Primary 4 helped to organise slide the coin on Monday. It was great fun! Well done to the winners – Lukas from Primary 1, Holly from Primary 3 and Carrick from Primary 6. Well done to everyone who took part. We raised £64.5o. Well done everyone!
Category Archives: School News
The dragon has left footprints!
Primary 1 received a letter from a very sad, sad dragon. He needs help! Fairyland is gone and the dragon and his friends have nowhere to live anymore. Jack doesn’t have his beanstalk, Miss Muffet has lost her tuffet and the three bears have lost their cottage! The dragon has asked Primary 1 to help bring back Fairyland…
Today we found dragon footprints in our classroom! They belong to the dragon and his family. We decided to measure these footprints to find out what size the dragon is.
Well done Primary 1. Keep working hard!
Miss Toner
Where’s my shadow??
Article 28
We have a right to learn new and interesting things at school
Primary 6 have been learning all about light and shadows. We have looked at different light sources, white light, reflection and shadows.
We made small characters and observed how the sun’s position changes the shape and length of their shadow. You can see our results below…
Dancing Award!
Well done to Megan Hay in Primary 2/1 for winning a dancing award for ‘Most Improved Dancer’. We think you’re a star!
Spanish in P7
Click on the link below then copy and paste into your browser if you would like to learn more Spanish.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primarylanguages/spanish/our_world/weather/
Lenten Appeal 2015
Is is that time of year again and we have various fun activities planned for the children to raise lots of money for the 2015 Lenten Appeal.
The children raised £68.50 from the silver snail trail on Wednesday…. well done everyone! This is a great start!
Please click on the link below to see a calendar of events.
Shrove Tuesday
Primary 2 and 2/1 celebrated Shrove Tuesday by using healthy fruits to make pancake faces. We used strawberries, blueberries and raisins to create our faces. The best part was getting to eat them at the end…yum!
P7A – Japan
Today we, P7A, greatly impressed Mrs Heather, Mrs Brown and Mrs Deas with our amazing models of Japanese Houses, Pods, Temples, Samurai Swords and Parasols.
We presented our fabulous models to the class. We explained how we planned them and what materials we used. 
Famous Scottish Inventors!
As part of our Scotland Topic, Primary 2 have been learning about famous Scottish inventors. We found out that John Logie Baird invented the television and Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. We decided to make our own telephone using paper cups and string and we were able to hear and speak to each other through these! We then worked in pairs to make televisions out of cereal boxes and drew our favourite television show on the screen. After we had finished making our televisions we presented them to the rest of the class. Take a look at our pictures!
P2 are designers
Primary 2 have been learning about Scotland and they found out about two famous inventors, James Logie Baird who invented the television and Alexander Graham Bell who invented the telephone. We are very thankful to these two clever men! We designed our own telephones from past and present.
Action!
In Language and Literacy we have been reading the story “A Tale of Two Robots” by Roy Apps.
We have been creating our own new chapter to the story where the Robots, Robert and Nita, decide they are tired of cleaning and go for a day out. However, they face a few problems. Here are a few examples of the problems they faced:
- Bowling – Robert fell down the alley and they got thrown out. Saoirse
- Cinema – Robert’s rusty ,metal made too much noise and they got throw out. Callum
- Shopping- The metal sets off the metal detectors as their metal bodies. Natasha
- Swimming – They turned rusty as the children were scared of them. Charlee-Marie
- Beach – Robert and Nita got stuck in the sand and they couldn’t move. Sophie R
- Zoo – Robert started cleaning up and the zoo keepers were not happy. Brandon
After writing our new chapter we acted it out in a group. Look at some pictures of us in action.
Euroquiz 2015
After studying for the last 2 months, four of our Primary 6 pupils attended the Regional round of this year’s Euroquiz. Georgia, Jasiu, Alexander and Finlay had prepared extremely well and managed to get full marks in the first round on languages! Against 20 teams from schools all over West Lothian, our team came in 4th overall and should all be very proud of themselves – we certainly are! Here they are showing off their certificates. Well done.
A Night at the Movies
After a bit of a delay (of just over a month), the second St Nicholas Movie night took place last week. With ice-cream, a bottle of metled ice and a build a snowman kit being handed out on arrival, I;m sure you have guessed the theme – it was ‘Frozen’, but with a little twist – the words appeared at the bottom on the screen so everyone could sing a long. It was another roaring success with a £300 being made by the end of the event. Everyone had a fantastic evening and as well as coming dressed for the occasion, were in great singing voice. A huge thank you to the Filmclub for organising the night and congratulations to the winners of our raffle.
Internet Safety Day
Primary 1 are learning number stories!
Primary 1a have been learning their number stories to 10. Today we were using elephants and putting them inside two different zoos, Edinburgh and West Calder. We discovered that we can do this in lots of different ways!
Keep up the good work!
Miss Toner
Handball Festival
This morning P5/4 and P5 went to Broxburn Academy for a Hanball Festival. We were all spilt into different teams and played against teams from other schools in the local area.
Jamie: “I liked playing against children from other schools”.
Isobel: “It was good to compete in an event in Broxburn Acadmeny”.
Ben: “In our team, we tried hard to defend against our oppposition”.
Isla: “The game was quite difficult because at the start it was hard to get the ball from the other team”.
Caitlin: “I had so much fun and I scored lots of goals”.
Adrian: “It was a great morning and I tried to enocurage my team”.
Grace: “My teams scored lots of goals and we won most of our games”.
Haidyn: “I would love to go back again next year”.
Castles for keeps
Primaries 2 and 2/1 have been learning about Scotland. We looked at Edinburgh Castle and learned that it was built on top of a dormant volcano. There is also a canon called Mons Meg that is fired at 1 o’clock every day from the castle. There is a Great Hall in the castle which was used for dancing and entertaining. We saw a photo of the crown jewels too.
We then learned about the features of a castle. We know that the keep is the tallest part of the castle so that the guards can keep watch. We also know that above the main door there is a murder hole where guards would drop things like boiling water to stop enemies from attacking them. Some castles have a drawbridge that can be opened and closed to stop enemies from entering. Some castles have a moat which is water surrounding the castle which makes it difficult for enemies to attack.
We used different construction materials including clay, lego, mega blocks and Knex to create our own castles and tried to recreate some of these features.
Dance Star!
Mandipa loves dancing and she was keen to show her certificates and trophies from her graded examination in tap dance. She was proud to tell us that and she was given a distinction in freestyle. Mandipa attends JHM Dance Academy in Broxburn. Well done Mandipa… Keeeeeeep dancing! 
Marathon Morris!
Kirsten completed Junior Parkruns in Falkirk on Sunday, and is now a proud member of The Marathon Club. Well done Kirsten!
Swimming trophy
Congratulations to Niamh for coming in third place at Broxburn Club Championships, and was presented with this trophy at the weekend.
Dancing Stars
Congratulations to both Emily Cook and Katie Hay for achieving certificates in their dancing. Emily received her Certificate of Merit and medal for demonstrating proficiency in Theatre Craft. Katie received her certificates after performing in her dance show and she was awarded a Certificate of Distinction for dedication and excellence in all dance styles and a Certificate of Merit for most improved dancer!
Well done girls!
Primary 2 sing Scottish!
Primaries 2 and 2/1 have been learning about Scotland and the Scottish language. They were set a homework challenge to learn a Scottish poem or song to recite to their class during our Burns Supper. Primary 2a’s favourite and most popular songs were The 3 craws and Ally Bally Bee. Have a look at us singing Ally Bally Bee together.
The Unsinkable Ship!
Well done to all the children in primary 5/4 for their excellent model ships and cabins. Each of you put an outstanding amount of effort into this homework challenge and the results are amazing! Well done!
Knights in shining armour
In Primary 4 today we worked in teams to make knights in shining armour. Have a sneak peak at our hard work.
- We made a diagram of a knight and tried to make it in 3D. Hana
- We came up with our own design for a knight. Fraser
- We used all our ideas to make different patterns on our knights. Maria-Victoria
- We used silver paper, scissors, tape, staples and paper fasteners. Finlay
- We had fun!
Fantastic Fractions!
Primary 5/4 and Primary 5 have been learning lots about fractions in class. We have been finding out about fractions of shapes, objects and amounts.
This week we have investiageted equivalent fractions, simplifying fractions and finding fractions on a nunberline. These are some suggested games to support our learning:
http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/fractions/#Fractions
http://www.math-play.com/math-fractions-games.html
http://resources.oswego.org/games/fractionflags/fractionflags.html
http://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/fractions-and-decimals
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/
Have a go at home and let us know how you got on with the games!
Miss Crease and Mrs Quin
Equivalent Fractions
This week in primary 5/4 and primary 5 we have been learning all about equivalent fractions. If you are finding it tricky or want more practise why not try the game below to help.
Burns Supper
Primaries 2 and 2/1 remembered Robert Burns by celebrating with a Burns Supper this afternoon. They had a little taste of haggis, neeps and tatties and toasted Rabbie with some Irn Bru. Some of us weren’t so keen on the haggis as it had a spicy taste. Most of us loved the Irn Bru!
Super shortbread!
As part of our Scotland topic, primaries 2 and 2/1 over 3 consecutive weeks will have had the opportunity to make and taste some shortbread – a delicious Scottish biscuit!
Mrs Thomson in our school kitchen allowed us to help her make some. We measured and weighed flour, sugar, margarine and cornflour and then it was mixed into a batter. Mrs Thomson then rolled the batter and used a fork to pierce a hole design in it before putting it in the oven.
Mrs Thomson brought it along to us once it was fresh out of the oven. It was still warm and smelled delightful! We all enjoyed having a little taste!
Primary 5/4 Storytellers
Today in literacy primary 5/4 were exploring their performance skills. They heard some advise from a professional actress who advised them to take their time, practice their breathing, stand up tall and imagine the image of the character in their heads.
Click the link below to see a clip of the story they were performing.
Frozen Filmclub
Article 15
We have a right to meet with friends
Unfortunate events meant we had to postpone the scheduled Community Film Night showing of Sing-a-long Frozen. However, we are now very pleased to announce that the event has been rescheduled and will now be held on Wednesday 4th February.
All those who paid for tickets previously should now have been given them. If you find that you have not received them, please let the school know so we can check the list of names.
The doors will open at 5:30pm with the film beginning at 6:15pm. If an adult is not at the film night with their child, they must be collected no later than 8pm.
So get your singing voices tuned up and we’ll see you there.
Sound Proofing Primary 6
Article 28
We have a right to learn new things
Primary 6a have been learning all about sound and the classroom was buzzing (literally) with the sound of bells as we carried out some tests to see which materials make the best sound-proofing.
Each group wrapped an alarm in different materials, placed it in a box and then measured how far they could go before the stopped hearing the alarm. We discovered that although bubble wrap is pretty good, foam is the best muffler of sound.
Next, we have been given a challenge to find out how different animals communicate with each other through solids, liquids and gases.
Annie Auditions
Article 29
We have a right to share our talents
Wow, do we have a lot of amazingly theatrical children at St Nicholas???
Today saw three classrooms converted into a dance studio, drama theatre and music workshop as auditions took place for the Second Level (P5-7) school show – Annie.
Everyone who took part did extremely well and all should be very proud of themselves for having the confidence to participate. Unfortunately, there is not enough acting roles for everyone and it was a really hard to choose those who would play the different characters, but after a lot of deliberation the selection has been made. They will be announced on Monday!!
Here are a few pictures of the auditions as they took place:-
The Building of the Unsinkable Ship!
Over the last few days Primary 5/4 and Primary 5 have been hard at work getting the amazing ship, Titanic, ready for her maiden voyage.
‘Highland’ Commended
Article 29
We should have to opportunity to share our talents and achievements
Rachael was very proud to share her success in her recent highland dancing exam when she received a Highly Commended result.
Well done, Rachael.
Time, please…
Article 28
We are able to learn and develop our knowledge at school
Primary 6 have been developing in their knowledge and understanding of time. Some of us have been learning about how to calculate the amount of time that has elapsed on timetables and some of us have been working on converting analogue time to digital in one minute intervals.
In one activity, we were all given an analogue watch and we had to move around the classroom to see who had a watch with the different digital times on it that were on our sheet. This was a great way to practice and confirm our understanding before we move on to 24 hour time.
The Unsinkable Ship
Yesterday Primary 5 and Primary 5/4 visited the library to find out more information about our new topic ‘The Unsinkable ship’. To our surprise when we arrived Diane had dressed up as a first class passenger! During our visit we learned lots of new information.
Caitlin learned that even third class passengers ate well on the ship, they ate porridge, toast and potatoes.
Grace learned that aboard the ship was 13 honeymooning couples.
Aaron learned that band members continued to play their instruments as the ship went down.
Kyle learned that there should have been 64 lifeboats but there were only 20 lifeboats on the ship.
Finlay found out that 55 people cancelled their ticket before the ship set sail.
Ali found out that there was a fireman who got off the ship when it arrived in France.
Aiden learned that the ship stopped at Ireland before making its journey across the Atlantic Ocean.
We really enjoyed our library visit and we are all looking forward to finding out much more information about “The Unsinkable Ship”.
Going for Cold! Junior Great Winter Run
Well done to all members of the St Nicholas Running After School Club. They braved the elements on Saturday afternoon in Holyrood Park in Edinburgh to run the 2.5K Junior Great Winter Run. All children were great sports – they ran their very best and some great times were recorded. We are very proud of them all.
Special thanks to our local business community – Piggy Print, Waz’s Newsagents and West Lothian Construction – who sponsored the children and paid for their entrance fees. Thanks also to all our parents who supported us cheerfully, in the freezing rain, sleet and mud!
Primary 3 are Winter Ready
If, for any reason, you are unable to come to school because of the snow, Miss Irvine and Miss King would like you to try a few of the following activities. Have fun!!
Maths
- Practice number bonds and addition/subtraction facts.
- Practice times tables.
- Go on a shape hunt in the snow.
Literacy
- Write a thank you letter to Santa Clause.
- Make up a Christmas word search.
- If you have the internet, research circus’ in the the past. Write down what you find.
- Write a list of things you want to do in 2015.
Jammin’ Fitness
Jammin’ Andy came in to school to get us all into shape before Christmas.
Here’s a few pictures of us stretching and moving to some cool tunes!
A little Christmas Carol
Article 29
We share our talents with other
Faith entertained Primary 6 today with her rendition of Away in a Manger and Silent Night, played on the harp.
Thank you very much, Faith
Primary 1 + 2 Winter Ready Activities
Snow Days
Here are some handy hints of things to do to keep yourself busy in case of snowy conditions.
Maths Ideas
¶ Can you build a snowman and measure its height?
¶ Continue to practise addition and subtraction facts to 10 and 20.
¶ Can you spot any Christmas patterns and continue them?
Literacy Ideas
¶ Can you write an acrostic winter/snow poem? (P2)
¶ Can you write CVC words in the snow?
¶ Can you write a snow themed story?
¶ How many words can you make from ‘Winter Wonderland’?
Science
¶ Can you measure the length of time it takes to freeze a cup of water? How long does it take to thaw?
Art
¶ Can you create a snowy picture?
Useful Websites:
St Nicholas Primary School sing Christmas Carols
As part of West Lothian Council’s tour around the schools for Christmas carol singing, we were visited and our choir were recorded whilst at the Chapel preparing for our up and coming concert. For a wee sneak preview of one of the carols, click on the link below.
Bustin’ some moves at the Disco
Everyone had their glad rags on, the aftershave was most definitely flowing, the lights were flashing and the music pumping. This could only mean one thing – Primary 6 and 7 were able to show off some of their dancing moves at their Christmas disco.
Here’s a few photos of them having fund and enjoying themselves…
Primary 6 Winter Ready Activities
If for any reason, the school is unable to open (Boo!!), here’s a few activities to keep you occupied.
Literacy
- Think of words to describe the snow and use them on the following page to create your own text snowflake.
http://www.neoformix.com/Projects/TextFlake/index.html
- Create a poster showing how to keep warm and safe in Winter.
- Write a newspaper recount of an event that happened while you were off.
- Continue to read your Accelerated Reading book then carry out one of the activities on your literacy sheet.
Maths
- Keep up with the challenges and quizzes on Sumdog.
- Measure the depth of the snow in the garden and record it on a graph. Is the snow deeper at the front or the back? Try tracking it over time.
- Make something in the kitchen that involves measuring cups
- Draw a map of your house and work out the area and perimeter of each room.
Thinkers Key Activities
- Different Uses – find 10 uses for an odd wellie
- The Invention – design a new method of getting around in the snow
- What if? – What if the snow completely blocked you inside your house? what would happen (1/2 page)
- The Ridiculous – All the children have the flu and can’t make it into school (10 lines).
Winter Ready Activities Primary 4 and Primary 5
Here are some ideas of what you can do if the school is closed in the event of bad weather.
Maths
- Complete games and challenges on SUMDOG.
- Use numbergym to practise times tables.
- Use ‘Just in Time’ for mental maths practise. (http://www.transum.org/software/SW/Starter_of_the_day/starter_October12.asp?ver=stu)
- Create some mental maths word problems to challenge your class when you return to school.
- Build a snowman and measure how tall he is.
Literacy
- Continue to read your accelerated reader book.
- Write a book review if you have completed your reading book.
- Create a ‘Word Wizard’ or ‘Character Cop’ to show your understanding of your book.
- Design a new front cover, blurb and title for your book.
- Create a diary entry for your snow day, to tell us all about what you did, how you felt, where you went? etc.
- Make a Winter Ready poster detailing how to keep safe in the bad weather.
Hope you have some fun in the snow and remember to keep wrapped up warm and stay safe!
Mrs Canning, Miss Crease and Mrs Quin
Winter Ready!
West Lothian Council have set up a winter school closures page in advance of anticipated bad weather.
For information, the page can be located here –www.westlothian.gov.uk/schoolclosures
Swimming Champs
Article 15
We have a right to join clubs and meet with friends.
Congratulations to Hannah, Sophie and Rachael, who won a great haul of medals between them during their recent swimming club championships.
Swimming star!
Article 15
You have the right to join clubs and meet with friends.
Well done to Callum in Primary 4 for receiving these medals at a swimming Gala on Sunday. Callum won a gold, silver and bronze medal. Well done Callum!
Twit twoo in Primary 1 & 2
Primaries 1 and 2 have been enjoying reading the story ‘The owl who was afraid of the dark’ by Jill Tomlinson. We have been learning about owls and other nocturnal animals, and have also been looking at day and night. Yesterday we had a visit from Owl Magic who brought 9 different owls with them for us to look at, learn about and handle.
We learned lots of new things about owls:
I learned that owls eat rats, mice and frogs. – Megan H
We now know that owls have 2 stomachs. One is for fur and bones and the other is for food to give them energy. – Nia & Milo M.
Owls bring up the fur and bones through their beak and this is called a pellet. – Lilya & Natan
I learned that some owls have yellow eyes and they are daytime owls, some have orange eyes and they come out at dawn and dusk, and others have black eyes and they come out at night. – Adil
Most of us enjoyed handling the owls and we all had the chance to stroke a Barn Owl called Cuddles. Mrs Renshaw was so brave as she held an Eagle Owl called Apollo.
Faith Swims into the medals
Article 15
You have the right to join clubs and meet with friends.
A huge congratulations to Faith (P6), who recently swam at a gala in Deans Community High School for Livingston & District Dolphins. She proudly shows of her gold medal for front crawl and silver for the breast stroke as well as two trophies for participating.
An evening with Olaf!
Article 15
You have the right to meet with friends
The Filmclub are organising another community film night, this time to celebrate our school Saint’s feast day. The film on offer is Frozen with a wee snowflake to keep up all right with the words to all the songs!
Tickets cost £3.50 each and include an ice cream, a bottle of melted ice (flavoured water) and a themed sweet. You could also win a Frozen hamper or a batch of delicious cupcakes in our raffle, which will be running in the lead up to the evening at a cost of £1.00 each.
Tickets for both the film night and the raffle go on sale at break-time on Tuesday and will be available every break-time until next Monday (or until they are sold out).
We would love to see as many of you there, with your parents as possible. Come dressed up and bring a cushion and blanket to snuggle up with.
Lungs experiment
Today Primary 4 completed a science experiment to see how much air we have in our lungs. We had to blow into a balloon. We found out that we are all different and don’t have the same lung capacity. Here are some photographs of us during and after the experiment. It was good fun!
Some amazing facts we have learned:
– an adult breathes enough air to fill 1,000 party balloons a day.
– we breath around 20,000 times a day.
Scottish Storytelling Week
Primary 2a and 2/1 visited Diane at Broxburn library today for Scottish Storytelling Week. She dressed up as Hamish the Highland Cow and read us two Scottish picture books.
She even let us try on her Highland cow hat! We had a great time!
Swim star!
Congratulations to Lilya Ikene for completing Level 6 at her swim club! She worked really hard on improving her dive to achieve this! Well done!
Karate Star
Article 15 : Your right to meet with friends and join groups and clubs.
Well done to Brandon for receiving two medals for taking part in a competition. He also received a trophy for student of the month and a medal for pupil of the week. Well done Brandon! you are working very hard.
Amazing Author Visit
Primary 3-7 were extremely lucky to receive a visit from a fantastic Australian author yesterday… Jaqueline Harvey.
Jaqueline has written a series of books about girls called Clementine-Rose and Alice-Miranda. She entertained the children with exciting excerpts from her books and had everyone laughing in their seats!
She even had two very eager and willing participants in Ellie (P7) and Finlay (P6) who had to act out a very funny scene!
We would like to thank GlowWorm books in Broxburn for organising this very special event for us.
Surprise visitor to primary 4
Primary 4 were very surprised today to meet Susan Boyle in their classroom.
When the Legion of Mary came in to pray the rosary with us today they brought a surprise visitor with them – Susan Boyle. We were very lucky to meet her and say our prayers with her.
School Camp Primary 5
Recently primary 5 visit Lendrick Muir for their school camp. Have a look the pictures below to see what we got up to.
Gymnastics star!
Article 15 : Your right to meet with friends and join groups and clubs.
Well done to Maria-Victoria who won a silver medal at her rhythmic gymnastics competition on Saturday. She had to go all the way to Aberdeen. We are very proud of you Maria-Victoria. Congratulations!
Hallowe’en in P4
In primary 4 some of us came to school dressed in our costumes for Hallowe’en. Look at us!
We also made pumpkins and bats using a variety of materials. Look at all our hard work.
This term our new topic is the Human body. We have started to learn the names of some bones today. We made a skeleton – we had to work out which bones are connected to each other. We discussed why bones are important. We also listened and danced to the song ‘Dem bones’. We will be learning more about the skeleton next week.
St Nicholas Primary School Museum Showcase
Article 29 –
We can share our talents and learning.
We have had a wonderful morning in St Nicholas, turning our whole school into a museum to showcase the learning and the progression of children from P1 to P7 in Social Studies. The queue to enter the museum was huge and mums and dads, grannies and grandpas and brothers and sisters all had a wonderful time finding out what our children have been learning.
Thanks to everyone who made it such a success!
Viking homework challenge
For homework we created either a Viking helmet or a Viking longhouse. Look at all our hard work. They are amazing.
Money week
Primary 4 had a great money week last week. They enjoyed a visit from Financial Education Partnership (Fep) representative Cameron. He made us think about how to earn money and then what to spend it on. We made paper bags for spices together then sold them for some money that we could then spend on different things – food, healthcare, houses or more resources to make bags. It was good fun and made us think about the importance of money.
In class we have also been using money. We can calculate a total value of coins, work out coins to use to pay for items and then calculate the correct change.
Food for Thought
Article 29
We should use our skills to the best of our abilities
From CSI to The Great British Bake-Off in 24 hours…
With money week upon us, Primary 6 thought it would be the perfect opportunity to raise some funds and buy some new books for our classroom.
We began by looking at some Victorian recipes and working out how many we would need to make in order to supply the whole school before deciding the amount of ingredients would be required. It took us a while to compare and cost up the ingredients, using different online shopping websites.
Friday came and it was all hands on deck with 200 victoria sponge cupcakes and 200 empire biscuits to make in just 1 1/2 hours! Success – we managed to sell all items and raised a whopping £120 for each class to spend on valuable reading resources. Well done everyone.
Who Dunnit?
Article 12
We should feel safe and protected at all times
There was shock, horror and sheer disappointment in Primary 6 when they discovered that their classroom museum had been broken into, but with the help of PC Manning we would get to the bottom of it.
The forensic team arrived at the crime scene and all evidence was bagged up, fingerprints were taken and clues investigated further.
Suspects would have to be interviewed… in came Miss Toner, Miss Irvine, Miss King and Mrs Deas for their interrogation! Nerves were evident – hands were sweating, voices were shaky and excuses were plenty. We would have to look to CCTV to confirm a few issues.
After a very long morning, the culprit was found – MISS KING!!! She was duly read her rights, handcuffed and escorted out of the classroom, leaving tearful and angry children and staff behind her.
Thankfully, it was all a staged, real life venture involving lots of learning. Not only did we experience how we would feel if this really did happen to us, but we also learned about the process taken by the police when they arrive on a crime scene, forensics and the law. A huge thanks to all our fantastic actors.
Healthy Options
Article 24
We need access to nutritious and health food
MMmmmm, delicious! That was the call of Primary 6 when they tasted their own smoothies on the Lidl Health bus. Whilst one group were blending their creations using the fresh ingredients available with their own apron and name badge to take away in their very own smoothie shaker cup, the other group were learning about the importance of exercise and the resultant effect on their hearts. Every pupil was given a heart rate monitor watch to keep for the duration of this part of the session. they were all be asked their heart rate and told to keep an eye on it throughout the game – solving clues about types of fruit and vegetables and racing to the basket to collect the correct item of fruit or vegetable before returning to read the next clue. At the end of the game everyone were again asked for their heart rate and 2 of the specially trained Health Factor Team will took them through why their heart rate has increased and the importance of exercise. Then, all change round!!!!
The Time Machine
Article 28
We have a right to an in-depth education
Primary 6 took a step back in time when they visited New Lanark to learn all about life back in the Victorian era. Led by a costumed teacher, learners experienced school days in Robert Owen’s time. Lessons included drill, hand-writing, arithmetic and dancing. As you can see, everyone had to dress up, write on slates and act and answer appropriately. We also got to explore textile machinery in a mill and find out about home life and shopping 200 years ago!
“I don’t think I’d want to live then because you had to work really long hours for hardly any money.”
“Bed bugs – yuk!”
Homework Challenge!
Dear Parent/Carer
HOMEWORK CHALLENGE
This term your child has been learning about Transport, particularly comparing modern day modes of transport and transport from the past. They have been learning about penny farthings, horse and carriages, steam trains and the first air travel.
Their challenge is to create their own model of one of these modes of transport using everyday materials. Please return the completed model no later than Friday 10th October.
It would be lovely to display their masterpieces for all the other children and parents to see at our showcase event on Friday 17th October at 11am.
Many thanks for your continued support.
P2 & P2/1 Class Teachers
Week 3 at Hillend
Skiers of the week!
Well done to Euan and Ryan!
Get on your bike!
Well done to Megan, Hannah, Gregor and Mrs Bell who all participated in this years Pedal for Scotland. 
A Right Reminder
Articles 1-5
We should know and learn about the rights we are all entitled to.
During the last school session, our pupil groups each designed and made their own poster showing one of the articles from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child that was important to them: Pupil Council – a right to be heard, Eco – a right to a safe environment, clean water and healthy food, Rights Busters – a right to an education, Health Committee – a right to play and the Art club – a right to join in with different clubs and activities. During the holidays we have had these posters enlarged and turned into outdoor displays. Today, these were put fixed to the fences out in the playground for all to see.
We are very proud of all the displays – well done!
Ski-ing Week 2
Our skiers had another amazing lesson at Hillend with their Instructor Eve.
Everyone is making really good progress and Eve says we are one of the best groups she has ever taught!
Well done everyone. Remember to check the Ski Board in school for any updates.
Skiers of the week
Well done to Jasiu and Emily who are this weeks skiers of the week. Jasiu listened very well and followed all instructions. Emily showed great determination. Well done 🙂
L’enorme crocodile
Primaries 2 and 2/1 are enjoying listening to and studying the book ‘The Enormous Crocodile’ by Roald Dahl. They have enjoyed meeting some character’s including ‘Notsobig one’ and ‘Humpy Rumpy the hippopotamus’. Lilya brought the story in French and Mrs Dymock and Mrs Renshaw had a go at reading a page, however the children agreed that they should stick to reading the English version.
L’enorme crocodile!
The Great War
Well done to Mishal and Joseph who represented our school at a service to commemorate the Centenary of The Great War at St Michael’s Parish Church, Linlithgow.
Street Dancing Champion
Well done to Ollie for receiving a medal at the UDO World Street Dancing Championships in Glasgow last week. Ollie dances with a group called Pulsationz and they won third prize at the competition. Well done Ollie!
Welcome to Primary 4
In primary 4 we have made our class charter. We have included our rights and the things we need to do. We have also included what the adults need to do. We all made a hand print to show that we agree to the class charter.
In primary 4 we have been working hard already this year. We have started to read Charlotte’s Web and learned how to add using the written method of addition.
P6 and P7 Ski-ing
Article 15 : Your right to meet with friends and join groups and clubs.
A mixture of 14 children from Primary 6 and 7 enjoyed their first ski-ing lesson this afternoon at Hillend. 
Lewis goes the Whole Hog!
Article 15
We can meet with friends and join different club and groups
During the Summer holidays, Lewis attended a huge Scouting Jamboree with the Cubs in Hampshire, England. Throughout the week long camp, he was set a number of challenges and in order to achieve the unique ‘ Hampshire Hog Challenge’ badge, Lewis had to show that he had got involved in the fantastic range of activities available at the camp by participating in at least five of them. These included washing up before leaving the site at least twice, getting wet at least once, flying a model aircraft at least 5m, playing a game with another pack and visiting three ‘Continents’ on the site. Within the Continents there were some more challenging activities to conquer such as caving, water sports and tree climbing. The picture shows Lewis proudly showing us all the badges that he managed to earn during this extremely adventurous week. Well done, Lewis.
Soweto comes to Broxburn
Article 29
We can share our talents and abilities.
What a truly inspirational start we all have had. The Soweto Melodic Voices, a 30 piece youth choir from South Africa, visited the school to carry out workshops with us. After treating them to our version on Shosholoza, we were split into groups and taught a song using different harmonies as well as some dance moves.
In the afternoon, the whole school were invited to watch an absolutely amazing performance by the choir – they even asked us onto the stage to perform with them in front of everyone!
Click on the links below to see some snippets of the singing…
The choir are performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and have asked if some of us would like to join them during their last show. How lucky do we feel?
Our First day in Primary 7B 2014
Schools out for Summer..!!!
Mrs Brown and Mrs Deas would like to wish all of the children and parents a very happy holiday. Stay safe and have fun!
We wish our Primary 7 children the best of luck for starting High School.. keep up the hard work and strive to always reach your full potential. You have been a true asset to our school over the years.
We are already looking forward to welcoming you back to school next session!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! 🙂
Amazing Teamwork
Article 15
The right to meet with friends and join groups and clubs
The North Barn Quilters are a group of 50 like minded stitchers from West Lothian. Some of the ladies from the group visited our school last week to showcase the wonderful quilt that they have made using the theme of the Commonwealth Games.
Part one is a quilt made up of 70 flags from the Commonwealth. The photos below show how vibrant and effective this quilt is.
Part two of the groups project was to represent the range of sporting disciplines which will feature at the Commonwealth Games to be held in Glasgow this year. The children were amazed at the amount of work that had gone into creating this masterpiece – It was truly stunning! The chains represent that every member of the team is connected, hence the rings binding the panels together.
The project was started in November 2013 and was finally completed at the end of May 2014.
We would like to congratulate all who were involved in this project and we are very proud of your achievement. Thank you for sharing it with us. We hope that it finds a worthy home for lots of people to see and enjoy.
What is the perimeter?
Article 28
We should learn lots of new things in school.
Primary 5a have been learning all about perimeter. We know that if you measure the distance around the edge of a two dimensional shape, we can work out the perimeter. How can this help in real life situations I hear you ask? Well, if you want to work out how much fencing to put around your garden or how many people will fit around your table for Christmas dinner, then you need to know the perimeter of the polygon your are surrounding. We took our learning outside this week and started to measure the perimeter of polygons around the playground – putting our learning into real action!
Sporting June
Yesterday Primary 3 visited Broxburn Academy to take part in a Highland Games festival with other primary 3 children from the local schools. We were all split into groups and the older children from the secondary school were our group leaders and they took us round all of the fun activities.
My favourite part was doing the speed bounce. Charlee-Marie
I really enjoyed the potato and spoon race. Fraser
I liked throwing hoops over the highland cow. Jack J
Today, Miss Watson kindly allowed us to look at and try on her friend’s Staff Commonwealth uniform. We know to look out for the colours red, grey and white and there is a Scotland flag on the back. Ethan, Karolina and Daniel had the pleasure of trying them on and we all agreed that they felt very light and comfortable.
St Nicholas asks a very important question…
Well here it is… after a lot of discussion, filming and editing, the final copy of our short film is ready. We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it. You’ll find the link to youtube film in both the parent and pupil links on the right.
Visit from a CHAMPION!
Article 29
Talents and skills should be developed and shared.
Tuesday was a very exciting day at St Nicholas Primary School as we had a very special visitor!
When we told the people at the Commonwealth Games ‘Game On Challenge’ about all that the boys and girls had been doing to get into the spirit of the games and learn about different sports and countries, they decided we deserved an Athletes Visit!
Stephen Payton is an amazing former paralympic runner who during his career won 3 gold medals, 2 silver and 4 bronze… and he broke 2 world records! Stephen was born in Uphall and grew up in Livingston, it was really interesting to hear about how Stephen began running in his local athletics club and how he became a world champion. Stephen ran training sessions for primary 5 and 6, showing them techniques, answering questions and showing us his amazing medals. He also spoke in a special assembly for primary 2, 3 and 4.
Thank you Stephen for coming in to tell us about becoming an athlete, working hard and achieving your dreams!
Take aim, pull back and fire!
Article 29
You have the right to education which develops your personality, respect for other’s rights and the environment.
Nicole had to have steady hands and good hand-eye co-ordination during a recent Haven holiday. After just a few lessons, she was awarded a certificate for her archery skills which she proudly shows of here. Well done, Nicole.
Football Crazy!
Article 30
If you come from a minority group you have the right to enjoy your own culture, practice your own religion and use your own language.
We’re all football crazy at the moment, but a very big well done to Kyle Bryce who won all of these medals in a football tournament. This is a wonderful achievement. We might see you playing in the FIFA World Cup in Brazil one day soon Kyle!
Fun in the Sun!
Article 28
We can learn in lots of different environments.
P4 and P4/3 had great fun taking our learning outside yesterday. It was a beautiful day: we gathered inspiration for an imaginative story; played times tables games and learned about Roman numerals; read and relaxed in the shade and played lots of class games in the afternoon.
Thank you to Eoin Sword’s mum and dad for letting us borrow their gazebo which provided us all with some much-needed shade!
A day in the life of an Aussie.
Article 7
You have the right to have a name and a nationality.
Primaries 3 and 3/2 were so lucky this morning to get a visit from Hannah in Primary 5. She lived in Australia for 3 years and she recently returned back to Scotland. Hannah found out that we have been learning about the country Australia as part of our topic work and she volunteered to come into our class to talk to us all about this wonderful country. She showed us a powerpoint, brought in artefacts like a boomerang, clap sticks, flag, her netball trophy and her school uniform. She told us so many interesting facts and showed us some pictures of a typical day in the life of an Aussie!
Thank you so much Hannah for sharing this with us. We thoroughly enjoyed your presentation!
Annual BBQ Lunch 2014!
Here are some photos from Tuesday when all of the children deserted the dinner hall and enjoyed a lovely barbecue lunch out in the summertime sunshine!
2014 St Nicholas Commonwealth Games!
What a fantastic day at the St Nicholas 2014 Commonwealth games! Primary 5,6 and 7 came together in an opening ceremony to celebrate their chosen Commonwealth country and preformed some wonderful cultural displays of song and dance from South Africa, Malaysia and Canada.
After a short break, for a BBQ lunch, pupils then took to the courts to display the skills that they had learned in their chosen sports of rugby, netball and hockey. Each country played their final games in a play off format and the winning teams were presented with their medals in the closing ceremony.
Primary 5,6 and 7 would like to say a massive thank you to all the parents, grandparents and friends who turned out to cheer us on and share in our learning today. We would also like to say a huge thank you to James Pegg and everyone at the Albyn Park who helped make today such a success.
Fruit Kebabs
Primary 1 made fruit kebabs today! We made sure that we washed our hands before making them. We tried melon, grapes, strawberries, bananas, apples and pineapple. Now we know how to stay healthy and we had great fun! YUM YUM!
Summer sun!
The weather has been beautiful over the past week so Primaries 3 and 3/2 were inspired to make their very own sunshine! We used paper plates for the sun’s face and we drew round our hands onto yellow and orange paper for the sun’s rays. We gave the sun cool sunglasses and a big smiling face.
HAPPY SUMMER TO ALL OF YOU!
Ewan Waiting for the Commonwealth Baton
Ewan was one of the many spectators that lined the streets to welcome the Commonwealth Baton.
The Aston boys represent St Nicholas at the Commonwealth Baton Relay
Well done boys – one day it could be medals!
The Commonwealth Baton
Our baton bearers.
