Local Catchment Open Day and Registration Days for New P1 Pupils at Sciennes

CATCHMENT PRIMARY SCHOOL OPEN DAY FOR NEW PRIMARY ONE PUPILS
THURSDAY 2nd NOVEMBER 9.30-11.30am and 1.30-3.00pm
Sciennes will hold a City of Edinburgh 'Catchment Primary School Open Day' on Thursday 2nd November 2017  for our new intake of Primary One pupils in August 2018. Pupil led tour slots are available between 9.30am and 11.30am and then again between 1.30pm and 3.00pm.

http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/20074/schools/1147/primary_schools_open_day 

 

CATCHMENT REGISTRATION FOR NEW PRIMARY ONE PUPILS
THURSDAY 9th NOVEMBER 9am-3pm

P1 Registration for August 2018 is next week on Thursday 9th November between 9am and 3.00pm.

Please bring:

• Child’s birth certificate

• Name, address and telephone number of doctor

• 2017/2018 Council Tax payment book or Council Tax letter in parent's name

• a current utility bill within last six months (in parent's name)

• Names, addresses and telephone number of three emergency contacts.

N.B. these are the ONLY accepted forms of proof.

Please feel free to bring your child but this is not essential if s/he is attending nursery. There will be transition and induction opportunities for your child to visit school in the summer term.

See our 'Enrol' Blog for additional information:  https://sciennesenrol.blogspot.co.uk

Starting Primary School in City of Edinburgh
http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/20256/school_places/1372/start_primary_school 
http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2010/11/10093528/1

Diving Talent Search

Thank you very much to Diving Performance Coach, Jen Leeming, and her team from Edinburgh Leisure for providing excellent sessions throughout this week for P2-P7 pupils in her search for new diving talent, all undertaken in the Gym Hall. All the pupils received a certificate and some will receive an invitation for further coaching sessions, this time poolside.

This Friday's Comedy Evening has been postponed

Dear parents/carers, Due to unforeseen circumstances we have to postpone the comedy quiz to a later date (TBC). We apologise for any inconvenience caused.   We will arrange to refund any bookings made ASAP and send you a confirmation.   Thank you for your understanding. Best wishes, Jay Convener - Events and Fundraising Group

Back to School Tuesday 24th October

We hope all our families have enjoyed a restful October break and we look forward to welcoming the children back to school on Tuesday 24th October.

Comedy NIght Friday 27th October 7pm

Comedy Night - Friday 27th October @ 7pm

We're delighted to welcome back Comedy Quiz Night on Friday 27 October 2017, 7pm - 9pm in the School Hall.   The event will be hosted by Richard Melvin (of the Stand and BBC) and his dynamic Dads! Come and join us for a fun, sociable quiz night with snacks, drinks and loads of laughter!  You can also Bring Your Own Bottle – glasses will be provided. Tickets are £5 per person - and are only available online. Come together with your own team, or we can put you into a team when you arrive. Parents, carers, extended families and friends are all welcome! TICKETS ONLINE: https://form.jotformeu.com/72731156775361

When Will There Be A Harvest for the World? P3 Making a Difference

Sciennes Send a Cow P3 Harvest Appeal 29.9.17 from Sciennes Primary School

On Friday 29th September 2017 at both Assemblies, a group of P3 pupils joined Send A Cow Ambassador, Robert Stephens, in presenting how they are taking action as global citizens in support of four of the Sustainable Development Goals and acting to 'Make A Difference.'

Our three Primary Three classes are again leading the whole school Harvest Appeal with their Class Teachers and DHT Ms Anstruther, which this year is in support of the Send a Cow charity.

Each child in P3 is producing hand drawn collection envelopes which will be distributed to each of our families. If all our families contributed £1 we would reach a goal of £640 and be able to gift a cow to a family in Africa. Primary Three pupils are taking on different young workforce lead roles for their appeal campaign, such as Communications Teams, Publicity Teams and Finance Teams.

Send a Cow Ambassador, Robert Stephens, spoke with passion and eloquence to explain to the children how the charity works with families in Africa to provide training in not only animal husbandry but also in sanitation, irrigation and keyhole farming. He relayed the story of Jennifer whom he had visited in Uganda and saw first hand the huge difference the project had made to her life and that of her family. Jennifer was able not only to provide milk and vegetables for her own family, but could sell surplus at market to pay for tools, medicine and schooling. Perhaps most telling was Robert's final slide which showed that Jennifer had reached such a self-sufficient stage that she was able to purchase an ornamental vase, merely because she 'liked it.' 

Primary Three invited everyone to help Make A Difference by supporting their appeal with donations in the envelopes and also contributing to their planned bake sale on Friday 13th October.  We wish them great success in their endeavours and thank Robert for his gracious time supporting the children.

 

Article 29

The right to education which develops your personality, respect for others’ rights and the environment.

What World Do You Want to See By 2030?

Sciennes Global Goals Week 22.9.17 from Sciennes Primary School

On Friday 22nd September we celebrated Global Goals Week with a look at what action is already taking place at Sciennes Primary to support the Sustainable Development Global Goals (SDGs). We invited the  children to design their own Global Goals glasses to reflect the world they want to see by 2030 and asked them to think about which actions they could take this year to be Global #Goalkeepers. We asked pupils to take their Global Goals glasses home and ask their families if they are aware of the Sustainable Development Goals. Which of the Global Goals does your family support and why?

Global Goals Glasses

Our three P3 classes are taking action on SDG1, SDG2 and SDG3 by leading a whole school Harvest Appeal in support of the charity 'Send A Cow to Africa' and a speaker will address both Assemblies next week.


The Kid's Guide to Send a Cow from Send a Cow on Vimeo.

This week, in Scottish Climate Week, P7 have been taking action on SDG13 (Climate Action) by presenting 17 000 consultation responses to the Scottish Government's forthcoming Climate Bill with Stop Climate Chaos Scotland and Friends of the Earth. Eco Schools Scotland invited Faye, Sorley and Lucy to participate as a direct result of P7A's work on air pollution last year with Mr Hutchison, Mr McKenna, Ms Christie and SEPA. The pupils cycled to Parliament from school to hand over the responses to Roseanna Cunningham, Cabinet Secretary for the Environment.

Faye, Sorley and Lucy told everyone about their visit to Parliament with Stop Climate Chaos Scotland

Newly elected P6 Junior Road Safety Officers (JRSOs) Lyall, Essie and Anna shared details about their invitation to a training session at City Chambers, designed to support them in their lead role this year. Lyall explained that there had been workshops and one was on air quality, as a direct result of P7A's involvement with SEPA last year. Essie updated everyone on the Hands Up Scotland Travel Survey they organised and that baseline information has been added to our Living Streets Travel Tracker. Anna shared that the JRSOs will work with classes to help them use the Travel Tracker again this year to track active travel.

Supporting the world's plan for sustainable development using the Global Goals will help us all stand up for rights and P7C pupils this week articulately explained their understanding of the UNCRC to the Minister for Young People, Mark MacDonald, at a special celebratory event arranged by Together Scotland. Many thanks to Juliet Harris and Liz Millerfield for organising a very special 'picnic' lunch for the children, in recognition of all their hard work with artists Joanna, Yonnie and Lyver in creating fabulous UNCRC artwork on panels destined for the Scottish Parliament.

P7C pupils meet Mark MacDonald MSP at Together Scotland offices in Rosebery House

There was recognition for Ms MacKintosh in successfully leading engagement with Maths Week Scotland and for Ms Christie in leading a uniquely innovative and adventurous programme of cycling for P6.

P4A showed their wonderful 'Resilience Role Model' posters and Anjalie in P4 was also congratulated on her terrific Mindset poster.

We reminded pupils that to stay safe they should come back into the School Office if the person coming to collect them up is delayed.

We look forward to hearing pupils' ideas for being part of the Global Goals plan, making a difference at Sciennes, in the local community and beyond.

Global Goals House Assemblies

Sciennes Global Goals House Assembly 15.9.17 from Sciennes Primary School

On Friday 15th September 2017 we held our first House Assemblies of the new session for P2-P7 and welcomed P2 pupils to their first ever House Assembly for Grange, Lauder, Sienna and Tantallon.

In November 2015 Sciennes achieved a Bronze Award and in May 2016, Sciennes achieved a Silver (Level One) "Rights Respecting School" award. We are working towards Gold accreditation (Level Two), achievable within three years of Silver. Our journey so far has been recorded on our Rights Respecting Sciennes Timeline. We asked pupils what it means to be a UNCRC Rights Respecting School and reminded them this includes being a Global Citizen, respecting other people's rights.

We first introduced our pupils to the United Nations' Global Goals for Sustainable Development when they were launched in September 2015. By 2030 these aim to:

End extreme poverty
Fight inequality & injustice
Fix climate change





On September 25th 2015, 193 world leaders committed to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs.) Two years on, we watched a rap to help us understand all the goals better.




2018 is the Year of Young People and we asked the children to think about and share their ideas for being #Goalkeepers, like Malala, Barack Obama and Bill and Melinda Gates. What world do they want to see by 2030?




'The World's Largest Lesson Part Three' has a food theme this year and we will be exploring this and other relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) throughout the year. P3 will again be leading a whole school Harvest Appeal. Last year they successfully led donations to a local Foodbank charity and this year they are supporting the Send a Cow to Africa charity.



15th September is the International Day for Democracy. Congratulations to our newly elected Pupil Council members who will be the voice of their classmates throughout the year and will also be our Rights Respecting Schools Ambassadors. The results of the ECO Rep elections were also announced for each House.

Article 12

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

Article 29

The right to education which develops your personality, respect for others’ rights and the environment.

Challenge Yourself! Challenge Your Mindset!

Sciennes Assembly Challenge Yourself 8.9.17 from Sciennes Primary School

On Friday 8th September we explored 'Challenge Your Mindset'  which is one of ten strategies in City of Edinburgh's Health and Wellbeing programme for "Building Resilience." The programme complements Sciennes' existing HWB work, successfully led by DHT Ms Carolyn Anstruther and staff and parent School Improvement groups over many years.

Pupils were encouraged to maintain a Growth Mindset and were reminded that their abilities need not be fixed. Believing that achievement is possible is important, but lots of effort and determination and being open to make and learn from mistakes are also keys to success. We watched videos from Class Dojo and Sport Scotland to encourage us to keep challenging ourselves and keep persevering in our efforts.





Miss McGrouther's P6B class has created a display with inspiring quotes on self belief entitled "Believe in Your #Selfie." Ivy and Alba researched leadership quotes for homework, working hard to impress their teacher with their extra efforts, and shared these at Assembly.

The first Maths Week Scotland takes place next week and Ms Mackintosh is leading many maths events and activities in school.  Some classes are also taking part in a national Sumdog competition, in school, at home or both.

Today, 8th September, is International Literacy Day and pupils have been invited to take part in the First Minister's Reading Challenge again this year. Reading passports have been ordered and reading challenges will take place throughout the year. One of the first is to join a local library, which then gives access to dozens of free resources such as Mathletics and ebooks.

This week P7C pupils assisted at Assembly in a quiz and in celebrating pupil achievements.

Article 24

You have the right to the best health possible and to medical care and information.

Resilience Role Models

On Friday 1st September 2017, Mr Howie led the P4-7 Assembly, continuing our 'Building Resilience' Health and Wellbeing focus by exploring Resilience Role Models and different types of role model. Mr Howie particularly focused on Teddy Roosevelt, engagingly telling the story of his fascinating, inspiring life and how he strove to overcome adversity and take on personal challenges. Mr Howie also highlighted links with some of the ten 'Be Resilient' toolkit strategies (from a City of Edinburgh HWB programme) that we will be exploring further this year.

Sciennes P4-7 Resilience Role Models Assembly 1.9.17 from Sciennes Primary School

Pupils from P7A helped launch our annual P6 and P7 Junior Awards Scheme for Schools (JASS) and we celebrated recent pupil achievements.

Article 24

You have the right to the best health possible and to medical care and information.

P7 Conference and Silver JASS Award

 

Our P7 Conference is an annual whole day event of activities designed to welcome pupils to Primary Seven, set expectations for the senior stage and launch our P7 wider achievement programme. 

This year our P7 Conference featured articles of the UNCRC and rights based learning. Fresh fruit trays were provided at morning break and pupils were introduced to the four elements of the Silver Level Junior Award Scheme for Schools (JASS) and how to record progress through eJASS. We were delighted to welcome Sion Pickering from JASS and FOTA.

(Please note that those pupils who have yet to achieve Bronze may continue at that Level in P7. Pupils can work towards achieving Gold in S1 and S2 at most secondary schools. It serves as an excellent introduction to the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme for age 14+, and was designed as such.) 

Pupils got to experience each of the four elements of the award scheme at the conference:

1. Me and My World - Sarah Pope, Mercy Corps 

2. My Interests Eilidh Scott, Knitting for All

3. Get Active, Stay Active  Aimee Fraser, Dance Division

4. eJASS – recording JASS progress online using iPads

5. Adventure – Lagganlia and Outdoor Learning - pupils discussed their forthcoming week’s residential at Lagganlia Centre for Outdoor Learning

eJASS - Introduction and Planning Session 
At the conference, P7 pupils used an online planning tool to help them begin to think about ways to achieve the award by the end of the Easter holidays. Each pupil has also been given access to eJASS. In May next year, pupils will be asked to give a five minute presentation to their classmates describing what they have done to achieve the award.

Sciennes and Tollcross were part of the initial pilot for JASS a number of years ago. Several years ago, we began working with

• Ian Forder from JASS
• software developer Steve Moore
• the Digital Learning Team
• Alice Brown, Headteacher at Tollcross Primary
• Barry Hewitt from Outdoor Learning
• Claire Cooper from Drummond HIgh School

to take part in a pilot of the online version - eJASS. We are delighted that former pupil Alika's design (now in S1) is being used for the official logo.

Find out more about Sciennes Primary’s JASS work on our JASS website.