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East CraigsPrimary School

October, 2017

MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD TEACHER’S DESKWelcome to our October newsletter. I hope you all had a wonderful October break. It has been lovely to hear our pupils share their holiday stories, some enjoying spending time at home, some further afield. I am delighted to share with you some of the special events, and news, happening in school. Please read on to find out more.

In-Service TrainingOur staff team engaged in professional learning focusing on the use of Education Scotland Benchmarks in assessing pupils’ progress, which will inform our practice in planning, and

assessing, learning. This area of improvement is also being taken forward at Cluster level to ensure consistency in assessment standards across the Craigmount Cluster. We have also agreed the Community Learning Teams we will be offering this session, which were shared with pupils at last week’s assemblies. The teams offer pupils opportunities to develop leadership skills, contribute to school improvement and community engagement, together with making use of their skills, interests and talents, or to try something brand new, demonstrating a growth mindset approach. The teams are as follows:-

1. Digital Leaders (Pupils who are members of the lunchtime club will automatically join this team)

2. Global Rights (including Pupil Council Reps, Charity Support, 1 in 5 Poverty Awareness)

3. World of Work4. Creative Citizens5. School of Rock6. Animation & Film-

making7. School Communication

(including “The School Snitch” newspaper)

8. Scientists & Engineers of the Future

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

http://www.eastcraigs.edin.sch.uk/


October, 20179. Upcycling10. Outdoor Learning

& Wildlife11. Physical Fitness &

Dance12. Multi-Sports &

Traditional Games13. Growth Mindset14. Cookery as a Life

Skill15. First Aid &

Essential Life Skills

Some of the teams have carried on from last session, with some new additions for our pupils to choose from. Pupils are busy making their 3 choices (in order of preference) this week, with the first session being held on Monday 6th November, and fortnightly thereafter, throughout terms 2 & 3. Every attempt is made to ensure each pupil becomes a member of one of their “choice” teams. However, in such a large school, this is occasionally not possible. In the event of this, we would greatly appreciate your support in encouraging your child to demonstrate a growth mindset, and resilience, towards trying something different. If you would be interested in supporting the work of the Community Learning Teams, by becoming a parent/carer member, I would be delighted to hear from you.

Choir Success!! I am delighted to share with you that our choir has been selected to perform as part of the “Christmas Songbook” Christmas day programme on STV2, which will be shown on a loop throughout the day. They will be recording at St.Mary’s Cathedral on 21st November. What a wonderful opportunity, which we look forward to seeing.

Review of Homework PolicyOur Homework Survey is currently live on the school website. It will remain open until Monday 6th November and we would greatly appreciate you taking the time to complete this. It is important to us to gather the views of as many people as possible, in order to ensure we




October, 2017meet the needs of all pupils, and their families in this area of school practice.

Open DayOur Open Day for prospective new Primary 1 parents & carers for Session 2018-19 will be held on Thursday 2nd

November. There will be 2 sessions running:- 9:30-10:30am and 1:45-2:45pm. This will provide an opportunity to ask any questions about school life, as well as receiving a tour from our new House Captains. Primary 1 Registration will take place on Wednesday 8th

November 9:00-10:30am & 2:00-3:30pm. All parents & carers should register their child at their catchment school. Parents & carers of East Craigs Nursery children have been issued with registration forms in advance, in order that they have the opportunity to come along on registration day with their forms completed. Many thanks for your support with this.

East Craigs CDWorking with our PTA, Miss Allan is supporting our pupils in creating an East Craigs CD which

will be professionally recorded on 16th November. The CD will include a song performed by each stage in school, including the AM and PM Nursery classes, together with two songs performed by our choir. Although the CD will be available for you to buy at the Christmas Fayre, the songs are not Christmas songs, and have been chosen by the children. This is to enable the CD to be on sale all year round, should families wish to purchase one at a convenient time for them. Pupils are taking part in a competition to design illustrations for the CD. We will ask the producer to select one overall winning illustration for the CD cover, with two runner-up designs for inside the CD. Many thanks to our PTA who are kindly funding the pupils’ prizes.

East Craigs Parent CouncilMany thanks to Mrs Susi Isler for the following article:-




October, 2017

We are pleased to share our new ECPC logo with you as well as letting you know that we’re now on Twitter!! You can find us @ecpcinfo If anyone is interested in helping us manage our Twitter account, please get in touch – we’re hoping to start using this as a quick way of getting in touch with you all and to share information easily and effectively.Our next meeting scheduled for 7th November @ 18.45 in the Staff Room and hope to see many of you there. If there is anything you would like to discuss at the meeting, please could you drop us an email or contact us via the school office by 3 November – or indeed by tweeting us!!Contact: [email protected] or @ecpcinfo

East Craigs PTA Many thanks to Mrs Jane Adams for the following update from the PTA.

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: [email protected] 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, please let us know. All help is very much appreciated. Please email your name and contact number to the above email address and we can then keep you on our files to contact prior to any event.

Our next PTA meeting is 17th

January 2018 at 6.45pm.

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING EVENTJust a reminder that our Christmas Shopping Event held at St. Thomas’ Church is early this year, being held on Friday 3rd November 6-9pm. A great opportunity to kick off your Christmas shopping and get organised well in advance so you can relax and enjoy December when the celebrations begin.

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.

EASYFUNDRAISING



mailto:[email protected]



October, 2017This 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.

P1/2 MAGIC SHOWThe P1/2 Magic Show will be held in school on 15th November. This is always a very popular event, which our younger pupils thoroughly enjoy attending.

CHRISTMAS FAYREThis event will be held in school on Saturday 2nd December between 10:00am and 12:00 noon. Please come along and support this fantastic community event.

Assemblies

P6 Titanic AssemblyOur Primary 6 pupils delighted their audience with their wonderful performance of their Titanic Assembly on Friday 13th

October. This was the culmination of a programme of learning which was truly brought to life by the pupils and staff team. Congratulations to all.

Harvest AssemblyWe were joined by Rev McPherson, from Craigsbank Church, for our Harvest Assembly also on Friday 13th October. Many thanks for all the donations received, which were collected by the North West Foodbank to support members of our community.



http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/


October, 2017

Parents’ & Carers’ ConsultationsIt was excellent to see so many of you at our recent Parents’ & Carers’ Consultations on Tuesday 10th and Wednesday 11th October. If you were not able to attend on either of these evenings, we would be delighted to arrange an alternative appointment for you, which can be done through our school office.

Lagganlia P7 Residential ExcursionOur P7 pupils spent last week up in Lagganlia for their residential experience. This is the first time we have visited this centre, which is run by City of Edinburgh Council. The staff team who attended were:- Mrs Millar, Miss Mowat, Mrs Cormack, Mrs Cann, Mrs Malcolm, Neil Russell (Active School Co-ordinator). I visited from Monday to Wednesday, with Miss Allan visiting from Wednesday to Friday. This was a truly fabulous experience for us all- pupils and staff alike!! Our pupils received an outdoor learning educational experience of an excellent standard, whilst

developing a range of valuable life skills. Our pupils were also able to form friendships with pupils from Fox Covert Primary School, who were there with us, as part of the new Cluster model. Each of our staff, including myself, mentioned about how brilliant our P7 pupils were- a real joy to be with! Many thanks to parents & carers for their feedback about their child’s experience. Please take a look at the P7 “Sharing Our Learning” pages on our website to see some live action. Huge thanks to our pupils and staff team for making this such a success.

Nursery NewsMany thanks to Miss Allan for the following article:-

In the nursery we have all been enjoying the recent Autumnal weather and the children have had lots of opportunities to learn actively outside. By using our senses to explore the school’s grounds, listening to Autumnal stories and by pretending to be Autumnal animals, the children have been learning about the season of Autumn. We have made a “Talking and Thinking




October, 2017Floorbook,” which shows all the things we have learnt. The book is in the entrance corridor to the nursery room, please take some time to look at it.

The pre-school children have also started experiencing our weekly trips to explore the local woodland areas. These Forest Walks have been a great success, with children, staff and parents and carers all really enjoying themselves. The children will be using their senses to explore the natural environment. They will have the opportunity to develop their physical skills as they balance, climb and walk on uneven surfaces. Imaginative play has also been encouraged as the children are allowed to explore freely these areas, under adult supervision. We do not plan to go on these walks in the winter months of December or January, but will start again in February. Please do try to come along with us if you can.

Thank you to all of the parents and carers who attended our Open Nursery sessions. Both the morning and afternoon sessions were very well attended and we hope that you got as much out of them as the children did, as well as an insight into your child’s life at nursery.

Once again, thanks to parents and carers for your help in selecting books every day for your child to take home in their book bags. Please can we ask parents and carers to keep supporting their child by renewing their Bedtime Story books each day. It really makes a huge difference to your child's development if they hear a story every night and we hope that you continue to enjoy this nightly experience with your child.

The Nursery Team

Oscars After-School CarePlease see the below article from Jonathan Combe, the Operations Manager from Oscars:-We are delighted to have been able to increase the capacity of our After School Club provision here at East Craigs Primary School. In addition to the existing service provided at the East Craigs Church Centre, Bughtlin Market, OSCARS are now also operating from the dining hall within East Craigs Primary School.




October, 2017

Places are currently available, with flexible booking options available to parents/carers. Reservations can be made on either an ad hoc or permanent basis. The After School Club in East Craigs Primary School is open until 5.30pm, however, children can be collected slightly later at 5.45pm from our East Craigs Church Centre location if required.

For further information, please contact OSCARS on 0131 557 7500 or by email at [email protected] If you would like to visit the club, please contact Louise Thomson, Senior Play Worker, on 07788 275805.

Remembrance ServiceI will be attending the Remembrance Service in Corstorphine, to lay a wreath on behalf of the East Craigs Community, together with our House Captains. You are most

welcome to come along to the service, which starts at 11:00am.

Pupils’ AchievementsPlease read on to hear about the fantastic range of achievements our pupils have shared this month.

In P1B, Charlie Foster took part in the Skidaddle 10K race in Callander.

In P2/3, Max McGinty earned a trophy for being ‘Man of the Match’ with his football team.

Gregor Livingstone in P3A and Euan Livingstone in P3B, both earned medals for their performance at a rugby tournament in Linlithgow. Well done boys.

In P3B, Dillon Scoular came 2nd

place in a Judo competition and Abi Black, also in P3B, made her Brownie Guide promise.Rayyan Jalali of P3B has achieved 1st Kai at Judo.

In P4A, Nathan Sherry has won a bronze medal and a trophy at a





October, 2017recent Judo competition. He is now 2nd Mon.

Also in P4A, Aaron Williams, along with his sister, Kimmie in P7A, were sharing their commemorative materials about 9/11.

In P4B, Lucy Cameron has completed the John Thompson’s piano course whilst Sophia Gerard, also in P4B, has moved up a level, both in gymnastics and swimming.

In P5A, Shaun Townsend has earned a medal and a trophy for winning a football league with his team “Harmony Row.”

Also in P5A, Libby Martin took part in the Cramond Park Run. She completed the 3 mile run in 43 minutes but is aiming to do the next run in under 30 minutes. A great goal, Libby!

Maggie Wilkinson in P5A and Melissa Evans in P5B, both took part in the Blackpool Dance Competition, making it through to the finals in March. They took 3rd

place in the ‘Best Modern’ category and 5th place overall.

In P5B, Joanna Rigby successfully completed six months of Highland Dancing at the Prestonfield House Hotel. She is hoping to be chosen to take part again next year.

Also in P5B, Rachel Newby has received a distinction in her Grade 2 ballet exam.

Ciara Dillon in P5B, took part in the ‘Feis Ni Grianna’ Irish Dance competition in Glasgow. She earned two first places for the ‘light jig’ and the ‘single jig’ as well as a 3rd, 4th and 5th place in her remaining dances. Well done Ciara.

In P7B, Rachel Sherry has won a gold medal, a silver medal and a winner’s trophy in a recent Judo competition at Drumbrae Leisure Centre.

Jackie ReidHead Teacher

Dates for Your Diary




October, 2017

Thursday 2nd November Open Day for new P1 parents & carers Session 2018-19 (9:30-10:30am & 1:45-2:45pm)

Friday 3rd November 9:15am P4 Egypt Assembly

Friday 3rd November 6:00-9:00pm PTA Christmas Shopping Night at St Thomas’ Church

Tuesday 7th November 6:45pm ECPC Meeting in staffroom

Wednesday 8th November Registration for new P1 intake Session 2018-19 9:00-10:30am & 2:00-3:30pm

Sunday 12th November 11:00am Remembrance Service at Corstorphine

Wednesday 15th November 6:30-7:30pm P1/2 Magic Show

Monday 20th November Pupils’ Flu Vaccinations

Saturday 2nd December 10:00am-12:00 noon Christmas Fayre



welcome to our - web view12/10/2017 · i am delighted to share with you that our choir...

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