LPS Newsletter

We were all very glad to be back to our normal routine this week after the support staff strike days the week before. The darker mornings seem to be with us already and we discussed in assembly ways to make sure we get to school on time every day. We have also been looking at the importance of celebrating the accomplishments of Black British Women during this year’s Black History Month as women, especially Black British and moreso Black Scottish women have been missing from our history books. We know that some of our brilliantly talented girls at Leith Primary will be the successful Black and minority ethnic Scottish women of the future!

Goodbye Mr Mackenzie!

Staff and pupils bid a fond farewell to Mr Mackenzie last week as he set off for his new life in the beautiful Perthshire hills. Whilst the recruitment process for his replacement takes a little longer than hoped, we welcome back Mrs Cook as the interim teacher of Primary 7.

School Photos This Wednesday

Individual school photos will be taken this Wednesday. Sibling groups can also be taken if brothers and sisters attend Leith Primary School or Nursery. Support with ensuring your primary-aged children is wearing school colours would also be greatly appreciated.

Dogs in School

We love hearing about our pupils’ furry friends at home. Many of the school staff are dog owners too. However, we regret that dogs cannot be brought into the school grounds: playground, nursery garden and the school or nursery buildings, unless they are a trained, certified support dog visiting us with an appointment. For the comfort of some of our littler Leithers, we also ask that if you are waiting for your child with your dog, that you do so away from the narrower walkway beside the blue fence. Thank you so much in advance for your support with this.

School Attendance

The local learning community primary schools that feed into Leith Academy are working together this year to tackle poor and late attendance at school as part of a whole city drive to improve the school attendance across Edinburgh, post COVID.

Poor school attendance has a very close link with poorer progress in learning and problematic behaviour, wellbeing and friendships. Any attendance that falls below 95% can begin to impact negatively on these aspects of a child’s development.

We understand that many children get unwell from time-to-time and need to stay at home. Occasionally there are valid reasons such as a close family bereavement or important hospital appointments where absence is fully understandable. These types of infrequent absence are not what is being targeted.

A parent’s legal responsibility to ensure their child attends school every day unless there is an exceptional reason not to. If a child must stay off school for an exceptional reason, the reason must be communicated to the school either via the absence line, by email, by text or in person. A letter can also be sent in when the child returns to school explaining the exceptional reason for the child’s absence from school. This is the standard expectation in all Scottish schools.

Some of our pupils who have recurring absences from school have no reason recorded for their absence, even when prompt text messages are sent out to parents/carers requesting this information. In some circumstances, we are able to identify patterns of absence such as Fridays and/or Mondays for some children and their siblings. Sometimes recurring absence without reason is on sporadic days with no clear pattern.

These types of absences without a reason being given to the school can, over time, have a catastrophic impact on a child’s overall progress, mental wellbeing, confidence and friendships.

As much as possible, we want to see a complete reduction in this type of absence for our pupils.

We know the reasons behind poor school attendance can often be complex. Our intention is not to judge or blame parents and carers but to do whatever we can to get pupils into school as close to every single day as we can. If we know what the main issues are behind these absences we can try our best to match up the right types of support.

Please always let us know the reason why your child is off so we can provide you with the best kind of support if it is needed.

Any child who has an absence rate of under 95% with a large number of unexplained absences will receive a letter from school and may be invited in for a meeting with the Head or Depute Head Teachers. Any child whose absence falls below 85% may be referred to the Educational Welfare Service or to Social Care Direct if no acceptable reasons for the absences are given.

Did you know that if you take a two-week holiday during school term time, the highest attendance you can achieve is 94.7%?

Did you know that if you are 15 minutes late for school every day, it’s equal to two full weeks absence by the end of the school year?

Did you know that there are 190 days in a school year?
That means 175 days are left for watching TV, sleeping late, going shopping, attending appointments, playing games, etc.

Every day counts

Anxiety Group for Children Aged 7-11

Some of Our Recent Leithers of the Week

Aris	Primary 1/2	Aris is an extremely respectful member of our class. He is always ready to listen and learn. Well done Aris! Keep up the good work!
Excellence	Primary 1/2	Excellence always tries her best. She is ready to listen and learn and has shown a great attitude towards her learning.
Caelan	Primary 1a	Caelan has gone above and beyond this week. He has been working super hard during our phonics sessions and has been extremely kind by helping others tidy things away he he hasn’t even been playing with! Amazing work, Caelan!
Pippa	Primary 1a	Pippa is an extremely kind and respectful friend. She shows kindness to all and is always happy to show new pupils around and look after them. She has also been working really hard with her maths this week. Thank you for being so kind, Pippa!
Anaya Khan	Primary 1b	Anaya has been exceptionally responsible and helpful in class. She has also been very ambitious with her writing this week. Well done Anaya!
Mayar	Primary 1b	Mayar has shown excellent engagement and progress in phonics through excellent listening skills. Well done Mayar!
Abdallah	Primary 1b	Abdallah has been a lovely friend to his classmates.
Linda	Primary 3	Linda has been persevering with reading and writing this week and always tries her best. Well done Linda!
Ariana	Primary 3	Ariana has a smile and a kind word for everyone she meets. She is a very good role model for kindness at Leith Primary. Well done, Ariana!
Ivy	Primary 3/4	Ivy has been doing exceptionally well in Maths learning about positions and directions.  She programmed the Beebot to go to the right location every single time!  Well done Ivy.
Alex	Primary 3/4	Alex always makes the right choice and is willing to help his peers whenever they need help. He works hard and is always ready to learn. Well done Alex.
Tamer	Primary 4	Tamer has really been showing he is Ready, Respectful and Safe this week. Well done!
Lucia	Primary 5a	Lucia has been achieving her best. She has done a number of home learning activities showing her dedication to her learning. Well done.
Diego	Primary 5b	Diego has been a responsible and helpful digital leader, helping take care of our iPads and supporting his peers. Thank you Diego!
Alexa	Primary 6	For taking the initiative in her own learning.  Alexa was able to use the letters the class were practising and type them into her ipad and practice them there.  Well done Alexa!
Bikari	Primary 6/7	Bikari continues to work hard everyday and always gives 100% effort to his work.
Leland	Primary 6/7	Leland has been trying hard to focus more in class and this week has produced great work in our Numeracy and handwriting lessons.
Georg	Primary 7	Georg is always ready, respectful & safe in class and sets an excellent example to others – well done Georg!
Jack	Support for Learning	Jack is always ready to learn. He is a great listener, follows instructions promptly and is a fantastic role model. Thank you Jack!