A group of Craigroyston Community High School students have been working with top author John Fardell over the autumn term. With John’s guidance the S2’s have produced their own story books, and the Edinburgh-based writer was full of praise for the students’ efforts when he attended his final session last week. 

John spent his last session with the class looking at the students’ books – and he was delighted with what he read. He told students: “There is an incredible variety here – there are some amazing ideas and wonderful stories. I really do hope that you will keep writing.”

John was initially invited to Craigroyston by the school librarian Desmond Spiers, who explained: “The group of 16 pupils have literacy problems and during S1 they were targeted for extra support using a Literacy Programme called ‘SRA’, which is a reading support programme. Rather than having the work done with the pupils as a ‘stand-alone’ programme we wanted to embed and extend their work and progress with something outside the normal remit of the curriculum.

In 2006 and 2007 we had a very successful project with the author Keith Gray working in school for a year as our ‘Writer in Residence’ and we decided we would like to do something similar with this group of pupils when they entered S2 in August – this time we would have a writer in for a term. John Fardell was recommended to us by colleagues in other schools – he is both a writer and illustrator, having published a range of picture books and fiction books for older children and he has also contributed regularly to the adult comic Viz.”

Desmond continued: “John worked with the pupils for five sessions over the Autumn Term, talking to the pupils about how he gets his ideas for stories, how he goes about constructing a plot and then writing a story. He’s explained how pictures tell a story, along with lots of hints and tips for the pupils. He has also brought in and shown the pupils examples of work in progress from the first rough ideas and drafts to the finished book.

“John’s visits have been funded by the ‘Live Literature’ programme at Scottish Book Trust, who pay half of the costs with the school paying the remainder. This project has also been encouraged and supported by Education Advisors in Support for Learning, English and Literacy.”

In between John’s visits the pupils worked in class writing their own short stories which were then bound into books, and their creations were presented to the author at John’s final session on 8 November.

Every single book received positive comments and there was helpful feedback for each writer – among the comments:

‘Nice simple uncomplicated style’ 

‘Great use of white space – makes the pictures stand out’ 

‘Great work – go for what you find interesting’ 

‘Very striking – fine story and excellent design’ 

‘Wild, psychedelic colours and a really, really good fantasy story’

‘Lovely ideas on themes of friendship – wonderful illustrations’

 ‘Great first sentence for a story and mixes text and pictures really well’

 ‘Very original, with some fantastic cartoon baddies. A good fun, exciting story’

 ‘Nicely laid out – excellent mix of excitement and humour’ 

‘Very dark, bleak opening but you can start a story like that. Great atmosphere’ 

‘Nice use of wild lettering and curly writing, sort of Pop Art collage. Unique style’

‘Really good use of illustration, unique and personal’

‘Nice style with fluffy thought bubbles – I really like the diary format’

‘A collection of poetry with a contents page – some lovely contrasts here’.

In short, John was impressed!

Summing up, he told the students: “It’s great that these 17 books are all so wonderfully different. They are all very individual and that makes them unique and exciting books. I know you have all worked really, really hard and you should be very proud of what you have achieved. Keep your drawer full of rough ideas – you have shown a real talent, fantastic”.

John clearly possesses an infectious enthusiasm for books and 13-year-old Keiran Blackie was particularly inspired by working with the author. “John was brilliant to work with – he gave us lots of helpful tips and ideas and he was also very funny sometimes! My book is called The Best Accident and the idea for it came while I was watching the Paralympics on television. It took me around seven weeks from start to finish – I enjoyed writing it and I do like the way it looks now it’s finished. I’ve tried to write before but this is the first time I’ve really succeeded, and it has given me confidence – I think I will hopefully do another one.”

Teachers Margaret Beveridge and Eric Freund did the majority of the classwork with the pupils, and both were full of praise for John. They said: “He helped reinforce lessons already undertaken with the students, fired their imagination and left a body of work that we can build upon and extend over the coming months. We hope we can repeat this excellent project again next year.”

Craigroyston Community High School’s Christmas Fair will be held on Saturday  8 December from 11 am – 3 pm.  Tables can be booked by  individuals or groups – call 477 7801 for further details.

Craigroyston Christmas Fair poster

A report to the city council’s Education, Children and Families Committee sets out how Edinburgh Schools have been performing in the last year – and the report shows that, in the majority of indicators, city schools are performing above the national average.

Changes of note include improvements for some of the lowest achieving pupils, who have made considerable improvement over the last three years to within one per cent of the national performance level. Overall evaluation of improvements in early years level have been classified as ‘very good’ and there has been an improvement in Maths and English by the end of S4 which now sits above the national average.  This clearly demonstrates the impact a renewed focus on employability skills is having.

Across the board there has been significant improvement in PE by the end of S4 which can be linked to Health and Wellbeing education under the Curriculum for Excellence and the 2 hours of quality PE prescribed by it.  In Higher exams, there has been very good performance across the city in English, Mathematics, French, Physics, Computing and German.

High Schools that achieved very good examination results include The Royal High School, Boroughmuir HS, Currie HS, Firrhill HS, James Gillespie’s HS and St Thomas of Aquin’s, with significant improvements having been made at Craigroyston HS and Wester Hailes Education Centre.

Councillor Paul Godzik, Education, Children and Families Convener said, “I would like to congratulate schools for their continued improvement, the report shows how much is being achieved across the city. It’s clear from this report that some schools are making significant improvements and I would like to congratulate them for that.  We will be looking to all our schools and continuing to work closely with them to ensure the upward trend continues.”

ROYAL HIGH very good results

 Item_7.6_-_Educational_Attainment_-_Improvements_in_Performance_2012_final

A new course starting soon at Craigroyston Community High School …

Writer and commentator Owen Jones was the keynote speaker at the recent Anti-Poverty Conference held at Craigroyston Community High School.

Introduced by MSP Kezia Dugdale as ‘someone who tells it as it is’, Owen Jones didn’t disappoint. His hard-hitting speech covered the Thatcher years, the demonization of benefits claimants and some of the myths surrounding poverty. He also addressed the oft-repeated notion that ‘we’re all in this together’:

“It’s just nonsense – it’s still boom time for the people at the top. Look at the Sunday Times Rich List – the wealth of those at the top went up by nearly a fifth last year. There are tax cuts for the rich from this government of millionaires. But for the rest, living standards are declining at their fastest rate since my gran was born in the early 1920s. A Save the Children study has found that more and more parents are having to decide between heating their homes and eating, and many are skipping meals to allow their children to eat. School meals are being cut, breakfast clubs being closed. We’re the seventh richest country on Earth but we can no longer afford to feed our poorest children? It’s a disgraceful onslaught on people who are being made to pay for a crisis that was not of their making, that had nothing to do with them whatsoever. That’s the reality of Cameron’s Britain – a shame on this government and on this country”.

He concluded: “We won’t get change through the generosity and goodwill of the people at the top – the way we get change is by forcing our demands on those at the top, force them to listen. We must rally round a coherent alternative that gives people hope – we’ve got to give a voice to those who will otherwise be airbrushed out of existence. If we can do that we can not only take on this government and austerity, we can also lay the foundations of a new Britain, a new Scotland. We stand together, we fight together and we will win this together.”

Around seventy people attended the conference, which was organised by North Edinburgh Fights Back, STUC and Edinburgh Trades Union Council. The event offered a good mixture of speakers, workshops and information stalls and while numbers were down on the first year – mainly due to a similar event being held in the city centre – organisers were satisfied with the day’s programme.

North Edinburgh Fights Back’s Barbara Robertson said: “Thanks to everyone for attending and helping to make the second Anti-Poverty conference so successful. It is so worthwhile to get together in this fight against poverty and inequality”.

BEDROOMTAX-flyer

A collection of concerned local groups and tenants organisations have organised a public meeting to discuss a community response to the imminent introduction of the controversial ‘bedroom tax’.

The meeting takes place tonight (Tuesday) at 7pm in Craigroyston Community High School on Pennywell Road. Speakers from Govan Law Centre and Granton Information Centre.

All welcome.

The Scottish Government issued advice to landlords on the ‘Bedroom Tax’ yesterday:

Landlords should consider all possible options and use all reasonable means to prevent evictions of housing tenants struggling to pay rent due to the bedroom tax, Housing Minister Margaret Burgess said yesterday.

The Scottish Government has called for the UK Government’s under occupancy measures, that will cut housing benefit for those deemed to have a spare room, to be scrapped.

However, the policy remains set to come into force in April, and the Scottish Government has already made extra funding available to help provide advice and support for those who will lose out.

The Minister has now also written to landlords across Scotland to encourage them to consider the example of Dundee City Council, which is protecting tenants who genuinely cannot make up the shortfall in rent caused by the bedroom tax, which comes into force in April.

The Council has committed that, where the Director of Housing is satisfied that affected tenants are doing all that can be reasonably expected to in order to avoid falling into arrears, they will use all legitimate means to collect rent due, except eviction.

The letter also makes landlords aware that in certain circumstances it may be possible to reclassify rooms so they are not considered bedrooms. For example, this may help tenants who use an extra room to store equipment related to a disability and therefore do not use that room as a bedroom.

Mrs Burgess’ letter also:

• reiterates Scottish Government opposition to the introduction of the bedroom tax;
• highlights Scottish Government action to help tenants; and
• points out the shortfall in discretionary housing payments provided by the Westminster to Scotland to help those affected by housing benefit changes.

Mrs Burgess said:

“I have made the Scottish Government’s opposition to the bedroom tax absolutely clear. Indeed, I put the case for it to be scrapped in the strongest terms to Lord Freud when we met in London.

“Sadly there appears to be indifference to this argument at Westminster, despite strong opposition from across Scotland.

“This will undoubtedly be leaving tenants, some of whom could lose a quarter of their housing benefit in April, seriously worried.

“That is why we have made an extra £2.5 million available to social landlords to ensure people affected by housing benefits changes have the advice and support they need. That is on top of the £5.4 million we have already provided to advice services to help those affected by benefit reforms.

“I have now written to landlords to encourage them to look sympathetically on tenants affected. We already have strong safeguards in place to ensure eviction is an absolute last resort. While we do not want to see tenants run up debts they cannot pay, it is important, in what will be challenging times, that extra consideration is given to people who are having housing benefit taken away.

“Dundee City Council has taken innovative action on this, clarifying that, where tenants are doing all that can be reasonably expected in order to avoid falling into arrears, they will use all legitimate means to collect rent due, except eviction. I know other councils are also working towards a similar position and I hope landlords across Scotland can follow this example.

“There are also circumstances where a bedroom’s classification may be changed and tenants not penalised.  Again, I would encourage landlords to consider this possibility and work with their local authority if at all possible.

“But we simply cannot mitigate all the negative impacts of welfare reform or the bedroom tax.

“This illustrates that rather than simply trying to cushion the blows in Scotland, we need the powers of independence to cut them off at source. It would be far better to control benefits and welfare so unfair policies like the bedroom tax are not even considered, let alone implemented.”

Text from the letter includes:

“The bedroom tax also takes no account of circumstances in Scotland.  Of the estimated 105,000 households in Scotland which  will be affected by the penalty, around 78,000 would need to move to one bedroom accommodation in order to avoid the penalty.  Last year there were also 23,000 homeless applications which would require one bedroom accommodation under DWP’s criteria.  However there are only around 20,000 social lets of one bedroom properties each year.”

On DHPs:

“The Department for Work and Pension’s answer to this is in Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs).  However, this is inadequate in Scotland.  By DWP’s own analysis, London and Scotland will have the same number of people affected by the bedroom tax. However, London is set to receive £56m in DHPs while Scotland will receive £10m. This is just  6.5% of the total DHP allocation for next year despite having 16% of the total number of people due to be affected by the bedroom tax in Great Britain.”

On reclassification of bedrooms:

“I would also like to make you aware of flexibility that exists to classify bedrooms in your properties for the purpose of housing benefit.  A process of reclassification is available, on a variety of grounds, for properties where circumstances change.  For example, where a tenant requires an extra room to store equipment if he or she is disabled and therefore cannot use that room as a bedroom.  The process is one that DWP leave up to the consideration of landlords and Local Authorities and involves landlords contacting their local authority Housing Benefit section to inform them of the change of classification.”

On tenants and landlords:

“We all agree that evictions are seen as a last resort.  While we absolutely do not want to see tenants run up debts they cannot pay, or see landlords left out of pocket, this will be a very difficult time, when those who lose out will benefit from extra support and understanding.  We have already provided additional protection for tenants through Pre Action Requirements.

“You may wish to be aware of the policy adopted by Dundee City Council which I believe provides a useful template to protect tenants who genuinely cannot make up the shortfall in rent caused by the bedroom tax.  The Council has committed that, where the Director of Housing is satisfied that affected tenants are doing all that can be reasonably expected to in order to avoid falling into arrears, they will use all legitimate means to collect rent due, except eviction.  I would encourage you to consider this as a mechanism to protect the most vulnerable of your tenants.”

CCHS classes

Monica Nall, Community Programme manager at Craigroyston Community High School, has been in touch to remind us that courses start next week – see attached document. The writing group is FREE and fee waivers for the other classes may be considered. For further information call 538 7285.

CAR BOOT SALE Poster

Craigroyston Community High School are holding a car boot sale on Saturday. Susanne Mackay, Curriculum Leader of Health and Wellbeing, explained: “Our car boot sale is to allow us to add to our ongoing fundraising efforts for the school, and also to continue to develop the community links and services which we have in place”.

The details:

Saturday 1^st June  10am – 1pm (9am arrival for anyone selling)

£10 entry for anyone wishing to sell goods, tables available to hire for £3 each.

Indoor area set aside for bad weather alternative.

Anyone interested should contact the school on admin@craigroyston.edin.sch.uk

or telephone 0131 477 7801.

Craigroyston High School will open as normal this morning despite a fire at the school last night.

The fire was reported at 9pm last night and 35 firefighters, with six pumping appliances and various special appliances, tackled the blaze.

No casualties were reported but there is some external damage to the building, which first opened in May 2010.

The old Craigroyston High School building was demolished following a major fire in July 2010 (pictured below).

Emergency services personnel are still at the scene and the cause of the fire is being investigated.

Craigroyston Community High School will be staging ‘Alice in Wonderland’ TONIGHT at 7pm.

Marie McGarrol, drama worker at Craigroyston Community High School, said: “Craigroyston Community High School’s senior Drama club is putting on a public performance of Alice in Wonderland at the school tonight at 7pm, adult tickets £2, children’s tickets £1.50. The students involved would really appreciate any external support as the school as not seen a performance of this nature for many years. Please could you pass this email on to your colleagues that work in the area”.

For further information contact Craigroyston Community High School:

Telephone:      0131 477 7801
Email:         Admin@craigroyston.edin.sch.uk
Web Address:      http://www.craigroyston.edin.sch.uk

New Head Teacher plans to build on best ever exam results 

Craigroyston Community High School has once again produced an excellent set of exam results – the results this year are the best ever achieved by the school.

New Head Teacher Steve Ross puts this down to a real commitment in the school towards attainment: ‘My predecessor, Margaret Russell, encouraged and motivated pupils and staff to aim high – and this is exactly what they have done.’

There were twice the number of Higher passes this year compared to 2012 and 100% of the S4 cohort achieved the minimum standard set by the Scottish Government of 5 passes at Access 3 or Foundation level, a figure that will be the envy of many other schools in the region and beyond. 

Steve Ross is excited by the positive momentum this has created within the school: ‘What a fantastic position to be in!  I have to say that I have been genuinely impressed by the standards in my new school.  In my career I have taught in, and visited, many schools.  The teaching and learning that is going on here is of a very high standard indeed.  I am so fortunate to have a staff (teaching and non-teaching) that want the very best for the pupils.

“I would like to pass on my appreciation to parents and carers for their commitment to the school uniform – on the first morning the pupils returned to school I was blown away by the standard of dress – as good as any other school and better than a fair few.’

As well as having high expectations for all pupils in the school, Steve is keen to listen to the pupil voice: ‘One of the first things I’ve done is set up meetings between myself and pupils and asked them three questions:

What’s good about the school?

What’s not good about the school?

What would you like to see changed?

I’ll be feeding back replies to all pupils, staff and parent council and from there we’ll construct an action plan to address issues raised.  It’s very important to me that the young people here feel they have a role in driving the school to even greater success in the future.’

‘I plan to hold an open evening in the school in the near future and will be inviting all parents, carers and community members to come along so we can talk about the way forward for Craigroyston Community High School and it’s young people.’

Good luck in your new post, Steve

Author and adventurer Matt Cartney (pictured below) visited Craigroyston High School on Friday (4 October) to talk to the S1 pupils. 

He entertained us all for 90 minutes with tales of his adventures to Morocco and Norway that were the inspiration for his first two novels in the Danny Lansing adventure series: ‘The Sons of Rissouli’ and ‘Red, White and Black’.  Matt gave us an insight into how his love for adventure has been with him since childhood, and that he wanted to write the sort of books he loved reading as a boy.

The pupils sat enthralled for an hour, before quizzing Matt with a series of penetrating questions – we found that Tin Tin was his favourite book at school, though he also loved books by H. Rider Haggard and Arthur Ransome.  It can take him a year of researching and travelling before he starts to write a book.  He has also taken some of his childhood friends and used them as the basis for Danny’s friends.  We found out that of all the countries in the world that he has visited, his favourites are Morocco, Tibet and New Zealand.

His next novel due out in 2014 will be set in a tropical jungle and the fourth Danny Lansing adventure – which he has just started – will be set in Russia.

Well, we can’t wait to read these when they are published!

Craigroyston Community High School

The city council is running an art competition for schoolchildren from Muirhouse, Pilton and Pennywell to mark the start of construction of new homes in West Pilton Crescent – and the closing date for entries is fast approaching.

‘What does home mean to you?’ is the appropriate theme of the competition which is open to pupils of Pirniehall, St David’s, Craigroyston and Forthview, Oaklands and Craigroyston Community High School. Entries can be drawings, paintings, a collage or photographs – but your artwork must be submitted by the closing date of next Friday, 25 October.

Winners of the various categories (see the attached poster) will be announced on

Thursday 21 November. Good luck!

Craigroyston Community High School commemorated Remembrance Day by holding two special assemblies led by the pupils.  A selection of words, hymns, songs, and poetry, along with a moving video featuring the stories of a variety of veterans were presented to pupils and staff.

At 11am precisely the whole school came to a standstill as everyone stood for the two minute silence.  The wreath laying was carried out by two representatives from each year group accompanied by a piper playing Flowers of the Forest. Honoured guests included local councillors, veterans, parents and council officials.

Desmond Spiers, Craigroyston Community High School

F1 in Schools Scottish champions Craigroyston Community High School are currently competing at the World Championships in Austin, Texas.  They flew out last Thursday and have spent the past few days settling in and preparing to do battle with teams from around the world.

The team comprises of Ciaran Harrison, Joe Dudgeon, Gavin Singleton, Stephen Ramsay and Thomas Paget (pictured below) supported by staff Ms Carrie Anderson and Mr George Thomson. The news is that the boys are doing the school, Edinburgh and Scotland proud!

See what happened on Day 1 Sunday 10^th November – at the Opening Ceremony & Time Trial Racing  <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6fwl8cnqqc>

Day 2 yesterday saw the Reaction Racing <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBZzqK4sIVs>

The team now competes in the Knockout Competition, and we will keep you posted as news wings its way from the USA.

If you would like to see more about the F1 in Schools Competition then follow this link: www.f1inschools.com<http://www.f1inschools.com>

Desmond Spiers

Craigroyston Community High School

Matters 2us invite

North Edinburgh Young People’s Forum would like to invite you to the launch of the second edition of their version of The Matter: Matters2Us, and this issue will focus on Anti-Bullying. 

In July 2013, the Young People’s Forum were successful in their application to the Respectme Anti-Bullying fund to produce a second edition of their newspaper, this time asking the question:

How would you like to be supported if you were being bullied or see someone else being bullied?’

The group then consulted with over 100 pupils across two primary schools in North Edinburgh, going into classrooms over two days, spending time with the young people and finding out their thoughts on bullying.

The Young People’s Forum would now like to share what the young people who they met with said and would like to invite you to attend the launch of this second edition.

This will take place on Wednesday 20 November at Craigroyston Community High School at 5.30pm.

There will also be an opportunity to hear from a local parents group on how they have made a user friendly guide to their schools Anti-Bullying Policy to support parents, young people and the community to understand it.

We would be delighted if you could attend.

Clare Gibson (Youth Work Organiser, CEC Community Learning & Development) on behalf of North Edinburgh Young People’s Forum

Scotland’s national poet Liz Lochhead will be among the participants at a major community event to be held in North Edinburgh later this month. ‘The Big Night Out’, an evening of songs, fun, poetry and protest, is being organised by the local Power to the People group.

The programme is yet to be finalised, but the event will also feature a photography and artwork exhibition.

CLD worker Lynn McCabe, who supports the group, explained: ”There’s going to be a couple of exhibitions on the history of protest (one is a photographic exhibition, the other is being put together by arts students from Edinburgh (Telford) College.  The main part of the night will be in the theatre and will include  protest poems and protest poetry.   We have just had word  that Liz Lochhead will be doing a turn which is great, and it’s likely that some  pupils from Craigroyston High School will also be participating in the event - I’m meeting with their teacher to discuss this further. There’s still a lot to organise and confirm but the Power to the People group are very excited about The Big Night Out.”

Power to the People’s Big Night Out will be held in

North Edinburgh Arts on Friday 29 November from 6.30 – 9.30pm.

Tickets £3. All welcome.