Category Archives: Latest News

Our final day in Amsterdam

May 26, 2016 Gayle Santi

Day four arrived and flew by in a flash. We were very lucky that the sunshine really began to shine for us today and we got to enjoy our final morning and our visits to Zaanse Schans and Volendam with the sun blazing. The only downfall to this was the lack of wind! This made for some very still windmills.

Once we had checked out of the hotel, we were taken by our very friendly and knowledgable bus driver to Zaanse Schans, where we were able to wander around all the shops and the windmills and we even got to go on a mini tour of one of the windmills and go right to the top. We were told all about the functionality of the windmills and how they fill their time on days like today, when there is no wind! We even met a man selling paintings that spoke 18 languages! He was able to converse effortlessly with all of us in English, then Anna in Russian, Josh and Freddie in Hebrew and even a little Mandarin was exchanged.

After we all stocked up on some more souvenirs, we made our way to a little fishing village called Volendam. This place had very unique houses and our driver told us all about the competitions the locals have to keep the best gardens and the cleanest windows. The whole village was filled with beautiful shops, cafes and even a little stretch of a beach, where we all had a great time relaxing. We were taken to a cheese factory where we got a tour of the factory and got to sample lots of the cheeses. Lots of cheese was purchased for gifts and then we made our way back into the sunshine for some final fun.

Before we knew it, it was time to go to the airport. With a great flight, and no delays, we were back in Glasgow by dinner time where we were all met by all of the enthusiastic parents and siblings that must have been missing us a lot!

It has been such a fantastic and memorable trip with a really superb group of pupils (and even teachers). This will certainly be a week that we will remember forever.

We hope you enjoy the photos!

Class Trip, Latest News

Mearns Castle Transitions

May 16, 2016 Gayle Santi

Some pupils from Calderwood Lodge have recently gone to Mearns Castle for extended transitions.

At the extended transitions you get to meet some staff who work at the school. This is a great opportunity to be shown all around the school and told all about what the school is like and what we should expect when we go there.

A little while after the extended transitions, two pupils from Mearns Castle, who had been former pupils at Calderwood Lodge, visited our class. Their names were Ryan and Olivia. We remember them well from when they came to Calderwood. They are now Mearns Castle pupils and came to tell us when the whole class all about the school and what to expect from transitions. They told us about the clubs we can attend, the classes, the teachers, the school uniform and what subjects you will take. They also talked about which house you will be in and who your year head will be.

This was a great chance to ask questions and hopefully ease any nerves we had.

Not long now!

By Josh and Amy

Calderwood Book Fair

March 30, 2016 Gayle Santi

Last week, Primary 7 helped to host Calderwood’s annual Book Fair.

Every day, some Primary 7 pupils would help to sell books to each of the younger stages.

On the first day, the book fair was packed! We were very happy to see lots of children thrilled about getting and reading new books.

Personally, I found it quite enjoyable to sell the books while my other friends were helping out as well.

On Parent’s Evening, a few primary 7’s volunteered to help out at the book fair so that any pupils that were there with their parents, still had the chance to buy some books.

As time went by, we realised that we had sold lots of books and plenty of stationary. Mr Robson was extremely happy that the younger pupils were enthusiastic about the Fair again.

Mr Robson and all of Primary 7 were incredibly amazed that we were able to raise over £500! We were delighted.

Vaneeza Ali

-My Achievements, Latest News, Literacy and English

Class Debate

February 15, 2016 Gayle Santi

In Primary Seven, we have been working on our debating skills. We were challenged by Mrs Santi to think of a debate spontaneously. We were given ten seconds to think of a topic. We voted on which topic we should then debate on and the final decision lay between:

This house believes that there should be more toys for the Calderwood Lodge playground

and

This house believes that animals kept in captivities such as zoos, should be encouraged.

The final verdict was to debate on animals being kept in captivity. We were divided into two sides where we were given fifteen minutes to come up with points and information without any prior research.

It was a challenging activity to think of information and points to persuade people to agree with our thoughts. We felt pressurised but we were developing our confidence levels at the same time. We had to work well together and make sure we were communicating properly to avoid people saying the same things.

In the end, the opposing team won.

It was very fun but quite a challenging activity. It helped us to understand the format of debates and what skills we still need to develop. We would like to do it again so we can continue to improve. Mrs Santi was able to give us constructive criticism and pointers, so next time we will be even more prepared.

By Freddie and Lilah

Class Trip, Health and Wellbeing, Latest News, Literacy and English, Religious and Moral Education

Mitzvah Day

November 26, 2015 Gayle Santi

On Thursday 26^th November, the Primary 7 class visited the People’s Palace, as part of our World War Two topic. Once we had finished with our workshops and had lunch, we drove over to Westacres Care Home as part of our Mitzvah Day activity.

The Primary 1 class had all made lovely Chanukah cards as part of their Mitzvah Day activities. Since they are all a little young to visit Westacres, we took the cards and delivered them all for them. When we arrived, we sang a number of Chanukah songs for the residents and Lilah and Maddie played a Chanukah song on their violins. We also brought our writing jotters along with us to read them stories that we had written at school. By the looks of it, some of the men and women fantastically enjoyed them!

At the end, we sang once again because they had enjoyed it so much first time round. We sang a few Chanukah songs such as Ner Li, Maoz Tzur, and Sevivon. They all gave us a massive clap at the end. Some also said that we were amazing!

To end off our visit we decided to sing Bim Bom because everyone loves that song! We said goodbye to the elderly people and they us to come visit us again soon! I think we did a great mitzvah by visiting the elderly people and hopefully we can do it more often through the year and not wait a whole year for Mitzvah Day again.

Vaneeza Ali

Latest News, Religious and Moral Education

Shabbat U.K.

October 26, 2015 Gayle Santi

On Friday 23rd October 2015 it was Shabbat UK.

Shabbat UK is part of the Shabbos project. The purpose of the Shabbos project is a project that is made to call on all Jewish people and encourage them to celebrate Shabbat together. This project is celebrated all around the world and Shabbat UK brings lots of people together in so many different ways.

Our school celebrated Shabbat UK at our Kabbalat Shabbat Assembly on Friday. We started off with our normal Kabbalat Shabbat routine, with a few surprise changes in between. We also got to listen to a video message from the Chief Rabbi.

In this Kabbalat Shabbat we learned that it is important for all communities to work together in unity.

By Iman Rasool