We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Many thanks to all who helped, made donations and supported the rescheduled Christmas Fair on Friday afternoon.

There was a great festive atmosphere and a fantastic team of volunteers - from those shivering at the doors, to the teams sweating at the tea urns and hot dogs - and everything in between.

The profit was just over £1,000!

It was agreed at the last PSA meeting that this money will be used to give each class a budget of their own to spend on new activities for Golden Time (and snowy break times?!)

We are also delighted to announce that Sally Thompson and Libby Torrie have volunteered to take on the position of joint PSA Chair and will be appointed officially at the next PSA Meeting on Thursday 20th January 2011, 7.30pm at the Espy...

...and another date for your diaries is the Book Sale on 28/29th January, so please hang onto any unwanted books until then.

We'd like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and all the very best for the New Year.

Katie and Sasha

Towerbank Christmas Fair Rescheduled

Towerbank Christmas Fair
Friday 17th December  12.10-1.40pm

After the sad cancellation of the Towerbank Christmas Fair last weekend, we are holding a smaller Fair in the Gym Hall on Friday 17th Dec from 12.10pm until 1.40pm.
There will be hot food, home baking, teas and coffees, Tombola, Christmas games, crafts and more…

Profits from the Fair will go towards buying fantastic new Golden Time games for all the classes!

How can you help?

We will be depending on your donations of tempting tombola prizes (to be delivered on Thursday 16th December) and delicious home baking (please deliver to the school office on the morning of Friday 17th December

and we need volunteers to help for an hour or so with stalls, games and serving food and refreshments, as well as helping to set up before hand and clearing up after 1.40pm. If you can help, please e-mail us at towerbankpsa@googlemail.com or leave a message on the blog. Thank you.

Towerbank Christmas Fair Cancelled!

Sorry to disappoint you all, but a decision has been taken to cancel the Towerbank Christmas Fair this Saturday due to staffing uncertainties and the potential for weather disruption.

It may be worth looking at a mini christmas fair on a Friday afternoon or a Saturday morning - perhaps just food and a few games/stalls in the gym hall but we are not sure how easy it would be to get volunteers to help out...your feedback would be useful so we can decide if it's even worth exploring dates with the school.

According to the Council website, the school is open again tomorrow so please spread the word to any other Towerbank families and travel safely to school.

A Winters Night - Friday 17th December

Just to let you know about a festive event taking place in Portobello, an opportunity to raise funds for Towerbank and have a lovely night out with friends and family!
A Winter's Night is a celebration of seasonal music, song and word featuring Sangstream (Edinburgh's Folk Choir), Towerbank Children's Choir, Lucy Pringle, storytellers David Campbell and Russell McLarty and other guest performers. Produced by Mairi Campbell and David Francis, it promises to be a great night for all ages! There's even Christmas Punch and Mincepies!

It's on Friday 17th December at 7.30pm in Portobello Town Hall. Tickets are £8 (£5 concession) and £3 for under 12's. Proceeds will go to Towerbank.

Tickets are now on sale at The Beach House Cafe and at Woodwares.

A lovely night out for all the family and an ideal Christmas gift to lift the spirits of a neighbour or friend. Last year's concert was a great success - don't miss this year's!

On Sunday 5th December, Barbara Middleton is running a Lantern Workshop, 2 - 5pm in Portobello Community Centre. Again suitable for all ages, tickets (Including materials) are £3, available at the door. Some of the lanterns will be adding atmosphere to our Winter's Night!

Please do what you can to publicise and support this event.



Many thanks.



PSA Committee

Bye Bye Becky

Sadly we are having to say goodbye to Becky Pope who is stepping down as Chair of the PSA due to other commitments. We are very grateful to Becky for her contribution to PSA activities over the past year and we will greatly miss the energy and enthusiasm she brought to the PSA. We wish her all the best for the future.

If anyone out there is interested in taking on the position of PSA Chair, please contact us on towerbankpsa@googlemail.com to discuss further.

Wine Tasting Evening

A BIG Thank You to Sarah Mauritzen and Katie Weaver for organising the fantastic Wine Tasting Evening last night and to all of those who helped with the setting up, clearing away and serving the delicious curry.  

Towerbank Christmas Fair - Saturday 4th December, 2.30-4.30pm

We are planning lots of festive fun for the Christmas Fair on Saturday 4th December: Santa’s Grotto, Tombola, performance corner, home baking, all your favourite games, crafts and much, much more…

Profits from the Fair will go towards buying fantastic new Golden Time games for all the classes!

How can you help?

We will be depending on your donations of:-

• Good quality used toys and games

• Tempting tombola prizes

• Second-hand CDs, computer games, DVDs for the Camp Fundraising Group stall

to be delivered any time from Thursday 2nd December

and delicious home baking – please deliver to the school office on Friday 3rd December or on the morning of the Fair.

and we need volunteers to help for an hour with stalls, games, face painting and serving food and refreshments, as well as helping to set up beforehand and clear up after 4.30pm. Please return the slip from the letter through your child’s school bag, hand into the school office, e-mail us at towerbankpsa@googlemail.com or leave a message on our blog twbpsa.blogspot.com.

Fruity Friday Fairtrade Snack Shop - Help Needed!

Yvonne Longwill is looking for parent volunteers to help run the very successful Fruity Friday Fairtrade Snack Shop on Friday mornings, working with P5 to P7 children to shop for fair trade fruit, assemble a tuck shop stall, serve the children at break time and clear up afterwards.

It is very rewarding working with the school children and also there is a great response from the children at break time buying the smoothies and fruit snacks.

If you are able to offer about an hour of your time on the odd Friday morning, please contact Yvonne by leaving a comment below, on the PSA e-mail towerbankpsa@googlemail.com or by popping a note into the school office marked for Yvonne Longwill's attention.

Thank you.

Halloween Film Night

We are holding a family Halloween Night at St Philip's Church Hall on Saturday 30th October at 6.30pm.

Come in Halloween costume and bring your friends and family. Popcorn and freaky Halloween treats will be on sale.

Seats are limited so reserve your tickets now. There is no fixed charge but we suggest a donation of £3 per ticket. Return your form to the school office now or e-mail us on towerbankpsa@googlemail.com .

A Big Thank You

Thank you to everyone who came along to the PSA Meeting last Tuesday. We were delighted that so many of you turned up to support the PSA and to help raise funds for the school this year.

As well as our usual events, we have a big and very exciting fundraising project to work towards over the next couple of years - the total redesign and redevelopment of the school playground. More details to follow......

In the mean time, please find attached the minutes from the meeting and we hope to see you at our next meeting on Wednesday 10th November, 7.30pm at the Dalriada.

Annual General Meeting

The PSA are holding our Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 28th September, 7.30 - 9.00pm in the school staffroom.

All welcome.

Portobello High School Meeting - this Wednesday 25th August

Act now if you want a new high school

For those of you who may not be aware, there is a Public Meeting at the Town Hall on Wednesday 25th August from 7-9pm at which members of the project design team will present revisions to the plans for the new High School which have been made over the summer, since the public meeting in June.

It would be very helpful to have a strong turnout of parents for this meeting so that the outcome is as positive and supportive as it was in June.

Highlights from PSA Meeting - 22nd June 2010

Thank you to all who came along to the PSA Meeting on Tuesday.

Here are some quick highlights from the meeting:-

• The current balance in the PSA account is £11,227 including over £3,000 CFG funds.
• The Summer Fair raised over £1,200.
• It was agreed to hold a Spring Fair next year rather than a Summer Fair.
• The PSA agreed to fund blackout curtains for the gym hall, a Smartboard and projector for the new P2 classroom and two digital cameras.
• The PSA and School Council Newsletter will be sent out before the end of term.
• PSA dates and events to be distributed at the beginning of the Autumn Term.

You may like to know that the School Council have launched their shiny new website: http://towerbank.wordpress.com/. As well as finding out all about our busy School Council, you can also keep up to date with the proposals for the new Portobello High School and complete the 'Have Your Say' questionnaire online.

That's it now for the 2010-2011 session. We hope you have a great summer and look forward to seeing you at PSA meetings and events in the next school year.

Summer Fair - A Huge Thank You

A massive thanks to all of you who helped in so many ways at the school fair yesterday. It was a great team effort and a very enjoyable event.

A particular thank you to those who coordinated a stall or an activity at the fair - it makes the whole thing so much more manageable for the fair organisers. Please pass on our thanks to your team, just in case I haven't got everyone on my email list.

The final profit was just over £1 100 which is a great total and included stocking up the cupboard with supplies for next time (!) and investing in an extra waffle machine.

Don't forget the next PSA meeting is at the Dalriada Bar at 7.30pm on Tues 22nd June. Do come along if you're inspired to see what the psa could be planning to do next...or if you want to have a say in how your hard-earned psa money is spent.

Many thanks again

The PSA committtee - Becky, Sasha and Katie

Next PSA Meeting

Here is a date for your diaries:-

The next PSA Meeting (and the last for this school year) will be at the Dalriada on Tuesday 22nd June at 7.30pm.

We hope to see you there.

Towerbank Summer Fair - Saturday 19th June

Thank you so much to everyone who has already volunteered to help at the Summer Fair on Saturday 19th June, 2-4 pm.

We have had a great response, but are still looking for more volunteers to run the games and other activites, as well as teams to help with setting up and clearing up afterwards.

Anyone else who is interested in helping out, but hasn't got round to contacting us yet, please e-mail us at towerbankpsa@googlemail.com or post a message on the blog.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Highlights from PSA Meeting 29th April 2010

Here are some quick highlights from last Thursday's PSA Meeting:

• The current balance in the PSA Account is £10,395, including approx £3,000 CFG funds.
• The PSA agreed to fund the Park Smart Banner (which is currently displayed on the school railings) and two subscriptions to the children's newspaper First News.
• We are looking for volunteers to run activities at the Summer Fair on Saturday 19th June, 2-4 pm. If you are interested in helping out, please contact the PSA through our e-mail address or on our blog. 
• Fundraising ideas for 2010-11 include a Wine Tasting evening; Halloween and other Film Nights; the Christmas Fair; a Book Sale and a Car Boot Sale.

Also if anyone is interested in organising a Summer Raffle this year, we are looking for volunteers.

Help needed!

The fair trade/healthy eating tuck shop is available every friday at break time. It exists to promote healthy snacks and extend the buy fair trade ethos of the school. P7 and P6 children assist with the fruit preparation and making smoothies. They need minimum supervision and are a great bunch.
It is very rewarding for any helper to spend an hour with them, assisting them on the day and with their ideas for the stall.

If you can spare an hour now and again on a friday, your help with this worthwhile project would be most appreciated.

Please contact Yvonne Longwill 07761736886/ylongwill@hotmail.co.uk or the school office. Many thanks.

PSA Meeting

Don't forget PSA Meeting next Thursday 29th April 7.30pm at the Dalriada. Everyone is welcome.

Highlights from PSA Meeting

As promised, here are some highlights from the PSA meeting on Tuesday evening:-

1. Sasha Udell was appointed Secretary of the PSA, replacing Sybil Bacica, who was thanked for 5 years of hard work.

2. Current balance in the PSA account is £9,155. The PSA have spent £908 on school equipment and activities. The CFG have raised £1,924 for P6 and P7 residential trips.

3. The PSA agreed to fund: replacement wood for the old benches in the East side of the playground; subsidy for Alan Hepburn's after school chess club; a portable amplification system for activities inside and outside the school building eg shake and wake.

Other requests were discussed and deferred pending clarification.

4. Liz Surridge gave an update on the fundraising activities of the Camp Fundraising Group who have raised just under £2,000 and their target figure is in the region of £3,000.

5. The PSA have now set up a dedicated e-mail address and a blog
in order to improve communication with parents.

6. Date for Summer Fair: Saturday 19th June, 2-4 pm and we are looking for volunteers to co-ordinate.

7. Summer Fair and Future fundraising 2010/2011 to be discussed further at next PSA Meeting on 29th April.

8. Sybil volunteered to write PSA Newsletter and to co-ordinate with School Council over a joint letter to parents.

9. Uniforms
Jane Marriott has requested help to fulfill uniform orders at end of summer term.

10. Date of next meeting: Thursday 29th April, 7.30pm at the Dalriada

PSA Meeting

Thank you to everyone who came along to the PSA meeting last night at the Dalriada. It was a very positive meeting and great to see lots of new faces! Main points from the meeting will be posted on the blog very soon, so please watch this space...

We look forward to seeing everyone at the next meeting on Thursday 29th April, 7.30pm at the Dalriada. On the agenda: planning for the Summer Fair and future fundraising ideas for 2010/11.

Great News

The Class Reps idea is really taking off. We now have 10 volunteers but are still looking for more. We currently have gaps in P1A, P2B, P3B, P6 (both classes) and P7A, so if you have a child in any of these classes and are interested in becoming a class rep, please contact the PSA at towerbankpsa@gmail.com.

Becoming a Class Rep

Becoming a Class Rep gives you an active role in helping to make the PSA successful and can help you get to know parents across the whole school.


We ask that you try and attend PSA meetings whenever possible and volunteer to help out at PSA events of you are able to. You would also be feeding back any ideas to the PSA Committee and telling other parents/carers about activities the PSA are doing.


If you would like to be a Rep for your child's class then please contact us. We can have as many Class Reps in each class as possible.

PSA Meeting

Don't forget the next PSA meeting is next Tuesday 23rd March at 7.30 in the Dalriada.