With the school closed and the laptops open, it’s important for us all to keep an eye on our health and wellbeing. 30mins a day moderate exercise is the absolute minimum that we should be doing to keep ourselves healthy. With that in mind, we have decided to enter PLHS into ‘Doddie Aid’!

Its a simple concept, but we hope it will provide a little extra motivation to get outside and do some kind of exercise. It doesn’t need to be running, it can be walking, cycling, dog walking, golf, anything!

We have been entered into ‘Team South’ in a competition against the other regions of Scotland and the Scottish Exiles around the world. As you are not getting your normal PE lessons we are asking you (and your family if they wish) to do the following:

– Download the trac4GOOD app,

– Join ‘team south’

– Use the app to help track your exercise

The challenge finishes in mid February, only then send a pic of your total distance to cthomas@edubuzz.org to get a Preston Lodge grand total! You can keep up-to-date with Doddie Aid through twitter @PLHS_PE

In addition, you can donate to Doddie Aid using this link here.

This is your PE lesson! Get out, challenge yourself, enjoy!

Chris Thomas, PE

The Teams

To add an element of competition (Doddie is extreeemely competitive!), there are 5 teams from the old Inter-District championship. The South, Edinburgh, Glasgow, North & Midlands and the Exiles. See the Scoreboard page for the 4 criteria the Districts will be competing in. Once signed up for your District, for a small donation you will get your free district snood, and then you need to start logging all your exercise miles, be it walking the dog, rowing on an Ergo, climbing a hill or skiing back down, or measuring your steps through the working day; anything you TRY, they all count.

Conversions

The other key way you can help your District is to spread the word and recruit your friends and family into the team. They do not need to be local, or even from the District, or for that matter, Scottish at all. You can score CONVERSIONS by recruiting any poor soul not lucky enough to be born Scottish. The more interesting or well kent they are, the more bonus points you earn when you message your conversion on the Doddie Gump Facebook page via Facebook Messenger. Hopefully your District Manager and 2 Captains will be leading the way on major conversions. But who are you going to sign up?

Champion

At the end of the challenge, the scoreboards will be added up for each team to find out which District will be crowned 2021 INTER-DISTRICT CHAMPION!

Dear Parent/Carer,

As a result of the First Minister’s announcement on Monday 4th January 2021, schools will be closed to most children other than children of key workers and the most vulnerable until 29th January 2021.  This is a change from the initial statement from the First Minister on 19^th December 2020 which required a phased return to school.

Due to the extended period of school closure, East Lothian Council has reopened the application process for key worker children to access places for in-school learning and childcare from Monday 18th to Friday 29th January 2021.  This online application process is for new applicants who did not apply in the first round in December 2020.  Those who have confirmed places already will roll over in to extended period and do not need to reapply.

Priority will be given to those key workers in category 1 and category 2 where both parent/carers are key workers or where there is a single parent who is a key worker.  Information about the category definitions can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-school-re-opening-arrangements-for-january-2021/pages/children-of-keyworkers/

Wherever possible, parents/carers should make use of informal childcare arrangements in line with the Scottish Government Guidance.

Any parents/carers who believe they are key workers under criteria set out by the Scottish Government will be invited to complete our online application.  This link to this application can be found here: https://eastlothianconsultations.co.uk/education/january2021-keyworker-application-2

Kind regards

The Education Support Team

Dear parents/carers.

We would like to gauge your interest for an exciting new pilot project East Lothian Council has recently procured. The Inclusion & Wellbeing Service has been working with a third sector group, Animate to enable this new project entitled ‘Radical Redesign: Parents as Partners in Effective Collaboration for Better Support for Learning for Children and Young People with Additional Support Needs’.

 The aim of the project is to consider and take forward recommendations from the national Additional Support for Learning implementation review and is part-funded by East Lothian Council. Further details of the project can be found in the attachments but I would like to highlight one element of the model which is the establishment of an action inquiry group, made up of key stakeholders and facilitated by Animate in order to support solution-focused, effective, collaborative working between parents and the professionals involved where a child/young person has Additional Support Needs.

We are currently looking for representation from parents/carers (along with education and other relevant services) to be a part of the action inquiry group and we are keen to hear from anyone who might be interested. There are up to four places available on the group for parental representation and we would like to ensure we have a broad range of experiences represented within the group. This model is a key piece of work in improving our approach to support for learning and inclusion in East Lothian.

Animate would like to lead the first action inquiry group session in February 2021 (date to be confirmed) therefore Liz Hardy from the Animate team would be happy to answer any questions in the meantime and discuss the project with you in more detail if you are interested. Please contact Liz directly to forward any notes of interest or highlight any queries/concerns.

Liz Hardy – lizziehardy@gmail.com

More information can be found below

Invitation to join the Parents as Partners Action Inquiry Group

Parents as partners in Support for Learning

Teenage Booster vaccinations will take place on the 27th January 2021 (Diphtheria/Tetanus & Polio and Meningitis ACWY). Vaccination letters have been distributed to S3 classes.  If you have not yet returned your form, could we kindly ask you to hand it in to the school office by end of term.  Many thanks.

NHS Lothian is working to create a new website for Children’s Services and all child health information for families living in the Lothian area. The site will focus on information for children, young people, parents, carers and families about our hospitals, clinics, treatments and conditions, etc. helping empower them with information about their health care, and reduce anxiety by giving young people a place to understand about coming to hospital for an admission, tests, or for a clinic appointment. The site will launch in 2021 and will also include information about the new Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh.

An online survey is open for children, young people and their parents and carers to help shape the design of the site by sharing feedback on some of the styles the website might take. The survey is anonymous and will only take 5-6 minutes to complete. Thank you

https://forms.gle/GF8tfYQdSFvd44jXA