Life @ EA
Headteacher’s Blog
24 September 2020
Yesterday you should have received a letter about Bike to School Week (via Firefly) from my colleague Mrs Petrie. As I have said in previous letters I am delighted to see so many children coming in to school by bike, scooter or walking and I am sure this will continue next week. This said, whilst it is (entirely) an individual choice as to whether to wear a helmet or not in this country, I have seen enough mangled helmets in my life to suggest I would rather replace one of them than deal with the impact to a cranium.
Of course life is never straightforward and just as we seem to have managed to improve the flow of traffic on Arboretum Road, I believe that, as of Monday, it will be closed from Ferry Road towards the school gate. This is to allow SGN to insert new plastic gas pipes and is likely to cause disruption until mid-November. This will also involve parking suspensions in the area. I am waiting for a call back from the Project Manager who is finalising the details this morning (Wednesday) and will make any necessary (and possible) amendments to arrangements at the gate thereafter. From my most recent conversation I suspect there may be a delay to the work starting but this is not yet confirmed.
On a different note, whilst it is a significant change to how we normally like to do things, I would remind parents of those children playing sport on a Saturday that, as referenced by the Rector last week, we cannot currently allow parents to stay and watch the sessions. This is in line with Government/SportScotland Return to Sport guidelines.
I do agree with the recent statements of both the Scottish and UK Governments that one of the most important things is having the children in school. With this in mind we took a step towards normality today when we had our first physically distanced (with multiple entrances used) ‘bubble’ assembly. It was marvellous to have the P3 and 4 children together as one and Mrs Burke summed it up beautifully when she said that it felt like the heartbeat was back in the centre of the school.
And finally, as mentioned last week, we will be going live with the first Edinburgh Academy Virtual Open Day on Friday. The Rector and I are both hopeful that this is not something we will have to repeat in this form but I would again ask you to point any interested parties towards the website.
Kind regards
Gavin Calder
Headteacher
