One Parent Families Scotland are planning cookery classes for single mums and dads and the kids at Craigroyston Community High School.
The classes will run on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays (10am-12.30pm) from 7 – 16 April.
If you would like to improve your cooking skills while learning how to cook nutritious meals on a budget, contact Tom Carroll on 07814 078139 or email: tom.carroll@opfs.org.uk
I saw the NEN’s piece about the MVP (Mentors in Violence Prevention) training on 24 March at Pilton Community Health Project.
There is also a session for parents on
Monday 23 March
at 6pm in Craigroyston Community High School.
A couple of senior pupils from the school will help to take parents through the approach, which promotes positive relationships and gives young people the confidence and skills to challenge bullying, violent or anti-social behaviour.
It’s aimed at parents of older primary school children who will be trained in MVP when they start at Craigroyston or Broughton High School, and parents of High School children are also welcome.
The session shouldn’t take longer than an hour and a half, and child care is available if planned in advance. If anyone is interested they can book through me on the details below.
Sarah Neal
CLD Worker (Community Learning & Development & Total Craigroyston)
Royston Wardieburn Community Centre, Pilton Drive North. Tel: 0131 552 5700
MVP Training
Tuesday 24 March 10am-1pm
Pilton Community Health Project
You might have seen the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) programme in the news last week, when the Justice Secretary Michael Matheson visited Craigroyston Community High School to find out more about the training for High School students, which has a proven track of promoting a positive climate and reducing bullying and other violent behaviour in both schools and communities (writes Rachel Farrier).
The minister’s visit was featured on the NEN’s blog on 5 March (‘Craigroyston initiative tackles bullying and violence’)
We are really fortunate to have this highly-acclaimed training going on in our area, and there is a one-off session which has been adapted for adults happening on 24 March 10am-1pm here at Pilton Community Health Project which you can still book a place for – but space is limited so please let Rachel at PCHP know ASAP if you would like to come along, and do let her know if you might need childcare.
It is open to anyone from the local community, as well as those working professionally in the area.
The training uses a ‘bystander approach’ which helps individuals to work out practical and viable responses when they encounter harassment, abuse or violence – both aimed at themselves and others. You can read more about the programme in Scotland here (scroll down the page to find out about MVP).
Call Rachel on 551 671 or email lih@pchp.org.uk to book a place.
‘Law enforcement agencies and governments can only take things so far. The way to change attitudes is to identify and build on the assets you have in your communities. You guys – the students and young people – are the assets’ – Justice Secretary Michael Matheson
Craigroyston Community High School pupils who have learned how to tackle violence and bullying through a training initiatve shared their experiences with the Cabinet Secretary for Justice Michael Matheson yesterday.
The Justice Secretary watched a presentation on the Mentors in Violence Prevention(MVP) initiative and listened to the experiences of participants before chatting informally with students about their participation in the groundbreaking project.
Craigroyston staff and students explained that the Mentors in Violence Prevention(MVP) scheme is already having some success in changing unacceptable behaviour – early feedback suggests improved attitudes amongst those who have taken part.
MVP Scotland trains senior pupils to become mentors who, in turn, equip younger students in ways in which to intervene and prevent incidents that could lead to gender violence, which can be domestic abuse, sexting, assault or homophobia. Pupils are taught to challenge their own friends and peers about their behaviour if and when it’s appropriate.
It was first piloted in Portobello High by the Violence Reduction Unit in 2011 and has since been rolled out to 11 secondary schools in the Capital. The unit’s Chief Inspector Graham Goulden spoke to pupils during the morning’s visit about its work.
Chief Inspector Goulden (above) said: “The MVP programme is emerging as a great way to continue to safely discuss many issues that contribute towards abuse and violence in Scotland. It provides schools with an approach that supports learning, as young people are faced with a range of external influences that impact on their resilience, such as online media. Bullying is still an issue in our schools and also strips young people of control.
“At the heart of violence and abuse is a breakdown in relationships. Let’s use relationships in the form of friendships to counter all of these issues allowing young people to do their best at an important time in their academic lives.”
Forth Councillor Cammy Day – who is also Edinburgh’s Community Safety Convener – also attended the event and spoke about how MVP is an important part of the local anti-crime #StrongerNorth campaign.
He said: “MVP is a key feature of the #StrongerNorth initiative as it really engages young people by helping them to recognise unacceptable behaviour, and gives them the power to face up to it. These skills are helping them to change attitudes whether it’s in school, in their homes or when they’re with their friends.
“Most school children have a great attitude and are involved in many positive schemes, but we know that the bad attitude of even just a few can have a real impact on communities.
“#StrongerNorth and projects like MVP and Total Craigroyston are aimed at nipping unacceptable behaviour in the bud before it escalates into something worse, and it was fantastic to hear first hand today about how these schemes are really working.”
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson (above) said: “I was delighted to be invited along to Craigroyston Community High School to see the excellent work ongoing to tackle the issues of violence and bullying in schools.
“Since 2008, incidents of violence among young people have halved across Scotland, but it is crucial we are not complacent and education is key to ensuring our young people change the culture of violence in our society.
“The work being done through the Mentors in Violence programme by the Violence Reduction Unit to train these young people to deliver their own training is having a huge impact not only within the school but also throughout the wider community.
“The programme empowers young people by bringing issues such as bullying and violence out into the open to allow for full, frank and informed discussions around the risks and consequences.
“Most importantly, it’s giving our young people a confidence and sense of responsibility that will benefit them throughout their lives.”
Some images from the Craigroyston event (also on Facebook):
‘One of the very best groups I have worked with’ – Ally Paterson
Eight pupils from Craigroyston Community High School took part in a Scottish Fire & Rescue Service youth engagement programme ran at Crewe Toll fire station this week. The students learned teamwork, communications and basic fire fighting skills during their training course, which they displayed to friends and family in an impressive exhibition at the local fire station yesterday.
Fire Service Youth Engagement Co-ordinator Ally Paterson explained “Working with young people means that the fire service can raise awareness and challenge attitudes to fire safety and other forms of anti-social behaviour.
“The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Youth engagement project engages with young people aged between 12-17 in order to work towards reducing hoax calls and secondary fires and to increase awareness of local community safety issues.
“We encourage positive social behaviour by using a combination of intensive group work and fire service activities with a view to raising self-esteem, confidence, personal motivation and increase problem solving skills.
“The programme allows participants to experience basic fire service tasks such as team building, first aid, hose running and ladder climbing to develop physical stamina. All activities incorporate a fire safety message and endorse a strong group work component.’’
Ally was particularly impressed with the Craigroyston recruits. “This was a really good group – I can honestly say that this has been one of the very best groups I have worked with in four years of doing this job. You could see them progress over the course of the week – I was really impressed with their attitude, they were keen to learn and a real pleasure to work with.”
On the final day of the programme, the young people – Josh Reid, Brent Blackie, Dylan Williamson, Liam Henderson, Arnis Zironkina, Lee Stevensdale, Josh Hardwick and Kieran Blackie – gave a practical presentation to demonstrate the skills they’d learned over the course of the week, and following the display the students were presented with certificates to recognise their achievements.
Brent, Dylan and Kieran have also been nominated to progress on to SFRS’ Phoenix programme for further training.
Speaking after the presentations, sixteen year old Kieran Blackie, who’s from Muirhouse, said: “It’s been an absolutely fantastic week, just amazing. We’ve been learning the skills the firefighters learn in their thirteen weeks basic training – but we’ve had to do it in four and a half days! It was a lot to take in but we’ve all definitely learned a lot, especially about the importance of teamwork and working together.”
Josh Hardwick also enjoyed the training. “I loved the whole week, every part of it, but if I had to choose the best bits I really enjoyed the session were we worked in a small, dark, confined space to locate and rescue a casualty – that might not be everybody’s idea of fun, but I really enjoyed it! The high ladder work was great too, although not ideal if you don’t have a head for heights. I think the week taught us just how hard the firefighters work and how dangerous their job can be.”
Congratulations to the Craigie crew!
More pictures on our Facebook page
Positive Inspection Report for Learning Community around Craigroyston Community High School
The ‘Learning Community’ surrounding Craigroyston High School was inspected by Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Education at the same time as the High School and also received a very positive report.
The inspection looked at services provided by Community Learning and Development and partners in the voluntary and public sector . Areas highlighted were:
Inspectors particularly noted the range and strength of partnership work. The full report can be found at:
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/
and a link will be put on the Total Craigroyston blog.
I tell you, you wait ages and ages for a positive report to come along and then two come along at once! Congratulations, again!
Confident Computing Course at Craigroyston
Whether you are an absolute beginner or you just want to brush up on your computing skills, this course will give you the skills you need to progress to the next level! There will be a focus on Excel and how to improve the way you use Excel as a database or for keeping records or creating reports.
Where: Craigroyston Community High School
When: Wednesday mornings, 10.30am – 12.30pm, starting now.
More info: www.joininedinburgh.org/activity/6501/ or call 0131 477 7801
Interested in finding other Adult Education classes? Take a look at www.joininedinburgh.org/craigroyston
Minister welcomes increase in provisional entries for Highers
Education Secretary Angela Constance called in at Craigroyston Community High School this morning and welcomed news that a record number of students will be sitting Highers this year.
Ms Constance was welcomed to Craigroyston by senior students Donna Cheyne, Joe Dudgeon, John Gallacher and Rebecca Morton before meeting staff and pupils to hear about the progress being made in introducing new qualifications as part of Curriculum for Excellence.
The introduction of new qualifications is progressing well, with provisional entries for Highers indicating a record high number will be sat this year.
The figure, which follows on from last year’s record number of passes at Higher, was welcomed by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning during her Craigroyston visit.
New Highers have been introduced this year, alongside the existing Higher qualifications for this year only. School departments are able to use this flexibility to phase in the new qualifications in the way that best serves the interests of the pupils. From the 2015/6 school year onwards, all pupils will be studying the new Highers.
The total figure of 217,976 provisional Higher entries this year (across S5 and S6, and including both new and existing Highers) is five per cent up on the corresponding figure from this time last year. This figure comprises 120,557 provisional entries for new Highers, and 97,419 provisional entries for existing Highers.
Ms Constance said: “The ongoing reform of our education system is preparing our young people for the world of work and further and higher education. Scottish education now offers more flexible learning opportunities for our young people and new National qualifications, which were introduced at the beginning of the 2013/14 school year, are now well established.
“In August last year we saw a substantial increase in the number of both Higher entries and Higher passes. I am very pleased that we are again seeing a substantial interest in provisional entries for Higher. It is very positive to see greater numbers of young people aspiring to higher levels of qualifications in our schools.
“This shows that ambition, more than ever, is alive and well in classrooms across Scotland, in no small part thanks to the work of teachers who continue to do an excellent job. This bodes well for Scotland’s economic future.
“We know from provisional entry data from the Scottish Qualifications Authority that significant numbers of those pupils taking Highers this year have been studying the new Highers. We listened to schools who requested flexibility, and we acted. I have seen today how schools are making good use of this flexibility, to phase in the new qualifications in a sensible way.”
We have a great cookery course at Craigroyston Community High School – the focus is on inexpensive, nutritious cooking for families – using only own brand items – and they make really delicious rissottos, thai curries and other tasty dishes all for a weeny weeny amount of money.
The course is free but we do ask for a £1.50 fee to pay each week towards ingredients. The idea is that participants come with containers and take away a substantial meal for a family of four – if there are more in the family, I am sure there would be enough food!
The tutor is very friendly, patient and helpful and very enthusiastic about cooking. If people can get here they will really enjoy and benefit from the class – and be assured of a good dinner on Wednesday nights!
Unfortunately we do not have a creche.
Craigroyston Community High School is on good bus routes – along Ferry Road or the 27 which comes down Pennywell Road.
If you would like to enrol, it can be done anytime online by clicking onto www.joininedinburgh.org and use the search box – put in Craigroyston Cook – and then just go through as with any online purchase, or you could telephone the school on 477 7801 to book.
The new cookery class starts on Wednesday 24 September, 6 – 7.30pm
The Joininedinburgh site has information about all the other classes all round the city as well – take a look, there are lots of new things to try!
Fiona Henderson, Craigroyston Community High School
New classes starting at Craigroyston
We have some free classes aimed primarily at local people in our community at Craigroyston:
Cook your tea
Sometimes the hardest thing about cooking is deciding what to make!
It is all too easy to run out of ideas for offering something delicious, healthy and within a tight budget. The friendly tutor for this class has a wide range of ideas which can be made quickly and cheaply making this the highlight of your culinary week.
Favourite dishes range from Thai curry, to mushroom risotto as well
as home made lemon chicken. If there is anything you really want to learn to make, the tutor will be able to help.
Come along, cook your tea and take it home to surprise all the family and friends!
Please bring £1.50 each week towards the ingredients.
The class is *FREE.
Saving Money (and the Environment)
Small steps = big changes!
This practical maths course takes everyday situations and shows you how to make the maths work for you!
Work out the running costs of many household appliances, decipher your
energy bill, compare special offers while out shopping and even find out how to make the most of a square foot garden!
Don’t worry if you didn’t get maths the first time round, this course allows you to start small and build up at your own pace. It uses examples from everyday life that affect everyone, from recipes to recycling
and will help you quickly gain confidence in handling your finances!
Not only that, we are running this course in partnership with Edinburgh’s
very own Science Museum at Dynamic Earth and several sessions will take place there (all transport & entry fees provided).
Creative Expressions
Bringing together creative writing, photography and other forms of creative expression, this class offers a range of combined art forms. The informal setting means that everyone can take part in different forms of self expression and gain a satisfying experience.
*(This class is FREE)
And also some classes that we hope will be of interest and are very good value:
Fee is £50 for the standard 10 weeks of 2 hours per week courses – £25 for a senior citizen or student – £14 for anyone receiving benefits. (half of this for the 5 week course or a 1 hour course)
These can be booked online as well as by phone or in person – www.joininedinburgh.org
Make and Mend
Creative Upcycling Projects (5 weeks)
Upcycling is about converting old or discarded materials into something
useful and beautiful for your home or to give as a personalised present. Join this weekly course to learn all sorts of original ways to refashion and redesign things you have at home already, with a friendly tutor full of inspiring ideas and different craft techniques.
Pottery
This class teaches the basics of hand building and wheel throwing in clay and introduces different artistic styles & methods of creating successful ceramic pieces.
It also offers an introduction to the use of the potter’s wheel and stone
wear firing. There is an additional £10 to pay towards materials used.
Creative Writing
Do you feel you might like to have some guidance in developing your creative writing skills, to express ideas and show you how to overcome writer’s block?
A very friendly tutor can help you develop characters, transform experiences into storylines and encourage you to share your writing with
the group. The class is supportive and will look at wide ranging in creative styles.
NOW STARTING SEPTEMBER:
Computing for Not Quite Beginners
This course is ideal for people who can create a word/text document and would like to start experimenting with pictures and tables in order to create a poster, newsletter, invitation or flyer.
Potential students should be able to create a simple document with some
text in it.
The course will cover:
Inserting pictures from clipart, inserting photos from a memory stick, downloading pictures from the Internet, arranging text size, colour etc, using Wordart, designing page layouts and using columns and inserting tables.
Scots History through Scottish Novels
This enjoyable course will to explore the relationship between 20th and early 21st century Scottish literature, history and the culture and politics of contemporary Scotland.
The books the course will be looking at will be James Douglas Brown, The House with the Green Shutters; Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song; Jessie Kesson, The White Bird Passes; Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie; James Robertson, And the Land Lay Still.
There will be a small amount of advised reading to support a deeper understanding of the texts and their historical and cultural background.
and there are many more – language, music and others – and it it would be great to have some local people take advantage of these great classes!
Fiona Henderson
