Following 2015’s successful partnership, Edinburgh’s Hogmanay has once again joined with Unicef to help children in danger.
Last year, Edinburgh’s Hogmanay raised a fantastic amount of money to protect the children of Syria.
However, the conflict has continued and there are now more children in
urgent need of life-saving aid. These children have lost loved ones,
homes and schools. They need someone to keep them safe and warm this
winter.
Unicef will be raising money for Syria’s children through the Torchlight
Parade on 30 December and various activities on New Year’s Eve,
including turning Edinburgh’s most iconic buildings blue at 10pm to
highlight Unicef’s work. The whole city will join together to help
children in danger.
In May 2016, pupils from current P5B (then P4B) gave their opinions on a variety of issues relating to Food Insecurity, in a wonderful morning of engaging and thought provoking activities designed and led by Dr Chelsea Marshall and a team from Nourish Scotland, based at Summerhall. You can read the full report they contributed to here:
Listening to what children think about food insecurity
Acknowledgements
This report was commissioned by the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland; all copyright permission belongs to the Commissioner’s office. Photographs by Alan McCredie, design by graphics coop.
The authors of this report are: Elli Kontorravdis, Olga Bloemen and Bella Crowe from Nourish Scotland. With kind thanks to Home-Start UK Scotland for co-ordination of the activity session logistics, and to children’s rights consultant Dr Chelsea Marshall whose support was integral to the design and delivery of the activity sessions. Thanks also to Sciennes Primary School for hosting a pilot session providing valuable feedback, and to Dr Flora Douglas for comments and feedback throughout the research. Most importantly, thank you to the children and families who gave their time to share thoughts on food insecurity, and the children that contributed drawings and photographs, we hope this report is an accurate reflection of your views.
A sub group of our Parent Council is meeting on Monday 5th December
(United Nations International Volunteer Day!) 9.00am-10.00am in the
Staff Room to explore ways to increase opportunities for parents to
volunteer in school.
Any interested parents are very welcome to attend.
In June 2016, some of our pupils were invited to take part in a consultation exercise led by Children's Parliament (based at Summerhall) on behalf of the Scottish Government. The pupils gave their views on the minimum age of criminal responsibility in Scotland; set at eight years of age with a proposal to raise it to twelve years of age.
This report outlines some of the responses from all the young people who took part in the project:
On Thursday 30th November, Early Years Minister Mark McDonald announced that the Scottish government is to introduce a bill to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 12.
Celebrating #iwill Week, our three P6 Junior Road Safety Officers, Amelia, Declan and Josh, showed how they can step up to serve our school community by planning and leading a Road Safety session for Assembly. They invited all pupils in P4-7 to dress up brightly in luminous, reflective clothing and gave prizes in each class for the brightest clothing to get across their message of 'Be Bright, Be Seen." They performed a stunning trick using 'Magic Thumbs' that lit up as they 'threw' lights to one another. Fantastic! Many thanks to friend of Sciennes, City of Edinburgh Road Safety Officer Mark Symonds who kindly gave each of our JRSOs a high viz vest and shone torches on pupils' clothing to re-enforce the point about being bright, day and night. Everyone was invited to think about what they could pledge to do in Active Travel to fight Climate Change.
The new P7 House and Sports Captains confidently introduced themselves
and we were delighted that almost half the year group showed interest in
stepping up to take on additional responsibilities, as role models and
ambassadors for Sciennes. All who applied were entirely capable of
taking up the posts so it was a very difficult decision but there will
be lots of opportunities for all Primary Sevens to take the lead.
Our wonderful Primary Sevens have also been working hard as young entrepreneurs, using Virgin Money's' Make £5 Grow' and funds loaned by the Parent Council to plan, design and create an array of exciting stalls for the Winter Fair on Saturday 26th November 12pm-3pm as part of their Silver Junior Award for Schools (JASS). A representative from each P7 group spoke at Assembly to explain and publicise their event. Loads happening tomorrow! Come and check out what they have on offer in the new Dining Hall.
P4 stars, Molly, Rosa, Joesph, Cara and Scarlet finally got to perform their fabulous dance routine with music! They wowed the audience with their moves and confidence. Great job!
P3 have been rehearsing and performing their Dance Show in the Hall recently, so there has not been an Assembly for a few weeks. Several huge achievements to celebrate within that time, including phenomenal success in Chess, P6 Amelia being chosen as overall winner in Ian Murray MP's Christmas Card competition (from 2000 entries!) and P7 David achieving an extraordinary two gold medals in the Edinburgh and Midlothian Swimming Championships! Well done to all our high achievers who know that hard work pays off!
We hope to see everyone at the amazing International Winter Fair on Saturday. Many months of effort from Jay and Aileen in leading the Parent Council Events and Fundraising Group and an army of volunteers saying "#iwill!" are tremendously valued by the school. Come and see a Magic Show, bid in the Silent Auction, browse CDs, books and toys, take a chance with a Tombola raffle ticket and enjoy lunch and a mince pie. Just some of the many activities and events on offer! Check out the Parent Council and school websites for details.
Please also support our bids to win thousands of pounds for technology (see emails for information). Thank you very much to P2 Dad, Colin Sim, for all his efforts in submitting funding bids on our behalf and to everyone who has supported by voting. We are now Finalists in the Aviva Community Fund bid, beating hundreds of other bids, and have a 1 in 4 chance of gaining £5000! We would be very grateful for your continued support in voting for us again in the Aviva bid and also in the One Family Foundation bid.
We are tremendously excited about an upcoming return visit to Sciennes on Wednesday 7th December from WE Free the Children, again arranged for us by Schools Co-ordinator Harriet Morgan.
Jacob, from WE Free the Children, visited in June to work with half of our (then P6) pupils and it was a superb and inspirational day, providing a wealth of opportunities for our children to embrace pupil leadership. Wednesday 7th December will mark a return visit from the charity, where a Speaker and Facilitator will work with the remaining half of our P7 pupils.
P6 and P7 pupils have been invited to a special assembly at 9am and then half the P7 year group will take part in Free the Children workshops throughout the day, while Ms Sellar will lead the remaining pupils in a repeat of her excellent Global Goals workshop, focusing on Gender Equality.
The format of the workshops fits ideally with our aims to develop pupil-led social action as part of the Junior Award Scheme for Schools:
Team Building/Issues Module – exploring prevalent issues in society, and globally to build confidence,
identify leadership skills and also get pupils thinking about issues
they care about. Reflective Module - enabling pupils to think how they can use their skills for
issues that are important to them. Action Planning - putting pen to paper to create a
tangible action plan for children to develop and put into practice.
Free The
Children is an
international charity and educational partner that believes in a world
where all young people are free to achieve their fullest potential as
change-makers. Over the last 20 years, Free The Children has grown into
an international movement supporting youth empowerment through
educational service-learning initiatives in North America and the United
Kingdom, and a holistic and sustainable international development
model. It is supported by the Queen's Trust, the UN, Virgin Atlantic and
has many international supporters - Malala, Desmond Tutu, Prince
Harry, Oprah will give a flavour. Their model is 'children helping
children' and they promote pupil
leadership and taking action, here and abroad. The scheme began in
Canada, initiated by one of the CEOs when he was 12, and is a social
enterprise
endeavour.
For more information about Free the Children, visit their website.
The 'Free the Children' programme fits extremely well with our well established Junior Awards
Scheme Scotland (JASS) programme in P6 and P7 where pupils are asked to
take their own action to achieve a 'Me and My World' element. JASS is a
children's version of The Duke of Edinburgh Award, and the idea for it
actually came from Sciennes! It is now adopted throughout Edinburgh and
beyond so has been retitled Junior Award Scheme for Schools.
The Junior Award Scheme Schools
(JASS) is an accredited learning programme, celebrating wider
achievement, for young people (P6-S2). Sciennes and Tollcross Primary
Schools have been implementing this scheme since we piloted it in 2009. The concept emerged from a discussion during a Sciennes P7 visit
to Lagganlia between Alice Brown, Gael Logan and Barry Hewitt who came
up with the idea to set up a 'Duke of Edinburgh' style award scheme for
upper primary pupils. The scheme has since been developed into a city
wide programme.
There are three levels (bronze, silver and gold), each requiring a
higher degree of commitment. Each level also includes four sections to
be completed:
My interest - a hobby or interest
Get Active, Stay Active - involvement in a sport or physical activity
Me and My World - a community or environmental project
Adventure - a teamwork challenge through involvement in an outdoor activity (e.g Benmore and Lagganlia)
Sciennes helped develop an online version - eJASS.
Free the Children also fits well with our Unicef Rights Respecting Schools programme. We have recently achieved Level One and our next
steps are to continue to extend knowledge of UNCRC and to expand
global citizenship. The Free the Children programme will assist us with that. We
have highlighted the relevance of the Global Goals for Sustainable
Development since their launch in September 2015 and the programme also
supports this extremely well.
Making social action part of life for 10-20 year-olds
The #iwill campaign promotes social action
among 10-20 year-olds. This includes activities such as campaigning,
fundraising and volunteering which fits very well with our P6 and P7 annual participation in the 'Me and My World' section of the Junior Award Scheme for Schools (an accredited learning programme for 10-14 year olds which promotes and celebrates wider achievement).
We are delighted to feature amongst a host of partner agencies from around the UK that are supporting this initiative to promote pupil-led social action.
Thank you very much to Joan Alexander and all at the Junior Award Scheme for Schools (JASS) team as well as Friends of the Award (FOTA) for inviting Sciennes to the FOTA Annual General Meeting on Thursday 10th November.
P7 pupils Anna and Cameron received a special certificate on
behalf of the school, in kind recognition of Sciennes' ongoing
contribution and commitment to JASS and eJASS.
Anna's sister, Sarah, also attended with their mum, Mrs Aileen Nimmo. Thank you also to Mrs Claire Marshall for accompanying her son Cameron to the event, held in the prestigious European Room of the City Chambers. Councillor Elaine Aitken, deputising for the Lord Provost, presented our pupils with the certificate and they were also congratulated by MSP Miles Briggs.
What a wonderful celebration of volunteering, pupil-led social action and wider achievement! Many adult volunteers were recognised and celebrated for their contribution, as well as the young people they have supported in achieving both Duke of Edinburgh Awards and the Junior Award for Schools. A lovely evening and we were very proud of all three of our pupil ambassadors.
Superb P7 Sciennes' ambassadors, proudly sporting their Bronze JASS medals and already aiming for the Silver JASS award
Councillor Elaine Aitken, deputising for the Lord Provost, presents Anna and Cameron with a special certificate for Sciennes
Thank you very much to Lorna Telford from UK Charity 'Changing Faces' for providing thought provoking workshops to our three P6 classes on Wednesday 9th November, linked to their Class Novel study of "Wonder" by R. J. Palacio
Thank you to all our families for such generous support of the P3 led whole school Central and North West Edinburgh Foodbank Harvest Appeal. Ewan Walker (Co-founder, Trustee and Operations Manager) gave
a presentation to pupils at both the P1-3 and P4-7 Assemblies on Friday
28th October, explaining how the donations will make a real difference
to families across Edinburgh.
P3 pupils, their teachers and Ms Anstruther are congratulated on a hugely successful project which allowed all the P3 pupils to plan, lead and organise the whole school event.
On Friday 28th October, Ewan from Edinburgh Central and Northwest Foodbank thanked all the pupils and families for their tremendous generosity in donating non perishable food items in response to the P3 led whole school Harvest Assembly. Ewan explained to the pupils how their donations will make a real difference to families across Edinburgh. P3 pupils, Ms Anstruther, Mr Scott and Mr Reid helped Ewan and his team load up their van at the end of Assemblies.
WE Free the Children is a charity sponsored by the Queen's Trust that we have been working with and the P3 Appeal linked very well with their 'WE Scare Hunger' Halloween Foodbank campaign.
Parent Kirstin Unger contacted us to let us know about the 'Carve A Heart' in a pumpkin campaign for Syria. Families wishing to take part can text HEART to 70060 to donate £3 and can use the hashtag #carveaheart to Tweet their support.
Pupils sang along to a Spanish song "Los Monstruos" suggested by Miss Stewardson and learned a new song about self belief by Will.i.am.
We were delighted to see that even more pupils have taken up the challenge of joining a library and we continue to aim for all our pupils to become members as part of the First Minister's Reading Passport Challenge.
We shared exciting news that Google Expeditions will visit school on Wednesday 30th November with special Virtual Reality Google Goggles!
P7 will begin selling poppies to classes on Monday 31st October for the next two weeks and will accept any donations offered. (Our poppies have stickers rather than pins.) Mr Howie told everyone about white poppies and explained how money raised in our poppy appeal will help ex-service people, as well as showing that those who lost their lives in war are remembered.
On Friday 14th October Mrs Noble led the P4-7 Assembly and told everyone about the forthcoming P3 led whole school Foodbank Appeal. Our Harvest Assembly will take place on 28th October when representatives from the North West Edinburgh Foodbank will collect donations of non perishable food items.
Ms Owen was congratulated on her seconded appointment to City of Edinburgh's 1+2 Languages team and everyone wished Ms Gaffney well as she begins her maternity leave.
Safe and happy holidays to all our families and we will welcome pupils back to school on TUESDAY 25th OCTOBER.
On Friday 7th October we issued the First Minister's Reading Challenge Passports to P4, P5 and P6 and reminded pupils what is involved in the Reading Challenge. P7 pupils have already received their passports and have begun using them.
One of the entries in the Reading Challenge Passport asks pupils to name their local library and librarian and we again encouraged all our pupils to join their local library. There are many free resources to pupils and families through the Library Service via the Overdrive app - eBooks, audiobooks, free Mathetics maths resources and games, language resources. Not signed up yet? A great challenge to complete in the Ocober holiday!
Ms French's Reading Challenge continues to be a great success with many more of her pupils achieving Gold awards for reading 15 books!
We congratulated many pupils on recent achievements and enjoyed a wonderful, confident performance on guitar from Kevin, Riley, Hannah and Eloise.
Our P3 whole school led Harvest Appeal for Foodbank launches next week and the P3 teams are busy organising. A collection will be made on Friday 28th October and ties in with international charity WE Free the Children's 'Scare Hunger' campaign. Free the Children will visit school in December and we are looking forward to welcoming them back again to help us with pupil led social action.
P7 will be at Lagganlia Outdoor Education Centre next week and we watched a video to help us think about how team work, belief and encouragement can help us achieve!
Class Teachers in P4-7 will inform pupils if and how their classes will celebrate Halloween this year.
When Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People, Tam Baillie, came to speak to our children at both P1-3 and P4-7 Assemblies on Friday 2nd September 2016 he captivated our pupils with an engaging, child friendly
explanation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
We particularly liked his use of the term 'promises to children' and
his invitation to everyone to think of what they would change if they
had a magic wand.
Here are some of the children's wishes:
Mr Baillie explained that each idea the children then shared
is already a 'promise' made to all children across the world, contained
in the UNCRC.
The Children and Young People's Commissioner in Scotland's job is to help children understand their rights and to make sure
those rights are respected. His goal is to make sure all children and
young people in Scotland are as safe and happy as possible.
Tam works towards his goal by:
listening to children and young people
asking people in power – like Members of the Scottish Parliament – to think about how new laws might affect children
helping children learn more about their rights
speaking out if children and young people are not getting a fair deal.
Tam explained his role as Commissioner and we are
delighted that our children had an opportunity to meet such an
inspirational leader of positive change in our country who works
tirelessly to promote the rights of all children. Tam was extremely
generous and gracious with his time and we hope that we can carry on his
good work in ensuring all adults and children understand the UNCRC and
use it to build a better society.
On Friday 23rd September 2016 at the P4-7 Assembly we reflected on the messages of Global Goals Week and how we can plan to take action together on the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. Last year our main focus was on Goal 1 No Poverty and Goal 11 Reduced Inequalities. We also explored Goal 13 Climate Change and Goal 5 Gender Equality.
Pupils had been asked by The Children and Young People's Commissioner
for Scotland, Tam Baillie, what they would wish for if he gave them a
magic wand. He explained that their wishes were 'promises' already in
place in the UNCRC. We looked at some of the children's suggestions and
how the Global Goals for Sustainable Development can help achieve their
wishes:
Each of our Pupil Groups - Pupil Council, Eco Group, JRSOs, P7 Captains and Digital Leaders - is making plans for the year and classes were encouraged to share their ideas with their Class Reps so that we can work together in school to take action.
P4 and P7 pupils Alba and Samara gave extraordinary performances on piano. Samara practises for many hours every day and Laila told us how she has worked hard to achieve so many Tae Kwon Do medals.
Mylo and Christopher confidently introduced our brand new iTeach Digital Leaders programme and explained how to get involved.
We celebrated lots of individual pupil achievements, including a recent win for P6 Team at Boroughmuir RFC and Pedal for Scotland medals for siblings Sam, Lizzy and Quinn.
At Sciennes we seek to recognise and celebrate our pupils' wider
achievements as Successful Learners, Confident Individuals, Effective
Contributors and Responsible Citizens.
JASS AWARDS in P6 and P7
We aim to allocate about six months to the Junior Award Scheme Scotland (JASS)
awards at Bronze (P6) and Silver (P7) Levels and we include as many
holidays within that time as possible - from the October holiday through
to the Easter holiday - to help pupils achieve their goals. Towards the end of May and in early June, pupils will be asked to give a
short 5 minute talk explaining how they have achieved either 8 (Bronze)
or 12 (Silver) hours in each of the four categories: Get Active, Stay Active; Adventure; My Interests; Me and My World. They will
also update their online eJASS account with details of their
activities. Certificates and badges will be issued before the end of
term. JGHS offers Gold accreditation (18 hours in each category),
achievable by the end of S2, and many of our former pupils have
progressed to achieve a Duke of Edinburgh Award.
GET ACTIVE, STAY ACTIVE
Our pupils take part in so many sporting activities throughout the
year that many can achieve the minimum hours in a few weeks! Walking,
scooting and cycling to school can also count.
ADVENTURE
Most of our pupils will easily achieve the minimum 8 (Bronze) or 12
(Silver) Adventure award at Benmore or Lagganlia and those who do not
attend can take part in adventurous local trips and activities that can count towards the JASS award, including hillwalking, kayaking, rollerblading, climbing, horseriding, cycling or walking trips in the outdoors.
ME AND MY INTERESTS
Any hobby or interest or skill (other than sport) such as learning
about Science or History, sewing, calligraphy, learning or practising a
musical instrument, reading, language learning, photography or computer
programming for example, can count towards achieving the 8 (P6 Bronze)
or 12 (P7 Silver) Me and My Interests award.
ME AND MY WORLD
Me and My World Ideas:
Making a Difference to Others - in school, at home, in your community, locally, nationally, globally
Throughout the year, our pupils will have opportunities to volunteer to support local,
national and global charities and campaigns: e.g. Food Bank, Fairtrade, Comic Relief, as well as taking part in school fundraising
events at school such as the Christmas and Summer Fairs. Participation in these events counts towards the 'Me and My
World' JASS
award, but the award does not need to involve fundraising. Making a
difference at home and in the community, by helping neighbours or
gardening or clearing litter or supporting national or international
campaigns can also be part of the award. Many of our pupils take part in Earth Calling after school club and might take part in local campaigns or present research about environmental
issues and the Global Goals for Sustainable Development. Pupils might consider preparing and delivering a talk about a
charitable or environmental organisation or deciding to give their time
in some way to help others.
Our P7Conference
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 will feature
articles of the UNCRC and rights based learning. Fresh fruit will be
provided at morning break and pupils should bring a water bottle and
wear clothing which will be comfortable for Dance. Pupils will be
introduced to the four elements of the Silver Level Junior Award Scheme for Schools (JASS) and how to record progress through eJASS:
1. Me and My World
2. My Interests
3. Get Active, Stay Active
4. Adventure – Lagganlia and Outdoor Learning
5. eJASS – recording JASS progress online using iPads
We are delighted that Joan Alexander from JASS will be joining us in the morning. Families can help pupils decide on goals for the year in each of the elements by using this online planning tool: https://goo.gl/forms/c7AthpEkjOfjsJ4D3
(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.)
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. Thank you very much to our Returning Officer, Pupil Support Assistant Mrs Sally Nowell.
On Friday 16th September 2016 we held our first House Assemblies of the new session for P2-P7 and welcomed P2 pupils to their first ever House Assembly.
In May 2016, Sciennes became a Level One "Rights Respecting School" and we have already begun our journey towards Level Two accreditation. Our journey so far has been recorded on our Rights Respecting Sciennes blog. We reminded pupils what it means to be a Rights Respecting School and that it includes being a Global Citizen. We first introduced our pupils to the United Nations' Global Goals for Sustainable Development when they were launched last year 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.) One year on, we watched a rap to help us understand all the goals better.
We thought about what we have already done in school to be Global Citizens. For example, last year the whole school took part in a City of Edinburgh pilot project to raise awareness of 1 in 5 Child Poverty (SDG1), P3 led a whole school project to raise money for 9 playgrounds for Syrian refugees (SDG10), P6 took part in Gender Equality workshops (SDG5) and our ECO Group campaigns took action on Climate Change (SDG15) and promoted Sustainable Consumption (SDG12).
We watched an animation written by Sir Ken Robinson, 'The World's Largest Lesson Part Two' which gave us ideas of what we might do next to help make a better world.
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.
On Friday 9th September at the P4-7 Assembly we celebrated Roald Dahl's life, work and world of pure imagination, ahead of the forthcoming celebrations to mark the centenary of his birth on 13th September.
Roald Dahl faced many challenges in his life. He would not have recognised the phrase 'growth mindset' but our children do, thanks to the great work of our Infant Depute Headteacher, Ms Carolyn Anstruther, and Class Teachers. Dahl's resilience to change, his hard work and perseverance are reflected in his life story and also in his success. "I can't do it YET!" and seeing the positives in making mistakes are attitudes we are trying to cultivate in our learners. We listened to "Up Grow the Roses" from the Dahl screenplay for "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" with its positive messages about learning from failures and to try, try again. We also asked the children which Dahl books they have 'not read YET'.
We are keen to encourage all Sciennes' pupils to join their local library as we continue to promote a love of Reading in our school and at home. P4-7 teachers have signed up their classes for The First Minister's Reading Challenge later this term and Ms Wendy French has been running her own 'Go For Gold' Reading Challenge in P5C since August. Eliza and Jaimee told everyone at Assembly what was involved. Pupils who read five books gain a Bronze Award, ten books brings a Silver Award and already many P5C pupils have been awarded with a Gold Medal and certificate for reading fifteen books!
We wished Happy Eid to all families celebrating and reminded everyone that MONDAY 19th SEPTEMBER is a holiday.
Pupil Council elections take place on Monday 12th September, with the results being announced on Thursday 15th September (International Day of Democracy).
"Up Grow The Roses" from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Every bursted bubble has a glory!
Each abysmal failure makes a point!
Every glowing path that goes astray,
Shows you how to find a better way.
So every time you stumble never grumble.
Next time you'll bumble even less!
For up from the ashes, up from the ashes, grow the roses of success!
Grow the roses!
Grow the roses!
Grow the roses of success!
Oh yes!
Grow the roses!
Those rosy roses!
From the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success!
(spoken)Yes I know but he wants it to float. It will!
For every big mistake you make be grateful!
Here, here!
That mistake you'll never make again!
No sir!
Every shiny dream that fades and dies,
Generates the steam for two more tries!
(Oh) There's magic in the wake of a fiasco!
Correct!
It gives you that chance to second guess!
Oh yes!
Then up from the ashes, up from the ashes grow the roses of success!
Grow the roses!
Grow the roses!
Grow the roses of success!
Grow the roses!
Those rosy roses!
From the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success!
Disaster didn't stymie Louis Pasteur!
No sir!
Edison took years to see the light!
Right!
Alexander Graham knew failure well; he took a lot of knocks to ring that
bell!
So when it gets distressing it's a blessing!
Onward and upward you must press!
Yes, Yes!
Till up from the ashes, up from the ashes grow the roses of success.
Grow the ro
Grow the ro
Grow the roses!
Grow the ro
Grow the ro
Grow the roses!
Grow the roses of success!
Grow the ro
Grow the ro
Grow the roses!
Those rosy ro
Those rosy ro
Those rosy roses!
From the ashes of disaster, grow the roses of success!
Thank you very much to P6 and P7 families who attended and engaged with our 'Right Click' digital safety workshop, sponsored by Unicef and BT, on Wednesday 29th August. We are very grateful to BT volunteers Mike Brown and Karen Halliday for leading the warmly presented and interactive event and to Zoey Ayling (Unicef's Programme Support Officer) for providing the opportunity.
Feedback was very positive and we aim to address inhouse the requests for additional sessions, for younger pupils and also a follow up parents only session.
Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People, Tam Baillie, visited Sciennes on Friday 2nd September and it is hoped families will find his team's advice on Online Safety useful in continuing dialogue with their children.
Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People, Tam Baillie
What would you wish for if you had a magic wand that could change the world?
We were honoured to welcome Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People, Tam Baillie, to speak to our children at both P1-3 and P4-7 Assemblies on Friday 2nd September 2016.
The Children and Young People's Commissioner in Scotland's job is to help children understand their rights and to make sure
those rights are respected. His goal is to make sure all children and
young people in Scotland are as safe and happy as possible.
Tam works towards his goal by:
listening to children and young people
asking people in power – like Members of the Scottish Parliament – to think about how new laws might affect children
helping children learn more about their rights
speaking out if children and young people are not getting a fair deal.
The Commissioner captivated our pupils with an engaging, child friendly explanation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. We particularly liked his use of the term 'promises to children' and his invitation to everyone to think of what they would change if they had a magic wand. He explained that each idea the children then shared is already a 'promise' made to all children across the world, contained in the UNCRC. Tam also explained his role as Commissioner and we are delighted that our children had an opportunity to meet such an inspirational leader of positive change in our country who works tirelessly to promote the rights of all children. Tam was extremely generous and gracious with his time and we hope that we can carry on his good work in ensuring all adults and children understand the UNCRC and use it to build a better society.
We also introduced pupils to the First Minister's Reading Challenge, which launched on Thursday 1st September and features Janis Mackay, our Patron of Reading. All P4-7 pupils will soon receive their very own Reading Passport to record their reading journeys until May next year. Many of our pupils have completed the Summer Reading Challenge and Ms French reminded everyone that it closes on Sunday 3rd September, so pupils should claim their certificates and medals from their local library by that date.
Pupil Council elections will be held on Monday 12th September, with the result given on Thursday 15th September (International Day for Democracy). Mrs Sally Nowell will be Presiding Officer.
