Sciennes Primary School: Remarkable Parent Led International Summer Fair a Huge Success!

Grateful thanks to graphic designer parent Jimmy Chow for superb artwork for the Summer Fair and to Thomas Elliott for his wonderful drawing of Sciennes:

At Sciennes, we recognise that we are incredibly fortunate to enjoy strong partnerships with families and to have such marvellous ongoing parental support. For this year's Summer Fair, our fantastic Parent Council was able to capitalise on the broad range of cultures within our school community and provide exciting, engaging opportunities to promote learning and respect for one other through an International themed event. We are also most fortunate to have been able to draw upon a huge wealth of parental talent, experience and expertise.

Saturday 4th June saw the culmination of concerted efforts to create a remarkable and joyful parent led International Fair : organised and led by parents - supported by staff and pupils - with many workshops and presentations delivered by parents and also supported by the multitude of parents who attended.

Charlotte Herthelius, as Convener of the Fundraising and Events subgroup of the Parent Council, assisted by Sciennes' Languages Co-ordnator Bethan Owen and Kristel Torokoff, as Chair of the Parent Council, have worked creatively with teams of parents, staff and pupils to achieve a most magnificent day celebrating Sciennes' cultural diversity, as well as providing all the usual fun of the summer fair. Careful planning ensured the entire event ran extremely smoothly on the day.

We are indebted to all our contributors for providing FREE Languages Activities for the children. Special thanks to the University of Edinburgh, including Professor of Developmental Linguistics and Founding Director of Bilingualism Matters, Antonella Sorace, for her inspiring Keynote address and particularly to parent Dr Pau Navarro, Research Fellow at the university, for her support in organising so many activities.

A Silent Auction, Bake Sale, International Food Stall, Plant Stall, Toy Stall, Second Hand Uniform Stall, Football Stall and Ice Cream Stall, with very generous support from Sainsbury's and Papa John's, have helped us raise valuable funds to enhance the children's experiences and learning.

These photographs are an attempt to capture just a glimpse of an extraordinary day, in glorious sunshine:

Thank you very much to CHARLOTTE HERTHELIUS, Chair of the Parent Council PTA and Events and Fundraising Group, and congratulations for leading and organising the superb International Summer Fair.

Sciennes' inspirational Languages Specialist and Co-ordinator, BETHAN OWEN, facilitated Sciennes' International Fair.


Headteacher Mrs Alison Noble, Paloma, Ms Owen and Professor Antonella Sorace agree that bilingualism matters! Grateful thanks to Antonella, Professor of Developmental Linguistics at Edinburgh University and Founding Director of Bilingualism Matters, for providing an exceptional Keynote address.

Sciennes bedecked in flags a glorious sight. Thank you very much to everyone who contributed to the success of the International Summer Fair!

KEYNOTE ADDRESS PROFESSOR ANTONELLA SORACE

Professor Antonella Sorace, Professor of Developmental Linguistics at Edinburgh University and Founding Director of Bilingualism Matters

http://www.bilingualism-matters.ppls.ed.ac.uk/

Wonderful to welcome back fenomenal Ana Vidal, fourth year Bilingual Primary Education student, who has recently returned to Madrid University after a very successful teaching placement at Sciennes.

MASS TRANSLATION ACTIVITY

Ms Bethan Owen organised the Mass Translation of Joann Sfar's "Le Petit Prince" graphic novel.

Miss Richmond supporting the Mass Translation activity.

Grazie, parent helpers!

Ms Wendy French on hand to help with the Mass Translation.

Liza and her mum taking part in the Mass Translation.

Great to welcome back former pupils Maya and Jessica!

INTERNATIONAL PASSPORTS

Brilliant International Activity Passports!

Ciao Sophia using her International Activity Passport. How many countries did you visit at the Fair?

Thank you very much to Vice Chair of Sciennes Parent Council, Tanya Boughtflower, and the myriad of parent helpers who made the Summer Fair so successful and enjoyable for the whole school community.

Thank you to Sciennes Parent Council Treasurer Cathy McCormack for keeping everyone afloat with floats throughout the day!

ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE (EAL) ACTIVITIES

Our fabulous EAL Specialist, Helen Law, provided a host of international quizzes, games and arts and crafts.

Fun for all the family

MAPPING OUR CONNECTIONS

Mapping our connections

http://ccescocia.cat/indexE.html

HUMAN TOWERS
Colla Castellara Edinburgh provided an extraordinary demonstration of human towers.

Well done, Alba, who reached the top of the tower!


Thank you to the Centre Catala d'Escocia for providing wonderful cultural activities and demonstrations.

Designing flags and recreating traditional cuisine in Play-Doh were just some of the activities on offer.

Redesigning a new flag by combining Scottish and Catalan flags

Sagrada Familia takes shape in cardboard at the Fallas (junk modelling) activity.

Sagrada Familia left unfinished in a nod to Gaudi.

INTERNATIONAL MUSICAL PERFORMANCES
Superb musical performances could be heard throughout the school during the Fair.

Fabulous musicians performing traditional Chinese music.


Wonderful to welcome back former pupils Kim and Alexander - such talented musicians! And current pupil, Elizabeth, too! All your practice has reaped considerable rewards.

INTERNATIONAL DANCE CLASSES AND DEMONSTRATIONS

An impressive programme of dance classes and demonstrations ran all day throughout the building!

Delightful dancers!

Traditional Chinese dance and costumes.

A well deserved break in the sunshine!

Thank you to all the groups who provided dance classes and demonstrations throughout the day in the Hall and in classrooms. Scottish country dancing, Street dancing, Indian dancing, Chinese dancing and Ballet.

Wonderful Bharathnatyam Indian dance classes

Robika gave a superb demonstration of traditional Nepalese dance.

Thank you very much to the Grange School of Ballet - and Rachel! - for elegant dance classes.

INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING SESSIONS

The children were enthralled by the things they heard at the Worldwide Storytelling in the Library. Huge thanks to Claudio Michelon, Elena Chetlsova, Laura Kinsler, Tim Pask and Janis Mackay for sharing stories from their homelands. We felt we had been transported to Brazil, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Shetland and North America!

Thank you very much to parent Aileen Nimmo for organising such a broad and engaging programme of international storytelling and to all who supported.

Celebrated author, and Sciennes' Patron of Reading, Janis Mackay led some of the Worldwide Storytelling sessions.

Parent, Tim Pask, regaled pupils with international stories in the school fiction library


Parent, Laura Kinsler, led an international storytelling session in the school non fiction library.

KOREAN COOKERY CLASSES

Korean cookery classes were a huge hit!

Welcome back former pupil Erin, enjoying Korean cuisine.

MINDFULNESS SESSIONS

Pupil Support Assistant, Helen Anderson (pictured here with son Rory), provided an oasis of calm with her popular Kids Relax Mindfulness sessions.

Relax, Kids!

Very popular Mindfulness classes, which support an array of Mental Health and Wellbeing initiaitives introduced at school by Depute Head Carolyn Anstruther.

CHINESE CALLIGRAPHY AND ORIGAMI SESSIONS

Thank you to parents who manned the free calligraphy and origami sessions

Tihomir enjoys some Chinese calligraphy

Catie and her mum had fun at the Chinese calligraphy and origami sessions

Layla always has a sunny outlook, rain or shine!

So sad that star pupil Jaime from Murcia returns to Spain next year. Our love and best wishes to you and your family.

SCIENNES FOOTBALL CLUB FUN AND FUNDRAISING

PLANT STALL

The Plant Stall raised an amazing £273!

Thank you to Laura, Nikki, Mary and Rachel for setting out the Plant Stall so beautifully and manning it throughout the day.

SILENT AUCTION

The Silent Auction was a great success

Surprise star of the silent auction, Miss Stuffy McTat

BAKE SALE

Thank you to everyone who baked for and bought from the Bake Sale

Layla helps her mum man the Bake Sale

TOYS R US

Aidan and Katherine help at the Toy Stall

RECYCLED UNIFORM SALE

Phoebe and Mary man the uniform sale.

FRIENDSHIP BRACELETS

Thank you to Abi and Roma for selling 50 friendship bracelets handmade and donated by friend to the school, Anne Swap (retired Senior ASL ICT Development Officer).

Abi and Roma sold them all and made £50 for school funds!

WELCOME BACK FORMER MEMBER OF STAFF

Lovely to welcome back former member of staff Cath Walker to visit school with her family.

INTERNATIONAL FOOD STALL

What an outstanding success! Such a huge range of delicious cuisine from across the globe. Thank you to our generous sponors Papa John's for providing oodles of pizza and to Sainsbury's for supplying barbecue foods.

P6 pupils did a fantastic job selling International Food tickets

Thank you to all parents who prepared and sold such delicious international cuisine!

THANK YOU PAPA JOHN'S!

Thank you very much Papa John's Pizza for generously donating pizza and for your continued support for the school.

THANK YOU SAINSBURY'S

Thank you to Sainsbury's for generously providing barbecue foods for the International Food Stall.

Thank you team of super cook parents!

Thanks for all your help, former pupil Maxwell!

AND THERE WAS ICE CREAM, TOO!

WONDERFULLY SUPPORTIVE PARENTS

What can we say but thank you most sincerely to all who planned, organised, led and supported the Parent Council Summer Fair. A joyful celebration of our diverse community - for the entire community to enjoy.