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MOUNT PLEASANT PRESS
Visit us at www.mountpleasant.highland.sch.uk

25 JANUARY 2005

SCHOOL CLOSURE
My apologies to all for any confusion or inconvenience caused by the initial closure, then late opening of the school yesterday. Within minutes of taking the decision to close we had full power reinstated and I felt I could not justify closing for the full day.

EMERGENCY CONTACT
Many parents have opted to give us only mobile numbers for their emergency contact. Over the last week some networks have not been functioning and we have experienced some difficulty in contacting parents., therefore could you please ensure that we have a land line telephone number for emergency purposes.

HANDBOOK
The 2005/6 Handbook is now available from the office. If any parent would like a copy, please arrange this with Hilary at the office.

BLUE PETER APPEAL
We are participating in the Blue Peter Appeal which involves us collecting clean clothes, in good condition (NO SHOES). Hilary will be collecting these items at the school office each morning.

BIG HEART DAY – 9 FEBRUARY
You will have probably read in the local press or heard on Moray Firth Radio of Highland Council’s Big Heart Day. The aim of the day is for every child in Highland to raise at least £1 towards the Tsunami appeal. Schools have been provided with several suggestions as to how they might raise this money. We have decided to have a mini fun fayre for the children in the main hall on the afternoon of Wednesday, 9 February. Primary 7 pupils will man a number of free stalls in the main hall eg tombola, face painting, hoop-la, beat the goalie, etc. All children will be able to participate in return for a single coin donation. This coin can be of any value and will placed by your child to form a coin heart on the school stage.

20 MPH SPEED LIMIT
We are delighted to inform you that we now have a 20mph speed limit in Castletown Road at the front of the school. This limit will only be in place at relevant times of the day, when children are coming to and leaving the school, for the rest of the time the normal speed limit will apply.

ENTERPRISE
Well done to our three classes who recently participated in fundraising enterprise projects.

  • P6 – raised £100 which has been split between the SSPCA Centre at Balmore and the Tsunami disaster appeal. (£50 will start off the Big Heart Day fundraiser).

  • P7 – raised £117.76 with their Christmas post enterprise. This will be donated to the local branch of the Macmillan Nurses.

  • P4 – raised £80 which will be included in the fundraising total for our Big Heart Day.

CAITHNESS MUSIC FESTIVAL
I realise that the Music Festival is not until June but we have to start preparations at this time of year. Children will be read the poem in class and any indicating an interest will be given a copy. This does NOT mean they will be entering the festival. Only 3 boys and 3 girls from each class will be entered. As usual the school will pay for group entries but parents are expected to pay for individual items, duets, etc. Any parents who are interested in helping with supervising the children should contact the school office. Further details will issued in due course.

Parents can of course enter children outwith the school entries if they so wish but will be responsible for transporting and supervising their own children. This would be an authorised absence from school.

ENROLMENT
An advert will be appearing in the local press soon informing parents that the enrolment date for children entering Primary 1 in August 2005 will be week commencing Monday, 31st January.

The advert states that:

  •  All children who reach the age of 5 on or before 16 August 2005 should enrol in January to begin primary school in August 2005.

  • Children who will reach age 5 after 16 August but on or before 28 February 2006 may also be enrolled at that time and commence in August 2005. Parents of these children may choose not to enrol their child until August 2006.

Please pass this information on to anyone you know with children due to enrol for this coming session.

No date has been set for parents enrolling for Nursery classes.

PTA NEWS
Copies of PTA minutes are available on the website and also on the notice board outside the office. The next meeting will be held on Friday, 28 January.

SCHOOL BOARD
Copies of School Board minutes are available on the website and also on the notice board outside the office. The next meeting will be held on Monday, 7 February.

SCHOOL MEAL CHANGES – AGAIN!!
In order to comply with the requirements of the Scottish Executive document “Hungry for Success” the Catering Services have made a few changes to the lunch menu.

From Monday, 31 January we will no longer have Grab and Go bags. In their place there will be an added option to the main meal menu. Hilary has updated the current menu for your reference. Please keep this in a safe place as this menu works on a 4 weekly cycle. Lost copies will be replaced at a cost of 5p.

Along with the main menu items the following will be available to all children having a school lunch every day:

  • A choice of milk, fresh fruit juice or water.

  •  Fresh fruit or yoghurt as an alternative to pudding.

  • A choice of salad and cooked veg.

  • A variety of breads (over the week).

Please ensure your child(ren) will eat something from the menu before sending them for a lunch as there will no longer be a sandwich option available.

If parents have any questions/comments I will be happy to pass them on to Catering Services.

RECYCLING
For the month of January we will collect old mobile phones and pass them on to CHAS. This is the children’s charity we support by collecting ink cartridges throughout the year. Please note the SIM cards must be removed before you send them into school. These can be delivered to the office by pupils in the mornings. We will also be collecting old Christmas cards for recycling.

COLLECTION ITEMS
PLEASE NOTE AS BOTH SOMERFIELD AND COOP NOW PROVIDE FACILITIES FOR COLLECTING WASTE PAPER FOR RECYCLING WE WILL NO LONGER BE COLLECTING THESE.

We continue to collect:

  • Empty ink cartridges.

  • Stamps

  • Persil Stars

  • Nestle Box Tops

  • Aluminium Cans

HOLIDAY/IN-SERVICE DATES
School Closes (at the end of the school day on) School Opens (9.00 am on)
Wednesday, 9 February 2005 Tuesday, 15 February, 2005
Thursday, 24 March 2005 Monday, 11 April 2005
Friday, 29 April 2005 Tuesday, 3 May 2005
Friday, 1 July 2005 (12.00) Tuesday, 16 August 2005

Friday, 7 October 2005 Monday, 24 October 2005
Friday, 4 November 2005 Wednesday, 9 November 2005
Thursday, 22 December 2005 Monday, 9 January 2006
Wednesday, 8 February 2006 Tuesday, 14 February 2006
Friday, 31 March 2006 Wednesday, 19 April 2006
Friday, 30 June 2006

DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Have a heart –

donate as much as you can for the

Tsunami Disaster Appeal