RESPECT INCLUSION TEAMWORK EFFORT

 19 February 2021

DIARY DATES

Tues 22 February – P1-3 resume at school

P4-7 resume online learning

Wed 24 Feb Parent Council Meeting 7-9pm

Thurs 4 March World Book Day

w/c 22 March Parent Consultation

Thurs 1 April Term ends

Tues 20 April All resume

Dear Families

I hope you all had an enjoyable February break and a much-deserved rest from supporting and taking part in Remote Learning. Hopefully the snow brought lots of fun although it is also nice that the weather is now a bit milder.

I wrote to you earlier in the week on 17 February with details of our arrangements for the return of P1-P3 children and the continuation of our Hub for those key worker children who already attend.

As I mentioned in my letter, we are all delighted that P1-3 children will be returning to school. However, it is not yet ‘as normal’ and I know I can count on your support to follow the First Minister’s advice about physical distancing, avoiding gathering, cleaning hands and surfaces and wearing a mask. With these mitigations firmly in place – and the new Asymptomatic testing being introduced for all staff – we can all feel reassured that as a community we are doing all we can to bring back the rest of our pupils in P4-7 as soon as possible. Professor Leitch’s letter (below) contains important information for us all to read and follow.

Please see documents below:

Following on from the parent/pupil/staff surveys on remote learning, all children in P4-P7 will now be offered a live interaction every day Monday to Friday. See times below:

Year Group	Session Times
P7B and P7C	9.00-9.30
P5 and P7A	9.30-10.00
P4	10.30-11.00
P6	11.00- 11.30

Individual teachers will organise the content of these sessions with their own classes. Some teachers are also trialling breakout rooms or leaving a meeting open for a while so as children may socialise with one another. This is a result of comments from both pupils and parents. We will look to roll this out further if it proves to be successful and easy to manage and supervise.

We have decided to adapt our Reporting schedule for this academic session. We will hold a Parent Consultation via Teams before the Easter break and a full report will now be given out near the end of the Summer term. During the Parent Consultation, the Class Teacher will review overall progress. We feel it will also be beneficial to hear your perspective on successes, challenges or concerns during Lockdown. This will enable us to plan any interventions needed in the Summer term. Parent Consultations will take place week commencing 22 March.

This week’s Assembly focused on Chinese New Year. I asked the children to send me a drawing of the animal that represented their birth year and I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing them this morning. If your child has not done this yet and your child would like to do so, please email the drawing to me at andrew.hunter@sciennes.edin.sch.uk

Please find the Assembly link here:

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and I look forward to welcoming P1-P3 children back to school on Monday.

Andrew

 BELIEVE•ACHIEVE