March McMEDS P7 Careers Fair

This morning our Primary 7’s attended a Careers Fair at Midmar Hall with our fellow small schools in the area – Midmar, Cluny, Monymusk, Echt and Dunecht.  They had a fantastic time exploring different positive pathways for beyond school.

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Some of the roles/industries represented included Education, University/Natural Scientist, Oil and Gas, SSPCA, Hotel Industry, RAF, House Builders, Trades (joiner, plumber, electrician), Physiotherapist, Visit Scotland and Marine.

A very big thank you to all of the professionals represented at our Careers Fair this morning.

An especially big thank you to the Skene Parents who supported the event – we really appreciate your time and commitment to the school and futures of our young people.

parents

Mr Robb – ROV/Oil and Gas
Mrs Kay – Physiotherapist
Dr Potts – University Lecturer/Natural Scientist

Thursday 8th March – World Book Day (rescheduled from 1st March)

What a fantastic morning we had at Skene’s first ever Big Book Breakfast. Here are a few snaps of the action…

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As you can see the Guess Who competition went down well … lots of pondering from children and adults.

Our Potato Character winners were as follows:

P1/2 – Ossian
P3/4 – Kate
P5/6/7 – Mack
Parents – Mr and Mrs Pirie

Well done everyone!

Here are photos of our winners and runner ups.

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Week commencing 5th March …

Lorraine is having to make a few changes to the school menu over the next couple of weeks due to missed deliveries and in order to use up ordered stock.

The changes have been made to the electronic system that the children use however please note the following changes when making choices at home:

Week commencing 26th February…

Friday 2nd March – Severe Weather Update

Skene School is closed to everyone today.  Following discussion with local schools and our transport company, assessing the current road conditions and the priority to ensure the safety of staff and pupils in their travels to and from school, school will remain closed today, Friday 2nd March.  Hopefully we will be back to normal on Monday.  Stay warm and safe everyone.

Thursday 1st March – World Book Day 2018

It is World Book Day after all so here is a selection of ‘Potato Characters’ that have been shared with me today. I hope these characters will keep until we are back to school but if not, the photos are great! They show fantastic effort levels and creative thinking skills. I look forward to ‘meeting’ the others very soon.

ava erin isla b oss23 world book dayames mrubybenhaydenemiliedaisyethan

If you haven’t had a chance to create one yet and you are still interested, hopefully these give you some inspiration. House points awarded for each entry and prizes for the winners.

World Book Day Challenge … It seems you can enjoy the snow and books at the same time!  Well done everyone!

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Alex has built a castle as a longtime favourite story of his is “In the Castle”.

Owen has been reading about volcanoes so he built a mountain and performed an experiment to create a volcanic eruption (very impressive!).

Ebony is all wrapped up and out enjoying her book in a sheltered area.

Kate and James took up the challenge to read a book having fun in the snow by helping their dad to clear snow down at the farm.

Jessica is reading her favourite book on her trampoline.

Alistair is enjoying Harry Potter in the snow.

THURSDAY 1ST MARCH 2017 – SEVERE WEATHER INFORMATION

Skene School is closed to everyone, today, Thursday 1st March 2018.

Another snow day so please stay safe and cosy – why not grab one of your favourite books and enjoy a few pages/chapters to help celebrate World Book Day?

Challenge: Can you find a way to enjoy the snow and books at the same time? (without getting the book wet/ruined) If so, please share your pictures with us.

World Book Day activities will be rescheduled – potato characters should be brought in on the next day we are in as I know a lot of you have been working hard on these. If they start to go off etc, a photo would be perfect! All other activities will be rescheduled for Thursday 8th March with our fingers crossed that the weather is more favorable.

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Happy World Book Day!

WEDNESDAY 28TH FEBRUARY 2018 – SEVERE WEATHER INFORMATION 

Skene School is closed to everyone, today, Wednesday 28th February 2018. Please check the Adverse weather website tonight/tomorrow morning for updates about tomorrow

Here are some of your Snow Day pictures…

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What a fantastic session we had in P1/2/3 with the Critter Keeper today! We learned lots of interesting facts and got to hold/touch some of the critters too. Ask us about it and what our favourite critter was!

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Sunday 25th February…

Tomorrow (Monday 26th) the Critter Keeper will visit P1/2/3 for their ‘topic surprise’. We will share this with the children tomorrow morning (we have managed to keep it a surprise until now!) however if you feel a discussion at home, with yourselves, would be beneficial prior to the visit please feel free to share.

We will be engaging with the Rainforest workshop. More information can be found on the critter keepers website: http://m.thecritterkeeper.com/

This photo shows just some of the critters that will be visiting tomorrow …

critters

Week commencing 19th February …

FAO Parents and Staff – Can you help us? 

For World Book Day we would like to create an Adult Guess Who competition. We need willing volunteers, staff and parents, to email a photograph of themselves reading to skene.sch@aberdeenshire.gov.uk. To make it slightly trickier, the book should be covering most of your face as in the picture below. The children then have to guess who is who.

book
Families of P567
You are invited to attend our chanter performance on Wednesday 28th February at 11.15-11.45. We look forward to seeing you there.
chanter

Today, Thursday 22nd February, Ms Stewart hosted an Assembly about ‘Making a Difference.’ We explored the story The Good Samaritan and thought about acts of kindness we could show.

assembly

Each child received a heart with an act of kindness to carry out – please feel free to email photographs to the school account (skene.sch@aberdeenshire.gov.uk) of the children undertaking these so we can display them in school.

Week commencing 12th February …

World Boo Day – Potato Characters…

This year for World Book Day we have decided not to dress ourselves up as our favourite book characters but instead to dress potatoes up (examples in the pictures). We really want the focus to be on enjoying and exploring books and not added pressure/costs for parents at home.

pot 1 pot 2

We are asking for this to be completed at home and brought in on the 1st March (with a label with the entrants name and the characters name). House points will be awarded to the pupils for entering and there will be book-related prizes to be won for the best dressed potatoes!

The 4 categories are:
P1-2, P3-4, P5-7 and Adults

If you need a potato, please let us know and we will be more than happy to provide one.

House Points at the end of the week…

Carnie – 184                Easterskene -190                  Garlogie – 194

World Book Day – Big Book Breakfast!

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As part of our World Book Day celebrations, we have decided to host a Big Book Breakfast. This event is optional and is open to pupils and family members.

Why not bring your breakfast to school along with a good book and join us to ‘chat all things books’ over breakfast! If possible, easy breakfast options to have at school would be welcomed e.g. cereal, fruit, cereal bars etc.

School will be open from 8:30 and the event will run to no later than 9:20am. We are aware some children get the bus and their time of arrival depends on this – this is why we will continue after 9am to allow everyone the opportunity to come along. Even if they have had breakfast at home before coming to school, they are welcome along with a book to join the chat.

We would love to see as many people there as possible to show that everyone can engage with reading and enjoy talking about and sharing books!

The Great Skene Bake Off – The Results!

Congratulations to all of our participants in The Great Skene Bake Off. Lorraine and Karen had an almost impossible task judging. We used a scoring system and points were given based on presentation, creativity, link to Valentine’s theme and of course, taste. All entries were anonymised until the judging was complete.

The winners are as follows …

P1/2 1st place – Lochlan McElroy

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2nd place – Georgina Davidson

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3rd place joint – Lyall Wood and Isla MacKinlay

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P3/4 1st place – Alistair Pirie

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2nd place – Theo and Zac Gregory

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3rd place – Samia Will

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P5/6/7 1st place – Struan Munro

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2nd place – Liam Noble

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3rd place – Jessica Aitken

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World Book Day 2018

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World Book Day 2018 is on Thursday 1st March. We have an exciting range of activities planned which we will launch with the children tomorrow – some for the whole school, some for individual pupils and classes and some for families to join as well. Watch this space as we reveal our plans throughout the day tomorrow (16/02/18).

Primary Engineers Leaders Award

As part of the Primary Engineer Leaders Award and following on from the Primary Engineers INSET training on Tuesday, P123 and P567 are going to work together to create and manufacture a vehicle. We are looking for shoe boxes with lids. Each child requires a shoe box to take part, any size will do.  The best three vehicles will be showcased at a national event and will be judged by engineers from all over Scotland (more details to follow).

Week commencing 5th February…

House Quiz…

Well done to everyone that took part in the Skene House Quiz on Wednesday afternoon. All 3 teams did well answering questions about sport, geography and music. Easterskene were the quiz winners but the final scores were very close!

quiZ PIC quiz

Alun Roberts, Engineering Manager at Hunting Energy Services came to visit P567 to share his knowledge and expertise about engineering. We were all shocked at the cost of pipes and tiny pieces of metal. The children asked some great questions.

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P7 Rotary Quiz – competitive

The P7 Competitive Rotary Quiz is on Wednesday 14th March. Winners will go to a further round on Saturday 28th April at Trinity Church, Westhill.

An entry form was emailed out to all P7 parents earlier this week.  We would appreciate once again if parents can assist in forming teams – this prevents chasing permissions and availability.  Once teams have been formed, the entry form should be completed and sent to Doug Hudson.

A brand new event brought to you by our House Captains is …
‘The Great Skene Bake Off’.
 
Children are invited to try out their culinary skills in an attempt to win The Great Skene Bake Off. There will be 3 categories – P1/2, P3/4 and P5/6/7. The theme for this year is ‘Valentines.’
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All entries will receive 1 house point with the following points for category winners:
1st – 5 points
2nd – 3 points
3rd – 2 points
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Lorraine and Karen from the school kitchen will judge the competition. All entries should be brought in to school on Friday 16th February. Please ensure they are clearly labelled with a name and category. If you can provide the recipe for allergy purposes we would be most grateful.
Happy baking everyone!

Week commencing 29th January …

P5/6/7 are looking forward to participating in an engineering award.  Please keep an eye for the email sent asking you to complete a questionnaire if you work in this field.

Jogging, Netball and Football Cubs will start again after the mid-term break.  Jogging will start on Friday 16th February and Netball/Football on Tuesday 20th February.

We had a team from Westhill Academy visit to show us the 2 options for uniform.  The P7 pupils and parents will be able to cast a vote for their preference.

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House News

In the afternoon of Wednesday the 7th of February we are having a House Quiz. Each house has selected a team however everyone will get to participate in some of the rounds.

The House Points at the end of this week are as follows:

Carnie: 146           Easterskene: 141            Garlogie: 157

Week commencing 22nd January…

Thursday 25th January

Well done to all 14 pupils who presented their Scots Poems at Assembly today.  A big thank you to Sandy and Crosby from the Westhill and District Rotary Club for judging.  They had a very hard task and described it as ‘an almost impossible job’.

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Well done to our winners:
1st – Erin, P6
2nd – Chloe, P7
3rd – James, P3

Wednesday 24th January

Well done to ourP6/7 team for participating in the Rotary Fun Quiz tonight.

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Tuesday 23rd January:

Well done to our 2 teams in P4 and P5 for participating in the Rotary Fun Quiz tonight.

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P1/2/3 were busy bees today creating the table decorations for the Burns Supper this Saturday. Lots of fine motor skills practise with some tricky cutting and fiddly gluing.  Well done, everyone!

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Well done to everyone who learned their Scots poem. The children going forward to represent their year group are:

P1: Poppy and Erin
P2: James and Georgina
P3: Ava and James
P4: Samia and Kate
P5: Isla B and Struan K
P6: Oliver and Erin
P7: Lauren and Chloe
Thank you to all parents for supporting the children with their poems.

 

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This week we have our Scots Poetry Competition. We look forward to hearing all of the poems the children have been learning. Our Scots Assembly will be on Thursday 25th January – Burns Day. Two members from the Westhill and District Rotary Club will join us to judge the competition. Good luck everyone!

We also have our Burns Supper on Saturday 27th January at the Ashdale Hall.

Latest News 2016/17

Bible Alive

Our P2/3/4 pupils will be participating in Bible Alive Sessions for the next few weeks.  These are provided by Ms Stewart and Mrs Knight.  We had our first session on Monday and it was great!  The class will be using some of the knowledge that they learn to help present the Easter Assembly at Kirkton of Skene Church on Friday 31st March.  We hope to see as many of you there as possible.

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World Book Day

Well done to all of the pupils, staff and parents for their efforts in dressing up as their favourite book characters.  We had a wide variety of characters and some fantastic costumes!

Throughout the day we enjoyed sharing some of our favourite books and we read with some of the mums and dads.

We had a competition to see who was found reading in the most obscure places.  Well done to everyone who took part.  The winners were:

James Morrison, P2, Ellie Stewart P3 and Aimee Main  P7.

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Thank you to Mr and Mrs Thomson, Mrs Hanley and Mrs Knight for coming in to read with us.  We really appreciated it.  If anyone has any old books, please do hand them in to school as we are still looking for more to help us with our next Library project.

Community Tree Planting – Garioch Rangers and P5/6/7

Despite the wet and wintry weather, pupils in P5/6/7 participated in a community tree planting project with the Bennachie Rangers on 31st January. The pupils planted a selection of hawthorn, dog rose and holly trees near the pond at Arnhall Moss.  We will keep an eye on their progress but do have a look and see what you can see if you are visiting the Moss.

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Scots Poetry Competition

Well done to everyone for learning a Scots Poem.  It is important for us to uphold traditions and celebrate the life and times of our National Poet, Robert Burns.  As you will know we had a whole school Scots Poetry Competition this year with a new shield presented to the winner.

A big thank you to the President of the Rotary Club, Graham Barnes and member, Rev. Rodgers, for judging our competition.

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The results were as follows:

1st – Jess McWilliam, P6, My Love is Like a Red Red Rose

2nd – Erin Main, P5, The Neep

3RD – Ellie Stewart, P3, The Puddock

 Burns Supper

Thank you very much to the Parent Council for organising a fantastic Burns Supper.  Not even a power cut or snow storm spoiled the night.  The food from Garlogie Inn was delciious, the music from the Haymakers and our piper was great and the entertainement from our very own taleneted pupils was superb!  Well done everyone.  The Parent Council raised just over £750 from this event.

The Hour of Code

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P2/3/4 and P5/6/7 took part in the ‘Hour of Code’ on Wednesday 7th December.  The children had lots of fun learning about programming and coding using algorithms.  They used devices such as the Beebots and Blu Bots as well as a drone and they even programmed their teachers!  We are hoping to build this in to some of our technology and computing science lessons in the near future.

Christmas Lunch

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Christmas Lunch was a great success last Thursday.  A very big thank you to Lorraine and Karin for all of their preparation and hard work on the day.  It was a big thumbs up from the pupils and the staff!

 Choir

CHOI

The choir have been sharing their beautiful sound around Skene over the last week.  Last Thursday we visited Pitcairn Lodge Care Home and entertained some of the residents.  Thank you to the parents who helped transport the children and for staying with us.  We hope you enjoyed listening to our festive selection.  We also sang at the Carols by Candlelight service on Sunday and at the Nativity last night.  We will regroup on the first Wednesday back in preparation for the Burns Supper.

 

Carols by Candlelight and the Nativity

Thank you very much to Skene Parish Church for hosting both events. A very big thank you to those who came to the Carol service on Sunday – numbers were very low but the children who were there did a fantastic job.

A very big thank you to Miss Law for coordinating ‘Prickly Hay’ supported by Miss Bruce and Mrs Milne.  A lot of time and organisation goes into the Nativity and we are very grateful for all of the afterhours work too!  What a fantastic show – I am sure you will agree that the children did a fantastic job and did us all proud.  Well done also to the P5/6/7 and the choir for their beautiful singing.

Whole School Christmas Party in the Woods

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The Bear Grylls group invited the Healthy Heroes to join them for a party in the woods on Wednesday 14th December to share and celebrate their learning.  We played games, sang songs and enjoyed the outdoor air whilst celebrating the Christmas period.  ‘Scatter’ was definitely the favourite game and the hot chocolate went down a treat too!  Thank you to all of the parents who helped.

Children in Need

We helped to raise money for Children in Need on Friday 18th November by having a dress as you please day.  We raised £103.50 which has been sent off to the charity.  Thank you all very much for your donations.

 

Rotary Young Speaker

A very big well done to Sarah Kay in P7 for representing the School at the Rotary Young Speaker Competition.  Sarah presented a talk about Competitive Swimming.  She spoke confidently and passionately about her chosen subject.  Well done, Sarah!

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Prayer Space

A very big thank you to the team from Kirkton of Skene Church who organised, set up and ran the Prayer Space for us on Thursday 10th and Friday 11th The pupils in P5/6/7 worked with Rev Stella a couple of weeks beforehand to select some of the activities on offer.  The Refugee Rucksack and the Love heart prayers were particular favourites.

Google Expeditions

We were very excited to have the Google Expeditions Team in on Thursday 3rd November for our P3-7 pupils.  We climbed Mount Everest, visited the Great Barrier Reef and saw Christ the Redeemer in Rio.  The virtual experience was fantastic and the children were amazed that they could visit these places from the comfort of their own classrooms.

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Dons Day Out

The Don’s Day out on Sunday 24th September was a great success made even better with a win for Aberdeen.  The event raised a fantastic £439.00 to boost the Parent Council’s fundraising efforts.  Thank you very much to Mrs Noble for organising this and to everyone who attended.

The Cat Parade – ‘Zen’

Our P5/6/7 pupils and the teachers were very lucky in having the opportunity to help Mrs Cooper, our art teacher, design a Cat for the Cat Parade 2016.  The project was organised by Aberdeen’s Bon Accord Rotary Club to commemorate their 100th anniversary.  Similar projects include Kelly’s Cats in 2005 and 2014’s Wild Dolphin sculpture Trail.

ZEN

9 of our pupils were lucky enough to visit a pre-auction event on Wednesday afternoon to view all of the cats and see Zen take pride of place.

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Zen, sponsored by Sub Drill, went to auction on Wednesday evening and sold for a whopping £620!  Well done to everyone involved and a special thanks to Mrs Cooper for asking us to be involved.

SSPCA Visit

SSPCA

Monday 26th September we had a visit from the SSPCA.  P1-4 enjoyed a short Assembly which was followed by a workshop for our P4-7 pupils.  The workshop focused on Animal 999.  The children enjoyed the session and we hope to do more work with the SSPCA soon.

Snappy September 2016

Thank you to all of our young and budding photographers for your entries to the Snappy September Photograph Competition.  We have a fantastic array of pictures displayed in the Library area.  Well done to Gregor Buckett who won 1st prize, Innes Munro who came 2nd and Owen Reid who came third.

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All photographs has been sent to Mrs Buckett and we hope to see some of them in the annual calendar for 2017.

We hope to run more competitions like this so watch this space for the next theme…

Roald Dahl Day

On Tuesday 12th September we celebrated Roald Dahl’s 100th birthday.  Primary 2/3/4 organised a fun-filled day of learning and excitement for the whole school.  We had activities such as chocolate tasting, dressing up, quizzes and a beetle drive.  We all had a great day and well done to Miss Law and P2/3/4.

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Staffing FOR 2016-17

Staffing remains largely the same as Session 2015/16 and we welcome Mrs Natalie Burness to the team as P5/6/7 teacher.  We have had some unexpected yet exciting news in the last few days for Mrs Burness and I am sure you will join me in congratulating her on the news that she is expecting her first baby due in February.  Obviously this will leave an opening in the staff team but please be assured that I am working with Aberdeenshire Council to ensure the vacancy is filled in good time.  I will keep you informed as the process progresses.

Classes are as follows:

P1/2 – Miss Bruce

P2/3/4 – Miss Law

P5/6/7 – Mrs Burness and Miss Hampton (Tuesday)

Learning with Lambs – 19/02/16

Today we had a visit from Mr Wilkie, a parent and local farmer, and some of his lambs.  Following Faye’s (P7) TV appearance on ‘The Mart’, we were all very interested to learn more about our local community, in particular the farming side of it.

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It was great to welcome these lovely lambs in for a visit and to learn all about them.  We had lots of questions to ask and Faye and her dad answered them all – Thank you!  The visit was arranged by P5/6/7 and P1/2 popped out to say hello as well.

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Parent Council Burns Supper – 06/02/16

On Saturday 6th February, 2016, the Parent Council organised and held a Burns Supper at the Ashdale Hall.  The event was very well attended and a great night was had by all.

Entertainment was varied from traditional speeches to highland dancing and poetry.  The Westhill Academy Ceilidh Band provided excellent music and also some of our pupils too on their fiddles.

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A big thank you to the Parent Council for organising this event and for their continued hard work.  Also, special thanks go to:

P5/6/7 Enterprise Fair
11/06/15 P5/6/7 attempted to “Grow A Fiver” to help our donation to Unicef’s Nepal Earthquake Appeal go a little bit further. They did an amazing job, and raised over £144, so our total inclouding our Come As You Please for Nepal Day money is now £325.27! Not bad for a small school! Well done Skene!

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Tough Football and Netball Festival 2015

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Tesco Christmas Competition 2014
Tesco Westhill ran a Christmas Colouring Competition for all the Westhill schools, and you can see the results displayed instore. They chose a winner from each school, and the Skene School winner was Toni Foulkes, P4. Here she is with her prize. Well done Toni!
Toni Tesco Comp

Snow Packs
If we are forced to close the school due to inclement weather or an inclement forecast, please log on through Glow to this Snow Pack from ALEC which is a follow on to the work done in the ALEC van during Health Week. The link is:
https://portal.glowscotland.org.uk/establishments/aberdeenshirecouncil/ACfE/ALEC/Snow%20Packs/default.aspx
Children will need to use their Glow logins and passwords.

Christmas Community Cafe
Please come along to our Christmas Community Cafe on Wednesday 11 December, 9.30-10.30.
Fairtrade refreshments will be on sale. There will be a presentation from the Rights Respecting School Group and some Christmas songs for your entertainment. We look forward to seeing you!

Skene v Cluny Netball Tournament
Excellent attitudes all round saw for an exciting, fun netball tournament for both spectators and players on 14 November. Brilliant results too – 2 games won for each school, and 1 draw! Well done to all the players from both Skene and Cluny. We look forward to the next one!

The Team

The Team

All Winners!

All Winners!

Kara sets one up.

Kara sets one up.

Elia scores!

Elia scores!

The Backpack Project
This project is now complete. Thank you very much to all those who contributed.

Fairtrade Community Cafe
Our first Community Cafe is on Friday 22 November from 2-3pm. Please feel free to pop along for a cup of Fairtrade tea or coffee, and a good grilling from the Fairtrade group about your Fairtrade purchasing habits!

We look forward to seeing you.