Duntarvie, Glendevon, Hopetoun, Lammermuir, Lomond, Ochiltree, Pentland

Music Update: A Term Full of Song, Rhythm and Creativity

Leave a comment

It has been a busy and rewarding term in Music, with wonderful engagement and enthusiastic responses from children across the school. 

Our Primary classes have continued to explore favourite songs while developing their understanding of instruments, communication and movement through music. Familiar songs such as Incy Wincy Spider have provided exciting opportunities to experiment with different musical ideas, including loud and quiet sounds, expressive singing and even some wonderfully funny voices. 

The older children have been exploring African music and learning the actions that accompany Funga Alafia, a traditional welcome song from Nigeria. This energetic and engaging song proved particularly popular with pupils in Glendevon, Tinto and Ochiltree classes, who enjoyed combining movement and music as they learned. 

In Duntarvie, pupils explored quieter, more sensory musical experiences. Using instruments such as the tin pan, hand pan and chimes, they accompanied The River is Flowing, a beautiful song celebrating the natural world. Believed to have originated from a chant written in the 1970s by Sun Bear of the Chippewa Tribe, the song encouraged listening, reflection and gentle musical participation. It has been a meaningful addition to our repertoire, and one that we look forward to revisiting later in the year. 

Tinto class also began work on Autumn Elegy, a jazzy waltz inspired by the changing seasons. Through music, pupils explored images of migrating swallows, hibernating hedgehogs, crunchy autumn leaves and autumn celebrations. This project will continue after the holiday, when other classes will also have the opportunity to discover and enjoy the piece. 

Alongside our class music sessions, we have been delighted to welcome back our Music Therapists, who are once again working with individuals and small groups across the school. Charan has also returned to lead Dance Therapy sessions, bringing movement and expression into the school day. In addition, the popular lunchtime group featuring Charan’s movement activities accompanied by Gordon’s live flute music has become a valued part of the weekly timetable once again. 

We are incredibly proud of the enthusiasm, creativity and musical curiosity shown by our pupils this term, and we look forward to building on these experiences in the months ahead. 

Ochiltree

Ochiltree Update

Leave a comment

We’ve had a fantastic start to our school year in Ochiltree and have all settled really well into our new routines. We have made a great start on our ASDAN challenges and are well on our way to completing some of them. Some of our favourite challenges so far have been English where we have explored different stories and chosen a favourite, Geography where we had to record the weather over a month and Modern Foreign Languages where we have explored music around the world. We’ve got some really exciting challenges coming up after the holiday where we’ll be working on our Design and Technology award and our Work Related mini enterprise project.

Have a lovely break and we’ll see you all soon!

Whole School

MATP, Swimming and Fun Run Successes

Leave a comment

MATP

This term has been a busy and exciting one for our athletes from Lammermuir, Hopetoun, Lomond and Pentland, who have been working incredibly hard during their Motor Activity Training Programme (MATP) sessions.

Throughout the term, pupils have demonstrated fantastic determination, enthusiasm and perseverance as they have developed their MATP skills. The athletes are already looking forward to the upcoming MATP Challenge Events, where they will have the opportunity to showcase everything they have been working so hard to achieve. We cannot wait to see them demonstrate their skills and celebrate their successes. Further details about the Challenge Events will be shared next term.

Cedarbank Fun Run

A few of our pupils recently took part in the Cedarbank Fun Run. This was a fantastic opportunity for them to challenge themselves, enjoy being active and experience the excitement of participating in a community sporting event.

Well done to Riley, Ethan, Cole and Ben, who successfully took part in the 0.5km walk/run. Their effort, perseverance and positive attitudes were fantastic to see, and they should be very proud of their achievements.

A huge well done also goes to Freddie, who continued the Beatlie tradition by winning the 1km wheelchair race. Freddie and Rowia were delighted to cross the finish line in first place, and it was wonderful to see them celebrating their success together.

Making Waves in Swimming

Our swimming groups have continued to work hard during their Monday and Thursday afternoon swimming sessions. Pupils have shown excellent commitment as they have developed their confidence in the water, improved their swimming skills and worked towards a range of personal goals.

A special congratulations goes to Cian, who achieved his Aqua Bronze Award, Ethan, who achieved his Aqua Silver Award, and Fletcher, who gained his Aqua Gold Award. What fantastic achievements! We are incredibly proud of all the hard work, determination and perseverance they have shown in reaching these milestones.

Well done to everyone involved for another fantastic term of sport, fitness and achievement! 🏅🏊‍♂️🏃‍♀️👏

Uncategorized

Tinto

Leave a comment

Tinto have been very busy since August.  We have been joining with some of our friends from Duntarvie to go to the driving range where we have been developing our golf skills and independence with the routines involved at the driving range.  We have been very lucky to still be able to go along to Musically Active Dudes where we meet up with some of our friends who used to attend Beatlie and some new friends we have met there.  We continue to attend the social group, again with some familiar faces who used to attend Beatlie.  One of our pupils has been working through their Duke of Edinburgh award and as part of this have been volunteering at a cafe.

Our pupils have been impressing us with their love of the new sensology groups that Ilse has set up for us and have been very brave with their tasters during this group – apple with chocolate sauce was a favourite but the surprise was pumpkin with cinnamon sugar which also went down well!

We spent some time thinking about Fairtrade during Fairtrade fortnight and thinking about how we can reduce, reuse and recycle during recycling week.

Whole School

Recycle Week 2026

Leave a comment

Beatlie Celebrates Recycle Week ♻️

During Recycle Week, each class at Beatlie School took part in a range of activities tailored to the needs and interests of their pupils. Our learners explored recycling through hands-on, sensory, and creative experiences, helping them develop an understanding of how we can care for our environment.

♻️ Recycled Materials Scavenger Hunt

Pupils enjoyed searching for recycled materials hidden around the garden and outdoor learning areas. Each class participated at their own pace, collecting a variety of items and exploring different textures, shapes, and materials as they searched.

🗂️ Recycling Sorting Activities

Using labelled tubs for paper, plastic, and metal, pupils sorted the items they had found during their scavenger hunt. This activity encouraged learners to identify different materials and develop their sorting and decision-making skills through practical, hands-on learning.

🎨 Creative Upcycling

Classes then used recycled materials to create their own upcycled projects. Pupils transformed everyday items into decorations, artwork, and useful objects, demonstrating creativity while learning how materials can be reused instead of thrown away.

🌍 Learning Together for a Greener Future

Recycle Week provided a wonderful opportunity for our pupils to explore sustainability in meaningful and accessible ways. Through sensory exploration, recycling tasks, and creative activities, pupils learned that everyone can play a part in looking after our planet.

Hopetoun

Hopeptoun Term 1

Leave a comment

Hopetoun class have been very busy this term. We have had lots of exciting activities and our Topic this term has been myself and my family. We have been exploring all the areas of school such as outside in the playground, soft play and multisensory.

We have been learning all about ourselves and each other. We have looked at members of our families and shared pictures. We have looked at ourselves in the mirror, focussing on our body parts, learning about our hair and eye colour and making lovely art work with our hand prints. We have made pictures with the first letter of our names and we have also enjoyed listening to a song all about our name! We have been reading a sensory story called ‘Who Am I’  and have been singing songs such as head, shoulders, knees and toes and doing a sensology group about ourselves too! We sung songs about our body parts, used our senses to smell different scents and listened to different sounds using our ears and the staff watched to see what everyone liked and disliked! They were all good at letting us know!

We have been looking at signs of Autumn as well, we painted lovely Autumnal trees and have been enjoying our Autumn story massage too. The girls have been having great fun in  a princess group, dressing up as their favourite Disney characters and the boys have been having great fun exploring lots of different toys during structured play and free choice times. Some children have had clown doctor sessions, others have had music with Gordon and some have had music therapy too! We all love music in this class, so anything to do with music, songs and instruments is a big hit!

What a busy term! We have even managed to fit in some fairtrade activities and baking as well as making sure we keep up with all our class jobs to make sure we are recycling and reusing items. We made sensory bottles using our old juice and milk cartons! We hope everyone enjoys the October break and we look forward to some Halloween, fireworks and dare I say it, Christmas activities on our return!

Whole School

Fairtrade Fortnight

Leave a comment

 

Thank You for Supporting Our Fairtrade Café

A huge thank you to everyone who came along and supported Beatlie’s Fairtrade Café. Your support helped make our Fairtrade Fortnight celebrations a great success.

Throughout the fortnight, our pupils enjoyed opportunities for sensory exploration, choice-making, interaction and participation. Taking part in a range of exciting activities, including learning about Fairtrade, exploring where tea products come from and creating Fairtrade tea -themed artwork.

How you can continue to support Fairtrade:

  • Look for the Fairtrade Mark when shopping.
  • Choose Fairtrade tea, coffee, chocolate, bananas, sugar, and other products.
  • Encourage family and friends to buy Fairtrade products.
  • Learn more about Fairtrade and the difference it makes to producers around the world.
  • Visit the Fairtrade Foundation website at www.fairtrade.org.uk for more information.

Thank you once again for helping us celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight and for supporting our pupils and their learning. Together, we can continue to make small choices that have a big impact.

Uncategorized

Welcome to Tinto class!

Leave a comment

This year we are very excited to have a new class in the secondary school – Tinto.  We are looking forward to finding out what this year brings and taking part in lots of different activities both in school and out in the community.  We will be looking to work on some more SQA modules and on the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award.  It will be a busy year but we will post photos throughout the year to keep you up to date.

As a reminder, the staff in the team this year are:  Ilse, Louise, Jen, Catherine, Cat, Gemma, Louise

Uncategorized

Classrooms for Malawi 💚❤️🖤 UNICEF

2 Comments

Classrooms for Malawi is a charity with a big heart and a clear mission: to give children in Malawi safe, bright places to learn. In many parts of Malawi, classrooms are overcrowded or in poor condition, making it difficult for children to get the education they deserve. Classrooms for Malawi work directly with local communities to build and improve school facilities, helping to create welcoming environments where children can thrive.

Their work closely connects with the values behind UNICEF’s Outright campaign, which highlights the importance of children’s rights—particularly the right to education, safety, and opportunity. UNICEF’s Outright campaign encourages young people and families to take action to ensure all children, everywhere, can grow up healthy, educated, and protected. Classrooms for Malawi brings these ideals to life by making education more accessible and equitable for children in one of the world’s most disadvantaged regions.

This year we have been lucky to partner with this charity to learn more about their work and help raise awareness and we now have a very special connection with Ntondoko school which they have just returned from helping to build. Tina and Maureen from the charity visited us earlier this year to tell us about their new project and they brought along some very special objects from Malawi for us to explore which we really enjoyed. We then worked hard to create a gift for them to take to Malawi to present to the new school and pupils. They have just returned from their trip to Malawi and it was so exciting to see lots of photos and videos of the new school being built, of our flag being handed over and of the pupils there having fun with bubbles! They also brought back with them some extremely special gifts from our new friends which we are thrilled to have.

We are really looking forward to keeping up to date with our new friends! Take a look at our video highlighting this very special journey…..

 

Hopetoun

Summer term in Hopetoun

Leave a comment

What a quick year it has been! As we look back over all the things we have done this term, we think about all the fun we have had and all the learning we have done. Our topic this term was people who help us in school and we have enjoyed making up and singing songs about all the people in school.

We have enjoyed a trip to Lochore Meadows in Fife which has a fantastic accessible playground. We were very lucky with the weather, it was dry and sunny but not too hot.

We have enjoyed visiting the library and reading lots of stories and we have even been able to join in with some bookbug sessions and we have all had a special experience, either a trip to the theatre, some cool creatures sessions or some Fischy music.

We have all worked hard on our physical skills, through swimming, hydrotherapy, horse riding and PE. some of us went to events like the fun run where pupils from across West Lothian were running and we even brought home a first place medal!

We are all looking forward to a well deserved rest and we are hoping the weather stays as nice as it has been for the last few days. Have a great holiday everyone and we look forward to seeing you for more adventures in August.

Report a Glow concern
Cookie policy  Privacy policy