P3 take part in City Centre Christmas Lantern Parade

On Saturday 12th December P3 took part in The Royal Blind School lantern parade in Princes Street Gardens. The P3 classes had great fun making lanterns in a workshop with the Royal Blind charity in school and then some of the children went up to Princes Street Gardens to pick up their lanterns and parade them around the gardens. At the end of the parade they were entertained by dancers and - would you believe it - Santa arrived with his reindeer! It was a special occasion for those who managed to make it.

Sam and Ellie from P3a

Caitlin Grover from P3b

The Santa Train!

November harvest for Forthview gardeners

At the end of November the Forthview garden club harvested their vegetables in preparation for a feast inside in the nursery. Fifteen hardy souls put in a huge effort to pull and dig up the last of our vegetables from the ground.

Elke had made bread with Nancy and Abbie from P3 and Yuan from P4 the day before and Louise and Shannon from P7 had been in setting up tables in the nursery and laying out the bread, along with some cheese, ham and frankfurters from Mr Stobie and Elke to have along with our freshly dug carrots, salad, beetroot, leeks. Everyone ate their fill and went home happy, knowing that all their hard work had produced such good fare. Thanks must go to the nursery for once again hosting our harvest meal.

One thing about the pictures, though - do you see that all the digging seems to have been done by the children, Ms Vacher and Ms Borg - was Mr Stobie sitting with his feet up again?

Preparations for the feast were underway in the nursery, while outside in the garden...

Morgan pulls up the first lettuce...

Yuan and Lewis hard at work with the fork...

...definitely not Mr Stobie's wellies!

Ms Borg hard at work, though!

What a satisfying afternoon's work!

New Multicultural Club at Forthview

Tracey Berry, our Families Liason Teacher at Forthview is working with Zaki El-Salahi from the Black Community Development Project (BCDP) to run a new multicultural club for 5-8 year olds at Forthview. Children attending the club have been exploring identity, global citizenship and prejudice through arts, games and sports. The current block finishes in December but we hope to continue the club through the year as there is a huge waiting list of children keen to join

BCDP also run a number of other groups and courses in the Greater Pilton area. If you are interested in finding out more you can contact BCDP on 0131 467 7990.

And in the midst of a busy term...

Our new Head Teacher arrived! Welcome to Mrs Moira Heatly. Here's what she has to say...

'I am delighted to be here at Forthview Primary and have been made to feel very welcome by children staff and parents.

We recently asked parents what they liked about Forthview and the most important things were the approachable staff and the work that they do with Tracey Berry, our family worker, and I would certainly agree. Working with parents and the wider community has always been important to me, so I am delighted that it is such an important part of Forthview.
Everyone works hard to make sure that the school is a welcoming supportive place and that we are all learning together.'

Primary 6 and 7 visit Scottish Parliament

Primary 6 and 7 visited the Scottish Parliament this week to learn more about how Scotland is governed, as well as looking at the symbolism throughout the building - of the Scottish countryside, bottles of whisky and the curtain-shaped cladding outside some of the windows allowing people the chance to look in to see what is going on.

Highlights included Mr Napier getting a row for taking a picture (in the press area of all places!) and James Guthrie debating where MPs could eat/stash their crisps without being caught on camera or by the public viewing from the gallery!

Where did James hide his crisps? Can you spot any budding MSPs?

Stars in Our Eyes Tea Party

Forthview Stars in Our Eyes children were treated to a lovely tea party after Assembly last week. All the children had received a Stars in Our Eyes Award at assembly, recognised by their teachers for working hard, being kind, making good choices or for generally being all-round charmers! Mrs Heatly set up a banquet of treats as a thank you...

Wish you were there? Me too - this blogger is certainly going to be thinking hard about good choices before the next Stars in Our Eyes Assembly!!

International Evening

At the start of November we held our first International Evening of the year. This fun evening is held twice a year and all Forthview families are invited to come along for food, a blether and a chance to make new friends. The next evening will be held next year in June - watch this space!

Chermaine and her wee sister, Ying, introduce themselves and their family to our new Head Teacher, Mrs Heatly.

As you can see we had a packed dining hall with over 60 people attending.

Parents sneak a quiet cup of tea, with a chance to talk to teachers from Edinburgh's English as an Additional Language (EAL) Service and representatives from Edinburgh University Billingualism Matters.....

Meanwhile, the children keep Forthview teachers on the run with a spot of basketball in the Hall!

Mr Wright and Miss Dickson look like they're avoiding the running around! Is Mr Wright singing?!In the play room, the younger children are at play...Briana and Kyllian are serving Mrs MacDonald in the cafe!

Igor and Monzir are in truck heaven!

Juan, Lana and her big sister Aya - International Evening regulars!- show new Forthview friends Hala and Hanadi a few more basketball moves!

While big brother Juan plays, a quiet moment for dad Cesar and wee sister Gabriella.Tasty homemade food, a chance to catch up with friends, a song from Mr Wright...a lovely evening was had by all!