P2 Pupils Address CEC 1 in 5 Child Poverty Conference

Confident Individuals, Emma and Bella, with Ms Anstruther

Audience at Faith Misson, Edinburgh 1 in 5 Child Poverty Awareness Conference

Sciennes is one of six city schools taking part in a City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) pilot project to raise awareness of 1 in 5 Child Poverty and explore ways to reduce the cost of the school day. Depute Head, Ms Carolyn Anstruther, and Headteacher, Mrs Alison Noble, accompanied P2 pupils, Emma and Bella, to the Faith Mission in Edinburgh on Tuesday 22nd March. In front of a huge gathered audience of Headteachers and school leaders, the P2 girls spoke about their award winning idea to 'Make a Difference.' They realised that events like World Book Day can cause expense for families so cleverly suggested that school could keep a 'dressing up' box of costumes for pupils to borrow and their idea was awarded £250! Ms Anstruther has invited everyone to donate any old, grown out of, costumes to school to add to the collection for borrowing.

Everyone is immensely proud of the terrific confidence shown by Emma and Bella and they were congratulated at the P1-3 and P4-7 Assemblies on Thursday 24th March.

Article 12 The right to be heard
Article 26 The right to have help if you are poor or in need
Article 27 The right to have a good enough standard of living

Make a Difference Award of £250!

Sciennes is one of six city schools taking part in a City of Edinburgh pilot project to raise awareness of 1 in 5 Child Poverty and explore ways to reduce the cost of the school day. Depute Head, Ms Carolyn Anstruther, accompanied five Sciennes Pupil Council members to the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday 14th March and she announced at Assemblies on Friday 18th March that two of our P2 pupils, Emma and Bella, have won an award for their idea to 'Make a Difference!' They realised that events like World Book Day can cause expense for families so cleverly suggested that school could keep a 'dressing up' box of costumes for pupils to borrow and their idea was awarded £250! Ms Anstruther invited everyone to donate any unused costumes to school to add to the collection for borrowing.

Sciennes Pupil Council at the Scottish Parliament

Article 26 The right to have help if you are poor or in need
Article 27 The right to have a good enough standard of living

 

Making a Difference

Sciennes Make A Difference and Sport Relief Assembly 18.3.16 from SciennesPS

Pattie Santelices and Ms Anstruther present at Assembly

 

Pattie Santelices, City of Edinburgh Principal Officer Health and Wellbeing, joined our Assembly on Friday 18th March to share information about City of Edinburgh's 1 in 5 Child Poverty Awareness project. Ms Anstruther accompanied five Sciennes Pupil Council members to the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday 14th March and she announced that two of our P2 pupils, Emma and Bella, have won an award for their idea to 'Make a Difference!' They cleverly suggested that school could keep a 'dressing up' box of costumes for pupils to borrow and their idea was awarded £250! Ms Anstruther invited everyone to donate any unused costumes to school to add to the collection for borrowing.

We were all absolutely delighted when Pattie announced that P6B pupil Asma's poster, highlighting 1 in 5 Child Poverty, has been selected as overall winner and will be used in campaign literature throughout Edinburgh! Pattie presented Asma with a framed copy of her artwork and a certificate. Runner up P6C pupil Samara also received a framed copy of her artwork. All the children who entered the competition received special highlighter pens for their contribution in highlighting 1 in 5 child poverty. Thank you to Art Club Teacher, Heather Lucchesi, and to Ms Anstruther for helping the pupils express their ideas so well visually.

Overall 1 in 5 Poster competition winner, Asma, with Pattie Santelices

Great achievement, Asma!

Runner up Samara

Highlighting 1 in 5 Child Poverty

All the pupils were congratulated for helping to Make a Difference by dressing up in sports gear and P.E. kit and donating to Sport Relief. Our end of day total was £450! Congratulations to Ella, Ailsa and Sarah for showing great initiative in organising their own bake sale and raising £14. Very well done to P7A and P5C girls who raised an incredible total of more than £400 rollerskating across the Forth Road Bridge! We look forward to hearing about any other personal fundraising efforts from our pupils since many are taking part in local run, swim or cycle events this weekend.

Extraordinary Sport Relief fundraising P7A and P5c girls!

Ella, Ailsa and Sarah baked to raise £14 for Sport Relief. Great initiative!

P7 Sports Captains congratulated pupils for their achievements this week and led everyone in singing the Sport Relief song, "Step It Up".

Special commendation to Alex, Rory and Alex for their initiative in Making a Difference by organising a school collection of Easter eggs for Foodbank. Outstanding citizens! Thank you to everyone who donated.



Article 26 The right to have help if you are poor or in need
Article 27 The right to have a good enough standard of living

Angela Burdett-Coutts' Philanthropy

Mr Howie led our P4-7 Assembly on Friday 11th March, cleverly linking recent learning in P5 Old Edinburgh, P6 Jacobites, World Book Day and International Women's Day with Rights Education in his tale of the mightily impressive Victorian philanthropist, Angela Burdett-Coutts. Her philanthropy and influence were even more remarkable at a time when women could not yet vote.

Mr Howie encouraged everyone to keep thinking about how we can each make a difference and praised pupils Alex and Rory for their initiative in organising donations of Easter eggs for Foodbank at school.

P7 Reader Leader, Toby, explained how everyone can help keep the Playground Reading Shed organised and Lena told us about the Eurochild Drawing competition. 

Sport Relief is on Friday 18th March and our P7 Sports Captains demonstrated Out of the Ark's "Step It Up" Sport Relief dance. They informed pupils about signing up online to local Run, Cycle, Swim events next weekend and invited us to dress up in sports gear or P.E. kit on Friday. Sports Captains will collect any donations on the day.

Philanthropy P4-7 Assembly 11.3.16 from SciennesPS

Article 2 The right to protection against discrimination
Article 26 The right to have help if you are poor or in need
Article 27 The right to have a good enough standard of living 

 

  

Pupil Council at Scottish Parliament

1 in 5 Raising Awareness of Child Poverty in Edinburgh – The Make A Difference Award 

Schools were invited to submit ideas on what they would do with £250 to help Make a Difference. Five members of Sciennes' Pupil Council have been invited to the Scottish Parliament to submit our best ideas to City of Edinburgh's '1 in 5' Make a Difference Award Ceremony on Wednesday 16th March. Ms Anstruther will accompany.


Article 26 The right to have help if you are poor or in need
Article 27 The right to have a good enough standard of living 

We've All Got Rights Song

Article 42

All adults and children should know about this convention.

Hopscotch 'Rights of the Child'

 

 

Many thanks to Ross, Liam, Sophie and Jen from Hopscotch Theatre for a high quality production of 'The Rights of the Child' that made learning about children's rights fun and engaging for our 655 P1-P7 pupils on Thursday 10th March. Excellent feedback from pupils and staff and we congratulate the team on making the show so accessible and entertaining for all age groups. Bravo!
 

 

 

Article 42

All adults and children should know about this convention.

Feedback from Educational Experts

The show links to rights being being unconditional in a very clear and fun way! RRSA and Scottish Government/Education Scotland focuses on the message that children do not need to do anything to have rights, which comes across excellently in Hopscotch’s ‘Rights of the the Child’.

Gerry McMurtrie, Senior Professional Advisor (Scotland):  Rights Respecting Schools Award with UNICEF UK

Hopscotch’s involvement in Scottish school pupils' lives is a creative and stimulating experience. Education performances such as ‘Rights of the Child’ continue to develop the breadth of experience that Curriculum for Excellence is designed to deliver.

Anthony Hutcheson, Learning for Sustainability Development Officer at Education Scotland.

Eurochild Drawing Competition

EUROCHILD DRAWING COMPETITION


Sciennes Primary School is aiming to become recognised as one of Unicef’s Rights Respecting Schools. Throughout this year we have been focusing on Rights Education and embedding respect for children’s rights in our school. We are maintaining a school blog on our progress towards becoming a Rights Respecting School.

Raising awareness of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) throughout our school community is one of our key aims, so we would like to invite your child to participate in a drawing competition. If you wish to take part, please submit your child’s drawing online at:

https://eurochild.wufoo.eu/forms/sketch-my-rights by 15th April 2016.

Please feel welcome to give a copy of your child’s drawing to Ms Anstruther, Ms Gallagher or Mrs Noble.

Thank you,

Sciennes Senior Learning Team


Picture your rights and bring your voice to the Eurochild Conference 2016!
Upload a drawing of a right you think matters most to you! Your drawings will feature in Eurochild’s conference materials and you could win a trip to meet European officials and other young people like you in Brussels! Read more about the Eurochild Conference 2016 here.

Article 42

All adults and children should know about this convention.

Scotland's Play Strategy

 

"Playing is central to children’s physical, mental, social and emotional health and wellbeing and is enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Through play, children develop resilience and flexibility, contributing to physical and emotional wellbeing."

http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0049/00493571.pdf 

Article 31

You have the right to play and relax by doing things like sport, music and drama.

Article 15

You have the right to be with friends and join or set up clubs, unless this breaks the rights of others.

Article 12

You have the right to an opinion and for it to be listened to and taken seriously.

Grade 'A' Today!

Some of our Eco Team members were at the ready today with our brand new litter pickers and found... they didn't need to use them! Great impact from Arleen's ChangeWorks Litter Assembly on Friday with her message which challenged us all to reduce litter and waste and aim for a Grade 'A' playground! Let's keep it that way!

Article 29 You have the right to education which develops your personality, respect for others’ rights and the environment.

ChangeWorks Waste Week P4-7 Litter Assembly

On Friday 4th March at Assembly, Arleen Sinclair from ChangeWorks successfully challenged P4-7 pupils to think about how we can reduce waste by recycling and re-using and how to make sure our playground and school are Grade A Litter Free. Our ECO team will meet next week (Waste Week) to discus and decide how to take forward improvements.

House Captains helped celebrate the launch of our wonderful new Playground Reading Shed on World Book Day (3rd March) and pupils' recent achievements.

Sciennes Waste Week P4-7 Assembly 4.3.16 from SciennesPS

Global Goal 12

Article 29 You have the right to education which develops your personality, respect for others’ rights and the environment.

Sciennes South Africa Pencil Case Donations

To Sciennes parents and pupils, a huge thank you for all your pencil case donations. We were overwhelmed by your kindness and generosity. We have just returned from South Africa and it was fantastic to be able to give your gifts to the children fron Charles Memorial primary school where they were greatly appreciated. The children were so excited as you can see from the attached photos.

Thanks once again,

Jessica, Anna, Katie and Amy

James Gillespies High School