Assemblies Online

Want to catch up with the information the pupils receive? Each week, we publish the P4-7 Assembly online.

You can view all our published slideshows on Slideshare.net at this address:

http://www.slideshare.net/SciennesPS/presentations

Sciennes Janis Mackay P4-7 Assembly 6.5.16 from SciennesPS

On Friday 6th May our wonderful Patron of Reading, the celebrated, award-winning Scottish author, Janis Mackay,  took time out of her hectic schedule to support Sciennes' pupils and staff in continuing to promote a love of reading. Many thanks to Ms Bethan Owen for organising.

BOOK LAUNCH at P4-7Assembly
We were so excited to host the launch of Janis Mackay's latest book - the third in her Time Traveller trilogy -  “The Unlikely Time Traveller” and P5 pupil Iseabhail was thrilled to receive the very first signed copy. Janis read extracts from her new book and shared the journey she took in writing. What a great example of how to persevere and be resilient, showing that success comes from persistent effort.  Janis has set everyone a creative writing challenge, asking pupils to imagine what the world will be like 100 years from now. The deadline for completion is the end of May.) There are amazing prizes on offer, including a generous £30 book token and fantastic signed framed copies of a specially commissioned poster with Sciennes in the title! Pencils at the ready and thinking caps on!

P5 pupils gave a rousing rendition of one of the songs from their outstanding performance of Scottish Opera's "Fever" on Wednesday 4th May. Bravo! Superb production!

Sports Captains congratulated Milenka on becoming U12 British Champion in Foil Fencing and Stephen, Boris and Robert on winning the Lothian Schools Cross Country Boys' Relay. Thank you Mr Scott for arranging for the Silver Salver to be engraved.

Janis Mackay Launches "The Unlikely Time Traveller!"

Sciennes' Patron of Reading, Janis Mackay

Amazing poster prizes of "Time Travel Trouble in Sciennes!"

On Friday 6th May our wonderful Patron of Reading, the celebrated, award-winning Scottish author, Janis Mackay,  took time out of her hectic schedule to support Sciennes' pupils and staff in continuing to promote a love of reading. Many thanks to Ms Bethan Owen for initiating and leading our link with Janis.

BOOK LAUNCH at P4-7Assembly

We were so excited to host the launch of Janis Mackay's latest book - the third in her Time Traveller trilogy -  “The Unlikely Time Traveller” and P5 pupil Iseabhail was thrilled to receive the very first signed copy. Janis read extracts from her new book and shared the journey she took in writing. What a great example of how to persevere and be resilient, showing that success comes from persistent effort.  Janis has set everyone a creative writing challenge, asking pupils to imagine what the world will be like 100 years from now. The deadline for completion is the end of May.) There are amazing prizes on offer, including a generous £30 book token and fantastic signed framed copies of a specially commissioned poster with Sciennes in the title! Pencils at the ready and thinking caps on!

 

JANIS WITH P4 
Janis' recent Storytelling Workshops with P4 proved a huge hit with the children and provided excellent stimulus for their own writing.

P4 Storytelling with Janis

JANIS WITH P2

Janis will return later this term to work with our P2 classes on their Seashore topic, linked to her "The Wee Seal" book, and we will announce the winners of the "Unlikely Time Traveller" creative writing competition before the end of term.

Many thanks to Janis, who brings books to life in our school and provides us with such inspiration. Thank you also to Blackwell's for providing the Book Signing stall. Best of luck to all the classes who we know will rise to the challenge in true Sciennes style!

Swimathon Donations – One Week Left!

 
They came. They swam. They conquered.
Now it’s time for the rest of us to do our part. Donations and sponsorship to the Swimathon close in one week – on Friday 13 May.
So far we are just over halfway to meeting our goal of £8000.
Donating is quick and easy through the Sciennes Swimathon 2016 MyDonate page. Full instructions can be found here.
Or simply drop off your donation at the office.

Sciennes Summer Fair – Unique Proverbs, Customs and Traditions

Your help required and this time it won’t cost you a penny.
This year the Sciennes Summer Fair has an international theme.  There will be lots of fun and interesting events for kids and adults, well mainly for the kids.   One of the events will be to match the proverb with the country and another will be to match the unique tradition with the country.

 

For example, “Ne’er cast a cloot till May be oot” is a Scots saying which means don’t put away your warm clothes until summer has arrived. Wise words given that it was snowing last week.  

And, a well-known Swedish proverb, well in Sweden at least is “There is no cow on the ice”.  This means there’s nothing to worry about … yet.

An interesting custom in Scotland is to be first-footed at New Year and in Spain “Doce uvas” is the custom of eating a grape at the chime of each bell on New Year’s Eve.  Both of these customs are intended to bring good luck.

So, by now you should get the point.  If you have any interesting proverbs or unique customs then e-mail me at events_fundraising@yahoo.co.uk and I’ll tell everyone who comes to the Sciennes Fair.  Oh, and please translate them and tell me what it means.  And one last thing, no more proverbs about skating livestock!

Yours in anticipation
Domenic

Davis Cup and Leon Smith

Thank you very much to Edinburgh Leisure and Sciennes' parent, Tennis coach Alex Harkins, for arranging a fantastic opportunity for P6 pupils to meet Leon Smith and see the Davis Cup at close quarters on the Meadows on Wednesday 4th May. The children were thrilled and loved the tennis activities!

Summer Fair 2016 Silent Auction

Summer Fair 2016 Silent Auction www.jumblebee.co.uk jumblebee offers a service to communities and charities, allowing communication, advertising, trading and fundraising, free silent auction

 http://www.jumblebee.co.uk/summerfair2016silentauction

We have a great selection of experiences & items for you to try your luck on. The auction is open until the Summer Fair and closes at midnight on Saturday 4 June 2016.

Here's a quick look at the leaderboard so far:

1.       A stunning Speyside cottage by Tormore distillery - enjoy discovering nearby Moray Firth with beautiful beaches & dolphins, what more could you ask for?
2.       Beautiful watercolours by local artists
3.       European Curling Championship Final tickets - wow!
4.       National Trust for Scotland annual family membership - great days out & educational too
5.       Camera Obscura family tickets - fun for all the family
6.       Teeth whitening for that winning smile

As the saying goes, `you've got to be in it to win it!'!

But first, here's the legal bit:

Auction Terms
A bid on an auction item is considered a commitment to purchase the item. If you have won an auction item, you will be informed after the auction close. Payment for each auction item must be made in full before the item is released.

For collecting items, after making the payment, print off the receipt and collect your item at the school reception. Good luck & happy bidding…!

Please don't hesitate to contact the Events & Fundraising Group if you have any questions or wish to donate: events_fundraising@yahoo.co.uk

Parent Council HWB Fundraising Challenge

As you may or may not know we are attempting to complete the Etape Caledonia challenge this Sunday, which will mean 6 hours on our bikes. We are looking to raise funds for both Marie Curie and the Parent Council Health and Wellbeing group. We are grateful to those who have already donated and it really is spurring us on.

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/etapechallenge?currentPage=2&update=new#donationsList

It has taken over our lives for the best part of eight months but we are determined to do this #officiallypetrified

Many thanks

Bethan McEwan & Fiona Denvir (Sciennes Parent Council Health and Wellbeing Group)

Swimathon 2016 – The Results

Janis Mackay Book Stall and Book Signing Friday 6th May

School Closed to Pupils Thursday 5th May

A reminder that school is closed to pupils on THURSDAY 5th MAY for the Scottish Election.

Please note that Sciennes is NOT being used as a polling station for the EU Referendum, so will be open as normal on THURSDAY 23rd JUNE.

PRIMARY ONE AUGUST 2016

The Induction Days for the new Primary One pupils due to start school in August 2016 will be held on 21st June at 1.40pm for P1a and P1d; 22nd June at 1.40pm for P1b and P1c pupils. Details of the classes have already been sent out to the new pupils.

The children will start school in groups of ten on Wednesday 17th, Thursday 18th and Friday 19th of August 2015 from 8.50 - 12 noon. Details of the start date for the groups of children will be issued at the Induction Day. The normal school day of 8.50 - 2.50pm will begin on Monday 22nd August.

Ms Carolyn Anstruther DHT P1-3

Unicef Day for Change 13th May

Please collect loose change and bring to school on Friday 13th May to support Unicef's 'Day for Change.' Thank you. Pupils can wear blue, if you wish.

Article 29 You have the right to education which develops your personality, respect for others’ rights and the environment.

Funding Win for Nature Strip Playspace!

Thank you very much from all at Sciennes to parent Colin Sim for all his efforts in this successful application for funding.


We are delighted to let you know that we have won funding that will let us further extend the play area in the nature strip opposite the school.

The money will let us build a willow tunnel structure in the grassy area of the nature strip, next to where the natural play area was built last summer. This will provide an exciting learning opportunity for children – from growing the willow to using it as an adventure play area. The new feature will also be open for our local community to use, in the same way as the nature strip play space is just now.

The Friends of Sciennes School, our registered charity, won £2,310 of funding thanks to the support of our local community at the South Centra£ Decides event, held on Saturday (30 April). The City of Edinburgh Council’s South Central Neighbourhood Partnership ran the event.

People aged over eight years old were able to vote for the projects they thought should be funded. There were 21 community projects seeking funding, so local people had some hard choices to make to decide which was their favourites. We are therefore very grateful that we were lucky enough to be one of the eleven winners.

We would like to thank the many people who supported our project – from our Sciennes' pupils and their families, to former pupils from both a few years ago to a few decades ago, together with pupils from other schools and neighbours who live close to our school. We also want to thank Diarmuid from class p1C, his parents and Angela Christie our Business Manager for their help in applying and representing our project at the event.

Whilst we are excited to have our new willow structure planted as early as possible, we are going to have to wait until much later in the year. Because willow should only be planted when it is out of its growing season, it is likely going to be November or December until we can have our new tunnel structure.

The living willow tunnel should form a leafy den and shady play area. When first planted, and during winter, willow looks like lifeless flexible stems, but will grow quickly into a leafy green structure. A number of primary schools have been successfully growing willow tunnels in their playgrounds. You can see some examples in photographs below.

We will of course keep you updated on our planting plans and look forward to our children enjoying another development of our playground.

Colin Sim, Parent Council Communications Group 

Where the willow tunnel will go:

Giffnock Primary School, East Renfrewshire – tunnel installed February 2015 by East Ayrshire Woodlands:

Milenka is British Fencing Champion!

Congratulations to P7 pupil and Sports Captain, Milenka Zadora, who became Under 12 British Fencing Champion on Sunday 1st May at the British Youth Fencing Championships in Sheffield!

What a tremendous achievement, Milenka!

Holiday on Monday 2nd May

A reminder that Monday 2nd May is a school holiday. All resume on Tuesday 3rd May.

Thursday 5th May is an Inservice Day for staff and school will be closed to pupils.

Janis Mackay Book Stall and Signing Friday 6th May

Sciennes Parent Council Gymnastics Club

Sciennes Parent Council Gymnastics Club

Our Gymnastics club, which runs after school on Friday afternoons, is looking to take on more students. The classes are run by ex-Scottish Champion gymnast Gavin Chalmers and cover all elements of the Scottish Gymnastics Curriculum. More details are available on the website or get in touch with Gavin directly at gavin.chalmers@yahoo.com

Davis Cup at Meadows 4th May 10am-4pm

Edinburgh Leisure is excited to be hosting the Davis Cup Trophy at the Meadows on 4 May 2016. Between 10:00am and 4:00pm anyone can come and see, and take their photo with the trophy close up.

You'll also have the opportunity to take part in tennis tasters and fun tennis activities at this special event arranged by Tennis Scotland in partnership with Edinburgh Leisure.
So head on down to the Meadows tennis courts any time between 10:00am and 4:00pm and don't forget to bring your camera/phone!

Angus and his Dad Win Family Doubles Tennis Challenge

Congratulations to P3 pupil Angus and his dad Alastair who were overall winners at a Family Doubles Tennis Challenge  on Sunday 24th April at at the Meadows courts. The event was part of a British Tennis  UK wide initiative supported by Quorn. Well done to all the Sciennes children who took part. Angus and his dad will now be invited to watch a grass court tournament in the UK as a prize -sadly not Wimbledon!

Thank you to Alex Harkins for passing on the information and photograph.

P5 Scottish Opera Wednesday 4th May

P5 SCOTTISH OPERA PERFORMANCE TO FAMILIES

WEDNESDAY 4th MAY 2.15pm

We are very grateful to families for helping pupils learn their lyrics.  Musical director, Roger Glass, who rehearsed pupils in an advance vocal workshop on Monday 25th April, was impressed!

Pupils should wear P.E. kit on the day and will rehearse in the morning.


1.20-2pm P4 and siblings invited to Dress Rehearsal


2.15pm-3.00pm Scottish Opera performance for families


Please note that due to limitations on space, only two people per child can attend the performance.



Pupils may be dismissed at the end of the performance with parents who are attending, if you wish. Younger siblings can be collected from the Number Zone with Ms Anstruther at the end of the performance. Older siblings will join you there once they have returned their costumes.