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Thursday 29 June 2006 |
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This newsletter is published every two weeks for staff in the Children and Families Department. It is available online at the Edinburgh Grid for Learning at http://egfl.net Send
me your stories In
the news
The website is set to become the new home on the internet for care sector professionals.
The site is packed with industry news, jobs, courses, events, articles, books, live forums, career advice and links to thousands of sector sites. To find out more, visit www.careappointments.co.uk
Pilrig Park’s show of
quality The production, which played to a packed house, delves into the beauty and complexity of the human mind. The performances were exciting, poignant, and at times, breathtaking. From the smiles on their faces, the performers appeared to be having as much fun as the audience. The night finished with two standing ovations. Pilrig Park pupils have been
working alongside professionals from the Edinburgh Festival Theatre on
every aspect of the show. Even pupils who did not perform on the
evening worked as ushers alongside professional ushers. Kaimes School provides education and specialist support to 85 pupils, most of whom have a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder. The library was made possible thanks to a £32,000 donation from Wooden Spoon, rugby’s charity supporting disadvantaged children and young people. Books for the library have been donated by school parents and further donations are being sought. Following the official opening by Ian Rankin, Joyce Falconer, who plays Roisin from the tanning salon in River City, ran drama workshops for school pupils as part of the opening celebrations. Aileen Paterson, author of the famous Maisie of Morningside books, performed storytelling sessions. There were also poetry recitals from several of the pupils. Kaimes Special School Association which
received Wooden Spoon’s £32,000 donation, was set up in 1997 to
support and enhance the provision made by the Authority to meet the
needs of pupils in Kaimes. Pupils attend from across Edinburgh and the
Lothians. Approximately 360 school teams took part in the competition with only 13 battling their way to the national finals held in the massive ExCel Centre in London’s dockland on 21 June. This is the 20th anniversary of the competition and the first time a Scottish team has won it! The four team members, Imogen Peacock (captain),
Kara Wiltshire, Louise Anton and Sandy Nuttall, all aged 16, won their
semi-final comfortably before performing magnificently in a nail biting
final. Pupils from P3 were responsible for planting and maintaining the garden along with their teacher Mairi MacDonald, after the school received a Grounds for Awareness grant. On the day, guests were entertained by the school’s
musicians and with an enterprise showcase from P5/6, incorporating a
fashion show and presentation. The event is the major forum for
professional exchange among American, Russian and other countries'
astronauts and cosmonauts. More than 100 men and women who have flown in
space are expected to visit Scotland to attend the congress in September
2007. It will be the first time that the UK has hosted the
event. "Science, technology and creativity will be central to Scotland's future success. Promoting science education within our youth is a key part of this process and I am confident this event will stimulate a great deal of interest in schools. "Up to 100 astronauts and cosmonauts will visit our schools over the course of the Congress and we want 100,000 young people across Scotland to meet someone who has played a key role in 50 years of space exploration." The Planetary Congress in 2007 will include a day that is dedicated to community and education activities and Careers Scotland aims to introduce the astronauts and cosmonauts to around 100,000 young people at events throughout Scotland. Upcoming
events
The Standard Life Edinburgh Achievement
Awards celebrate success, best practice, and innovation in all aspects
of Children and Families work and we would like to hear from you. Application forms can also downloaded from http://egfl.net/application The closing date for applications has
been extended this year and is now 18 August 2005. Success
stories The celebration took place at Drummond Community High School and included presentations recognising the importance of developing health promoting schools and celebrating progress in taking forward the Scheme in Edinburgh. There were also presentations from some of the schools receiving their certificates, including some very inspiring inputs from pupils talking about the work they've done in promoting health in their schools. The schools who received accreditation
were: Stockbridge Primary School, Kaimes Special School, Castleview Primary,
Drumbrae Primary, Drummond Community High School, Portobello High School,
St Catherine's Primary, Pirniehall Primary. Royal High Primary and Queensferry Primary.
Stacey and Michael went out on a tour of
Edinburgh to find as many cows as possible so they could take photographs. Stacey drew a cow on a big piece of paper which
is the size of a full size cow. They then stuck their photos on their
paper cow. It's now a real moo-sterpiece! Eco Schools Edinburgh grant scheme The Education Team at Services for Communities have set up a new grant scheme that schools, working on the Eco Schools programme in Edinburgh, can benefit from. This follows a £40,000 sponsorship deal with the Royal Bank of Scotland Group. Schools can now apply for a grant once they have gained their second award with the programme, usually the silver award. Schools that have been working on the programme for a number of years can apply when they receive their next award (such as 2nd Green Flag).
The Summer Edition of the Eco Schools
Edinburgh newsletter is now available to download from the Eco Schools
page on EGFL and contains more information on the grant scheme as well
as programme opportunities and reports from schools.
For details of teaching vacancies in
Edinburgh, click here: http://channel1.internal.egfl.net It has been a busy year for us all and some of you are now enjoying end of term celebrations. I have tried to attend as many of these celebrations as I can, and the ones I have managed to get to have been times filled with huge joy, where outstanding achievements were celebrated. Just recently we learned that a team from Boroughmuir had won the UK Young Consumer of the year competition - beating off schools from all over the country in a hotly contested London Final. Having met with the team before they headed off to compete, I know that this has been a hard-won victory and that the pupils involved learned so much more than simply facts about consumer law. Congratulations to them and the staff who supported them. At Towerbank, a wonderful valedictory service was held and the tearjerker was the Leavers song - sung with gusto by the P7s. It spoke of change and moving on but also happy memories and friendships to cherish. As the whole class sang together, one was left with the impression that whilst every individual child is important, what makes them important is not just their individual journey but the relationships they form and the community they create together. It would an interesting experiment to award prizes for the “best maker of friends” or be “best nurturer of relationships”. Might seem silly but what can be more important to celebrate in life than the relationships that help us know we are alive. Cllr Rev Ewan AitkenExecutive Member for Children and Families back to top |
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