Website: www.hermitagepark.edin.sch.ukEmail: admin@hermitagepark.edin.sch.ukTel: 0131 554 2952

HERMITAGE PARK PRIMARY SCHOOL Hermitage Park, Edinburgh, EH6 8HD

Dear Parents and Carers

On behalf of everyone at Hermitage Park Primary, a very Happy New Year and a very warm welcome back to school after the Christmas holidays which already seem a very long way away!

I am delighted to have this wonderful opportunity to lead learning at Hermitage Park Primary School. I will be in the playground before and after school, so please come and say hello. I hope my Head Teacher Blog and our school updates will keep you informed of what is happening in school, the progress the children are making, and the exciting events classes have participated in throughout the term.

We welcome our new staff Lisa Black: Senior Development Officer (secondment)Sarah Gibbs: P2Gemma Garcia Provencio: P4BFiona Laing: Pupil Support Assistant (temporary)Sandra Carbonell Mullor: Pupil Support Assistant (temporary)Lee McKenzie: Early Years AssistantLaura Duirich: Early Years Practitioner

At Monday’s Inservice day, our teachers worked together on sharing an understanding of the ‘Benchmarks’ in the morning with Cluster colleagues; focusing on literacy, to ensure consistency of standard across the four primary schools.

Further information on Benchmarks is available on: https://education.gov.scot/improvement/curriculum-for-excellence-benchmarks

Although we’ve only been back in school for 3 days we’ve had a very action-packed couple of days with two workshops for Primary 6 and 7 on an award-winning money skills programme; tackling everything from understanding the value of money and deals to needs versus wants and saving.

The workshops are part of a mission to increase financial capability from a young age, and create positive attitudes to saving. The ‘Kickstart Money’ project is delivered by the charity MyBnk and funded by a coalition of 20 financial services firms – including local employer Standard Life.

P.E

The focus for PE this term is gymnastics. For maximum participation in the activities please ensure your child has their PE kit in school each week.

Our Building Resilience focus this term is ‘Talk Things Over’. This will be launched at our whole school Assembly on Friday.

We will be learning that:

• At times we all feel worried• If worries are not dealt with, they can sometimes get out of control• If you are struggling, it is important to ask for help

Look out for the Parent and Carer leaflet in school bags and more information on our school website.

Nursery news

This week in nursery, we have enjoyed meeting up with our friends and been settling back into routines. We welcome some new children who are joining us over the next two weeks.

The nursery children have really enjoyed being outdoors even though it has been so cold this week. They found big chunks of ice moulded inside the tyres. We discussed how this would have formed and what would happen eventually.

We have resumed our Signing and French word of the week again. This week we have been learning to say ‘hello’ in French, which is ‘bonjour.’ We have also been learning to sign ‘good morning’ and ‘good afternoon.’ We are beginning to use signs and words more confidently. Well done everyone!

Dates for your diary:

Please note the following take place in school time.

Generation Science Sessions: on 15, 16, 18 and 22 January 2018 for P3, P4, P5, P6 and P7

Scots Week: Monday 22 January -26 January 2018 with a whole school Scots Assembly on the Friday. Details to follow.

Comic Workshops: 24 January, 31 January and 7 February 2018 for P3

If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know.

Kind regards,

Natalie Borrowman

Acting Head Teacher