Angus STEM Festival 2018 – free, fun, family event.

The Angus STEM Festival 2018
The Angus STEM Festival will be held this year in Arbroath Academy on Saturday 2nd June from 10:00 to 14:00.

As well as fantastic, interactive science workshops from Dundee Science Centre, Aberdeen Science Centre & Generation Science the Angus STEM Festival will also have a STEM Marketplace full of fun, hands-on activities.

Stalls include:
Lantra –
As well as answering your questions on the range of STEM learning and careers skills opportunities within the land-based, aquaculture and environmental conservation industries, Lantra will be bringing their interactive buzz-game and Google Cardboard headset showing their 360o VR Agriculture video

The Royal Society of Chemistry Seaside chemistry –
There’s a huge amount of chemistry around the seaside, from micro plastics to some surprising natural products.The Royal Society of Chemistry will be giving you a closer look at what’s in the sand as well as the wrigglier side of seaweed. They’ll also give you some food for thought for your next walk along the beach!

Big Bang Science
Build the tallest free standing tower using RAF STEM Kits and learn about the importance of design and team work!

PDSA Veterinary Nurse
Learn about the care of animals and have a go on the resuscitation dummy dog!

Duncan of Jordanstone
The school of Architecture from Duncan of Jordanstone will offer pupils the chance to engage with design project models and use some of the digital tools used in creating building designs.

Green Power
Green Power invites you to find out more about their ‘Green Goblin’ kit car and then take part in their ‘Pit Stop Challenge’.  The Pit Stop Challenge involves teams of 4 working as a ‘pit crew’ to change all of the wheels on the Green Goblin as quickly as possible.

University of Dundee Life Sciences
1) Make your own snot: Learn all about the composition and everyday function of snot and try your hand at making your own.
2) Hand hygiene – when sharing isn’t caring: using UV-fluorescent hand gel investigate how easy it is to pass germs along to each other through hand-to-hand contact and then test out how good you are at washing germs off your hands.

Emma Ewen / STEM Ambassador
Use a microscope to visualise stained tissue slides.

Early Experitech UK
Play the ‘Periodic Table’ app, and take part in a number of fun, hands-on experiments including: carbon dioxide production, surface tension and saponification made easy!

Dundee & Angus College
Dundee & Angus College are excited to showcase their new ‘CSI Science’ bus!  Can you use science to solve the mystery?

HM Inspectors – Parents/Carers Survey

As you may be aware, HM Inspectors from Education Scotland will be visiting us to conduct an inspection during the week commencing 16 April 2018. You can find out more about inspection, from the Inspection and review documentation pages of Education Scotland’s website.

As part of the inspection, Inspectors gather the views of stakeholders via an online survey which is available from the links :

The online survey for parents/carers with children in P1-P7 is:
https://forms.education.gov.scot/s/ERDUD/

The online survey for parents/carers with children in early learning and childcare settings (Nursery) is:
https://forms.education.gov.scot/s/XH8RI/

I would like to encourage you to complete the survey. Inspectors will also be meeting with groups of parents during the inspection so to be part of that discussion you should complete the survey with additional links provided to indicate your interest in taking part.

You should complete the survey by 30 March 2018 for one child or for each of your children in attendance.

Thank you for your support.

Nicky Murray
Head Teacher

School closures

A list of Angus Council school closures can be found at https://www.angus.gov.uk/school-closures and https://www.angus.gov.uk/schools_and_young_people/emergency_school_closures_and_transport_updates/emergency_school_closures

If your child’s school is open during the bad weather but you don’t think it is safe for them to travel, you are entitled to keep your child at home.

From biology to bagels and beyond…the Burnside journey

This is a long blog … so I suggest you get a cup of tea, grab a biscuit and settle in for the next five or so minutes …

You may remember we started our blog series by trying to raise awareness of the impact adversity in early childhood can have upon health outcomes later in life.

Our own community has dealt with adversity for centuries; world wars, depressions, economic crisis, unemployment, floods, crop failures, business collapses, illness and disease and the loss of major industries around Tayside. These events could certainly create stress, tension, low mood, depression, substance misuse and other adverse experiences during a life time. So in short adversity is nothing new. Raising children in times of austerity and adversity is nothing new either. What is new though is what we know about the brain, and this is mainly due to the invention of MRI scanning and other medical advances. The way the brain works and how hormones and neurotransmitters influence connections is an area which allows us all to consider how learning about biology can help us meet our own needs and the needs of our children. It certainly doesn’t mean we will be better parents than bygone eras, it just means we will have knowledge and understanding that our own parents and grandparents didn’t have access to. How we use this “new” information is what matters most or we will lose an opportunity to “do things differently”, and consider whether a change is really an improvement.

One night in September 2017, 220 families were represented at the screening of “Resilience – the biology of hope” – this in itself was a truly remarkable feat given that at the time of showing it we were the first school in Scotland to attempt it. We were also supported by our local councillors who attended the screening. Since then we have been inundated with requests from parents who couldn’t make it … so we will show this film again before the summer. We have also had requests from all over Scotland to visit our school from local authority teams and schools to see how we are changing our ways of working and even requests from Dublin, Northern Ireland and America. We have had a number of unique visitors already to the school, who inspired us and we hope have left inspired and carrying with them messages of our kindness. These included Ken Muir, the Chief Executive of the GTCS, and Anna Fowlie, the Chief Executive of the SSSC. Our work will be featured in both the SEJ journal and the SSSC news.

On the night of the resilience film, a parent asked “So what are our next steps?” We really liked the use of the word “our” from this parent. We also liked the fact that he started a conversation which still continues months later. At the time we honestly had very little idea other than a direction … until of course, we had all seen the film. So with encouragement from Dr Suzanne Zeedyk, the wider research community, our local authority and our own school community, we began to consider ways to begin our work. Literally, it was such a fresh path that there would always be the inevitable wrong turns and points in time where the path just disappeared and was hiding in plain sight.

So where are we now? It’s probably more appropriate to think about where we have been … we have a long, long way to go.

First things first, the aim was to intentionally try to attract new partners who could deliver improved outcomes for our children at Burnside. We did this by sharing our emerging work and hosting the film. So like a Nursery school in Balgay Dundee, says “Please excuse the mess, we are busy learning!” It was messy and it was loud and at times busy …

It was worth it, to show everyone concerned that we were vulnerable, ready to accept help and full of real determination and a focus on our families. This is why you may have seen our social media presence spike a few months in – attending conferences, relentlessly blogging, speaking events, tweeting, retweets on Facebook, hosting visits from other schools. This commitment was pretty daunting whilst balancing our commitment to keep the fires burning under the hot stoves of our existing improvement plan focussed on learning, but we did it.

As a result of this focussed communication we created new partnerships and ways of working with NHS Tayside, Allied Health Professionals, Women’s Aid, St Anne’s Catholic Church, Children 1st, DB Yoga, Connected Baby, Acting up, Angus Alive, Angus Community Team and CAMHS. These partnerships yielded new learning for us all. We learned from and with others and found ways we could and could not work together.

One of the benefits of this “communication blitz” was, soon after the first screening and Headteacher blogs, several parents with expertise in the care profession immediately stepped forward to offer their precious time to become involved with the school on a far deeper level. We had already tried the “usual” approaches of asking for volunteers via text or newsletter but the strategic approach we took in attempting to connect with the wider community by using different media channels paid off.

We also wanted to learn about the biology of behaviour so we could help remove stressors for children and families, identify skills deficits and meet learners needs. We have since learned about relate, rupture, repair cycles, trauma and hormonal responses to stress, how to promote healthy chemical responses (you’ll see lots of handshakes and hugs) and the self regulation system (you’ll also see the odd teddy bear and sabre tooth tiger). We don’t run around in white coats yet … we do have coats though it’s freezing … but we do now talk like scientists in team meetings on occasion …

We have asked you (parents) to leave your mobile phones in your pockets at collection time (the response has been amazing) and our staff run check outs at the end of the day … every day across the school to support a calming end to the day. Our school bells have gone or at least been silenced. All classes have been taught yoga, mindfulness and relaxation. We are, in effect, building a toolkit which every engineer possesses, it’s just ours are “imagineers” and there are close to 500 of them, all learning about the brain and biology.

We have noted an increase in parents having the confidence in us to share their anxieties around parenting and accept our support this year. This has seen parents dropping in for informal chats, noticeably increase. The words “trouble with transitions”, “self regulate”, “behaviour is communication” usually come up. We are not experts, but we are very good at listening and we can share what’s working in school to help you with your journey as a parent. Our workshops run by Dr Zeedyk have been nothing short of compelling as families come prepared to engage, with an honesty which has humbled and inspired all our staff in equal measure. We will be running a further two opportunities in this series before the summer.

Children have attended drama therapy to address concerns they have had with the pressure of growing up in our community and role play alternative endings to challenges they have faced. The children’s voice has been the driver in creating these sessions, facilitated by Mrs Smiles. We have also been supported by our local Catholic church, St Anne’s, giving us the space we need to ensure children are operating within groups and sessions, created so they can share openly. The feedback from the children around the wellbeing outcomes these sessions are generating are very positive indeed.

Every child now knows how to use their breathing count sticks (beads and pipe cleaners) in times of stress. Breathing is now something that doesn’t just happen; it can be noticed and controlled to help us feel better in times when we feel anxious.

We have amended our behaviour policy to remove “red cards” which perpetuated conflict and this was influenced by relationship and our new learning. We have written a children’s story on overcoming trauma and adversity which we hope will be published to promote new learning across the community called “The Little Iceberg.” We run tai chi classes weekly for children and staff and have even started staff circuit lunchtime clubs and Zumba.

Some of our children are now yoga ambassadors and support others to learn the different stretches. We have a large team of peer mediators who support younger children and older children are timetabled to attend and play with younger children in toddlers and nursery each week. Throughout the school older children read to younger children to help raise their attainment and connect. All our classes run check-ins three or four times a day.

We have created a new charter which hangs in every classroom and our reception area … “Dear children … we care about you … we will listen … you matter … ” Kitbags are used across the school to help children talk to one another about their feelings. We have a number of children who run kitbag sessions with children, for children. A number of our parents “borrow” our kitbags to take home to use to problem solve with their children over weekends.

The school staff talks with any child who appears in a distressed state using the same vocabulary and key phrases which we share in an ongoing way with parents.

We have created opportunities for children to work on social skills targets as part of outdoor learning. So whether it’s boat building or orienteering, children are learning how to overcome their barriers to learning through feedback before, during and after their outdoor experience.

We are one of the few schools in the United Kingdom teaching Mandarin Chinese to all our children every week throughout the school. This has shown the importance of learning to communicate and learn beyond our own culture. We have three gardening projects underway to promote wellbeing.

We have over twenty five parents consistently volunteering on a weekly basis across the school to support children’s learning and wellbeing. We have started our own food and clothing bank to support our own community.

We have ensured every child has two consistent key adults they can work and talk to every week across every class. Best of all, we will continue to find ways we can all work together to promote wellbeing.

Our meeting room doubles as a wellbeing hub on a Wednesday with Women’s Aid running groups to support children – we even provided beanbags to sit on.

We wanted to create networks within our community who could support others. We realise the most powerful force in our community is our families. We have established a core of twenty five parents who have attended more than two of our sessions delivered by Dr Suzanne Zeedyk on building children’s resilience. Our core group of parents continue to support our work and influence other parents as a network of support.

We wanted to give parents and partners confidence in our vision so they would contribute to guiding coalitions (planning teams) to promote wellbeing. We now have over ten parents and partners involved in our improvement planning for next session.

We wanted to reach out into the community and work with others to provide an improved offer to the community. We have begun planning opportunities with community teams to turn our school into a “family hub” focussing on adult learning, family learning, youth work and English as an additional language support.

NHS Tayside is delivering professional learning for all staff in our cluster of schools in March and Dr Zeedyk will return in February to continue our own staff journey into neuroscience and rejoin our team.

We wanted to support parents learn more about biology and bring parents together to talk. We are preparing to launch a community cafe to help parents in our community connect. This will require support from parents and will run in and around the days the toddler groups we support aren’t using the space. Our “grab a bagel” breakfast initiative will ensure all of our children have a breakfast each morning to prepare them to be ready to learn.

We wanted to identify and close any poverty related gaps in attainment which existed. We continue to work hard in all our core subjects improving our evidence of children’s outcomes and progress so we can engage parents and continue to work together to raise attainment. We created a team of four principal teachers to develop “how we do learning & teaching” at Burnside … who have excelled and pushed the school further than anyone thought imaginable in their first year of working.

So by collaborating with our staff, partners, parents and children the future is bright because it must be … it is the only way out of the gloom which the shadow of adversity casts. Biology of behaviour matters as long as there is a rise and a fall in all of us … it matters.

And of course it’s still one of the most positive places to learn and work … and you will hear lots of laughter … lots … and see lots of smiling faces … and lots of handshakes, high fives, high tens and hugs … it really is the best medicine …

Thank you for reading this …

Harvest Festival 2017

A huge thank you to everyone who supported this years Harvest Festival and to those who donated food.  We collected enough food to feed 15 people for three days.  Children in Primary 4 heard all about the Foodbank Network and how they help people in need.  For more information on Angus Foodbank and to find out how you can help please follow this link:

Angus Foodbank

 

A Message from Mr Murray – Relate, Rupture and Repair, Near and Far, Parent’s Night, Gardens, Forest, STEM, Children 1st, Kitbag and much, much more

Hello

The first week of term is always very busy and this year was no different. Even before the children arrived we had a wonderful morning with Dr Suzanne Zeedyk. She talked with us about how children “attach” to others and brain development. She left our staff team thinking about a cycle called relate, rupture and repair. This cycle was thought of by Dr Allan Schore. I found it interesting because every day, hundreds of children “relate” to me, and I to them. They tell me stories and I do the same. I do my very best to give my full attention and usually succeed but at times I can’t due to the volume of wee faces and at this point a “rupture” occurs where a child may feel cheated or simply that I don’t care. I do care, you know I do, but Dr Schore states that resilience occurs when rupture happens and then meaningful “repair” occurs. So this disappointment as it were is actually an opportunity to build “hardness” or resilience. Dr Zeedyk took this further and offered us a hook or a slogan to help us draw on the research idea

“Making up is more important than messing up.”

We will be using this idea to ensure relationships continue to be our key focus at all times as we begin our work on building brains at Burnside. Further information will follow providing you with opportunities to learn more.

We introduced our strategic (how to get things done) pathways (our focus areas) to staff this year and we will share our NEAR & FAR approach in a newsletter later this coming week. This will help us all speak a common language of resilience and relationship and give you a clear idea of the direction our school is travelling in.

P1 and Nursery started their respective journeys and our approach of letting parents/carers attend by staggering times yielded a positive outcome, in that very few, if any children appeared distressed. Both my own daughters started at another school this week and so I realise just how important for child and parent these special times are and just how nervous parents can get (yes I was a bag of nerves but both my daughters happily skipped into P1 and Nursery.) The work starts well ahead of the day of course and our transition gets better and better with every year. This year, following feedback from yourselves and guidance from the Scottish Government, we will have a parent’s night at the end of the first term which will replace “meet the teacher”.

Our school roll is now the highest it has been for several years. It sits at 420 not including the Nursery (capacity of 90). So we are well on the way to reaching the 500 mark which fills me with great excitement. We have so many children benefitting from the terrific family support and staff / partnership team we have to offer at Burnside.

Our gardens have been cleared, weeded and levelled over the summer and we are now ready to take forward the idea of the Nursery garden, an Oriental Zen garden (Mandarin & mindfulness) and a Burnside Berry farm (complete with poly tunnels and a partnership with one of the local farms). We will establish a parent/staff/child/partner group to take these exciting ideas forward so keep your eyes peeled for more information.

Outdoor learning specialist Gavin Brebner also visited and we have already put dates in our diary to begin our work developing skills and learning through outdoor experiences and challenges. Our forest will also be transformed and we are looking at building a forest capable of rich learning opportunities in Science, Technologies, Engineering and Maths (STEM) next year. We are calling the project “The Learning Estate” We will also be creating a play focus as well as the STEM subjects and will work with partners, the children, staff and yourselves to transform the ideas into reality for all our children.

Part of Suzanne Zeedyk’s work will be to raise our awareness of Adverse Childhood Experience and its impact on life outcomes. We will screen a film which will support all of our understanding in this area. The date is September 7th at 6.30 p.m. and we will run a school age crèche to support your attendance. We want as many of our families as possible to attend this one off event and tickets will be issued to each family upon request. We expect a full house and the Pupil Equity Funding money is ensuring we have the rights to screen the film.

Our first Parent council meeting will be on 5th September and will (you have my word on this) last no more than an hour. You can bring your child as we will be having a crèche to support attendance. We need your opinions, ideas and most importantly your energy, experience and enthusiasm to move our school forwards. We cannot do this without you and we really need you to attend. It starts with a wee talk from me about the plans for the school then we talk in more detail about these projects. We also ask for your opinion on things like reporting, homework, green cards and other areas of our school practice. We need you! It’s not stuffy and is pretty informal and I’ll even make you a tea or coffee when you arrive! Please drop a wee note to confirm if you will attend into the office next time you drop off your child. We need at least one parent from every class – please help me and try and come along.

Children 1st – one of Scotland’s most successful charities – visited me last week and we are going to form a partnership. They will introduce “kitbag” to our school staff and in turn support children’s social and emotional needs. We will keep you updated about our efforts with mindfulness, which has been shown to positively impact children’s stress levels, and self-regulation (responses to stress.)

We welcome Miss Breen and Miss McCreath to our teaching staff, Mrs Brymer and Mrs Bisgrove who are joining our classroom assistants team and Mrs Cargill to our office.  We will recruit a further two support staff so each stage can have at least one support staff allocated. We would also like at least one parent volunteer so each class can benefit from your help. After we speak to you about your interest/preference you will be given a year group and then when you arrive you will be given a job to do. This may involve listening to children reading or helping younger children adding or taking away sums. Our teachers are all very friendly and know how hard it is coming into the school for the first time – we know how to look after people and last year 18 parents volunteered regularly. Wonderful. Please contact the office to volunteer 30 minutes to an hour or more to help us improve and support all our children.

On Monday I will meet with NHS Tayside to identify opportunities to support the school and additional support needs and further details of this partnership will be forthcoming. I will also attend an authority Head Teacher day to discuss the new Government proposal for education and funding and further information will, of course, be forthcoming.

Our pedagogy (learning & teaching team) – Ms Roberts, Mrs Hoggan, Ms Wilson (Team leader) & Ms Kennedy – are meeting to prepare for our new approach to teachers planning together each week. This idea will support us in having in-depth discussions about your child and their progress. Thanks to Mrs Bisgrove’s efforts in designing our tracking system, it will also help us keep a record of your child’s learning outcomes each week in reading, writing and maths and detailed information about achievement & wellbeing. This will ensure we have regular discussions about the pace of learning and the amount of challenge / support your child receives.

Busy week as I’m sure you’ll agree and I look forward to next week’s instalment. Remember if you need a word I’m at the gate next to the incredible Mrs Wilmot in the mornings and at night and Mrs Goodwin is in the playground in the mornings – remember together “we are unstoppable.”

Nicky Murray

Online School Lunch Payments

The new online payment system is now online and accepting payments.  Remember to register and add your child to your account using the account key sent home with your child before the holidays.

More information can be found here: online school payments – Angus Council

The link for creating your account or logging into your account is:
online payment accounts

If you are having problems registering, please contact the school office on 01241 803472.  We can arrange an agreeable time for you to come in so we can support you with any issues you are encountering.