Victoria Primary has served the village of Newhaven since 1844. It is the oldest working school in Edinburgh. It plays an important part in the life of the community and we are proud of our history and heritage. We have log books and registers in the school dating back to the 1870s and a display of old-school artifacts. The Wee Museum houses exhibit on Newhaven and the local area.
It is the oldest still-functioning primary school in Edinburgh and we are very proud of our history and heritage. We serve the village of Newhaven and the surrounding area and there is a mixture of privately owned houses, rented accommodation, and council properties. The school is a feeder primary for Trinity Academy.
We are very proud that Victoria Primary is the oldest school that is still operational. The main school building is three stories high. On the ground floor is the Gym Hall, the Dining Hall, Non-Fiction Library, Head Teacher’s Office, and School Office. There are four classrooms on the first floor, around our balcony, which belong to P3, P3/4, P4, and Support for Learning as well as our ICT suite. P5, P6, and P7 can be found on the second floor. Around our stairwells, we have our sensory 'Bubble Room', the Fiction Library, the Depute Head Teacher's Office, Business Manager's Office, and the Staff Room.
The Anchor Building opened in August 2014 and is located in the playground. Primary 2 can also be found in the Anchor Building. Opening up from these areas are our ‘Outdoor Classrooms’ where pupils can take their learning outdoors.
The school premises are used by Community groups on most evenings. Activities include Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, and Community choir.
We are currently in the process of redeveloping our School grounds. Our playground holds an exciting mix of open play-space, a football pitch, a quiet zone, and an ‘urban meadow’ (a green space of wild grasses and flowers to encourage wildlife and grow flowers and vegetables). This redevelopment is ongoing and is happening with the help of our local community.
Our school follows a Curriculum for Excellence, offering a broad general education, including well-planned experiences and outcomes across the curriculum. Our main aim is to encourage our pupils to become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens, and effective contributors.
Only water is permitted to drink in class however, you will have the opportunity to purchase milk at the start of the year which is provided each day. We would also ask you to provide a healthy snack for your child at playtime. We encourage children to bring ’a snack without a pack’ to cut down on our litter too. Children will be allowed the occasional treat in school when baking or at parties.
As well as this focus on healthy eating and physical health through our commitment to 2 hours of PE per week, we aim to provide our pupils with the skills to keep good mental health also. Each term, all classes will have a key Health and Well-being skill which they will develop. This will be achieved through classwork and school-wide assembly projects. During your child’s journey through school, they will participate in lessons about sensitive aspects of learning, e.g. relationships, sexual health, parenthood, drugs awareness, etc. Class teachers will inform parents before these lessons take place.
