Category Archives: Learning Tech

Essay Success – What does ‘sustainable living’ mean to you?

Awards, Communities and Culture, Competitions, Debate, Eco Schools, environment, Events, Geography, Global Citizenship, Health and Wellbeing, Interdisciplinary, Learning Tech, Literacy, Primary schools, Projects,

Each year the Trust for Sustainable Living organises a global essay competition, which this year invited schoolchildren to outline their ideas for sustainable living and the steps needed for societies to achieve them. This year 73 countries participated and essays were received from 1,094 children. We had several finalists from Port Ellen and in July Asher travelled down to Oxford to attend the international schools debate, which was attended by children from 23 countries.

Continue reading Essay Success – What does ‘sustainable living’ mean to you? →

Auchindrain / Achadh an Droigheann

Communities and Culture, environment, Events, Gaelic, Geography, History, Interdisciplinary, Learning Tech, Literacy, Outdoor Learning, Primary schools, Projects,

On the last week of term, June 2014, the pupils of Sandbank Gaelic Medium Unit visited Auchindrain as part of their local history project and Crofting Connections work. They had brainstormed a set of questions that they wanted to ask the curator, Mr Bob Clarke, which would help us to understand the forces of change in the lives of local people through the last couple of centuries. Mr Clarke took us on a tour of the houses, telling us about some of the inhabitants and their way of life. We learned so much that we would not be able to write it all down in one report!
Continue reading Auchindrain / Achadh an Droigheann →

UK Kodu Kup final success!

Competitions, Learning Tech, Primary schools, ,

Congratulations to Cardross Primary school who won the ‘judges choice award’ at this year’s UK Kodu Kup final.  Cardross is the first Scottish school to be invited to the UK final and they certainly represented Scotland well!  The pupils competed against 11 other schools from across the UK at Microsoft’s HQ in Reading.

To give a sense of the scale of their achievement, Microsoft estimates that 380,000 students have used Kodu in the UK this year.  Microsoft said “…the quality of the 160 games that were entered into the competition was outstanding and your games were voted the best by our judging panel.”

Continue reading UK Kodu Kup final success! →

Generation Science visit Barcaldine Primary

Interdisciplinary, Learning Tech, Primary schools, Science, Topics, Workshops,

The children of Barcaldine Primary School recently had the Generation Science team visit them to do a workshop. The Marvellous Magnets workshop was thoroughly enjoyed by all the children. We were transported into the mysterious world of magnets and we had fun being the scientist and being able to learn about magnetic attraction and repulsion as well and fields and poles. We explored how magnetic forces have an effect on our world like the magnetic Poles and the Northern lights.

Fairytale Celebration Event

Communities, Events, Interdisciplinary, Learning Centres, Learning Tech, Personal Development, Presentations, Topics

The parents and class teachers of pupils who attend The Sunshine Room Nurture Group were invited to Parklands for a very special celebration event. The celebration event showcased a DVD of all the pupils hard work over the term on the topic of fairytales, the DVD showed the pupils planning of the topic, activities they took part in and their assessment of their own learning. Parents and class teachers said they enjoyed the event and loved seeing the pupils’ contributions.

Scottish Kodu Kup Final

Competitions, Events, Learning Tech, Primary schools,

Pupils at Cardross Primary School were delighted to learn that 2 groups of budding computer programmers have been selected to attend the Scottish Kodu Kup final next week. The final 10 teams will meet at West College Scotland, Paisley Campus on Monday 16th July. The finalists will have the opportunity to work on their games before presenting their game and concept to the panel of judges.

Continue reading Scottish Kodu Kup Final →

Port Ellen News

Awards, Competitions, Events, Interdisciplinary, Learning Tech, Literacy, Presentations, Primary schools, School trips, Science, Social Enterprise, Topics,

Successful Scent-Citizens

‘Scent-Citizens’, a social enterprise business run by P4/5 in Port Ellen Primary School, has been presented with a Social Enterprise Academy Award by John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth.

Continue reading Port Ellen News →

Oban High and the Digital Commonwealth 2014

Commonwealth, Communities and Culture, Events, Learning Tech, Projects, Secondary schools, Social Media, Transition,

The nationwide Digital Commonwealth project run by UWS, focuses on lowering the threshold for involvement for individuals and groups so that they can be empowered to exploit creative tools and technologies to tell their stories, digitally. The project aim is to involve every Local Authority in Scotland in the digital reporting of the Commonwealth themes in the run up to the Queen’s Baton Relay. The schools programme promotes digital media literacy skills through a series of in-school training workshops, Continue reading Oban High and the Digital Commonwealth 2014 →

Oliver’ Performance at Park Primary

Communities, Events, Expressive arts, History, Interdisciplinary, Learning Tech, Literacy, Primary schools, Topics

Staff, pupils, and parents were treated to a very enjoyable musical performance by Mrs Lind’s P5 class during their recent production of “Oliver’. The class had been studying ‘The Victorians’, and had spent several weeks working very hard to learn their songs and lines. Several children sang solo parts and were highly praised for their lovely singing voices – some stars of the future we think!

Continue reading Oliver’ Performance at Park Primary →

CALL Scotland RTC Launch

Conferences, CPD, Learning Tech, Workshops

To launch our new status as an Apple Regional Training Centre, specialising in iPads and Additional Support Needs, CALL is hosting a free half-day conference at Moray House School of Education on Friday 9th May. Speakers include Steve Bunce, Jenni Robertson and David Ryan. There will also be parallel workshop presentations on using iPads for:

– Literacy and Creativity (Jenni Robertson)
– Pupils with Dyslexia and Reading / Writing Difficulties (Paul Nisbet)
– Pupils with Communication Difficulties (Sally Millar)
– Pupils on the Autistic Spectrum (Sue Fletcher-Watson)

Continue reading CALL Scotland RTC Launch →

Bright Sparks at Small Isles Primary

Events, Expressive arts, Interdisciplinary, Learning Tech, Primary schools, Science, Topics, , , , ,

This term the P5-7 children in all the primary schools on Islay and Jura are learning about science and technology. We have been learning about electrical circuits, creating electronic devices, simple programming and discussing the links to real life technologies.

The P5-7s from Keills came to Jura on the 4th March for a technology challenge day, where we shared what we had been learning and had lots of fun! Here’s a few thoughts about the day. Continue reading Bright Sparks at Small Isles Primary →

Barcaldine PS iPad Training

Conferences, Learning Tech, Primary schools, School trips

The pupils from Barcaldine Primary School were invited to attend the ‘Raising Attainment’ Conference on Monday 10th March 2014.  The very enthusiastic  class were delighted  to have been asked to display the work they have been doing with their iPads in the classroom and how technology has become part of every lesson they have.  The pupils were asked lots of questions by the visitors to their stall and they were able to answer very confidently and clearly.  Maggie Irving held a workshop and the pupils were delighted to have been asked to assist her.  They showed a number of people who attended the workshop how they could use iPads to promote literacy learning and how much they enjoy learning in this way.

‘Options’ Fridays at Dalintober Primary School

Eco Schools, Expressive arts, Health and Wellbeing, Learning Tech, Primary schools

Dalintober Primary pupils are enjoying their new skills based programme, called ‘Options’, which has been running every Friday since January. Pupils have ‘opted in’ to one of four areas – Healthy Heroes (Health & Wellbeing), Eco Warriors (Sustainable Education), Techno Whizzes (Technologies) and Smarty Arties (Expressive Arts) – which represent the wide variety of interests and wider achievements of the pupils themselves. Continue reading ‘Options’ Fridays at Dalintober Primary School →

Sal Team of DPS at Oban ‘Raising Attainment’ Conference

Conferences, Events, Learning Tech, Primary schools, School trips

Dunoon Primary’s magnicifent Sal Team attended the ‘Raising Attainment’ Conference in Oban on Tuesday 11 March 2014. The enthusiastic pupils were thrilled to be asked to have a stall displaying their IT skills in Raspberry Pi, Lego We Do and EV3. Their stall was very busy and the pupils displayed very confident clear answers to any questions asked by the visitors. Gary Clark held a workshop and the pupils were delighted to be invited to assist him. The audience asked them lots of questions and they explained the various aspects of the software and how they enjoyed using it. Continue reading Sal Team of DPS at Oban ‘Raising Attainment’ Conference →

E-Safety for Parents event

Child Protection, Communities, Events, Health and Wellbeing, Learning Tech, Training,

Do you…
• Worry about what your children are doing online?
• Know how to stay safe online?
• Know how to keep your children safe online?
• Have e-safety questions that you would like answering?
• Need help to make sure that you stay safe online?
If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above ………………. Continue reading E-Safety for Parents event →

Argyll and Bute Kodu Competition

Learning Tech,

Kodu is a free application developed by Microsoft to introduce young people to computer games design.  This visual programming language allows students to design and build three dimensional games.  Kodu can help young people to learn the core concepts of computer science within the context of a project which includes narrative writing, design and maths.

The Learning Technologies Team is pleased to announce the 1st annual Argyll and Bute Kodu Competition. The competition is open to all Argyll and Bute schools and entries must be received by Thursday 1st May 2014.

Continue reading Argyll and Bute Kodu Competition →

Young Learning Centre Designers Take a Trip to The Printers

Communities and Culture, Events, Interdisciplinary, Learning Centres, Learning Tech, Topics, Training,

Five pupils from Dunoon Grammar’s learning centre designed an eye-catching range of Christmas cards as part of their contribution to the Learning Support Department’s annual Christmas Fayre. The designs were so colourful and original that learning centre teacher Liz Miller approached local printer, E&R Inglis, to see if they would print the cards to give them the professional finish they deserved.

Continue reading Young Learning Centre Designers Take a Trip to The Printers →

Nativity Hoe Down at St. Mun’s

Communities and Culture, Events, Expressive arts, Interdisciplinary, Learning Tech, Literacy, Primary schools, Projects, Topics, Training,

Wednesday and Thursday of last week saw the children of St. Mun’s Primary School perform their annual Christmas whole school show to two full houses and their new Acting Head Teacher Mrs. L. Fisher.

The School’s choir took to the stage first with a carol concert, which included festive readings and monologues as well as soloists and festive favourites, which had the audiences joining in.
Continue reading Nativity Hoe Down at St. Mun’s →