Primary 6 are planning a variety of workshops and trips this year. Scottish Gas are presenting an energy workshop in class on Tuesday 3rd October which the children are excited about.

Author Alex Nye will be working with P6 on Friday 6th October in the hall as part of the Portobello Book Festival celebrations.

As part of our Space topic, P6 will be visiting Dynamic Earth on the 25th October for a tour and to complete workshops. There is no cost for this trip, both the entrance and bus are free. We would be grateful for parent helpers on our visit.

Primary 6 will also be visiting the Forth Road Bridge visitor centre to take part in STEM workshops which will help the children to develop team work and problem solving skills within the context of bridge building. We will be visiting the bridge on Wednesday 24th January 2018. There is no entrance fee for this trip, however we will be required to pay for our transportation to and from the centre. We would appreciate volunteers to accompany us on this exciting trip!

We plan to have more trips as the year progresses and as opportunities arise. We would very much appreciate parent helpers to enable us to go on these trips.

As part of our National Poetry celebrations Primary 6 have spent Friday morning reciting their favourite poems in class. Children chose a whole range of poems with a variety of topics and spoke with confidence in front of their peers. Earlier in the week children explored the poem ‘Early last Sunday morning’ and answered questions about the poem and children also wrote their own senses poems all about the notion of Freedom. The work produced was excellent and can be seen in the individual pupil Snapshot journals.

Well done boys and girls!

Dear parents and carers we would just like to inform you that your child is soon to be involved in the Early Interventions project within their class at school.  This is a joint initiative between Jack Kane Community Centre (a voluntary organisation), St Johns Primary School and CEC Lifelong learning (Jack Kane Community Centre)

The projects aim is to raise awareness to community life and will be working alongside your child and their class mates from Tuesday 22^nd August with all sessions being delivered in partnership with the class teacher.

Over the 8 weeks sessions the project will cover topics such as Children’s Rights, Cyberbullying, community life, bullying, stereotypes and internet safety.  Each session is delivered using an informal educational approach and is in line with the school’s curriculum.

Thank you

Primary 6A held their own General election on Thursday 1st June after watching the main parties political broadcasts and discussing each of their manifestos. The children received their own registration card which they took to the polling station and exchanged for a ballot card. Each child voted for one party and then posted their ballot into the box. The results were announced today to the class and if they mirror the real election in Edinburgh then Labour would take the seat.

The full results were as follows:

Labour 12 votes

SNP 8 votes

Green Party 4 votes

Liberal Democrats 1 vote

Conservative Party 1 vote

UK Indpendence Party 0 votes

The children commented that they felt they were making a real decision and that they were nervous by the prospect of voting. It was great that the children engaged in the topic so well and have demonstated a good understanding of the democratic process.