Dear Parents and Carers,

• Throughout the session, we support children in many ways. Class teachers will inform you if your child receives additional support from Mrs Donna Balsillie Denny (previously Mrs English), our support for learning teacher. If so, you will be invited to a consultation meeting with Mrs Balsillie Denny at Parent Consultation Evenings, or to a Child Planning Meeting. Pupil support assistants support individual pupils and small groups with planned programmes of learning, set by the SfL Team and class teacher.  Throughout the session, additional groups may be supported or challenged for specific learning outcomes in literacy and maths by the SfL Team or Depute Head Teachers. If you have any concerns at all, please discuss them with the class teacher or a member of the Management Team.
• Our first Parent Consultation Evenings are on Tuesday 04 and Thursday 06 September, invitation letters will be emailed to you, as well as a paper reply slip.
• New Pupil Support Assistants are Samira Zuber, Sina Iqbal and Sarah Haggarty. Starting dates will be as soon as the recruitment process is complete, Susan Pallucci and Susan Sobey have also increased their hours.
• Mrs Saskia Burnett, Pupil Support Assistant, will leave us on the 14 September as she is moving on to a counselling post in secondary schools. We wish her all the very best in her new post.
• The CEC Janitorial Review is almost complete. Mr Greig Nicol joins us as our new Janitor with Mr Christian Amprimpo.
• Over the holidays Charlotte Pratt’s entry won the Scotdec Stride writing competition. She has moved on to high school, but her article will be in the next issue of Stride. Congratulations to Charlotte.
• Arts and Creative Learning, funded by Creative Scotland, offer group instrumental and singing lessons on Friday afternoons, and Saturday mornings for P5, P6 and P7 pupils in 7 venues across the city. Both tuition and instruments are free for the duration of the programme. This starts on Friday 21 and Saturday 22 September 2018. An email has been sent to all P5-P7 parents with further information.
• Multi-cultural Family Base’s 4-2-7 Project offers support to any mothers of Black Minority Ethnic children aged 4-7. You are invited to attend a coffee morning on Wednesday 10am – 12noon at 50 Coberg Street, Edinburgh, EH6 6HE. For more information, please contact Dayna Mehrdad or Emma Watt on 0131 467 7052 or by email at watt@mcfb.org.uk.
• The P1 Evening News photos will be taken in school on Tuesday 04 September. The P1 teachers have given P1 parents and carers a letter detailing when they will be in the paper (26 & 27 September), how and when to purchase photos. (by 14 September).

As always, if there is anything I can do to help, please let me know.

Kind regards,

Carol Kyle