Granton Primary School launched a new cooking club last week as part of the Food for Thought programme. Children made their own bread and butter and made their very own delicious minestrone soup! Continue reading Granton Primary School: from plot to plate!
Granton Primary School film premieres in Paris
Granton Primary School teacher Avril Whelan runs an after school Film Club with P6’s and P7’s. The children have made four films – one of which premiered in Paris last month! In the week before the holidays the children staged a French themed event to present their fabulous films to their parents. Continue reading Lights, camera … Granton!
Hi
I am a parent at Granton Primary School and unfortunately the school has cancelled the traditional ‘qually’ leavers dance: we parents are now having to put this on all at at our own cost as the school is not willing to help.
We are looking for:
Annie Lamb
New classrooms for Wardie and Flora Stevenson but growing pains loom for Ferryhill and Granton
Ferryhill and Granton are among eight Edinburgh primary schools identified by the city council as potentially having accommodation issues for August 2016 due to rising rolls.
The Primary School Estate Rising Rolls report highlights possible pressures for P1 places for August 2016 at Balgreen, East Craigs, Ferryhill, Fox Covert, Granton, Roseburn, St Mary’s RC (Leith) and Towerbank Primary Schools.
Consultation will now take place with the eight school communities – including the recommendation for a catchment review at Towerbank Primary School – and the report will be discussed at the Education, Children and Families Committee next week (Tuesday 3 March).
Councillor Paul Godzik, Education Convener for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “In the past two years we have delivered an additional 46 modern, high quality class spaces in our primary school estate and a further 24 will be delivered for this August.
“The issue of rising rolls will be here for many years to come so it’s important that we consider all the available options when creating space for our pupils. Key to this is our consultation with local school communities which has been really positive.”
Currently there are 28,010 primary school pupils but latest estimates show this will rise to 31,700 by 2020 and then increase further to 35,400 by 2030.
The City of Edinburgh Council will deliver 24 new class spaces which are needed for the start of the 2015/16 session. Local schools set to benefit are Flora Stevenson (3 classes) and Wardie (2) while Clermiston (4 classes), Gilmerton (4), James Gillespie’s (4), Pentland (3) and Ratho (4) will also grow.
In addition South Morningside Primary School will have a temporary annexe created for P1 and P2 pupils at Deanbank Resource Centre and extra internal space will be provided at both Brunstfield and Liberton Primary Schools.
Listen to this!! ‘take a look‘
This song was written by a group of local women who sing at the PCHP project. It is performed by them and a group of P7 girls from Granton Primary School.
They have formed a group ‘The Piltones’ that anyone can join. They meet on a Tuesday morning from 9.30 – 11 to sing their favourite songs and have a chat. Anyone can jon – get in touch on 0131 551 1671
http://www.pchp.org.uk/the-piltones/
Info: Ann Confrey
A local mum has reacted angrily to news that the city council may have to extend Granton Primary School – just a year after closing nearby Royston. Mandy Eng has written to education chiefs to express her disgust and also to warn that blaming migration for increasing school rolls could ‘make a volatile situation much worse’.
Earlier this month, Councillor Paul Godzik, Convener of Education, Children and Families, explained the rationale behind another review of school buildings. He said: said: “One of our earliest coalition decisions was to set up a cross-party Forum on Children and Families Estate Evaluation. Parents, union and church representatives have also been invited to participate. By doing this we aim to discuss the issues in an open way from the very start of the decision making process.”
The council believes that while some of the issues are longer term and can be addressed over a number of years, immediate action may be required for five schools – Balgreen, Granton, Trinity, Victoria and Wardie – to ensure they can provide places for their catchment population in August 2013, and plans to build ‘high quality extensions if required to support parents who wish to send their child to a catchment school.’
Councillor Godzik continued: “Thriving schools like Sciennes and Stockbridge Primary schools are delivering first class education, even though space is at a premium. I think it is only right with the predicted rise in school rolls that we consider reviewing GP space across the city.”
Education leaders cite a combination of rising birth rates, migration and economic factors for causing a 5% rise in the city’s primary school population this year and an estimated rise of a further 19% by 2019. However Mandy Eng, parent of a child at Granton Primary, believes there is also another reason – school closures. In a letter to Director of Education Gillian Tee, she said:
‘I am a parent of a pupil at Granton Primary School and have just received a letter from you entitled “Rising Rolls in Primary Schools” and am absolutely furious in regard to its content.
You state that the reasons the school is under pressure to accommodate pupil numbers is “due to a combination of rising birth rates, migration and other economic factors” and this will require you to look at increasing the number of classrooms in the coming year. However, no where do you mention that one of the other catchment schools in the area, Royston Primary, was demolished last year which would easily have accommodated this rise in number of pupils. Having failed to acknowledge this I feel you are not taking any ownership of an issue that has obviously arisen through lack of foresight from Children and Families Dept.
I attended all of the public meetings to save Royston Primary School from closure and I myself pointed out to your representatives at the first meeting that their figures on birth rates did not equate, then again at the second meeting when the “altered” figures STILL did not equate and was then surprised to see that the slide in relation to these figures had been omitted from further presentations from yourselves. Were the Council so desperate to close Royston and use its running costs and the sale of the land to plough elsewhere into the Council that they brushed the birth rate figures under the carpet or are your analysts incapable of working out simple projected figures? To now be looking at spending public money on extending Granton only one year since Royston’s closure is both appalling and unacceptable.
Also by apportioning blame to “migration” I feel you are causing a feeling of resentment to the migrants in our community and I go as far as to say that the Council is inciting racism and making an already volatile situation in some areas much worse. Already I have heard parents say that it is due to the amount of foreign children coming into the area that their child may not get a place in their catchment school and I have been forced to remind them that if we still had Royston School then this situation would never have arisen.
I am keen to know why the Council did not take information on the projected number of school age children in the area, that was easily obtainable at the time of the decision to close Royston, into consideration and who is going to take responsibility for this MASSIVE error?’
Mandy Eng told NEN: “I feel that it is something that needs to be brought to the attention of the community, and everyone needs to be made aware that there is a possibility that their child may not get a place at the school – not through “migration”, but through the council’s decision to close Royston School.”
The council is expected to Ms Eng’s letter in due course.
A local mum has reacted angrily to news that the city council may have to extend Granton Primary School – just a year after closing nearby Royston. Mandy Eng has written to education chiefs to express her disgust and also to warn that blaming migration for increasing school rolls could ‘make a volatile situation much worse’.
Earlier this month, Councillor Paul Godzik, Convener of Education, Children and Families, explained the rationale behind another review of school buildings. He said: said: “One of our earliest coalition decisions was to set up a cross-party Forum on Children and Families Estate Evaluation. Parents, union and church representatives have also been invited to participate. By doing this we aim to discuss the issues in an open way from the very start of the decision making process.”
The council believes that while some of the issues are longer term and can be addressed over a number of years, immediate action may be required for five schools – Balgreen, Granton, Trinity, Victoria and Wardie – to ensure they can provide places for their catchment population in August 2013, and plans to build ‘high quality extensions if required to support parents who wish to send their child to a catchment school.’
Councillor Godzik continued: “Thriving schools like Sciennes and Stockbridge Primary schools are delivering first class education, even though space is at a premium. I think it is only right with the predicted rise in school rolls that we consider reviewing GP space across the city.”
Education leaders cite a combination of rising birth rates, migration and economic factors for causing a 5% rise in the city’s primary school population this year and an estimated rise of a further 19% by 2019. However Mandy Eng, parent of a child at Granton Primary, believes there is also another reason – school closures. In a letter to Director of Education Gillian Tee, she said:
‘I am a parent of a pupil at Granton Primary School and have just received a letter from you entitled “Rising Rolls in Primary Schools” and am absolutely furious in regard to its content.
You state that the reasons the school is under pressure to accommodate pupil numbers is “due to a combination of rising birth rates, migration and other economic factors” and this will require you to look at increasing the number of classrooms in the coming year. However, no where do you mention that one of the other catchment schools in the area, Royston Primary, was demolished last year which would easily have accommodated this rise in number of pupils. Having failed to acknowledge this I feel you are not taking any ownership of an issue that has obviously arisen through lack of foresight from Children and Families Dept.
I attended all of the public meetings to save Royston Primary School from closure and I myself pointed out to your representatives at the first meeting that their figures on birth rates did not equate, then again at the second meeting when the “altered” figures STILL did not equate and was then surprised to see that the slide in relation to these figures had been omitted from further presentations from yourselves. Were the Council so desperate to close Royston and use its running costs and the sale of the land to plough elsewhere into the Council that they brushed the birth rate figures under the carpet or are your analysts incapable of working out simple projected figures? To now be looking at spending public money on extending Granton only one year since Royston’s closure is both appalling and unacceptable.
Also by apportioning blame to “migration” I feel you are causing a feeling of resentment to the migrants in our community and I go as far as to say that the Council is inciting racism and making an already volatile situation in some areas much worse. Already I have heard parents say that it is due to the amount of foreign children coming into the area that their child may not get a place in their catchment school and I have been forced to remind them that if we still had Royston School then this situation would never have arisen.
I am keen to know why the Council did not take information on the projected number of school age children in the area, that was easily obtainable at the time of the decision to close Royston, into consideration and who is going to take responsibility for this MASSIVE error?’
Mandy Eng told NEN: “I feel that it is something that needs to be brought to the attention of the community, and everyone needs to be made aware that there is a possibility that their child may not get a place at the school – not through “migration”, but through the council’s decision to close Royston School.”
The council is expected to Ms Eng’s letter in due course.
Dozens of school pupil files that were stolen from a city council worker’s home during a burglary have been recovered. The files contained information about Broughton High, Granton and Forthview Primary School pupils who have had contact with the Education Welfare Service.
It’s understood that the data records, stolen during a break-in last month, concerned the childrens’ school attendance.
A city council spokesperson said: “The files were recovered on Wednesday after the car that had been used in the robbery was found. The files do not appear to have been tampered with and we have sent a letter out to all the families to let them know this.”
An investigation has been launched after the confidential files of 45 school pupils were stolen from an Edinburgh City Council worker’s home earlier this week. The files relate to pupils from Forthview and Granton Primary Schools and Broughton High School, who have had contact with the Education Welfare Service.
The files were stolen during a burglary on Wednesday, BBC Scotland has revealed.
The council said the files were ‘predominantly’ about school attendance, and a city council spokeswoman added: “We are working closely with the police on this matter but believe that these files weren’t targeted by the thief. We are making contact with all the families this information relates to and have made staff available to them to help with any questions or concerns they may have.”
Following on from this morning’s post about Granton’s musical, I was lucky enough to catch the dress rehearsal this afternoon. This was the first time the cast have performed YANOMAMO in front of a live audience – their schoolmates – and the verdict? A resounding success!
Without giving too much away, YANOMAMO tells the tale of a tribe who have lived in the Amazonian rainforest since the dawn on man. Their future, and that of the rainforest, is put under threat by loggers and developers …
It’s well written, enthusiastically performed, the songs are great; in short, it’s very good and well worth seeing. There are a few tickets left for performances on Wednesday and Thursday evening (7pm) and Friday’s matinee (priced £5) – call the school office on 552 3987 to check availability.
