Dear Parents and Carers

• I am very pleased to say we have had lots of Thank You emails to the staff for the quality of the learning they are sending home. Thank you from all the staff!
• Your child’s class teacher will soon be able to provide feedback on specific pieces of set work using Microsoft 365. You should have received a username and password for your child, please retain this for when we go live. P5 to P7 classes will start using 365 first and the class teachers will contact you about this P1 to P4 class teachers will provide you with further information, as well as information on how to access the set tasks on Teams. To ensure continuity Home learning will be issued through Parent Pay as usual this week. Moving to 365 Teams may be unfamiliar to you and we are working on ways to support you. A help sheet is attached.
• We have ‘refreshed’ our Website and added some links which will help you access information more easily.
• Some children across the City have been wearing their school uniform to do their home learning. As Head Teachers this made us pretty emotional but also got us thinking of how a uniform can connect children to their school family and community. Edinburgh Schools have decided to organise a fun ‘School Uniform Day’ across the City on Friday 15th May when children can put their school uniform on (a bit of a change from ‘dressing up in costumes’ for school). Let’s get the children involved in creating posters and planning activities for the day!
• If you are a key worker and booking a place, or changing a booking in one of the City hubs, please do so via the website https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/schoolclosures to allow the staff working in them to update their registers. A dedicated phone number has been set up in each Hub should you need to contact them.
• Online Surveys from School: Some parents have been able to respond to surveys, others have found the submit ‘button’ has not worked for them. I have asked about this. I initially thought they may have had a closing date and been told …’the survey is still live, it may be due to software and security settings’. Thanks to those who sent their thoughts in via email, a creative way to resolve a problem.
• The right of the month is Article 24: Every child has the right to the best possible health. Governments must provide good quality health care, clean water, nutritious food and a clean environment. The classes will follow this up in their learning plans, and this will make for very good discussions with the impact of reduced traffic in our City.
• Boroughmuir High School: As transition to High School will be different this year, they have a virtual tour for you. We are very pleased we start transition in P6 and the children have had the opportunity to visit before ‘lock-down’. https://youtu.be/NWsSiguM-SM
• Ivy Morris, a pupil support assistant is sharing some of her songs with us, this one is Mighty Power at  https://youtu.be/s2GnlRqBO-U
• Staffing Update: Mrs Nicol has had a baby boy and Mrs Harvey a baby girl. Congratulations to both families. Lovely to hear this good news!
• Reverend Martin Pearce completed his time as locum at Barclay Viewforth Church on 29^th April. He said, “It was a real pleasure to meet you, your staff and to talk to the children, whose enthusiasm is wonderful.” I would like to thank Reverend Pearce for all the support he has given the school, staff and children and he is welcome to come back and visit any time.
• Reverend David Clarkson is going to be the new minister at Barclay Viewforth Church and I am told ‘he is a natural with children and is a great story teller’. We look forward to welcoming Reverend Clarkson when he arrives.
• The Parent Council are having an Art Auction this summer, if you are feeling creative – check out the details which have been sent to you,
• Parent Council Meeting on Wednesday 13 May will take place digitally.
• Kindness: In January we focused on kindness in school and the last few weeks have really shown how much we all value a few kind words and gestures. Kindness is the way to address and restore the balance of the anxiety and uncertainty we find our selves in. We thank the NHS and Key Workers for all they are doing to help. Thank you to all the school staff and yourselves for all you are doing to support the children and each other. It will be kindness which keeps this Community going and kindness is something we never run out of! Taking time to share it is a great thing to do. Enjoy!

My very kindest regards to you all,

Carol Kyle