Have A Goal House Assemblies 15.1.18 #YOYP2018

Sciennes Have A Goal House Assembly 15.1.18 from Sciennes Primary School

On Monday 15th January we welcomed back pupils by holding our first House Assemblies of the new year for Grange (Ms Anstruther), Lauder (Ms Gallagher), Sienna (Ms Pearmain) and Tantallon (Mrs Noble). House and Sports Captains explained 'The Year of Young People', reflected on goals already achieved, shared their own goals for the coming year and asked pupils to think about their own goals.

Grange House - Maisie, James
Grange Sports - Iain, Flora
Lauder House - Fraser, Molly
Lauder Sports - Eilidh, Sam S
Sienna House - Sophia, Sam B
Sienna Sports - Louis, Emma
Tantallon House - Alice, Caspar
Tantallon Sports - Saad, Arwen

 

As part of the Scottish Government’s programme of themed years, 2018 is the Year of Young People (YoYP 2018).

YoYP 2018 activities and events are focusing on six themes that young people identified as most important for them as young Scots:

• Participation – looking at how young people can influence public services and decisions which affect their lives
• Education – creating a stronger role for young people in shaping their learning
• Health and Wellbeing –supporting young people to lead healthier, active lives and have opportunities to learn about and improve their mental health and resilience
• Equality and Discrimination – broadcasting the value of young Scots, challenging negative perceptions of young people, and supporting young people to take leading roles in challenging discrimination in all its forms.
• Enterprise and Regeneration – celebrating young people’s role in innovation, entrepreneurship and the Scottish economy as well as making Scotland a greener and more pleasant place to live
• Culture –celebrating young people’s talent and contribution to Scottish culture and arts.

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 the colder weather.

Article 2

You have the right to protection against discrimination.

Article 12

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

Article 13

You have the right to find out things and say what you think, through making art, speaking and writing unless it breaks the rights of others.

Article 15

You have the right to be with friends and join or set up clubs— unless this breaks the rights of others.

Article 24

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

Article 29

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

Article 31

You have the right to play and relax by doing things like sport, music and drama.

Pupils Take The Lead!

Sciennes 'Take the Lead! P4-7 Assembly 17.11.17 from Sciennes Primary School

On Friday 17th November we celebrated the many ways our pupils continue to take the lead, ahead of UN World Children's Day on Monday 20th November. We watched a UNICEF film, made by children, for children, to inspire action.



Sixteen House and Sports Captains were introduced and we congratulated everyone who applied, encouraging all Primary Seven pupils to keep being excellent prefects and role models.

P7 pupils Niamh and Alice approached our Senior Leadership earlier in the term, inspired to take action by a BBC documentary (No More Boys and Girls - Can Our Kids Go Gender Free?) on gender bias, set in a school in England. Both girls recently spoke at a whole staff meeting, inviting all classes P1-P7 to take part in a survey designed to investigate gender bias in our own school. 650 boys and girls were asked to draw their future occupations and Niamh and Alice analysed results to explore attitudes. They presented their findings at Assembly and have many other ideas for challenging views and raising awareness of gender equality.

Mr Howie gave an inspirational presentation designed to encourage everyone to be the 'best version' of themselves possible, taking small actions to make a difference to others.

Six classes - our entire P6 and P7 year groups - are working with Ms Pearmain and class teachers to take the lead in supporting the Winter Fair on Saturday 25th November 12pm-3pm in #iwill Week. Sorla and Eliza explained how P6 have taken on Virgin Money's challenge to 'Make £5 Grow' and Henry explained P7's equally enterprising approaches to fundraising. Thank you to Mr McKenna for all his support in creating magical boxes in the Science and Technology lab.

Our ECO reps met with Mr Hutchison and Miss Ferguson this week and are taking the lead on Switch Off Fortnight. Our P6 JRSOs asked everyone to wear something bright or reflective next week at their Road Safety Assembly.

P4B girls highlighted the need to ask first if equipment or toys are being used, before taking. They reminded everyone to 'treat others as you would like to be treated', follow the 'Three Steps' and work together to make sure we respect everyone's right to be happy and safe in our playground.

Pupils were reminded that they should always come back into school if an adult is unexpectedly not there to pick them up at the end of the day.

House Captains congratulated pupils on recent achievements and announced that Tantallon is leading in House points this week.

Grange House - Maisie, James
Grange Sports - Iain, Flora
Lauder House - Fraser, Molly
Lauder Sports - Eilidh, Sam S
Sienna House - Sophia, Sam B
Sienna Sports - Louis, Emma
Tantallon House - Alice, Caspar
Tantallon Sports - Saad, Arwen

Next week's P4-7 Assembly will take place immediately after P1-3 Assembly 9.50-10.30am to allow Hall space for nativity rehearsals.

Article 2

You have the right to protection against discrimination.

Article 12

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

Dyslexia Awareness Week 6th-10th November

Sciennes Dyslexia Awareness 3.11.17 from Sciennes Primary School

Sciennes is a Dyslexia Friendly school. On Friday 3rd November we featured Dyslexia Awareness in both P1-3 and P4-7 Assemblies, following Dyslexia Scotland's theme of 'Positive About Dyslexia'.

A slideshow showing famous scientists, inventors, business people, musicians, writers, artists and actors, who are said to have dyslexia, was shown as pupils were entering and leaving the Hall.

Famous Dyslexics from Sciennes Primary School

Ms Kennedy and Miss Thistlethwaite have been working with groups of dyslexic pupils who will deliver year group presentations to P4-P7 next week, in Dyslexia Awareness Week. A group of P7 pupils gave an excellent presentation at the P1-3 Assembly and P7 pupil Catherine is leading the distribution of blue ribbons next week. Video clips were shown to help explain dyslexia and develop positive attitudes towards having dyslexia and also towards dyslexic pupils who have to work hard to overcome associated challenges.

https://vimeo.com/57077317

Interested pupils were invited to speak to families about attending the launch of a new Dyslexia Scotland website 'Unwrapped' for dyslexic children to be held at Central Library on George IV Bridge Thursday 9th November 5.30pm-8pm.

http://www.dyslexiascotland.org.uk/events/dyslexia-unwrapped-launch-event

P7 pupils will be selling poppies next week and Mr Howie explained the significance of this.

All pupils were encouraged to have safe and happy celebrations on Bonfire Night.

Article 2

You have the right to protection against discrimination.

Article 28

You have the right to education.

Global Goal 10 Reduced Inequalities

Sciennes P4-7 Assembly SDG10 20.1.17 from Sciennes Primary School

On Friday 20th January we were delighted to welcome back Former Pupils Jamie Underwood, Li-Sian Song and James Stewart, who are now in S6 at James Gillespie's High School and preparing for a visit to twinned schools in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa in February. They have asked pupils to donate pencil cases, toys, games and clothes which can be handed into the School Office until Friday 2nd February.

Mr Howie gave an inspirational presentation on how Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Arkansas Little Rock Nine, successfully managed her emotions and response to the extreme prejudice and racist hostility she endured in 1957, just for going to school. Her remarkable dignity is an example to us all and linked very effectively to school use of 'Emotions Talk' as a support for pupils in managing their emotions. Mr Howie encouraged everyone to learn not only from role models in history but also from people around us in how we manage our emotions and stand up for what we value. We all certainly look to Mr Howie to inspire and encourage us with his engaging and deeply thought-provoking presentations, taking powerful lessons we can all learn from History and relating them to our school.

We thanked Sciennes' parent, Mr Colin Sim, who as well as recently securing £5500 for digital learning through funding applications also secured a grant of £2000 from South Central Edinburgh Neighbourhood Partnership to enhance our school grounds. There is great interest from the children in the willow structures currently being installed in the playground by Gus and his team from 'Earth Calling'.

Article 1

Everyone under 18 has these rights.

Article 2

You have the right to protection against discrimination.

Article 29

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

Dr Martin Luther King Day Assembly 13.1.17

Sciennes MLK P4-7 Assembly 13.1.17 from Sciennes Primary School

On Friday 13th January we learned about the extraordinary life of Dr Martin Luther King Junior and how his peaceful actions and brave dedication to equal rights for all led to change. We asked pupils what they could do in 2017 to make change happen and make a difference for others. Last term, P7 pupil Nicky raised almost £500 with his Save the Children Christmas Jumper campaign and P6 pupil Catherine spoke at Assembly to explain how she is being sponsored to donate a length of hair to the Little Princess Trust to help a child suffering hair loss due to cancer treatment.

We celebrated Sciennes' parent, Mr Colin Sim, who took action to make a huge difference to learning and teaching for our pupils by submitting two grant funding applications for the school. One to Aviva Life Assurance was awarded £500 and one to the OneFamily Foundation was awarded an incredible £5000! Thank you to all the Sciennes Family for voting. The money will be used to purchase a year group set of iPads.

Article 1

Everyone under 18 has these rights.

Article 2

You have the right to protection against discrimination.

Article 29

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

P6 Global Goals and Gender Equality Workshops

Half of our P6 year group took part in Free the Children workshops on Wednesday 15th June and the other half took part in workshops designed by Class Teachers Ms Fiona Sellar, Ms Jenny Gaffney and Mrs Jane Maguire to encourage pupils to think about the Sustainable Development Goals, and in particular Goal 5 Gender Equality. The three P6 classes were split into Sienna and Lauder with Free the Children and Grange and Tanatallon Houses with Class Teachers.

Firstly, pupils in mixed teams from each class considered the Global Goals, decided which three were most important to them and explained why.

In the afternoon session, they were then asked to list as many jobs as they could, categorise them into male and female occupations on Post-Its and display these. Their ideas were discussed with the whole group and pupils naturally began to recognise and realise many stereotypes in their initial attitudes.

Ms Sellar explained how Global Goal 5, Gender Equality, is a fundamental goal in achieving the other goals and showed the pupils this thought-provoking video, "Like A Girl":

Article 2 The right to protection against discrimination.

 

World Day for Cultural Diversity 21st May

Do One Thing for Diversity and Inclusion

In 2011, a grassroots campaign ‘Do One Thing For Diversity and Inclusion’, celebrating the annual World Day for Cultural Diversity was launched by UNESCO and the UN Alliance of Civilizations.
By encouraging people and organizations from around the world to take concrete action to support diversity, the campaign aims:

• To raise awareness worldwide about the importance of intercultural dialogue, diversity and inclusion.
• To build a world community of individuals committed to support diversity with real and every day-life gestures.
• To combat polarization and stereotypes to improve understanding and cooperation among people from different cultures. 

On Friday 20th May we will share information with pupils at Assembly about our International Summer Fair on Saturday 4th June. We will also celebrate the tremendous progress in City of Edinburgh's 1+2 Languages at Sciennes this year, so ably led by our Languages Co-ordinator Bethan Owen, and thank our three Spanish support assistants - Primary Student Volunteer Language Assistant Initiative (FLO project): Manuel, Sergio and Isabel. We have also been extremely fortunate to host Erasmus Scholarship Spanish student Ana Vidal, final year Bilingual Primary Education Teacher from the Complutense University of Madrid.


Our P7 Sports Captains are preparing a presentation on Olympic and Paralympic values:

• respect – fair play; knowing one’s own limits; and taking care of one’s health and the environment
• excellence – how to give the best of oneself, on the field of play or in life; taking part; and progressing according to one’s own objectives
• friendship – how, through sport, to understand each other despite any differences

Article 2

You have the right to protection against discrimination.

Article 30

The right to enjoy your own culture, practise your own religion and use your own language.

Global Goals: end poverty, combat climate change and fight injustice and inequality.

Equal Rights Assembly P4-7 29.4.16

Sciennes P4-7 Equal Rights Assembly 29.4.16 from SciennesPS

Mr Howie led the P4-7 Equal Rights Assembly on Friday 29th April. He explored a definition of 'prejudice' with the pupils and asked them to consider how they can play a part in making sure everyone is included. P7 Sports Captains announced how well each House had done in our fantastic Swimathon this week, swimming the equivalent of Sciennes to Benmore! Sports Captains also congratulated pupils on recent achievements and Yash - who won both Racquet tournaments last year - presented the EPSSA Badminton trophy to this year's winner, Ellen. Well done to Erin who came runner up in both Badminton AND Tennis tournaments.

Article 2

You have the right to protection against discrimination.

Global Goals: end poverty, combat climate change and fight injustice and inequality.

 

Angela Burdett-Coutts' Philanthropy

Mr Howie led our P4-7 Assembly on Friday 11th March, cleverly linking recent learning in P5 Old Edinburgh, P6 Jacobites, World Book Day and International Women's Day with Rights Education in his tale of the mightily impressive Victorian philanthropist, Angela Burdett-Coutts. Her philanthropy and influence were even more remarkable at a time when women could not yet vote.

Mr Howie encouraged everyone to keep thinking about how we can each make a difference and praised pupils Alex and Rory for their initiative in organising donations of Easter eggs for Foodbank at school.

P7 Reader Leader, Toby, explained how everyone can help keep the Playground Reading Shed organised and Lena told us about the Eurochild Drawing competition. 

Sport Relief is on Friday 18th March and our P7 Sports Captains demonstrated Out of the Ark's "Step It Up" Sport Relief dance. They informed pupils about signing up online to local Run, Cycle, Swim events next weekend and invited us to dress up in sports gear or P.E. kit on Friday. Sports Captains will collect any donations on the day.

Philanthropy P4-7 Assembly 11.3.16 from SciennesPS

Article 2 The right to protection against discrimination
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