Author Archives: Mrs Maclean

House Challenge March 2026

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On Thursday we came together to complete our Spring House Challenge. We wrote poetry, designed and made Easter bonnets for Buttony Bear, made Easter gardens and completed puzzles. We also had a challenge to move an egg without touching it. The winning team made a zipline to move their egg.

The Pine Martens and Mountain Hares were joint winners of the Challenge and Mountain Hares overall winners for this term. This afternoon they chose to have a cartoon, snacks and draw along  for their House Treat.

Outdoor learning Friday 20th March

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Today we went outside to take part in the Nuart graffiti art event for schools. We came up with a word bank of words we would use to describe our school then Lucas S, Ivy and Edith mapped out on paper how to arrange them. We used chalk to transfer the words to a big 3m square in the playground. We will send a photo of our word square to be included in the event next month.

We also spent time in the polycrub, planting sunflowers, Livingston Daisies and Crocosmia. All our seeds got a good watering as it was very warm in there.

P5-7 had the opportunity to have a go at lighting a fire with the fire steel, in a very controlled and safe environment. Our outdoor learning progression is based on safety and an awareness of the Outdoor Access Code, so we were not able to have our firepit out this week due to the Wildfire Warning in place, however the children reinforced their understanding of the fire triangle and were able to develop skills in undertaking a risk assessment. The aim of this aspect of our outdoor learning programme is to equip our pupils with life skills, help them to assess and manage risk and become responsible users of our local environment, both now and in the future.

 

 

Trying out a new resource- Pupil Council

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At today’s committee session, the Pupil Council had the opportunity to try out a new resource. It has been created by local lady Jenny Gow, to help school children understand about stomas. Our school has been asked to provide feedback to the creators, before it is shared with a wider audience. They investigated the contents of the pack, which included lesson plans for a variety of age groups, a game, colouring pages, a Buttony Bear soft toy and a lovely illustrated picture book. They gave very thoughtful feedback, which we shall pass on to Jenny and her team. Further information about the Buttony Bear charity can be found here.

Mobile Art School, 12th March 2026

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Thank you to everyone who came along to watch the children’s masks being installed at Braemar Kirk this afternoon. We have had a fantastic day, working with the artist Thomas J Price, along with staff and students from Gray’s School of Art. Lots of photos of the day on the Sway link below.

The display will be in place all weekend and masks will come home next week.

Go to this Sway

Learning in P1-4

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We finished off our ‘Wildlife and the Weather’ IDL with a visit from Lianne, Mar Lodge Ranger. She took the children into the woods where they they looked at the changing seasons and how animals respond to this.

On Friday afternoon we talked about our learning throughout the week. Edith has enjoyed learning how to multiply. Scarlett has been practising her 2, 5 and 10 times tables. Craig has been ‘learning his numbers’. We talked about how division is a bit tricky and how it’s the opposite of multiplying.  Some children mentioned learning how to join the letter ‘s’ in handwriting and how to write stories like a news reporter. They are enjoying opportunities in class to play at being reporters, complete with wearing a suit! In PE they have been learning how to play volleyball and in RME the class have been finding out about the colourful Hindu festival, Holi.

In assembly this week we found out about lots of different kinds of scientist, as part of British Science Week. To be good scientists we have to be curious and ask lots of questions, and we spoke about what kind of scientist we might like to be. Lots of information and activities available on the British Science Week website here.

 

Our Friendship Code

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Following on from Assembly last week, where we spoke about friends and friendships, P5-7 were tasked with designing a poster to illustrate our Friendship Code. All of the pupils came up with great suggestions for statements we needed to include in the code and these were whittled down to our final 10 points.

It was difficult to choose a winner, but in the end we decided on 2 posters which stood out. Piper’s art skills were evident in her poster, whilst Ernest used tech to create his on Adobe Express.

See if you can spot their posters in and around the school the next time you visit.

     

 

 

Learning in P1-4

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This afternoon we talked about our learning this week in RM 2. Ava told us that she has enjoyed learning in maths, finding out about graphs and charts in ‘data handling’. She has also enjoyed her reading book, part of the Dragon Eggs series. Oscar has enjoyed finding out more about journalism and reporters and their role in telling us about the news. Edith talked about fasting, covered in RME when learning about Islam.

Aiden has really enjoyed playing with the cars this week, especially playing with the ramp built by Lucas. Scarlett told us about using a mnemonic to help her remember how to spell ‘ould’ words. ( O U lucky duck!)  The children have really enjoyed Tech, Doodle and Dance clubs this week.
Assembly today was about friendships and P1-4 had some great ideas for our Braemar School Friendship Code.  Here are some photos from our week.

 

 

Outdoor Learning Teamwork

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This afternoon we all went outside to work together on some important jobs, as well as taking part in a creative activity in the snow!

We cleared all the raised beds in the polycrub and had a good tidy up, so that we are ready to start planting and sowing seeds soon. Lucas and Ben harvested a giant turnip and Craig  found 2 big cabbages. We stacked and tidied all the plant pots and put any waste into the compost bin. Jamie spread some extra bark chips at the entrance where it’s starting to get muddy.

We also sorted equipment for our ‘Mud Kitchen’ and had a chance to have a play with it in the snow, making snow pies and giant ice creams. We think this will be a very popular playtime activity all year round! A big thank you to everyone who sent in old kitchen equipment for this project.

P1-4 have been learning about how animals cope  in winter so we decided to set up ‘Squirrel Cafes’ around the school grounds, using the pinecones we collected earlier in the year. Hopefully our local squirrels will enjoy a wee treat over the weekend while the school is quiet.

February is “Random Acts of Kindness Month”. Inspired by the book and animated film ‘Thread of Hope’, pupils discussed what kindness looks and sounds like when playing and learning outdoors. They then painted in the snow with warm and cool colours to represent feeling upset (cool) and the kindness (warm) that can help in those moments.

Finally, we warmed up with a cup of hot chocolate at the end of the session. Great teamwork from everyone this afternoon!