Dear Parents and Carers

I hope that the weekend went well for you all.  It is incredible to think we are nearly in October although the change in the weather today certainly seems more Autumnal.  

I do apologise for the length of this email.  There is lots to share!  Please persevere and read on for some news from Trinity.

Care4Calais – message from our House Captains

We are hoping for donations until Mon Oct 4th for a charity called Care4Calais which helps refugees.  The items desperately needed are mens’ and boys’ jackets, jogging bottoms / jeans (26 – 34 inch waist), new boxer shorts, socks, hats, gloves, hoodies, jumpers, bin bags and toiletries (soap, toothpaste, shaving foam, shampoo).   The following food items would also be much appreciated – dried fruit, nuts, UHT milk, sugar, biscuits, coffee, tea and tinned food.  Please do not donate toys.   It is very helpful if clothes can be folded.   Please help us to lend a helping hand.

Thank you

Reuben, Matilda, Freya, Chiara, Shae, Adam, Mya and Sara (house captains)

Rainbow School

This year sees us developing our idea of Trinity as a Rainbow School.  Over the next few weeks we will be adding a Rainbow School tab to our website but in the meantime here is a brief overview of what Rainbow School means to us.

7 colours     =    7 commitments

Red                        Equalities and Diversity

Orange                 Outdoor Learning

Yellow                   Leaders of Learning

Green                   Sustainability

Blue                       Global Citizens

Indigo                   Health & Wellbeing

Violet                    Trinity Together

Each year group will take responsibility for Rainbow School at a certain time in the year and undertake learning and activities from each commitment.    They will also share core picture books relating to each theme.  Learning is being recorded in our Rainbow School scrapbook. 

P5 have taken the lead on this so far and have done an amazing job.  Here is just a flavour of some of their learning :

• Road Safety – on Friday we had a group holding up signs on Newhaven Road ‘telling’ people not to park on the zig zag lines.  They’re not asking but telling!
• Relaunch of Fruity Friday – help us reach 100% by providing fruit (or vegetables) for snack on a Friday
• Litter and recycling collection around school
• Tidying the secret garden
• Collecting learning from each class to display on our Learning wall
• Celebrating Toasted Marshmallow day
• Relaunching our Fairtrade Tuck Shop – Wed 29^th (front playground for P5, P6M, P4 and P2 from 8.30am) and Thurs 30^th Sept (back playground for P7, P6J, P3 and P1 from 8.30am)
• Sorting donated uniform items and planning a recycled uniform sale

A message from P5

Dear Parents/Carers,

We are P5 and are currently in charge of the Rainbow School. We are part of the Sustainability Group. P5 are asking if people could kindly continue to donate good quality school clothes so we can recycle them. Our first uniform sale will take place from 8.30am on Friday 1^st October in the grass area at the back gate.  

Thanks for taking time to read this email.

Best wishes,

Rainbow School P5 Sustainability Group

• Making and sharing a kindness boomerang film, a litter film and a film explaining Rainbow school – these will all be available soon on the website

A huge thank you to everyone in P5.

Christmas / Winter Cards etc : fundraising

Over the next two weeks the children will be creating a Winter / Christmas design.  The design will be printed onto cards and families given the opportunity to purchase packs of cards, tea towels, mugs etc showing the design.  All profits will go towards school funds.  The sample card should be in school bags in the week of Oct 25th to allow plenty of time for ordering.

Change to holiday dates

Please note that in celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, the Monday holiday scheduled for 23rd May 2022 has been moved to Thurs 2nd June and an additional holiday, Fri 3rd June 2022, has been agreed.   This was approved by the City of Edinburgh council last week and will be updated on the council website. 

Staffing update

As you know Mrs Martin will be leaving Trinity to take up the post of Acting HT at Blackhall.  Mrs Martin’s last day with us will be Friday Oct 15th.   She will be a great miss.   I am delighted however that Mrs Cheryl Berthinussen will be returning from maternity leave from Mon Oct 25th.  It will be great to have Cheryl back on the Trinity team.   We are in the process of appointing an Acting DHT to replace Mrs Martin. 

We have recently appointed three new PSAs to join our team.  I am hoping they will be with us after the Oct holiday. 

We continue to experience higher rates of staff absence than is our norm and whilst we are trying to ensure continuity please do bear with us if your child is supported / taught by different staff or if support groups are unable to take place. 

School lunches message from catering services:

Due to current national supply chain issues, we may need to change our menus at short notice as we adapt to the changing situation.  As you may be aware from the national media there is currently a shortage of HGV drivers, this in some cases may result in product substitutions. We are working closely with our catering suppliers to mitigate disruption and our catering teams are working to adapt menus at a local level based on product availability. Pupils with special diets will continue to be catered for, however menus may differ from that on ParentPay. In addition, COVID is having an impact within our catering team resources, in some isolated cases we are having to deliver a  packed lunch service offering, our teams are working incredibly hard to provide the best service possible during unprecedented times, we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Amazing Acts of Kindness

Please see below for a link to a fundraising page set up by one of our parents.   Despite continuing to undergo treatment and managing the side effects, she has already raised over £10,000 through carrying out acts of kindness.  She is an inspiration to us all. 

https://www.facebook.com/donate/170492701862777/?fundraiser_source=external_url

COVID update

The restrictions put in place at the beginning of the term remain in place.  We have seen several positive cases at Trinity, including staff members, and ask that everyone continues to adhere to the following :

• No parents or carers in the playground or school building unless specifically invited
• Face coverings worn when dropping off or picking up pupils
• Arriving at the correct time at the start and end of the school day
• Keep children at home if displaying any of the symptoms of COVID and book a PCR test

Working together, I hope we can keep everyone safe

General reminders :

Mobile phones – many of our learners bring mobile phones to school.  Whilst we understand why this is necessary for some of our children, phones must be switched off when in school and left in school bags.  We are not able to take responsibility for any phones that may get damaged or lost.  

Communication – please use the admin email address (admin@trinity-pri.edin.sch.uk) when communicating with school.  All emails will be directed to the person best suited to respond.  

Toys – we ask that children do not bring toys from home to school.  These can be distracting in class and if they get lost or broken can cause a lot of upset!  

Thank you 

Dates for your diary :

Sept :

Wed 29^th : Fairtrade tuck shop – front playground from 8.30am

Thurs 30^th : Fairtrade tuck shop – back playground from 8.30am

Oct :

Fri 1^st : Uniform sale – back playground from 8.30am

Tues 5^th : TPSA mtg (virtual) at 7.00pm

Mon 4^th : Donations for Care4Calais – can be brought in up to this date

Tues 12^th : Parent Council mtg at 7.30pm

Fri 15^th : Non uniform day

Mon 25^th : INSET – school closed to pupils

Tues 26^th : Pupils return

Fri 29^th : Halloween in school.  Children are welcome to wear Halloween costumes.

We had so hoped that by now we would be able to welcome parents and carers into school to share learning and enjoy a coffee or tea and a catch up.    It still seems quite unbelievable that our last family events were house coffee mornings in January 2020.  They do say that patience is a virtue!  Here’s hoping it won’t be too long before we can ‘open’ our doors properly.  In the meantime thank you again for your continued support and understanding.

Best wishes

Jacqueline Scott