A great start to the Big Walk and Wheel week. We had a fantastic turnout at Port Seton Centre for our walking bus!
Port Seton Library Event
Thursday 28th November (P1-P7)
Information Drop In
Port Seton Community Centre on Wednesday 11th December, 12-2pm
Our Community Book Trail this year has been organised by our Reading Champions and is now open until 2nd Dec for anyone who would like to take part! There are 9 characters hidden around Port Seton and Cockenzie and each character will lead you to the next place around the village. Character number 1 is school. Once you have found all 9 characters (or most of them anyway!), post your answers to the assignment in the Family Homework section of the Classwork tab. Please post pictures of you and your family completing this so they can be displayed and used towards our Silver Reading Schools Award. Any issues with posting pictures, feel free to email them in to the office. All entrants will be in with a chance of winning a prize!
Happy hunting,
Miss Sandilands and the Reading Champions
P1 Enrolment - August 2025
Arrangements are now in place to enrol pupils to primary one (P1) for August 2025 across East Lothian schools.
Full information can be found on East Lothian Council’s website: https://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/p1-enrolment, our School and Nursery Website , a copy of this has been emailed out and a paper copy will come home via Cockenzie Nursery Class. You must enrol your child in your catchment school in the first instance.
Any child whose fifth birthday falls between 1 March 2025 (born 1 March 2020) and the last day of February 2026 (born 28 February 2021) is eligible to start school in August 2025.
You should enrol your child online. The online P1 enrolment period will be live on East Lothian's website from 4 November 2024 to 25 November 2024.
Advice and more information
If you have any questions, please email schoolplacements@eastlothian.gov.uk for advice.
Read more information on school enrolment and non-catchment placing requests in the School Enrolment booklet here: http://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/schoolenrolandplacingrequests
Scooter Workshops
Last week P4 and P3 enjoyed scooter workshops in the playground with our iBike Officer Louise Hastie. They learnt about the importance of helmets and how to fit them before embarking on games and skills on two wheeled scooters. An active and fun time was had by all.
if you would like to have a safety check carried out on your bike, pop along to the workshop at Heavy Sound on Friday 20 Sept, 1pm - 4pm. Adults and children welcome.
Karate Club at Cockenzie Primary School
We’re delighted to bring a brand new Karate Club to Cockenzie Primary School this term in partnership with local club, Chris Ewing Karate! Our coach, Chris Ewing, will deliver 2 activity blocks of morning classes starting Tuesday 10th September. This is a brilliant opportunity to get active in the morning before school, try something new, or get some extra training in if your child already attends a Karate club.
Activity Details
Venue: Gym Hall, Cockenzie Primary School
Age: P1 – P7
Dates: Tuesdays - Block 1: Sep 10th, 17th, 24th; Oct 1st (4 sessions) / Term 1, Block 2: Nov 5th, 12th, 19th, 26th (4 sessions)
Time: 8:00-8:45am
Cost: £12.00 per activity block / Free to pupils who are care experienced, young carers, or free school meals registered (with valid promo code - contact Active Schools for info)
Activity Leader: Chris Ewing
Online booking for Block 1 of the Karate morning classes is open now!
Online booking for Block 2 of the Karate morning classes will open at 6pm on Tuesday 1st October.
Online booking: https://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/ActiveSchoolsPrestonpans - Click the ‘Karate’ icon on the home page
Best wishes,
Stewart
Hello everyone😀
It was great to see so many families drop in to the school on Friday. There was a huge turnout.
Last session we sent out a survey which many of you completed. The responses were extremely positive.
Some of you said that you would like to know more about how to support your child at home with their learning. With this in mind we are preparing workshops for all the year groups (see below).
The workshops will be held on Tuesday 10th September and run from 6pm – 6.25pm and then again 6.35pm – 7pm. You can chose which time you will be attending. Just come along at the time of your choice. You may of course attend 2 workshops if you have more than 1 child in school.
Stage
Title of Workshop
All P1 parent/carers - Literacy in P1
All P2 parents/carers - Literacy and Numeracy in P2
All P3 parents/carers- What comes after Read Write Inc in reading?
P4 - Mental Maths/Numeracy
P5-Times Tables
P6 -RSHP: Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenting
P7 Staying Safe Online/Camp *
*Please note P7A parents/carers – attend CAMP talk first at 6pm and P7B parents/carers attend CAMP talk at 6.35pm – 7pm
Hopefully you will come away from these short workshops with some knowledge and understanding of how you can further support your child in their learning.
Please enter through main front door and we will direct you on the night.
With the summer holidays just hours away, your Healthy Working Lives Team has some great low or no cost ideas from around the county to keep the kids entertained over the break.
Reading, spending time in nature, connecting with others and staying active are all practical ways to boost your wellbeing at whatever age. Here’s to a great summer!
The Reading Agency’s annual Summer Reading Challenge encourages children ages 4-11 to read for fun, and happens in libraries every year in the summer holidays.
This year, the theme is Marvellous Makers and it’s all about creativity. From dance to drawing, junk modelling to music, there’s something for everyone.
With incentives to collect and plenty of brilliant books to enjoy, the Challenge is the perfect summer activity to build young readers’ skills and confidence during the break from school. Children can also take part online.
Find out all about the challenge and to find out about the many free events happening in local libraries throughout the summer: https://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/summer-reading-challenge
There are events for all ages organised by the Countryside Rangers and you can book online – examples below!
1 July
9-11am
Moth Magic
Come get up close and personal with amazing moths. Find out about their fascinating lives before we release them back into the wild.
Waterston House, Aberlady
24 July
10-11:30am
Rockpool Ramble
Join us for a guddle amongst the rockpools and see what amazing creatures we can find. Wear wellies/old shoes.
Longniddry 2
9 August
10-11:30am
Rockpool Ramble
Join us for a guddle amongst the rockpools and see what amazing creatures we can find. Wear wellies/old shoes.
Dunbar East Beach
18 July
10-11:30am
Minibeast Magic
Come along and find out about the amazing jobs these tiny creatures undertake in our woodlands!
Prestongrange
10 July
1-2:30pm
Rock School
Join the ranger to learn about what used to live along our coasts and find evidence of fossilised forests, corals and lots more!
Whitesands
6 Sept.
7:30-9pm
Night Life
Turn up and tune in to bat FM as we find out about some of our nocturnal wildlife.
Haddington
See what’s on at the Port Seton Centre: https://www.facebook.com/PortSetonCentre
Find out what’s on at The Haddington Bridge Centre: www.facebook.com/theHaddingtonbridgecentre
See what’s on at the PennyPit Centre in Prestonpans: https://www.facebook.com/pennypitcentre1
See the summer programme for the North Berwick Youth Project on the trips section of their website: https://www.northberwickyouthproject.org.uk/
The programme includes basketball, racquet sports and swimming: https://enjoyleisure.com/programmes-coaching/summer-activities-programme/
The Accreditation and Standards Committee agree that sufficient evidence was provided in the report to award Cockenzie Primary School UNICEF UK’s Rights Respecting School Award at Gold: Rights Respecting.
Starting in August EL Works and Edinburgh College are delighted to offer our popular Early Learning and Childcare Courses free to East Lothian residents. Designed to fit around your busy life our supportive classes are delivered locally in term time. To find out more or to secure a place please contact East Lothian Works - email elworks@eastlothian.gov.uk or call 01620 827262.
The two teams represented the school so well at the recent ELC Football tournament. Well done to all for playing!
Thanks to ‘Friends and Families of CPS’ for providing the new sports tops.
Massive thank you to all the volunteers who gave up a few hours of their time last week to help paint the castle. Thank you to the Community Council who gave us the funding for the paint and the brushes. What a difference the paint has made!
One of our family homework tasks was to create flags for the promenade. I am delighted to share with you this post from the Community Council, as well as pictures of all the winning flags.
The Community Council had a lovely visit to Cockenzie Primary School Assembly this morning to present the 5 designs selected to become the flags flying from the flagpoles on the Promenade that stand between Port Seton Harbour and The Links.
Before we presented the flags to the Assembly, we were treated to the most fantastic singing of Alan Murray's Call it Alba, with a special last verse to celebrate our wonderful Cockenzie and Port Seton. It was rousing and we will be singing the song all day!
The Promenade Flags Project had so many wonderful designs submitted based on our land and sea environment and our history and heritage! We are grateful to Dr Andrew Crummy and his art students for taking on the difficult challenge of selecting the flag designs.
The flags will be raised on the morning of Saturday 25th May to mark the start of Gala Week and will fly until the end of the Summer.
Seven other designs will be selected and a fundraising calendar created to generate funds for community projects. Our thanks to all of the boys and girls in the community who took part in the project.
Active Schools Prestonpans Term 3
Active Schools is back for Term 3! Due to some changes in coach and volunteer availability, there are a few activities from last term that we’ve been unable to bring back this term. However, we’re delighted to be able to include some additional activities at Preston Lodge High School this term as part of our P7 transitions. These will provide an opportunity for P7’s to join in Secondary Active Schools activities, meet other local P7’s and potentially try something new.
Basketball, Cheerleading, and Gymnastics are all returning this term – please note the change of venues.
We are also continuing to work with Chris Ewing Karate and Tranent Swimming Club to offer opportunities for new participants to try out these clubs for free. Please note, the sessions with Tranent Swimming Club are not swimming lessons, they are an introduction to competitive club swimming and are not suitable for non-swimmers or beginners.
We appreciate there are limited opportunities currently for younger age groups, this is partly due to the nature of some of the available activities, and partly due to availability of coaches and volunteers. This is something we will continue to work towards and aim to keep building on the activity programme and create more opportunities in the future.
Online booking for FREE activities will open at 6pm on Monday 22nd April
Online booking for PAID activities will open at 6pm on Wednesday 1st May
All activities can be booked online using our Active Schools Booking Page.
Please note that spaces for each activity are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.
Please see the Term 3 Activity Programme attached and click here for full details and online booking: https://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/ActiveSchoolsPrestonpans
Free Access to Paid Activities
All Active Schools activities are free to all. Active East Lothian activities have a fee, however, are free to children who are care experienced, young carers, and/or registered for free school meals with East Lothian Council. All support is delivered confidentially.
To confirm you qualify and to receive your promo code for free access to paid activities, please email ssands@elcschool.org.uk. Your promo code should be used when booking East Lothian Active Schools activities online at checkout. If you have previously received a promo code, this is still valid and can be used for new bookings.
Free School Meals application forms are available to download at www.eastlothian.gov.uk/FreeSchoolMeals or contact East Lothian Council by email at educationenquiries@eastlothian.gov.uk or by phone at 01620 827 827.
Volunteering with Active Schools
Could you help us bring more sport and activity to Prestonpans, Longniddry, Cockenzie & Port Seton? The success of our activity programme depends on our volunteers and coaches.
We are always looking for volunteers to help us develop our Active Schools Activity Programme and provide more opportunities in the local community for children and young people to take part in sport and physical activity.
All levels of experience are welcome and we can offer training, support and resources as needed. If you have any questions or are interested in learning more about volunteering with Active Schools and the support we can offer, please get in touch at ssands@elcschool.org.uk.
Social Media
For all the latest updates on Active Schools and activities in your area, please follow Prestonpans Active Schools on Facebook and Twitter.
Stewart Sands
Active Schools Coordinator | Prestonpans Primary School Cluster, Gullane Primary & Aberlady Primary
Primary 1A and Primary 2/1 led an amazing book reading assembly this morning. We enjoyed hearing all about P1A's learning linked to 'Jack and the Beanstalk' and P2/1's Rob Biddulph author story. Both classes recommended lots of fabulous books for us to read too. Thank you for inspiring us P1A and P2/1!😊
Congratulations to the children who were awarded a special reading certificate at our book sharing Assembly this morning. Well done everyone!
Sunday 10th March 2024 is the Archerfield Walled Garden 2nd birthday as well as the 100th event.
A huge well done to our four knowledgeable P7 pupils who represented Cockenzie at the recent P7 Rotary Quiz Competition.
After taking an early lead, they finished a very impressive second place closely behind Longniddry PS who won by just a point.
Thank you for representing our school so brilliantly you were a fantastic team and we are very proud of you all!
P6 learners showcased some of their recent learning last week. Well done to all involved and thank you to the many families who were able to attend . The raffle and baking helped raise funds for a potential school trip. It was great to see learner displaying confidence and being successful learners.
Well done to all out Star Readers for their brilliant engagement in reading.
Massive thank you, on behalf of the Cockenzie Learners' Group, to everyone who donated board games for our wet weather breaks! We are still on the hunt for more packs of cards and dominoes, etc if you have any spare. 😃
These P7s represented the school at The Douglas Allen Indoor 5s Football Festival. Well done to a great team!🙂
A closely fought battle! Massive well done to all those who took part. 🙂