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East CraigsPrimary School

August, 2017

MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD TEACHER’S DESK Welcome to our first newsletter of Session 2017-18. It has been such a pleasure to be back after the holidays to see our pupils and their families again, particularly following my absence just before the summer. It really is a pleasure to be back into the swing of school life, which I have missed greatly. As with their return after every holiday, our pupils came back brimming with enthusiasm. I have lost count of the number of them who have said they are so delighted to be back to see their friends again.I look forward with great anticipation to what, I am sure, will be another busy and exciting year for our school community. I look forward to continuing to work in partnership with our staff team, pupils, parents & carers, to continue to sustain our commitment to excellence in learning and teaching, in order to ensure the highest quality

educational experience for our pupils. I should like to reiterate to you how important it is to me that an ethos of an “Open School” is fostered in East Craigs, where all who visit us are made to feel welcome, valued, and treated with dignity. Please do not hesitate to come to speak with me, or a member of the Senior Leadership Team, should you have any worries or questions, which we will be delighted to support you with. I would also like to remind you of our Vision statement, which is detailed below. Our pupils, and staff team, have been exploring ways how we can all show, in the East Craigs community, that we “live” our Vision.

Our Vision

“Valuing equality for each of our children, and their families, we ensure all are included and respected. As Citizens, we are committed to the Values of Wisdom, Justice, Integrity and Compassion. We are Lifelong Learners who can think critically about what we know and learn, to bring about innovations and positive change in society. We are fully committed to excellence in teaching and learning and celebrate the

0131 339 7115www.eastcraigs.edin.sch.uk

August, 2017

successes and achievements of all, valuing each individual. We set ourselves the highest expectations to demonstrate that we are an ambitious, thinking school. We are equipped to embrace whatever our future holds and to contribute in meaningful ways through the skills for learning, life and work that we develop here in East Craigs Primary, and beyond.”

Pupil Health and WellbeingPlease advise our school office if your child has any health conditions which we should be aware of. This includes letting us know about any medication they have been prescribed, including those which are self-administered e.g. inhalers for asthma. This may also involve the completion of Health Care Plans for some of our pupils, which is essential in ensuring their safety, health and wellbeing. Many of you have already been in to school to share this information but, if you haven’t, please do so as soon as possible. Many thanks.Could I also ask you to ensure that your child wears a helmet if they are travelling to school on their bike or scooter? Your support is greatly appreciated.

Staffing NewsWe are delighted to have Mrs Anna McLeod working in our school office, part time, on a temporary basis.

We are in the process of recruiting a teacher for Primary 6A and will advise you of the outcome as soon as possible. This will be a temporary contract until June, 2018. Mrs Herbert will continue to teach the class in the meantime. I should like to warmly welcome our new members of teaching staff, Miss Niven (P6B), Miss Mowat (P7A) Mrs Cormack (P7B), and Mrs Wragg (P4B), all of whom have settled into the staff team already.

Our New StartsOur new Primary 1 pupils have done an amazing job settling into their new classes with their new teachers. It is hard to believe they are so young as they have done so well! We also continue to welcome our new pupils into our Nursery

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who, again, are all settling into school life with relative ease.Well done to all our new starts, and their families, who have worked with us in supporting their transitions.

Primary 7 Transition I am delighted to hear, from colleagues in the secondary sector, that our P7 pupils, who have recently moved on to High School, are also settling in very well. We are delighted that we continue to hear feedback about the positive destinations of our former pupils as they progress through their secondary careers, and beyond.

Meet the Teacher/ Curriculum Information SessionsI am delighted to invite you to the above information sessions which will be held on Wednesday 13th

September, 2017 between 6:00-8:00pm. During the sessions, you will get a chance to meet your child’s teacher, if you haven’t already, and to find out more about our East Craigs Curriculum, together with finding out what your child’s intended learning will be this term. This information will also be available to all parents & carers following the sessions, so please don’t be concerned if you are unable to attend.Miss Allan will be running our Uniform Exchange during the sessions, which you are warmly invited to visit. Mrs Graham will also be running a “Join the Public Library” session in our ICT Suite where you can complete an on-line membership form for your child(ren). In order to support parents & carers with siblings, we will be running the evening in two hourly slots:- 6:00-6:50pm and 7:00-8:00pm to enable you to visit 2 classes during the evening. I appreciate that

August, 2017

this model accommodates families with 2 children only however, as previously stated, the information regarding your child’s learning will be made available on the “Sharing Our Learning” pages on our school website. This will ensure that none of our families are disadvantaged in the sharing of this information. I look forward to seeing many of you there. A letter, including a response slip, has been issued to you under separate cover.

Lagganlia Information SessionParents and carers of P7 pupils are invited to attend our Lagganlia Information Evening on Thursday 21st September from 5:00-6:00pm in the school games hall. The focus for the meeting is to share with you information relating to your child’s visit to Lagganlia on October 23rd to

27th 2017. A letter including additional information will be issued under separate cover.

Uniform Exchange & Lost PropertyPlease come along to have a look at our uniform exchange. I am delighted that this has been so successful in school since it started towards the end of last session. You don’t have to bring an item along to take something away- please feel free to bring items along once your child has outgrown them. We also continue to hold a number of items of clothing in lost property. Please come and have a look if your child has not returned home without their belongings.

Access to Playing FieldI am delighted to let you know that we have been trying something new in school where we have all pupils able to access the playing field at break, and lunch, times on Mondays and Fridays. Our new P1 pupils are not involved quite yet but will do so after

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they have settled into school life for a bit longer. Feedback from pupils and staff has been very positive so far, including a reported reduction in minor injuries.

Flu VaccinationsLetters have been issued to you regarding pupils’ flu vaccinations, which will be administered in school by NHS staff on Monday 20.11.17. Please return the letter to school by Monday 11.09.17 at the latest. Many thanks. East Craigs Partnership With Parents & CarersMany thanks to Mrs Susi Isler for the following article:-

We hope that everyone has had a great summer and that pupils and parents are settling back into their routines and a special welcome to all new parents and carers! We hope to see many of you come along to one of our informal meetings throughout the year. As we have said before, our aim is to support the school and represent the views of parents, promoting contact between the school, parents and pupils, so if there is

anything you wish to discuss please do get in touch with us - we can be contacted by email eastcraigspc@live.com or via the school office.Our meeting dates for this year are scheduled for:-

19 September 7 November 24 January 14 March 15 May

All meetings will be held at 18.45 in the School Staff Room and it would be great to have parents from each year group come along to share their views, listen in and help us share what’s going on across our busy school.

PTA Update Many thanks to Janes Adams for this article.NEW MEMBERS REQUIREDWe are always looking for new members. If you would like to be part of our PTA and help raise essential funds for our school or if you would like more information of what this entails, please get in touch at: eastcraigspta@hotmail.com We understand that life is busy and that you may not feel you have time to commit to being a member of the PTA. If you can help just once at any of our events throughout the year

August, 2017

please let us know. All help is very much appreciated. PTA AGMOur annual general meeting is being held in the school this coming Wednesday 6th September. It would be lovely to see lots of parents there. Please come along to find out what we have been up to in 2016/2017 and how much we have raised for the school. Starts 7pm.PTA BINGO NIGHTOur first event of the new school year is coming up on Wednesday 20th September. The kids (and adults) love the bingo night and it sells out each year so put the date in the diary and watch out for ticket sales nearer the time. We have a cake and candy stall at this event and will be looking for contributions of baking nearer the time. Both homemade and bought offerings are greatly accepted. SCHOOL UNIFORMOrders for uniform can be made at any time. Just fill in the form which is available at the school office or online via the school website under parents zone and school uniform. The PTA will collect these orders weekly and process them. EASYFUNDRAISINGThis is a great way to earn funds for our school when you order any goods or services over the internet. Go to www.easyfundraising.org.uk and search for our cause: East Craigs Primary PTA. Register with them and then every time you order online go to the easyfundraising site. You then go to the website you are ordering from e.g. Argos

via the easyfundraising site and they will donate money to our school. You can earn the school up to 4% of your sales from various retailers.

Nursery NewsMany thanks to Mrs Caroline Young for the following article:-

Welcome back to our returning children, it has been wonderful to see how well everyone has remembered our Nursery routines and rules. We are enjoying meeting and getting to know all our new children as they are settling in nicely.

At East Craigs we are following the UNICEF Rights Respecting School Code which not only teaches about children’s rights but also models rights and responsibilities in all relationships. We have already been very busy creating our Nursery Charter by discussing how we should behave in Nursery and creating our Nursery rules.

Most of us have put our fingerprints on our Golden Wall

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to show that all we agree to follow our four Golden Rules:We are kind and friendly;We can listen;We are busy;We can look after our nursery.

We are also enjoying sharing our favourite stories, games, nursery rhymes and songs. It has been great to see many of the children feeling settled and confident enough to talk about why these are their favourites.

We have also been learning some French through morning greetings and our very popular songs and games.We are all looking forward to an exciting learning experience for the year ahead. Look out for our regular updates on the Nursery notice board.

Pupils’ AchievementsI am delighted to say that, already, pupils have been along to share their successes with me. I really look forward to this part of my job where I

get the chance to chat to the children and hear about their lives out of school.

Last session, the children P3A took part in a Young Writers Competition where the theme was animal-inspired poetry. The following children were successful in having their work chosen to be published in a book called “Poetry Safari – Scotland” which will be published later this year:Abigail GrovesEllie HislopManni MackintoshJasmine PilkingtonAlex ReidMahad MughalMillie IronsideMatthew HayElliot WongLewis DickAyla McleodCatherine StewartNathan SherryRebecca JeffreyKyle HugginsWell done everyone, your certificates will be presented at our next Assembly.

August, 2017

In P2A, Tess Kelly has been awarded Levels 1 and 2 at Starlite Ballet. Excellent Tess!In P2/3, Oliver Conner has moved up to Stage 3 at his ‘Learn to Swim’ class. Great stuff!In P3B, Olivia O’Sullivan has passed her Pre-Primary dance exam. Well done Olivia!Kyle Huggins and Aaron Reid in P4A are walking across the brand new Queensferry Bridge at the weekend. How exciting!!Luciana Irvine in P5A helped to rescue an injured pigeon near her home by noticing it had an injured leg. She asked her dad to call the SSPCA, who came and took the bird away. They were confident that it would make a full recovery. Sam Menzies in P5A, completed a 500m front crawl at Drumbrae Swimming Pool. This is the first time he has ever achieved such a distance – that’s 20 lengths of the pool! Phew, well done Sam!In P5B, Katie Thomson and Emma Bradley have moved up to the Purple Class at their ballet school. Emma has also completed a 25-mile cycle with her dad. Well done girls!Also in P5B, Alisha Munir and Zaina Yaser have earned certificates of achievement for passing the Syllabus for 2017

in Quran Memorization and Islamic Education. Zaina came 1st place overall. Well done girls!On the 19th August, Jamie Punton in P5B was chosen to be the Hibs Mascot in front of a crowd of 17,000 people. Fabulous!Also in P5B, Alex Easdale has moved up to the ‘Green 2’ class at tennis lessons whilst Murray Thomson’s football team, Beachwood, won their first match of the season. Well done.Rachel Newby in P5B achieved a distinction in her Grade 3 Modern Exam. Superb!In P6A, Rishi Goyal went to Sumdog HQ to test out a new game as well as the new additional ‘garden.’ He was delighted to be able to give his ideas and opinions about it all. Excellent!Vince Szilagyi in P6A, was delighted to receive his certificate for completing the Drumbrae Library Summer Reading Challenge. Well done Vince!In P6B, Jamie Thomson earned two silver medals in the Steven Gallagher challenge for golf, two weeks in a row! Brilliant Jamie!Also in P6B, Madison Leask went to a dancing competition and placed 4th. This is the first

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time that she has got into the finals in the Under-12 category. Excellent news Madison!In P7A, Chloe Reid made dinner for her mum and apparently it was excellent! Well done Chloe, what a great life skill!And finally, in P7B, Hanna Kelly and Katie Starkey moved into the Task 1 Swimming group. This means that the girls now swim three times a week and do Land Training, which includes training in the gym. Your dedication has paid off girls.

Jackie ReidHead Teacher

Dates for Your DiaryMid-term holidays

Monday 18 September 2017, Autumn holiday Monday 16 to Monday - 23 October 2017, mid-term break Monday 23rd Staff In-Service training Tuesday 24th Pupils resume

Term ends Friday 22 December 2017

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Winter -Christmas holidays

Monday 25 December 2017 to Monday 8 January 2018

Spring

Staff In-Service Monday 8th January 2018, Term starts Tuesday 9 January 2018

Mid-term holidays

Monday 12 to Friday 16 February 2018, mid-term break

Monday 19th Pupils resume

Term ends Thursday 29 March 2018

Easter holidays - Friday 30 March to Monday 16 April 2018

Summer

Term starts Tuesday 17 April 2018 – staff and pupils

Mid-term holidays

Monday 7 May 2018, May Day Tuesday 8 May 2018, staff only day Monday 21 May 2018, Victoria Day

Term ends Friday 29 June 2018.

In addition to the above holiday dates for this session we also have the following events coming up soon in school:-

Meet the Teacher/Curriculum Information Sessions :-

Wednesday 13th September Session 1 6:00-6:50pm Session 2 7:00-8:00pm

Lagganlia Information Session for Parents & Carers:-

Thursday 21st September 5:00-6:00pm in school games hall.

Parents’ and Carers’ Consulations

Tuesday 10th and Wednesday 11th October 4-7pm (more information will follow in due course)

August, 2017

Nursery Open Day :-

Friday 13th October AM Class: 10.15 – 11.00 am in school dining hall

PM Class 2.00 – 2.45 pm in school dining hall

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