Many thanks

We hope you all had a lovely Christmas.

Thank you all for many kind gifts, cards and good wishes in the lead up to Christmas.

We hope that better weather will have returned by the start of the new term and that everyone has recovered from the winter colds and flus. I'm sure many children will have received new and expensive phones and electronic equipment for Christmas. Could I remind you that while we do not ban these items from school, children bring them at their own risk and it is their responsibility to ensure the safety of their own possessions. Please use discretion in what you allow children to bring to school, especially younger children.

Best wishes,

Alison Speirs

New arrival!

Congratulations to Alison and Owen Atkinson whose first child was born on 26th December.

She is called Ellie Hope Atkinson and both Ellie and parents are well and safely home from hospital.

Weather Warning

Due to the severe weather warning, the school bus will not run on Wednesday 23rd and Thursday 24th December. The school will be open from 9-3pm on Wednesday and 9-12pm on Thursday for parents who are able to get pupils to and from school safely.

We will decide about the S2-5 Glasgow shopping trip at 9am tomorrow taking into account numbers of pupils at school and travel conditions.

Stars of the Show!

Pupils and staff voted to decide on the stars of the show for this years Nativity production:

Best supporting role... Rebecca Carey!

Best supporting role... Alexander Easdale!

Best supporting Actress... Chloe Neilson!

Best supporting Actor... Declan Bryce!

Star of the Show... Stuart Smith!

Pupil of the Term

Today we had a whole school assembly in the lunch hall to present the awards for pupil of the term.

In S1 - Nicol

In S2 - Robbie

In S3 - Ailie

In S4/5 - Robyn

Well done to all!

Fitness Challenge 2009

Today 20 children from S2-4 opted to take part in this years fitness challenge at the Waterfront gym. The children were started in pairs and accompanied by an adult on a fairly gruelling fitness circuit. They have been training for today over the past term and performed very well on the day. We were delighted by how hard they worked, their times and by the number who were very keen to participate in what was an optional activity.The course was as follows:

1km run on the treadmill
1km cycle
500m row
50 box steps with weights
30 lateral pull-downs with a 20kg weight.

The children were observed by a teacher or gym staff member all the way round and timed.

Kyle won a months free membership of the gym for gaining the fastest time by any boy. Beth won the same for the girls and Alexander won a gym bag and water bottle as he came second with a time which was just a fraction slower than Kyle.

All participants will also receive a brick for their house.

Well done to all!

Mr J :)

The Christmas Story

Last night was the first night of our Christmas play for 2009. It was a great evening and very much enjoyed by the 200+ audience that came to watch. The children were all super actors and actresses and played their parts so well. We are very proud of their performance and I'm sure all the parents are too!
Tonight is the final night and we look forward to another great performance.


Mr J :)

Holidays

Please remember that the school closes on Thursday 24th December 2009 at 12.00pm and reopens on Monday 11th January 2010 at 9.00am.

Christmas Week Uniform

Children in the primary department can wear trip uniform on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week and their own clothes on Thursday. Children in the secondary department can wear trip uniform on Monday and Tuesday and their own clothes on Wednesday and Thursday.

Broader Curriculum-Next term we're ski-ing!

Important announcement! Next term, all S1 and S2 pupils will travel to Bellahouston Ski centre for a 5 week block of ski-ing lessons. This will take place during the Broader Curriculum time on Wednesday afternoons. The slope is OUTDOOR, so please make sure your child comes appropriately dressed- the instructors operate in ALL weather!

ALL S1 AND S2 PUPILS MUST WEAR GLOVES FOR THE SKI-ING. These do NOT need to be special ski-wear, but must be reasonably thick.


This will an exciting first for the BC participants- we're looking forward to seeing the photos!!!

Lunch Seating - Primary

In our school from tomorrow until the Christmas holidays, we are trying a new form of seating in our lunch hall. We are replacing class tables with social/vertical/family groupings which are mixed across all primary stages.

This is very popular with some children and not with others. We are trying this as research suggests that it aids healthy eating choices (see BBC website) and also encourages good behaviour.

We will evaluate this experiment in January.

Mrs Speirs

Cedars School singing in Largs!

Last night, the school's Senior Choir and some children from the Primary School sang at Brisbane Evangelical Church. The choir performed five pieces, all very different. The whole group sang brilliantly and were an asset to the school. The church congregation and friends were joined by lots of our own parents- thank you to everyone who supported us!

Here's a snippet from the last piece the choir sang:









Well done everyone!

Personal Laptops

We are having an inservice in January to discuss, among other things, the question of children bringing their own laptops to school. We would like to hear any thoughts from parents. Contributions welcome by email, letter or comment on the blog.

Absence 1.12.09

Today Cedars School recorded the following absences:

P1 - 1

P2/3 - 3

P4/5 - 6

P6/7 - 1

S1 - 1

S2 - 1

S3-S5 - 0

Health Update

We still have a lot of children off sick. Today there are 6 pupils absent in Primary and the same in Secondary.

We will keep you up to date with these matters.

Welcome Back Mrs C!

Pupils and staff were all delighted today to welcome back Mrs Creighton. She has been on Maternity leave, looking after baby Anna. Mrs Creighton will work with Dr Rankin in the English Department on Mondays and Tuesdays. It's good to have her back!

Heath Update

Today, Monday 23rd November, we had 10 pupils absent in Secondary and 6 absent in Primary. We will keep you updated as the week goes on.

Dates to remember!

Just to give advance warning of some important dates that are coming up:

School Photographer: Mon 16th Nov. Opportunity for individual and family photos.

P7 - S2 report cards issued: Mon 23rd Nov

P1 - S2 Parents’ evening: Wed 25th Nov

S3 - S5 report cards issued: Mon 30th

Nov S3 - S5 Parents’ evening: Wed 2nd Dec

Christmas play dress rehearsal: Wed 16th Dec

Christmas play: Thurs 17th Dec

Christmas play: Fri 18th Dec

Illness

There are 2 children absent in the primary department and 7 children in the secondary. There are no teacher absences today.

School Photographs

On Monday 16th November, Tempest Photography will be in school to take individual portraits of all pupils.

Please ensure you wear formal uniform.

Thanks.

Illness

Today there were 9 pupils off in the secondary department and 8 pupils off in the primary. There were no teacher absences. Most of these children were absent due to sickness related illnesses rather than flu symptoms.

Cry Freedom!

S3 have begun their third and final unit of work for Intermediate  Modern Studies. The unit is called 'South Africa: A Developing Nation,' and we have started by comparing life for blacks and whites under the apartheid regime. We have been watching 'Cry Freedom,' the film which details the efforts made by Steve Biko, and Donald Woods, to end the regime. the class have all been moved by the suffering and atrocities shown in the film, and shocked at how deeply entrenched racism was in society. The class are now writing essays discussing the differences in standard of living between the blacks and whites. 

The rest of the unit will be an investigation into how much has changed since apartheid was abolished in 1994. We have contacts in South Africa who the pupils can email, who offer a startling insight into the country, 15 years on.

Boy Power!

This week in Primary all our pupils of the week were boys! We had Nicholas in P1, David in P2/3, Benjamin in P4/5 and Finlay in P6/7. Maybe next week it will be all girls!

swine flu letter

Dear Parents

Recently a few of our teachers and children have been unwell with flu like symptoms. We are uncertain if this is swine flu as it is not the policy of health professionals to routinely swab patients. However the illness has been very unpleasant.

In school we are putting into place what measures we can to minimise the transfer of infections. The measures are those recommended by government agencies.

We will encourage hand washing.
We will provide anti bacterial gel.
We will teach and encourage the safe use of tissues.
We will inform parents of the situation.
We will ensure that children do not miss significant work due to absence.

I would ask you to co-operate with this by trying to minimise the spread of infection by taking the following steps.

Send your child to school with tissues.
Give your child their own personal hand gel.
If you suspect your child is unwell, especially if they have a temperature or are sick, please keep your child at home.
If your child develops flu like symptoms keep them at home for at least 5 days.

We hope that these measures will keep illness to a minimum. We will not close the school as the infection is rife in the community and it is not the recommended procedure.

We will keep you updated daily in the “Home” section of the “Blog” on our school website at www.cedars.inverclyde.sch.uk and I encourage you to check this daily.

I hope these preventative measures will keep children and staff healthy throughout the winter.

Yours sincerely





Alison J B Speirs
Head Teacher

This Saturday...

We will be holding a craft fair in the school on Saturday 7th November.

Stalls will include paintings & photographs, jewellery, cards, crafts, decorations, portrait and family photographs, home made sweets and jams, and teas/coffees and baking.

All welcome!

Christmas production rehearsals...

Primary pupils went down to the church on Friday afternoon to begin practising for the school nativity play. Primary 1 - 3 girls made an excellent start on their angel dance and were all very enthusiastic.

The play will be on Thursday 17th and Friday 18th December in Struthers Memorial Church, West Stewart Street.

End of term!

Today we held a whole school assembly down at the Church on West Stewart Street. We announced pupils of the term for each class and the heads of each house for primary and secondary. We also announced the new head boy and head girl for 2009 - 2010.

In the lower secondary the pupil of the term was Lauren Buntrock in S2 and for the senior secondary it was Deborah Mole in S4. Both have had a super term and have made great progress in all areas.

All pupils in each house voted to decide on the heads their houses - 2 from secondary and 1 from primary. These are as follows:

Ardgowan = Chloe Neilson, Reece Watson and Matthew Wallace
Lyle = Lauren Buntrock, Scott Hallam and Finlay brown

Rankin = Beth Miller, Iain Parker and Olivia Cameron

After a closely fought contest the head girl for 2009-2010 is Rebecca Collins and the head boy is Daniel Henderson. Congratulations to both!

Fishing Day

So today we came to the final day of a very succesful block of fishing lessons as part of the S1/2 Broader Curriculum afternoons. The children and some parents gathered at Ardgowan Fisheries for a whole day of fishing. The weather stayed pleasant and some whopping fish were caught!
It was the end of another fishing block which was greatly enjoyed by all who took part. Many thanks to all at Ardgowan Fishery from all of us!

Ardgowan!

Here is Ardgowan's house display - a very colourful reminder of the 60s!!

Rankin

Rankin has gone for a space theme for the house display. This is in keeping with the 1st moon landing which ties in with our studies on the '6o's'. Can you recognise anyone?

Choir

Over this term we have been working with an expanded choir. Children from P4-S5 have elected to join the choir. This term we have been looking at 'The 60's' in social subjects and so have prepared three songs connected with this topic. Today we have a performance day where we video the choir performing all three songs. I have posted one of them here. Listen for some three part harmony and beginnings of some work on dynamics. Let Cedars School Choir take you back to your youth ;)

Mr J :)

School Election Anouncement

Next Tuesday, we will hold our School Elections.

During House Assemblies, pupils will elect a Senior Boy and Senior Girl House Captain from S2, S3, S4 or S5. They will also elect one Junior House Captain from P5, 6 or 7.

During the morning, pupils will elect the new Head Boy and Head Girl, from pupils in S3-S5. Any pupils in S3, 4 and 5 who wish to enter the election must write to Mrs Speirs explaining why they would be an excellent choice! This letter must be in by FRIDAY this week at the latest.

We will announce the results at Assembly on Wednesday!

Netball night coming soon...

S2-5 girls have been working exceptionlly hard in PE on Friday's to get ready for the netball tournament coming up next week. They have been working on skills they identified as being their weakest areas, and have improved dramatically... the pictures tell their own tale!

Royal Scottish National Orchestra visit...

On Tuesday, S3,4, and 5 visited the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow to listen to the RSNO's annual school's concert. We heard music from composers including Holst, Debussey, Mozart, Brahms, Tchaikovsky... quite a cultured hour for the upper secondary school, who enjoyed their morning away from lessons!