City of Edinburgh’s Health and Wellbeing programme ‘Building Resilience’ aims to take children on a personal journey to look at what influences their mental health and emotional wellbeing, through the mix of teaching, reflection, multimedia and interactive activities. It has gathered together current best practice to bring a new set of materials which reflect the advances in research and developments in this area.
Learning through Health and Wellbeing ensures that children and young people develop the knowledge and understanding, skills, capabilities and attributes which they need for mental, emotional, social and physical wellbeing now and in the future.
Building Resilience provides a focus for the whole school community, promoting
partnerships with families and the wider school community.
It aims to help children to function well, both at school and in life. It provides practical
strategies to help them cope with the ups and downs of their everyday lives and tools they can use when they experience difficulties, frustrations and challenging times. Use of the Building Resilience materials will provide children with skills for life.
Building Resilience is made up of twelve units which are delivered over a three year period. The ten main units focus on each of ten strategies that support the development of resilience.
Parent & Carer Leaflet
A Parent and Carer leaflet with an overview of the key messages from the Launch Assembly is provided for each unit. Within the information, there is a Talk it Over section which provides a suggested topic for parents to share with their child.
Importantly the leaflet also contains a Family Activity and Key Book to allow learning to be shared and extended at home. The Family Activity will be introduced at the Launch Assembly and it will form some of the learning that can be included in the subsequent Sharing Assembly.
LAUNCHING SKIPPER’S ‘BE RESILIENT’ VESSEL
On Friday 25th August 2017 we introduced pupils to Skipper, the lead character in a Health and Wellbeing programme called ‘Building Resilience’ which has been developed by a group of Edinburgh staff led by Karen Richmond (South Morningside Primary) and Pattie Santelices (Principal Officer Mental Health & Welllbeing, City of Edinburgh Council.)
Skipper is the captain of his boat and like everyone on the river, goes through various ups and downs on his journey. On his way, he will introduce the children to ten different tools and resources that help us to navigate the river of life and support the development of resilience. The programme complements and re-enforces our own Health and Wellbeing programme, developed by Carolyn Anstruther and staff, with support from our Parent Council Health and Wellbeing group, and well established over several years.
Primary Seven pupils from P7B helped introduce ten strategies that we will focus on throughout the year to help our pupils build resilience to support good mental health. We all got on our feet to sing ‘Stronger’ and considered Kid President’s message that things in life may not always be ‘awesome’, but our response can be. Pupils were invited to research ‘Resilience Role Models’ at home and create a poster. A selection will be shared at next week’s Assembly.
Key messages
1. Everyone goes through ups and downs in their life.
2. We can learn to be more resilient.
3. Resilient people cope better with difficulties.
be-resilient-parent-carer-leaflet
Ten strategies in CEC’s Building Resilience Health and Wellbeing Toolkit
RESILIENCE ROLE MODELS
On Friday 1st September 2017, Mr Howie led the P4-7 Assembly, continuing our ‘Building Resilience’ Health and Wellbeing focus by exploring Resilience Role Models. Mr Howie particularly focused on Teddy Roosevelt, engagingly telling the story of his fascinating, inspiring life and how he strove to overcome adversity and take on personal challenges. Mr Howie also highlighted links with some of the ten ‘Be Resilient’ toolkit strategies (from a City of Edinburgh HWB programme) that we will be exploring further this year.
CHALLENGE YOUR MINDSET
On Friday 8th September 2017 we explored ‘Challenge Your Mindset’ which is one of ten strategies in City of Edinburgh’s Health and Wellbeing programme for “Building Resilience.”
Pupils were encouraged to have a Growth Mindset and realise that their abilities are not fixed. Believing that achievement is possible is important, but lots of effort and being open to make and learn from mistakes are also keys to success. We watched videos from Class Dojo and Sport Scotland to encourage us to keep challenging ourselves and keep persevering in our efforts. Ms Anstruther has led a great deal of development in Growth Mindset for several years, so instead of using this unit of the Building Resilience programme across three weeks, we used it to revise and consolidate for one week only.
Miss McGrouther’s P6B class has created a display with inspiring quotes on self belief entitled “Believe in Your #Selfie.” Ivy and Alba researched leadership quotes for homework, working hard to impress their teacher with their extra efforts and shared these at Assembly.
Key messages
1. Who we are and what we are good at is not fixed.
2. The way we think, feel or learn shapes our brain.
3. You can change through the choices you make.
Challenge Your Mindset Home Activity
MAKE A DIFFERENCE
On Friday 15th September 2017 we held our first House Assemblies of the new session for P2-P7 and welcomed P2 pupils to their first ever House Assembly. Our ‘Be Resilient’ Health and Wellbeing theme for the next few weeks is ‘Make A Difference’.
In November 2015 Sciennes achieved a Bronze Award and in May 2016, Sciennes achieved a Silver (Level One) “Rights Respecting School” award. We are working towards Gold accreditation (Level Two), achievable within three years of Silver. Our journey so far has been recorded on our Rights Respecting Timeline. We asked pupils what it means to be a UNCRC Rights Respecting School and reminded them this includes being a Global Citizen, respecting other people’s rights. We watched a video of Kid President talking about the Global Goals.
We first introduced our pupils to the United Nations’ Global Goals for Sustainable Development when they were launched 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.) Two years on, we watched a rap to help us understand all the goals better.
2018 is the Year of Young People and we asked the children to think about and share their ideas for being #Goalkeepers, like Malala, Barack Obama and Bill and Melinda Gates. What world do they want to see by 2030?
‘The World’s Largest Lesson Part Three’ has a food theme this year and we will be exploring this and other relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) throughout the year. P3 will again be leading a whole school Harvest Appeal. Last year they led donations to local Foodbank charity and this year they are supporting the Send a Cow to Africa charity.
15th September is the International Day for Democracy. 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. The results of the ECO Rep elections were also announced for each House.
MAKE A DIFFERENCE
On Friday 22nd September 2017 we celebrated Global Goals Week with a look at what action is already taking place at Sciennes to support the Sustainable Development Global Goals (SDGs). We invited the children to design their own Global Goals glasses to reflect the world they want to see by 2030 and asked them to think about which actions they could take this year to be Global #Goalkeepers.
Our three P3 classes are taking action on SDG1, SDG2 and SDG3 by leading a whole school Harvest Appeal in support of the charity ‘Send A Cow to Africa’ and a speaker will address both Assemblies next week.
This week, in Scottish Climate Week, P7 have been taking action on SDG13 (Climate Action) by presenting 17 000 consultation responses to the Scottish Government’s forthcoming Climate Bill with Stop Climate Chaos Scotland and Friends of the Earth. Eco Schools Scotland invited Faye, Sorley and Lucy to participate as a direct result of P7A’s work on air pollution last year with Mr Hutchison, Mr McKenna, Ms Christie and SEPA. The pupils cycled to Parliament from school to hand over the responses to Roseanna Cunningham, Cabinet Secretary for the Environment.
Newly elected P6 Junior Road Safety Officers (JRSOs) Lyall, Essie and Anna shared details about their invitation to a training session at City Chambers, designed to support them in their lead role this year. Lyall explained that there had been workshops and one was on air quality, as a direct result of P7A’s involvement with SEPA last year. Essie updated everyone on the Hands Up Scotland Travel Survey they organised and that baseline information has been added to our Living Streets Travel Tracker. Anna shared that the JRSOs will work with classes to help them use the Travel Tracker again this year to track active travel.
Supporting the world’s plan for sustainable development using the Global Goals will help us all stand up for rights and P7C pupils this week articulately explained their understanding of the UNCRC to the Minister for Young People, Mark MacDonald, at a special celebratory event arranged by Together Scotland. Many thanks to Juliet Harris and Liz Millerfield for organising a very special ‘picnic’ lunch for the children, in recognition of all their hard work with artists Joanna, Yonnie and Lyver in creating fabulous UNCRC artwork on panels destined for the Scottish Parliament.
There was recognition for Ms MacKintosh in successfully leading engagement with Maths Week Scotland and for Ms Christie in leading a uniquely innovative and adventurous programme of cycling for P6.
P4A showed their wonderful ‘Resilience Role Model’ posters and Anjalie in P4 was also congratulated on her terrific Mindset poster.
MAKE A DIFFERENCE
On Friday 29th September 2017 at Assembly, a group of P3 pupils joined Send A Cow Ambassador, Robert Stephens, in presenting how they are taking action as global citizens in support of four of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Our three Primary Three classes are again leading the whole school Harvest Appeal with their Class Teachers and DHT Ms Anstruther, which this year is in support of the Send a Cow charity.
Each child in P3 is producing hand drawn collection envelopes which will be distributed to each of our families. If all our families contribute £1 we will reach a goal of £640 and be able to gift a cow to a family in Africa. Primary Three pupils are taking on different young workforce lead roles for their appeal campaign, such as Communications, Publicity and Finance.
Send a Cow Ambassador, Robert Stephens, spoke with passion and eloquence to explain to the children how the charity works with families in Africa to provide training in not only animal husbandry but also in sanitation, irrigation and keyhole farming. He relayed the story of Jennifer whom he had visited in Uganda and saw first hand the huge difference the project had made to her life and that of her family. Jennifer was able not only to provide milk and vegetables for her own family, but could sell surplus at market to pay for tools, medicine and schooling. Perhaps most telling was Robert’s final slide which showed that Jennifer had reached such a self-sufficient stage that she was able to purchase an ornamental vase, merely because she ‘liked it.’
Primary Three invited everyone to help Make A Difference by supporting their appeal with donations in the envelopes and also contributing to their planned bake sale on Friday 13th October. We wish them great success in their endeavours and thank Robert for his gracious time supporting the children.
MAKE A DIFFERENCE
On Friday 27th October 2017 Mrs Noble led the P1-3 and P4-7 Harvest Assemblies and we welcomed local Minister Stuart Irvin from St Catherine’s of Argyll who told the story of Ruth to help us think about how we can help others. Robert Stephens, Send a Cow Ambassador, joined us to collect a cheque for an amazing £1660! The Government has undertaken to match fund that amount, doubling it to an incredible £3320! Thank you to all Sciennes’ families for such kind generosity in supporting the Primary Three led Harvest charity appeal by contributing donations in their handmade envelopes and providing or buying wonderful homemade treats at the P5 Bake Sale held before the October break. Congratulations to Ms Anstuther and the P3 Team of pupils and staff for such a successful initiative, making a real difference to families in Africa through Send A Cow’s commendable sustainable development projects.
Pupils taking the lead is a feature at Sciennes and we noted the many existing and new initiatives driving forward pupil participation and pupil voice, including P7 pupil Catherine who is working with Ms Kennedy, Miss Thistlethwaite and a group of pupils in next week’s Dyslexia Awareness Week. Our JRSOs distributed reflective Be Seen Be Safe badges, donated by a local Coop business, to all 650 pupils in readiness for the clock change at the weekend and the darkening evenings ahead. All making a difference!
HAVE A GOAL
On Monday 15th January 2018 we welcomed back pupils by holding our first House Assemblies of the new year for Grange, Lauder, Sienna and Tantallon. House and Sports Captains explained ‘The Year of Young People’, reflected on goals already achieved, shared their own goals for the coming year and asked pupils to think about their own goals.
Key messages
1. Setting a SMART goal helps to motivate us.
2. Sometimes we fail or make a mistake and that is okay.
3. It is important to celebrate achievement.
HAVE A GOAL
On Friday 26th January 2018 we celebrated the many ways pupils are already participating and making their voices heard, setting and realising goals.
P6 pupils Eve and Hannah told everyone about their recent visit to the ‘Burns Unbroke’ Exhibition at Summerhall, including an ‘Oor Rabbie’ performance by Andy Cannon. This was a follow up to two wonderful art workshops with the artist Ciara Veronica Dunne where the class explored the poem Tam O’Shanter, chose favourite scenes from the poem and used Indian ink to create final masterpieces now on display at Summerhall. Huge congratulations to James H, Hugo and Oscar whose recreation of Alloway Kirk was chosen as the winning design for a Burns Unbroke tote bag. A wonderful opportunity to pARTicipate in one of the first Year of Young People events.
P7 Grange Captains Flora, Iain, Maisie and David explained their plans for a House Quiz and P6 pupil Dylan encouraged everyone to take part in the RSPB Big Garden Watch at the weekend. P7 pupil Camille explained her idea for creating Bug Hotels with the ECO Group. We are grateful for advice and encouragement from Anne O’Connell and Sarah Tolley organiser of the Meadows Community garden and head of community group “Greening our Street.” P4 Fern and P7 Alejandro showed their new ECO Suggestion Boxes and siblings P5 Sam and P6 Eliza encouraged us to participate in forthcoming Edinburgh Southern Orienteering Club events.
P7 pupils Isaac and Nils explained their Marathon in a Month idea to raise awareness of Asthma UK which will be supported by PE Specialist Mrs Walker at P7.
Pupil Council members were at Blackwell’s Bookshop with Ms French today and will report back on their suggestions for purchases. P7 pupil Niamh shared examples of books which provide strong female role models and will also contribute her ideas for future book purchases at school.
Sports Captains congratulated the P7 Basketball Team on their recent win in the first round of the Hope Trust Basketball Cup and presented certificates. Thank you to PE Specialist Mrs Walker for organising and running the event and to Mrs Tariq for accompanying the team.
Everyone was encouraged to continue to ‘Participate! ‘and ‘Have a Goal’ this session, sharing and celebrating achievements with us.
HAVE A GOAL
On Friday 2nd February 2018 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 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.
As global citizens, pupils were encourage to participate in this year’s #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.
BE KIND TO OTHERS
‘Create, Connect and Share with Respect’ is this year’s Safer Internet theme and ties with our City of Edinburgh Health and Wellbeing ‘Be Resilient’ topic – ‘Be Kind to Others’. On Friday 23rd February 2016 we welcomed P.C. Alan Jenkins, Schools Liaison Officer for James Gillespie’s and Boroughmuir High Cluster Schools to give a presentation on safer, respectful use of the Internet as part of our schoolwide Digital Safety month. P.C. Jenkins described the Internet being a place rather than a thing and used a clever analogy, comparing it to a Library, which was perfectly pitched for our P4-7 pupils to understand, in terms of benefits and risks. P.C. Jenkins is soon to begin a secondment to Barra in the Western Isles so introduced us to P.C. Amy Fowler who will take over from him in working with our schools over the next six months.
Nine P6 pupils spoke confidently and articulately about the impact of our recent residential to Benmore Outdoor Education Centre and the entire year group was thanked and praised for an outstanding week of team work, cooperation and kindness to one another.
Key messages
1. Kindness makes a difference to ourselves and others.
2. Being unkind hurts others and hurts us, too.
3. It is important to be kind to yourself.
BE KIND TO OTHERS
On Friday 9th March we continued with our ‘Be Kind to Others’ topic from City of Edinburgh’s Health and Wellbeing ‘Be Resilient’ programme. Pupils from P4 and P6 shared their learning on the topic and gave examples of acts of kindness.
Our P7 House and Sports Captains have been busily working for several weeks with the Fiona Denvir, Bethan McEwan and Cathy McCormack from the Parent Council to redesign and plan our annual school fundraising events. P7 Captains Flora, Caspar and James introduced their new logo and explained their ideas for P1-4 to continue to take part in a Swimathon, while P5-P7 will take part in a new ‘Meadows Mayhem’ obstacle course.
P7 pupil Isaac updated us on his ‘Marathon in a Month’ campaign with brother Reuben to raise awareness and funds for Asthma UK and explained how others can take part, to raise funds for Asthma UK, or for Sport Relief or simply just to participate.
Emily and friends in P7 told everyone about their Sport Relief Bake Sale on Friday 16th March at 12pm in the playground and P7 Sports Captains will continue to sell wristbands for £1.
Alice, Niamh and Margret talked about International Women’s Day and updated everyone on their P1 and P2 survey about gender equality. P2 pupils and Girl Guides Penny and Catriona were congratulated on their launch of the Citizen Girl campaign.
P6 pupils Rory, Isla, Ellie and Evie promoted their annual Easter Egg Foodbank Appeal running from 12th – 23rd March. There will be an opportunity to donate eggs at Parent Consultations on Tuesday 20th and Thursday 22nd March.
BE KIND TO OTHERS
On Friday 16th March 2018 we got ‘reddy’ for Sport Relief 2018, continuing our focus on “Be Kind to Others” from City of Edinburgh’s “Be Resilient’ Health and Wellbeing programme.
We watched two video clips showing how money raised has been used abroad and in the UK and sang the ‘Step It Up” song. P7s led at the front to demonstrate dance moves and encourage everyone to sing along.
P7 Sports Captains have been selling Sport Relief wrist bands for £1 and on Friday 23rd March pupils can wear red or sports clothes and bring a donation if they wish. P7 Emily and her friends have arranged a Bake Sale for 12pm Friday 16th March in aid of Sport Relief.
P7 Isaac gave an update on his ‘Marathon in a Month’ for Asthma UK with brother Reuben. Niamh, Alice, Stella and Margret shared their idea to help a new P6 group carry on their gender equality projects next year and have designed their own application forms. P6 pupils Rory, Isla, Ella and Evie reminded everyone about their Easter Egg Foodbank appeal which closes on Friday 23rd March and they will man stalls at both Parent Consultation Evenings.
BE KIND TO OTHERS
On Friday 23rd February 2018 P7 pupils led Assembly by thanking those who had dressed up and purchased wrist bands and explaining why we were fundraising and how the money would be used in the UK and abroad. P7 pupils Emily, Eilidh and friends announced they raised a fabulous £150 last Friday with their Sport Relief Bake Sale, completely selling out of a huge array of home baking within twenty minutes. Thank you to P7 pupils who have been selling wrist bands over the last few weeks and P7 Louis announced that an amazing £274 had been raised!
P7 Isaac and his brother Reuben continue with their ‘Marathon in a Month’ campaign and we are fortunate to have made contact, with their mum’s help, with representatives from Asthma UK who will visit school next term to celebrate the boys’ achievement and raise awareness of asthma.
P6 pupils Rory, Isla, Ella and Evie thanked everyone for the tremendous generosity of families in donating Easter eggs to their Foodbank appeal. The big count took place at the end of the day and is an incredible 310 eggs! Proof positive that our school community really is Kind to Others.
TAKE A MOMENT
Key messages
1. We all experience a range of emotions every day.
2. Sometimes we feel stressed.
3. I have ways to help me cope.
On Friday 27th April 2018 we introduced pupils to the latest CEC HWB programme topic ‘Take A Moment’ which we will focus on over the next three weeks in the lead up to Mental Health Week 14th-18th May. Pupils were asked what strategies they use to cope with life’s ups and downs and one P4 pupil suggested Music and Singing were great ways to weather a storm.
This led nicely into a fabulous performance of two songs by our Glee Club, led by Miss Dougal and Miss Rogerson and supported by Mrs Yaseen. Truly spreading glee and joy throughout the entire Hall! Sensational!
Our P7 House and Sports Captains updated everyone on the recent Swimathon and Meadows Mayhem fundraisers and received a lovely message of commendation from Ms Christie, read to them by Mr Howie, congratulating them on their outstanding work in redesigning and running the P5-7 fundraiser this year.
P7 pupils Niamh, Alice, Stella and Margret organised interviews this week for ten out of more than fifty P6 applicants to carry on their Equalities work. They announced the four successful candidates – Tomos, Natalia, Nina and Ben M – and will link with them to help them continue their work on gender equality into next session.
P7s Melissa and Iseabhail had approached the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and Class Teachers about raising awareness of LGBT equality and gave a remarkable, very carefully considered and appropriately pitched presentation at Assembly. They impressed all with their positive messages and their eloquence. Both will work with SLT to produce a child friendly version of our Equalities Policy. Wonderful to see so many of our pupils taking the lead and making a difference.
TAKE A MOMENT
On Friday 4th May we continued with our current HWB topic ‘Take A Moment’ from City of Edinburgh’s ‘Be Resilient’ programme. We reminded pupils of key messages and practised the Fischy Music song “Bad Times Won’t Last” in the lead up to our whole school Mental Health Week 14th-18th May. (Please look out for Flyers from Ms Anstruther and the Parent Council Health and Wellbeing and Communications Groups that were sent home in schoolbags on Friday.)
At next week’s Assembly, pupils have been invited to share strategies they use to cope with life’s ups and downs.
The Gender Equality Group explained the ‘UN Day of the Girl’ and shared their own inspirational female role models. We have been fortunate to discover from their surveys and campaigns that Sciennes’ pupils are very gender neutral in their outlook. The group responded to concerns that have been raised by some of our P7 boys that they were creating an imbalance by focusing on female equality issues. Rather, their intention is to raise awareness of global inequalities that exist beyond our school gates. Also in response to concerns raised, the group of four P7 girls designed their own application forms, interviewed 10 out of more that 50 P6 applications to continue their work next year and sought to appoint two boys and two girls. The new pupils were introduced at Assembly and were articulate in explaining why they had applied to join.
P6 and P7 pupils have been asked to ‘Take A Moment’ to reflect on all their achievements this year in order to complete their Bronze and Silver Award applications in eJASS (Junior Award Scheme for Schools. They have also been asked to give a five minute talk to their classmates on how they achieved the award by the end of May. FoTA (Friends of the Duke of Edinburgh Award) have contacted recently to invite selected Sciennes’ pupils to contribute to a Case Study in early June and there may be press interest.
Pupils were reminded school is closed on Monday and Tuesday. P5 pupils should bring PE kit to wear underneath costumes at their Scottish Opera performance on Wednesday 9th May at 2.15pm in the Hall.
TAKE A MOMENT
On Friday 11th May 2018 we held a Sharing Assembly, inviting pupils to share strategies they use to cope with life’s ups and downs, as part of our CEC HWB Building Resilience topic ‘Take A Moment.’
In preparation for Mental Health Week next week, we focused on the importance of sleep at both Assemblies. P7 Captains shared their hints and tips for getting a good night’s sleep and we watched a short video to re-enforce key messages, also shared by Mr Howie.
We sang the Fischy Music song “Bad Times Won’t Last” and Took A Moment to reflect on previous and new achievements. We celebrated the weekend success of P7 Boroughmuir Rugby FC players Fraser, Henry, Will, Fraser and Innes who alongwith former pupil Jo-Jo Robertson were undefeated in a Yorkshire tournament, despite being 6 months to a year younger than fellow participants.
We also took another opportunity to heap praise on wonderful P5 for all their hard work in preparing for Scottish Opera’s “Dragons of the Western Sea” which resulted in a sensational, confident and exuberant performance on Wednesday 9th May.
RESPECT YOURSELF
Key messages
1. There is no one quite like me
2. Everyone has different strengths
3. I treat myself with respect
On Friday 31st August 2018 we introduced pupils to the latest CEC HWB programme topic “Respect Yourself.”
This topic fits very well with our whole school ‘All About Me’ topic from P1-P7 where pupils, parents and teachers at the start of the new session share and find out about each pupil’s uniqueness and strengths. Pupils have been invited to share topic work and family learning tasks at next week’s Assembly.
At Sciennes, we have been reviewing our Positive Behaviour Policy to take account of recent research, particularly Paul Dix’s book “When The Adults Change, Everything Changes.” Following consultation with pupils, we have decided to stop our whole school practice of collecting House merit points. However, each stage in the school will maintain their own rewards and praise systems in class. Children felt that the awarding of such point was irregular, inconsistent and too competitive.
We have also reviewed our use of Golden Time. As part of our school wide Positive Behaviour Policy, loss of Golden Time has been used as a sanction for inappropriate behaviour. Again in consultation with pupils, we have decided to stop this practice. However, we will still maintain a space in the curriculum for structured, purposeful play and socialising but this will no longer be linked to our behaviour policy. As a 1 in 5 Child Poverty Awareness school, we are also conscious that the practice of bringing toys and games from home can lead to challenges and pressures for families and potential scope for inequalities.
Therefore, the structured play activities will be resourced in school from now on.
On some occasions, a year group may opt for a games session and so we would greatly welcome any donations of preloved board games, which can be handed in to the School Office. It is also a good excuse for a clear out and a happy new home for these games! This would help us to provide some exciting opportunities to encourage children to play board games together.
One of our P7 pupils, Essie, suggested renaming Golden Time as ‘Play Right’ Time. We like the link to UNCRC Article 31 ‘The right to play’ and the implied meanings of playing fair, including everyone and social etiquette. Respect, Inclusion, Teamwork and Effort (RITE) are our school values so we have slightly adapted Essie’s idea and will use the term ‘Play RITE Time’ rather than ‘Golden Time.’
HAVE A GOAL
Key messages
1. Setting a SMART goal helps to motivate us.
2. Sometimes we fail or make a mistake and that is okay.
3. It is important to celebrate achievement.
On Friday 18th January we launched our Year of Green Action 2019 campaign, with support from our Pupil ECO Group and P7 Captains. We revisited one of our City of Edinburgh Building Resilience themes of ‘Have a Goal’ by stating our ECO and Sustainable Development Goal ambitions.
The ECO Group shared their progress on the three ECO Schools Scotland topics they have selected this year: Litter, Waste and Food. Pupils encouraged all not only to avoid dropping litter, but also to reduce the amount of litter we produce. Juline spoke about her plastic reduction petition and the group’s aims to reduce the use of single use plastic at school and in the dining hall. Everyone was asked to make sure they only use reusable water bottles and take these to the dining hall to avoid using plastic cups. We watched a film by ‘Kids Against Plastic’ to find out why their campaign is important and the reasons behind it.
Our P7 Gender Equality Pupil Group have been interviewing over the past two weeks to recruit two more P7 members. Ivy and Sean. will join Nina, Ben, Tomos and Natalia. We have been very impressed how the group initiated and led the interviews and they have plans to repeat this later in the year to find a group of P6 pupils who will continue their work next year.
We are very proud to have a strong partnership with our friends and colleagues at the Children’s Parliament and watched a video about their fantastic work. P6 pupils Jennifer, Haris and Rory have been taking part in exciting and innovative sessions throughout the year as part of their What Kind of Edinburgh?project where top level council leaders listen to their views and ideas for improving Edinburgh for young people. Rory, Jennifer and Haris gave out leaflets for pupils to share their own ideas about what kind of Edinburgh they want by 2050.
Exciting news! Haris in P6B has been selected for another amazing opportunity with the Children’s Parliament! Over the next couple of years he has been invited to take part in the 2020 and 2021 Cabinet Meetings with children and young people. Since 2017, there has been a meeting between the First Minister and her Cabinet and children and young people from the Children’s Parliament and the Scottish Youth Parliament. As far as we know, Scotland is the only country where an annual meeting like this happens!
In yet more exciting news, six P7 pupils have been invited to Parliament on 31st January to speak about Health and Wellbeing with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) and 8 P7 pupils have been invited to take part in a Model UN Conference at City Chambers in March.
P7 Hannah shared some tips with P6 about how she prepared for the Steven Lui Cup Burns Recital competition. A worthy winner last year! We wish our P6s good luck in reaching their goals to win this year
Will you be a #Goalkeeper for the Sustainable Development Goals this year?
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