School News

Hae a go yersel!

Scots Wha Hae Scots wha hae wae Wallace bled, Scots wham Bruce hae aftimes led, Welcome tae your gory bed, Or tae victory Now's the day and now's the hour, See the front o battle lour, See approach proud Edward's power, Chains and slavery Wha will be a traitor knave, Wha can fill a cowards grave Wha sae base as be a slave, let him turn and flee, Wha for Scotland's king and law, Freedoms sword will strongly draw, Freeman stand and freeman fa, let him follow me. By oppressions woes and pains, By your sons in servile chains, We will drain our dearest veins, But they shall be free. Lay the proud usurpers low, Tyrants fall in every foe, Liberty's in every blow, let us do or dee.	To A Mouse Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim'rous beastie, O, what panic's in thy breastie! Thou need na start awa sae hasty, Wi' bickering brattle! I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee, Wi' murd'ring pattle! I'm truly sorry Man's dominion Has broken Nature's social union, An' justifies that ill opinion, Which makes thee startle, At me, thy poor, earth-born companion, An' fellow-mortal! I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve; What then? poor beastie, thou maun live! A daimen-icker in a thrave 'S a sma' request: I'll get a blessin wi' the lave, An' never miss't! Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin! It's silly wa's the win's are strewin! An' naething, now, to big a new ane, O' foggage green! An' bleak December's winds ensuin, Baith snell an' keen! Thou saw the fields laid bare an' wast, An' weary Winter comin fast, An' cozie here, beneath the blast, Thou thought to dwell, Till crash! the cruel coulter past Out thro' thy cell. That wee-bit heap o' leaves an' stibble, Has cost thee monie a weary nibble! Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy trouble, But house or hald. To thole the Winter's sleety dribble, An' cranreuch cauld! But Mousie, thou are no thy-lane, In proving foresight may be vain: The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agley, An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy! Still, thou art blest, compar'd wi' me! The present only toucheth thee: But Och! I backward cast my e'e, On prospects drear! An' forward, tho' I canna see, I guess an' fear!
If you fancy trying your hand at the North East Scots Doric *The Wild Cat’s Mistake* is a fine wee story for the bairns. http://www.abdn.ac.uk/elphinstone/kist/search/display.php?lwee77.dat

Arbroath Abbey Pageant Group

comes to St Thomas

The characters introduce themselves.

The Declaration

History and a spot of fun.


The troop with P6 & 7.

Above you can see the portrayal of Robert the Bruce accompanied by his daughter Margorie, important members of the Abbey community and various lords and ladies of the king's court. Also on the table is a replica of the box which would have held the Declaration of Arbroath.


Signing a copy of the Declaration of Arbroath.

	Etiquette was most important.
Abbot Bernard was head of the order of monks at the Arbroath Abbey. He would carry a crosier in the same way our bishop does. He also carried the Monymusk Relic around his neck; this contained some bones from St. Columba's finger. Abbot Bernard was also the King's secretary and was responsible for scribing the Declaration of Arbroath, asking for the pope's acknowledgement .....of the independence of the Scots race.
	The abbot was a well respected character. He was a loyal companion to the king as well as the keeper of order in the abbey. Upsetting the rules of the abbey community could lead to punishments like the one below- lying prostrate on the cold floor until you were given permission to move.

	Knights had to be assisted in donning the chain mail.
	Wearing and managing the chain mail. It was unexpectedly heavy!
	Weapons of choice.
	There seemed to be a strange fascination with the sword.



Everybody loves dressing up.

Netball Success
The girls thank Mrs Waugh for her dedication.

Football Skills

The boys and girls showing their game under the watchful eye of Mr Lyons, their coach.

Watch this space!

Here are the various children from St Thomas, with a few friends from Hayshead, proudly standing with Fr. Kevin after receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation.

One step closer to the wonderful day of their
First Holy Communion.

It's Play Time!
Thanks to a National Lottery grant which the school applied for with the help of Mr McLeish, we have been able to upgrade the playground facilities. Fun and fitness for everyone.

Everyone loves to have fun including the teachers. Miss Hood leading the way; the teachers would never ask the pupils to do something they wouldn't do themselves.



	Each class gets their own day to use the assault course. On Fridays, the pupils who have earned the most respect for their effort get to have an extra turn.
	After the summer we are looking to raise extra funds ourselves in order to extend the course, perhaps to include extra climbing facilities. Again, watch this space.

K'nex Challenge Success

Two of our P6 boys made us especially proud when they won through to the
North-East Scottish Finals
in Aberdeen.

They will now lead an
'in-school' challenge which they will set for the upper stages.

Our Very Special Day

Here are our First Communicants; this year St. Thomas Parish shared the celebration as Anita went home to Poland to share her special day with her whole family.

Brian Lyons' Inter-House Fun Challenge
	Having spent the year coaching our footballers, Mr Lyons decided some friendly competition was in order. The children split up to form house teams and put on a great show of skills for the fans.

Meanwhile..... Mr Bridges
has a game with the cricketers.

2010
Sports Day

PRIZEWINNERS
FOR YEAR ENDED 1ST JULY, 2010

This is our very proud School Captain. Leading her fellow pupils of P7, our Captain has been a shining example to the younger members of our school family.

Class Prizewinners	For their outstanding effort, commitment, positive attitude and respect, the following pupils from P1-7 were honoured by their teachers.


P7 Special Prizes	By the time they reach P7 the pupils are showing definite fortes in particular areas. Thanks to the wonderful friendship and loyalty of some very special people, we are able year after year to celebrate their talents.
Marjory Bell Creative Writing Award Logue Handwriting Award R. E. Prize Art Prize Anne Fairweather Award for Good Citizenship Loraine Cant Prize for Music and Expressive Arts


The Sports Prizes for Country Dancing, Football and Netball

P7 Personal Project Award

Fr Kevin, Mrs Taylor and Mrs Barrack do the honours.
Football Award	Dancing Award


Mairi Cameron Sports Award In addition to the school prize, our winners recently represented the school in the Inter-Schools Cross Country Competition held in Dundee. They both ran very well and this proud young man brought back the medal for 1st place

The St. Thomas Musicians

Throughout the ceremony we were entertained by the musical talents of our wind and string instrumentalists.


Members of the Parent Council presented the P7 pupils with commemorative books.



The P7 class with their Parent Council gifts.

A little more entertainment by our multi-talented school captain.

Fr Kevin presents the prizes for the Class Handwriting Award.


The proud House Captains and Vice-Captains

After a keenly competitive year, our first House Champions were Abbey

Primary Seven 2010 The unofficial P7 Class Prize Our industrious School Captain decided the whole class should celebrate the success of their year and prepared a scrumptious Chocolate Candy Train. In the true spirit of team work, together, they successfully demolished it!

Happy Retirement

After 15 priceless years at St. Thomas, Mrs Malone has decided it's time to let someone else have the pleasure.

We all wish her every happiness.

Saving the Amazon Rainforest
	Having spent the later part of P7 learning about the plight of our rainforests, our Head Girl took it upon herself to do a sponsored cycle to Monifieth and back. She managed to raise just over Ł75 and is using the money to help secure a little more of the forest within a legitimate conservation programme.

The award for our website made by
The Scottish Primary School Page

award3.jpg (6164 bytes)

We chose to return to the idyllic setting of St.Thomas Church for our choral celebrations.

		The Nursery Children opened the occasion most sweetly.
		P1/2 showed what little cherubs they could be.

		P6 were beautifully ordered as they sang Waiting for a Nice Surprise and the more traditional Emmanuel.


P7 boys show the 'rhythm of swing', highlighting the excessive commercialism of modern Christmas...		..balanced by a look at the more poignant reality of Mary's First Christmas.
		Together they raised the tempo with the calypso carol The Virgin Mary had a Baby Boy.


Class by class the upper school presented their Christmas songs and carols to a very appreciative audience as we visited our friends at Seaton Grove.

With Fr. Kevin on the piano and a handy C.D. player we sang by the rustic firelight!
	N e x t	The class parties.....

Scottish Day
Poetry, Music and Dance		Our Scottish Morning provided a high-spirited occasion with which to celebrate our culture.

Primary 1/2 choreographed their own reel and recited Wee Willie Winkie (P1) and The 3 Craws (P2). P1 sang Katie Beardie

	Once more we had some excellent recitation of Scots Verse. P3/4 with Apologies to Rabbie Burns.

		P4/5 played Scots Wa' Hae and recitals of The Piper came from P4 followed by Scottish Names from the P5 pupils.

		The lower school Scottish Country Dancers gave us a lively demonstration of 'Jeanie's Reel'.
The Bard's Scots Wa' Hae was recited by P6...		..followed by a performance of the Skye Boat Song.

The upper classes of P5-7 showed the footwork and fun of 'Simon's Dance'.....
P7 worked on reciting the Boy on the Train by Mary Campbell Smith and To a Mouse by Rabbie Burns. We finished off our celebration traditionally with Auld Lang Syne.

Miss Lesley Hood ..........Headteacher
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