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Weekly

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24th

January

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This morning I wrote to parents through SchoolPost about our forthcoming ‘Supporting Your Child’s Emotional Resilience’ workshop, which will be led by Emma Cameron, Services Development Manager at relationship charity, The Spark, on Thursday 26th March from 6:00 to 8:00pm. ‘Resilience’ is the ability to bounce back from adverse situations, and we all want our children and young people to live happy, healthy lives and to be able to deal with some of the challenges they face now and in the future. Throughout school we have strategies in place to help children to understand and build their own resilience and we know that many parents are keen to support the work of their children’s teachers in this regard. In the workshop Emma will give us the opportunity to look at our own resilience, how we cope and what strategies we apply and how this is relevant to our children. We will also think about the emotional spectrum and what is ‘normal’ while exploring how we talk and listen to our children. There are 40 places available for this event and these will be allocated on a first come first served basis; if necessary a waiting list will be operated. Please do reserve your place using the SchoolPost form if you would like to attend. In the meantime, if you would like to read more about children and resilience, do have a look at this article https://attain.education/magazine/opinion/parenting-for-resilience and Matthew Johnstone’s The Little Book of Resilience pictured below and available in both kindle and paperback version. Johnstone’s work was recommended to me by a GP friend and I have found a number of his very attractively presented books useful both personally and professionally. Looking ahead to the weekend, on Saturday we shall welcome our Former Pupil Club back to St Margaret’s for their AGM while our hockey teams compete against Albyn. Good luck girls! I hope that everyone also finds some time to rest and draw breath before another busy week at work and school.

From the Head

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Please do pass on information about this event to interested friends and neighbours.

1 Junior Taster Morning

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PTA News

The school is 173 years old this school year and tickets are now on

sale for the 173 Club!

The 173 Club is a fundraising initiative for the PTA. Parents and

friends of the school can purchase one or more tickets for £12.00

each which are entered into a monthly prize draw. There will be a

first prize of £50, and a second prize of £25. The draws will take

place on the last day of each month, starting from February

2020. With a ticket just £12.00 for the year for just a pound a

month you get 12 monthly chances at both prizes!

You can obtain a ticket in a number of ways:

1. You can pay £12.00 direct to the St. Margaret’s Parents

Association bank account 00292156, sort code 80-05-14,

giving your name as a reference. Please also contact the

treasurer by email at Henry@kingcausie.co.uk, giving your

contact details and you will subsequently be allocated a lucky

number, ready for the first draw;

2. You can pay by cash or cheque, leaving an envelope in the PTA

mail box at reception together with your full name and the

treasurer will respond, advising your allocated number;

3. You can buy tickets from the school reception.

If you don’t get organised for this great opportunity to support

the school promoted by the PTA by the end of February you can

still buy a ticket but you will have missed out on a prize draw so

buy your tickets now!

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PTA News - Spring Afternoon Tea

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Blair in 3 Junior loves her hair and was determined never to cut it, just like Rapunzel! However, this all changed, when Blair discovered that she could cut her hair and donate it to help make wigs for children who have lost their hair to cancer or another medical condition. Blair’s determination has turned from keeping her hair to donating it for any donation you can make in support of the Little Princess Trust. Blair will be donating at least 17cm of her hair! The cost of making and fitting a wig for a child is £550, and Blair would love to raise enough money to help cover these costs. To donate to Blair’s effort please visit: https://www.justgiving.com/blairhaircut?utm_source=Sharethis&utm_medium=fundraisingpage&utm_content=blairhaircut&utm_campaign=pfp-email&utm_term=Vnbj6KnDp

For those of you who are not familiar with the Little Princess Trust they provide, manufacture and fit for free, real hair wigs to children, as well as funding research into childhood cancer. Visit www.littleprincess.org.uk to find out more. They receive no formal funding, so please consider donating and supporting Blair in fundraising for them, so that the Trust can help more families. Since Blair decided that she wished to donate her hair, she has been growing it since last year, even refusing to have it trimmed! She was so excited during the whole process and loves her new hairstyle. As well as her fundraising effort, Blair has also been asking lots of questions about The Princess Trust to see how people can help. She set her target at £275 and has so far raised a very impressive £340! Blair has shown us a wonderful example of charitable giving, thoughtfulness and kindness to others. Ms K. Schmitz

Charitable Giving - The Little Princess Trust

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Charitable Giving - The Little Princess Trust (continued)

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Following on from our Union Street trail last week, 4 Junior were very fortunate to have a session at the Central Library in Aberdeen with two local studies librarians. We looked through various sources of information, such as maps, Goad plans, photographs, postcards, advertisements, books and newspaper cuttings. Although some of the questions we had to answer were quite tricky, the girls worked extremely well in their groups to delegate tasks and were fantastic historians. We now have a much deeper understanding of what Union Street was like and how much it has changed over time. Miss K. Maddison

4 Junior - Union Street Past and Present Library Visit

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4 Junior - Union Street Past and Present (continued)

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Creating the Solar System The girls in 6 Junior have been working on a 3D display recreating our solar system. Each group was tasked with creating an image of the planet, moon, or sun and then writing up a fact sheet using research from various sources. There has been such a lot of enthusiasm for the subject which has also resulted in some exciting written work. The girls will be making a visit to the Science Centre later in the term to learn about current day space exploration Imagined Worlds On Monday 6 Junior joined II Senior for a literacy lesson. The girls in II Senior have been writing descriptive pieces about ‘imagined worlds’. As 6 Junior have had a similar creative piece to write, it was wonderful to see the senior girls share their knowledge about the writing process with the juniors. Thank you to Mrs Cooper-Weber and all the girls in II Senior who spoke about their work with us; the 6 Junior girls enjoyed the experience and their visit to the senior English classroom. Mrs G. Wyatt

6 Junior - Creating the Solar System/Imagined Worlds

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Children have been busy doing craft activities the past couple of weeks. The nursery and 1 Junior children have been making Scottish flags using blue paper and scrunching up white tissue paper for the cross. Meanwhile, the older girls have been taking part in water colour painting, Hama beads and creating their own items using junk. On Monday, some of the 2 and 3 Junior girls decided to build a bench using Jenga blocks and then tested how many dolls could sit on it before it broke. They discovered that making the bench stronger allowed more babies to sit down. However, one baby was so big that she had to lie down on her back by herself, but thankfully the bench was strong enough! The girls carried on with a similar activity on Wednesday, but this time making a chair out of other construction bricks. Another favourite activity is to play with the light batons once it gets dark outside, although I think we will all be glad to see the lighter nights and better weather so we can play outside more. Places are booking fast, so please return your booking form as early as possible to avoid disappointment. There is only one space left on Monday 13th April and three spaces left for Tuesday 14th, two spaces for Wednesday 15th, four spaces for Thursday 16th and ten spaces for Friday 17th. The children have already begun suggesting activities and trips they would like to do at the club. Miss S. Thomson

After School Care News

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On Friday 17

th January we welcomed two musicians from the Royal Scottish National

Orchestra to our school to give a workshop to all girls in 3 to 5 Junior. The cellist showed us how the sound of a stretched rubber band can become the sound of a cello (well, almost), and how blowing into a tube (or hosepipe for that matter!) can get the sound and instrument of a trumpet (well, eventually). The girls were shown how vibration is the key for sound production: they could feel the floor vibrating when a cello string was played, and how the bigger instrument bodies amplify the sound and how vibrating lips and different levels of pressure produce sounds on the trumpet. The girls were all very enthusiastic and engaged in all that was on offer and the two professional musicians were amazed at the girls’ knowledge about musical instruments and how many of them are playing one or even two instruments in some cases! Ms Dressel and Mrs Gibb were volunteered with big cheers from their classes to try and play the trumpet, to the enjoyment of all! The 4 Junior girls developed a pirate dance and performed this to the tune of “Pirates of the Caribbean”, accompanied by solo cello. Next it was 5 Junior’s turn. They were taught how sounds are made and how the cello and the trumpet works. The girls were taught about programme music and leitmotif, where different melodies are played to represent different characters in a story. They were asked to listen and analyse the theme tunes from Jaws and Harry Potter and gave excellent answers on how the music depicted the different characters. The trumpeter, Andy, played a very grand fanfare to the girls and even played a hose pipe with the trumpet mouthpiece to help them understand that a trumpet is really just a length of pipe that vibrates! A couple of the girls were given the chance to try and play a trumpet and did a brilliant job! Even Mrs Gibb gave it a go! Overall this workshop was very interesting and we would like to thank Ruth and Andy for giving up their time to come and speak to the girls. We are very much looking forward to seeing their concert in March! Mrs M. Wiedermann

Royal Scottish National Orchestra Workshop

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Royal Scottish National Orchestra Workshop (continued)

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SPECTRA - Aberdeen festival of light February 13

th to 16

th. Various venues across the city.

Public light artworks animate spaces in Aberdeen's city centre at this four-day festival. This year’s festival celebrates Aberdeen's rich coast and waters in recognition of the national 'Year of Coast and Waters'. Scottish winters can be dark affairs but luckily Aberdeen’s Festival of Light, SPECTRA, returns in 2020 to illuminate the winter skies. This year’s festival will celebrate Aberdeen's rich coast and waters in recognition of the national 'Year of Coast and Waters'. The four-day festival uses exciting public light artworks to animate spaces throughout Aberdeen's city centre and audiences can expect the unexpected around every corner of Scotland's famed 'Silver City'. Water, landscape, wildlife and colour will all come into play as Scotland's main northerly city lights up with interactive installations as part of one of the UK's largest urban light festivals. February Steam Workshop with Digital Maker, Monday 17

th February, 10:00am to 4:00pm,

Age 10+ £40, Rosemount Community Centre, Belgrave Terrace, Aberdeen, AB25 2NS. Saturday 28

th March, Life Highlighted Neon Life Drawing, 2:00 to 4:00pm, Aberdeen Art

Gallery, Standard £30, Concession and 8-25yrs £24. Mrs J. Richardson

Horse-riding It is that time of year again when we are starting to look at getting our horse-riding teams ready for the Scottish Equestrian Championships held at Kilgraston on Sunday 8th March. Please get in touch if your daughter is keen to participate in either show jumping, dressage or both. You do need your own horse and be able to transport your horse to Kilgraston for the competition. If you would like to know more then please email me on K.Norval@st-margaret.uk. Last year we had a very successful time so it would be wonderful to do the same again this year. Hockey On Tuesday the Junior hockey cup team consisting of girls from second and third year played in the Plate semi-final against the High School of Glasgow. Unfortunately they lost 4-0 but it was an excellent match of hockey. Now time for reflection and looking at how we can improve our game. Mrs K. Norval

Art and Design - What’s On

PE News

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