For those of you who are considering flu immunisations for your children, there is some helpful information on the Immunisation Scotland website.
Flu vaccination dates issued by Public Health Scotland
Flu immunisations for South Morningside Primary children will be taking place at Bruntsfield Primary on Saturday 28th November at the following times:
If for any reason you cannot attend on this date and you would like your child to be immunised, please contact your Practice Nurse for advice.
Please note, the immunisation is given via nasal spray.
SMPC AGM: Monday 14th September 2015, 6:45pm
South Morningside Parent Council’s AGM will be held at the school on Monday 14th September 2015 at 6.45pm. All parents and carers are welcome to attend.
Please contact the Parent Council Secretary to confirm attendance so that you can receive a meeting pack in advance.
Statutory Consultation on options to address south Edinburgh primary school capacity
A consultation on Options to Address Primary School Capacity and Accommodation Pressures in South Edinburgh has begun this week. The public consultation period will run until Tuesday 6 October 2015.
The options proposed have direct implications for several south Edinburgh schools, including South Morningside Primary. Further information can be found on the council website.
Four public meetings will be held in respect of the proposals at the venues, dates and times listed below:
- South Morningside Primary School. Thursday 3 September 2015. 6:30pm – 8:30pm
- James Gillespie’s Primary School. Tuesday 8 September 2015. 6:30pm – 8:30pm
- Bruntsfield Primary School. Tuesday 22 September 2015. 6:30pm – 8:30pm
- St Peter’s RC Primary School. Tuesday 29 September 2015. 6:30pm – 8:30pm
A look back on SMPC achievements in 2014/15
What did the Parent Council do in 2014/15? Here is a rundown of our achievements, of which there are many, as you can see! We’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone on the council, the many sub-group volunteers as well as the wider parent body. It has been a brilliant year.
Here’s to 2015/16!
- Consulted on the school day changes
- Campaigned for a crossing on Braid Road to support the Cluny Annex, with deputations made to the council
- Installed lights in the shed
- Provided play equipment at the Annex
- Attended Morningside Community Council and feeding into their Craighouse comments
- Extended the transport Group
- Funded bike and scooter shelters
- Revamped the SMPC website
- Found a new secretary
- Looked at improving how the school disposes of old IT equipment
- Canvassed the parent body to identify priorities for spending. The view was:
Sports workshops/equipment 2) Drama & Music workshops 3) Projectors 4) iPads - Found a new clubs coordinator
- Organised the winter fair (which raised 21% more than last year)
- Consulted on the options for Rising rolls (more huts in the playground / something else)
- Offered and financed clubs places to children who haven’t used them previously
- Started our first new club for many years (Spanish. A great club – they bought us chocolates)
- Campaigned on the 20mph consultation
- Sorted out PVG for all our clubs
- Funded our standard yearly commitments (about £10,000)
- Science Week, teacher’s allocation, library books, drama workshop, Scottish opera and more
- Supported the Deanbank consultation through;
parent survey, public consolation evening, working group meetings, parent communications, - Found a new treasurer
- Listened to parents views on Deanbank and the Annex and looked for solutions (Deanbank travel survey, communication with ward councillors)
- Funded sports sweatshirts for children representing the school
- Obtained a project design for phase 1 of the playground improvements
- Consulted on amended nursery hours
- Started knitting club
- Funded an interactive white board which can benefit the whole school
- Funded maths robots and music, drama and dance workshops
- Looked into healthier lunches for our children
- Sorted out a way to allow teacher allocations to continue to be funded
- Started to “retain our knowledge” to ensure the Parent Council is more effective going forward
- Supported 13 clubs which provide over 22hrs per week of after school activities
Making school playgrounds better places to play – event this Saturday
This event is taking place on Saturday 20th June 2015 at Preston Street Primary School in Dalkeith and is welcome to all. You can register your attendance on the Eventbrite site.
If the benefits of play based learning don’t end when children start school, what can school playgrounds and break times offer our children? Parents, designers and educators across Scotland are invited to come and hear internationally renowned play expert Michael Follett at a workshop in Edinburgh on ‘Making School Playgrounds Better Places to Play’. Even the bleakest strip of tarmac or most windswept field has potential. Michael will provide an introduction to delivering playground projects using examples of projects of all scales to show how designing spaces creating play culture in schools can transform schools.
Another £188 donated to SPMC via Easy Fundraising
We have just received £118 from Easy Fundraising, the affiliate programme that generates money for good causes from your normal day-to-day online shopping! This money lets us fund things like playground equipment at the annexe, interactive white boards, music workshops and spots sweatshirts for children attending sporting events on behalf of the school.
It’s really easy to get started with Easy Fundraising. Take a look at our guide on our Fundraising page. If you have any questions please just get in touch.
Parent Community Situations Vacant
We have some vacancies that we’re looking to fill. You don’t need to be a current member of the parent council. If you’re interested, or if you know someone who is, please get in touch with Craig at chair@sm-pc.org.
Clubs Co-ordinator
Key responsibility is to act as the central contact point for clubs at the school. Some seasonal activity (e.g. doing the room bookings “lets” in the summer term, ensuring all clubs have completed their start-up forms in August/September.
PVG Signatory
A small number of people act as PVG administrators for SMPC. They check the forms, review proof of ID and submit information to Disclosure Scotland. It’s an administrative task, which is time consuming. As such, it would be good if we could spread the load. No specific skills required, but one aspect of the role is meeting parents to review their ID documents, so someone who was around in the day/playground would be helpful.
Stage Club Convenor
The current team of in the following roles director, assistant director, costume, admin and production manager (currently one role but could be 2) will be stepping down after the show in March 2016
If there is interest in the club continuing a team of parents to take on assistant director, admin and production manager would be needed. These roles are voluntary.
Currently the director role is done by a non-parent with drama qualifications.
Any interested parents should email stage-club@sm-pc.org.
Fundraising Co-ordinator
Our fundraising is extremely successful and runs very smoothly. One of the key reasons is because we rely upon a small number of individuals who help organise and co-ordinate our fundraising events. We would really benefit for some other people to help out.
Being a good organiser is the key school – this isn’t about running individual stalls, it’s about setting the fundraising calendar, ensuring every activity has an owner, bookings have been made, etc.
Consultation on new south Edinburgh primary school approved by council
A public consultation will commence in August 2015 to consider options to deal with the primary school capacity issues in south Edinburgh.
There are three options outlined:
- establish a new primary school on the combined site of the existing South Morningside Primary School Deanbank temporary annexe and the adjacent Oaklands Care Home;
- extend the capacity of South Morningside to four streams by establishing a permanent annexe of the school accommodating the nursery to P3 stages on the combined site of the existing Deanbank temporary annexe and the Oaklands Care Home; or
- maintain and improve the existing accommodation arrangements by permanently establishing South Morningside’s Deanbank temporary annexe including the provision of a new gym and relocating the South Morningside Primary School nursery to the Deanbank site.
You can read today’s statement on the council’s website. The full 77-page council report is also available for download.
South Morningside Parent Council 