Tag: Parents

Show Racism the Red Card

Earlier this year children took part in a competition organised by Show Racism the Red Card and Lucy Eccles from P2 won with her design.

This week in school a small group of children took part in a focus group to share their learning about racism, inclusion and respecting other cultures and religions. The session was led by Luke Campbell from the ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ campaign. Luke asked the children to talk about the impact the creative competition had on their attitudes to different cultures and religions in the school and wider community. Our competition winner, Lucy Eccles also talked about her design and attending the awards ceremony at Hampden Stadium.

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Children with Luke Campbell from Show Racism the Red Card

Rocket Seeds from Space

Rocket Science update

Whole group
All the rocket scientists gathered together to say thanks to Tim Peake. They really enjoyed the project!

We have now uploaded all the results of our experiment to the national database. Once all the results are in they will be analysed by experiments and reported in the new school session. However we won’t have that long to wait until we know which were the space seeds! Tim Peake is due back on Earth in 10 days and will tell us which were the space seeds in the last week of term. Here’s a link to a short film about his mission and time on the ISS:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36485185

P7 Leaving Ceilidh

Everyone enjoyed the P7 Leaving Ceilidh yesterday evening. There was lots of dancing and staff and children enjoyed some tasty refreshments half-way through, giving everyone enough energy to carry on!

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Pupils gathered outside the school at 7pm. Everyone was looking great!
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Miss Mitchell and Mr McNeill cut the cake so that everyone can have a slice.
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Everyone gathered in the Achievement Hall for refreshments.
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Pupils enjoyed pizza and a chat between dances.
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Everyone had a great time!

Sumdog Maths Competition

Congratulations to Mrs Taylor and Primary 4 for their efforts in a  recent Sumdog competition.

The class came 8th out of all the East Renfrewshire Council schools taking part, which is a big achievement so well done.

A special congratulations to Mustafa in P4 for being placed in the top 50 children participating in the competition.

Another excellent achievement!

Giffnock Primary Parent Council Quingo Night

Quingo – Giffnock Parent Council’s Family Fundraising Night

Thank you to all the families who came along to our first ever Quingo event which took place on a beautiful summer’s evening on 3rd June.

We had lots of fun with a quiz, bingo, raffle, Willy Wonka chocolate bars, food & dancing at Giffnock North Athletics Club. Thanks to everyone who bought raffle tickets too.

The children are writing thank you cards for all the local businesses who donated prizes which helped us raise £800 for our school next year.

Some of the photos are displayed on the parent council noticeboard in the playground. If you would like digital copies of any pictures, please email giffnockpc@hotmail.com

Quingo fund raising

We hope to do it all again next year. If you would like to input into the parent council, please come along to our AGM on 5th September.

You can follow Giffnock PC on social media on Facebook and Twitter.

https://www.facebook.com/giffnockpc/

https://twitter.com/giffnockpc

 

Sports Day 2016

Giffnock Primary School had a great Sports Day on Friday. The weather was perfect and lots of people turned up to cheer on the competitors. Many thanks to everybody who helped – Sports Day wouldn’t work without all the volunteer judges, tape holders and sticker givers!

The winner of the Sports Day Cup was Mains-Macintosh. Well done!

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Mains-Macintosh Captain and Vice Captain Alasdair and Finlay with the Sports Cup
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Alasdair and Finlay hold the Sports Cup in front of the school.
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Cheers from Mains as the winner is announced.
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Concentrating on the starting whistle.
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Off to a flying start!
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Determined to do well!
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Jumping the tape.
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Going through the hoops.
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The three legged race needs good co-ordination!
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Careful balancing needed for the potato and spoon race!

Rouken Glen Park events

Here are the latest events taking place in Rouken Glen Park.

Archaeology Scotland Geophysical Survey Saturday 11 June, 10 am – 4 pm

  • Meet at the Pavilion Visitor Centre, Rouken Glen Park.
  • The final archaeology survey in the park.
  • Using geophysical surveying equipment to locate and delineate the former park mansion of Thornliebank House and the bandstands.
  • The survey will be in conjunction with Edinburgh Archaeological Field Society.
  • Booking preferred but you can turn up on the day.
  • See attachment for further information.
  • To book contact p.richardson@archaeologyscotland.org.uk

Big Fit Walk Saturday 11 June, 2 – 3 pm

  • Meet at the Pavilion Visitor Centre, Rouken Glen Park.
  • The 13th year of this health Walk to encourage all to enjoy fitness.
  • A half hour walk in the Glen – open to young and old alike.
  • Booking preferred but you can turn up on the day.
  • Refreshments will be available to those who have pre-booked.
  • See attachment for further information.
  • To book contact the Activities Staff on 0141-638 4121 / 0141-577 3912 or email: roukenglenpark@eastrenfrewshire.gov.co.uk

I would also remind you that Armed Forces Day takes place in Rouken Glen Park on Saturday 18 June 2016, 12 noon to 5 pm.

Play on the Longest Day

Play on the Longest Day, Monday 20th June 2016

Play Scotland promotes the annual Playday celebration which traditionally takes place on the first Wednesday in August every year.   Playday is the annual celebration of children’s right to play – a national campaign where children and young people get out and play at locally organised events.

Play on the longest day

After discussions and requests from members in 2011, Play Scotland launched Play on the Longest Day.  This enables more schools, nurseries and childcare settings in Scotland to get involved in Playday activities as Scottish schools are on holiday in August. This year this will be held on Monday 20th June.

Play on the longest day

This years theme is Play Matters

The Playday Play Matters… campaign is calling on everyone to help make sure that children and young people across the UK have the time, freedom and space to play more. As well as promoting children’s right to play, the campaign is highlighting that Play matters for:

  • children’s mental health and wellbeing
  • creativity and learning
  • all ages and abilities
  • communities

You can find out more here:

http://www.playscotland.org/

East Renfrewshire Primary Tennis Finals

Last week we posted about the success of Giffnock Primary School pupils  who qualified to compete at the East Renfrewshire Primary Tennis Finals.

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They represented the Woodfarm cluster in the competition that is now into its 8th year.

The finals were held today and 22 primary schools played each other in a closely fought contest. Giffnock Primary ended up in an excellent third place. Well done to Heather, Erin, Ellis and Kyle from P4!

Astronaut Tim Peake to read bedtime story from space

Giffnock Primary has taken part in British astronaut Tim Peake’s rocket seed experiment and now children can hear Tim read a bedtime story from space!

He may currently be orbiting the Earth, but Tim has still found time to put the kids to bed.

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Tim Peake on the International Space Station.

On Monday 30th May he’ll be reading Goodnight Spaceman by Michelle Robinson all the way from the International Space Station.

The story was inspired by Tim and his two sons, and is about two space-mad boys getting ready for bed – the perfect story for all those little ones who’ve loved watching Tim’s out of this world mission.

Find out more here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/grownups/bedtime-story-from-space

Rocket Seeds from Space

Rocket Science Project Day 35

Today was the last day of the Rocket Science project. All the team came to record the final measurements of the experiment: the percentage of seedlings still alive in each tray.

Day 35 1We are waiting for further information from the Royal Horticultural Society’s School Gardening team to tell us how to upload our data to their database and what we really want to know- which seeds were in space?! The children are definitely split between those who think our better growing seedlings from the red packet are the space seeds and those who think the seeds from the blue packet, which are not growing quite as well, are the ones which were on the International Space Station. We can’t wait to find out!

Day 35 2

All in all this has been a fantastic opportunity for the children to take part in a real life science experiment and we hope we’ve managed to give the whole Giffnock Primary community a flavour of the project with our regular updates and pictures.

The completed data – click on the picture to see a larger image.

We’ll be sure to share with you when we know which seeds were in space!

 

Pollution Monitoring in Academy Road

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Kirsty and Lily with the pollution monitor in January.

In January the Junior Road Safety Officers, Lily and Kirsty from P6, helped to install pollution monitors in Academy Road.

The monitors measured different types of air pollution. We have now discovered that at peak times, pollution levels are quite high.

The next step is to try and reduce this and so we held a competition to design a banner to encourage park and stride and walking.

The winners of the competition were Ellie from P6 and Jamie from P7. Their winning entries were turned into large banners which will be mounted outside the school playground.

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Ellie and Jamie with their winning entry.

 

The 90kg Rice Challenge

90kg

Dear Parents / Carers,

The Pupils at Giffnock Primary School will be  helping families in Malawi by  participating in the JTS (Just Trading Scotland) 90kg Rice Challenge. Malawi is one of the poorest counties in Africa and a result, secondary education is not free.  JTS works directly with farmers in Malawi to develop sustainable markets for long grain ‘Kilombero’ rice.  The sale of just 90Kg of rice covers the fees for one child to attend secondary school for a year.JTS

To support this cause, the Pupil Council representatives will be selling delicious fair trade Kilombero rice in school every morning between 9 – 9.30am on the following dates: (until stock runs out)

Monday 23rd May, Tuesday 24th May, Wednesday 25th May, Thursday 26th May, Wednesday 1st June, Thursday 2nd June, Friday 4th June

On Tuesday 24th May, rice will be on sale at the nursery between 12.45 and 1.15.

The rice will cost £3 per KG bag and it would be really helpful if pupils could bring the correct money to school in an envelope. The rice comes with a free recipe leaflet (created by the pupil council) and an entry into our prize draw.  This rice is more expensive than a leading supermarket brand, but by buying the JTS rice you will know that the farmer who has grown the rice is getting a fair price for their product.

MalawiIn addition to selling the rice, the pupils at Giffnock Primary school have been taking part in activities  to raise awareness of ‘The Rights of The Child and Fair Trade and have been exploring the similarities and differences between Malawi and the U.K.

After purchasing the rice, it would be great if you could send in to school any recipes or photos of your cooked rice for our display.

Many Thanks Miss Bruce