More swimmers have been making a splash at Bathgate Xcite this term. Our second Friday morning group recently completed their 5 week block with Ethan, Hira and Madison achieving their Aqua Bronze Award and Teddy receiving a progress award.
2 of our senior pupils have also been swimming on a Thursday afternoon. Fletcher achieved his Aqua Bronze Award and Alex achieved his Aqua Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum Awards!
Well done everyone, we are all super proud of you! 🌟
We have had a great Term here in Lomond experiencing and learning all about Night time. We immersed ourselves into the topic with lots of arts and crafts. We enjoyed making stars using different media, making spaceships with our painted footprints and salt dough stars.
We participated in World Children’s Day and listened to the story of the 3 pigs and experiencing all about different shelters.
On top of all that we continued to build on our independent skills enjoying the school resources and outdoor environment as well as experiencing horse riding and swimming out in the community.
We also made lots of Christmas crafts, Christmas baking and a calendar for the new year.
We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Good New Year.
Looking forward to new and exciting challenges in 2026!
What a busy term it has been! Our topic this term has been Emergency Services. All our children have enjoyed exploring the Topic box. We have had Doctors, Nurses, Fire fighters, Ambulance drivers and Police officers.
Tommy favoured being a policeman and enjoyed looking at himself in the mirror! Hira happily explored the police cars and fire engines while Angel loved looking though all the doctors’ bags and trying out some of the equipment. Peter liked listening to everyone’s heart beats with the stethoscope and also enjoyed the matching game. Hafsa and Matthew both enjoyed dressing up as well and they both found it funny being part of the role play with members of staff too.
This term we have been working really hard on our MATP activities each week with Louise and we all did really well at our performance in the hall for all the parents and carers. We have all been learning new skills and we look forward to extending these skill next term too.
We have all been enjoying outdoor play in various forms this term too. Peter has been doing really well on his bike and working on navigating some road signs such as stop and go. Tommy has been having a blast playing with the football, passing it to a member of staff and scoring goals. Angel enjoys exploring the playground and loves to spin on the basket swing and has also been working on bike skills too. Matthew and Hafsa have been using the drive deck to get around by using a switch to make it start and stop. Hira has been using her walker outside at times but also likes going out in her wheelchair and seeing everyone and using some of the equipment and loves singing songs on sunny winters day in the colour tunnel.
Glendevon went for a day at the football too to celebrate Scotland progressing in the Fifa World cup. We had the smells of the grass, the strip to wear, noises of the crowd cheering and of course the goals themselves.
We have had lots of different art activities to do this terms too, our themes have been around fireworks, Remembrance day, our topic – Emergency services and Christmas. This have given us the opportunity to explore a variety of materials much as paint, glue, pens, and lots of glitter! We also had the Clown Doctors in to help us during one of our art sessions – you can imagine how much glitter that day!
We have been spending time exploring games and stories in different group settings and enjoyed some pop up pirate and also exploring the immersive 3 little pigs story as part of storytelling day across the school.
We have all had individual tasks that we have been working on throughout our week and we have been doing really well. Some of us have had hydrotherapy, horse riding, swimming, Innowalk, music therapy and rebound to mention just a few of the exciting things we have been up to. We have enjoyed sessions with the clown doctors individually and also as a group too and some of us have had sessions with Charran as well.
We have also been in full Christmas mode from November with Tommy starting us off by signing for Jingle bells to be sung most days! We have been Christmas crafting and preparing for our show and parties too. We are looking forward to a well earned rest over the Christmas break. We hope everyone enjoys the festivities and we look forward to the new term ahead in 2026!!
We have had another busy term in Ochiltree and we can’t believe we’re already at the Christmas holidays!
This term we have been busy working towards some of our ASDAN challenges. The first was through our weekly health group where we really enjoyed our sessions with Childsmile. We explored healthy food through games and we practiced using the big mirror and toothbrush to brush Monty the puppet’s teeth. We completed our second challenge by learning about the festival of Diwali through music, dance, art and sensory activities.
We’ve also had a busy couple of weeks getting into the festive spirit, we had a lovely Christmas lunch, a fun packed singalong and enjoyed games and dancing at our Christmas party, we topped this all off with a trip to the shopping centre to see all the lights.
Team Ochiltree wish you all a happy and healthy Christmas and New Year!
This term we hosted our very first Special Olympics Motor Activity Training Programme (MATP) Challenge Event.
Athletes in Hopetoun, Lomond, Pentland and Glendevon had the opportunity to showcase the skills they had been working on during training for their family and friends.
Every athlete did absolutely amazing and handled the spotlight so well! 👏 🌟
A HUGE thank you to everyone who came along to support our athletes and make the event such a success. I loved all the cheering, signs, posters and t-shirts ❤️
We asked for some feedback and this is what our parents said…
And that’s a wrap on our first block of activities. All athletes in Ochiltree and Duntarvie have now completed striking & kicking activities with Louise, music & movement with Jill and Boccia & New Age Kurling with Rachael.
Here are our athletes taking part in their final activity…
Striking & Kicking
Music & Movement
Boccia & New Age Kurling
We will be continuing with our Secondary PE groups next term, so check back to see what new skills and activities we have been working on! 👀
What a fantastic first term we have had here in the Pentland Class. We have loved spending time together, getting to know our new friends and adults in class – we all have lots of fun together!
We have all settled into our routines and have been working hard on all of our activities and groups. We have been busy with our topic ‘The Owl Who is Afraid of the Dark’ making lots of fantastic art work and some really yummy cooking sessions.
We have had some lovely sessions with the Clown Doctors and love when they come to visit our class. We have also spent time enjoying the outdoors, gardening and exploring the playground equipment.
We are looking forward to the busy term ahead!
We have had great fun in Hopetoun this term as we have settled in to our new class. We have enjoyed lots of different activities like gardening, going on the wheelchair bike and art. We have been exploring new foods during our messy play food group and some of us got messier than others! We are looking forward to seeing what the winter term will bring.
What a busy first term we have had in Ochiltree, we’ve really enjoyed making the most of the last of the sunny weather!
We particularly enjoyed our beach themed sensory sessions out in the garden which has now been swapped for a lovely cosy Autumn sensory session which we’re enjoying just as much. We’ve been busy focusing on our health and wellbeing through our weekly health group looking after our bodies and we have been keeping fit and healthy through our cross class PE groups where we have been exploring music and movement, team games and ball skills.
We’re looking forward to next term where will begin working on our ASDAN challenges so we’ve got lots more exciting things to come!
Team Ochiltree wish you all a healthy October break.
Our athletes in Hopetoun, Lomond, Pentland and Glendevon have been working hard, training towards our first ever MATP Challenge Event on Monday 1st December. They can’t wait to showcase their unique achievements to family and friends (more details will be shared closer to the time, but I am excited to see everyone supporting their athlete with posters, banners or maybe even personalised t-shirts!).
What is MATP?
The Special Olympics Motor Activity Training Programme (MATP) is a unique programme specifically designed for athletes of all ages with Profound and Multiple, Physical and Intellectual Disabilities and/or Complex Support Needs.
It focuses on developing individual skills and abilities rather than direct competition, ensuring each athlete can achieve personal bests and celebrate their achievements.
MATP enables our athletes to increase physical activity, improve motor skills, build confidence, increase participation in sport activities and foster a positive self-image.
Lomond Athletes
Pentland Athletes
Glendevon Athletes
