P7 Pupils Perform at Stunning Usher Hall JGHS Christmas Concert

What a stunning showcase of the terrific musical talents of the young people and staff of James Gillespie's High School at the Usher Hall Christmas Concert on Tuesday 19th December 2017! Cluster Primary Seven pupils from Sciennes, Tollcross, James Gillespie's Primary, Preston Street, Royal Mile and Taobh na Pairce Primary Schools rose to the occasion, sang beautifully and made everyone so proud. Thank you to JGHS Performing Arts Faculty Leader Mrs Deirdre O'Brien and her team for inviting the children to participate and organising the whole event.

Ninety of our own P7 pupils took to the stage and we commend their confidence and their 'can do' attitude, bolstered by lots of hard work and rehearsal with their Class Teachers. We are very grateful for the tremendous parental support in enabling so many of our pupils to participate this year.

Wonderful to see so many of our former pupils also shine on stage. A memorable, exciting way to end the year that also gives our pupils a flavour of the vast array of musical possibilities that await them at secondary school next year.

P5 Carol Singing Raises £510 for @crisis_uk!

We were incredibly proud of all the Primary 5 pupils today, for the continued effort and hard work they have put into our homelessness project.

This morning's carol singing was a huge success and we have managed to raise an incredible £510 for the charity Crisis. Thank you to all the families that turned up to support us. It was really appreciated! And grateful thanks to Hometech Integration for their very generous donation.

We hope you have a cosy weekend to warm up and rest those voices!

Ms French, Ms Pearmain, Ms Mackintosh, Miss Ferguson, Mr Howie, Miss Mitchell 

Read more about P5 Homeless project here.


Very well done to Miss Mitchell for braving the freezing cold to take part in Social Bite's Sleep in the Park last weekend https://www.sleepinthepark.co.uk/social-bite 
and to all P5 pupils and staff for their inspiring commitment to raising awareness about Homelessness.

Article 26

You have the right to help from the government if you are poor or in need.

Article 27

You have the right to have a good enough standard of living.
 

Rightly Proud!

What a wonderful, memorable experience for our young people - Arwen, Thomas, Alma, Luis, Eilidh, Isaac, Eamon and Rachel - to have an opportunity to present their Together Alliance UNCRC mural of Children's Rights at the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday 13th December, hosted by Deputy Presiding Officer Linda Fabiani MSP and with a presentation from Maree Todd MSP, Minister for Childcare and Early Years.

P7 Sciennes pupils with MYSPs Joel, Suki and Thomas and Maree Todd MSP

Juliet Harris and Liz Millership (Together), Maree Todd MSP and Linda Fabiani MSP

2017 State of Children's Rights in Scotland published today

We were all rightly proud of our pupils' fantastic artwork and their confidence in presenting to such an esteemed group of adults, gathered Together to launch the 2017 Report into the State of Children's Rights in Scotland. It was a delight to see their artwork feature in the newly released publication and a joy to see Arwen find a picture of herself when she opened the booklet.

Thank you very much to Juliet Harris and Liz Millership from Together for looking after us so well and making everyone feel welcome and at ease. Particular thanks to all the parents who accompanied and supported the children's participation in this very special event.

Rightly proud pupils and parents

P7 explain the journey along the seven panels of their child rights mural, from 'The Policy Factory'  panel where children's voices are excluded to 'The Meadow of Rights' panel where "everyone can be who they are" and have their voices heard.

Cathy McCulloch (Director) and Chelsea Stinson, Children's Voices Project Manager from the Children's Parliament (based at Summerhall) approached us last year with this very exciting opportunity to work with Together - the Scottish Alliance for Children's Rights.

http://www.togetherscotland.org.uk/resources-and-networks/the-uncrc-in-scotland-seminar-series-2017 

As part of a seminar series on children's rights in law, practice and policy, Together and the Scottish Universities Insight Institute worked with international delegates to ensure that children and young people play a key role and that key messages from the seminars are accessible to everyone. Together commissioned artists Joanna Boyce, Yonnie and Lyver to work with our then P6 pupils to present key messages in a creative and engaging way. Three young people who had attended the seminars (Joel, Thomas and Suki) interpreted the key messages and themes then our P6 pupils (now P7) worked closely with the artists to visualise the imagery suggested, for example 'rights in the clouds', 'a policy factory', 'a meadow of rights' and 'connected Together in a daisy chain.'

Having adopted the name 'The Clan of Children's Rights', this group of pupils will continue supporting and developing our rights based learning at Sciennes (particularly in the Year of Young People 2018) and we sincerely thank all involved in this project for helping them gain the confidence, understanding and enthusiasm to take a lead role within our school.

 

Article 42

All adults and children should know about this convention.

Article 12

You have the right to an opinion and for it to be listened to and taken seriously.

Leading to Leave a Legacy

Sciennes JRSO Road Safety and Legacy Assembly 17.11.17 from Sciennes Primary School
 

On Friday 24th November our three P6 Junior Road Safety Officers (JRSOs) took the lead to encourage everyone to be bright and be seen this winter and showed a video to explain why 20mph speed limits make roads safer. Mrs Gibb and P4C received reflective prizes for being the most brightly dressed.

The Pupil Council is leading a consultation on a proposal to extend the playground and everyone in the Hall was asked to signal with a show of hands if they were in favour. Pupil Council reps from P2-P7 are also debating this proposal in class and collecting feedback comments for Mrs Noble.

Mr Howie led an inspirational presentation, designed to help pupils realise how they can take the lead to work individually and as a team to create and leave a lasting legacy, using the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team's philosophies as a theme.

P7 Sports Captains led congratulations on pupils' recent achievements and issued certificates to P7 Sportshall Athletics Finalists.

Article 12

You have the right to an opinion and for it to be listened to and taken seriously.

Thank you to EVERYONE involved in the fair!

A HUGE thank you to everyone for: Organising and leading the various stalls and activities Volunteering – many of you went above and beyond and stayed longer than you signed up to help! Donating items and foods generously Coming along, especially for waiting patiently in the freezing weather. You all made the Sciennes Winter Fair 2017 a tremendous success. And together we raised over £6,000 which is an incredible achievement! We hope that you all really enjoyed the fair. Jay (Events & Fundraising Group Convenor), and all in Sciennes Parent Council Thank you very much, Jay! What a wonderful, fun-filled family event! Huge efforts from all involved in planning, organising and supporting ensured everything ran extremely smoothly and was greatly enjoyed by everyone who came along for all the fun of the fair!   Santa's Elves Thank you to the army of helpers who catered so well for all the families Thank you to Sainsbury's and Papa John's for generous sponsorship   DEVELOPING THE YOUNG WORKFORCE in #iwill Week! P6 and P7 Pupils Take the Lead! For the first time, all six classes of Primary Six and Primary Seven pupils designed and led their own fundraising activities at the Winter Fair. Thank you very much to Virgin Money's Make £5 Grow, pupils, staff, Mr McKenna and Ms Pearmain for making the stalls such a huge success.  Thank you to everyone who stayed behind to count all the funds raised. An amazing total! Thank you Morven and Cathy and hasta luego, Sarah!