The End is Nigh! Well, the summer holidays are almost upon us!
It has been another great year of learning and teaching and productive activity and development for the children at Hyndland Primary School. They have experienced an engaging curriculum in line with the aims, principles and the four capacities of Curriculum for Excellence – to be successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens.
Our pupil sports teams have been excelling (again!) in their respective sports. Our musicians and budding musicians have been infusing the school with pride in their performances with instrumentation and hymns and arias, as well as coming joint first at the Glasgow Music Festival. All of our children throughout the school have been acting, singing, running, scoring, playing, helping, supporting and learning their way through a busy, enjoyable and fruitful year.
The 4Rs building project is seeing the school evolve through a physical transformation, with roof and stone repairs, new (working!) windows, freshly painted and carpeted rooms and the steady reduction in the amount of scaffolding around the building. The colours are tasteful and bright and kudos to Ms Brown for standing firm with the local authority against the usual battleship grey that’s the standard for schools. Hopefully, by the time the children start back in mid-August, even more of the scaffolding will have disappeared, more of the rooms will have been completed and more space created in the P1 playground. There’s still a lot of work to go, but by the end of the process, we will (hopefully!) be in possession of a bright, light, smart, clean, warm/aired, watertight and windproof building!
Yet again, we must say adieu, this time to those who are fairly new…
We began the year with one new Depute Head Teacher (DHT) and finish the year with that same DHT taking the wonderful opportunity to take the reins as Head Teacher at another school. Thank you Mrs Reed for your contribution to the school and to our children’s education over the past year. Arrivederci – we wish you all the best in your new job.
Also, we would like to thank Miss Till for all of her work in her probation year at the school, and wish her the very best in her new permanent post.
That which is our loss, is another’s gain!
…and some not so new…
The Parent Council, too, will see the imminent departure of some stalwarts of involvement on the Parent Council. So, a massive thank you, good luck and bon voyage to Alison Mussett and Anne Wood. Also, Linda McCormick has stepped down from the Parent Council after seven years of service, but she has not yet left the school and has promised to continue to engage in fundraising and other activities. All three of these lovely ladies have provided excellent service to and support for the school and they will all be sadly missed. We will need more volunteers for the Parent Council, so please come along and get involved.
We also say adios amigos to the current P7 pupils, who will be passing through the school gates one last time on Friday 24 June. As ever with the P7s, we will be sad to see them depart, but depart they must for pastures new; well, high school anyway! We wish them well and every success in the rest of their schooling and their endeavours in life outside and beyond it.
We should also extend the goodbyes to their parents and carers, many of whose direct association with the school will end. Many friendships have been started, developed and blossomed over this period, and we’re sure that they will continue – along with the development of others – as they, too, leave the school along with their children.
…and some who are part of the fabric of the school
It is with a heavy heart that we are also having to say goodbye to Janny Joe. Joseph Cameron has been with Hyndland Primary School man and boy. He has given many years of great service to the school, as well as the full performance of both of his knees. Word has it that he could once dance like a feline and could move to the conga like an eel on a fishing hook. He says now, though, that the closest he could get to moving like a cat or in serpent-like fashion on the dancefloor is if you added “a pillar”, which he would simultaneously need to be holding! (Cue the dull crash of comedy cymbals!)
Joe doesn’t officially leave the school until just before the new term begins and Ms Brown has said that she would let parents know about arrangements for his farewell.
Ciao… for now…
We wish Ms Chambers all the very best during her maternity leave and the imminent arrival of her new baby. Have a great time with the little one and we all look forward to seeing you back at school next year.
We also look forward to the arrival of the new P1s (and their parents and carers), who the current crop will make way for by pushing the existing P2s up into P3 and so on and so forth.
Holding the fort…
We welcome Ms McLaughlin’s and Mrs Wynn’s elevation to the Acting posts of the Depute Head Teacher and Principal Teacher, respectively. We wish them both well and look forward to working with and supporting them in their roles as part of the Senior Leadership Team.
Welcome
We would like to extend a big hello and welcome to the parents and carers of the new P1 intake in August. Some of you will not be quite so new, however… We hope and are sure that your child or children will have a great experience at the school over the next seven years, meeting new people and making new friends, and we’ve no doubt that you will too!
Happy Holidays!
On behalf of all the parents and members on the Parent Council, we hope that you have a great summer break and we look forward to seeing you in August. Except of course for those parents whose youngest child is about to leave Hyndland Primary School – in which case, so long and best wishes!
John Lewis
Chair, Hyndland Primary School Parent Council