News

March	P4/5 VISIT THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT P4/5s new topic is Scottish Parliament. We have been learning all about Elections, Election Campaigns, and how the Parliament works. On Wednesday the 27th of February the P4/5s were on a trip to the Scottish parliament. When they were eating their lunch they met their first MSP. His name was John Scott. When they finished their lunch they gave a quiz. To answer the questions and crosswords they had to look around the exhibition to find them. Then Ruth came and found us. We got lanyards that said ED on them. They were our passes to get into places because there was security on every floor. Ruth told us that there was even night time security. When Ruth had finished giving out lanyards we followed her into the debating chamber. Our first impressions were it was big, wooden and empty. By Rachel and Catriona G.
2007
May	A Special Day For Compost On the 10th of May, Jessica, Fraser, Patrick and I went to a compost workshop to learn more about composting and what insects you get in your compost. We all enjoyed ourselves and here are the things that you can put in your composter. Green ingredients Brown Ingredients Fruit waste such as: Torn up cardboard Apples cores and Banana peels, Paper Towels And Kiwi fruit skins. Autumn Leaves Raw vegetable waste such as Small twigs and Carrot tops and Potatoes peel. And Branches Tea Bags Shredded paper Garden and House Plant and Sawdust And Grass Clippings We hope that you will take my advice so that if you do ever get a compost bin in your garden you will know what to put in it. Compost can be used for many subjects at school such as: Maths Conservation Language & Enterprise. Art Science The bugs that you get in compost are: Centipedes, Millipedes, Slugs, Worms, Ants, Flies and Woodlice. You may be wondering why compost is so smelly and slimy. It is smelly and slimy because there is not enough air getting in to it. Usually this is caused by too many wet, green ingredients and not enough dry to suck up the moisture. The best way to sort this out is to add some brown ingredients like torn up cardboard, shredded paper or paper towels. Then give it all a good a good mix and make sure it is turned once or twice a week. By Katelyn (P5)
February	P6/7 VISIT THE MINING MUSEUM It was the 2nd February and I jumped out of bed. I had a shower then I got dressed and had breakfast. When I got to school we got on a bus and set off for the mine. One hour later we got off the bus and went in. Inside we met the two people who would take us on the tour. We were split into two groups. As we went around the mine we looked at loads of machines, some for cutting or washing the coal. In one room we looked at a machine that washed the coal and the cage brought the coal up. Then we went and looked at some exhibits. Some were used in mining. Then we had lunch then we watched a film in a theatre. We saw three cats. We saw the train that transported the coal. We saw the machine that took the cages up or down. Then we said good bye to our tour guides and we went back to school. By Hamish
February	LET’S HOP TO THE HYDRO! Well we didn’t actually hop to the Hydro, we just walked there but it was well worth it. P4/5’s topic is Scottish Food so Mrs Allan organised a trip to the Hydro where our hostess Nicola showed us around. She showed where people have meetings and showed us the head kitchen where the head chef works. The chef called Bryan showed us how to make cranachan. We all thought is was very interesting. After that we went to the main restaurant & sat down to taste a bite of the cranachan. We all enjoyed it & Mrs Allan tried a bit too. We all got to keep the chef hats that Nicola had given us earlier and they also gave us the recipe. Mrs Allan asked if we could run down the big hill because we had been nagging her all day but Nicola said she didn’t want any of us falling and breaking our necks. We all thought that the cranachan was delicious and wanted another but it was time to go home so we gave Nicola a big thank you and started back to school. Once again we would like to say thank you to Nicola and Mrs Allan for organising the trip. By Daisy & Jessica
February	ARE YOU HUNGRY? P4/5 are doing a topic about Scottish food. We have different names for each group. Here is a list of them all: Ame, Kirsty, Katelyn, Fraser, Jamie, Hamish are the Glorious Grouse team. Saskia, Eliza, Mairi, Elodie, Rachel, Catriona are the Nutritious Neeps. Sophie Hendry, Daisy, Jessica, Christopher, Adam and Hugo are the Terrific Tablet and last but not least Sophie Reid-Kay, Louise, Alice, Pearl, Daniel and Patrick are the Smashing Scones. At the moment we are working on adverts to (pretend) to impress the Scottish Government that is run by Jack McConnell. We have made menus with our favourite Scottish meal. We are having lots of fun finding out about Scottish food and recipes. By Katelyn
January	CELTIC CONNECTIONS On Friday the 19th January P2/3 went to Celtic Connections in Glasgow at the Royal Concert Hall. We went to find out more about Scottish Traditional music. We saw and heard lots. We saw and heard a harp, lots of fiddles, a piano, a guitar, a flute, drums, a bodhran and an accordion. For the last song lots of people clapped their hands and danced to the music and the ceilidh club people did the highland fling. Thank-you to the PA who paid for the bus. Thank you to Miss Hughes, Mr and Mrs Whitaker, Mrs Regan, Lady Campbell and Mrs Perry who came with us. We all enjoyed it - even the parents that came. Everybody was busy chatting and telling jokes on the bus. One school started to dance and then everyone joined in. We gave a letter to Miss Hughes to say thank-you. We felt really exited before we got in to the bus. When we went in it was really big that is what we were exited about. One of the men in a band sang a song played the guitar and won the X- factor in Ireland !!! The first group was called the super group session A9. Miss Hughes gave us our own ticket. We had lots of fun listening to the music. One of the men told a joke and it was so not funny. By Josh and Catriona
January	DON’T EAT THE PUPILS! Half of the P4/5 class went to Bennett’s butchers, where Mr. Graham Fleming taught us to make mince, steak pies and sausages and we saw mince pies being cooked and we also saw a pigs being cut into pieces of delicious meat. Then we saw a very old table that has been there for years and years and years lying in the yard. It was very interesting and exciting to see the table and we saw all the types of meat that they sold. They had haggis and beef, pork, lamb and duck as well. We bought Mrs. Paterson some tablet to keep her happy. Then we thanked Mr. Graham Fleming for organizing our hour off school and then we happily toddled back to the school. By Katelyn and Ame
January	DON’T “BURN” THE HAGGIS! On Burns day P4/5 had their very own party! Me, Kirsty and Ame said the poem “To A Haggis” (by Robert Burns), Eliza said the Immortal Memory and Katelyn was the chair man with Daniel. We had mini haggises, (which Jamie brought in), Mrs. Paterson brought in some fudge and since it was Kirsty’s dad’s birthday we all got some Dundee Cake. Afterwards we had a ceilidh. By Louise
January	TIDIEST SCHOOL AWARD! On the 26th of January St Mary’s school were happy to receive the award of the tidiest school out of 34 other schools in the Stirling area. In previous visits the litter inspector, Jim Fisher was surprised at the tidiness of our fabulous school! The press visited and took photos for the local news paper!! We also received £100 for the school’s use and pleasure. By Claire and Bethany
2006
May	Grounds Committee Eco Garden The Grounds Committee (now renamed “The Groovy Gardeners”) have been very busy over the last few months. Quotes have been received for Phase 1 of the garden and we have already been successful in obtaining part of the funding from various sources. The plans are on display on the noticeboard outside the office. We would welcome comments and ideas from all parents so please come and have a look.
May	BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra - Ring Tone Concert Congratulations to Lucinda, Sean, Callum, Bethany, Kiera and Amy whose musical compositions have been selected to be performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra on Sunday at the Making Tracks concert at the McRobert Centre.
April	Sports Stars THERE’S always plenty of action at St Mary’s - here are the latest activities: GOLF: Mrs Kinvig has been doing a course to help teach p5 to get into the swing. She will take the class during golden time on Friday afternoons. We hope that p5 will enjoy their lessons and that they choose to be members of the Dunblane Golf Club. ATHLETICS: P6/7 have completed a three-weeks sampler course and now have the chance to join an athletics club at Dunblane High School. We hope as many as possible will join – should make for an interesting school sports day. HOCKEY: This term P4/5 have been learning hockey skills with the P.E. specialist. They have been learning how to block, stop and push the ball. AEROBICS: Mrs Whitaker has been doing aerobics with P4/5 to Crazy Frog music. It’s proving to be very successful now that they can all go the same way! By Mairi
April	Clayzy for Narnia! NURSERY children have been having great fun!! The little girls and boys have been exploring Narnia, the beautiful landscape that was created in the home corner, covered with snow and icicles. But the castle at Cair Paravel has been built in its place now. The children came to p6/7 classroom to watch a Narnia video on the interactive whiteboard. The kids have also looking at ice because of the snow in Narnia. They put tubs of water outside. They froze the water and melted it to see what happened. Because of Narnia, the children have been interested in coats of arms, so they went to the cathedral to look at some. On February 21st, a ceramic artist came to help the children make Narnia figurines from clay, like Jennifer (see the photo in the printed copy of The Acorn). But the fun doesn’t end here! A mad-hatter and Easter bonnet party will be held on March 30th during Mother and Baby Week to raise money. This event will raise funds for live-saving equipment, and the children will have a good time in the process! By Emma
April	Wet a lot of games! A LITTLE squirrel told The Acorn news team that the PA had given each class £100 to spend. Each class has the choice and votes on what they are going to buy, and p2/3 have thought carefully and have decided to buy some new wet interval games. The new items will include board games such as snakes and ladders, Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit. They will also be purchasing some new colour and activity books along with new colouring equipment. Miss Hughes said: “I think we will have the new things by the middle of March.” It’s not just p2/3, who will enjoy them, it’s p4 too because most p2s go through to p1 during wet intervals. Alice (p3) said: “I’m excited!” Sophie (p3) added: “It’ll be really fun.” By Lucinda
April	Special Music To Their Ears MRS Series came into p2/3 to teach the Kodaly work shops - she was supposed to just take p3 but since it was a class of p2 and p3, she taught them all. She has been teaching them songs including Cookaburra, the Train song and Peas, Porridge, Pot. She has also been teaching them clapping songs and how to read music! Mrs Series has been going round the whole of the Stirling Council area teaching all p3s music in this way. Mrs Moore will carry on with some of the songs they have. Catriona (p2) said: “It was great!!!” Sophie and Alice agreed. By Lucinda
April	Bear Hugs for P1! HOW’S this fur cuteness? The p1 project is toys so, since the Bear Factory makes cuddly bears, they thought it was a great trip. The kids went on a train to Stirling then walked to the shop, where they all joined together to make a bear. They chose the type they wanted, and all kissed the heart of their new mascot before it went in with the stuffing. They decided to call him Scotty and now they all get a turn of taking Scotty home. A little squirrel told us that they might be making a book of Scotty’s adventures! Well, we’ll just have to wait and see! By Georgia
April	Diggin' It! Groovy Gardeners want your ideas for the new playground The school grounds working group is looking for your ideas to help transform the back playground into an exciting new area The group has also transformed itself after asking pupils to vote for a new name at assembly - it was a choice between Eliza's suggestion of the Mean Green Garden Machine and Katelyn's Groovy Green Gardeners. It was a close thing because they were both so good but in the end, Groovy Green Gardeners won. Plans for the first phase are on the noticeboard outside the school office, and the Groovies want feedback about the ideas. Suggestions include play equipment, totem poles, picnic tables, musical chimes and tile mosaics. Kenny Grieve from Brotus Rural Crafts showed pictures of projects he'd done with other schools including story poles, flag poles, music sculptures, furniture planters and puppets. Local artist Gio Martin has also offered to do some tile mosaics with the children. Harry (P4) says that his class would like sports kit like sports nets, swings and goals, and perhaps a mature corner. The group has already managed to get grants but ideas of how the playground garden could benefit the wider community could help them secure more. The next meeting is March 31st, so if you have ideas, tell pupil reps Stefan (P6/7), Harry (P4/5), Catriona (P2/3), Imogen (P1) or Cameron (Nursery); or Mrs Pinamonte, Mrs Tarvit, Mrs Allan or Mrs McGregor.
April	That's a hard act to follow! P6/7 get very tough at their Victorian assembly... but it's all strictly for fun The pupils of P6/7 will be a hard act to follow - their Victorian-themed assembly was a great success. The idea was based on their project, the Victorians, and they all dressed in costumes from that era. They had ten people standing up to give the audience facts. For example: "There were severe punishments. Children got whacked with a cane or ruler for misbehaving!" Then they had 12 school children and a teacher to demonstrate - and everyone agreed that teacher Georgia was very strict and scary! The school children were Ailsa, Amy, Kiera, Lucinda, Alex, Bethany, Fergus, Sean, Robert, Callum and Jamie, who all played along. Our pictures show Jamie with the Dunce cap on, and the teacher whacking Bethany with the cane (see the printed copy of The Acorn for photos). Ouch! Pupils also sang three Victorian songs: Let's All Go Down The Strand, I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles and Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside. All the adults enjoyed the assembly as well as the pupils... and we're all glad the cane has been banned! By Georgia and Bethany
March	Newsletter Title Logos Pupils have been creating title logos for the new monthly newsletter - Click here to see some of the best logos...
January	Library Review Robert, Michael, and Kitty report on the new computerized library system... Click here for full report...
13th January	Inventors of Tomorrow P6/7 are joining in in a competition called inventors of tomorrow, there are going to be five teams. What they have to do is think of a problem and try to solve the problem by inventing something to solve it.
13th January	P6/7 Have a science lesson taught by high school teacher Fisher On Wednesday this week Miss Fisher came and taught us how to do an unfair test. We melted different coloured jelly in hot water. The red jelly melted first because it was cut into small pieces that was an unfair test. (Reported by Jamie)
2005
9th December 2005	Playground Sports Equipment A few pupils have put together the sports for schools vouchers, so THANK YOU! for handing in the vouchers. A couple of pupils have decided what to get for the playground. They ordered some things for the older children and the nursery kids so they didn’t just think about themselves. (Reported by Jamie)
9th December	Hosanna Rock! On Thursday 15th December and Friday 16th December P4-7 are performing the action packed St.Mary's version of HOSANNA ROCK! Based on the true nativity story with a few twists and tales. All the costumes are excellent especially the wise men. P4-5 and P6-7 have been practicing almost daily for the show. Lets hope it will be alright on the night. (Reported by Rachel)
11th November	P6/7 Curling On 16th November P6/7 are going curling in Stirling. They will be going every week. They’ve to remember tracksuit bottoms, CLEAN trainers and remember your jumpers because it’s freezing!! They will be going by bus there and bus back. (Reported by Michael)
11th November	Cake Sale On Friday the 11th of November the pupil council arranged to have a cake sale and dress down day. The sale was a big hit, we managed to raise a stunning £121.28p. All of the money goes to Nansato Primary School in Malawi to buy text books because before we raised that money they only had 5 text books between 1200 pupils. Thank you to everyone who brought in cakes to sell. (Reported by Joseph)
4th November	P4/5 Shoebox Appeal P4/5 are making a shoe box appeal for people in poor places - It all goes together because the p4/5 topic is fair trade the shoe boxes are so that some people wake up on Christmas day with presents. We send the shoe boxes away on the 10th of November. I hope they are happy on Christmas day. Bring a shoe box on the 9th November. (Reported by Mairi)
4th November	Friday Fun Day! On Friday 11th November 2005 there will be a Fun day were you can pay 50p to come to school in casual clothes. The p.6/7’s will bring in cakes and they will be sold at morning break. All money raised goes to buy new text books for Nansato school in Malawi. (Reported by Georgia)
20th October	Beauty and the Beast On the 20th October 2005 a theatre group came and gave us a wonderful show of Beauty and Beast. The P.A. paid £300 pounds for it and it was a great success. There were 5 actors and about 9 parts. All in all it was really great! They didn’t even use all the old Beauty and the Beast songs, they used all the up to date songs like Amarillo and Crazy Frog. If you pass anyone in the street that is in the P.A. please say thank-you. (Reported by Georgia) Click here for more photos...
30th September	Scottish Rocks basketball team visit Dunblane On Friday the 30th September primary 6+7’s from all the schools in Dunblane went to a Scottish Rocks event at Dunblane primary school. A few of the members of the team themselves were there to answer a few questions and give us a few tips. Everybody enjoyed it and thought it was really fun. When they had given us a short talk they played a demonstration game, then they asked some of us if we wanted to try playing against the Rocks! It was really hard for the people who volunteered. At the end they asked us if we had any final questions. Someone asked if we could have a teachers V Rocks game, some teachers volunteered and in the end Mrs Allan went up and they were all much taller than her!!!!!!!!!!! (Reported by Alex)
30th September	Modern Languages Week This week has been modern languages week and the whole school has contributed and done something in the assembly on Friday the 30th September 2005. Each class had to do a 30 minute challenge. Primary 1 had to use their computer skills to colour in 4 flags, Primary 2/3 had to find 30 countries on a word search, Primary 4/5 had to find out the capital cities of as many European countries as they could and Primary 6/7 had to use their dictionary skills. Kippen-Ross won the 30 minute challenge. At the assembly p1/2 and p3 sang two songs and learnt numbers in a different language called Swahili. The two songs that they sung are called ‘Hakuna Matata’ which mean no worries and ‘Jambo’ which means hello. (Reported by Georgia)
2nd September	A Scottish assembly Today we did a Scottish assembly. First some people read out facts, then me, Daisy, Eliza, Kateln, Jessica, Saskia, Mairi, May and Rebecca told people about what we like about Scotland. After that we sang the Skye boat song. (Reported by Ame)
June	Web Site Editorial Team At the end of the school year, the Web Site Editorial Team after-school club report on their experiences working on the web site. Click here for their full report and photos...
13th May	Brightening up the Playground Lately four of our pupils have been to a local garden centre and bought some plants to get our school looking a bit brighter for the coming summer. When they were there they bought some flowers for the front flower bed and also Mrs. Kinvig bought as a present to the school two big half barrels to plant Oak trees in. We have already started the first stages of planning the area around the nursery and how we’re going to make it more ecologically friendly. (Reported by Alex)
25th January	The cross–country competition On the 25th of January 2005 some of the p6/7 pupils (Alex, Lucinda, Georgia, Lisa, Emma, Sean, Ian, Joseph, Fabian, Jamie, Fergus, Cameron, David, David, Rachel and Robert) entered a cross–country competition. They all ran a mile. 29 schools entered the competition and there were awards at the end of the races. Unfortunately none of the pupils in St. Mary’s won, but I think everyone enjoyed taking part. Then on Friday 28th at the merit assembly the cross–country runners where awarded with a certificate each. St. Mary’s is very proud of them.
6th January	We welcome Mrs Mary Paterson as our new HeadTeacher today. She will take over from Acting HeadTeacher Mrs Currie, who will return to her previous roles of Primary 1 class teacher and Principal Teacher.
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