Health and Safety Update
With the move to Level 2 on Monday I would like to remind families that we will still be following FACTS at school.
Please do not spend any more time within the school grounds than absolutely necessary and make sure you adhere to physical distancing at all times.
Assembly
Assembly this week was all about Connecting with Nature for Mental Health Awareness Week. Connecting with nature is not just about the amount of time we spend outdoors; it is also about building a relationship with nature by noticing and becoming sensitive to what is around us. We use our senses to do this– such as noticing the different cloud shapes in the sky, smelling the scents of flowers and listening to the birds chirping in the trees. Encouraging your child or young person to build in opportunities to connect with nature in everyday life can improve both the health of their bodies and their minds. For ideas on connecting with nature follow the link below:
Nature Guide for Parents and Caregivers.pdf (mentalhealth.org.uk)
We also enjoyed seeing pictures of the staff connecting with nature. If you would like to share your photos or videos of how you connect with nature, please post them on teams.
We know that lots of our families have been celebrating Eid this week, so we would like to wish you a very Happy Eid!
This week in Nursery …
We have begun the primary one transition programme focusing on the book by Julia Donaldson called ‘The Smedsand the Smoos’. The children have been listening to the story and drawing pictures of Aliens. They have made the characters from the book out of salt dough. The children have enjoyed a real campfire in the garden this week, where they cooked their own sausages. This experience has led to conversations about camping and holidays.
The staff and children are learning sign language. Our signs of the week to practice are ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. Our nursery rhyme of the week is “Hickory Dickory Dock”.
Support for Families
Parent and carer support resources
One Parent Families Scotland – Edinburgh
One Parent Families Scotland and Family Journeys will be co-delivering EMPOWERING SEPARATED PARENTS – Understanding How Children Experience Separation and Divorce. This is an opportunity for both resident and non-resident parents to support the mental and emotional health of their children following separation. Learning together, parents will look at child development at different ages, think about how transitions and traumas affect children and what they most need from their parents to successfully navigate this period of their lives.
This 6 session course will start via Zoom on Wednesday, May 19th (10:00 – 11:30) and will continue for the following 5 Wednesdays. More courses will follow. If you would like to get more information please contact the school office.
Lone Parent Helpline: 0808 801 0323
The Scottish Strategy for Autism
In 2011 Scottish Government launched The Scottish Strategy for Autism and every local area was required to create a local autism plan. As the Strategy comes to an end we would like to find out how people’s lives have been impacted by the Edinburgh plan. We have drawn up short questionnaires to help us evaluate what has been offered locally in response to the Edinburgh 10-year plan. Information shared will be looked at by a multi-disciplinary group working together to develop future plans and supports for autistic individuals and their families/ carers in Edinburgh.
These questionnaires are just one way that feedback will be gathered. The intention of the group is to seek the views of a wider audience, including autistic children and young people, through a range of approaches to ensure that future planning is informed by research evidence, practitioner knowledge and lived experience.
Please select a link from below to complete the questionnaire relevant to your personal situation:
Apologies if you have received this email more than once. It is not expected that anyone completes this more than once, however some autistic parents of an autistic child or adult may wish to complete a questionnaire from each perspective.
Submission is anonymous and responses will be accepted until 18th May 2021.
Thank you in advance for your time and help.
11:50am for P2
11:55am for P1
12noon for P3
12:05pm for P4-7
Thank you for your continuing support.
L Henderson