Month: May 2024

Thank you again to everyone who was able to come along to one of our Sports Events on Wednesday morning this week. We were delighted to welcome so many families to our patch of the Links for an hour or so of some fun in the sunshine. Thank you again to LPPC for supplying the ice lollies.

Congratulations to Our New School Administrator

– Mrs Gatton!

We are very pleased to announce that, for those who do not already know, Mrs Gatton was successful at interview in being appointed as the new School Administrator for Leith Primary School. Mrs Gatton not only brings her existing knowledge of the school, the pupils and staff to the post but also a wealth of experience in administration and management in previous roles. We know she will do a super job of fulfilling this busy role at the heart of the school and will be a familiar face and voice as the first point of contact for our parents and carers..

Is Your Child in a Pupil Leadership Group? #12 #13 #14 #15

If your child is in our Pupil Council, Equalities Group, Health & Wellbeing Group, Eco Committee or is a Rights Champion or Junior Librarian, please come along next Friday to hear how they have been supporting the development of the school this year.

Any interested parent is warmly invited along to find out a bit more about how our Pupil Leadership Groups work. Find out about what the school has been working on this year, what our plans are for next session and what your thoughts and ideas are for our improvement journey towards excellence in education.

Please let us know if you would like to come along so we can prepare for the correct numbers of people. https://forms.office.com/e/nuXhG18ehZ

Junior Award for Schools – JASS Update #12, #13, #14, #15, #24, #29, #30, #31

All of our Primary 3-7 pupils have been given the opportunity to work towards one of the JASS Wider Achievement Awards this session. There are just a few more weeks left for them to get recognition for their involvement across four areas:

• Adventure: The activities and challenges they have completed in the outdoors eg; Benmore, Bonaly, Lagganlia, Craigmillar Park, Holyrood Park, Leith Links…
• Get Active, Stay Active: Engaging in activities that get their heart rate up (excluding their taught PE classes) eg; sports clubs, cycling to school, the Daily Mile, dancing
• My Interests: Developing an interest either at home, at school or in a club such as; baking, playing a musical instrument, taking care of a pet, attending a lunch club at school, learning the books of the Qur’an, preparing for and delivering a performance
• Me & My World: Engaging in voluntary work in their local community eg; Paired Reading, Playground Buddies, being a Junior Tour Guide, being in a school leadership group, litter picking, gardening, looking after a wildlife area

Each level corresponds to an amount of time required for each section, with more time dedicated to the top levels and less for the lower levels:

	Year Group	Adventure	Get Active, Stay Active	My Interests	Me & My World
White	P1	1 hour	2 hours	2 hours	2 hours
Yellow	P2	2 hours	3 hours	3 hours	3 hours
Red	P3	2 hours	4 hours	4 hours	4 hours
Green	P4	3 hours	5 hours	5 hours	5 hours
Blue	P5	3 hours	6 hours	6 hours	6 hours
Bronze	P6	3 hours	8 hours	8 hours	8 hours
Silver	P7	5 hours	12 hours	12 hours	12 hours
Gold	S1 & S2	8 hours	18 hours	18 hours	18 hours

JASS is seen as great preparation for the Duke of Edinburgh Award which can be completed when pupils are in secondary school.

This year, we are hoping that 65% of our pupils will achieve a JASS certificate in their corresponding year group level.

Many of the activities will be completed in school however, we know that many of our pupils do amazing things in their free time and may wish to have these activities credited towards their hours required for their JASS award. Blank log sheets for the My Interests and Get Active, Stay Active sections can be obtained from your child’s class teacher or from the school office which can be taken to sports coaches, youth club managers, Scout leaders, mums and dads, etc for sign off.

If you have any completed logs, please ensure that they are handed back in to school by Friday 21st June so your child can be awarded their certificate and badge at our end-of-year Celebration Assembly on Wednesday 26th June.

Children who do not manage to complete any of the sections before summer, will be given until October 2024 to finish their current level before starting on the next level with their class.

This year, we have focussed on P3-P7 aiming for their awards however we may consider introducing the certificates for P1s and P2s during next session of parents, pupils and staff are happy to do this.

Well Done to Our Leithers of the Week! #29

Arthur	Primary 1/2	For making such good progress in phonics this term. He has been focused and working very hard with Miss Callan. Well done Arthur – keep it up!
Grace	Primary 1a	Grace is a fantastic role model and follows our school rules no matter what. Well done Grace!
Jeremy	Primary 1b	Jeremy has gone above and beyond to be respectful and take care of the resources and toys we have in class.
Arlo	Primary 2	Arlo was really excited to do some research this week, when we were finding out about where cotton came from, in our living and non-living things Science lesson.  He took a keen interest in what we were learning, saying that he wanted to find out more about the topic and we then spoke a bit about how we could do this.  Well done Arlo, you have a super attitude to learning and are taking ownership of your learning!
Omer	Primary 3/4	Good listening to directions, being helpful to staff and classmates, and making good choices
Ella	Primary 4	Ella has made excellent progress when learning about fractions. Well done!
Noor	Primary 5a	Noor has been making great progress with her reading. She shows the school values of perseverance and responsibility and always has a great attitude to all her work. Well done Noor.
Anjola	Primary 5b	Anjola has persevered this week, especially when overcoming challenges in fractions. Well done, Anjola, you have worked hard!
Zaynb	Primary 6	Zaynb created a wonderful piece of cold writing, making sure she used lots of creative ideas and writers’ tools.
Bikari	Primary 6/7	Bikari showed great determination and resilience during sport day. He gave every activity his best effort and powered on throughout the whole day. Well done Bikari, you smashed it!
Grace	Primary 7	For working hard to accurately convert tricky mixed numbers and improper fractions. Well done for your dedication to learn!

We were delighted to welcome the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Education, Jenny Gilruth, to Leith Primary School yesterday. Ms Gilruth came to announce the launch of a new school library fund which will allow Scottish schools to replenish their book stocks with contemporary books written that appeal to and are representative of modern children. Ms Gilruth was happy to cut the red ribbon to officially launch the opening of our refreshed school library. Our wonderful parent council, LPPC, have worked hard to fundraise money through school photos, the school calendar and other endeavours to buy many exciting new fiction, non-fiction and picture books for our pupils to enjoy. They have also worked with the staff and pupils to take on board their views around how they want their library to look. The library is now a bright, airy and comfortable space with plants, fairy lights and multicolour bean bags, cushions and chairs for children to sit, relaxed and dip into a favourite or new book. Every class has time scheduled in their timetable to spend time swapping their book, sharing recommendations and finding out about new authors. We know that children who read for pleasure do better overall in their learning and tend to have been friendships and mental health. The best thing a parent or carer can do with their primary or nursery aged child is read to them, read with them, listen to them read and talk about what they have read.

Ms Gilruth also joined a Families Connect session with our Family Support Worker, Kristen Johnston, EYP Natalia Ramos and some of our parents from nursery and P1. Families Connect is a 12 week programme that supports parents of younger children to instil positive habits for learning, development and behaviour. The second part of the session involved the children getting involved in a fun activity with their parents and a little bit with Ms Gilruth. It was a pleasure to share some of the fabulous work happening in the school just now.

Well done to our very own DHT Mr Stuart for explaining how important our school library is to our pupils. #17 #24 #31 #believe https://t.co/5Ws4ng3z5f

— Leith Primary School (@Leith_Primary) May 24, 2024

Some Key Dates for Your Diary #12 #24 #29 #31

It is, as ever, a jam-packed summer term. We have lots of trips, performances, assemblies and other events planned over the next few weeks. Here is a run-down of what to look out for:

Class Photos #26

Standard and a Silly versions of class photos will be able to order on ParentPay from Tuesday next week 28th May. Each one is 5×7″ and costs £3.

For Nursery there is just one photo for all.

There are no digital copies available for purchase.

If you would like to look at the photos beforehand, please go to this website: ClearPhotography using the password is LP2024MAY

If all orders could be paid for by Monday 10th June on ParentPay, this will allow them to be delivered before the end of term.

Pupil Group Parent Sharing Session #5 #12 #13 #15 #29

Pupils from our Pupil Leadership groups including; the Eco Committee, Rights Respecting School Champions, Equalities Group, Pupil Council, Health & Wellbeing Group & Junior Librarians would love to share the work they have done this session with their own and any interested parents and carers. The session will take place on Friday 7th June at 11am. Please let us know if you can come along to the session here: https://forms.office.com/e/nuXhG18ehZ

Recent Leithers of the Week #13 #29 #31

Lilly	Primary 1/2	For trying her best in phonics sessions! Lilly is making good progress!
Liam	Primary 1/2	For always having a positive attitude towards his learning. Well done for trying so hard Liam!
Willow	Primary 1a	Willow has been doing some fantastic writing this week! Not only did she create a fantastic story in school, she practiced her writing at home. She wrote some funny sentences and taught her grown ups about our rights in her writing too! Well done, Willow!
Esmeralda	Primary 1a	Esmeralda demonstrated fantastic team work skills during our junk modelling task. She showed good leadership, shared her ideas and listened to others to create a super scarecrow!
Oskar	Primary 1b	Oskar has shown he is a supportive classmate by giving his classmates lovely compliments on their work in class. Oskar has been encouraging to others and brought lots of smiles to lots of faces.
Ascia	Primary 1b	Ascia has been working really hard during phonics lessons. She has been showcasing her new skills in reading and writing confidently and should be really proud of herself!
Mame Diarra	Primary 2	Mame Diarra wrote a super creative story, during our play and free writing time!  She was keen to read it out loud and also wanted to up-level her writing by looking for punctuation to add and other parts she could improve!  Well done Mame Diarra, I love the way you got really excited about your writing and wanted to do your very best like a true Leither!
Ali	Primary 2	Ali put his numeracy and problem-solving skills to the test this week, when he was stuck on a place value question in a Big Maths activity.  He used some number cards to look at how the number was made up, which helped him to decide the value of each digit.  Good work Ali, I like the way you were resourceful and sorted out the right things you needed to help you solve the problem!
Brooke	Primary 3	Brooke has worked hard in PE to improve her personal best and was encouraging her partner. Well done Brooke!
Ilhan	Primary 3	You have settled in very well to our class and you always work hard to produce high quality work. Well done Ilhan!
Nathan	Primary 3/4	For challenging himself in mental maths and trying his best to understand complex instructions in French. Super attitude!
Rahim	Primary 3/4	Having a great respectful attitude, quick to refocus, learning from mistakes and being a supportive friend
Pneuma	Primary 4	For his fabulous solo at our Drumming show!
Mira M	Primary 4	For persevering in Reading this week.  Well done!
Felix	Primary 5a	Felix did an excellent job with his cold writing. He has also been enjoying the library books. Great job developing your skills !
Katia	Primary 5a	Katia has been working very hard she listens well to her friends and adults. Well done
Temperance	Primary 5b	Tempy is always ready to learn. She has successfully worked hard to complete personal challenges including research on our Vikings topic. Well done Tempy!
Troy	Primary 5b	Troy has shown a greatly improved attitude towards completing tasks to the best of his ability. He is also trying hard to act in a responsible and safe manner.  Well done Troy!
Nico	Primary 6	For being so enthusiastic and trying all the different activities at Forest School and also being helpful to others there.
Osh	Primary 6/7	Osh has continued to grow in independence this year and has become a trusted member of our class who Miss Downie can rely on to represent our class in a positive light by modelling the school values. Well done Osh, keep it up!
Grace	Primary 7	Grace worked hard to create a wonderful t-shirt celebrating diversity and acceptance in a way that showcased her creativity. Well done!
Joseph	Primary 7	Joseph has been working hard in class and actively shown an improvement in his concentration and determination to learn. Recently, Joseph created fantastic sentences using precise verbs and adjectives to add imagery and detail. Keep it up!

A Note on the Rainy Weather #5 #24

A reminder that we will always send our pupils outside for breaks and lunchtimes except in exceptionally poor weather. Therefore, it is important pupils continue to attend school with waterproof jackets, ideally with a hood.

Being outside, even in rainy weather, is far healthier than keeping the children inside hot, stuffy classrooms where viruses, such as the common cold, can spread more easily and pupils are unable to burn off excess energy freely.

Contrary to popular belief, you cannot catch a cold from getting wet in the rain. If you are wet and cold for a prolonged period of time, your immune system may be lowered and you may be less likely to fight off a virus. Therefore wearing a jacket will prevent your child from getting too wet whilst outside on a rainy day.

We thank parents for their support on this matter,