17/05/22 – Successful Learners
Maths, fractions, sharing and not one smartie eaten until the end of the lesson! “We love fractions!” was the outcry.
11/05/22 – Early Years learning through play.
Look what we get up to when the older children are away! What fun we had today learning through play. Lots and lots of language development, co-operative play and taking turns. Lots of smiles all round today.
10/05/22 – Realising the Ambition
All ready for a great Early Years Day. Remember your teddy bears!
04/05/22 – Grow, Cook Compost.
Yum! Rhubarb crumble!
19/04/22 – Successful Learners – x marks the spot!
Today marked the end of our block of work on orienteering and today we went on a big treasure hunt. We searched for clues around Kinlochewe village, using a mixture of pictures and symbols, found the treasure map and worked out where the treasure was. It has been great to see the children so engaged in this work. We have all really enjoyed it.
04/04/22 – Big Walk and Wheel – the results are in!
We came 38th overall and 2nd in Highland. A fantastic achievement. Many thanks to all of the parents who helped us by committing to walk or cycle to school.
31/03/22 – Active, Ambitious, Achieving
We have risen dramatically up the leader board thanks to the efforts of everyone involved in the Big Walk and Wheel event. From 257th to 29th and still two days to go. So far we are 2nd in Highland only behind Elgol Primary, another small school who have 100%. Keep up the great effort – looking after our health and the environment.
23/03/22 – Confident individuals and successful learners.
Today we carried out a traffic survey and learnt about the impact of traffic on air quality. We even found a sign put up by Sustrans (the company supporting the Big Walk and Wheel). Oh ….and Marty the Robot came to school. Coding fun!
22/03/22 – Active, Ambitious, Achieving.
WILD CHALLENGE SILVER AWARD ACHIEVED! Well done eveyone!
22/03/22 – Active Learning Outdoors
Today the older children learnt about how long it takes our litter to decompose. Reading, research and mathematics all in the sunshine. They had to plot their results using re-used plastic bottle tops and create a key and system all by themselves. Great problem solving.
I just love this! What do you do when you find watering strawberries and making a miniature frog pond is just a little tiring? Have a little rest in an unusual place of course! Loving our outdoor space.
21/03/22 – Active Learning Outdoors.
Glorious sunshine = a great opportunity to learn outdoors all day 🙂 What fun we had. Creativity challenges today included designing and making our own bikes out of knex and the older children made their own orienteering challenge for the primary 1 children to follow. We played French games, made cress heads, learnt about seed potatoes and started to chit our first earlies. P1 went on a number hunt whilst the older children used natural objects to help with their maths. We even had time to prepare the veggie beds, riddled our own compost and re-planted the strawberries in their new strawberry bed. I think the children will sleep well tonight! And what did they say as they were leaving? “Can we have another day like that again tomorrow?” That’s why we love our jobs.
16/03/22 – ‘For the Birds’ – Puppet Show. Effective Contributors
Today the children worked together as a team to plan, create and perform a re-telling of the Pixar short film ‘For the Birds’. Miss Leigh and I supported but helped as little as possible. The children brainstormed their ideas, created the props needed, practised and performed their short play – without words. There were smiles all round. Squawky, Popcorn and I received our tickets, had them stamped, sat in the audience and thoroughly enjoyed the show. Great team work, creativity and problem solving skills.
15/03/22 – Food for Thought
Look! Our first homemade loaf of bread! We can’t wait to try it for snack tomorrow. It smells delicious. We are hoping this will become a weekly event.
15/03/22 – Orienteering Fun – Outdoor Learning.
The children ask every day for their next orienteering lesson. The tasks are getting trickier. This week’s task involved using a map of the school and a key to find letters. The letters spelled out a clue telling the children where they could find their prize. Great fun and only 1 more lesson before the BIG TREASURE HUNT!
14/03/22 – Eco-Schools / Wild Challenge / Outdoor Learning
Wow! What a lovely sunny day. We made the most of it. Studying frogspawn, making houses for frogs by the pond, dissecting daffodils and a local litter pick. A great day!
09/03/22 – Learning through play.
Today the bins were emptied at school. When we saw the bin lorry we had an idea! Our Primary 1 children made their own bin lorry to play in. We decided we should paint it yellow, have a steering wheel and buttons. We have lots of ideas to make it even better over the coming weeks. The children really enjoyed playing in it today.
07/03/22 – Orienteering.
The children are really enjoying our orienteering sessions in PE. They are learning map reading skills and working really well as a team. Today there were was a prize at the end of the challenge and the children loved playing with their bubbles.
Week beginning 28th February 2022 – outdoor learning through play.
The weather has been amazing so we have spent most of our time learning through play outdoors.Handwriting, maths, fitness, PE, literacy. Here are some photos of a great week. We are feeling so lucky to have a school with such a stimulating outdoor environment.
The children are also enjoying a series of creative and problem solving tasks, including coding.
23/02/22 – Food for Thought.
The children LOVED the corn on the cob they made for snack today. Definitely worth a go at home. Some children nearly gnawed their way right through the core!
23/02/22 – Responsible Citizens and Effective Contributors
We did it! The children completed all 6 activities to achieve their Bronze Wild Challenge Award. The evidence is being looked over by the award organisers and we hope to see certificates in the post very soon. Great achievement. Here are some pictures of the children sharing their home-learning packs and making the bird houses with SNH.
15/02/22 – Creative Individuals.
We are busy in school developing our creativity skills. Look what we made today. The Eiffel Tower and French flags. In this work we are learning to work with our buddies, as a member of a team, and learn that it is OK when things go wrong.
15/02/22 – Confident Individuals. Banana Milkshake!
A big thank you to our P1 children who made us banana milkshake for snack today. Yum! They learnt where bananas come from, how they are grown, how they get to us and what fairtrade is. The recipe was all cut up and jumbled up, but that didn’t stop them! They ordered it all and read it themselves. They used our new snack order book to collect everyone’s order, cooked the toast – everything!
11/02/22 – Learning for Sustainability.
A quick Wild Challenge progress report! So far in school we have completed four out of the six challenges.
We have fed the birds, carried out a bird watch, continued to compost and have restarted our daily nature walks. Yesterday we were hunting for signs of spring. Please remember to bring your nature activity packs back into school on Thursday 17th February. They do not have to be fully complete but it will be nice to share what the children have achieved. Thank you.
10/02/22 – Child-led planning.
Today the children helped to plan their new topic. LITTER BUSTERS! Here’s a little peek at how they got on….
09/02/22 – Bird Watch Results – responsible citizens and effective contributors.
We have used our data to graph our results. The older children also graphed the results of the UHI adult learners bird watch at Beinn Eighe and compared the results. We received our certificate from the RSPB for taking part in the birdwatch. Great stuff!
08/02/22 – Active Learning. Learning through play.
The Primary 1 children have been busy learning through play. We used the Ringo the Flamingo story sack to talk about similarities and differences, and to explore life cycles. They painted flamingos using the numbers 0,1 and 2. We learnt about flamingos on our chromebooks and the children enjoyed playing with the puppets, listening to the story and watching a puppet show.
In Maths we used bowling pins to practise writing our numbers 1-8 and to recognise numbers quickly. We learnt about odd and even numbers. Great fun!
07/02/22 – Responsible Citizens and Effective Contributors
We did it! We felt if we wait for a calm day we may never get our birdwatch done! So we completed our birdwatch today and submitted our results. We saw 1 robin, 1 chaffinch, 1 greenfinch, 2 great tits and a sparrow. Not bad in 40 mile an hour winds!
01/02/22 – Outdoor learning – food for thought.
We didn’t let a bit of windy weather stop us today. We learnt all about popcorn. Where it comes from, how it grows, what makes it pop, how it is a really healthy snack (if you do not add toppings!). The older children used their chromebooks and food packaging labels to find out more. And the P1 children used the popcorn in the sensory tray to develop their motor skills. We even managed to heat up enough water for a hot chocolate.
“It comes from the kernals. They have water in them and they cannot hold any more. When it gets hot they turn inside out and it goes pop”. (Primary 1).
01/02/22 Active, Ambitious, Achieving – Learning for Sustainability.
WE DID IT! After submitting our evidence last week we received the feedback we were waiting for…..we achieved our 8th Eco-Schools Green Flag! Fantastic.
Responsible Citizens and Effective Contributors
Today we made bird feeders and chose where to put them in our garden. We have also started to feed the birds again. It was good fun and we learnt about what birds eat and how to attract them to our garden. Thanks to everyone who donated mugs to promote outdoor learning. Step 1 towards our Wild Challenge Award.
Wednesday 26th January 2022 – Outdoor Learning and Family Links
FIRE PITS, KELLY KETTLE, CAMOUFLAGE DENS, WILDLIFE ADVENTURE PLAYGROUNDS…..it’s going to be a fun few weeks in school. A bit of warm, pleasant weather (or snow) would make it even better!
I am so very pleased to be back in school, and during my phased return I have planned to make best use of our outdoor environment.
Here are some useful dates for you:
Wednesday 26th Jan – making bird feeders in school for ourselves, the nature reserve and also for the UHI Adult Learners Group who have helped us by sharing their bird watch results. Thank you!
The children will also bring home some nature-based activities for their homework with everything they need to make bird feeders, take part in their own bird watch and get closer to nature. We hope you enjoy learning alongside your child.
Tuesday 1st February – if weather allows we are going to make a camouflage den and carry out our Big School RSPB birdwatch.
Thursday 3rd February – we will welcome Doug Bartholomew to school to make bird boxes with the children. Some for the school and some to site on the nature reserve. Great partnership working – thank you very much Doug.
Working in creative ways to achieve our Wild Challenge bronze award.
Monday 24th January 2022 – Pupil Voice.
SPECIAL PLACES. A great day in school and some time well spent in the outdoors! As we work to redesign our school grounds and make best use of our outdoor environment, it is important to know where the children’s favourite, most special places are. I am constantly surprised – look at the places they chose.
Monday 15th November
We made our wreath from willow and paper poppies. We all joined our community at the war memorial for 2 minutes silence and to lay our wreaths. Charlotte (former P7) had written her poem onto a slate to be laid at the memorial.
Friday 29th October
Halloween
We scooped out the centre of the pumpkin and then drew designs on the front. We carved out scary faces onto our pumpkins.
We held a Halloween party for our class and siblings. We all dressed up in fancy dress. We did apple bobbing and played lots of games.
Friday 1st October
We have been learning about lighthouses and we decided to find out how to make a bulb light up. We made circuits and discovered how to turn the light on and off.
Thursday 30th September
Nathan and Harris joined our friends from Badcaul primary school to visit Gairloch museum. We used maths skills to produce some weaving and we also had chance to see the archeological dig site of a round house.
Wednesday 29th September
Today we all visited the hall to join in the community soup lunch. As part of our Cook Grow Compost project, we bought potatoes from Matilda’s Mum and Dad and we used these to make leek and potato soup which we shared with our community at soup lunch. Everyone said it was really delicious.
Monday 27th September
Today we visited local shops and suppliers to buy ingredients for soup and snack. We used our own money to pay for the things we bought. Harris and Nathan worked out which coins they needed to pay the correct amount.
Wednesday 22nd September
Today we learnt about the process of making apple juice. We discovered how we go from picking the apples off the tree, chopping them into pieces then crushing and pressing them to make apple juice. We all enjoyed tasting the apple juice too.
Wednesday 15th September
As part of our Cook Grow Compost project we are beginning to prepare our own Wednesday school lunches and our daily snack. So far we have made snacks including, shortbread, brownies, toast and crumpets. We have also made steak pie, pizza and soup for our school lunch.
Wednesday 1st September
Today we had our first YMI session with Eileen. We heard her play lots of different instruments and also did some dancing. She has given us the challenge of making shakers for next weeks YMI session.
Tuesday 31st August
This term we are learning about ‘The lighthouse keepers lunch’. We have a lighthouse in our role play as well as the lighthouse keepers cottage. So far we have looked at features of lighthouses and made lighthouse collage pictures. We have also been trying different sandwiches for our own lighthouse keepers picnic later on in the term.
Tuesday 17th August
We are all pleased to welcome Joseph and Matilda into P1. They have joined us from nursery and are enjoying there first week in school.
Friday 11th May
We have been continuing our learning outdoors and making the most of the improving weather. In school we have been planting fruit trees and have added two plum and two pear trees to our garden.
Tuesday 4th May
We visited Beinn Eighe where we have been given the opportunity to develop a small piece of woodland. As well as exploring the woodland we also built dens, investigated owl pellets and made bows and arrows. We are looking forward to returning next month.
Friday 23rd April
Today we have been working on our garden. First Mr O showed us how to hammer nails into wood. Once we had all had a go we helped to make a raised bed for our strawberries. We covered the bottom of the bed with newspaper and then used our own compost to plant the strawberry plants in to. We used the hose to give them a good watering.
Tuesday 20th April
We have grown willow from cuttings which we stood in a cup of water. The cuttings have now been planted into our school playground. With Mr O’s help we dug a whole and planted the willow. We laid cardboard and leaves on the top to protect the willow. Finally we watered the willow.
Thursday 18th March
Last day of term fun.
Virtual trip – today we went online for a look at the Cadbury’s factory in Birmingham. We learnt about how chocolate was made and about how they use fair trade chocolate.
Save the egg challenge – we all designed egg carriers to protect a cream egg. They were put through a series of challenges. Matilda and Jayden won prizes for their fantastic and innovative designs.
Easter egg hunt – we ended the day with our annual Easter egg hunt where we searched for tokens which the Easter Bunny had left us. Our hunt was rewarded with an Easter egg.
Tuesday 9th March
Today we joined nursery to examine a wasp next which had been taken down from our shed. The nest was no longer used by the wasps and was safe to investigate. Matilda told us lots about wasps nests and we used microscopes to get a closer look inside.
Thursday 4th March
On Thursday nursery joined us to celebrate World Book Day in a slightly different way. Due to the covid restrictions, parents joined us virtually to share their favourite books. We also dressed up as our favourite book characters and shared our own books that we enjoyed.
Thursday 25th February
A belated Happy New Year. We are all delighted to have almost completed our first week back in school. We thought we should share some of our highlights of our online learning.
End of term message – Tuesday 22nd December
It has been a very different term this year with lots of challenges but we have still learnt a lot and had a lot of fun along the way. We would like to say a HUGE thank you to the following people:
A special message for Mrs Taylor – firstly thank you for all your help and support as our head teacher at Kinlochewe and Sheildaig for so long and for teaching us too. Thank you for helping us to stay safe and being there to support us during the coronavirus. We will all miss you very much and look forward to celebrating with you soon.
Katie Johnstone for cooking our Christmas dinner.
Beinn Eighe (especially Doug and Pete) for providing and delivering our fantastic Christmas tree.
Mr O for all his help with our online Christmas play.
All the staff at Kinlochewe for helping us through these interesting times.
We would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.
Tuesday 14th December
Today we were lucky enough to enjoy an amazing Christmas lunch. A huge thank you to Katie for travelling from Gairloch to cook it for us. The whole dinner was delicious but Harris particularly enjoyed the pudding.
Tuesday 17th November – Children in Need
One Friday 13th November we all joined in with BBC children in need. Working within Covid guidelines, we organised a non-uniform day wearing bright and cheerful colours. We also decorated our own pictures of Pudsey bear using our own coins. All together we managed to raise a fantastic £15. A huge thank you to parents for supporting us and helping us to raise the money for Children in Need.
Friday 30th October
We all enjoyed dressing up and playing Halloween games with Mrs Kennedy. We also carried out a bat hunt outdoors.
Thursday 3rd September 2020: Art and nature. Developing our creativity.
This afternoon great fun was had in the classroom as the children completed a few different art projects using natural objects that had been collected from our local environment. Whilst the weather prevented us from going on our nature walk, we had plenty of leaves, stones and even some conkers to get creative with. We worked together to create a spiral using stones and shells; used leaves, conkers and twigs to make animals; and used clay, sticks, leaves and found nuts and fruit to make clay hedgehogs. What fun!
We are all glad to finally be back in school. We have had great fun with our socially distanced math’s games, playing poohsticks down at the river and creating number sequences on the playground using chalk.
27/08/20: Please find here a link to the current guidance on face coverings in schools.
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26/08/20: Please find here a link to the FAQs for parents sent by email this week.
https://www.highland.gov.uk/downloads/file/22812/nhs_highland_-_faqs_for_schools
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GREAT TO BE BACK!
Here are some photos from the first week back at nursery. Lots of outdoor play, transport and rescue seem to be a real interest at the moment. The snail shell is precious. Found it on a walk and looked for it day after day to see if the snail came back. By Thursday we felt it was safe to bring the shell into nursery. Photo here at Hannah’s request 🙂
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School and nursery risk assessment. To see the risk assessment please click on the link above.
20/08/20:
Please find a message we have been asked to place on our website for all parents:
We are aware that positive cases of Covid-19 can cause some local anxiety in the community. Please be reassured that our Health Protection Team is working closely with colleagues within the Highland Council to continually monitor the situation in Highland. Guidance has been provided to teachers in all our schools regarding any incidence of Covid-19 or similar symptoms within the school community.
Pupils and staff should not attend school if any symptoms develop. Please inform the school.
The key message is don’t go to school or work if you are ill
For most people, Covid-19 will be a mild illness. If you develop symptoms you should remain self-isolating at home for 10 days from the date when your symptoms appeared, even if this takes you over the 14 day period currently advised.
Anyone with symptoms will be eligible for testing and further information on testing can be found on NHS Inform. In the event that you develop symptoms, all other household members who remain well must stay at home and not leave the house for 14 days.
The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:
- new continuous cough and/or
- high temperature and/or
- a loss of, or change in, normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)
There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19
Do
- wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
- use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
- wash your hands as soon as you get home
- cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
- put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards
Please also follow the five rules that are highlighted in the national FACTS campaign –
- Face coverings in enclosed spaces
- Avoid crowded places indoors or outdoors
- Clean your hands regularly and remember to clean hard surfaces that you might be touching
- Two metre physical distancing remains in place – this is especially important at the school gates when dropping off or collecting your children.
- Self-isolate and book a test if you have any of the symptoms of Covid19 – a cough, a temperature, or a loss of, or change in your sense of taste or smell
There is evidence of increasing transmission across Scotland. Covid19 is still here and it is important that everyone takes responsibility and follows the national guidance to keep them and others safe. Everyone in Highland, Argyll and Bute has a role to play to keep the number of positive cases as low as possible.
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10/08/20 –
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School Clothing Grants 👪
The Highland Council will provide support towards the costs of school clothing to many families. This will help children from primary 1 to secondary schools in Highland to be better equipped to attend school, focus on their education and fully participate in school life whilst easing the financial pressures for parents and carers.
Applications are now being invited by The Highland Council for the academic year starting in August 2020. Assistance with school clothing can be claimed if parents and carers are receiving any one of the following:
- Income Support
- Universal Credit (where the monthly earned income does not exceed £610).
- Income-based Job Seekers Allowance
- Any income related element of Employment and Support Allowance
- Child Tax Credit, but not in receipt of Working Tax Credit, and your income is less than £16,105 (as assessed by the HMRC)
- Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit and an income below £6,420 (as assessed by the HMRC)
- If a young person is 16 to 18 years old and receive any of these benefits in their own right, then they can claim for themselves.
- An asylum seeker receiving support
- Pension Credit Guarantee Credit
To streamline the application process, the Council has a single application form for school clothing grants and free school meals. Applications can be made online at
www.highland.gov.uk/schoolmealsandclothinggrants.
———————————————————————————————————————————-26/05/20: Message from Mrs Taylor.
I hope that you are all OK. I am constantly surprised by what the children are able to achieve during such uncertain times when I know that families have so many different priorities to juggle just now. Thank you very much for your continued support.
Many parents I am sure will be wondering what the First Minister’s announcement last week means for your child’s education on 11th August. I would like to reassure you that we will keep you informed of decisions being made each and every step of the way. At the moment we are awaiting guidance from Paul Senior (Executive Chief Officer for Education) and Nicky Grant (interim Head of Education). They are working at the moment to evaluate the situation and gather vital information to inform a proposed road map. This will inform our return to education.
Teachers and EYPs are beginning to discuss important priorities such as how we can support transition for children coming into P1. Some of our time on the INSET day will be used to further develop these areas and a newsletter will be put out to parents at the beginning of June with further information.
We would like to thank you all for your patience and support at this time. Take care and stay safe.
21/05/20: Hi. I know how much you are all loving school at the moment but I thought I should remind you that Monday 1st June is an INSET day! No school on 1st June! 👍
19/05/20:
A useful website for parents with advice on a wider range of things including talking to your children about coronavirus.
19/05/20:
18/05/20: These activities look great for nature lovers – some lovely outdoor learning opportunities.
http://www.cairngormsnaturebigweekend.com/
BIG 10 Days! 15-24 May
Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic the BIG weekend has been rolled over to 14-16 May 2021
The BIG Weekend 2020 has been rolled over to 2021 – but we are still celebrating with the Cairngorms Nature at home – BIG 10 Days! on 15-24 May. We have 10 BIG days packed full of activities, videos, blogs and competitions to inspire, educate and amuse starting here now!
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18/05/20 : Do you want to be part of a World Record breaking attempt?
Join the Big Draw this Thursday. https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/break-a-world-record-at-home
THE WORLD RECORD
Rob Biddulph is a famed author and illustrator of children’s books.
You may know him from his #DrawWithRob lessons that have gone viral across families during lockdown (and shared by BBC and CBS). Or you may know him from one of his books like Odd Dog Out.
On 21st May, Rob will teach the world a 30 minute art lesson where we learn to draw a much loved character.
To beat the Guinness World Records title for largest online art lesson at least 10,000 people need to tune in to draw with Rob for a full 30 minutes on 21st May at 4PM BST | 8AM PST.
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13/05/20: Rainbow Water Xylophone – a nice activity for nursery children….
Here’s the link to this fun activity. Thanks to David, Community EYP, for helping with some of the nursery activities. Water Xylophone
Hello from all of us. Click here to see our latest newsletter….
THE CHILDREN’S PARLIAMENT HAD AN AMAZING 4000 CHILDREN AGED 8-14 PARTICIPATE IN AN ONLINE SURVEY ENTITLED “HOW ARE YOU DOING?” DURING THE MONTH OF APRIL. A SHORT REPORT IS AVAILABLE HERE.
Respect Me resource
At a time when children and young people are probably spending more time than usual in the online world, it is worth looking at the useful anti-online-bullying resources on the respectme website here. There is support material here for children and a very helpful section called “Bullying – a guide for parents and carers”. You can find that under the tab “Guidance for adults”.
We would ask that you try to avoid the temptation to formally teach your children to write during this time. There are so many steps we take with the children before we look at letter formation. The first few terms of primary school will look at developing pre-handwriting skills. Activities will be set to engage the children through play in finger gym activities, ball games, scissor skills etc well before we expect the children to be able to write.
This week’s pre-handwriting challenge – how well can your child use a knife and fork? Using cutlery strengthens your child’s hands and fingers and also develops their co-ordination. These are important pre-writing skills. A great way to engage the children in learning at the dinner table, but also try using playdough. If you are happy to share a photo or let us know how you are getting on we would love to hear from you. Please email Miss Fiona at fiona.price@highland.gov.uk
Here’s the link you need: cutlery-skills
05/05/20: Here is a link to the Young Scot Clear Your Head Challenge. The Scottish Government have launched the #ClearYourHeadChallenge. From 1st May Young Scot have put together 31 days of fun ideas and challenges for our young people to get involved with – all from the comfort of their own home. More information can be found here.
Hello Scientists, Everyday between the 4th May to 15th May, the Inverness Science Festival will be releasing a science video and activity for you to try at home. Have a go at your favourite ones or try them all.
Happy experimenting Click here.
I already covered diaries, letters and discovering local history (all of which can still be found on our Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/highlandarchives/ and all of which have corresponding activities on our website – https://www.highlifehighland.com/archives-service/learning-and-outreach/resources-for-teachers-2/).Over the next few weeks, subjects will include World War Two, Jacobites, Clearances, Education, and a variety of other things including Family History which is this Thursday’s subject.
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22/04/20: Free School Meal vouchers for nursery children.
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Income Support
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Universal Credit (where the monthly earned income does not exceed £610).
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Income-based Job Seekers Allowance
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Any income related element of Employment and Support Allowance
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Child Tax Credit, but not in receipt of Working Tax Credit, and your income is less than £16,105 (as assessed by the HMRC)
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Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit and an income below £6,900 (as assessed by the HMRC)
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If you are 16 to 18 yrs old and receive any of these benefits in your own right then you can claim for yourself
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If you are an asylum seeker receiving support
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Pension Credit Guarantee Credit
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20/04/20 – Early Learning and Childcare.
We would like to touch base with all of our parents with young children. There are a lot of great resources you can tap into out there at the moment. The local Family Teams have set up a facebook page for you all. Search ‘Wester Ross Health Visiting and School Nursing’ and you should find it. This is a useful way for you to access information, resources and updates.
For further resources and ideas please see the highland digital hub, and also we highly advise subscribing to ‘bumps2bairns’ for daily activities.
Most importantly, please keep playing with your children. We do not advise that you try more formal types of education / learning with any pre-school children. Play is so very important.
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17/04/20: Celebration of work.
I just want to take a moment to celebrate the great work going on at Kinlochewe Primary School (well …… by the children and parents at Kinlochewe Primary School…at home). What strange times! Here’s a little snapshot of what we are getting up to..
Online daily hangouts – great use of emojis everyone!
Emotional check in: Finding out how we all feel and are getting on….and how many new lambs Mrs Mackenzie has (aaawwwwww!).
A mixture of online learning and practical activities with a focus on literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing. Look at some of our learning…
17/04/20: Mindfulness and health and wellbeing.
Pets and animals can be so therapeutic at this time. Here are a few links for those animal lovers amongst you….
(My personal favourite – I could watch the goats all day!) https://www.folly-farm.co.uk/webcams/
Dublin Zoo – the elephants are fun and can usually be seen 10.30 and 12.30. https://www.dublinzoo.ie/animals/animal-webcams/elephants/
You can sometimes see the snow monkeys playing and jumping at Kincraig Wildlife Park: https://highlandwildlifepark.org.uk/webcams
For wildlife BBC Springwatch have lots of web cam footage you can watch. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007qgm3/clips
Ofcourse – we have plenty of wildlife in our gardens and local environment. The RSPB have a kids page you can have a look at for some ideas and activities: https://www.rspb.org.uk/fun-and-learning/for-kids/
17/04/20:
Even the younger primary children enjoyed the Ten Pieces work, but for some activities pitched at Nursery and P1-3 you could also try Bring the Noise..
Click here for Bring the Noise Resources
And here’s a useful guide for parents about how to do music activities during the lockdown: https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/bring-the-noise/half-term-music-activities/zmmpxyc/ Good luck everyone 🙂
16/04/20: Here are some useful links to some creative play activities for the younger children, which even some older ones might enjoy to help them unwind and relax? Thanks to Miss Fiona for putting this together for us.
Sensory play at home SPS nursery
EASEYS to support learning at home march 2020 (1)
27/03/20: I’d like to say a big thank you to all the staff and parents at Kinlochewe Primary School and nursery for the hard work and commitment shown over the past few weeks. I hope that all members of staff manage to put away their chromebooks and webcams and get a break at this challenging time. Behind the scenes there has been so much to do to make sure that things continue with at least some sense of normality to help our children and families. The efforts being made do not go unnoticed. We will all be back again at 9am on Tuesday 14th April and look forward to seeing you all through hangouts. I would like to send our love and best wishes to you all. Mrs Taylor x
Kinlo
chewe – just think about what you have achieved. The whole school digitally learning on the online classroom and meeting by video link 3 times a day to share work, ideas and making each other smile at the most difficult of times. I could not be more proud. ACTIVE? AMBITIOUS? ACHIEVING? YES YES YES!
26/03/20: Story time for the whole family…
Check out David Walliams’ free audio books. One per day for 30 days. We enjoyed the one from The World’s Worst Children yesterday. Worth dipping into. https://www.worldofdavidwalliams.com/elevenses/
26/03/20: Edinburgh Zoo Live web cams. Watch the animals live.
Feeling a bit cooped up? This might help. It helped me yesterday! There’s always time to watch some penguins! The nursery children might really enjoy this one…
https://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/webcams/panda-cam/
Click here to access a poster with information about support numbers to support children in need of help.Resources for young people
26/03/20 I have posted info about a new helpline set up. Please do make use of it should you need to. For all school based enquiries please remember you can still contact us:
sarah.taylor@gairlochhigh.org.uk / fiona.price@highland.gov.uk / sara.mackenzie@gairlochhigh.org.uk
We are here to help 
26/03/20: New Helpline.
The Highland Council has launched a free helpline to give assistance and to collect details of individuals and community groups looking to provide volunteering support during Covid19.
The single line number – 0300 303 1362 – will connect callers to relevant Council specialist teams and will operate Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm. All calls are free.
Callers will be able to get advice on benefits and personal support, education and social care and there will also be advice for businesses who may need help with financial support. Helpline staff will also be signposting callers to other organisations that can provide help and assistance as well as gathering offers from individuals or community groups wishing to volunteer.
The service is operated by council staff and Eden Court volunteers who will be home based. Staffing levels will be kept under review to respond to the demand.
Chief Executive Donna Manson said: “I want to thank everyone involved for all their hard work for getting this helpline up and running in such a short time. As well as Highland Council employees volunteering we are also very grateful for the assistance of Eden Court staff. The Helpline is now in place to help those most in need of assistance, so we are requesting that anyone who can continue to use our on-line forms and resources do so as much as possible.”
- To make a payment visit https://www.highland.gov.uk/pay (external link)
- To report a problem visit https://www.highland.gov.uk/report (external link)
- To request a service visit https://www.highland.gov.uk/request (external link)
The new helpline is just one of several proactive actions the council is taking. Work to set up a number of Humanitarian Assistance Centres across the Highlands is underway and details are expected to be published in the next 24 hours.
The Council is continuing to co-ordinate all offers of community group support, while the Highland’s 3rd Sector is co-ordinating individual offers of support. There will be close joint working to maximise the valuable offers of support from community groups and individuals.
25/03/20 – Home learning help and support.
Laura McGinlay has posted some very useful literacy activities for home use on the Highland Literacy Blog. These can be accessed here: https://highlandliteracy.com/2020/03/24/literacy-challenge-2020-for-families-during-school-closures/ Please free to access these if they are of any help to you. Mrs Taylor.
24/03/20 – I hear from Mrs Mackenzie that the online learning is going really well. I am really pleased that you are getting to see each other and work together every day.
Mrs Mackenzie said that some of you have written your poems. I really look forward to reading them. If you have a spare minute see if you can take a photo and post it on the classroom so that I can have a read. If you did them on Google docs share them and I will be able to check them out. 
Need a new activity for those spare moments? Why not try the new craze being enjoyed by millions of school children and do PE with Joe Wicks? It might be fun. We are all going to give it a go in the Taylor household tomorrow!
https://www.thebodycoach.com/blog/pe-with-joe-1254.html 
24/03/20 – Message from Jennie Drummond (Early Years Support Officer).
Some resources for parents with younger children….
Highland Council have a range of resources which you may find helpful as we all set off on this new adventure…
- Go to the Highland Digital School Hub
https://sites.google.com/millburnacademy.org.uk/highlanddigitalschoolshub/home
- Click on RESOURCES AND LINKS PAGE
- Click on ELC (NURSERY) to find advice and guidance for early learning at home through play and having fun.
- At the bottom of that page you will find a range of links to sites you may find helpful as you and your child begin to adjust to being at home for more of the week.
- You can also sign up to follow www.bumps2bairns.com which will have other daily tips and ideas for home learning from this Wednesday 25.3.20.
Remember
“Take things one day at a time and be kind to yourself and your family.
No one is expecting you to be a teacher – you’re already doing the most important job of all, loving your child.
24/03/20: Here’s another little activity to go alongside your rainbow pictures from yesterday in case the Google classroom is down this week and you are in need of a nice activity to do….
WRITING – A RAINBOW POEM:
Can you write a poem like this one?
Try to think of really nice things to write about to make people feel more cheery at this time. P1 can have lots of help – you could even do the actual writing for them so that they can get all their great ideas out. The children can illustrate their poems afterwards. Older children – think really hard about your similes and metaphors. You could write something really descriptive 🙂 Lots of adjectives.
Mrs Taylor
23/03/20: Look what Kinlochewe can do – remote learning? Easy peasy! So proud 🙂
23/03/20: Good luck today with the digital learning everyone, and please do not worry if it does not work at times. If hangouts does not work please log in to the classroom and wait for Mrs Mackenzie 🙂 Here is a little activity for you to do with the children should you need it this week because you cannot connect…..
Rainbows popping up everywhere – how children are brightening up this difficult time…
Newsround article. (READING, COMPREHENSION AND ART)
1. Read the article in the link here. Younger children will need to have this read with them or to them 🙂 https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/51953553
2. Answer these questions:
Where did the trend start? In which country?
Why are children doing this?
Do you think this is a good idea?
3. Use your imagination. Do you have some things at home to make a rainbow of your own to put in your window? You have your crayons which you can use, but you can use anything at all….
Put it up in your window so that others can see it. If you can, take a photo of it and send it through to sarah.taylor@gairlochhigh.org.uk I would love to see them and will collate them together to put on the website.
A really lovely, cheery activity to enjoy together.
Mrs Taylor
___________________________________________________________________________________________
20/03/20: Find find attached here the most recent letter and update from Donna Manson.
20.03.20 Ltr to Schools – Coronavirus
20/03/20: fingers crossed for Monday. A message from Mrs Mackenzie:
Access to google classroom
Please log on to google classroom and say hi through google hangouts on Monday morning using the steps below.
- Sign into your chrome book or device (if you are not using a chrome book sign into google)
- Once you have the google screen go to the waffle (set of squares on the top right corner)
- Choose google hangouts (speech marks on green background)
- Say hi to Mrs Mackenzie in the class chat
- Go back to the waffle and select google classroom (green and yellow board with outline of a person)
- Select Kinlochewe p1-7
- Check out any instructions for the day
20/03/20 Ready to go digital! Providing education in challenging times.
Dear Parents,
We would like to thank you all for your continuing support at this challenging time. We have been working very hard in school to ensure that we can continue educational provision for the school children whilst the schools are closed. Mrs Mackenzie has been working with the children to ensure that they know how to use the google classroom, google hangouts and their gmail. We hope to be able to make best use of these facilities during the coming weeks. The children are quite excited about this new challenge!
All children are coming home from school today with a pack of work produced by Mrs Mackenzie. This work is pitched at the right level and is designed to support the children’s learning. We are hoping that that the children will all be able to logon to the google classroom at 9am on Monday morning. Mrs Mackenzie has given the children instructions and hopes to see them all there. Should your child not be able to logon or attend for any reason, please contact Mrs Mackenzie by email at
sara.mackenzie@gairlochhigh.org.uk or Mrs Taylor on sarah.taylor@gairlochhigh.org.uk. If the internet fails and we have not heard from you, please do not worry. A member of staff may get in touch.
You can also contact us by email for any support / any questions you may have about the children’s work or access to the digital classroom. The children will be guided by the classroom through a series of tasks. Some of these will be in their work packs. Please could the children have these ready when they login on Monday.
This is our ideal scenario, and we are hoping that digital learning will prove successful. However, should your connection fail please feel free to access some of the digital learning resources at www.highland.gov.uk/digitalschoolshub. We are also suggesting that you sign your child up to sumdog. (https://pages.sumdog.com/). This is a free resource which includes maths and literacy activities. The site adapts the work set to meet your child’s ability. It is set up as a game and we think the children will really enjoy it.
This is a learning curve for us all, and we are anticipating teething difficulties. We will treat next week very much as a trial and will adapt how we hope to work with you after Easter should we need to make any changes.
We will be using the school website as a means of communication with you all. Please check this on a regular basis for updates. https://kinlocheweprimary.wordpress.com/
We thank you very much, and all of the staff at Kinlochewe Primary School, for the hard work and effort which has been put in to ensuring that we are able to continue to provide an education for your child and a chance for them to meet together (digitally) and provide some fun and normality at this difficult time.
Best wishes to you all. Take care.
Sarah Taylor
Please find below an update from CEO Donna Manson:
Thursday, 19 March 2020
Highland Schools will close at end of school day on Friday 20 March
As communicated by the First Minister yesterday, we can confirm that all schools in The Highland Council region will close at the end of the school day on Friday 20th March. Pupils should not return to school on Monday 23rd March.
The Chief Executive of The Highland Council, Donna Manson said:
“Having received a letter from the Scottish Government at 2:45pm today, immediate and extensive work will be required to make sure that we can assess the implications of the Government’s requirements in terms of the provision of learning and care for the children of key worker groups. It is hoped that these arrangements will be in place from Friday 27th March.
“Further information will be communicated as the Council engages with a range of partners to ensure that we support the Highland effort to reduce the spread of coronavirus and the work of the emergency services as set out in the Civil Contingencies Act.
“Another key piece of work will be the continued and adapted provision of food, care, support and protection to our vulnerable children.
“With regards to the week beginning Monday 23 March, I am confident that our education staff across the Highlands are in a position to provide families with an education package for all our children at home, during this first week of school closures in these exceptional circumstances.
“Schools have been in contact with parents and the Council has set up access to online resources via the educational improvement team at: https://www.highland.gov.uk/digitalschoolshub .”
“Any parent or carer enquiries should be directed to schools on Friday 20 March. From Monday 23 March Highland Council Education Helpline details will be communicated publicly in helping parents and carers with enquiries.
“Your support in these unprecedented times is greatly appreciated.”
Monday 16th March 2020 – Visit to Glachbeg croft
Today we visited Glachbeg croft to learn about where are food comes from and to meet some of the animals that produce food for us. We also had the opportunity to make bread from wheat, churn butter from cream and also to play some woodland games.
We enjoyed meeting, feeding and holding the smaller animals and feeding the larger ones.
A huge thank you to Bob and his team for welcoming us to their very special croft. We had a very busy and enjoyable day and we learnt alot from our visit.
5th March 2020: World Book Day – Partnership working across the cluster.
What a fab day we all had today. For World Book Day we welcomed our friends – staff and children – from Shieldaig Primary School.
Some came with teddies, some came dressed up, some came with bikes! But all came with a favourite book to share. We had great fun sharing stories and developing our literacy skills. Including extreme reading, making posters, creating our own magical lands and drama activities based on the emotions in the text Katie Morag and the Tiresome Ted, today really showcased how well we can work together as a cluster to support the children’s learning. And playtime was just as important and just as much fun. All children playing together, new friendships formed and old ones cemented and celebrated. We can’t wait until we get together again.
Thank you very much to Miss Böger and Mrs Mackenzie for planning, organising and supporting an excellent day of learning and collaboration.
5th March 2020: Advice and information for parents.
Please find attached here a copy of the most up to date advice on how to minimise the risk of spread of coronavirus. You can help us at home by reinforcing with the children the importance of washing their hands. Coronavirus advice poster – Education – 5 March 2020
3rd March 2020: Recipe collection. Developing the Young Workforce.
A huge thank you for all of the recipes we have had so far. We have enjoyed looking at them and are looking forward to trying some of them soon. We still need more recipes for
our book, in particular drinks, smoothies or snacks. If you have any healthy recipes you would like to share with us please email or pass them on to the school.
3rd March 2020: Outdoor learning through play.
What a morning! This morning you would have thought that spring had arrived! We made the best of the lovely weather and made an obstacle course for the children out of tyres and balancing beams. We even managed to uncover the sandpit and dig up some of the sand. The nursery children had such fun making sandcastles. They even worked together to make a ‘delicious’ mud and sand omelette. Yum! Great fun learning and playing in the outdoors.
First outdoor lunch of the year!
2nd March 2020 – Eco-schools. Maths is context.
We are beginning to think again about planting food to harvest later in the year. We have noticed that the rhubarb is doing well. Jason is kindly pruning the currant bushes for us. We have started to prepare some pots for Garlic and would like to plant that this week. We have also started to prepare our potato seeds. We talked about how potatoes grow, looked at the weight on the packet (1kg) and all made a guess at how many kgs of potatoes the seed will produce. We will weight the potatoes when we have harvest and see who was the closest.
Here are our guesses:
Charlotte – 5kg
Nathan – 8kg
Harris – 2kg
Jayden -7kg
Mrs Taylor – 15kg
28th February 2020: Rights Respecting School
Please do come in and have a look at our ‘thank you’ door. We understand the importance of saying thank you 🙂
26th February 2020: Fostering Independence at Kinlochewe Primary School. A copy of the letter issued home can be found here. Fostering Independence at Kinlochewe.
Want to find out more? Here is a useful guide for parents. Click here.
24th February 2020: Developing partnerships. Working together to improve our centre. Nursery survey results – click here…..Parent Questionnaire Jan results
IMPORTANT NEWS – We have unfortunately had to postpone the Glachbeg Croft school trip on Monday due to the weather forecast and the condition of the ground at the Croft. This trip will be re-scheduled and we will let parents know the new date as soon as we have booked it in. NEW DATE – 16th March 🙂
20th February 2020 – Active Schools. Extra curricular opportunities.
Fiona Mackintosh has sent a poster advertising opportunities in our area for the children to take part in after school. Here is a link to see the information. (Active Schools Events Feb 2020). We hope that as many of the children as possible can attend. It is great to have something offered so locally. If ever you are interested in becoming an Active Schools volunteer please contact Fiona Mackintosh (Active Schools Co-ordinator):
fiona.mackintosh@highlifehighland.com phone 712383 or 07780910952
February 2020 – Nursery Survey Results. Partnership Working and Involvement of All in the School Improvement Process.
You said – we did! Thank you to everyone for completing the nursery surveys. It is really rewarding to see that many of the things we are doing are appreciated and useful. Equally, the comments for improvement have helped us to make improvements. Great stuff!
As a result of the comments you made we have already….
1.Revamped and updated the parent noticeboard. You should now be able to find things more easily, including the nursery handbook. Lost your copy? Have a little look in the ‘handbook’ section of this website.
2. We are busy planning more opportunities for the children to meet and play with others. Miss Fiona, Mrs Dacker and Mrs Fraser are working together to plan a series of outdoor learning activities which will enable the children in the nurseries in Shieldaig and Kinlochewe regular opportunities to play and learn together. The first of these will be planned before the Easter break. Miss Fiona also plans to take the children to Gairloch on World Book Day. More to follow…..
Monday February 24th 2020 – SCHOOL TRIP TO GLACHBEG CROFT. (Learning Pathways)
Monday is the day! Weather permitting we will be on our way to Glachbeg Croft to learn more about food, sustainability and crofting. Please remember to send your child in school uniform, with good shoes / wellies for going around the croft, a waterproof coat, a snack, water bottle and a packed lunch.
ACTIVE, AMBITIOUS, ACHIEVING – We are going to become a Rights Respecting School.
Mrs Kennedy is working with the children on a Friday to help us to complete the paperwork we need to become a Rights Respecting School. The children have completed much of the work already to get the Bronze Award. There may be a survey or two on its way….please help us by completing these. If you have any ideas on how we can get even better we are always on the look out for next steps… THANKS.
February 2020 – Global Citizenship, Effective Contributors and Responsible Citizens. Family Engagement.
This term our school assemblies focus on finding out more about Sustainable Education and the Global Goals. Here are the video clips we have been watching in school. They are really helpful in raising awareness and understanding. Why not take a little look together at home and see if the children can tell you about the Global Goals and what we are doing to make a difference?
February 2020 – Healthy Eating – what to pack in your child’s lunchbox.….. (Supporting Family Engagement).
The children in school are learning all about healthy eating and food. They are really enjoying tasting different fruits and vegetables and learning about where they come from. They are learning about food miles and how to eat in a more sustainable way. When we are at Glachbeg Croft next week we will be learning about what makes a healthy lunchbox. Here are a few things to point you in the right direction….
USEFUL GAMES AND WEBSITES TO SUPPORT YOUR CHILD’S LEARNING AT HOME – Supporting family engagement. Healthy Eating, Food, Crofting, Food Miles and Sustainability:
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Search.aspx?q=healthy%20eating%20games
https://www.healthforkids.co.uk/
http://archive.foodafactoflife.org.uk/QuickLinks.aspx?contentType=2&PageIndex=5
February 2020 – Developing the Young Workforce in Action!
HELP! We are making a recipe book to support our work in class on food, healthy eating and sustainability. We need a good selection of healthy recipes. The children are going to collate the recipes and make a book to sell in the local community. This is part of their enterprise work. The more healthy recipes the better. Please email recipes to kinlochewe.primary@highland.gov.uk. Many thanks to some of our partners who have already contributed recipes.
January – February 2020 – Developing the Young Workforce in Action!
In nursery recently the children have been learning all about people in our local community who help us. They have been learning about their jobs, what they do, and how they help. We have been visited by David Taylor (Community Early Years Practitioner), Elizabeth MacDonald (Health Visitor), local fire fighters and PC Neil Rathbone (Police). The children have been playing in the role play hospital, in the role play police station and with the babies in nursery. We believe that it is really important to promote equality, diversity and choice in our nursery. For more information about the importance of gender equality here is a useful link:
Gender Equal Play in Early Learning.
Miss Fiona’s planning wall was highlighted during a recent Early Years Education Support Officer visit as an example of good practice. Well done Fiona!
Tuesday 11th February GREAT PARTNERSHIP WORKING
Jenny Grant (Countryside Ranger) came to visit our school today to talk to us about how to prevent Wild Fires. This is an important subject for our local community. We had learnt about the fires in the Amazon Rainforest in assembly a few months ago, and since then the children have been interested in finding out more about wild fires. On 6th March there will be a Wild Fire Awareness Conference in the village hall. Today the children were given a homework task- to make a sign to give to a local landowner to help raise awareness. Please help them at home. A great opportunity for home school learning.
Monday 10th February – School Improvement Update. Family Engagement.
I hope you enjoy reading our SIRP update and finding out what we have been doing in school in our strive to continuously improve and what we need to do next. If you have misplaced a copy of your newsletter we keep spare copies in the newsletter section of this website. Here’s another copy just in case! Newsletter 10th Feb 2020
Monday 27th January RSPB birdwatch ECO-SCHOOLS
We carried out our birdwatch yesterday. It was lovely to see so many birds enjoying the food in our garden. The most popular bird was the chaffinch.
Wildlife club 2020 – Empowering Children
Charlotte has decided to set up a wildlife club to see what animals visit our garden. The Pupil Council agreed to purchase a wildlife camera and Charlotte will be running the club on a Monday and Friday lunchtimes. Inspired by Catch Me if You Can. Developing Leadership in our young learners.
Invasive species workshop – 7th January 2020 GREAT PARTNERSHIP WORKING
Mrs Nelson visited us to explain about the dangers of invasive species in Scotland. We learnt about different invasive species of plants and animals. We did this through activities and games.
Wednesday 17th December CONFIDENT INDIVIDUALS
Last night the children and nursery performed Wind in the Willows in the village hall. The show was greatly attended by friends, family and the local community. We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who came to see us, bought raffle tickets and helped us to prepare for the evening by learning lines and painting scenery. We would also like to thank parent council for organising the raffle and providing/serving the refreshments. The children really appreciated all of the fantastic support received.
Friday 12th December – ECO-SCHOOLS
We have been busy decorating our beautiful Christmas tree which was donated by our friends at SNH. As an eco school we like to keep our tree as natural and plastic free as possible. This year decorations include: dried oranges, pine cones, wooden heart ribbbons and paper angels.
Thursday 12th December – THANK YOU 🙂
Today we all enjoyed a delicious Christmas dinner cooked for us by Kate. The staff and nursery joined us as we enjoyed a roast turkey dinner and lemon cheesecake with bananas and toffee sauce for dessert. A huge thank you to Kate for preparing such a yummy feast.
Thursday 5th December – Partnership Working.
Today the parents came to help us with our scenery for our Christmas play, Wind in the Willows. We built a train, a car, a gypsy caravan, a boat and Toad Hall as well as preparing the background for the stage. A huge thank you to everyone who came to help.
Wednesday 4th December 2019 – WORKING TOGETHER – TEAMWORK.
(Looking inwards, Looking outwards, Looking forwards…)
Today Charlotte and Mrs Mackenzie visited Sheildaig Primary School to demonstrate Wraparound Spelling, to see some of their active learning games and to spend time with peers. Big thank you to Miss Boger and Mrs McCartney for having us.
Friday 15th November 2019
Children in Need – Effective Contributors and Responsible Citizens
Today we were raising money for the children in need charity. Firstly we had a non uniform day. Secondly,we all collected 1p’s and 2p’s which we used to play games in class. We laid all the money on pictures of Pudsey bear. Altogether we had £19.48. We were delighted to have raised so much money. We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who donated money for children in need.
Monday 11th November – Community. Effective Contributors. Responsible Citizens.
We joined our local community at the war memorial today to remember soldiers who had been fighting in wars around the world. Charlotte read a poem she had written herself. We then joined our local community for lunch in the hall.
Friday 1st November 2019 – Partnerships, Community and ….fun!
Yesterday we welcomed our parents and siblings to the Kinlochewe Halloween party. We had great fun playing games and bobbing for sweets and apples. A huge thank you to parents for coming and all of their help with our wonderful costumes.
Wednesday 9th October 2019 – Family Engagement. Partnership Working.
Today we welcomed parents into school for our maths showcase. Parents learnt how we learn numeracy and some of the games and equipment we use. We also had a chance to share our work and profiles, including our patterns from maths week – part of our school improvement work. It was great to see every family represented. Thank you very much for coming along and for completing our surveys. HUGE THANKS TO MRS MACKENZIE ALSO 🙂
Thursday 3rd October 2019 – Learning Together. School Improvement Work – Moderation and Profiling.
“We visited Sheildaig Primary School as part of our maths week. We worked together on activities to learn shape and pattern. These activities included, dancing in circles and symmetrical human pictures”.
This was part of a week of activities planned together by teachers across our tri-cluster. Key Assessment Tasks were planned by teachers collaboratively and moderated within the group. The assessments were also moderated to develop a shared understanding of what it looks like to achieve a level. Great collaborative learning.
Friday 27th September 2019 – Effective Contributors and Responsible Citizens
Today we went to the Hotel to host a Macmillan coffee morning. We sold cakes, had a raffle and a guess the weight of the cake competition. We raised a fantastic £223.72 for Macmillan.
A huge to Karen and everyone at the hotel for allowing us to host there. Also a huge thank you to Jenna and the Kinlochewe hotel chef who provided amazing cakes for our raffle and guess the weight. Thanks to parents and community for donations of raffle prizes and finally thank you to everyone who came and supported us.
Thursday 12th September 2019- Global citizenship and cluster group working.
We were able to watch and listen the Kakasitsi drummers in Gairloch Primary school. We watched the drummers perform and we joined in with drumming and dancing. The drummers had come all the way from Ghana in Africa.
Monday 9th September 2019 – Developing the Young Workforce. Learning – Real Life Contexts.
Today we were invited to go and visit the team who had come to survey the local bridge. We were able to see how the special machinery worked and learnt about how the bridge was made. We saw the engineers use the special carriage to go under and photograph the bridge to check for any damage.
Friday 6th September
Today we held a produce fare to share all our produce from the garden with our parents. We made apple cake, plum cake, apple sauce and plum compote with the fruit from our garden. We also had lots of potatoes, apples and plums fresh from the garden. Thanks to all the parents for the jars and for coming to support us.
Monday 2nd September
A busy weekend for our community. On Friday lots of riders came to register for the Bealach cycle race. They were given the chance to buy a lucky square and also to buy homemade produce from the school. An amazing £255 was raised for the school. A huge thank you to Mrs Kennedy and Johnny for organising the event and Miss Fiona for preparing the lucky squares. Also a huge thank you to Lorna and Harris who helped out at the event.
Also on Saturday it was the GALE Gairloch and district show where all the children entered a picture and Charlotte also entered the photograph competition. Well done to all children on their fantastic entries.
Thursday 29th August
In the spring we planted potatoes in the garden and also our apple tree began to blossom. We are pleased to report that this afternoon we have harvested a fantastic crop of apples, new potatoes and also collected a box of windfall apples.
If you would like to have some then you are welcome to come and collect some after school. We are happy to share our produce with you without charge but any donation to the pupil council would be very much appreciated.
We also have one or two jars of our blackcurrant jam available.
Tuesday 27th August 2019
On Tuesday we had our sessions with Dolina from Kodaly and Jamie from YMI who both came to do music with us.
We played games, sang songs and listened to Jamie play the guitar and the ukulele. We had lots of fun learning about rhythm, beat and even types of music notes. We are looking to working with them next week.
Friday 23rd August
Welcome back. We have had a busy but enjoyable first week back in school. Thursday saw us on a local learning walk learning about our local environment and the buildings and features around us.
Wednesday 3rd July
Yesterday we all went to Gairloch for our end of year school trip. First we went on the glass bottom boat in Gairloch. We were amazed at how many jelly fish and star fish we could see through the viewing panels. We also all had the opportunity to steer the boat. A huge thank you to Tim Allen for taking us on his boat.
We then went on to Sands beach were we enjoyed playing with the skipping rope and parachute as well as rock pooling, making sand castles and having a picnic on the beach. We also wrote our name and date in the sand.
Lastly we had fun on the play park.
Wednesday 3rd July
On Friday we were pleased to welcome Mr Taylor, Jo and Sanfur to our school. They came to visit so we could say Thank you for all their contribution to our Green Flag project. We spent the afternoon outside with the skipping rope and parachute. We also had some fun with the hose pipe! A great way to enjoy the sunshine.
Monday 1st July
Today we were delighted to receive a letter direct from Buckingham palace. The letter was a reply to the letters we had written to inform the Queen about our 6th green flag. We were very happy to learn the Queen was very impressed with our achievements and congratulated us on our success.
Friday 28th June
Earlier this week Jayden joined us for some problem solving in the garden. We worked in pairs to make the highest tower we could and see if we could make water travel from the top to the bottom.
Friday 28th June
We are delighted to have received our sixth green flag. A huge thank you to everyone in school and the community who helped us to achieve this.
Thursday 20th June
Today we gathered a huge bowl of blackcurrants from our garden and used them to make jam. We then labelled the jars and added lids and bows made from recycled materials.
Monday 17th June
Today we discovered our potatoes had shot up again despite only covering them on Friday. We have now covered them once to encourage a greater yield of potatoes. We are also delighted to discover a bumper crop of ripening blackcurrants. We will harvest these later in the week and make jam.
Monday 17th June
Today we were joined by parents for a French breakfast to celebrate all the things we have learnt in our french topic and to share with parents our profiles and work we are proud of. The morning began with a presentation from the children, followed by breakfast and then an opportunity for parents to share profiles. A huge thank you to all parents and siblings who came to support us.
Thursday 13th June
Yesterday we joined our friends from the ASG for our annual sports day. Jess was part of the winning country, Tanzania, and helped to contribute to their winning score by achieving 1st in wellie throwing, 2nd in long jump and 3rd in sprint and sack race.
Charlotte also contributed to her team by achieving 2nd in wellie throwing, 3rd in potato and spoon and 3rd in sack race.
This year Ella achieved her personal best at sports day by gaining 1st place in shot and 2nd in wellie throwing.
It was Harris first ASG sports day and he managed to achieve third place in three events, sack race, potato and spoon and running.
Everyone did really well and we are extremely proud of our school.
Tuesday 4th June
Today the nursery and school children visited Gairloch beach to do a litter pick. We were delighted to find very little litter on the beach but did manage to collect some plastic which had been washed up on to the shore line. We also had great fun looking at the starfish and shells on the beach. We then headed off to the GALE centre for lunch and on to Poolewe for our weekly swimming lessons. An active and enjoyable day for everyone involved.
Friday 30th May
Today we visited Coulin estate to celebrate the opening of their hydro power station. We met staff who showed us how the turbine worked and Charlotte had the job of pressing the button to restart the turbine. It was a fun morning looking at the turbine and also getting to see the Coulin estate and the animals that live there. A huge thank you to Mrs Kennedy for taking us and to Neil and the staff for showing us around and explaining the turbine.
Thursday 30th May
Harris is very proud of how he is getting on with his model of the Eiffel Tower. His next step is to work out how to build the single tower to finish his model. 
Thursday 30th May
Today was release day for the butterflies from the nursery classroom. The children in school joined nursery to release the butterflies onto the flowerbeds. The children enjoyed seeing the butterflies released into the environment and the the butterflies soon enjoyed our plants in the flowerbed. The butterflies behaved brilliantly and were tame enough to have their picture taken with the children before being released onto the flowerbed. One child in the nursery said “the butterflies would like the flowers because they like eating the pollen from the flowers.”
Wednesday 29th May
Nursery transition.
The children and I enjoyed welcoming Jayden into our class to help him prepare for P1 next year. We had great fun outdoors making life size drawings of ourselves. We each then wrote post it notes to say what makes each of us special. A great way to celebrate diversity and equality. We are all different and we are all special.
We have been making the most of the weather today. During numeracy we were looking at measuring length and were using different equipment to measure things in the playground.
Tuesday 21st May
The children joined the other children in the ASG for our annual cross country race at Flowerdale house. The children all did well, Harris came 12th place in his first cross country and Charlotte exceeded last years run by seven places. Everyone had a great time and we are very proud of the children’s efforts.
Tuesday 14th May
Today we had a visit from Carol from the SNPCA. She talked to us about caring for animals and helped us to make an owl robot. We had great fun programming Ollie the owl to make sounds, move and light up.
Tuesday 7th May
Today we visited Beinn Eighe to plant trees with Pete and the Beinn Eighe volunteers. We helped to plant 130 trees in a new area of mixed woodland. We planted Rowan, Birch and Holly trees. We have now seen and helped with each stage of the tree planted process from collected seeds in pine cones to planting trees out on the reserve. A huge thank you to everyone at Beinn Eighe for allowing us to be part of their tree planting program.We all had a great time planting trees and helping to create woodlands of the future. This was not only an enjoyable and worthwhile activity but will also be another towards our 6th green flag.
Thursday 2nd May
Today we have used our bumper harvest of carrots and leeks from the school veg patch. The school and nursery children worked together to make a healthy vegetable soup which we enjoyed sampling at lunchtime.
Wednesday 1st May
After a busy afternoon of harvesting and weeding, the Kinlochewe veg patch is all ready to go. So far we have planted potatoes and lettuce. We will be planting more veg next week.
Thursday 25th April
Today we had a visit from Fiona, the active schools coordinator. She helped us to understand the importance of being active. We had a SHANARI assembly by Mrs Taylor and then went outside to enjoy the rest of our assembly in the sunshine. We talked about ways to keep active and had a go at doing different challenges.
Thursday 4th April
Today we have had lots of easter activities going on in school.
This afternoon we were joined by nursery and toddlers who helped us to hunt for clues left by the Easter bunny. The weather was kind to us and we had a lovely time hunting clues in the sunshine, followed by Easter treats that the children had made earlier. Thank you to everyone who came to join us for our Easter fun.
The children in school worked on producing a carrier for an easter egg. The egg then had to be placed inside the carrier and undergo a series of challenges. All carriers proved to offer high levels of protection for the chocolate eggs.
The school and nursery children enjoyed preparing chocolate Easter nests to share with their family after the easter egg hunt.
Thursday 14th March
Today the school and nursery children worked together to make comic relief cupcakes. These cakes will be on sale tomorrow break, lunchtime and 3pm to raise funds for comic relief.
3rd March – MESSAGE FROM MRS TAYLOR 🙂
This week in assembly we continue with our work on wellbeing.
This is a really important part of our Health and Wellbeing Work. Look out in your child’s homework bag / in your email inbox this week for a leaflet explaining a little bit more about wellbeing and SHANARRI, and for a copy of the wellbeing wheel.
A copy of the leaflet can also be found here: CLICK HERE
Friday 1st March
Today, during the soup lunch, we organised a freecycle event. Freecycle events mean people donate things that they do not want or need and other people in the community can take them if they would like them. This means unwanted items are recycled and put to good use rather than being thrown away. Therefore reducing the amount of waste ending up in landfill sites. All leftover donations will be given to Blytheswood charity. Thank you to Hazel and all the parents who helped organise and run the event and also thank you to everyone who donated items to freecycle.
Friday 1st March
Today we had a visit from a very special person. His name is Mike Nicholson and he is the author of books like Museum mysteries, Grimm and the Thistle stories.
Not only did Mike share his books and his ideas with us, we also had a visit from Liz Forest who brought in some museum artefacts for us to look at.
Mike also visited the nursery to share his story ‘The giant who snores.’
Each child was able to have a copy of their chosen book signed by Mike.
Thanks to Mike and Liz and also Mrs Kennedy who arranged the visit.
Wednesday 27th February
We all had a lot of fun with Hazel and Yasmeen when they came in to help us make our own book bags. Being an eco school, we decided that as part of our waste reduction we needed to stop using plastic folders. These fabrics bags are unique to each child, are eco friendly and made from recycled material. A huge thank you to Hazel and Yasmeen for helping us.
The great battery hunt.
At kinlochewe we are proud of our five green flags and are working towards our 6th. This term we are focusing on minimising our waste. This week the children have been given their own big battery box. Any old batteries can be placed into the box and returned to school. They will then be collected for recycling.
MESSAGE FROM MRS TAYLOR 
In our school assemblies at the moment we are looking at Human Rights and the Rights of the Child. We have started to understand what SHANARRI is. Each letter in SHANARRI stands for something different. S stands for SAFE. Thank you to everyone who helped the children to complete their homework last week. To find out more about SHANARRI and see the videos we are using in school, click here: SHANARRI
Here is a little video clip we watched in school about Human Rights. Human Rights Video Clip
Well Done to Ella who completed her Human Rights homework on her new chromebook 🙂
The children will now work on the Rights of the Child, with the aim of creating a new whole school charter as part of our work on renewing our vision, values and aims.
Thursday 24th January
The children of Kinlochewe would like to introduce you to Eco-Amur. We have adopted a Amur Leopard through the World Wildlife fund. We have received lots of information and Eco, (a cuddly amur leopard). Eco will become our eco schools mascot and will join us on our eco adventures.
Thursday 24th January
It has been a snowy few days here in Kinlochewe. We have had great fun being out in the snow and worked together to make a HUGE snowman.
11/01/19
MESSAGE FROM MRS TAYLOR.
Welcome back to school and nursery. It has been really nice hearing about the children’s holidays and some of the things they have been busy doing. This week we talked in assembly about our school values and the children helped to plan some of their work in school with these values in mind.
So…..if you have any ideas which will help us with our aim to be ACTIVE, AMBITIOUS and ACHIEVING we would like to hear from you. Looking forward to hearing your ideas.
MESSAGE FROM MRS TAYLOR.
We would all like to wish you a very Merry Christmas. We hope that you have a lovely time. We look forward to welcoming the children back to school and nursery on 7th January 2019.
MESSAGE FROM MRS TAYLOR.
WOW! You were amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed Alice in Wonderland last night. Congratulations to all of the children involved. You proved that you are confident individuals, effective contributors, successful learners and responsible citizens last night. Great learning, great effort, and great entertainment. We are all so proud of you all.
Thank you to all the parents who helped to run the night. I hope the village party was a huge success tonight too.
Wednesday 5th December
We were very excited today when we received our Christmas tree from SNH. The children have begun decorating the tree with natural based decorations. Over the next few days we will add log slices, dried oranges and popcorn. A huge thank you to Doug and everyone at SNH and also to Hazel for the pine cones and log slices.
Monday 12th November
We worked with our friends at Sheildaig to produce this lovely picture of Flanders fields. Katie, from Gairloch museum, produced the background and each child hand made the poppies from either tissue paper or card. This art work will not only commemorate the centenary of world war 1 but will also go on to be an exhibit within the museum. A huge thank you to Katie for all her hard work on putting this project together.
Friday 9th November
Today we joined our friends from Sheildaig on a visit to Fort George. We saw lots of original artefacts and learnt about life during World War 1. We were able to see uniforms and medals worn by the Seaforth Highlanders and to see places of historical importance.
Thursday 8th November
We were joined today by Katie from the museum who helped us to learn about remembrance and the centenary of World War 1. We looked at artefacts and designed our own medals. We also worked together to create poppies for a piece of art work showing the poppies in Flanders fields.
Friday 2nd November
On Friday the nursery children joined the school children for an afternoon of spooky fun. The children dressed up in their halloween costumes and enjoyed fun and games.
Religious Observance
Schools are required to deliver religious observance whereby the School Minister
may lead an Assembly. Bible readings maybe shared and hymns sung. If you wish to
withdraw your child from religious observance please let your class teacher know and inform the school formally in writing. Thank you.
Open the Book sessions are held every few weeks in school. These sessions are Christian in nature and therefore can be classified as religious observance.
ATTENDANCE – TERM TIME HOLIDAYS
Here is a useful document highlighting the importance of good attendance in schools.
https://www.gov.scot/resource/doc/294630/0091104.pdf
Term time holidays.
When parents are considering whether or not to remove their children from school for a family holiday, they should be aware that such a decision:
will result in a significant loss in classroom experience;
will result in a pressure to ‘catch up’ on missed work by pupils;
could result in pupils missing assessments with consequential impact on pupils and teachers;
could result in the loss of curricular activities;
will affect school attendance records and efforts to raise standards of attendance;
under the guidance issued at a national level, most family holidays will be coded as unauthorised absence, only in exceptional cases will the absence be recorded as authorised.
In conclusion, we would ask parents to be aware of these considerations when making decisions on planning holidays during term time.
If parents decide to make holiday arrangements during school term, this should be confirmed in writing to the Head Teacher.
SEVERE WEATHER TELEPHONE LINE – REMINDER
At times of severe weather please use the Highland Council telephone service to check whether school and nursery are open.
PHONE: 0800 5642272 and use the school’s 6 figure PIN number: 042380
https://www.highland.gov.uk/schoolclosures
As our class teacher lives some distance from the school and can find it difficult to get in to school during times of severe weather, please ensure that you know that there is someone in the building before leaving your child in the playground. Thank you.
Monday 1st October
Today we visited Beinn Eighe to investigate how rainfall was measured. First we went out towards Torridon to collect the rainwater from the rain gauge. Back at the office we measured the rainfall using a measuring cylinder. There had been 351mm of rainfall during September making it the wettest month this year.
We were shown an experiment using hot and cold water. We saw that hot water rose upwards and cold water went downwards. This is just like hot and cold air in the atmosphere.
Next we went to see the weather station at Beinn Eighe. It was too wet to go right down but this did not matter as this is a fully automatic weather station which sends records direct to the met office.
We then went back to the office and measured the rainfall from the Gairloch side rain gauge. There was less rain in this gauge, only 310mm. We learnt this was because it is further east than the Torridon gauge.
Playdough -recipe – great for handwriting development.
This year we are looking to develop attainment in Literacy. At the moment we are promoting the importance of developing fine motor skills.
Top tip this week….. playdough!
Playing with playdough is great for developing the strength in children’s hands needed when writing. If you encourage children to knead, roll, squash, squeeze, model and fish things out of the playdough, (eg beads and sequins), this will not only be fun but great finger gym too.
Don’t have any playdough? No need to worry – here’s a recipe to help…
You will need:
1 cup plain (all-purpose) flour
½ cup salt
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup water with food colouring added
1 teaspoon vanilla essence (optional but it makes the play dough smell nice!)
Put all the ingredients into a large saucepan, and stir over a medium heat until the dough forms into a ball. Allow to cool, and then knead until smooth.
MESSAGE FROM MRS TAYLOR. 
WELL DONE EVERYONE.
W
Friday 28th September
Today we held our Macmillan coffee morning at Kinlochewe hotel. We are delighted to report we raised a fantastic £277.20 for Macmillan. A huge thank you to: Karen and the hotel staff for hosting, Hazel for the exquisite cake for the raffle, Jenna for the amazing guess the sweet cake and to everyone who came to share a drink and cake with us.
Thursday 27th September
Hazel joined us to help us bake in preparation for our Macmillan coffee morning. We used our own produce to make plum cake, apple cake and biscuits sandwiched with our homemade blackcurrant jam.
Wednesday 26th September
We travelled by mini bus to Gairloch Church to celebrate harvest with our friends from Badcaul and Bualnaluib Primary schools. We had lots of fun hearing stories and taking part in songs and craft activities.
Tuesday 9th September
On Tuesday we are joined by Lilian from YMI who teaches us traditional Scots songs and poems. 
Just a reminder that school and nursery will be closed on 17th and 18th September. These are staff training days. We hope the children have a nice couple of days away from school.
MESSAGE FROM MRS TAYLOR. GROWTH MINDSET
In our school assembly this week we talked about how, with a positive mindset, we can overcome our fears. We learnt about how Adam Peaty overcame his fear of water to become the best British breaststroke swimmer of all time. Quite an inspiration.
To find out more click here.
Wednesday 5th September
Gardening club were hard at work last night adding sand to the sand pit. Great job – well done.
Tuesday 4th September.
MESSAGE FROM MRS TAYLOR
LITERACY DEVELOPMENT OFFICER:
Today we had a visit from Laura McGinlay, Literacy Development Officer. Laura is going to help us this year to develop Literacy across the school. Laura helped to carry out some reading assessments and will come back to school to work with Mrs Mackenzie to start a new spelling programme in school called Wraparound Spelling. We will keep you up to date on developments.
ASSEMBLIES – This term our school assemblies are all on the theme of New Beginnings.
Below is the Ethos Bee for this term, listing the weekly Ethos Statements from top to bottom.
For the last 2 weeks we have been thinking about what it means to have a Growth Mindset. Last week we read the story ‘The Dot’, and talked about how to approach their work in a positive way. Here is a link to the story if you would like to have a little look.
This week we learnt all about how Olympic champion Adam Peaty overcame his fear of water to become the fastest breaststroke swimmer in the world! Quite an inspiration.
Monday 3rd September
Some of our children helped to run the lucky square competition at the Bealach Na Ba cycle race. A fantastic £330 was raised for our school.
WOW! Well done everyone. What an achievement. Mrs Taylor
Wednesday 29th August
The children have made great starts to the term this year. We had great success at the Gairloch show, our produce from the garden came 1st and we also won a 2nd and 3rd award for designing posters to protect sea life. We also manged to win first prize in the adult victoria sponge cake. Felix also won the cup for his plum cake.
Well Done everyone. Great achievements. Mrs Taylor.
Monday 25th – Wednesday 27th June
Archery
On Wednesday we also tried our hand at archery. Some of us were naturals. Charlotte managed a yellow and two reds on the board.
Abseiling
On Wednesday morning we all faced what was probably our most challenging activity. We climbed up and then abseiling down the abseil tree. Despite the difficult climb most of us made it and then abseiled down the other side. Even those who did not make it to the top still attempted the climb and over came personal challenges.
Silver maze mission impossible
On Monday afternoon we took part in a series of challenges in the Nethy bridge woodland. Although nearly impossible, we all managed to complete the course. It was very nice to get soaked in the lovely summer heat. We were all challenged to cross the river in a net Bousins chair – great team work was used to pull everyone across.
Zip wire
On Tuesday morning we took part in a zip wire. We had challenges to get balls in baskets and do interesting poses. Zip wire was most peoples favourite activity.
Loch Morlich
On a very sunny Tuesday afternoon we all went canoeing on Loch Morlich. It was great to jump in and cool off. We all enjoyed laughing when Miss Starr and Mrs B capsized.
Nethy Bridge Residential
On Monday 25th June we all traveled to Nethy Bridge for two days of adventure activities. We all think it was the best residential we have ever been on.
Wednesday 13th June
The children in school and nursery were delighted to have a visit from Jack and his barn owl Dusk. Jack explained all about barn owls and the children were all able to stroke her. A fantastic opportunity to see such a beautiful bird in such close proximity.
Thursday 7th June
Our final visit of the academic year to Beinn Eighe today. We took the seeds from the trays and planted them into root trainers. The plants will stay there for eighteen months and will then be planted out on the hill.
Wednesday 6th June
The children did very well this today at sports day. Lots of 1st, 2nd and 3rd places awarded and great sportsmanship shown by all. Well done to Lottie for coming second place in the junior category.
Friday 25th May
Practical problem solving. We had great fun working together to solve the water tower puzzle.
We are delighted that our fifth green flag is now flying high outside our school.
Tuesday 22nd May
The nursery had a great day visiting the Beinn Eighe nature walks. We collected lots of natural materials and used them to make a mobile for the classroom.
Tuesday 22nd May
Today we joined our friends at Shieldaig for a walk to the beach to celebrate walk to school week.
Friday 18th May
We celebrated the Royal wedding a day early in Kinlochewe. A street party style lunch and lots of homemade bunting set the scene for a lovely celebration. Huge thank you to our cook Andy for the lunch. Well done Jess for winning the best designed Royal cup.
Monday 14th May
Today we visited Beinn Eighe to take part in the next stage of the tree planting process. We saw how our seeds had been harvested from the pine cone and then began to plant some of our seeds into seed trays. We also helped out by planting some of the beech tree plants into individual pots. We will return again in a few weeks to plant our seeds into root trainers.
Thursday 9th May
We are so proud of our children who took part in the cross country at Flowerdale House. The children won three medals between them and many of them beat their own personal best.
Wednesday 28th March
The children all took part in an Easter challenge to design carriers for a small egg. The children designed some fantastic carriers and put them through a series of challenges.
Wednesday 28th March
The whole school celebrated Easter with an Easter egg hunt in the school grounds. Each child collected tokens from the Easter bunny and was rewarded with an Easter egg.
Tuesday 27th March
We all went for a boat trip around Loch Ewe. We saw lots of wildlife including, seabirds, seals and fish. We were fortunate enough to see a group of razor bills swimming very close to the boat. It was a lot of fun and we learnt a lot about the wildlife local to Inverewe gardens. We were the first lucky passengers of Jamie’s boat which will be giving tours out of inverewe gardens soon. A huge thank you to Jamie and Katie (ranger from Inverewe) who organised and looked after us during our trip.
Friday 23rd March
Our librarians have been working hard on tidying and organising our library. With the help of their class they have organised the books and restacked the shelves neatly. It looks great and everyone is really pleased with it.
Friday 23rd March
Despite the weather the children had a great time raising money for sport relief. Children in school organised sporting events for the nursery children and also took part in some sporting challenges of their own. They will complete the final activities in their challenge on Monday.
Thursday 8th March
We all had great fun at Gairloch Primary school for a day of Marine Magic. We learnt about turtles, sea eagles, sea birds and took part in different workshops.
Thursday 1st March
Some of our children enjoyed dressing up as their favourite book characters for World Book Day. Can you guess who they are?
Tuesday 6th February
Today we carried out our litter pick around the school. We managed to collect almost a full bag of litter which included; tin cans, glass bottles, juice cans, clothing, food wrappers and even bits of old pipe. We are pleased that the school, the lane and car park are much tidier now. Our Eco warriors are planning another litter pick, taking in a wider area, for around Easter time.
Maths Help. The children are learning about fractions in maths at the moment. Here are some games which they might like to play at home.
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/fractions-and-decimalshttps://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/fractions-and-decimals
5th February
With this week’s newsletter you will find a leaflet from Highland Council about safe use of social media. We hope you find this useful. In addition, here is a great website with info about the risk, benefits and age restrictions on a wide range of social networks, apps and games.
2nd February.
The nursery children enjoyed their visit to the class igloo this week. They discussed what they would see in the polar regions, made masks and drew pictures of polar animals.
The nursery children have been busy making the most of the wet weather. They have learnt about floating with boats in our giant puddle and have been measuring the rainfall. There has been quite a lot of rain!!
23rd January
Today we visited the Being Eighe Nature Reserve to help Doug with some conservation work. The children collected pine cones to take back to the centre where they will be stored for a wee while. Once they are dry and the seeds are ready the children will help to plant the seeds at the reserve. Well done everyone – responsible citizens and effective contributors. 🙂
New Term 2018
The children’s new topic in school is based on the POLES. (North Pole and South Pole that is!). If you have any books, resources or ideas which might help with our topic please speak with Mrs Millward. Here is a link to some class clips the children might like to watch at home.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/education/topics/z4bg87h/resources/1
And a little link to help with homework perhaps?
https://www.theschoolrun.com/homework-help/polar-habitats
9th January 2018
Happy New Year. Thank you to everyone who came along to see the children’s performance of Scrooge. A little later than planned due to the bad weather but well worth the wait. Well done to our small cast who proved its not numbers that count, but commitment and enthusiasm. Thanks also to everyone for the raffle prizes and to the parents for the tea, coffee and buffet. It was GREAT! Photos can be found in the photo gallery.
Saturday 2nd December
It was nice to see some parents of toddlers in the area out and about at the markets this weekend. Sorry that some of you have not been contacted re bookbug etc. We would like to add you all to our newsletter mailing list. Fiona will be in touch and will let you know about bookbug sessions and the toddler / pre-school party which will be held on Tuesday 19th December. We hope to see you there.
Friday 1st December
The children made the front cover of the Gairloch Times for their great work helping Children in Need of Aid over the past term. Well done everyone. If you haven’t seen it yet it might be worth picking up a copy 😉
Thursday 30th November
Exciting times – a first run-through of the Christmas play on our village hall stage today. We are SO proud of the children, who are all working so hard on their parts! If that wasn’t enough, when we returned to school a certain delivery arrived in a big red van – the class Christmas tree (kindly donated by SNH)…
Well, we couldn’t just leave it sitting outside, all undecorated.
In other news, we also had a beautiful close-up video of our resident pine marten on the wildlife cam.
Thursday 23rd November.
The children are really enjoying learning their lines and practising their parts for the play. It is coming along nicely. Please remember to bring raffle prizes into school. We have a collection box by the school entrance. Thank you.
The children saw their Catch me if you Cam footage today and they think we may have a whole family of pine martens! We have placed the new bait outside. Week 3 = mealworms. Let’s see what comes to feed this week?
Today was also the day we made up stationery packs to send out to help refugee children. We made approx 50 packs in total over 2 different days, full of paper, pens, stickers, highlighters, crayons , rubbers etc. Well done everyone.
Friday 17th November.
Well done everyone on a great day and for raising £25 for Children in Need.
Thursday 16th November 2017
When taking a developmental approach to emerging literacy, nursery rhymes are a great way of supporting the development of literacy, language and communication skills. Get your children involved next week with the FREE RESOURCES available from Music Bug.
CLICK HERE for World Nursery Rhyme Week Information and Registration
“Rhyme a Day Challenge” songs for 2017
- Monday 13th November 2017: ‘Bobby Shafto’
- Tuesday 14th November 2017: ‘Lavenders Blue’
- Wednesday 15th November 2017: ‘Hickory Dickory Dock’
- Thursday 16th November 2017: ‘Wind the Bobbin Up’
- Friday 17th November 2017: ‘Old King Cole’
CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD RESOURCES
12/11/17. The children have been practising their doubling skills in mental maths. If you want to practise at home a great place to start is
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
WW1 – want to learn more at home? Have a look at this website for some great activities
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/0/ww1/25827997
Comments
Kinlochewe Primary The last sighting was at 5.30am this morning.
Jenny Ranger Great Kinlochewe. It looks about the same size doesn’t it. Did you know individual pine martens can be recognised by the pattern on their bib (that’s the bit under its chin down its neck). They often have spots on it which is unique to that pine marten – a bit like a finger print.
08/11/17 Look where our Daily Mile took us today 🙂
07/11/17 WELCOME BACK! We are so pleased. After our little memo home we have plenty of views on our website today, so welcome back to those of you who have been away for a little while!
Look what was spotted on the Catch me if you Cam camera….. if anyone has any idea what it is we would LOVE to know. It is baffling the rangers just now!
Jenny Ranger ooh it looks quite hairy….and quite big…any more pictures of it?
Jan Kerry Could that be its tail as it turns maybe?
Jenna Pickering Pine marten or cat?
06/11/17: WOW! Look what we found on our camera. We are involved in a project called Catch me if you Cam. We have a camera attached to the school’s apple tree and already it is attracting visitors. Fantastic!
Comments are pouring in for our early finds. We are part of a closed facebook page where we share our footage with other schools taking part. On one of the video clips you can clearly see where the pine martin is sneaking in and out of the garden. It has a favourite spot, squeezing itself under the fence!
Gairloch Primary Fantastic! What great footage.
Kinlochewe Primary 
😎Thank you we are thrilled.
Keri Langridge That was so fast, great news. Was that without bait too? Love how you can see where he gets in, just a tiny hole under the fence
02/11/17 What a super day for Catch me if you Cam!!!! Our camera is set up and ready to go and the children had such fun learning about Biodiversity with Jenny.
31/10/17
Look what fun we had in Nursery today! Pumpkin carving and dressing up.
30/10/17 New Nursery Handbook.
We have updated our Nursery Handbook. You can find a copy on the nursery noticeboard, or follow the link….. Nursery
30/10/17. We are all looking forward to seeing the children in their Halloween costumes tomorrow. Everyone is welcome to join Mrs Millward, Miss Starr and Fiona for the party tomorrow afternoon. 1.15 pm.
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26/10/17. The children are enjoying regular YMI music sessions in school.
22/10/17. Back to school tomorrow. I am looking forward to seeing all of the children back at school tomorrow. I will be in school during the afternoon and can’t wait to hear about your holidays. I hope you have all had a good one. Your newsletter will be out tomorrow so keep an eye on your child’s school bag, we have lots going on this term. Mrs Millward and Mrs MacDonald will be busy organising the Christmas show, so scripts are likely to be coming home soon. Also, Mrs Millward and Fiona will be issuing invites to parent meetings, which will take place in Nov. We hope to see you there.
17/10/17 Homework. At the last Parent Council meeting it was agreed that the children will design the front cover of the new Kinlochewe area telephone directory. Please help your child with their design homework as their completed design tiles will form the front cover of the directory. Look out in your child’s homework pack on the first day back to school.
17/10/17. Stationery Packs. The children are going to be making little stationery packs to send out to refugee children in time for Christmas. Please send any pencils, crayons, pens, rulers, rubbers, colouring books, notepads etc to school before the end of October. Thank you.
UPCOMING EVENTS……
At today’s staff meeting we discussed Children in Need, a Halloween Party and our Christmas Show.
CHILDREN IN NEED
Friday 17th November
Come to school in non-uniform (50p)
Bring in as many coins as you can find (pennies will do) and let’s see if we can cover Pudsey Bear.
HALLOWEEN
Halloween Party – all welcome.
Toddlers and parents welcome.
Kinlochewe Primary School. Tuesday 31st October
Come to school dressed in Halloween costumes and be ready for games and fun in the afternoon.
All welcome 1.15-3pm
29/09/17
We helped to raise £246 at the Macmillan Coffee Morning. Thank you very much to everyone who helped and well done to the children for an amazing effort.
Spooky writing competition . Why not give it a go?
Spooky Story Competition
Click here to go directly to the competition.
28/09/17 – One Man Shoe. Today we all went to see a totally magic show at Gairloch Community Centre. Jango Starr put on a spellbinding performance as a stage hand turned star. In the afternoon the children took part in a theatre and circus skills workshop. They tried juggling and all had a good giggle! A fun packed day. Have a look at our Flickr account for pictures from the day.
26/09/17 – Today I taught the children until break and was pleased to see how much progress they are making in class. It was lovely to spend more time with them – where has this term gone! We did our Daily Mile on the trim trail for a change today and had many aching arms and legs. Good exercise! Mrs Millward did a writing activity involving lots of chocolate – always a winner. The children thoroughly enjoyed making notes and creating their own recipes. Then Hazel came in to make cakes and biscuits for the Macmillan Coffee Morning on Friday. Whilst I will not be able to be there, I hope to hear all about it and I hope you all have a good time supporting a very good cause.
25/09/17 – Lunch out at the riverbank was fun today. We took our packed lunches down and then added to our dens. We found lots of conkers. The children were weighed down with full pockets on the way back to school! The midges nibbled up only a little. I really enjoyed myself and there were high 5s all round as we squeezed into the bigger den. We all agreed to go back again soon and to give the fire pit another go soon.
25/09/17 – Facilities Management Vacancy. Do you know someone who might be interested in 9.5 hours work at the primary school. Please share this link.
Facilities Vacancy at Kinlochewe Primary School
24/09/17 -I hope the children fancy a picnic lunch and den building at lunch time tomorrow? Bring in good shoes and clothes. Weather and midges permitting I’ll take the children with their packed lunches out for lunch tomorrow. It will be nice to spend some good quality down time with them 🙂 I’ll be in school after school on Monday and Tuesday this week if anyone wants to pop in for a catch up? Your newsletter will go home in bags tomorrow. A fun week ahead.
Wednesday – badminton festival. ‘Go Kinlochewe’
Thursday – One Man Shoe and drama workshops.
Friday – Macmillan Coffee Morning.
21/09/17 – Fire Fire!!!! Wow! The children went to Gairloch Fire Station today as part of their Developing the Young Workforce Topic. They met with Rhoda and Kenny from the Gairloch Fire Team and learnt all about the amazing work carried out by the volunteers. The children got to see what it was like inside the fire engine and they even all had a turn at using the fire hose, sucking up water from an outside fire hydrant. Mr Taylor set them a challenge to find fire hydrants in their own villages. Let’s see how many they can spot! Photos and children’s comments to follow this week.
14/09/17 – Mountain Rescue Visit Kinlochewe Primary School.
The children had fun today learning about the role of Torridon Mountain Rescue Team. We were lucky enough to get hands on with all of the rescue equipment and Lola was stretchered up in a mock up disaster, with the other children helping to lift her to safety. A big thank you to the Mountain Rescue volunteers for a fantastic visit and for helping with our Developing the Young Workforce topic. I will add some photos and children’s comments this week.
Inverness Music Festival.
Applications are now open for the Inverness Music Festival. The closing date for entries is 20th November. There are so many competitions for our talented youngsters and not just music! We fully support anyone who wants to take their child along to enter a competition. So…..if you want to go….go for it 🙂 Click here to see more info.
13/09/17 We’re all trying really hard with our homework. Here are some examples of our work.
21/08/17 We had great fun designing our school photos.
12/09/17 – Well Done – it was a delight to hear all about what you would like to be when you grow up in our assembly today. We have a class full of budding farmers, scientists, bakers, movie stars, a spy and even a future Queen! Great to see such aspiration. The children were able to talk confidently about how the skills they are developing in school might help them in these jobs as they grow up.
CERTIFICATES – Charlotte and Alistair received certificates for excellent homework this week. Well Done.
GARDENING CLUB – Thank you very much Hazel. Gardening Club starts up again on Thursday lunchtime this week. Please send your child with wellies and waterproofs. There is plenty to do 🙂
PLUMS!!! Our plum tree has given us a plentiful bounty again this year – YUM. There are plenty, so if you want some, come and take them!
12th September – Just in case you have missed our wee reminders. The children get an extra lie in on Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th. The School and Nursery are closed for INSET days.
School re-opens at the usual time on Wednesday 20th September.
12th September 2017
I hope everyone received a copy of their newsletter yesterday. Thank you to those of you who have given positive comments about the new format to the school. It is nice to hear that you feel well informed 🙂 If there is anything we can do to improve communication, or anything you would like to see added, please do let us know.
Thursday 7th September 2017
In assembly today a Class Citizenship Award was presented to Lottie for kindness during the week. The Homework Award was given to Lola and Lottie – a joint award for the Boswells!!
Ali’s beautiful Highland Cow canvas won him an award for Work of the Week. Fantastic artwork Ali – Well Done!
Work and certificates are up on display in the class on our brand new Wall of Fame.
LOOK AT SOME OF THE THINGS WE HAVE BEEN UP TO ALREADY THIS TERM!!!
Our Green Flag arrived and we cannot wait to get it flying high on the flag pole. We have been to Grudie to see the new wind turbines, have had the chance to name two of them! Maree and Uisge is what we went for. What do you think?
We have also been out at Biosphere and UNESCO events. We can safely say our Eco-School work is going strong! We truly deserve that flag! We will keep the Flickr site up to date with photos of our work so far.
27/06/17
Well done to everyone for throwing themselves fully in to the spirit of things yesterday at Sports Day. So many of our pupils got special mention for their behaviour and positive attitude making us all feel very proud.
20/06/17
Today the children went to the GALE centre to ‘pitch’ their postcard business. They spoke to Janet about social enterprise and agreed a commission fee for their postcards. We are very grateful to everyone who has agreed to sell the postcards on behalf of our school. All funds raised will be given to the pupil council to spend on things they think will improve our school.
13/06/17
Today the children released their butterflies. We have enjoyed watching them grow and transform from caterpillars into butterflies.
12/06/16
DUCK TIME! The children filled the duck pond and we lit a fire in our new fire pit and toasted marshmallows. Yum!
09/06/17
Thank you Judith (RSPB) for coming in today to teach us about seabirds. We had great fun learning about the impact of pollution, about different seabirds, food chains and migration.
06/06/17
We would all like to say a big welcome to Ms Millward who started with us today. We hope that she enjoys her few weeks with us in our lovely school. I am sure that everyone will make her feel at home.
05/06/17
Today saw the release of our first 2 butterflies. We are patiently waiting for other caterpillars to catch up! The children have enjoyed taking care of them and watching the transformation take place. Although I was not so keen when one escaped during a quick feeding session on Saturday!
02/16/17
Oral Hygienist visit – today Ailsa came and we also used the disclosing fluid to look at the plaque on our teeth. Here we are showing off our very clean teeth after we brushed it all off.
30/05/17
Today we went to Gairloch to work with Ian French, our local marine biologist. We learnt all about animals from the sea which end up on our plates and were able to handle dog whelks, starfish, urchins, squat lobsters, crabs, lobsters and Norweigan lobsters.
We had a great time and learnt so much about sustainable fishing. The children held a tooth from a sperm whale amongst a huge range of other things. We are all so grateful to Ian who gave up his time to us without charge. Also – thank you so very much for a dry place to have our lunch on a very wet and rainy day.
29/05/17
Outdoor Literacy. We went down to the shore line at Beinn Eighe today to hear the story of the Selkie. We played some drama games, listened to the sound of the waves lapping with our blindfolds on, brainstormed descriptive words and wrote them in chalks on the rocks and made musical instruments using found objects from the shore line. When we went back in to class we wrote our own tanka poems about the Selkie. Later in the week we are going to perform them using our musical instruments and record them onto the ipad. A great lesson in our lovely outdoor environment ……. despite the midges!
25/05/17
Boats! The children’s homework was great. Well done for thinking about reusing junk materials and for taking the time to add all those finishing touches. Also well done to Alistair for making a working submarine. Here are a few pictures from the day. The children have all written evaluations of their work for their profiles. If you want to come in to school to have a look you are very welcome.
23/05/17
FANTASTIC NEWS.
Today we heard that we have successfully achieved our 5th Green Flag from Eco-schools Scotland. An amazing achievement and testimony to the hard work put in by staff, parents and pupils over the last two years. We look forward to receiving our Green Flag and flying it proudly on our flag pole.
Thank you very much to Mr Taylor who co-ordinated our efforts, submitted our application, and has taken the lead on eco-schools this year. YOU ARE A STAR!
12/05/17
Rhubarb Crumble – yum! Thank you to Lottie for finding the ingredients in the shop for us and for working out how much it would cost. Everyone joined in reading the recipe and making the crumble, and it was yum! Hope you enjoyed the rhubarb the children brought home. Can’t wait to taste the rest of the produce in the school garden.
11/05/17
Cross Country Success. Well done everyone for competing so well at the cross country at Flowerdale today. Everyone ran their socks off! So proud of the effort that was put in. Special Congratulations to Lola for coming 3rd, Lottie for coming 8th, Charlotte for coming 10th and to Alistair for coming 10th also. Special mention to Ali and Ella for such effort and great race places and for digging in and managing the leap from the 1 mile course to the 2 mile course.
09/05/17
Our sea-shore exploration today was super. The sun was shining when we met Jenny on the shoreline in Gairloch. We learnt all about inter-tidal life and about why it is difficult for life to thrive in this ever changing habitat. During our seashore scavenge we found all kinds of life, including different seaweeds, crabs, shrimps, butter-fish, barnacles, limpets, periwinkles, sea anemones, razor clams to mention just a few. We learnt that there is more life closer to the tide line, and enjoyed our story on the beach. Thanks again to Jenny, Highland Countryside Ranger, for an excellent learning opportunity.
08/05/17
Rugby training in school today – we all got stuck in!
Thank you to Hazel and Angie for coming along to help out in the school grounds this morning. The school grounds are looking much tidier now. Our rhubarb is coming on a treat. I feel a rhubarb crumble coming along on Fruity Friday!
05/05/17
FRACTIONS! The children are now well on their way with their work on fractions. They have all completed their beginning of unit assessments and are busy developing their knowledge and understanding. With this fantastic weather it was nice to take some of this learning into the outdoors.
03/05/17
We could all get used to this beautiful weather I think – the children have their play den out in the playground and we are back to watering the flowers again. 🙂 It is good to see that some of the children have sun cream and sunhats with them in school.
GARDENING ON MONDAY 
At the last parent council meeting a garden tidy up was organised for Monday 8th May. Please come along if you are able to help with clipping hedges and general tidying up / gardening. The children will be involved in the tidy up from 9am-10am. Hopefully the weather will be as nice as it is today, but please come dressed ready for gardening. Thank you to the parent council for organising this annual activity on behalf of the school.
25/04/17
We had great fun in the gardens today, working alongside the artist in residence, Lynn Bennett-MacKenzie. Visitors were wowed by our artwork which could be found all the way round the gardens. It became a real talking point.
24/04/17
It is nice to see the children back today – and nice to see the summery weather!
REMINDER – we are going to an exposed site tomorrow. We will be walking for a mile across boggy land and digging outside. Please please please dress the children up for the weather tomorrow. No school uniform or homework bags necessary! Wellies, hats, scarves, waterproofs, fleeces – anything you’ve got! We have organised to have a warm lunch at the cafe.
Thank you – thank you very much to Scottish Water for the donations of water bottles, rulers, pencils and rubbers for the children in school. Much appreciated 🙂
Homework sheets for the months of April and May. These will come home in the children’s bags on Monday, but in case you need an extra copy they can be found here:
20/04/17
I hope you are all having a lovely Easter holiday. We are all looking forward to seeing you back at school on Monday. Enjoy your weekend 🙂
31/03/17
Today we learnt all about life in a castle on our school trip to Urquhart Castle. The weather stayed fine and we all had a great time. Here are a few pictures to show you some of the things we got up to.
30/03/17
Well we needed those wellies for today’s spring welly walk. Thanks Jenny for taking us around Beinn Eighe. We spotted loads of signs of spring. We think we will make this a seasonal outing.
27/03/17
Thank you Mrs Newman for the cycle training in school today. And the sunshine was out. Brilliant.
25/03/17
Well done to all of you who are cycling and scooting to school. Your amazing efforts, despite the huge distances you have to travel, mean we are currently in 5th place overall. A magnificent effort – keep it up and remember your bikes for the cycling workshops on Monday afternoon 🙂
Kinlochewe Primary School at Kinlochewe Primary School — 5-day challenge
| Position | School | Daily Score |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Rodmell Church of England Primary School | 96.25% |
| 4 | Abernyte Primary School | 75.00% |
| 5 | Kinlochewe Primary School | 71.43% |
| 6 | Logiealmond Primary School | 48.22% |
| 7 | Ancrum Primary School | 47.50% |
24/03/17
RED NOSE DAY. Well done everyone for raising money for Comic Relief. We raised £10 today by having a non uniform day and selling red noses. The children showed off their talents in our afternoon talent show. Here are a few pics showing the events of the day.
21/03/17
Thank you very much to Jenny Grant, Highland Council Countryside Ranger, for working with us all today. We learnt about the importance of not dropping litter. We found out how long it takes for different types of litter to biodegrade and went on a village litter pick.
RAG BAG SUCCESS – thank you to everyone in the community who helped us to collect old clothes. Our Eco-Warriors have been out dropping off and collecting rag bags. We have so far collected 16 rag bags, beating our target of 10. This is part of our eco-school work on reusing and recycling goods, helping other people, and looking after our environment. We will also receive a little bit of money for our efforts, which will be spent by the children on improving our school grounds.
P.S. The girls really appreciated their Freddos. Big grins all round! Thank you – you know who you are!
Thanks to Mr Taylor, who is leading our eco-schools efforts, for helping to supervise the litter pick and for helping our eco-warriors with their rag bag collection. We really do appreciate the extra effort our PSA’s go to – often outside of their working hours – to take on leadership roles within our school. You are stars.
THANK YOU MR TAYLOR
Are you ready for the Big Pedal on Monday? We are!
17/03/17
Today we talked about our trip to Ross County. Here are some of our thoughts.
“I enjoyed going to Ross-County Football Club. I learned more than I expected. It was good going with Shieldaig because there were more people to play football with and it was good to meet up with other people there.” Ally M P6
“I had a great time at the Ross County Football Stadium. We had great teachers and amazing places to train, plus the tour – it was probably the best trip I have ever been on. Thank you everyone who taught us. I hope we see you again soon. Thank you.” Ali P4
“I enjoyed Ross county and got to meet people. My favourite bit was having a tour around the stadium”. Charlotte P3
“I really liked the tunnel.” Kenneth P1
“I saved a goal!” Lottie P1
” I had a great time at Ross- County Football Training. I took the ball 0ff Fraser. It was shocking!!! Lola P3
16/03/17
Thank you very much Ross County Football Club, and Amy – you were an amazing coach for the day. We got top notch treatment today as we were treated like VIPs. We all perfected our football skills and the tour of the stadium was ace! A great day out with our friends from Shieldaig. Today proved that PE is great fun!
15/03/17
Kurling was great fun today and it is nice to see that the children are growing in confidence as they meet up more regularly with their friends from other schools. Tomorrow – Ross County Football Trip. Children to come to school in their warm PE kits again please. We leave promptly at 9am and should be back at school by 3pm, but please give Fiona a call in the school office after 2pm if you would like a more up to date time of arrival back.
14/03/17 
Today, Lola and Charlotte, our ‘Eco-Warriors’, braved the gale force winds to deliver Rag Bags to the local community. Well done girls. You are made of strong stuff! We will all walk through the village to pick them up, hopefully full of rags, next Tuesday. We will also work with Jenny, our countryside ranger, to carry out a community litter pick.
Thank you to those people who came out of the warmth of their houses to talk to Lola and Charlotte about their work. I am always so proud to hear that so many people think our pupils are polite and well behaved.
Here is a link for more info about the Rag Bag scheme.
Thanks to Mr Taylor, who is in charge of co-ordinating our eco-school work. You are doing a brilliant job of collecting evidence of all of our good work for our 5th Green Flag application.
The children learnt about healthy snacks today with Ailsa Gordon, Oral Hygienist. Thanks Ailsa and Bungee the Kangaroo for helping to keep us healthy 🙂
11/03/17
PLEASE HELP! PLAYGROUND ACTIVITY RESOURCE REQUEST! Can anyone help? We are looking for sticks, twigs and brushwood in large quantities! We would like the children to be able to build dens in the school playground at playtime, but we need natural den making material. If you know anyone who can help, please do let them know! Sticks etc can be left in the school grounds at any time. We will know what it is for! Thank you in advance.
Interested in outdoor play and learning? Here is the Council’s Outdoor Learning Strategy.
11/03/17
We, as a school, have been looking into school attendance and have been revisiting our school attendance policy. Here is a useful link for parents from Education Scotland about school attendance. Please help us to ensure that your child is ready to learn by ensuring that your child has good attendance and is punctual at the start of the school day. Please phone the school before the start of the school day if your child is unwell or off for any other reason. We also ask that you send a written note / email to the school regarding your child’s absence upon their return to school. Thank you for your help with this. Attendance at school and punctuality are very important.
08/03/17
SCHOOL UNIFORM SALE NOW ON! Further details to follow in next week’s Weekly News. All stock in school must go. We are selling the stock we currently have in school at a reduced price. 25% off. If you need school uniform now is the time to buy! Contact Fiona for further information.
02/03/17
WORLD BOOK DAY SUCCESS……..today was great. Thank you to everyone who helped to make it possible and well done to Ally MacDonald and Jo who won the Extreme Reading Competitions. The entries were great and are displayed in the library where they will help to remind us that reading can take you anywhere!
01/03/17
WORLD BOOK DAY TOMORROW. Remember to come in your pyjamas, bring your teddy and send in your photos for the extreme reading competition. The classroom is ready for a fun day of activities. Get ready for a book challenge full of quizzes, bookmark making, reading, a book fair, and see who can find Wally in our school ‘Where’s Wally Competition’. There will be tea and coffee at 2pm. Everyone is welcome.
The library is now re-vamped, re-organised and looking lovely. Thank you Jo for all your hard work in organising the books, and sticking on all of those labels! The library is now a really nice place to relax and read. Do come along tomorrow and have a little look.
Toddler group success!
It was great to see the Nursery so full of life today. Toddler group has been a huge success since it was started before Christmas. Today, we welcomed Louise from CALA for a messy play session. Next week – book bug. If you have a child below school age and you are interested in coming along to our toddler group sessions, please let the school know and we will put you in touch with someone who can help. The more the merrier.
28/02/17
WOW! We are all so proud of the children at Kinlochewe Primary School. They really did throw themselves in to the ASG football competition today. All of our P1-6 children participated and proved to everyone that they have determination and enthusiasm by the bucket load! Well done!
24/02/17
Apple juice ice lollies and fresh apples for snack today. This got a great big thumbs up from everyone. Thank you Fruity Friday leaders.
23/02/17
Multiplication! We have all been busy in maths. Whilst our younger children have been learning to skip count and to multiply by 2, 5 and 10, our older children have been learning how to apply their knowledge and multiply by 4, by 8, by 16, and 32 just by doubling. No pen and paper in sight! Great mental maths.
21/02/17
World Book Day is not far away now. On 2nd March the children are being invited to come to school in their cosy PJs for the day. They can bring a teddy and their favourite book. There will be lots of book related activities in school, and a book fair in the afternoon, so please bring along a few pennies. This year we are holding an Extreme Reading Competition. See the poster here for further info. extreme-reading
Please do come in to school and invite people from our local community to come along and enjoy the book fair and a cup of tea or coffee from 2pm. We hope to see you all there.
17/02/17
The children enjoyed their very first Fruity Friday. Thank you to Kenneth and Lottie for the delicious banana bread.
16/02/17
Lottie and Kenneth made banana bread today. We used a low fat, no sugar recipe and it smells delicious! We are all very much looking forward to Fruity Friday tomorrow.
This afternoon we started working towards this term’s technology challenge. We have split into teams and the children have chosen names for their groups. We have ‘The Champions’, ‘The Thundercastles’ and the ‘Technic Tasers’. This afternoon we were learning about forces, levers and fulcrums by catapulting mini marshmallows across the classroom. It is surprising how far a marshmallow can fly with the right amount of force! I think we will be finding marshmallows for many weeks to come! It was great fun.
10/02/17
What an excellent day. It was great to see and to share the children’s topic homework this morning. The children have worked hard and it is interesting that ALL of the children chose to complete the practical problem solving task for their first activity. Here are a few pictures of their work which we will put on display in the classroom.
We also had our school trip today. The children learnt all about artefacts at Gairloch Museum and were able to look at the contents of a time capsule found at Torridon Church. It was really nice to see how confidently they all played with the children at Gairloch Primary School, many of them finding friends they met at the Christmas Party. We then went to look at the library, how it is organised, and borrowed books. A really good day.
07/02/17
Today the children in P4-6 analysed the results of the RSPB bird watch surveys and submitted the results on to the RSPB website. They then used an online graphing tool to create bar charts of our results to share with the rest of the school. Great work!
03/12/17
The children were making castles in Art today. The younger pupils used chalks, sponges and metallic paint to print castle pictures whilst the older children used mini bricks and cement to build a model castle. The model will take a little bit more building and we look forward to being able to put the work on display.
02/02/17
Today we used countdown on the computer to help us to think about our spelling. We also used the plastercine to spell the more tricky words on our spelling lists. We’ll see if it worked tomorrow – tests tomorrow!
31/01/17
Been busy updating the website over the past few days. Check out the new homepage for links to useful websites, games and activities to help develop the children’s learning. We have also added pictures from the RSPB Big School Birdwatch.
31/01/17
What a busy day it was in school today. Today we mapped out a safe course to run for our daily mile and the children counted how many laps of the course they could complete in 10 mins. Our older boys have both entered the Ross-shire Cross Country event in Alness later in the term, so we now consider ourselves in training! The children dug in and did well today. Great effort everyone.
(For more information about The Daily Mile Initiative visit THE DAILY MILE WEBSITE. )
We started our work on multiplication in maths today and the children have all come home with maths targets to practise. .
We have also started to learn about stone castles. We talked a little about our school trip to the museum in Gairloch. The children all said they are looking forward to it, and for some, they are especially looking forward to playing with the children at Gairloch Primary School. A good few weeks to come.
Today we mixed sand and water to make cement and used stones to build our own stone castle, complete with drawbridge and portcullis. Well done.
27/01/17
The children managed some very impressive counter-balances in PE today.
In Art we stained paper with tea to make it look like the Bayeux Tapestry and used our observation skills to make accurate copies of selected parts of the tapestry. These will be on display in our classroom. Please come in and have a look.
26/01/17
What a lovely day to be out and about. Clear skies and beautiful sunshine. Today the children worked with Judith from the RSPB and Stuart from SNH. They had a little look around Beinn Eighe visitor centre, learnt a little about the nature reserve, and completed the final part of the RSPB Big School Birdwatch. Back in class we made bird feeders using cheerios, learnt about food chains and tested our knowledge of bird song. A great day. When we asked the children how many of them were interested in a future job involving conservation, the environment or animals, almost all of the children gave an answer. Watch out in the future …. Kinlochewe Primary has some budding marine biologists, SNH volunteers, farmers and animal conservation workers. It was a pleasure to hear the children talking about the skills they are developing in school which will help them in these roles in later life. Our experts were also able to give them some tips and hints. Today was a good day for ‘developing our young workforce’. Thank you to everyone involved.
24/01/17
Spelling words containing the sound ch with pebbles in the sand.
Our Primary 1 children have been learning all about position and direction in their maths work. They used computer games today to check their understanding of left and right. Success! They’ve got it! Well done.
19/01/17
The children have been learning all about coding in school. We have been using the bee-bot, learning how to control a ‘turtle’ on the computer, and have been learning to code using the BBC Hour of Code activities. Well done Ally and Ali who have both completed their Hour of Code.
19/01/17
A good day bird watching today. It was great to see how well the children were able to answer the questions posed by Jenny, the countryside ranger. We spotted 11 different species of bird today in our school grounds. We are submitting our results as part of the RSPB Big School Birdwatch. The children said they really enjoyed using the binoculars and working with Jenny. We look forward to working with her again later this term.
18/01/17
Our learning took us in to the sand today. We now know all about Motte and Bailey castles. Some of the ‘remains’ of our castles can still be found in the sandpit!
22/12/16
One more day to go! Nearly Christmas now. Looking forward to seeing many of you at the carol concert tomorrow. Please feel welcome to come in to school beforehand for tea and coffee and to help with the Christingles. We have put a few of the photos from Christmas up onto the website for you to see. More to come after the holidays.
21/12/16
Well done to all of the children on today’s fantastic performance. The play was great and showed the children to be confident and adaptable. It was lovely to see so many people out to support our young children. Thanks to everyone who helped tonight.
16/12/16
THANK YOU VERY MUCH LOUISE for our yummy Christmas Dinner. The food was delicious and there was plenty for seconds. Yum….
15/12/16 – WOW! The children’s costumes are amazing. We all so much enjoyed seeing them today. They are all folded back up and in their bags on the children’s pegs ready for dressed rehearsals. Here is a wee preview.
14/12/16 – We had a GREAT rehearsal for our Christmas Play today. Well done Ally and Daisy – you really kept us all together today. Amazing effort. We are all looking forward to seeing their costumes tomorrow. The photo shoot will take place tomorrow afternoon!
13/12/16 – Today we all helped to decorate our new Christmas Tree. Thank you very much for the donation of the tree SNH. It was so exciting to see it arrive in the truck this morning. The children decorated it and well done Daisy for reaching right to the very top to put up the star.
Thank you very much Hazel for coming in to work with the children to make Christmas Decorations for our Church Service on the 23rd December. We will put our wreath on the school door next week. The children are enjoying Gardening Club on a Monday after school. Last week they were busy collecting the foliage needed to make the decorations. Hazel has also helped them to make bird feeders, tidy the garden, and make a wormery. Thank you 🙂
The children worked hard to earn their sponsorship money as they met and worked alongside Commonwealth Gold Medalist Louise Renick. A fantastic total of £61 was raised for Sports Champions, with the rest of the money being donated to Children in Need. Thank you for your donations. Further photos will be added to the website soon.
VERY WELL DONE TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED TO RAISE THE AMAZING TOTAL OF £113.50 FOR CHILDREN IN NEED. AN AMAZING TOTAL. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR DONATIONS. Further photos will be added to the website soon.
9th September 2016
I hope the children all enjoyed today’s BLAS workshops as much as we did. A fun packed day full of story, circus skills, Gaelic and drama. The photos are great. We’ll make sure we put them on the website on Monday. I’m looking forward to seeing the children all dressed up as Roald Dahl characters on Tuesday. Have a nice weekend.
3rd September 2016
Thank you very much to everyone who helped to raise funds at the Cycle Race on Friday night and Saturday morning. It was first time at this event and it was lovely to meet so many people. Thank you to everyone who bought lucky squares to help our small school. We will let you know how much money was raised and who the lucky winner was shortly.
3rd September 2016
Just been and bought my copy of the Gairloch and District Times. Ally and Daisy’s newspaper article made the front page. Well done! We will put a copy of the paper on the eco-school noticeboard in case you have missed your copy. Do please come in and have a look.
29th August 2016
What a great start to the new school term. Hope you all got your weekly news today and that you are able to make it to the panto this year. The children really enjoyed the soup they made with the potatoes and the onions from the garden. Ali even managed seconds! The short newspaper article written by Ally and Daisy has been sent to the Gairloch and District Times, so we are hoping that it makes the next issue. Hope to see some of you on Friday, selling lucky squares at the cycle race. Mrs T 🙂
Kinlochewe Primary School 