Important: MMR and HPV vaccine

Are you protected?

There is another chance for teenagers to get their MMR and HPV vaccine in the summer term if they have previously missed out.

MMR

Ten per cent of secondary school pupils in Lothian have not had the second dose of the MMR vaccine meaning they are at risk from Measles, Mumps and Rubella.

In Lothian there has been a recent outbreak of mumps, a contagious viral infection with symptoms including fever, headache and swelling of one or both cheeks or sides of the jaw. Common complications include inflammation of the testes (1 in 4 adult males) and meningitis (1 in 7 cases) with less common complications including hearing loss and inflammation of the pancreas.

Children with mumps will need to stay off school for at least five days. 

The NHS Lothian school nurse team will be sending letters to pupils due to be vaccinated. Please read this and discuss vaccination with you parents, carer or guardian.

HPV

The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, given to girls in S1 and S2, protects against cervical cancer. 

This vaccine is designed to protect against the two types of HPV that cause 75% of the cases of cervical cancer, but uptake of this vaccine in Lothian has not been all that high. It is important that you get this protection early enough for it to be effective.  So, you should have all the required doses as soon as they are offered at secondary school.

If you receive a consent form, make sure you discuss it with your parents, carer or guardian and return the form to your school.

 

More information about these vaccinations can be found on the Immunisation Scotland website.  Or you can call NHS Inform on 0800 22 44 88 (8am to 10pm, every day).

Silver of the Stars in the Evening News

Some students from Gracemount High School accompanied by Mrs Shannon were snapped by an Edinburgh Evening News photographer at Dovecot Studios for the launch of the Silver of the Stars online resource.  This appeared in The Evening News on March 25th.

Photo below: 

Easter Service: Thursday 2nd April 2015 at 10am

SKILLFORCE PRINCE’S AWARD

21^st  March 2015

LOCAL STUDENTS TRANSFORM THE GRACEMOUNT COMMUNITY CENTRE COMPUTER ROOM FOR THEIR SKILLFORCE PRINCE’S AWARD

Students from Gracemount High School & Liberton High School are participating in The Duke of Cambridge’s new national community award

A group of young people from both Gracemount High & Liberton High have shown their commitment to the local area by transforming the computer room inside the Gracemount Youth & Childrens Community Centre as part of the SkillForce Prince’s Award.

The Award – launched by education charity SkillForce, in conjunction with HRH The Duke of Cambridge – invites young people to work as a team to plan and implement a programme within 24 hours that will make a significant contribution to their community. 

The local challenge is one of over 30 taking place across the country and took place in the Gracemount Youth & Children’s Community Centre on the 19^th & 20^th of March 2015. The young people agreed amongst themselves the theme for the challenge having noted the computer room needed a revamp, this was something that could be improved through their collaboration and hard work. They then planned, budgeted and implemented the task themselves. B&Q were so generous and made this project possible by kindly donating the paint we needed to get this challenge completed, we couldn’t have done it without them & Motorsmiths Garage kindly donated the wooden boards for the Apps around the room. Two fantastic companies who have greatly helped the community challenge! 

All the young people who completed the challenge will receive the SkillForce Princes Award Certificate to place in their personal record of achievement at a ceremony in June 2015 that is to be held at Tynecastle High School to celebrate their achievements. 

The SkillForce Prince’s Award builds on the existing work of SkillForce locally. SkillForce is an educational charity that works in partnership with more than 150 schools in England, Scotland and Wales to help young people realise their individual potential and academic ability. SkillForce instructors have a wealth of skills and life experience, and thus are positive and empathetic role models. In many cases their expertise has been earned through service in our armed forces. Having served their countries they are now serving their communities to help pupils stay engaged with education and improve their future employability.

Youth centre representative Sagi Iluz: “It’s…wow, the room looks great, the kids have done a great job!

Regional SkillForce instructor Hannah Smith said: Through the SkillForce Prince’s Award the group have had a direct involvement in the Gracemount community and made their mark on the Community Centre, also known as The Mansion. By doing this award they have developed skills that will help them in their own future. I am extremely proud of the achievements they have made throughout the year and for the hard work, time and effort they all put into this project. It is a wonderful building and is used by so many groups, a fantastic place to have in the community”

In a message of support to the charity, the Duke of Cambridge said: "I am immensely proud to put my name to the SkillForce Prince’s Award. It rewards young people who have made an outstanding contribution to their community, encouraging them to go further to nurture their personal, professional or educational development.”

For more information, please contact Sheila Strickland on 0131 629 4801 or sheila.strickland @skillforce.org

Notes to editors

·         SkillForce is an educational charity that works in partnership with more than 150 schools in England and Scotland to help young people realise their individual potential and academic ability. It makes a profound difference to their lives – tackling exclusions, increasing academic performance and boosting confidence amongst the pupils it works with.

·         SkillForce has been working in partnership with schools to improve the performance of young people since 2004. Many staff are ex-service men and women who use their extensive life experience and leadership skills to help pupils stay engaged with education and improve their future employability.

·         SkillForce is celebrating 10 years of Inspiring Young People To Succeed. Over the past 10 years, we have worked with over 50,000 young people in schools raising attainment, improved life chances and taught employability skills. Looking forward, in the next 10 years, we aspire to work with over 100,000 young people.

Gracemount Vision and Values for S1 and S2 ICT Students

Survey for S1 and S2 ICT Students:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9N5HQK9

Activating your AppleID

 

Activating your Apple ID

Your school iPad will be issued around Easter time.  Before you can download apps you must activate your school Apple ID.  Follow these steps carefully:

Step 1:  Log into the Apple ID website.  The direct link to website is here.

 

Step 2:  Use the details the staff member has given you.  Key them in carefully.

Step 3:  Once signed in, you’ll get a message telling you that your Apple ID needs to be verified.  Click on “Send/Resend the verification email” link.

Step 4:  You will now need to log into your school email account (open a new browser window).  You can log in here.

Step 5:  Key in your email address (Scottish Candidate Number@ea.edin.sch.uk). 

Step 6:  You will be taken to a new page.  On the next screen, key in your username and password that you use to log into the computers.

Note.  If you have not been into your email account before, you will need to set the language and timezone.  Please do this and then.  You'll then be able to access your email inbox.

Step 7:  Click on the email sent by Apple then click on the "Activate Now" link.

Step 8:  Once you see the activated message, you have successfully activated your Apple ID. You can now close the web browser windows and log off.

Please keep the paper with your Apple ID username and password for future reference.  Try to learn this and do not disclose it to anyone.  This will be used when you need to install Apps onto your iPad from the Apple App Store.