Welcome to Bonaly Primary School

 

eNews 26th November 2021

Dear Parents, Carers

This eNews contains information on Road Safety, Pokémon Cards, Health and Festive Activities.

Road Safety

The City Council Road Safety Team are carrying out a School Travel Plan Review across all schools in the city by cluster. This will be carried out over the next 2 years.

The aim of the review is to develop a 5 year action plan with children and the schools to make the routes and streets surrounding the school safer and to encourage more active travel to school.

The first step of this process is a questionnaire for parents or carers to complete. This survey will close on Monday 6^th December, please contribute your views to this consultation at https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/sfc/13860a0b

Pokémon Cards (Again 😊!)

Whilst we are happy for children to bring and swap Pokémon cards however some children have been bringing in money to trade with! Obviously we do not want this to happen. Please discuss this with your child. Thank you.

Health

Flu Vaccinations

On the NHS flu vaccination team will be at Bonaly on Monday 29^th November. Further information about the vaccination is available from https://www.nhsinform.scot/flu-vaccine/the-vaccines/the-child-flu-vaccine/ . If, for whatever reason that the form was not returned to school, your child will not be able to receive the flu vaccination in school. A separate appointment can be arranged by the Community Vaccination Team. They can be contacted by telephone on: 0131 446 4082.

Norovirus

Unfortunately we have had a few cases of sickness in school this week. To minimise the spread of this very unpleasant bug, any child vomiting should be off school for 48 hours from the last instance of the vomiting.

Now onto a much more pleasant theme!

Festive Activities

Incredibly, 3 weeks today will be the final day of term. (Friday 17^th December). Inevitably Covid is impacting on what is allowed regarding Festive events. We will of course continue with the usual Christmas school events as much as possible (obviously within the Covid guidelines we are following).

• Primary Ones and Twos are learning their songs and speaking parts (P2) for a virtual Nativity performance.  Sadly we are not able to have this with a real audience. Hopefully next year! A private link will be shared with all families.

• As in previous years Festive jumpers, hairbands, socks etc are optional for Fridays in December. This will begin next Friday.

• Class parties will be held in the final week of term – details to follow.

Can I also remind you of the School Fundraising – Hamper Raffle, thank you for the donations already received.

This term the fundraising team will be organising a hamper raffle and we are kindly asking for donations to create the hampers.

There will be 8 themes for hampers and any donations can be given to children to bring into school where boxes will be available for donations to be collected in. The themes are:

Nursery – Scottish

P1 – Games Night

P2 – Christmas

P3 – Chocolate

P4 – Pampering

P5 – Afternoon Tea

P6 – Arts and Crafts

P7 – White and sparkles

We will be collecting donations from now until Friday 10th December. We will be using an online app to sell tickets (more information on buying tickets to follow) and the draw will take place on Friday 17th December.

Any queries please email bonalyfundraising@hotmail.co.uk

Best wishes,

Peter

eNews 19th November 2021

Dear Parents, carers

This eNews contains information on Anti-Bullying Week, Covid-19, Support for families and Fundraising.

Anti-Bullying Week

It has been UK wide Anti-bullying week and the children have been doing learning in class around this. Bullying behaviour is something that is unacceptable in any way. As a school any bullying behaviour will be taken very seriously, this will come to myself and /or Mrs Miller. Part of what was discussed in this week’s assembly was the importance of the children sharing with a trusted adult, either in school or at home, if they have any concerns. If this happens at home please do then inform the school of the concerns. Additional support and guidance for families and children is available from https://respectme.org.uk/ .

Covid-19

The number of positive cases within the school is going down, and is lower than the week prior to the October week. However there are still a number of children who are absent as a result of positive PCR tests. In addition to the NHS “Warn and Inform” letters, we have been advised by NHS Lothian, that where there are 2 or more positive cases in a class, that all parents should have their children LFD tested, and then repeating this LFD testing 3-4 days later. It is also recommended to record this result on the on-line portal https://www.gov.uk/report-covid19-result .

Support for families

Just to let you know of a useful service being provided by the Lifelong Learning within the City Council… The Parent and Carer Support team are available if you are finding it difficult to identify or access support for you, your child or a family member.
Find up to date information on the support and activities available for families across Edinburgh at http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/supportforfamilies .
If you need help finding support for you or your child, email supportingparentsandcarers@edinburgh.gov.uk

EdinSupportingFamilies

Fundraising

A huge thank you – yesterday’s BBC Children in Need wear your PJs / Bring your Teddy to school day raised £480.84.

School Fundraising – Hamper Raffle
This term the fundraising team will be organising a hamper raffle and we are kindly asking for donations to create the hampers.

There will be 8 themes for hampers and any donations can be given to children to bring into school where boxes will be available for donations to be collected in. The themes are:
Nursery – Scottish
P1 – Games Night
P2 – Christmas
P3 – Chocolate
P4 – Pampering
P5 – Afternoon Tea
P6 – Arts and Crafts
P7 – White and sparkles

We will be collecting donations from now until Friday 10th December. We will be using an online app to sell tickets (more information on buying tickets to follow) and the draw will take place on Friday 17th December.

Any queries please email bonalyfundraising@hotmail.co.uk

Thank you for all the fundraising efforts, Covid restrictions have made this even more challenging! Last session the fundraising was able to secure involvement with Imaginate, Theatre in Schools project; purchase P7 yearbooks; the replacement and additional purchase of iPads and Laptops; the buying additional literacy resources and play resources.

Kind regards,

Peter

eNews 12th November 2021

Dear Parents / Carers

A brief eNews this week with a few reminders on Covid Mitigations, Road Safety and BBC Children in Need.

Covid Mitigations

The school continues to follow council and national guidance. There is different guidance in place for education settings compared with some of the restrictions placed on wider society. Part of the mitigations are ventilation, which in Scotland in November brings other challenges – so if children want to bring an additional layer in  school bags to put on, on top of school uniform, then this is perfectly sensible.

Road Safety

This week it has been brought home the dangers of children not being seen by vehicles and the need for Road Safety training reminders for the children both at school and at home. Again I appreciate this section applies to a small number of parents but can I reiterate that inconsiderate and illegal parking is not acceptable for children’s safety and causes difficulties for local residents.

There are some vehicles that park on the corner that goes from Bonaly Wester to Bonaly Road, making that little street effectively a one-way carriageway and obstructing the visibility when crossing the road or when trying to go out with car or bike from Bonaly Wester.

Not only is the traffic situation dangerous for those children walking or cycling to school, but also frustrating for residents that try to park or leave for work.

The zig zag lines outside the school must not be used for dropping off children.

BBC Children in Need

Next Thursday we are having an optional pyjama wearing / Bring Your Teddy to school day to raise funds for BBC Children in need. Donations will be taken at the school entrances. Thank you for supporting this.

Thanking you for your ongoing support.

Peter

eNews 5th November 2021

Dear Parents / Carers,

This eNews contains information on Fundraising / Charity, Covid / Norovirus, Pupil Support, Health and Wellbeing Curriculum and Enhancing Learning Experiences

Fundraising / Charity

Firstly many thanks for the donations from the recent Dress Down Day – £360.11 was raised. In discussion with our P7 Captains and Vice Captains we have agreed that on Thursday 18^th November it will be an optional wear your pyjamas and / or “Bring Your Teddy” to school day. Donations from this will go to BBC Children in Need.

Covid / Norovirus

As a society we are clearly coming to terms with “living with” Covid. We hugely appreciate the efforts you are making in being vigilant about symptoms. Can I also remind you that if your child is vomiting that they have to be kept off school for 48 hours from the last time they were sick. This is NHS Lothian guidance – it is to minimise the chances of Norovirus (Winter Vomiting Bug) within the school.

Pupil Support

We are delighted that we have been able to recruit to additional temporary PSAs to our team.  We hope that they will be joining us over the next few weeks.  This will allow us to give more class and small group support, focusing on learning. Social skills and health and wellbeing. Mr Johnston has set up a Lego group for a small group of children and our nurture room, aka “The Nest”, is a busy place with our life skills group going from strength to strength.

Health and Wellbeing Curriculum

Children will learn about Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood (RSHP) as part of our broad Health & Wellbeing (HWB) programme.  This area of the curriculum is supported by Scottish Government RSHP Resource, which can be accessed at www.rshp.scot.

At Bonaly, our teaching staff have undertaken training on these new teaching materials and they will now be delivered throughout the school as an ongoing part of our Health and Wellbeing curriculum.

Please find our Position Statement attached.

Enhancing Learning Experiences

We are increasingly getting things back to the “normality” of school life with respect to opportunities to enhance children’s learning.

Some examples below …

• This week P4 and P5 had the opportunity to see a screened production called “Family Portrait”. This was then followed up with a related outdoor workshop for the children. We are in the final year of a link with Imaginate – Theatre in Schools Programme. This has been paid for from school parent fundraising events. There will be further activities later in the year for older age groups.
• In February there will be workshops for children from P4-P7 from “Show Racism the Red Card”.
• Come hail, rain or shine the P1 children are loving their Forest Friday – some very muddy happy children have been returning to school late morning. Thank you to the P1 team and parent volunteers who are supporting this. We will always welcome any volunteers for this.
• We still have restrictions on the mixing of different stages involved in activities inside but outside …
  • Thanks to Mrs Jeffrey our running club has started again. Also particular thanks also to the Bonaly Scout Centre who are allowing us to use their grounds for this.
  • Our football teams have been training hard with games being played – thanks to our parent volunteers.
  • Ski club, again the parental organisation of this is much appreciated.
• There are also a range of lunchtime clubs being run by staff for specific year groups – information about these will be shared to children about these. They include

Art Club – senior art club led by P7 pupils supported by Mrs Miller

Art Club – junior art club for P4 children led by Miss Aitchison

Badminton – led by Miss Stansfield – initially for P4 children

Digininjas (ICT technical crew) led by Mr Short – initially with P5 stage

As you can see Bonaly is a busy place – this is wonderful.

Kind regards,

Peter

eNews 28th October 2021

Dear Parents/ Carers,

I hope you and your families had an enjoyable October break. This eNews contains information on Dress Down Day tomorrow – Friday 29^th October, Starting Primary One in August 2022, Covid-19 and an Event at Redeemer Church, Colinton.

Dress Down Day tomorrow – Friday 29^th October

In order to raise funds for the school there will be a non-uniform/fancy dress day on Friday 29th October with an optional suggested donation of £1. P7s will be at the school entrances with buckets at the start of school to collect any donations. Please bear in mind that some children can be frightened by masks / scary face painting – therefore these are not allowed. Thank you for your understanding.

Starting Primary One in August 2022?

If your child’s date of birth is between 1 March 2017 and 28 February 2018, they are due to start Primary 1 in August 2022. Please register them online between 1^st to 19^th November 2021

www.edinburgh.gov.uk/p1registration

Covid-19

As you will be aware we had a number of positive cases last term. Hopefully the October break will have provided an opportunity for transmission rates to reduce. We will remain vigilant in the mitigations in place – hand washing, staff wearing masks (unless exempt), classrooms open from 8:45 and minimising mixing between year groups inside. Again, thank you for playing your part in following the mitigations of mask wearing and social distancing at pick up / drop off times. Can I also remind you of the information that was contained in the most recent letter from Jason Leitch. “ Any adult or child who develops a high temperature, new continuous cough or a loss or change to sense of smell or taste must self-isolate immediately in line with NHS Guidance. Those aged 5 and over who are living in the same household must also isolate while awaiting the outcome of the PCR test result for the unwell household member.” For this reason, this is why we are encouraging siblings to also be tested to establish whether they are able to return to school, irrespective of awaiting the outcome of a PCR test. Further guidance for households is available from https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/infections-and-poisoning/coronavirus-covid-19/test-and-protect/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-infection/ .

Event at Redeemer Church, Colinton

I am sharing the following invitation … “We at Redeemer Church in Colinton are holding an event for primary aged children in the afternoon of the coming Sunday (31st). We would normally have advertised it to the Scripture Union group at Bonaly school as we would love some of the children to join with our church children. The link for the event is here Big Night In October 2021 – Redeemer Church Edinburgh“

Best wishes, Peter

Updated (21st September 2021) Warn and Inform Letter from NHS re Covid-19

Lothian NHS Board

Waverley Gate

2-4 Waterloo Place

Edinburgh

EH1 3EG

www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk

Advice to parents/carers

Date             21 September 2021

Our Ref        Health Protection Team

Dear Parent/Carer

In recent days we have been made aware of members of the Bonaly Primary school community in class Pnz who has tested positive for COVID-19. This letter is to inform you that your child has been identified as having been in ‘low risk’ contact with this person. This means they may have shared a classroom or had some other low risk contact in school.

There is no need for your child to isolate unless contacted separately by Test and Protect and asked to do so. School remains open and your child should continue to attend if they are well.

The public health judgement that these types of contact are low risk is based on a range of factors, including vaccination rates, evidence about transmission from children and young people, and the low risk of direct health harms to children.

If you or your child do develop any symptoms of COVID-19, they must not come to school – they should have a test as soon as possible, and your whole household should stay at home until the test result comes back. Further information on testing, and the rules around self-isolation, can be found on www.nhsinform.scot or by phoning 119 if you cannot book online.

The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of: new continuous cough; high temperature; or a loss of, or change in, normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia).

Please be reassured that for most people coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness. Children are at particularly low risk of illness from coronavirus infection. For those people who are eligible, vaccination is highly effective at preventing severe disease.

To help reduce the risk to your family and your school community, please also:

• Ensure your child takes a lateral flow test before returning to school. This can help reduce the likelihood of spread in schools, by catching infections early.

• If your child is in primary school, you can support them to take a test before returning if you and they wish to do so. This is not required, but can provide you, your child and their school community with reassurance. There is no need for your child to continue to test regularly as part of attending primary school.

• If your child is in secondary school, they should take a test before returning wherever possible, and continue to test regularly (twice-weekly) thereafter.

• Free at-home LFD test kits are available for you and your primary-school aged children by collection from COVID test centres or pharmacies, or delivery by ordering online. More information can be found at: www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-getting-tested/pages/no-covid-symptoms.

• Free test kits are available to all secondary school children from the school. Please contact the school directly if they have any problems accessing tests.

• Please ensure that all test results, whether positive, negative or void, are recorded on the online portal at: www.covidtest.scot OR by phoning 119.

• Your child should not take a lateral flow test if they have tested positive for coronavirus in the last 90 days.

• Arrange vaccination as soon as possible, if you or anyone eligible in your family have not yet been vaccinated. www.nhsinform.scot/covid-19-vaccine. Vaccination is our best defence against COVID-19 causing anyone to become seriously unwell.

• Wear a face covering in line with guidance, keep your distance, keep rooms ventilated, and wash your hands with soap and water regularly.

You can find more trusted advice on www.nhsinform.scot.

Yours faithfully,

Health Protection Team

NHS Lothian

eNews 3rd September

Dear Parents, Carers

This eNews contains information on Letters Home This Week, School Leadership Stage Remits, , PE Clothing, Games brought from home and Chess Club.

Letters Home This Week

Where possible we aim to minimise paper communication to home, however sometimes this is required. Particularly where signatures are required on permission slips.

Earlier this week we have had Flu vaccination letters / consent forms. Thank you to those who have returned these – if you have not already done so please have these returned to school on Monday 6th September.

Today the following will be in school bags

• annual data check forms
• KIC Annual – these give permission for children to take part in local trips
• an ICT Acceptable Use Policy – some of the items on this are indicated as more relevant to older children

Again, please return these as soon as possible.

School Leadership Stage Remits

The school leadership team have stage responsibilities, in amongst many other roles. In most cases straightforward questions / queries will be answered via the class teacher however there may be occasions where it is more appropriate to contact a member of the Senior Leadership Team.

This session the following structure is in place

Nursery – Mrs Ferguson

P1,P2 – Mrs Harris

P3,P6 – Mrs Miller

P7 – Mr Gorrie

PE Clothing

There have been a couple of queries regarding PE shoes. If your child wears black trainer type shoes to school then these are perfectly appropriate for outdoor PE. If your child wears non-trainer type shoes to school, then a separate pair of outdoor PE shoe is desirable. However, we do need separate indoor gym shoes to be kept in school.

Games brought from home

Some children are bringing in game cards etc from home to play with at break and lunchtimes. Unfortunately this has on occasion caused some disagreements and upset with items being lost. Learning to win, lose, be responsible about looking after items is a life skill which the children will be supported in, however classroom learning time will not be taken up for example, in looking for lost Pokémon cards or fall out over the games.  I do not want to go down the draconian route of banning such items as the children do have enjoyment from playing these games. The school is not responsible for items which go missing. I do remember as a child similar disagreements and issues over marbles!

Chess Club

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr David Chambers who has run the school chess club for a an amazing 25 years in total. A huge thank you for the commitment and dedication that has been shown in supporting chess at Bonaly – a quarter of a century ! A large number of children have developed interest in chess over the years. The children have very much enjoyed the chess and they were always very proud of their successes when sharing with myself, staff and the rest of the school at assemblies.

It is really important that children are able to have opportunities to develop skills in a variety of areas whether sporting, musical or chess. As the Covid restrictions are lifting there  increase the extra-curricular activities available. Without the support of the wider school community and colleagues in Active Schools many of these clubs / activities would not have run.

Below is a link to a leaflet with a range of clubs and opportunities around Edinburgh.

https://www.joininedinburgh.org/media/resources/ActiveSchools/Boost%20your%20energy.pdf

I hope you have a good weekend.

Kind regards,

Peter
 
Peter Gorrie | Head Teacher | Bonaly Primary School | 57 Bonaly Road | Edinburgh | EH13 0FJ | Tel 0131 441 7211
| admin@bonaly.edin.sch.uk | www.bonaly.edin.sch.uk | @BonalyPrimary 

School Handbook – available for downloading

bonaly-school-handbook-2020-2021-Download

Social Media Apps – Advice for Parents and Carers

Attached are 4 one page documents on Instagram, WhatsApp, TikTok and Discord, some of the apps that a number of young people are using daily. They are each designed to provide important advice and information for parents and carers.

parents-guide-instagramDownload

parents-guide-tiktokDownload

parents-guide-whatsappDownload

parents-guide-discordDownload

These have been shared by Police Scotland.

Letter from Jason Leitch re Covid-19 testing and info on Common Cold symptoms

Our standard absence procedures therefore apply for children displaying symptoms of Common Cold (or any other illness) ie.

Should your child be unwell, unfit for school please phone the school absence line letting us know that they will not be in school.

If they are not well enough to attend school,  provision will be made on their return to catch up on the core learning they have missed.

jason-leitch-letter-common-cold-coronavirus-testingDownload

Guidance should a child be unwell with Covid-19 symptoms or other respiratory illnesses (runny nose, sore throat, sneezing)

nhs-cec-flowchart-guidance-related-to-children-symptoms-of-respiratory-conditions-or-covid-19Download

1140 Hours Nursery

parent_carer 01042020 copy

Please see the above link to the City Council letter regarding 1140 Nursery Hours.

 

Walking Bus

The Woodfield Avenue Walking Bus is looking for new members to join. The Walking Bus is a safe, convenient and fun way to travel to school every morning. Meet at the bus stop at the top of Woodfield Avenue at 8.25am with a view to leave at 8.30am. We make a stop at the bottom of Bonaly Road to pick up again and leave at 8.40am. Parents of children on the walking bus must volunteer to walk at least one morning a week. For more information contact anouskacurzon@gmail.com.

Norovirus Advice

Please see below that all schools have received today from NHS.

By following this advice we can minimise the likelihood of an outbreak at Bonaly.

 

UPDATE ON DIARRHOEA AND VOMITING IN SCHOOLS

 

A number of schools across Lothian have reported an increase in pupils with vomiting and/or diarrhoea.  The symptoms are suggestive of viral gastroenteritis (also known as norovirus or winter vomiting disease) which is known to be currently circulating in the community.  It is usually a short lived self-limiting illness from which children and adults recover quickly.

 

Further information about norovirus and its prevention can be found at https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/infections-and-poisoning/norovirus

 

 

Therefore to minimise the likelihood of developing norovirus

 

• If your child develops vomiting and/or diarrhoea please ensure they remain off school until they have been symptom free for at least 48 hours.  This advice applies at all times.  So for instance if your child becomes unwell over the weekend they should not attend school on Monday even if by then they feel well.

 

• Ensure that all members of your family wash their hands frequently using warm water and liquid soap, especially after using the toilet and before eating or preparing food.

 

 

 

 

Peter Gorrie