Author: Mr Neale

Thank you to Mrs Haigh who kindly came in to speak to us about her work in engineering and bridge construction. We learned about ways that bridges are transported and how engineering can change peoples lives.

Our STEAM week continued on Thursday with our P5-P7 classes taking part in lots of fun activities within the school. We did some work on team construction, ‘gutterball’, bottle flip challenges, Building Thinking Classrooms and coding using BBC Microbits.

We were joined by Graeme Binnie from West Lothian College, who kindly delivered his award winning woodwork workshop with our P1 class. Children had the opportunity to draw a picture then, under adult supervision, use woodworking tools and timber to turn their drawing into a woodwork sculpture.

Despite the weather, St Joseph’s STEAM week continued today with our P1-P4 classes taking part in school based EcosySTEM activities. We constructed some shelters which animals could live in, we created ‘gutter runs’, we had coding activities in the library and some classes even created spaghetti based construction models.

A huge thank you to our visiting parent speaker, who kindly came in to share some of their experiences of STEAM areas. We heard lots about programming, space technology and even got to try out some scientific equipment.

This week in St Joseph’s we are celebrating STEAM week. Today we were joined by Tomasz, Ross and Gordon from West Lothian College. We learned about pneumatics and had the opportunity to create our own circuits using air powered compressors to use a piston. Our P3/4 and P4 classes learned about air powered cars and created their own moving models.

Please note there has been a slight change to our EcosySTEMs event, which is due to take place on Wednesday 22nd and Thursday 23rd May. P2/3 will now attend the park on Wednesday 22nd and P6/7 will go on Thursday 23rd. Please ensure your child has returned their permission slip to the school and is wearing weather appropriate clothing, including footwear.

P6 had lots of fun taking part in our Active Schools Cross Country event at Whitburn Academy. We challenged ourselves to complete the course in our best possible time and enjoyed meeting children from other schools in our local area.

 

A big thank you to everyone who was able to make it along to our ‘Share the Learning’ parent-pupil event yesterday. The children really enjoyed welcoming you to their classrooms, sharing their work with you and taking part in some fun activities together. Our next parent-pupil event will take place on Monday 17th June 2024.

Over recent weeks, our P6s have been working with Shani from Sustrans Scotland to develop our Bikeability skills. Today we applied these skills while taking part in a group ride within our local area. We cycled as a group to Polkemmet park, saw some of the points of interest within the park then took part in a scavenger hunt.