posted by Stuart Burns, Schools and Learning Support Officer, 1+2 (Pan Tayside)

On Friday 19 February, Angus Council’s Confucius Classroom hub was launched with a blaze of colour and music, celebrating the cultures of China and Scotland. The ceremony, hosted by senior pupils Rebecca Cook and Kevin Shand, was conducted in both English and Mandarin to an invited audience of more than two hundred guests. Spectators were treated to music from the award-winning Carnoustie High School Brass Band followed by a song sung entirely in Mandarin by pupils Woodlands Primary School led by the Hanban teacher, Stephanie Sun.  One of the highlights of the morning was a performance by the Chonqing Chuanju theatre company who delighted the audience with their colourful spectacle, featuring some impressive acrobatics by one of their members balancing a lit candle on his head and the breath-taking antics of the mask-wearing face changer whose constantly changing appearance kept everyone baffled.

The launch of the Confucius Classroom hub included the recital of a poem in Mandarin, especially adapted from a Chinese song for the launch, entitled Scotland My Home and a rendition of Auld Lang Syne including a verse in Mandarin. Mr Limin Zhang, Depute Consul General of the Chinese Consulate extolled the virtues of building relationships between China and Scotland and welcomed the establishment of the independent hub in Angus. His presentation of toy pandas to the hosts was greeted with warm approval by the audience. The event culminated in the handing over of a plaque to mark the launch of the hub and the cementing of links between our two countries. As an independent hub we are now looking forward to giving even more youngsters the opportunity to learn about the language and culture of China, with five senior pupils excited by the prospect of attending an immersion
course this summer.

posted by Margaret Thompson, Library Assistant, Arbroath High School

To celebrate World Book Day, the Library ran a “Spot the Book Title” quiz and a quiz for teams entitled “Vilest Villains”. For “Spot the Book Title” every member of staff wore a badge showing a book title. Pupils were to spot as many as they could and match them with their wearers; a prize going to the pupil who collected the most.

The joint winners of “Spot the Book Title” were S1 pupils Louis Walton and Nicola Fenty who are pictured with their prizes.

The “Vilest Villains” winning team was “Friends @ Central Perk”, comprised of S5 pupils Ross Maider, Ellen Wilson, Calum Ferguson and Leanne Innes.

The Best Team Name prize was won by “The Wizzes of Quizzes” who were S3 pupils Abbie Beattie, Kaitlyne Fenty, Morgan Smith and Kaitlin Jolly.

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to everyone who took part and made it such an enjoyable day!

posted by Ailie Bisgrove, Clerical Officer, Burnside Primary School

The Royal British Legion Scotland are running a competition in which schools investigated and wrote about what life at sea was like for the crew of a First World War ship and the impact of the battles they faced.

The shortlist of entries has been compiled and Burnside Primary School’s entry has reached this shortlist and this is where we need your vote!

Schools investigated and wrote about what life at sea was like for the crew of a First World War ship and the impact of the battles they faced. They created 500 word newspaper reports with an image about life at sea during WWI.

You can only vote once.

http://www.legionscotland.org.uk/schools/school-competition-2015-16

Burnside Primary School is the only school from Angus that has reached the shortlist so please spread the word for Angus!

Many thanks for any help you can give us.

posted by Lesley A Eaton, School Travel Administrator, People

After hearing too many tragic stories of children dying after being hit by cars in the dark, local entrepreneur Sooz Chirino knew it was time to take action. Utilising her past lecturing experience in fashion and textiles, Sooz set out to start up SanSooz: a company specialising in designing clothing that merges fashion & function.

SanSooz uses innovative ‘SAN’ (Seen at Night) technology, which allows the designs to appear normal during the day but highly visible under direct light e.g. car headlights at night. This allows children to dress fashionably; yet also visible to cars! The designs don’t include the average high-viz piping or stripes normally associated with reflective clothing, but instead feature patterns and designs such as footballs and flowers that have been approved by over 800 school children in the Aberdeen City and Aberdeen-shire area. Founder Sooz says ‘our mission is for you to be safe, seen and stylish. We intend to keep you and your children fashionable by day and highly visible by night with our unique designs; giving drivers vital seconds to take preventative actions in the darks nights.’

To support SanSooz, they have enlisted the help of mascot SANdy: his name represents SANdy:   Seen at Night-dy. SANdy is a large, cuddly friendly road safety mascot who wears his stylish reflective dog coat (with white reflective bones) everyday to ensure he is seen in the dark. He will be making appearances at local schools soon to spread awareness of road safety and SanSooz!

Angus, Aberdeen & Aberdeenshire Council are supporting the forthcoming crowdfunding campaign and business support is also being provided to us by Business Gateway, Elevator & Scottish Enterprise.   Shelley Hague, Business Manager (Funding, Policy & Projects) – Economic Development, Angus Council says “The products are great; we think they will be a great success with kids and adults alike. I also think it’s great that SanSooz have even created a loveable road safety mascot dog called SANdy (Seen At Night dy).”

SanSooz want to get their brilliant products out to the public as soon as possible.   In order to do so; they will be launching an ambitious campaign through Crowdfunder to get support from the local and wider community alongside corporate organisations. They are aiming to raise £200,000 which will enable them to fund their clothing and accessories for volume production. They will also be able to continue with their research and development and expand their line.

In conjunction with the general public, SanSooz is aiming to prevent tragic stories from reoccurring like the one that set Sooz Chirino on this track to find a solution to unnecessary deaths in the dark. Around 5000 children are seriously injured or killed in road accidents every year in the UK. To help SanSooz keep the nation safe, seen and stylish; have a look at their social media where you can find out more about the company and their upcoming crowdfunding campaign.

Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Pinterest |YouTube

posted by Lesley Watson, Business Liaison Officer – Schools & Learning

Applications Now Open for Food for Thought Funding – Phase 4

Education Scotland are delighted to announce that there is another round of funding for early learning and childcare centres, primary schools and secondary schools to develop Food and Health education.

Up to £3000 is available for successful bids and applications will close at midnight on Sunday 17 April 2016.

The aim of the fund is to provide progressive, high quality learning experiences in food and health, allowing learners to develop their knowledge and skills. It also provides the opportunity to plan and implement learning which builds sustainability and capacity for future development.

Establishments can plan projects (with future capacity in mind), whether that be creating edible gardens, setting up cooking areas, creating healthy recipe books or any other project which meets the overall aim. Schools will also be asked to work with a business or community partner to help address skills for learning, life and work.

The Food for Thought section on Education Scotland’s website will provide more information about the fund. Additional support for your application can also be found on the Glow Health & Wellbeing Community. This support includes examples from successful schools who applied for funding in Phase 3.