Think Global, Act Local #showthelove

Sciennes Think Global, Act Local Assembly 2.2.18 from Sciennes Primary School

On Friday 2nd February we were delighted to welcome a delegation of eight teachers and staff from Laugarnesskóli Primary School in Reykjavik. Laugarnesskóli is the first Icelandic school to gain a Silver Unicef Rights Respecting Schools Award and we welcomed the opportunity to share practice and ideas.  After a tour of the school and classrooms, the Headteacher (Sigridur Heida Bragadottir) very kindly spoke at Assembly and gifted a beautiful book about Iceland for our Library. We are really looking forward to establishing a new International partnership between our schools. Like Sciennes, Laugarnesskóli is working towards its fifth green ECO flag and it would be wonderful to link on Eco topics too.

As global citizens, pupils were encourage to participate in this year's Climate Coalition #showthelove climate action campaign, by noticing and recording evidence of climate change over the next few weeks.

We concluded Week Three of our City of Edinburgh 'Be Resilient' Health and Wellbeing topic 'Have a Goal' by sharing pupil examples of goals they have recently set as a family.

Sigridur Heida Bragadottir, Headteacher of Rights Respecting School Laugarnesskóli, Reykjavik, Iceland addressing Assembly

Sciennes Values Respect

Sciennes P4-7 Aim High Assembly 18.8.17 from Sciennes Primary School

On Friday 18th August we welcomed Primary Four pupils and all new pupils to their first upper school assembly. We also welcomed Miss Jennifer Ferguson and Miss Sophie Mitchell to the Primary Five team.

This year, we are revisiting our school vision and values so pupils were invited to think about what is most important to us in the Sciennes Family.  We are extremely grateful to parent Emma Kirk (CEO User Vision and Convenor of the Parent Council Communications Group) who recently led an excellent session to help the whole staff revisit and reflect on our vision and values. Pupil Council leaders will soon be elected, one from each class P2-P7, who will then be able to join in on discussions and support the process.

We explored ways to respect everyone's right to be safe and right to learn at Sciennes. Primary Seven pupils helped explain what 'The Golden Rule' means.



Showing respect universally unites us all: in the classroom, in the school and beyond, as global citizens.  Brad Montague's moving film ' Smuggling Hope' was shown to help us all continue to believe that we can all make a difference by upholding our values.

Global Goals One Year On

Sciennes Global Goals House Assembly 16.9.16 from Sciennes Primary School

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.


The World's Largest Lesson 2016 - with thanks to Sir Ken Robinson and Emma Watson from World's Largest Lesson on Vimeo.

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.

Article 29

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

The Right Click: P6/7 Internet Safety Matters Workshop Wednesday 31st August 6.30pm

http://www.unicef.org.uk/rights-respecting-schools/training-and-support/internet-safety/

The Right Click: Internet Safety Matters Workshop

Sciennes is hosting an upper school digital safety workshop, sponsored by Unicef and BT, on Wednesday 31^st August between 6.30pm and 7.30pm in the Hall. 

 
We consider ourselves extremely fortunate to receive this fully funded opportunity, part of a UK wide and very heavily subscribed Rights Respecting Schools initiative. We offered the workshop places to our P6 and P7 families via Wisepay on a first come basis and have been delighted with the response, with all 80 places quickly booked, though we are aware that some families unable to book a place have been disappointed. However, BT is also generously providing us with a 'Train the Trainer' session for a few members of staff to support the delivery of additional sessions ourselves in the future.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the workshop cover?

The workshop brings together Unicef UK's child rights expertise with BT's technological know-how around internet safety. Two volunteers from BT will introduce activities to begin a discussion around online safety, which parents can continue with their child at home. 

Together parents and children will explore:

 the devices and apps they use to connect online

 likes and dislikes about the internet

 ways in which people can misuse the information shared online

 how e-safety and internet access matter for the promotion and protection of children's rights.

Which age groups are most suitable?

The workshops are designed for children age eight and upwards but the presentation does include a video produced by Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) which is designed for an audience of 8-11 year olds and may not be suitable for younger children.)

How many people can attend?

The organisers advised us that they aimed to be flexible with the number of people who could attend and kindly increased availability from 60 to 80 children and adults. For the workshop to run effectively, parents and their children will be able to sit together in groups of up to ten at a table.

Article 5

You have the right to be given guidance by your parents and family.

Article 17

You have the right to collect information from the media.

Article 19

You have the right to be protected from being hurt or badly treated.

Article 29

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

Article 34

You have the right to be protected from abuse.

Unicef Day for Change P4-7 Assembly 13.5.16

Sciennes Unicef Day for Change P4-P7 Assembly 13.5.16 from Sciennes Primary School

On Friday 13th May at the P4-7 Assembly we reflected on our Rights Respecting Schools Level One Inspection on Wednesday 11th May. We celebrated achieving a Level One Award and all the positive feedback we received. We also thought about some of Unicef's recommendations for our next steps towards the Level Two Award. We thanked everyone for generously donating their loose change to Unicef on the 'Day for Change' and thought about what we could change to help us make sure everyone knows about children's rights - at Sciennes and in other countries.

P7 Captains took on the task of collecting and counting the loose change. There was so much that they will have to resume counting next week! Thank you very much to everyone who donated. P7 Captains told us about the crisis in Syria and how children's rights are being affected. The money raised today will help Unicef support Syrian refugee children.

Mr Howie showed a video 'If the world were 100 people' to continue to help us think about equal rights. P7 Captains congratulated pupils on recent achievements. Next week's assembly will be at 9.50am and will focus on CEC 1+2 Languages for World Diversity Day.

Article 42 All adults and children should know about the UNCRC
Article 29 You have the right to education which develops your personality, respect for others’ rights and the environment. 

Article 22 The right to have help if you are a refugee