John Muir Day 21st April

Sciennes Primary: John Muir Day from SciennesPS

At Assembly on 24th April 2015 P4-7 pupils celebrated the life of John Muir and learned how small changes can have a big impact.

Fantastic Interdisciplinary Learning resources are available from Scottish Book Trust, including a graphic novel of the life and impact of one of the world's first environmentalists.

Earth Day 22nd April 2015

Greenpeace Earth Day video used at John Muir P4-7 Assembly on Friday 24th April.

Successful Bid for SportScotland Funding for Playground!

The Minister for Sport, Jamie Hepburn, today announced that Sciennes Primary has been successful in its bid for match funding towards our ambitious Playground Improvements, receiving the full amount of £56,000. Thrilling news!

Report from STV News  By Jack Aitchison on Wednesday 22 April 2015

Sporting projects from across the country are set to receive a funding boost thanks to the success of last year's Commonwealth Games.

A total of 34 projects across Scotland will share over £1.5m from the Legacy 2014 Active Places Fund.

The awards are the fifth and final allocation of the £10m project, which aided a total of 188 projects across every local authority in the country.

Jamie Hepburn, minister of sport, announced the projects to benefit from the final tranche of money at the Cumbernauld Centurions BMX Club, one of the first facilities to receive funds.

"These 34 new awards are part of almost 200 projects to receive investment from the Legacy 2014 Active Places Fund which is playing an important role in improving and creating excellent facilities all over the country.

"This £10 million investment has helped deliver an impressive breadth of community, school, outdoors, and sports-based projects and is an integral component of the significant and positive legacy."

Sciennes Community Active Play Experience

An innovative consultation process in 2013-2014 by the Parent Council Communications Group, driven by Parent Council Chair Claire Wheeler, led to a sector leading example of best practice in action planning. Surveying our families identified how our playground could be improved and focused minds on how to make improvements a reality. Fellow members of the Parent Council subsequently formed a Playground Improvement Group, working alongside Headteacher Mrs Alison Noble and Business Manager Ms Angela Christie to shape the vision and enlist the dedicated support of the Parent Council Fundraising and Events Group (FEG), led by Chair Aileen Nimmo.

Plans formulated by the group are indeed ambitious - £55 000 is our target for school based fundraising - and with today's announcement of our successful application to SportScotland to match fund that sum, we hope that our entire community will continue to see and seize this as a remarkable, long dreamt of opportunity. We are indebted to parent Tanya Boughtflower particularly for her assistance in preparing the successful bid. An incredible £38 000 has already been raised by the school and we hope our forthcoming Swimathon will edge us further forward towards our target.

One of our Playground Improvement Group drivers, parent Stuart Sheehan, has rightly acknowledged the wealth of talent and resourcefulness within our community and convincingly appealed to all to grasp this landmark project as an ideal opportunity to create a legacy for all Sciennes' pupils - current and future. Sports Minister Jamie Hepburn's announcement today fortifies Sciennes' motto that if we Believe we can indeed Achieve.

Third Green Flag for Sciennes Primary’s Eco Work!

We are grateful for the invitation to contribute to City of Edinburgh Council' Bright Futures website:

Posted on 22 April 2015 by Children & Families

Miss Kirsty Gallagher with pupil Eco Reps in the Eco Garden

Sciennes Primary School Eco Team was thrilled to be awarded their third Green Flag award from Eco Schools Scotland recently.

Lucy Gallagher, Depute Headteacher of Sciennes Primary School, tells us the full story.

Alastair Davidson and Briony McLaughin from Eco Schools (part of the Keep Scotland Beautiful charity) met with Sciennes pupil eco reps on Tuesday 25 January to assess the eco work of the school over the last two years.

The children were absolutely superb and made an obvious impression, showing their knowledge of, and enthusiasm for, all the various eco projects in and around school.
Alastair gave us some very helpful feedback and advice for taking developments forward, including establishing air-quality monitoring on Sciennes Road, and also had a very positive and encouraging manner with the children.

A very special thank you to P5 class teacher Mr Iain Kearton for all his enthusiasm and drive with eco – our reps from last year were particularly animated in relaying all their achievements with him. Miss Kirsty Gallagher, P3 class teacher, is doing an amazing job of leading the new and old reps this year and brings so much experience of eco from Prestonfield Primary; where she also secured a Green Flag for the school.

Third Green Flag!

The award is also a recognition of all the hard work of P1 class teacher Miss Alison Mackintosh, as well as Mr Kearton, over the last two years and of the whole team effort in supporting eco throughout the school, with

• head teacher Mrs Alison Noble
• business manager Ms Angela Christie
• depute head teacher (DHT) Ms Carolyn Anstruther
• Service Support Officers Mr Neil Scott and Mr John Reid

and the rest of the staff carrying on the great work done by class teacher Ms Emma Kidd in securing our first Green Flag and class teachers Ms Claire Phillips and Ms Mel Ross in securing our second.
Thanks to parent council members Corrine Kirk and Phoebe Cochrane, who have provided such sterling support to the school over many years with the wildlife garden, planting and harvesting vegetables for P3 to make soup, as well as helping pupils create our fantastic eco display board. It was wonderful to have Corrine attend the inspection visit.

Alastair commented favourably on the great work in Food Focus Fortnight by principal teacher Miss Shona Pearmain and thought DHT Ms Carloyn Anstruther’s sensory room was an exciting, innovative resource. Mr Mark McKenna’s science provision in P3-P7 was also credited during the inspection.

Alastair was enthusiastic about plans to focus on the School Grounds and Transport eco topics over the next two years, as we head towards achieving our fourth Green Flag. He acknowledged that our fourth Green Flag would recognise the tremendous existing achievements in cycling and the ambitious, whole school community plans for the playground already in place.

Great team effort from pupils, staff and parents. Well done, Team Sciennes!

Pedal on Parliament Saturday 25th April

The fourth annual Pedal on Parliament event takes place on Saturday April 25th congregating on the Meadows for a 12 noon start. Pedal on Parliament is a grass-roots group of people who want to see Scotland become a place where active travel is safe and enjoyable for everyone, whether they cycle or not.

Friday 24th April Cycle to School Day

Friday April 24th is our first ride to school day this term. The route is the same as usual. We leave from King's Buildings at 8.20 and cycle along Mayfield Road, Causewayside and turn left into Sciennes House Place. Qualified ride leaders accompany the ride.

Photos of one of our previous rides -

http://sciennesactivetravel.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/may-big-ride.html

Additionally many children and parents/carers join from the side roads along the route.

Good practice for the next day -

"Save the date: 25th April 2015 – POP4 is go!"

http://pedalonparliament.org

Pitching to Save the Planet - Please Vote Now

Sciennes' parent Nigel Douglas is posing the question to Sir Richard Branson, do you “Want to Save the Planet?” via his “Pitch to Rich 2015” competition.

Nigel is Founder and CEO of Global Surface Intelligence (GSi) and seeks your help in voting for his pitch to win Virgin Business' exciting competition. Please share via social media networks and vote now to help Nigel's innovative software mitigate climate change.



We have developed a very powerful software platform which provides ‘Big data’ predictive analytics of satellite and other data. Using this platform, we can now observe our planet, more clearly and in new ways and on new scales. Using it, we have brought to market our first products which reduce costs and add value to a massive $1.2 trillion timber market. Put simply, we can tell how much timber is in a forest; which ones have grown quickest over time, and we can identify deforestation or even forest degradation. Our data covers the entire surface on the planet from the present year back to 2001 and this is the first time in the field of science this has been achieved. Our methods are totally unique and they allow us to deliver data cheaper, faster, better than is possible by any other means. We can solve real business problems the industry faces, and the only thing stopping us, is people not knowing about us. Winning this competition would change all that.

Our processing capabilities and analytics are unrivaled and right at the forefront of innovation. Our software platform has endless applications that will help businesses in any sector. The uniqueness of our data has enabled us to open up opportunities in six continents and all this from my kitchen table. Our data is also crucial to monitor our changing ecosystem and the effects of climate change and we have only scratched the surface of our capabilities. We are a small company that has developed unique technology that could be applied to help mitigate climate change. We need help to be heard and that is why we deserve to win.

GSi would really like your Vote. http://goo.gl/O4vPng To progress through the competition, we really need your vote and it will only take 5 seconds of your time. Please vote now. Many thanks.
                                                                     Nigel Douglas, Sciennes Parent

See more at:
http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/pitch-to-rich/start-up/global-surface-intelligence-ltd

P3B Safe Water Workshop from Just A Drop

http://www.justadrop.org

Finn's Mum Caroline came into P3B to share her experience of recent visit to a Just a Drop safe water project in Uganda. The Just a Drop charity aims to provide local, clean water supplies and sanitation to communities all over the world. Finn was an excellent assistant and helped his mum to deliver her presentation. We hope you enjoy looking at the photos. 

Miss Gallagher, P3B

Earth Calling After School Club at Sciennes

EARTH CALLING AT SCIENNES

Spring is in the air! With all the new life emerging and the evenings getting longer and warmer, Earth Calling will provide the opportunity for some more great wildlife adventures next term….


The club will run for 9 sessions starting on Thursday 23rd April and finishing on Thursday 25th June. There will be no club on Thursday 7th May. Clubs run from 1515-1735, however there will be one evening club this term which will run from 1900-2100 instead of the afternoon session, allowing the chance to spot some nocturnal wildlife (date to be confirmed).


The cost of each session is £7; therefore a total cost of £63 (10 sessions, with £7 refund from cancelled club last term). Please make cheques payable to Earth Calling, and have payments ready by the first session along with the parental consent form. New members will be required to return our codes of conduct and bush craft protocol forms.


Please make sure children are appropriately dressed (outdoor clothes, waterproof jackets, old shoes or boots, hats gloves scarves, you know how muddy they can get and how unpredictable our weather can be).


Some of the activities may involve going to other locations or night time events. Details will be given before these activities take place. If you have any queries about club activities or if you need any info about Earth Calling call Sara on 07986993369
Email: sara@earthcalling.org 
Website: www.earthcalling.org