Meldrum Primary School Blog

We’ve packed a lot into the last week of what has been a really busy term!  We’ve had 2 pupils from Deans Community High School join us for work experience this week, they have helped and supported our children really well.  P5 had their forest visit on Tuesday and unfortunately, the weather wasn’t kind to them however they had a great time regardless.  P5 and P6/5 have been out at DCHS for the annual Learn 2 Swim assessments carried out by staff from Xcite West Lothian.  This morning, we had our 2nd house gathering of the term where the children took part in a self-evaluation question linked to school improvement and completed some activities related to Challenge Poverty Week.  We also had a visit from Nelu, our chaplain who presented about Harvest and we finished off with our termly Achievement Assembly!

A huge thank you to everyone for their generosity in supporting West Lothian Foodbank.  Our House Captains did a great job of organising our collection and of gathering everything that was brought in as you can see from the photos below.  They also helped the gentleman from the foodbank to pack it all up to take away.  Well done everyone!

You will have received a Sway presentation today sharing a recap of the first term, therefore there are no class blog posts today.  The Sway link seems to be a live link on mobile devices but not on desktop computers, you will need to copy and paste it into your web browser if you are on a computer.  We hope that you enjoy looking over our termly highlights.

Mrs Scobie and P4/3 are going to have a teaching student work with them next term.  Miss Cutajar joins us from Strathclyde University and will be working alongside Mrs Scobie and the children for most of the term.  She will have to undertake some planning and teaching over her time with us, this will be done with Mrs Scobie to ensure continuity and progression for the children.

A reminder that school is closed next week for October break. I hope that everyone has a good break and look forward to seeing everyone on return.  Pupils resume on Tuesday 27th October. 

Week beginning 26th October

Monday – school closed to pupils

Tuesday – Touchdown American football tasters for P4 – P7 (PE kit required please); P4/3 forest visit – outdoor learning kit and change of clothes please

Wednesday – P6 group to church soup kitchen;  After school netball club

Thursday – After school martial arts club; Parent Council Hallowe’en Discos

We’ve had a lot going on this week here at Meldrum.  We’ve welcomed 2 college students to the school, they have been working with P1/2 and P3/2 and should be with us every Wednesday and Thursday over the coming weeks.  Mr Douglas is working within P1/2 and Miss McGrogan is working with P3/2.  They will be supporting with groups and undertaking activities which will be supervised by Mrs Lang and Miss Canning.  P2, P3 and P4 pupils had a visit from Susan at Carmondean Library who shared information about the different clubs and activities that run in the library.  P7 families had the opportunity to visit DCHS for a tour and welcome talk from Miss Thomson, DHT who organises transition and supports S1.  This seemed to go well with lots of pupils talking positively about their visit.  Our Parent Consultations were very well attended and staff enjoyed sharing information about pupil learning with parents and carers.  Our P7 pupils had the option to join their consultation and this seemed to be a positive experience for them.  This morning, we took part in NSPCC assemblies with the key message of “Speak Out, Stay Safe.” P4 – P7 viewed one presentation and P1 – P3 viewed something different with a similar message.  The children will take part in some follow-up activities in classes next week.  The link for you to view materials was shared by letter previously for anyone who wishes to see what the children will be doing.

Next Week

Monday – 2 pupils from DCHS on work experience shadowing pupil support staff across the school; After School rugby club

Tuesday – P5 Forest visit (outdoor clothing required)

Wednesday – P5 and P6/5 to DCHS for Learn to Swim assessments – swimming kit and towel required – please do not send shampoo or shower gel as the children won’t have time to use this; After school netball club

Friday – Foodbank Appeal Non Uniform Day (no football strips/pyjamas or onesies) Please send an item for the foodbank – full details in letter sent this morning; Harvest assembly and Achievement assembly.

Please note that school closes on Friday 16th October at 12.30pm for the October break,  pupils return on Tuesday 27th October. 

We have lots of ‘Great Green’s’ to share this week!:

• Pupils have been doing their class jobs more and more without reminders.
• Creating fact files to showcase our knowledge of living things – our current Science topic.
• Developing our knowledge of 2D shapes and 3D models in Maths. Especially enjoying working with nets.
• Beginning our ‘Autumn Tree’ project which will take us on a step-by-step journey to creating very detailed and realistic pictures.

Think Pink

• Work on uploading assignments within the given time frame.

Thank you again to Arran and Noah for being Lead Learners. I am proud to say that Neve and Finlay are our Lead Learners for next week. Thank you both for your help throughout the week and your commitment to reach challenges. Well done!

*A quick note to remind all Parents/Carers that we will walk along to DCHS on Wednesday afternoon for swimming. Please ensure pupils come prepared for this.

As part of our People Who Help Us topic we visited two members of staff this week. Firstly, we visited Mrs Stephenson who showed us all the equipment she uses to do her job (printer, door camera, telephone, walkie talkie and the notice board filled with all the important information that is happening in school).

Yesterday we visited Mrs Eagan in her office. She told us some of the ways that she helps pupils in the school (in the lunch hall, in the playground in the morning and at play/lunch time, in classes…). She spoke about assemblies and how she enjoyed finding out who gets the value certificates each week. Finally, she showed us a new book that she is going to read to us soon.

This week we finished learning the initial sounds. We are now going to practise using them as we continue to learn how to write and read new words.

Mr Douglas, a student from West Lothian College, was helping us in class on Wednesday and Thursday and we are looking forward to working with him over the next few months.

In Health and Wellbeing we were learning about ‘my body belongs to me’ and privacy. We spoke about telling a trusted adult if you are hurt or things don’t feel right.

Great Green – (things that went well) … using our senses to describe the playground.

Think Pink – (we need to practise) … looking after the black dry wipe pens.

Our lead learners for next week are Sophie and Zander.

Another great week in Primary 5 – we used IT skills to present information about our chosen collective noun, we made 3D shapes using nets and we worked in random groups to solve problems in Maths.
Great Green – ‘What went well’
• We have been exploring buoyancy in Science by designing cargo ships which will hold a number of containers (lego blocks!) We identified key design properties by looking at cargo ships. We incorporated aerodynamics to our designs.
• Primary 5 have become weather presenters this week. Using the BBC weather app pupils have been reporting the weather for the day, including uplevelled weather vocabulary.
Think Pink – ‘Even better if’
• Using different ways to record our results in Science.

Lead Learners.
This week our Lead Learners are Glad and Myleigh
Primary 5 lead learner certificates this week have been given to pupils who have shown perseverance and determination to stick to their tasks until they are completed well. Well Done Glad and Myleigh.

Great Green

This week, Primary 2, 3 and 4 were delighted to welcome Susan, the librarian from Carmondean Library. She spoke to the children about the many facilities and activities available at the library, including Lego and Craft Clubs, and handed out library membership forms.

This week in P4/3 we are almost at the end of our class novel, ‘Charlotte’s Web’. We have discussed and recorded how the characters in the story have displayed our School Values and enjoyed watching the film.

Great Green

Our writing this week was fabulous. We retold the story of Charlotte’s Web through pictures and words.

We have completed many of the games in Science that we have been making using electrical circuits.

Think Pink

We will continue to work on our spelling.

This week our Lead Learners are Mason and Jack for perseverance in completing their writing tasks. Well done!

It’s been a marvellous week here at Meldrum PS.  We’ve taken part in some activities linked to European Languages Day which was last weekend and also learned a bit about fairtrade.  Our after school rugby club started on Monday and went well and our netball club is also running on a Wednesday.  P7 went out to the forest as part of their outdoor learning on Tuesday and had a great time.  They carried out a risk assessment of the forest area which they will share with other classes in preparation for each class getting a forest visit in the coming weeks.  Our P6 and P7 pupils had a visit from local firefighters who talked about bonfire safety and fire safety in general.  The children engaged very well and asked some relevant questions.  Miss Ross held a family learning session for P2 and P3 parents/carers which was well attended and feedback was positive and we ended the week with our first class assembly. P7 shared information about their learning with their family members who came along in the form of video reports which they had created with information about extreme weather.  Their grown ups then joined them in the classroom to take part in some debating tasks which has also been a feature of learning for the class this term.  Thank you to everyone who came along!

Challenge Poverty Week takes place next week.  The house captains are going to work with Mrs Egan to explore this and gather some information to share with the rest of the school, including organising a food bank collection in the final week of this term, look out for more details.  Our colleagues within the West Lothian Equity Team have created a Sway for families which you can access by clicking on the link.  This contains information about things like supports available for families within West Lothian and beyond.  Cost of the School Day – Family Guidance

Thank you to those parents/carers who have completed the Annual Data Check on Parents Portal.  For anyone who hasn’t yet done this, please log on and complete this as a matter of urgency.  It is really important that this information is up to date, should we need to contact you in an emergency, we need to have the correct details so please take a few minutes to go in and update or confirm that details remain the same.

Next Week

Challenge Poverty Week

Monday – Library services to visit P2 – P4; After School rugby club

Tuesday – P6/5 forest visit for outdoor learning (outdoor kit required); DCHS Open Evening for P7 pupils and parents/carers

Wednesday – Wee Read Day (national event to promote reading); After School netball club; Parent Consultations PM

Thursday – Parent Consultations PM

Friday – NSPCC Assemblies (see letter sent last Friday)

Another week full of ‘Great Greens’ here in P6/5. We have had lots of positives this week as we tried a few new things…

Great Green:

• We completed our descriptive writing on laptops, using Microsoft Word. We described a celebrity or a character. Doing this task on Word allowed us to spot spelling and grammar mistakes easily. We loved doing writing this way!
• We took our science learning outdoors and completed an observation of living things in the playground. We recorded our findings but found it tricky to count the amount of Woodlouse as there was lots of them! Afterwards, we then debated how humans impact habitats and the environment.
• In Numeracy this week we have been learning and practising how to find the mid-point of two numbers. We have learned two methods to help with this type of question.

Think Pink:

• A continuation of our learning in all areas. P6/5 are improving the time it takes them to show they are ready to listen and learn – keep it up!

A quick note… P6/5 have Outdoor Learning with Mrs Curran and I on Tuesday 6th October after lunch. Please come prepared for this. I’m looking forward to it!

Thank you to Lucy and Eilish for being our Lead Learners last week.

I am pleased to announce that our Lead Learners for next week are Noah and Arran. They were awarded this for showing great responsibility by offering and completing jobs around the classroom which will help us all! Well done!

This week we have been exploring shape and pattern. On Thursday we went outside to look for 2D shapes in the playground, and we have been using shapes to create patterns. We are trying to identify and name 3D shapes and have an activity on Seesaw where we need to find some in our homes.

We are continuing to learn about Harvest and in our writing we described a scarecrow. We are using collage to decorate Dingle Dangle Scarecrows.

As part of our Health and Wellbeing we are learning about friendships. We have talked about who our friends are and what makes a good friend.

Great Green – (things that went well) … looking at numbers beyond 10 and identifying the number before, after and between.

Think Pink – (we need to practise) … writing numbers.

Our lead learners for next week are Oakley and Muhammad – Faatih.