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East CraigsPrimary School

December 2015

MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD TEACHER’S DESKWelcome to our December newsletter. We are in the throes of enjoying a range of Christmas celebrations, whilst continuing our focus on teaching and learning. Please read on to find out more about our Festive news.

Staffing NewsMrs Jamieson, one of our Primary 7 staff will be leaving East Craigs at the Christmas holidays as she is relocating to the West coast of Scotland with her family. We would all like to thank her for her commitment over the past 8 years and wish her every happiness for the future. She will be greatly missed by all.Mrs Gidget Wong, who has been working on a supply basis in our Nursery on Thursdays and Fridays will also be leaving East Craigs

this Friday. Many thanks to Mrs Wong for all her help during her time in our Nursery. Mrs Liz Stewart will be working as an additional teacher in the Nursery on these days upon our return from the holidays.

Mrs Malcolm, one of our Pupil Support Assistants, will no longer work on Fridays after the Christmas holidays, with Mrs Yardley working additional hours throughout the week.

We will be interviewing for the post of full-time Depute Head Teacher in January, with the long leet being held on Friday 8th and the short leet interviews on Thursday 14th January. I am delighted to say that applicants were of a very high quality which has enabled us to move forward to the long leet stage with 7 applicants. The interview panel will consist of myself, Stephen Gilhooley Quality Improvement Officer, Mrs Jennifer Ross Head Teacher of Corstorphine Primary School, Mrs Susi Isler and Mrs Christina Rigby, co-chairs of Parent Council. Mrs Isler and Mrs Rigby have formulated a question which will be asked of each of the candidates during the long leet interview.

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December 2015Christmas HolidaysAll pupils will finish on Tuesday 22nd December at 12:00 noon for the Christmas holidays. All pupils should return to school on Thursday 7th January, 2016 at their usual times. Staff will be returning, for In-Service training, on Wednesday 6th January.

P1 NativityOur P1 pupils delighted their audiences at both performances of their Nativity, “Woops-a-Daisy Angel.” Their enthusiasm, and sheer sense of enjoyment, was a joy to behold. Many thanks to our staff team who worked so hard helping the children to prepare for their performance.

Nursery “Wriggly” NativityMany thanks to Mrs Caroline Young for the following article:-Both the morning and afternoon nursery children performed a wonderful 'Wriggly Nativity' in front of a very large audience of families and friends. The children were amazing throughout, with fantastic singing, great acting (especially our plodding donkey, beautiful angels, regal

kings, hopping sheep and shepherds and jumping camels) and they all looked amazing. We think it was a fantastic achievement for children who are only 3 and 4 years old. Thank you to all the nursery staff for all their hard work putting this production together and thank you to all the parents who have been learning the words with their children and encouraged them all the way. From everyone in the nursery we wish you all a wonderful Christmas and look forward to seeing you all again in the New Year.

P2 Christmas Sing-a-longOur P2 pupils also treated us to a fantastic morning of Festive music, singing a selection of Christmas songs for a very appreciative audience of family and friends. This created a lovely warm community feel and really got us all in the Christmas mood.

Christmas Parties Our pupils have been having a wonderful time at their parties which have been held over the last couple of weeks. They have done particularly well in learning a range of dances, which they



December 2015have performed with great skill and enjoyment. Many thanks to our staff team, particularly Mr Cheung our PE specialist, for supporting the children in this area of learning and for organizing the parties.

Aladdin Pantomime at the Alhambra TheatreDespite the transport challenges around us attending the performance of “Aladdin” at the Alhambra Theatre on Wednesday 16th December, our pupils had a truly fantastic time. I am so delighted that we were able to go and not have them disappointed. Their behaviour was impeccable at all times, with every child showing themselves to be excellent ambassadors for our school. It was wonderful to see, and hear, children taking part in the experience and expressing how much they had loved going. Many thanks to the parents & carers of our P1 and P2 pupils for their patience whilst waiting to collect their children, as they were slightly later back.

Choir PerformancesWe enjoyed a wonderful festive musical performance at Craigsbank Church on Wednesday evening this week from our school choir and instrumentalists. This follows other excellent performances by the Choir at the Shopping evening at St Thomas’ Church and at Scottish Widows. Katie and Laura Kelly also gave excellent performances on trombone and bagpipes, respectively. Many thanks to Mrs Graham, our Depute Head Teacher for her leadership of the choir.

Pupils’ AchievementsPlease read on to hear about the fantastic range of pupils’ success in wider achievementNursery PM Robbie McCann Raiker won a certificate at Hearts Soccer AcademyP1/2 Eloise Ferguson was awarded the Aqua Fun award, level 4



December 2015P2/1 Rea Norwood achieved Level One at Scottish GymnasticsP2/1 Alex Reid achieved Level 7 in trampoline proficiency P2/2 Isla Hopkins achieved Level One at Scottish GymnasticsP2/3 Aaron Campbell passed ASA Swimming Level 8 and is working towards Level 9P3a Mya Reynolds was awarded the 25m swimming certificate and has moved up a class to Beginners 3P3a Libby Martin got her 10m swimming badge after only 4 weeksP3a Isla Tyrrell passed level 2 at Scottish Gymnastics and achieved her 25m swimming awardP3b Rachel Newby was awarded her 25m swimming certificate, was selected to do her Grade One ballet exam and got her seasons’ certificate for ‘Hutchie’P3b Ciara Dillon earned her 50m distance swimming award, won 5 medals for Irish dancing and passed Levels 3 and 4 at Scottish GymnasticsP3b Blythe Lennen passed Levels 3 and 4 at Scottish GymnasticsP3b Joanna Rigby performed in a dance show at the Churchill

Theatre and achieved Level 2 in Scottish GymnasticsP3b Zaina Yasir went pony riding and passed her testP3b Finlay Bonnar was picked to play a match against Currie Star and Cramond, resulting in a win and a draw!P3b Cameron Stewart has now joined Scottish GymnasticsP3b Alex Easdale achieved his 3rd

kai (orange belt) in judoP3b Matthew Armstrong scored 9 goals in a football tournament with his team ‘Hutchie’P3b Katie Thomson completed Level 2 in tap dancing with her dance schoolP3b Murray Thomson survived 6 wrestling matches at a tournament in LeithP4a Effie White managed to swim 15m at Drumbrae pool, earning her distance awardP4a Erin Byrne achieved her level 3 and 4 for Scottish GymnasticsP4a Hope Hinchcliffe achieved her level 3 and 4 for Scottish GymnasticsP4b Jasmine Sim earned her 10m distance award at swimming and achieved level 2 for Scottish Gymnastics



December 2015P4b Ayaana Agili performed a traditional indian folk dance as part of a dance show, in front of a large audienceP4b Isobel West has received Level 4 Scottish Gymnastics award and took part in a gymnastics display at MeadowbankP4b Rhys Cooper has achieved 2nd

kai in JudoP4b Ayaana Agili is able to read music and performed a piano piece at St Thomas’ ChurchP5a Jennifer Reid earned Proficiency level 8 for trampolining from British GymnasticsP5a Daisy Hill, on her horse ‘Rolo’ was awarded a rosette for cantering at the horse-riding party at Lasswade P5a Callum Mather was player of the week for his football team ‘Spartans’P5a Jennifer Reid earned a medal for her performance with RazzamatazzP5a Ryan Byrne and Josh Briggs earned a trophy for their season’s performance with Tynecastle Football teamP5b Sonny Wilkes went parascending, surfing and scuba diving in Tenerife

P5b Josh Newby swam 200 metresP5b Mounika Pasupulate danced on stage in Glasgow for the Teluga Association of Scotland P5b Hanna Kelly, on her horse ‘Patch,’ was awarded a rosette for cantering at the horse-riding party at LasswadeP6b Laura Kelly took part in a chanter competition at Craigmount and came 5th out of 24P7a Charlotte Spiers came second in the Doubles/Mixed Doubles at the Lothian School’s under-12s badminton tournament

Pupil SafetyA concern has been raised by a parent regarding the amount of cars which are double-parked in our car park and in the surrounding streets. Please show consideration when dropping off and picking up pupils in order to avoid any of our children getting hurt. Your support is greatly appreciated.



December 2015

Primary Sportshall FestivalOur team who attended the above festival at Meadowbank Stadium gave a very strong performance, earning them 5th

place overall with 146 points. Mrs Cann and Mrs Lennon who accompanied the team to the event commented on the excellent sportsmanship and conduct of our pupils which are a credit to themselves, their families and our school.

New East Craigs WebsiteWe hope you have been enjoying having a look at our new website. Many thanks to those of you who, very kindly, provided us with feedback. Hopefully you will have seen, or will see in the future, that your suggestions for

improvement have been actioned. Just a reminder that the address is:- www.eastcraigs.edijn.sch.uk

Awards for All BidWe have had an excellent response to the survey issued to gather the view of parents & carers regarding the proposal to erect an outdoor classroom in our playground, which would also serve as additional shelter for parents & carers during staggered pupils’ collection times. The data gathered supports moving forward with the bid, which I will finalise, and submit, ahead of the Christmas holidays. I have included the collated data for your information. I am also currently in liaison with Crawford McGhie, Asset Planning Manager, regarding a suitable location for the outdoor classroom in the context of the other planned building works, should our bid be successful. I will advise you of


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December 2015the outcome of the bid as soon as I am notified of the decision.

Cycling Scotland

Cycle Friendly School Award

We are delighted to have been awarded this award for our school. It is given to schools who have shown a commitment to the promotion of cycling as part of a whole school culture. Mrs Cann worked with pupils to produce a safe cycle route map to school and provided evidence of our successful Bike-a-bility programme. Mrs Brown worked with Haneesha Danduri and Jude Mattam, our JSO’s to evidence their ‘Be Bright, Be Seen’ road safety campaign which they presented at the City Chambers.

We are proud to display our certificate in the school foyer.

P3-7 MusicMany thanks to Mrs Rogers for the following article. Mrs Rodgers works with our P3-7 classes in school developing our pupils’ musical skills.

Primaries 3-7 have been participating in Music classes once a week since August. Initially everyone learned about instrument sections in an orchestra. P3 and 4 then enjoyed listening to the story of Peter and the Wolf which enabled them to become more familiar with specific instrument sounds and match them to the characters in the story. P5, 6 and 7 learned more about the layout of an orchestra and then researched each section in more detail. The children listened to and appraised three of the movements from Gustav Holst’s Planets Suite-



December 2015Mars, Venus and Jupiter and enjoyed comparing Holst’s music with modern film themes and well known songs!Since the start of term 2, primaries 3, 6 and 7 have been taking part in activities from Charanga Music School. This scheme focuses on a song for up to 6 lessons. The children listen and appraise, participate in rhythm and pulse activities, learn to sing and play instruments to the song. P6 and 7 have been exploring songs from the rock genre – Bon Jovi’s ‘Living on a Prayer’ and Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ being their focus songs. P3 have been looking at a song from South Africa called ‘Hands, Feet, Heart’ by Joanna Mangona.For the last 5 weeks, P4 and 5 have been learning the Ukulele. ‘Captain’ Alison’s lessons were fun and motivating. We all learned 3 chords – C, F and D minor and mastered some tricky fingering when changing from one chord to another! At the end of the course, each class put on a concert for either P3 or P6 where they performed their full repertoire of 3 songs. First was Frere Jacques using the C chord – this was sung in a round. Next everyone enjoyed playing and singing B I N G O which required

the children to change from the F chord to the C chord at the end. Also the Ukulele was used as a percussion instrument to beat the missing letters throughout the song. Last of all was the Drunken Sailor which was the most challenging to play as it used the D minor chord and the C chord. Everyone worked with enthusiasm throughout the lessons and did extremely well to learn such a lot in such a short time! Well done! East Craigs Parent Council Just a reminder that our next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 27th January @ 18.45 in the Staff Room, please feel free to drop us a note of any agenda items you would like to add by contacting us either via our mailbox ([email protected]) or via the School office.

Mrs Rigby, one of our Parent Council Chairs, has also asked me to share the following link with you:- tomschristmasdinner.com. This link tells you about the charity “One More for Christmas” which supports Mary’s Meals International Charity. Please take a look to find out how you can offer your support.


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December 2015

Parent Teacher AssociationThe Christmas Fair last Saturday was a roaring success, with a lovely community atmosphere. Mrs Wallace, Chair of PTA has advised me that, between the Shopping evening at St. Thomas’ Church and our Fair, around £3500 has been raised. I will advise you of the exact total once I have had this confirmed to me. Huge thanks go to the PTA who work tirelessly all year round raising funds for our school. If you are interested in joining this group, the PTA can be contacted at [email protected]

Meeting our school needs in the future – Building UpdateMany thanks for your support and patience during the first phase of the gas works being undertaken as part of our school buildings work. You should have received the communication from Crawford McGhie, Asset Planning Manager explaining more fully about the need, and anticipated timescales, for the necessary works. We are awaiting further information regarding our new gym hall and will share this with you as soon as it is available.

Jackie ReidHead Teacher


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December 2015

On behalf of the staff and pupils of East Craigs primary School, I would like to wish all our pupils and their families a safe, happy and

peaceful Christmas and New Year.


welcome to our - wordpress.com€¦ · web view12/12/2015 · welcome to our december newsletter....

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