P7 Silver Junior Award Scheme Scotland (JASS)

The Junior Award Scheme Scotland (JASS) is an accredited learning programme, celebrating wider achievement, for young people (P6-S2). Sciennes and Tollcross Primary Schools have been implementing this scheme since we piloted it in 2009. Pupils can aim for Bronze in P6, Silver in P7 and Gold in S1/S2 at James Gillespie's High School.

The concept emerged from a discussion during a Sciennes P7 visit to Lagganlia between Alice Brown, Gael Logan and Barry Hewitt who came up with the idea to set up a 'Duke of Edinburgh' style award scheme for upper primary pupils. The scheme has since been developed into a city wide programme.

There are three levels (Bronze, Silver and Gold), each requiring a higher degree of commitment. Each level also includes four sections to be completed, with a minimum of 12 hours in each to achieve Silver:

• My Interests - a hobby or interest
• Get Active, Stay Active - involvement in a sport or physical activity
• Me and My World - a community or environmental project
• Adventure - a teamwork challenge through involvement in an outdoor activity (e.g Lagganlia)

The scheme runs from the end of September until the end of the Easter holiday and pupils can begin planning how they will achieve their Silver award using this form:

P7 SILVER JASS PLANNING

The form can also be accessed by clicking on the tab at the top of this website.

P7 Conference - Grange at the dance session

More pictures from the P7 Conference

P7 Junior Award Scheme Scotland (JASS) Conference

On Thursday 25th September we held our annual P7 Conference, designed to welcome pupils to Primary Seven and to challenge them to make the most of the many opportunities available throughout the year.



The theme this year centred around the Junior Award Scheme Scotland (JASS) programme, which has been running at Sciennes for a number of years, since its inception. (The original concept of JASS actually emerged from a conversation between Alice Brown, Barry Hewitt and Gael Logan during a P7 trip to Lagganlia!) P7 pupils gained a Bronze award last year in P6 and are aiming for a Silver award by Easter this year. They will be able to continue to Gold at James Gillespie's High School in S1 and S2.

We were delighted to welcome Joan Alexander from JASS who gave the children a sneak preview of the forthcoming online version: eJASS, due to be piloted in Sciennes and Tollcross Primaries this year. Software designer Steve Moore was very impressed by the input P6 and P7 Sciennes pupils (including current P7 pupils Zoe and Cerys) were able to articulate to him last session, and their ideas have contributed to his design.

Each of the four School Houses took part in four workshops.

JASS PLANNING 
A JASS planning workshop, led by JGHS Cluster Active Sports Co-ordinator Jonathan Wallace, helped pupils begin to plan how they will set about achieving the Silver award. Joan Alexander gave us lots of inspirational ideas to help get us started. A key message was for pupils to challenge themselves. Pupils were able to use their personal iPads to mind map their goals and have been asked to complete this online planning tool with their families:

P7 JASS PLANNING 

MY INTERESTS

Ms Christie, ably assisted by Katie's mum, Dante's mum and Kate from the School Office, helped each group prepare a delicious bowl of healthy minestrone soup with garlic bread. Cooking and baking are two possible interests pupils might wish to pursue as part of their JASS award. Other ideas can be found in the online P7 JASS PLANNING tool (see above).

ME AND MY WORLD

We were delighted to welcome back Joe from ChangeWorks who provided a 3Rs - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - workshop using interactive voting tools.

GET ACTIVE, STAY ACTIVE

Karen from Dance Division provided superb dance workshops for each of our groups and it was lovely to welcome back Cat Perry, Managing Director.

ADVENTURE

The fourth aspect of the JASS award also involves a minimum of twelve hours activity. This time in adventurous activities so our trip to Lagganlia next week will certainly meet this. Instructors at Benmore and Lagganlia fully support the JASS programme and will provide our pupils with accreditation for this section of the programme.

When our pupils have provided evidence of 12 hours spent developing skills and achievements in each of the four areas of JASS they will be awarded a Silver certificate and badge. They will be asked to give a short presentation to their classmates, explaining how they set about achieving Silver.

All our visitors and staff were very impressed with the way P7 conducted themselves throughout the day and we look forward to helping them achieve one quarter of the award next week at Lagganlia.

Thank you to Mr Howie for the photographs.

JASS PLANNING with Mr Wallace on the iPads

MY INTERESTS - MAKING MINESTRONE SOUP AND GARLIC BREAD WITH MS CHRISTIE

ME AND MY WORLD - JOE  FROM CHANGEWORKS 3 Rs INTERACTIVE WORKSHOP

GET ACTIVE, STAY ACTIVE - KAREN FROM DANCE DIVISION

Enough Excitement!

We feel that there is enough excitement in the air with our forthcoming trip to Lagganlia and so have decided to wait to announce House and Sports Captains until the new term. It also means that there is further time to impress us with leadership and team work skills while we are at Lagganlia!

P7 JASS Conference

Each year we hold a whole day Conference for P7 pupils and this year the theme will focus on the Junior Award Scheme Scotland (JASS). Pupils will receive a free gym bag, fruit and a Dance workshop. 

Pupils should be dressed in clothing suitable for dance.

Many thanks to the parents who have volunteered to assist with the soup making session in the GP Room Kitchen.

THURSDAY 25th SEPTEMBER 2014

JASS is theme this year.
Groups formed by 4 Houses: Lauder, Grange, Sienna, Tantallon


Outline
9.00-9.15am Welcome - Aims - Expectations- Format for day including explanation of rotations.
9.20 - 10.20am SESSION 1
10.25-10.40am Break (fresh fruit platters and water) All to bring own water bottle and take round workshops with them.
10.40 – 11.35am SESSION 2
11.35 – 12.25 SESSION 3
12.30-1.20 Lunch Break
1.20-2.20 SESSION 4
2.20 - 2.30 All pupils help session leaders at their final station to tidy up before making their way to Hall
2.30 – 2.50 SESSION 5 P7 Year Group in Hall
2.50- 3.10 PLENARY in Hall. Visitor Thanks.
3.10-3.20 Return to classrooms for coats and bags. Dismissal.

Session One - ME AND MY INTERESTS Cooking - GP Room
Session Two - GET ACTIVE, STAY ACTIVE Cat Perry - Dance Session - Hall
Session Three - ME AND MY WORLD ChangeWorks - Waste reduction 3Rs - interactive quiz using voting tools - Mr Howie's room
Session Four - JUNIOR AWARDS SCHEME SCOTLAND (JASS) - Introduction, online questionnaire, planning how to gain accreditation, mind mapping on iPads - Jonathan Wallace and Ms Gallagher and JASS visitors. Introduction to  eJASS. Mrs Barker's room.
Session Five - ADVENTURE - Lagganlia 29th Sept - 3rd October. Brief review of residential - beginning at start of following week - and how it fits with JASS.
Plenary

P7 Heriot-Watt Flood Model

Grateful thanks to Heriot-Watt PhD students Linsey and Allah who gave our P7 pupils a fascinating insight into urban flooding using a Flood Model designed by HW Lecturer, Dr Grant Wright. Interactive, engaging and thought provoking workshops. Thank you also to Mrs Alice Brown, Headteacher at Tollcross Primary School, for hosting and to Janitor David for all his help setting up the model.

P7C: