Dear Parents and Carers,

• To help support the home learning and engagement of bilingual families, we have been working with our EAL teacher to create a digital resource to support phonics at home. The ‘Sounds of the English Alphabet’ audio resources are on the school website for bilingual children and families to access. Sound files include the English initial sounds with the pronunciation, plus examples of nouns beginning with that initial sound. Vowel and consonant digraphs and common words are also there to help. Short explanations on how to use these resources are there in 13 different community languages. You may see this resource at https://bruntsfieldprimaryschool.com/p1-p2-eal-learners/
• Today is Dyslexia Awareness Day: sharing experiences will be with staff this year, in place of the usual Assembly to the whole school.
• Show Racism The Red Card: Everyone is invited to wear something red on Friday 16 October to show our support to eliminate racism. Do join in! We shall, of course, be doing a lot more over the course of the session to help eliminate racism in every way.
• Parent Consultations will be during week beginning Monday 9 November 2020. The consultation meetings  will be by telephone this term due to Covid-19 restrictions. Details of booking will be emailed to you in due course.
• Homework on Teams: it has come to my attention a few parents are using the pupils’ 365 Team account to leave comments for the teacher and other families. Please remember this is a pupil/ teacher page. If you have any comments or questions for the teacher, please send them via admin@bruntsfield.edin.sch.uk. 
• Congratulations to Freddie in P7, who was the winner of the Parent Council greetings card art competition. Cards with Freddie’s design are now for sale via the Parent Council website, alongside the tea towels for each year group that the children have been drawing self-portraits for: https://bruntsfield.org/shop/ Please get your orders in by Tuesday 13th October at the latest.
• Lunches and snacks: please remember to avoid nuts in snacks and to send snacks with wrappers children can open easily on their own. Children may fill water bottles in school, but the fountain cannot be used for drinking directly from.
• The Playground Zones which help children remain in Bubbles over break and lunch time are appreciated by many of the children. The Zones provide the opportunity for class teachers to take their class to their new zone each week for an Outdoor Learning lesson. They are creating games which make best use of all the space. Well done everyone!
• NSPCC are offering free virtual activities during the October holidays and a family fun day on Thursday 22 October as well as practical support for families. Find out more and signs up for events at www.edinburgh.gov.uk/allofus
• The October Break is on Monday 19 October and the children return on Tuesday 27 October. Monday 26 October is an inservice day for staff.

If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know,

Kind regards,

Carol Kyle