Blog 22.06.18.

Last week started with our P5s sharing about their residential at Bonaly in assemblies.

 

Our P.7s then spent 3 days at the secondary schools they will be going to in August, whilst transition in school continued with the last of our transition into nursery and transition into P.1 groups running. P.5A and P.6A, and P.2A, P.3/2 and P.3A all enjoyed some food tasting to celebrate the diversity in our school.

 

On Wednesday afternoon, we held our ‘Meet the Teacher’ session where children spent time with their teacher for next session in the classroom they will be in.

 

Throughout the week, P.4-7 classes participated in workshops with staff from Collective.

 

Friday morning started with our Bike to School Breakfast and Special Summer Breakfast. The bike seat covers at the Bike to School Breakfast proved highly popular! P.7A and P.6A had the pleasure of meeting author, Philip Reeve, on Friday morning, where they asked him lots of interesting questions.

 

Our average school attendance for the week beginning 18th June was 93.91% with out of the 10 stages (N.3, N.4, N.5, P.1, P.2, P.3, P.4, P.5, P.6, P.7) having an average attendance of over 95%, with the highest being P.7 with 95.62%, well done P.7!

 

We have welcomed our new permanent School Administrator, Mrs Ferguson, to school and she has been getting to know children, staff and parents/carers.

 

Some parents/carers have been in touch to say they would still like to contribute to the recent consultations. I have therefore spoken with the Chair of the Parent Council, and shared that these will reopen again towards the end of the summer holidays and into the start of next session, for those people who haven’t managed to contribute yet, with information then being looked at and decisions made.

 

It is hard to believe that it is the last week of session 2017-18. Assemblies on Monday will look at transition and ‘moving on’.

 

Tuesday will see the nursery classes visited by creepy crawlies and furry friends from Zoolab. The much anticipated House Talent Show will take place on Tuesday afternoon. For those parents/carers who were unable to make the Parent Council meeting last week, there’s another opportunity to hear the findings of the Quality Improvement Team from Lorna Sweeney, Schools and Lifelong Learning Service Manager, on Tuesday at 3.30 p.m. in the Meeting Room. The P.7s end the day with their Leavers Meal at The Jolly, leaving from school at 5.45 p.m. and due to return at 8 p.m.

 

Zoolab are back in school on Wednesday to visit P.2A, P.3/2 and P.3A, whilst nursery have their show dress rehearsal. The afternoon sees the much anticipated P.7 vs staff football match, following which the P.7s will head to Montgomery Street Park to celebrate the end of their time in primary school with staff and families and friends who are able to join them.

 

On Thursday, children in nursery will perform their end of year show for family and friends ahead of the graduation ceremonies for those children heading to Primary 1 in August. These are at 9.30 a.m. for morning nursery class and 1.30 p.m. for afternoon nursery class.

 

Friday morning sees P.7s perform their leavers’ show, starting at 10.45 a.m. before they are piped out at 12 noon ready to embark on the next chapter of their education. Nursery classes finish at normal times, with P.1 – 7 children finishing at 12 noon. Please come along and cheer on our Primary 7s!

 

We will also wave a fond farewell to Miss Presslie who has successfully completed her probationary year of teaching with us and has secured a permanent post at Craigroyston Primary School in Edinburgh, and we look forward to having classes linking up to share learning across the schools. We will also say goodbye to Mrs Storr and Miss Armstrong, both of whom have secured posts closer to home which suit their current circumstances. We thank them all for their work and commitment to our school community during their time here.

 

On behalf of the staff team here at Leith Walk Primary School, I wish you all a lovely and relaxing summer, and we look forward to seeing you all again when children return on Wednesday 15th August at normal starting times.

 

Best wishes,

Anne

Blog 15.06.18.

Dear Parents/Carers,

 

Last week was another busy week of learning, in and out of school.

 

On Monday, some of our current P.1s confidently gave children who are joining P.1 in August and their parents/carers a tour of our school, whilst assemblies were on Ramadan.

 

On Tuesday, our transition into nursery and P.1 groups ran again, with children and parents/carers becoming more familiar with our school.  We also had our Building Resilience Sharing Assembly with some children sharing the learning they’ve been doing on the theme of ‘Challenge Your Mindset’.  After school there was the last of this session’s drop in cooking classes.  In the evening, it was Drummond Community High School’s Prize Giving/Celebration of Achievement, where it was so lovely to hear of the successes of our former pupils.

 

Primary 5A headed off to Bonaly Outdoor Centre from Wednesday – Friday where they pushed themselves out their comfort zones, worked together and gained in confidence.

 

On Friday, there were house meetings, with final preparations taking place for the Talent Show.

 

On various days throughout the week, classes from P.4 -7 participated in workshops at Collective on Calton Hill, which will be followed up with workshops in school this week.

 

Our average school attendance for the week beginning 11th June was 93.39 % with 2 out of the 10 stages (N.3, N.4, N.5, P.1, P.2, P.3, P.4, P.5, P.6, P.7) having an average attendance of over 95%, with the highest being P.5 with 96.97%, well done Primary 5!

 

Next week, P.4 – 7 will participate in workshops with Collective in school on various days.

 

P.7s will head to their high schools on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as the transition process for them continues, whilst there will be the last of our transition into nursery and P.1 sessions here in school.  P.2A, P.3/2 and P.3A are doing some food tasting on Tuesday too.

 

Wednesday afternoon sees the children meeting their teacher for next session, and letters will come home with children to inform you of arrangements.

 

On Friday morning, our Special Summer Breakfast and Bike to School will take place.  A special visitor, author Philip Reeve, is also due to visit P.6A and P.7A.

Blog 08.06.18.

What a busy, but fantastic week for our school community!

 

P.7A had a great visit to the Hub on Monday, whilst assemblies were on wider achievement.

 

We had our first transition into nursery, and transition in Primary 1 sessions on Tuesday.  It was lovely to see so many of children and families coming along to these as a key aim of them is to make the transition as seamless as possible for children and parents/carers.

 

Nursery had a fun filled Sports Day on Wednesday, and it was great that the weather stayed dry and the sun shone.  The children were enthusiastic and enjoyed receiving their medals for participating.

 

Thursday saw some parents/carers come in to school to listen to their child playing their brass instrument.  Children performed brilliantly, and we hope parents/carers enjoyed this as well as the opportunity to try playing some brass instruments.

 

The school week ended with a fantastic Sports Day. With Meadowbank Stadium being closed, this was held at Holyrood Park this year.  We couldn’t have asked for better weather, and children demonstrated great sportsmanship throughout the morning.  Staff and parents/carers joined in the fun, especially in their races towards the end of the morning, as well as there being the children’s fun runs.  Winners of the children’s fun runs were Daksh and Robyn from P.1; Jack and Daisy from P.2, Dylan and Zuzu from Primary 3, Arian and Nadya from P.4, Sorley and Cara from P.5, Tyler and Mariama from P.6 and Cole and Bonnie from P.7.  The winners of our Sports Day trophy were Hillside, well done to everyone in Hillside!

Apologies that some classes returned to school later than the end of the school day, and we appreciate your patience and support as we got everyone back to school safely.  Thank you to all our parents/carers, families and friends who came along to support our children; to our brilliant staff team for all their work preparing the children for the day and their efforts on the day; and to the most important people in our school community, the children, who represented us so well!  We would be interested to hear views on Sports Day as Meadowbank will remain closed next year.  Please add any comments into our self-evaluation book in the main entrance or email Admin@leithwalk.edin.sch.uk

 

Primary 7s also planned and ran an ice cream sale to raise money towards their Lagganlia Residential.

 

Our average school attendance for the week beginning 4th June was 95.90% with 5 out of the 10 stages (N.3, N.4, N.5, P.1, P.2, P.3, P.4, P.5, P.6, P.7) having an average attendance of over 95%, with the highest being P.1 with an amazing 99.22%, well done Primary 1!

 

We also received a ‘shout out’ on a video about Football Dice.  This is an exciting new game based around national teams which has been created by Mr Holden, one of our class teachers who is currently on a career break in Spain where he is teaching at an International School. It is suitable for anyone over 6 years old, and small enough to fit in any pocket to play anywhere! Collect all 16 of the current Football Dice teams and challenge your friends to a match! The perfect family game to liven up a wet Sunday afternoon, to while away long journeys, play on a chilled-out day at the beach or for playground fun at school. It also makes a unique football gift for boys, girls and adults alike!

Watch out for the shout out for us in this video, thanks Mr Holden!                                                                                                                                                    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAeF3T10piw&feature=share

 

Next week, on Monday 9.30 a.m. – 10.30 a.m. there is a meeting for parents/carers of children who are starting Primary 1 here in August 2018.  Here, they will be given a tour of our school by some of our current P.1s.

 

Our P.4-7 classes will all be visiting Collective on Calton Hill for the next of their workshops next week.  P.7A will visit on Monday morning, P.5A on Tuesday morning, P.6A on Wednesday morning, and P.4A and P.4B on Thursday morning.

 

On Tuesday, there will be the next Transition into Nursery (9.30 a.m. – 10.30 a.m.) and Transition into Primary 1 (11.30 a.m. – 1 p.m.) groups.  We’re also having our Building Resilience Sharing Assembly for our ‘Challenge Your Mindset’ theme.  After school, Miss Huhtinen and Mrs Storr will once again be leading a drop in cooking class.

 

Our P.5s will be very excited on Wednesday morning as they head off to Bonaly for their two night residential.

 

Our week ends with House Meetings on Friday where final planning and preparation will be taking place for the House Talent Show.

 

I appreciate that you will be keen to hear about class organisation and teachers for next session.  Current P.1 – P.6 children will find out their teacher for next session at our ‘Meet the teacher’ session for children on the afternoon of Wednesday 20th June.

The proposed class organisation for next session based on numbers of children at each stage, which was submitted in November 2017, was P.1A, P.1B, P.2, P.3/2, P.3A, P.4A, P5/4, P.5A, P.6A and P.7A.

With changes in numbers of children at different stages, as well our new intake of P.1s now being capped at 30 children, I have reviewed the proposed class organisation, and classes for next session will be P.1A, P.2/1, P.2A, P.3A, P.4/3, P.4A, P.5A, P.5B, P.6A and P.7A meaning that our current classes from P.2A upwards will move on as they are.  Please be aware, however, that class organisation can change even after the summer holidays depending on demand for school places.

 

Best wishes,

Anne

Sports Day

A reminder that tomorrow is Sports Day at Holyrood Park, starting at 10 a.m.  Children should wear house colours if possible.  All children will return to school to be dismissed.  Parents/carers are welcome to walk to/from Holyrood Park with us.  Please remember to apply suncream in the morning.

We are all looking forward to a fun filled morning.

Blog 01.06.18.

Our Primary 7s who were at Lagganlia Centre for Outdoor Learning at the assemblies on Monday, and one of the instructors was at a meeting in Edinburgh so also visited school to see us.

We had our Parent Council AGM on Monday evening where our Chair, Claire, went through a list of some of the projects that have been supported by Parent Council Fundraising in the last year.

• For the first time, we organised and paid for all children in P3–P7 to attend Edinburgh Book Festival events in August.
• We paid for a writer-in-residence to come and work with the P1s and P2s, who it was felt were too young to attend the Book Festival.
• We donated £100 ‘start-up fund’ to every nursery and primary class which has funded a variety of activities, from art supplies to school trips.
• We donated money towards supporting P7 leavers (dinner and leaving gifts), and supporting the P7 trip to Lagganlia.
• We organised a piper to attend the last day of school and play for the P7 leavers as they left the school for the final time.

This is in addition to contributions we make towards library books, a magazine subscription and work in the playground.

There are so many projects that would be wonderful to be involved with and support further but this would involve increased fund raising. We have a very small pool of parents/carers who help on a regular basis so if you would like to get involved, please don’t be shy – you would be welcomed with open arms!! The more we can do as a group, the more we can offer the school and children.

On Tuesday, we had some children designing their ideas for the background of our new Vision, Values and Aims poster.  We also had another of our popular and tasty drop in cooking classes led by Miss Huhtinen and Mrs Storr on Tuesday after school.

Parents’/Carers’ Consultations were also held on Tuesday and Wednesday after school, and it was lovely to see so many of our parents/carers there, and we hope you enjoyed speaking to staff and seeing your child(ren)’s learning.  Some of our P.5s were helping run the refreshment stall as well as selling a quiz to raise money to go towards the cost of their residential at Bonaly Outdoor Centre.  Please note that they have decided to carry on selling the quiz this week, with entries to be handed in by 1 p.m. on Friday 8th June.

There was a meeting on Thursday evening for parents/carers of children going on residential to Bonaly in under 2 weeks.  We looked at photos and watched videos from last year’s residentials there.  Children have chosen their preferred activities as climbing wall, crate stacking, Highland Games, hill walking, and the mohawk walk.  They are getting more excited about the residential as it gets closer!

During Community Learning Team time today, groups were working on activities related to being responsible.  We also had a ‘Bingo Ball’ group who met with Miss Houliston.  Today it was the child from each class who is 18th on their class’ register, and they were looking at which class responsibilities we should have next session, as well as giving feedback on school improvement priorities.

Primary 7s also planned and ran an ice lolly sale to raise money towards their Lagganlia Residential.

Our average school attendance for the week beginning 28th May was 95.24% with 4 out of the 10 stages (N.3, N.4, N.5, P.1, P.2, P.3, P.4, P.5, P.6, P.7) having an average attendance of over 95%, with the highest being P.4 at 97.93%, well done to all our P.4s!

Next week, we have four teaching students from Zurich University joining us for three weeks.

P.7A are off to the Hub on Monday to take part in a Soul Boxes workshop in run by the International Festival.

On Tuesday, we have the first of three transition into nursery, and ‘Off We Go’ transition in P.1 groups running, led by some of our nursery staff.

On Wednesday, our nursery children are hoping for good weather for their Sports Day.

We also look forward to welcoming some of the local authority’s Quality Improvement Team to school on Wednesday and Thursday.  I would also be grateful if you could return the questionnaires to the box in the main entrance, by end of day on Monday 4th June.

On Thursday afternoon, our brass instructor Mr Lamb has arranged for the P.6 and P.7 pupils who are learning to play a brass instrument, to perform to their parents/carers.  The children would love to showcase their talents to their parents/carers so we hope you can come along.

The week is scheduled to finish with Sports Day for P.1 – 7 at Holyrood Park, so again we are hoping for good weather, and we look forward to as many of our parents/carers, family members and friends joining us to cheer on the children.  If you are feeling competitive, there may also be races for the adults…

The weekend starts with our Parent Council running a stall at Leith Gala Day.  Any help, whether on the day or contributions of baking would be gratefully received.

 

Blog 25.05.18.

It was a quick week due to the Monday holiday, and it was great to hear about the adventures of the P.7s who were at Lagganlia Centre for Outdoor Learning the previous week.

On Tuesday we had a whole school Daily Mile, as well as the Rights Respecting Schools Committee holding a meeting.

On Wednesday P.6A participated in the Active Schools Games @ the Hub – many thanks to the parents who volunteered to help to allow the trip to go ahead. P.1A and P.1B also visited Gorgie Farm.

On Thursday the bookfair arrived in school and classes have started to visit this to look at the books. We had a group of Danish visitors in school on Thursday morning to compare the education systems as part of their visit to Edinburgh. A group of our P.6s did a fantastic job of giving tours to parents/carers on Thursday and Friday mornings. P.5A and P.6A went to see a showing of the show they were in, ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’. A massive thank you to Dee, everyone at Music in the Community and the students, what a fabulous experience for our children.

At House meetings on Friday, there were auditions for the House Talent Show, and children should also have brought their report and time for Parents’/Carers’ Consultation home with them.

Next week, it is our Parent Council AGM on Monday at 6.30 p.m.

Parents’/Carers’ Consultations are on Tuesday and Wednesday, parents/carers should contact the school office if they are unsure of appointment times.

P.5A are due to go on their residential to Bonaly soon, and there’s a meeting for parents/carers on Thursday night at 6 p.m.

We look forward to seeing parents/carers at Parents’/Carers’ Consultations.

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