Breakfast Club
I am pleased to report that our school breakfast club is already having a very positive impact. As well as ensuring that everyone has access to breakfast, breakfast club has created a great buzz in the social area at the start of the day. This is a PEF initiative, financed by Magic Breakfast and supported by Sarah Ross and her amazing team of staff volunteers. Breakfast club is open to all students and is really helping some of our young people to manage their time in the morning.
Forrester Healthy Drinks Initiative
As part of our drive for Health Promoting Schools, Miss Templeton has re-launched the Forrester Healthy Drinks Initiative. We are looking for parents’ support to ensure that students bring only water or healthy drinks with them to school. This means no energy drinks or fizzy caffeinated drinks which can have an adverse effect on attention and a long-term impact on health. Miss T has also shared the following link which discusses the many benefits of staying hydrated.
https://www.elementalbottles.com/blogs/news/14-overlooked-benefits-of-drinking-water
Author Residency
If you follow us on Twitter, you cannot have failed to notice the excitement around Forrester gaining a fully funded Author Residency. You may, however, have missed Lindsay Collins’ recent press release:
“Our Higher and Advanced Higher students are thrilled to be working with Victoria Williamson, who will be inspiring them in the creation of intriguing characters and gripping storylines. Everyone involved is excited to be part of this wonderful and unique opportunity to broaden the experiences and expectations of our young learners, helping them to strive for the top with their folios while opening doors to a wide range of careers in the world of writing.”
My World of Work Ambassadors
On Thursday, I met with our new My World of Work Ambassadors. This is a very impressive group of young people who have a very clear plan about how they will support students, parents and staff to learn more about careers education and the resources available through the my World of Work website.
https://www.myworldofwork.co.uk/
School Library
There is some outstanding work being done in the school library this week with Harry Potter themed learning experiences for all S1 and S2 students. Ms Sutherland, our librarian has been working really hard to set the scene and to make our library into a veritable cauldron of creativity.
Mental Health First Aid
After school on Friday, 14 members of staff participated in the first round of Mental Health First Aid training. These members of staff are now set to support any young person who finds themselves in distress.
School Football
This morning I was treated to a fantastic game of football involving our S2 team. I saw some excellent individual performances in the 6-2 win against Currie, but what was most pleasing was the way the team worked together and supported each other, with all 14 players getting time on the park.
Our S1 team were also involved in a high scoring encounter, away from home at Liberton. Although they were defeated 7-4, I am told by the Head Teacher of Liberton that our team were very impressive. I think they have now scored 14 goals in two games!
Once again, I should say that we are very grateful for the dedication and support of parent, staff and student volunteers.
Next week
The issue of IPads to S4 students takes place on Tuesday at 5:00pm in the school hall. For those who didn’t apply for an IPad this time round, we will open a new application towards the end of October.
We also plan to rollout iPads to S3 students this year and we will begin that process once we complete this current round of S4 students.
Tuesday night sees the second Parent Council meeting of the new session. This will take place in the meeting room at 7:00pm.
On Wednesday 26th September, our sports ambassadors host P5 and P6 pupils for the UK Active Day and on Friday we begin the transition process for another year when we welcome P7 pupils and their parents for our P7 Open Afternoon.
Have a great weekend.
Stephen Rafferty
Head Teacher