Young entrants to Edinburgh’s Green Pencil Award were immersed in their subject matter at the launch of the annual writing competition yesterday. Preston Street Primary School pupils explored the competition’s theme, Scotland’s Glorious Gardens, during a visit to Princes Street Gardens. Continue reading Children’s writing competition: green fingers required!
Medals for all at sporting event
Spartans Community Football Academy at Ainslie Park was the venue for North Edinburgh’s very own Olympic Games earlier this week. Continue reading Everyone’s a winner at Spartans Olympics
More than four hundred and fifty P7s from eleven local schools took part in the Active Schools Autumn Games at Broughton High School today. The children took the opportunity to try out six different sports and there were prizes at the end for top school teams too.
Active Schools coordinator Robert Ure, who organised the event, explained: “The eleven primary schools who took part were Pirniehall and St Davids from the Craigroyston Cluster; Granton, Ferryhill, Flora Stevenson and Stockbridge from the Broughton Cluster; Trinity, Wardie and Victoria from the Trinity Cluster and Abbeyhill and Broughton from the Drummond Cluster.
“They are all P7 classes and I’d estimate we had between 450 – 500 pupils in attendance. The pupils competed in six different competitions – girl’s rugby, boy’s rugby, lacrosse (new this year), football, Tae Kwon Do and fencing – and the winners were presented with a shield to keep for a year.”
Robert thanked the coaches and volunteers for their essential support in making the event such a success – and there was also a huge thank-you to the school children who took part: while the competition was spirited and enthusiastic, the young athletes were impeccably behaved and a credit to their schools throughout.
And the winners on the day?
Tae Kwon Do – Trinity
Boys Rugby – Wardie
Girls Rugby – Flora Stevenson
Fencing – St David’s
Football – Granton
Lacrosse – Victoria
Congratulations to all the winners, but as we all know it’s not just about winning, it’s the taking part – so well done to all 450 young sports stars who helped to make the Autumn Games so special!
More pictures on our Facebook page
More than 250 children from six local primary schools descended on Ainslie Park yesterday for Spartans School Sports Day.
Pupils from Blackhall, Craigroyston, Flora Stevenson’s, Forthview, Pirniehall and St David’s took the opportunity to take part in a range of sports – from triathlon, boxing and mountain bike relays to judo, fencing and football.
The sun shone, the day was a great success and the happy kids all left Spartans with a medal!
Spartans Community Football Academy youth worker Jamie Tomkinson, who organised the sporting festival, said: “It was good to see so many children enjoying the different activities and having fun. Many of them were trying out some of these sports for the first time and it was great to see their energy and enthusiasm.”
Big events like this take a lot of organising, and among those involved in making the Sports Day such a success were Edinburgh Leisure, Spartans CFA volunteers, Edinburgh Judo, Nike volunteers, FetLor, Granton Youth Centre, MY Adventure, Fencing Fun’s Keith Cook and Kabo.
Some pictures:
More pictures of the Sports Day on our Facebook Page
Hundreds of local primary school children will be taking part in a major sports event being organised by Spartans Community Football Academy Event at Ainslie Park in May.
SCFA Youth and Community Worker Jamie Tomkinson said: “The Spartans Community Football Academy Sports Day will be held on the 20th of May. Eight local primary schools are involved – we reckon that will be around 350 P7s over the course of the day!”
Twelve different sporting activities will be delivered by local agencies on the day: Kabo boxing, Edinburgh Judo, Edinburgh Leisure, Fet-Lor, Granton Youth Centre and MY Adventure will all be supporting the programme – and Keith Cook, who is a five-time Commonwealth Games medallist, will share his fencing skills. NEN, North Edinburgh’s community newspaper, has been invited to cover the event.
“Lorna Cruikshank, one of our young volunteers, will deliver a hockey station and we have a local samba band coming along to create an atmosphere and do a show for the opening ceremony!” Jamie added. “Many organisations have come on board to support the day – Ainslie Park Leisure Centre are letting us use one lane of their pool for the triathlon and Nike, who were a major part of last year’s success, will be volunteering throughout the event.
“There’s a lot of organising to be done and we are putting the finishing touches to the programme but the Sports Day is going to be a lot of fun – we’re all really looking forward to it and I’m sure the P7s are too!”
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.
Free school meals now on the menu for all P1-3 pupils across Scotland
Schools across Scotland are now serving up free school meals to every Primary 1-3 pupil, following the Scottish Government’s expanded free schools meals policy coming into effect today. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon took the opportunity to visit her old primary school and said Scotland will reap the benefits of the free school meals policy.
The measure will benefit an additional 135,000 pupils across Scotland and will save families of every eligible child at least £330 a year.
The Scottish Government is providing revenue funding of £70.5 million over two years to deliver the commitment, supported with total additional capital funding for all 32 local councils in Scotland of £24.8 million.
Speaking on her visit to her old primary school, Dreghorn Primary in North Ayrshire, the First Minister said: “This is an exciting and historic day for Scottish education. It’s the beginning of a new year, a new school term and free school meals are now on the menu for all Primary 1-3s. Great things are going on at schools across Scotland and it’s a privilege to be back at Dreghorn Primary as First Minister, as my experiences here had a huge role in shaping my life.
“As a Government, we want to do all we can to make sure every young person has the best start in life and can make the most of their time in school. The delivery of free school meals for all Primary 1-3 pupils underlines our commitment to doing all we can to support the development of our young people and tackle inequalities in our society, including the scourge of child poverty. That’s why I am delighted that this policy is worth at least £330 to families of every eligible child across Scotland.
“School lunches are hugely important in supporting a pupil’s ability to learn. We know from recent studies that free school meals improve nutrition and health among pupils, which can only help improve attainment in schools.
“Here at Dreghorn, the headteacher, Philip Gosnay, and his team have done a great job to prepare for the expansion of free school meals and I know that all over Scotland other councils and schools have been doing all they can to ensure our nation’s future will reap the benefits.”
Philip Gosnay, Head Teacher, Dreghorn Primary School said: We are all thrilled that the First Minister has chosen her old Primary School to launch this new initiative. Research has shown that free school meals impact positively on the health and social development of children. It is vital that we, as educationalists, take this opportunity to use the provision of free school lunches to reinforce the connection between what we eat and our health and well-being.
“Throughout Scotland, children have been successful in gaining skills, knowledge and experience about healthy eating. Our focus now lies in ensuring that they consistently put this knowledge into practice, making good choices for a long, productive and healthy life.”
The introduction of free school meals for all P1-3 pupils has been supported by a range of campaigners against child poverty including Child Poverty Action Group Scotland, Children in Scotland, One Parent Families Scotland, churches and trade unions.
Free school meals are already available for Primary school children of any age under certain criteria. This includes parents in receipt of income support; income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance; any income-related element of Employment and Support Allowance; Child Tax Credit (with income lower than £16,010); both maximum child tax credit and maximum working tax credit (with income lower than £6420) and support under the Immigration and Asylum Act and Universal Credit:
Forthview Primary School Fair is on Friday 5 December 12 noon to 1pm.
There will be toys / home baking/ bottle stall/ tombola/raffle.
Santa will be available to visit, hot-dogs & soup will be on sale.
On 5 November 2014 you are welcome to visit your catchment primary school for their open day.
Find your catchment schools using our catchment map.
Any parents or carers with children under primary school age are welcome. There’s no need to make an appointment. Just come along to your catchment school during the open hours or for the start of one of their tours.
Find your school in the list of primary schools to find out when the open day takes place. Some schools are having their open day on a different date to 5 November 2014 or are running an extra day. You can find the details in our directory.
On 5 November 2014 you are welcome to visit your catchment primary school for their open day.
Find your catchment schools using our catchment map.
Any parents or carers with children under primary school age are welcome. There’s no need to make an appointment. Just come along to your catchment school during the open hours or for the start of one of their tours.
Find your school in the list of primary schools to find out when the open day takes place. Some schools are having their open day on a different date to 5 November 2014 or are running an extra day. You can find the details in our directory.
