Sciennes Diary Updated

Our School Diary has been updated with key events throughout the year. Families were issued with an Event Planner Overview at the start of term, but we ask that you refer to the School Diary as the most current point of reference. We will endeavour to maintain it as a Master Calendar as much we can, so please be aware that existing dates and times may change and check it regularly.

The Diary can be accessed using the 'DIARY' buttons on the school website. To view the calendar full screen, click on the Google Calendar in the bottom right hand corner.

or use the following address to access our calendar in any web browser
https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=angela.christie%40sciennes.edin.sch.uk&ctz=Europe/London

Alternatively, you can subscribe to the calendar to access it on your own computer, tablet or smartphone. Use the following address to download an iCalendar file and add our calendar to your own calendar:

https://www.google.com/calendar/ical/angela.christie%40sciennes.edin.sch.uk/public/basic.ics

Use the following address to access our calendar from other applications. You can copy and paste this into any feed reader.

https://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/angela.christie%40sciennes.edin.sch.uk/public/basic

New Eco Reps

Congratulations to our new Eco Reps who were elected by their classmates. P3 pupils will again be working together on a separate Eco project throughout the year, so only P4-P7 Eco Reps will be involved in the Eco meetings. Miss Gallagher, P3 Class Teacher,  will meet with new and old reps after the October holiday. Ms Christie and Ms Gallagher will also support the work of the Eco Committee and everyone looks forward to maintaining and building on all the excellent work undertaken by the group.

New reps 2014-2015
P4 Lucy, Alice, Calum
P5 Lucy, Eric, Ryan
P6 Peigidh, Jane, Sadie
P7 Theo, Sahaj, Alexander

Reps from 2013-2014
P4 Evelyn, Sarah, Lyla
P5 Rose, Sophie, Laiba
P6 Theo, Ava, Jessica
P7 Dylan, Eva, Iona

City of Edinburgh Term Dates

Download Term Dates

City of Edinburgh Council's Term Dates pages offer iCalendar file downloads (third on the list of file downloads), which can be imported to your calendar software to integrate instantly with your own calendar on your smartphone, tablet or computer.

www.edinburgh.gov.uk/termdates

Newly Elected Pupil Council Reps and JRSOs

Congratulations to our newly elected Pupil Council Representatives. Thank you to Mrs Sally Nowell, Presiding Officer, for sharing her recent experience of taking part in the Referendum count and also explaining the Pupil Council election process at both Assemblies. Mrs Noble and Ms Christie will take the Pupil Council to visit Cramond Primary School's new playground to help them get ideas for developing our own playground.

P4 Stewart, Caspar, Manu

P5 Chloe, Sergi, Sam

P6 Matilda, Alex, Laiba

P7 Erin, Mahmoud, Kate

 Congratulations to our new P6 Junior Road Safety Officers, Aidan, Morgan and Kirsty and thank you to Sam Moody who gave engaging presentations on Tram Safety at both Assemblies. Thank you to the pupil volunteers who assisted and to staff volunteers Miss Mackintosh and Ms French. Well done, Toby, for remembering all seven rules!

JRSOs website

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Sciennes P7 Junior Award Scheme Scotland (JASS) Conference

On Thursday 25th September we held our annual P7 Conference, designed to welcome pupils to Primary Seven and to challenge them to make the most of the many opportunities available throughout the year. This year the theme centred on the Junior Award Scheme Scotland (JASS) wider achievement programme. More information and photographs on the P7 Class Page.

Sciennes Cycle to School Day Friday 26th September

 

Come and join us at King's Buildings at 8.20 or join us en route. We cycle along the "quality bike corridor and turn off at Sciennes House Place to arrive before the bell at 8.50.

Active Travel at Sciennes

JGHS Open Evening for P7 Parents 25th September

This information was emailed to P7 families and is also available on the P7 Class Page.

Visit to James Gillespie’s High School, Lauderdale Street Campus


Dear Primary 7 Parent/Carer, 


I warmly invite all parents/carers interested in knowing more about our school to join us on 25 September 2014. 


At 6.30pm you will be welcomed by our senior staff with a short presentation from our Head Teacher, Mr Donald Macdonald. At 6.45pm tours will set off with senior students acting as your guides around the school. 


You will have the opportunity to talk informally to staff and senior students, with staff being available in various departments to let you see some of the pupils’ work and to answer any questions you may have. The Senior Team will also be available along with Support for Pupils and Support for Learning as part of your tour. 


Tours will end at 8.15pm, with the visit closing at 8.30pm. 


Very limited car parking is available in the school grounds. Children are very welcome to take part in this visit. 


I hope that you will be able to join us and I look forward to meeting with you then. 



Yours faithfully,



Hazel Kinnear
Depute Head Teacher, Pupil Support

Pupil Council Elections

To coincide with the Referendum,  pupils who were interested in being elected to the Sciennes Pupil Council gave a speech to their classsmates. On Friday 19th September, pupils in P2-P7 voted to elect a Pupil Representative in each class. The results will be announced at Assemblies on Friday.

We have decided to wait to announce our new P7 House and Sports Captains until the new term, leaving lots of opportunities to continue to impress with leadership and team work skills at Lagganlia next week!

P7 Lagganlia 29th September-3rd October 2014

http://scienneslagganlia2014.blogspot.co.uk/

The P7 Lagganlia 2014 blog with information for pupils and families can also be accessed from the P7 Class Page.

Click here to access Lagganlia's website.

Sciennes Parents’ Night? …..Some Advice from Fellow Parents

We hope you will enjoy coming to Parent Consultations and that it will help further the partnership between home and school. In each class there will be an opportunity for you to leave some comments and feedback on your child's learning, as part of his/her Personal Learning Planning. 

You will have received an appointment time from the school. We suggest it is worth trying to arrive about fifteen minutes early. This will allow you to locate your child’s classroom and spend some time looking at their work. You can of course visit the classroom after your appointment.

Do take time, if you can, to look at the displays around the school. Also the Parent Council will have refreshments for sale outside the Hall. There is a Book Fair in the Library and we hope you will find time to look in at the new Sensory Room on the Ground Floor near the School Office. 

Primary Seven pupils meet their teachers on the top landing and pupils have been invited to join the meeting with you. Pupils' trays will be available on the landing outside your child's classroom. Please look through your child's learning and wait on the landing until called.

We are also always looking to recruit parents to the Parent Council and its subgroups. More information on the Parent Council website.

Tues 7^th  October 5-8pm 

Thurs 9^th October 4-7pm

Sciennes Parent Council Communications Group

Sciennes School Travel Plan Survey

School Travel Plan

To help update our School Travel Plan we would be grateful if you would complete our survey. Link below
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Sciennesparenttravel

Pupil Council Election

To coincide with the Referendum,  pupils who were interested in being elected to the Sciennes Pupil Council gave a speech to their classsmates. On Friday 19th September, pupils in P2-P7 voted to elect a Pupil Representative in each class. The counting has begun and results will be announced soon! Thank you to Ms Anstruther for preparing all the voting slips for each class.

P3 Foodbank Harvest Event

 Harvest

Primary 3 has invited us to bring items for Foodbank between Monday 22^nd September and Friday 3^rd October. Thank you for your support.

We believe that kindness is very important. We are lucky but we know that other people are not so lucky. Please help us to help them by putting a couple of extra things in your trolley when you are shopping. Please look at our list to see what to buy. We are collecting from Monday 22nd September to Friday 3rd October. Further information can be found at edinburghnw.foodbank.org.uk

Thank you Primary 3

Today's the Day, P7

All our iPads have been reconfigured, and set up ready for individual use in the new session. Today, each of our P7 pupils will be issued with their own personal iPad, for school use only at the moment, though we will invite families to an Information evening later in the term to issue the iPads to families for home as well as school use.

BBC Ten Pieces at the Filmhouse

P6 and P7 pupils at Sciennes have been given an exciting opportunity to attend a free screening of BBC's "Ten Pieces"on Tuesday 7th October at the Filmhouse. The film is designed to engage primary pupils with classical music and creativity through story telling which features high quality musical performance and visuals. Details available soon on WisePay.

Grateful thanks to Lucy Vaughan, Principal Officer Creative Learning (Performing Arts), and Frances Baker, Drama Development Officer, from City of Edinburgh's Arts and Creative Learning Team, for providing this opportunity for our pupils.

Catchment Enrolling in P1 and S1 for August 2015/16

Enrolment begins in NOVEMBER 2014 for new P1s and new S1s.

Information about enrolment for P1 next session 2015/16 at your catchment school can be found using this link:
http://sciennesenrol.blogspot.co.uk/p/enrolling-in-p1.html

and for catchment S1 next sesssion 2015/16
http://sciennesenrol.blogspot.co.uk/p/enrolling-in-s1.html 

or by clicking on the ENROL button on the school website where you can also access the advice Councillor Paul Godzik gave families last year about registering at your catchment school.

Dangerous Parking

Parking - If you park at the school gate you are putting our children at risk!

Concerns were raised again at a recent Parent Council Meeting about dangerous parking outside Sciennes School.

Along with our local community police officers, we again seek support to ensure some of the parents and carers at Sciennes choose a safer place to park. Unfortunately there continues to be a small minority of families, on a daily basis, parking carelessly outside the school and also on Livingstone Place. We ask that everyone please bears safety in mind when dropping off and picking up. 
Thank you.

Lothian Schools Cross Country Running

Sciennes Dream Team!: Emily, Phoebe, Zoe, Adele, Cerys, Annie, Anna, Susannah, Rose, Joanne, Calum, Lawson, Liam, Archie, Matthew, Ben, Boris, Logan

The first Lothian Schools Cross Country Running event of the season took place at Mary Erskine School on Wednesday 10th September on a beautiful sunny afternoon.

Congratulations to Phoebe who came Second, Lawson who came Third, Cerys who came Fourth, Boris who came Eleventh, Rose who came Twelfth and to all the P6 and P7 runners who took part, sporting our new Sciennes 70 t-shirts. A terrific result and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the event.

Special thanks to P7 parents Sheila Scott-Hobbs and Shelagh McLeish who escorted the pupils. Mrs Scott-Hobbs, Cerys' mum, has kindly agreed to be the lead contact. Races take place at various venues on Wednesdays from 4.30pm until 5.15pm and we are keen to promote participation. Sciennes' team score is cumulative and it would be great to have more pupils participate, particularly more P6 pupils while P7 are at Lagganlia w/b 29th September. Please contact Sheila Scott-Hobbs at spjcscotthobbs@gmail.com  for more information if your child wishes to take part.

Wed 10 Sept
Wed 17th Sept 
Wed 24th Sept
Wed 1st Oct 
Wed 8 Oct 
Wed 25th Feb 
Wed 4 March 
Wed 11 March 
Wed 18th March 

Monday and Thursday School Closed

A reminder that school is closed on Monday 15th September for the September weekend holiday (for staff and pupils) and again on Thursday 18th September for the Referendum (for pupils).

October Break Activity Programme

City of Edinburgh's Outdoor Activity Autumn Holiday Programme 2014 for P6, P7 and S1 will take place from Monday 13^th October 2014 to Friday 17^th October 2014. 

To book onto these sessions please email: Lynne.Crawford@edinburgh.gov.uk for a booking form and Parental Consent form or you can now book on-line by clicking on the following link: https://www.joininedinburgh.org/Sports-Unit/ for the Autumn Activities Programme.

Parent Council Quiz Night 24th October

If you enjoy a good night out, look no further! The Sciennes Quiz Night organised by Sciennes Parent Council is taking place on Friday 24th October, 7-9.30pm.

This year a fantastic new format is being tried out - parents can bring their own refreshments (alcoholic or soft drinks), haggis (including veggie option) will be provided by Macsween's and a team of parent quiz-masters are planning a highly entertaining evening. This is guaranteed to be a fun night out and a great excuse to get together with fellow parents.  All profits will go to Sciennes Parent Council.

You can also buy tickets at £5.00 for (adult) friends and family who are not connected to Sciennes. Please note the event is for adults and not children.
Tickets will be available on Wisepay shortly. 

Class Parent Reps at Sciennes

Sciennes Parent Council has again been successful in organising a Class Parent Rep for each of our twenty-two classes. Names of Parent Reps for 2014-15 have been published on the Parent Council website: http://sciennesschool.wordpress.com/parent-class-reps/2012-13-reps-list/ 

A brief description of the Class Parent Rep’s role
Parent Reps provide a valuable link between the Sciennes Parent Council (SPC) and parents within class or year groups.
What Parent Reps do:-

• Produce a class contact list for use by parents and carers in the class and ensure it is updated and distributed as necessary on a regular basis (in particular, to include new children who have joined the class).
• Have their name listed on the Parent Council Website and Noticeboard
• Help spread the word to other parents about Parent Council events, activities and volunteering opportunities.
• Where possible, ensure that parents who don’t use email receive Parent Council information that may be of interest to them via other means.
• Some parent reps organise social events for the class parents but that is up to individual reps. 
• Point parents in the right direction if they have a query which they need to raise with school staff (click here for School Website and click on ‘staff’) or direct them towards the School Council website if they want to raise something with the Parent Council or find out more about how to get involved.

Azim in the News

Thousands of cyclists have got on their bikes in the UK’s biggest mass cycling event, pedalling from Glasgow to Edinburgh to raise money for charity.
More than 6500 riders took part in the 16th annual 47-mile ride from Glasgow Green to Murrayfield Stadium, with children pedalling alongside their parents for a fun family ride across the Central Belt.
Another 700 took on the leg-busting challenge of a 110-mile Sportive route that winds through the Southern Uplands taking in 2400 metres of climb.
One of those taking part was Western General Hospital breast cancer surgeon Dr Mike Dixon, who was raising money for charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer to help pay for better drugs that are tailor-made for individual patients.
His team of fundraisers, dubbed Mike’s Marvels, have raised £55,000 for the charity in the past four years, which the world-renowned surgeon says has been collected in the name of his patients, “who could never complete such challenges . . . so I do it in their stead”.

Speaking from the finish line, he said: “We all went as a team and cycled together. There was real camaraderie amongst the group. It was a really lovely day. We did it quicker, we were happier, and we’re in better nick than last year having finished it. We had a great day raising money and keeping fit.” The 12-strong Breakthrough Breast Cancer team raised £7000 all in all.
Cyclists were waved off in Glasgow by Commonwealth Games double silver medallist Louise Haston and round-the-world cyclist Mark Beaumont.
One of the youngest riders yesterday was seven year-old Azim Ghafoor. The Sciennes Primary pupil has so far raised £378 for the Disasters Emergency Committee Gaza Crisis Appeal, and insisted on cycling the full 47 miles alongside dad Afzal and uncle Habib Ghafoor.
Azim said: “I am really grateful to all my fellow cyclists who have been supporting and encouraging me throughout this journey.”
Mmum Shamim said: “Azim is an achiever and when he puts his mind to something there is no stopping him! I am a very proud mum and am so pleased that he has taken on such a big challenge at this young age.”

http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/pedal-power-as-thousands-cycle-for-charity-1-3534510 

Sciennes School Orchestra

Mrs Samanda Campbell, P4 Class Teacher, began her Orchestra sessions today which take place each Monday in the Hall between 11.30am and 12.30pm.

Requirements for orchestra are to play an orchestral instrument, including percussion, though not piano, at Grade 2 or above. At the beginning of each academic session auditions are held so that children can be placed in the appropriate section e.g. 1st or 2nd violin.

The children are expected to attend weekly rehearsals in school and to practise any music given to them during the week. Many children take their music along to their lessons for extra practice.

We aim to have at least three concerts per year at Christmas, Easter and at the end of the summer term. We have also taken part in the Edinburgh Music Festival and have played for the elderly at St. Catherine's Argyle Church.

It would be useful if all orchestral players own their own school tie as they are required to wear full school uniform during performances.

Mrs Campbell

BBC Ten Pieces Classical Music

P6 and P7 pupils have been given an exciting free opportunity to attend a screening of BBC's Ten Pieces, a film designed to engage primary pupils with classical music through high quality visual performance and story telling. Further information will be published soon on Wisepay.

Playground Bicycle Safety

Thursday 4th September was Cycle to School Day and also a day for P6 Cycle Training so there were many bicycles in school. Sciennes is a Cycle Friendly School, however, pupils were reminded at Assembly on Friday 5th September that for safety they should not cycle or scoot in the playground before or after school. Pupils should mount and dismount from bicycles at the school gate and walk in and out with them. Pupils should also already know that the bike sheds are out of bounds unless pupils are accessing their own bicycle and that, again for safety reasons, there are no ball games in the playground before or after school.
Thank you for your support with this.