St John’s RC Primary School

Newsletter Friday 18th March 2016

Dear Parents/ Carers…..Congratulations to our team of Cross Country Runners who truly excelled themselves on Monday of this week. The P7 Boys took

possession of the P7 Boys ‘Shield as overall winners for the City Of Edinburgh. What a wonderful achievement and another trophy for our cabinet!

Also congratulations to Robyn McCarthy in P6 who came home with a medal. Another fantastic runner. Well done to all of our pupils who participated over the two events, thanks to parent helpers and also to Mrs McIntyre for all her hard work.

As we continue our journey through Lent the classes have been working hard in their fundraising for SCIAF. We have also had very valuable input at Assembly, using the DVD and the pupils have had a clear idea of how their efforts support those less fortunate than themselves.

Lent Fundraising Update: P7 ran their socks off with the three legged challenge P1 did their Penguin March around the Figgate ParkP2, P2/1 & P3 had their sponsored walk around the ParkP4 – were enterprising with their “Easter Children” production P5 running their sponsored marathon this week tooP6 were making their pounds grow!All these enterprising ideas have culminated in a current total of £ 800 plus with more to come. Look out for the final figure after the holidays. Parents Consultations It was very encouraging to see such a good turnout at the recent Consultation times and to have the opportunity to talk to parents, carers and pupils. I hope that you found the sessions informative and helpful. The staff and I received positive feedback, particularly about the snapshot journals.

School Safer StreetsCould I please remind parents/carers of nursery & school children to abide by the School Safer Streets programme. The same people are repeatedly parking in the street at pick up time, making it dangerous for the rest of our pupils. As Willowbrae Road is closed eastbound (for 6 weeks) there is a lot of extra traffic on Mountcastle Drive causing delays at the traffic lights. There is a lot of through traffic in the street with people cutting through to avoid the queues. The Police should be in attendance issuing tickets, as they have been doing. News from the Scottish Catholic Education ServiceSCES Director to retire………The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland has announced that Michael McGrath will retire on 1st August 2016, following 13 years’ service as the first Director of the Scottish Catholic Education Service, & 41 years’ service to Catholic education in Scotland. The Bishops have thanked him for his consistent and valuable input to the work of Catholic education in Scotland. Archbishop Tartaglia said;

“On behalf of the Bishops’ Conference, I would like to thank Michael for his dedicated service to the church in the field of Catholic education over many years and particularly for his 13 years’ service as Director of the Scottish Catholic Education Service. Together with all the bishops, I wish him a long and happy retirement.”

A recruitment process to appoint a new Director will begin shortly. We wish Michael all the very best for the future and thank him for all the support and training over the years with teachers in Edinburgh,

Stations of the CrossFr Jock will lead the school through a child friendly Stations of the Cross on Wednesday at 9.15am We will have one reader from each class as we prepare for Holy week – which takes place next week.

P3 First ReconciliationThe P3 Sacramental pupils have been working hard to prepare for their First Reconciliation Service which took place on Monday 7th March in St John’s Church. They have been ably assisted by both class teachers, their parents, Fr Jock and the Sacramental Teams of both parishes. It was lovely to share the special evening with them.

Sunday 20th March 2016 Palm SundaySt John’s Parish Church at 9.30am

P4 Sacramental preparation ‘Do This in Memory mass’ ‘Please remember your candles’

Message from Una Gallacher, St Mary Magdalene'sThank you to everyone who contributed to the Children's Liturgy

bake Sale on Sunday. It was a great success raising £65.10 & great fun for all involved. Between the sponsored silence and the bake sale a cheque was sent to SCIAF for an amazing £280. Well done kids!! Good Friday Children's Stations of the Cross will be held at St Mary Magdalene's at 9:30am on Friday 25th March all welcome. If any children would like to participate and read a station please contact Una Gallacher on 657 2831. This will be followed by a walk to St John’s to meet local Christians walking from their churches for an 11:00am Ecumenical service to be hosted this year by St John’s Parish. Hot cross buns to be served afterwards. Could children please be asked to bring an Easter Egg to mass on Sunday as a donation for our food bank service with St Teresa's.

Wider Achievements Michal Tansey, P7, has been selected to Captain the Scotland Under 12s at Basketball. Very well done, Michal. We look forward to hearing of your progress in the future.

Swimming GalaGood luck to our ten swimmers from P7 for this event taking place on Wednesday 24th March at the Commonwealth Pool.  Details of how they performed in the next newsletter.  They received high praise from Sandra Morrison (swimming coach) when they tried out for the competitions.

Emily McKenzieWe’d like to share with your all that Emily McKenzie, P5a will be attending a Paralympic event, hosted by Scottish Disability Sport

today. This event is at Forrester/St Augustine’s High School. We can’t wait to hear all about Emily’s experience.

Big Fairtrade BreakfastCongratulations to P2, P3 & P4 for their organising of the breakfast on Friday morning. Their baking was amazing! 

This is our Faith Leaflet This leaflet has been written to introduce parents to THIS IS OUR FAITH – the guidance which teachers in Catholic schools follow when planning and teaching programmes of Religious Education. Further resources are being planned to provide more detailed information about what children and young people will learn and experience within Religious Education at various stages of their schooling. We have ordered one per family and these were issued to you last week. I do hope that this is helpful in outlining the programmes that we follow.

P3 trip to the Museum of Scotland…As part of their study on Egyptians the P3 classes visited the Museum of Scotland. They thoroughly enjoyed their visit. Great to see all of the artefacts first hand.

Kids Knit……The Kids Knitters at St John’s have been busy finishing off their entries for the ‘Crazy Egg Cosy’ competition to be judged at annual Edinburgh Yarn Festival this weekend. All entries have been hand knitted & decorated with cute buttons, ribbons, and crazy pipe cleaners! Winner to be announced in the next newsletter. There are currently spaces in the Kids Knit Class at St John’s – Wednesday’s 3.20pm-4.50pm. Email eilidh@knittingforall.co.uk for more information.

Student Teachers Miss Rachael Purnell and Miss Shenel Thomson have now completed their final year placement with us. Both girls have had a very positive experience with us. Wishing them all the very best for the future.

Parent Council MeetingThe next meeting takes place at 7pm on Tuesday 19 th April at 7pm in the staffroom. It would be great to have a good turnout, and please note later start time.

Plans for the New School/ParkThese were very positively received by pupils, staff and residents during the consultations in the School Hall,

last week. The decision for the new EH15 Park should be made prior to the Easter break.

P4 Easter Play- Easter Children P4 pupils will present their play, “Easter Children” to parents and members of the parishes on Thursday 24th March at 1.45pm in the hall. The whole school will share the experience in the morning. By all accounts, rehearsals are going very well and we are all looking forward to the pupil’s performance next week.

ParentMail Absence:You can now report your child’s absence in two ways: Call the school office and leave a message on the

answerphone between 8.00am-9.30am or Use your Parentmail AppInstructions for Parentmail Reporting Absence are:Absence reporting will only work through the ParentMail App, so it’s important that you have downloaded the App onto your iPhone or Android device. Parents report absences in 4 easy steps: From the ParentMail App, open ‘Absences’ and select the name of their child/children who will be absent.1. Select a reason for absence from a drop

down menu.2. Select an amount of time that the child is

likely to be off school for.3. Add any additional notes, and then send to

school. Hoppefully this will make it easier for you to report your child's absence.

Important ReminderPlease ensure that if you change your contact details, you inform the school office as soon as possible. It is so important to have up-to-date mobile/phone numbers, especially in an emergency.

School ends on Thursday 24th March at the normal time for the Easter Holidays. We all return on Monday April 11 th . May I take this opportunity to wish you and your families a happy and joyous Easter.

Ms Barbara A Service Headteacher

https://stjohnsportobello.wordpress.com/St John’s twitter account- follow us: @porty_stjs