Fairtrade Breakfast for Fairtrade Fortnight

FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT 29th FEBRUARY - 13th MARCH

We hope families will consider joining this year's Fairtrade Fortnight campaign - "You eat, they eat" by choosing some Fairtrade products, at breakfast time particularly.

See links for further information:

http://fortnight.fairtrade.org.uk

#FairtradeFortnight
 #YouEatTheyEat

World Book Day Thursday 3rd March

Thursday 3rd March will see the launch of our exciting new Playground Reading Shed. Pupils have been invited to donate a book to add to a collection of books which will only be used in the playground.

Classes will be celebrating World Book Day and promoting reading, but please note that as part of our initiative to reduce the cost of the school day, this year we are keen to discourage dressing up. Instead, we would like pupils to bring a favourite book or wear a sticker with the name of their favourite book.

All pupils will receive a £1 book token that can be exchanged for one of ten £1 books or used to obtain a £1 discount at selected bookshops.

http://worldbookclone.wpengine.com/books/

SHANARRI Health and Wellbeing P4-7 Assembly

On Friday 26th February 2016, House Captains helped explain SHANARRI and what we all need to be healthy and well. Pupils learned a 'SHANARRI' song, ready for our visit from Hopscotch Theatre on Thursday 10th March with their production "The Rights of the Child."

(SHANARRI stands for Safe, Healthy, Active, Nurtured, Achieving, Respected, Responsible and Included – the key wellbeing indicators that form the basis of GIRFEC  Getting it Right for Every Child.)

Thank you to P7 pupils Luke and Lena and to Ms Kennedy (Support for Learning Specialist and Reading Co-ordinator) for their presentation about the exciting launch of our new Playground Reading Shed on World Book Day, Thursday 3rd March.

Sciennes SHANARRI P4-7 Assembly 25.2.16 from SciennesPS

Article 24

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

Global Goal 3

 

Congratulations to Bruntsfield Primary!

EAST SCOTLAND SPORTSHALL ATHLETICS

Bonaly and Bruntsfield Primary Schools represented the City of Edinburgh in the East of Scotland Sportshall Competition at Meadowbank Sports Centre on Thursday 25 February 2016.  Both teams competed very well against teams from East Lothian, Mid Lothian, West Lothian and the Scottish Borders with Bruntsfield finishing in first place!

Many congratulations to the Bruntsfield pupils and their coach Ms Ingrid Ramsay.

Thank you to all schools for their continued support of the Sportshall Programme in Edinburgh.  Over 1000 pupils had the opportunity to be involved in this event.  Huge thanks to staff and supporters.

Beth Walker

Sports and Outdoor Learning Unit

Fencing Competition Sunday 21st February

    

·         Edinburgh Plastic Foil Competition

·         Plastic Foil Competition

Sunday 21st February 2016

St Thomas Aquins School,

2-20 Chalmers Street, Edinburgh, Midlothian EH3 9ES

Please enter by the Lauriston Gardens entrance

Competition Notes:
Chocolate Medals for all entrants!

Lots of Fencing - brilliant value fun competition for GIRLS AND BOYS.
Coaching and Instruction given on the day Fun Games to finish on!

Equipment Regulations:
Fencers should wear tracksuit trousers, trainers and long-sleeved top.
Scottish Fencing will provide all the necessary plastic fencing equipment

Come and Try Sessions:
If you have friends who want to come and have a go, then bring them along and they can put on the mask, grab a plastic sword and get involved in a practice training session. Parents and guardians are also welcome to take part in the come and try.

Check in times:   
Sunday 21st February 2016                  
Please check-in for the competition at the following times:
Girls/Boys P3,P4 and P5 from 1000hrs - 1030hrs (finished by 1300hrs)
Girls/Boys P6/P7 from 1300 - 1330hrs (finished by 1600hrs)

·         Entries Through the Web Site: http://scottish-fencing.co.uk/plastic

Keith Cook

Director of Fencing Fun

www.fencingfun.co.uk  

www.thefencingexperience.com 

07921853728 

All Resume Monday 22nd February

We look forward to welcoming everyone back to school on MONDAY 22nd February.

We appreciate pupils returning equipped with well stocked pencil cases - sharpened pencils, coloured pencils, small and large ruler, sharpener, eraser, glue stick - as well as full P.E. kit which should include a change of labelled clothes and indoor gym shoes in a gym bag.

We are grateful for continuing parental support in ensuring all our pupils wear school uniform and details of this can be found in our School Uniform Policy:

Sciennes School Uniform Policy

P6 Benmore - Thank You

 

Thank You

Thank you from all of us to all our P6 families for working with us to provide the children with such a memorable, beneficial residential trip together to Benmore Outdoor Education Centre. It was a genuine pleasure to escort 91 tremendously positive, caring and well behaved pupils and we all thoroughly enjoyed their company and conversation. We hope you notice at home how well they can do household chores and keep their rooms tidy, because all scored very highly in daily dorm inspections! It was wonderful to witness P6s extend friendships and make lasting bonds with each other, as well as with the staff. Everyone managed to take on many new challenges throughout the week and supported one another with patience and kindness.

The Sciennes staff also gave it their all and sustained the 24/5 duty by working very closely as a team. We took lots of photographs but always struggle with trying to get a signal and with very slow upload speeds. However, we hope you enjoyed the updates and we will continue to publish more photos on our Benmore blog in due course.

Thank you to P6 teachers Mrs Maguire, Ms Gaffney, Ms Sellar and Mr McKenna for devoting their time, energy and above all care to their children. Mrs Cave has enjoyed keeping up to date with all the adventures back at home. Mrs Maguire knows the year group extremely well and all five P6 teachers have been highly effective in preparing the children for the trip and making sure all the pupils had the best possible experience.

It was wonderful to have seasoned camper, Ms Anstruther, on the team and she was superbly supportive of all the children day and night. Grateful thanks to the entire team and also to the extended team back at Sciennes, particularly Mrs Noble, Ms Christie and Mrs Ellis who have an even busier week than usual without us. Mr Scott and Mr Reid also deserve a thank you for helping us get safely on and off the coaches.

We are indebted to all the magnificent staff at Benmore who go out of their way to make our stay with them as comfortable as it can possibly be, always going the extra mile to accommodate our needs, and for the great skill, expertise and dedication of the Instructors. We consider them not only trusted, respected colleagues, but also our dear friends.

All pupils who took part this week will receive the 'Adventure' certificate; one quarter of the way towards full JASS Bronze award accreditation, and a Benmore Certificate.

Thank you to Mrs Nowell and all the staff back at school who ensured that the six pupils who remained also had an enjoyable and interesting week.

Thank you most sincerely to all the families who support us, not least of all financially, in providing what we believe to be an invaluable educational opportunity for our children.

We hope you have a wonderful holiday and we look forward to building on the success of the trip. Well done, Primary Six!
Ms Gallagher

Group One

Group Two

Group Three

Group Four

Group Five

Group Six

Group Seven

Group Eight

Group Nine

P7 Sporsthall Athletics EPSSA Silver Medallists

P7 pupils came joint Second place at the Edinburgh Final of Sportshall Athletics on Monday 11th January at Meadowbank Stadium and narrowly missed out in competing at the East Scotland Final. We wish Bonaly (who came First) and Bruntsfield (who came joint Second but with 8 First Place events to Sciennes' 4 First Place events) success in the forthcoming event. Thank you to Mrs Beth Walker for providing Silver EPSSA medals to all the pupils who took part.

Sportshall Edinburgh Final by Luke P7B
At Sportshall it was great. We had amazing fun and Liam in P7C set a new Edinburgh record of 6.7 metres and won a gold medal! At first the team were 8th and after the next event we were 4th.

The further we got through the day the more tense it became and when we got to the results everyone was so nervous and excited to see how we did but no matter how we did we went in with a message that we all remembered. No matter how well we do we can only try our best and trying our best is what we should be proud of. When the results came in we were joint 2nd with 176 points! Yash from P7B said “It was an amazing experience and loads of fun.” I'm sure everyone else would agree with him.

A Gold Medal for Liam!

Liam set a new Edinburgh Record in the Chest Push Event

 

Fencing Fun

Thank you to Parent Council Clubs Co-ordinator Tim Pask for forwarding these fantastic photographs from Keith Cook's Fencing Fun Breakfast Clubs last term. Keith has presented all the pupils with Achievement Certificates and it's great to see so many of our pupils taking part.

Keith Cook

Director of Fencing Fun

www.fencingfun.co.uk  

www.thefencingexperience.com 

07921853728  

P4-7 Assembly 5.2.16

At the P4-7 Assembly on Friday 5th February P7 House Captains helped us think about the Golden Rule and how it can help us to RESPECT each other's RIGHTS.

Fergus from the Pupil Council explained the 1 in 5 Make a Difference Award. Pupil Council leaders will collect class ideas next week. (P6 pupils can contribute their ideas when they get back from camp.)

P6 pupils will achieve one quarter of their Bronze JASS Award - the Adventure Certificate - when they attend Benmore Outdoor Education Centre next week.

Tanatallon are still in the lead with House Points!

Sciennes Golden Rule P4-7 Assembly 5.2.16 from SciennesPS



 

Edinburgh Playing Out Meeting Tues 9th February 7.30pm

Edinburgh Playing Out is a group which is trying to encourage residential streets to have some car free time to promote playing / social time outdoors.

Interested to find out more and get involved?

EDINBURGH PLAYING OUT PUBLIC MEETING

CITY CHAMBERS

TUESDAY 9th FEBRUARY 7.30pm

Curriculum Evening – Health & Wellbeing

The Emotional and Mental Health information evening will take place in school on Thursday 4th February at 7pm. There is no cost for this evening, but we ask all interested parents / carers to book a place on Wisepay to give us an indication of the uptake. 

The aim of the evening is to highlight the importance the school places of developing happy, resilient and confident pupils. 

We will consider three main topics during the course of the evening: 
Mindfulness – to provide a brief outline of the many benefits of mindfulness for children, and to introduce the new Pawsb mindfulness programme 
Emotion Talks – to explain the programme for talking and learning about emotions and emotional well being that is used throughout the school 
Mindset – to discuss of how we foster a Growth Mindset in our pupils – the belief that intelligence and abilities can be developed through effort, persistence, trying different strategies and learning from mistakes.

Carolyn Anstruther, DHT, and Fiona Denvir, Parent Council

Free Event - Edinburgh Play Rangers 17th February 12pm-3pm

Edinburgh Play Rangers Event

FREE FAMILY FUN

WEDNESDAY 17th FEBRUARY

12pm-3pm

Dumbiedykes Park

1 in 5 - The Make A Difference Award

1 in 5 Raising Awareness of Child Poverty in Edinburgh – The Make A Difference Award 

What would you do with £250 to help Make a Difference? 

Sciennes' Pupil Council met on Friday 29th January to plan a school wide launch of City of Edinburgh's 'Make a Difference Award'. Pupils will take the lead in encouraging fellow pupils, classes, staff and parents to submit ideas of how they would use the award money to help make a difference to children and families living on or below the poverty line in our school community. 

Your ideas might involve:

• Raising awareness of the realities of living in poverty in the UK.
• Contribute towards reducing school costs e.g. uniform, trips, books and resources for those most in need.
• Support income/benefits advice and management for families.

Any other ideas you might have to Make a Difference? 

Schools will submit their top three ideas for judging by an independent panel. the winners from each school will then be invited to present their idea at the 1 in 5 Launch and Roll Out event on the 22nd March before receiving the £250 award money to take forward their idea in their school.

Who can enter?
Individual or groups of staff, parent councils, individual pupils or classes/tutor groups.

Submission dates for ideas?
FRIDAY 12th FEBRUARY 2016

How do I/ we enter?
Contact your school to receive a Make a Difference Award submission form.      

Article 26 The right to have help if you are poor or in need
Article 27 The right to have a good enough standard of living 
Article 28  The right to learn

 

P4-7 Assembly 29.1.16

P6 finalists Ben, Rachel and Cai competed to win the Steven Lui cup for Burns Recital at the P4-7 Assembly on Friday 29th January 2016. All three contenders were outstanding, giving an exceptionally high standard of performance. Congratulations to Rachel who edged forward with her very confident delivery and stage presence to win the trophy this year. Very well done to all our finalists and to all the Primary Six pupils who took part. Last year's winner, Yash, presented the cup to Rachel, which will be engraved with her name.

Jonathan in P7B, assisted by Sam, gave a superb account of how he set about achieving the 'Me and My World' section of his Junior Award Scheme for Schools (JASS) award by supporting local charity Re-Act Scotland. An exemplary model for other pupils to follow.

P7 commemorated Holocaust Memorial Day on 27th January and this 'Don't Stand By' video links HMD to the current Refugee crisis (though we had difficulty showing it at Assembly due to an erratic broadband connection).




Thank you to the Sports Captains for their contributions to this week's Assembly in celebrating pupil successes and sharing school news.

Pupils were reminded that ALL SHOULD BE ON TIME BY TEN TO NINE.

Sciennes P4-7 Burns and JASS Assembly 29.1.16 from SciennesPS

Website Strategy

We have been working with Graeme Smith, Web and Contents Manager for City of Edinburgh Council, to devise a long term strategy for our school website.  We have been considering making improvements to our website for some time, and this has been hastened by our website provider ceasing trading last week. We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

The Council has selected CGI to provide its ICT services (previously provided by BT) and the new contract begins on 1st April 2016 for seven years. The Council's preferred platform for school websites is Wordpress and in time, may be able to offer web hosting for schools as part of CGI's facilities.

We have now taken our first steps in moving to a new Wordpress.org website hosted by local company Braw Solutions which has a great deal of experience in supporting Edinburgh schools. We have worked closely with Steve Moore from Braw Solutions over several years to input to the design of eJASS and pilot it for CEC. 

Wordpress is a new platform for us and it will take some time to populate a new site but we believe that the strategy we are taking is in line with planned CEC developments. Meanwhile, we will continue to use our Blogger site and the url www.sciennes.edin.sch.uk

Normal Service Resumed with Website

Our website address www.sciennes.edin.sch.uk now takes you automatically to our Blogger site, which we will continue to use meanwhile.

P4-7 Assembly Friday 22nd January

On Friday 22nd January we celebrated highlights from Sciennes' P1-7 Scotland Week and enjoyed P4A pupil performances of "The Dark Island." Caela and Essie encouraged everyone to be kind to one another and sang "Mean" confidently. Taha, Declan and Sonny showed their Beat Box skills and the House Captains congratulated pupils on recent successes and achievements.

Sciennes P4-7 Assembly 22.1.16 from SciennesPS
 

We also welcomed former pupils Jessica, Katie and Anna to speak to P4-7 pupils. The girls are now in their Sixth Year at James Gillespie's High School and are about to embark on a visit to Zwelinanzi High School in Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa, as part of a longstanding twinning between the schools. Pupils and families have been asked to support JGHS's annual Donate a Pencil Case appeal. Donations will be gratefully received and can be handed to the School Offfice until 9th February. Jessica, Katie and Anna will collect them before they fly off on 11th February.

Mr Howie's Assembly last week used William Earnest Henley's poem "Invictus" to encourage everyone to recognise what we can and cannot control, then take charge of what we can control. This week, we continued thinking about how we can respond when things do not work out as well as we might hope and watched Kid President's "Life is Like a Comic.'

"Sometimes you miss the football. Sometimes the tree eats your kite.
Things won't always be awesome, but our response can be."

Website Provider Ceases Trading

Our website provider has been experiencing difficulties for several months and has now ceased trading. We will continue to use Blogger meanwhile and aim to direct traffic to www.sciennes.edin.sch.uk to this site:

http://sciennesnewsflash.blogspot.co.uk

Longer term possibilities with providers and hosting are being explored.

P4-7 Assembly Friday 15th January

Yes you can! You are the master of your fate and the captain of your soul. Mr Howie led the P4-7 Assembly on Friday 15th January and focused on William Earnest Henley's poem "Invictus" to encourage everyone to recognise what we can and cannot control then take charge of what we know we CAN change.

Toby in P7B gave an outstanding performance of "The World in Union", singing and playing the piano beautifully, and the Sports Captains did a superb job of celebrating recent pupil successes.

Sciennes P4-7 Assembly Stoicism 15th January 2016 from SciennesPS

Hopscotch Theatre: Burns' Last Supper

Pupils in P4, P5 and P6 were enthralled by the exuberant, highly crafted performances of Ruth and Ross from Hopscotch Theatre when they visited Sciennes on Wednesday 20th January to give two performances of "Burns' Last Supper" in the round. Superb acting captivated our pupils, who also thoroughly enjoyed the music that enhanced their excellent storytelling. Bravo!

Sciennes Parent Council Family Ceilidhs

Sciennes Parent Council

 Family Ceilidhs

6.30pm – 8.00pm

Thursdays 21 and 28 January 2016

Ceilidh dancing with the McAlastair Ceilidh Band with June Underwood and her Highland Dancers. A fabulous fun evening for everyone.

Tickets on Wisepay NOW

Adults £4 and Children £3 each.

(Tickets include refreshments and shortbread.)

Volunteers are still needed to help out with Parent Council events and need only take a few hours of your time. Sign up here or email events_fundraising@yahoo.co.uk. Thank you.

CEC Parent/Carer Survey 2015/16

There is still time to complete the annual City of Edinburgh Parent and Carer Survey, to contribute your views about the educational provision within our school establishment. We are keen to gather as many responses as possible, so please click on the link and select 'Sciennes Primary School' to complete. The survey is open until January 18th 2016. 

 

YOUR VIEWS ABOUT THE SCHOOL - FOR PARENTS AND CARERS

Children and Families in the City of Edinburgh Council is keen to find out what parents and carers think of the education services it provides. We want to hear what you think works well and what needs to change.

Your views will help us plan our services locally and across Edinburgh. By telling us what you think, you will be helping schools to make improvements.

The questions will take about 10 minutes or so to answer.

Your answers are anonymous and no-one will be able to identify you from your answers. We do need you to tell us which school your child/children attend.

If you need more information or help to answer any of the questions, please contact David Maguire on 0131 529 2132 or by email: david.maguire@edinburgh.gov.uk

If possible, please complete the questionnaire online. Alternatively, you can complete a paper copy and return it to your child's school.

Thank you for your participation.


http://www.surveymonkey.com/r/parc15

House Assemblies 8th January 2016

On Friday 8th January we welcomed back pupils to the new session at our House Assemblies for Grange, Lauder, Sienna and Tantallon. House and Sports Captains asked pupils to think about their goals and challenges for the coming year.

Our playground has been inspected several times and while a further request is being considered, pupils were reminded to avoid the cordoned off area meanwhile. Pupil feedback on the new gravel was very positive.

Great to see almost all of our pupils in school uniform, and we appreciate parental support in continuing to encourage this. Warm, hooded jackets with hats, gloves and scarves at the ready, please, for colder weather forecast for next week.

House Assembly 8.1.16 from SciennesPS

Active Schools Clubs

Dear Parent/Carer

Active Schools is delighted to offer a range of sport and physical activity extracurricular opportunities for Term 2. I have tried to ensure all year groups are included in an activity/club at least once a week and hope that there is something in the programme that your child would like to do. If there is something your child would like to do and it’s not on the programme for this term, please ask them to let their pupil council representative know or tell me, Heather Davies, your Active Schools Coordinator.

All clubs continue to be paid for through our school's on-line WISEPAY system.
Numbers on each club are limited. Once this limit is reached payments will NO LONGER be accepted. Please access the system ASAP to ensure your child attains a place.

If your child is interested to attend, please:
Access our on line WISEPAY System
Login with your Username and Password and select Tickets and Events.
Select and pay for your chosen clubs, remembering to tick to agree consent.

Every attempt will be made to inform children and parents/carers in advance when a club has been cancelled. However, occasionally cancellations happen at the last minute; you will be notified by Text Message. Please therefore, if possible, provide a mobile number when completing your child’s EE2 form this year.

The school and I would like to take this opportunity to thank parents, teachers, tutors and volunteers who put so much time and effort into organising the sports and clubs for the children. Without them these activities would not take place.

Regards,
Heather Davies
Active Schools Coordinator
James Gillespie’s High School and Cluster Primaries
heather.davies@ea.edin.sch.uk

Follow us on Twitter: @ActiveSchoolsED

Parent Council Clubs

Happy New Year to all and please check out the Parent Council clubs available to book for 2016!

Some important information about the next term:
All clubs will recommence W/b January 18th 2016 and will run through until Thursday 24th March.

You can register your child for any club by contacting the club leaders directly from their listing on the Parent Council website although some are operating a waiting list. You will be advised by the club leader if this is the case.

The clubs timetable is posted on the parent council website: https://sciennesschool.wordpress.com/schoolclubs/clubs-timetable/
 
More details about each individual club including contact details can also be found on the website:https://sciennesschool.wordpress.com/schoolclubs/club-details/

 *PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO HALF TERM THERE WILL BE NO CLUBS BETWEEN MONDAY 15th - FRIDAY 19TH of FEBRUARY*

The club leaders will also inform you of any other dates that impact on individual clubs eg parent consultations etc.
Term ends Thursday March 24th - recommences Monday 11th April.

Any enquires should be made in the first instance to club leaders.
General enquiries should be made to Tim at sciennes@outlook.com 

Hope you have great term!
Sciennes Parent Council (Clubs)

Parent Council Meeting Thurs 14th January

PARENT COUNCIL MEETING

THURSDAY 14th JANUARY

7pm-9pm

All welcome