Digital Learning – West Lothian Digital Learning Team

Spotlight on MS Reading Progress: Success Stories from St Mary’s Bathgate

We are delighted to share some recent success stories from St Mary’s Primary School, Bathgate, following their implementation of the Microsoft Reading Progress Learning Accelerator tool.

Reading Progress became a key focus for literacy and reading interventions following staff CLPL sessions in 2024 and reflection on attainment data. Focus was on supporting targeted pupils and breaking down barriers to learning around comprehension, as well as developing confidence, fluency and expression in their reading. Pupil Support Workers were also targeted in the training and staff sessions, in order to support pupils and build sustainability across the school. Pupils really enjoyed using Reading Progress and were excited when they began to see their improvements.

“Pupils feel secure using Reading Progress with a device. They can go off and record in a quiet space without an audience. The camera really draws them in and they can get instant feedback.”
Class Teacher

The insights generated provide clear data which can be used to support and plan next steps and SMART targets, as well as being used to verify teacher judgement. Line graphs are generated automatically for individual pupils and the class, based on accuracy and reading speed, as well as additional data provided for challenge words and expression in reading.

Unintended Results and Additional Success

Staff were thrilled to see not just an improvement in confidence, fluency and expression when using Reading Coach, but also within the wider class setting. Pupils began to volunteer to read out loud in front of the class, and participate more in class / group tasks with their peers.

“Pupils even began bringing in books from home to share and read – that didn’t happen before!”
Class Teacher

Microsoft Reading Progress and Reading Coach

Microsoft Reading Progress is a Teams based programme, in which the class teacher assigns a text for pupils to read out-loud and record. The platform analyses the recording and generates feedback based on pronunciation, fluency, expression and has the option to add in comprehension.

Microsoft Reading Coach is another Learning Accelerator which can be used within the Reading Progress assignment, or as a stand-alone feature either through immersive reader or through the new web-based app:
• Reading Progress tracks the progress of the learner.
• Reading coach offers support and opportunities to practice parts they find challenging.

The web-based app offers the chance for pupils to generate their own stories based on their interests, practice in their own time, and earn rewards for continued reading.

Well done again to St Mary’s, Bathgate. We are looking forward to see your continued progress next session!

Adobe Achievement: Riverside PS win a Pizza Party!

We are delighted to announce Riverside Primary as the first winners of the Adobe Express Pizza Party, in recognition of their dedication to developing and enhancing digital skills and confidence through the use of Adobe Express for learning and teaching.

Staff and P5-7 pupils participated in a range of curriculum-based live lessons, focusing on topics including World Book Day, Road Safety, Anti-Bullying and Anti-Piracy. Pupils are now independently exploring and utilising the features of Adobe Express in their own time. Staff have also highlight improvements in other digital skills such as confidence and success of logging on, driven by their enthusiasm for the platform.

“In Literacy, pupils wrote a setting description, put it into the Adobe AI feature and worked out how they could edit or improve their writing. It really made it come alive.”
P5 Teacher

“Adobe Express has increased their confidence logging in, as they are excited to use it as a fast finisher”
Digital Lead

The Pizza Party was award after successful completion of 3 different Adobe Challenges across a number of classes. Huge well done to Riverside pupils – what an achievement! We can’t wait to see how you continue to use Adobe Express in the future.

Adobe Express is a fantastic creativity tool, available for staff and pupils in P4 and above, through GLOW. As well as a huge range of Live Lessons to get pupils started, Adobe Express offer additional lesson ideas and Teacher and Educator courses too.

If you have an achievement or success you’d like us to share on our Digital Learning Team blog, please get in touch by emailing us at digitallearningteam@westlothian.org.uk

Celebrating Success with St Paul’s Primary School

We are delighted to announce the recent success of St Paul’s Primary School, in achieving their Digital Schools Award Endorsement, celebrating their continued dedication of the use of digital technologies to enhance learning and teaching.

There was strong evidence of how technology is used consistently to support pedagogy… Digital literacy is integrated very well with the curriculum with clear lines of development and innovation.
Digital Schools award Validator

“The award recognises the ongoing commitment to maintaining a high standard of digital education and ensuring a seamless digital experience for learners at all levels. This acknowledgement not only validates sustained efforts but also reaffirms the school’s dedication to self-analysis and development in digital learning and teaching. It reflects adaptability and responsiveness to the ever-evolving landscape of technology and pedagogy.”
Digital Schools Award Scotland

St Paul’s Primary School is the second school in West Lothian to achieve this accolade which is a testament to the great work taking place across the whole school. We look forward to seeing how St Paul’s continue to take forward digital learning in your school. Well done!

Robotics and STEM Education at Kirkhill Primary School

P5 pupils at Kirkhill Primary school have been working with First Step Robotics, to explore and develop their skills in STEM education, through the use of Lego Spike Robotics kits.

Pupils have been using problem solving and coding skills to build, test, code and trouble-shoot a range of robotic systems to solve real-world problems.

One example of this was building and coding a taxi to travel to different locations to collect passengers. This particular project involved including mathematical calculations to work out the distance the taxi had to travel.

“I like that we get to build creations and use our art skills.”

“I like robotics because I like programming. Programming is important in case you work in robotics in the future. Programming tells the robot what to do. It’s useful for later on in life for jobs.”

Pupils from Kirkhill PS and other local schools are showcasing some of their work at the First Step Robotics family open day on Saturday 21st June. Pupils and families across West Lothian are invited to come along, see some of the amazing projects and even have a go at some hands-on robotic challenges.

Incredible Inventors: Celebrating Digital Innovation

We are thrilled to announce that two talented students from Kirkhill Primary School have been recognised as Runners-Up in the recent #DigitalInventorsCompetition! Their innovative project earned them an invitation to the award ceremony in Glasgow this week, where they celebrated their achievements.

The Competition

Pupils were challenged to research common health and care challenges and come up with ideas that could be transformed into a digital health and care solution.

They designed a heated blanket to soothe the symptoms of Arthritis, and includes space for a medicated gel pad for topical treatment, and a digital chip to connect to an app for wireless control. It is designed to be made using recycled materials, and specifically targets the area of pain, using heat to improve symptoms and reduce the environmental impact of heating the whole house.

Kirkhill Primary School submitted designs from pupils across P6, and also had a second group receive a Special Recognition award for their invention too. This is an incredible achievement to all. Well done to everyone who entered, you are all superstars!

ELC Spotlight: Sharing Learning with Adobe Express

We are excited to share this beautiful example of how Winchburgh PS ELC have highlighted the amazing learning taking place, through the use of an Adobe Webpage.

The webpage brings together pictures, text, quotes and videos to show an incredibly detailed picture of the excitement and enthusiasm of our youngest learners.

See some lovely snippets of the webpage below, or click the link to view more.

Sharing The Learning: The Gruffalo

At Winchburgh ELC we have been exploring the Gruffalo story. Literacy was our focus, but the story has permeated through all of our learning and the children have taken it down many avenues

“We read the story in small groups and talked about how the characters might be feeling at certain points in the story. We asked our own questions to help us understand the story and made predictions about what might happen next.”

“After retelling the story using the spoons we decided to do some drama to recreate the story.”

Sharing the learning: The Gruffalo

Adobe Express is a creativity tool available to all learners (P4+) and staff through their GLOW accounts. It allows users to easily create videos, flyers, banners, and more with intuitive drag-and-drop functionality, making content creation accessible and fun for everyone.

To find out more about how to use Adobe Express, click this link, or sign up to one of the Live Educator training sessions.

Adobe-Express-for-Education-Info-Graphic Download

If you have any examples of using Adobe Express to share the learning, please let us know at digitallearningteam@westlothian.org.uk

Celebrating Success with Seafield Primary

We are delighted to announce that Seafield Primary School have recently achieved their Digital Schools Award, recognising the dedication and innovative work of pupils, staff and the whole school community.

Pupils across the school use a range of digital devices to access digital tools and resources to support, enhance and share their learning, such as MS Learning Accelerators, online games for consolidation of learning, Seesaw for sharing, MS Teams for collaboration, Adobe Express for creativity and so much more.

The links below, showcase some of the fantastic ways Seafield staff and pupils have been using Digital Technology to support and enhance learning and teaching.

Digital technologies at seafield ps

Digital Award Application Sway

Accredited by Education Scotland, The Digital Schools Award Scotland is a national award to promote, recognise and encourage a whole school approach to the use of digital technology.

We know there are schools across West Lothian who are working towards their validation this session, so look out for more announcements soon!

Congratulations once again to Seafield PS! We can’t wait to see how you continue to use these skills.

Wildly Creative with Adobe Express and Five Sisters Zoo

Primary 6/7 pupils at Seafield Primary have been using their creativity skills and their new enthusiasm for Adobe Express, to create their entries for a competition with Five Sisters Zoo.

Their creations showcased their skills in using various creative elements, including images, videos, audio, voiceovers, background music, animations, and transitions. The result was a series of beautiful, professional-looking videos, about Red Pandas.

Adobe Express

Seafield PS have really enjoyed using Adobe Express to showcase learning across a range of topics in class, for individual projects and in champion roles across the school. Pupils have demonstrated dedication, enthusiasm, and incredible creativity in designing their projects. Staff have also praised the inclusivity Adobe Express offers, allowing pupils to participate in video creation without needing to be in front of the camera. We love seeing your fantastic creations—keep up the amazing work!

IoT in Schools – Data Literacy Project: Reflections from our Data Detectives

This week, pupils from Deans Primary and Boghall Primary presented their findings and reflections from their recent Internet of Things Data Literacy Project.

The project began a couple of months ago, with an introductory lesson delivered by Tommy Lawson from the University of Edinburgh, during which the pupils explored the sensors and the data collected from their learning environments. They then spent a few weeks using the sensors to help improve their learning environments, before presenting their findings.

Boghall Primary Update

Boghall pupils used the new Sound Sensors to explore the noise level in the hall over breakfast club and lunch times.

They are now planning on introducing music to the hall specifically during breakfast club, to see if it can help reduce the noise level. We wonder if different types of music will have a different effect?

Deans Primary Update

Deans pupils began by using the data to identify where the sensors are located.

” We were looking at the motion detector on one of the sensors, the motion was flat, so we thought it was in a cupboard but the light sensor was quite high. The light was mostly on at 7 and went off between half 8 or 9. We thought it might have been in the cleaners cupboard because it was on at different times from when we were in school.” – P7 Pupil

They have also been working with Cambridge University on a computing project, using the Microbits to create their own sensors, which they will then compare with the IoT sensors. We wonder if the data will be the same?

“The real challenge was trying to get the temperature to code, so if you put it in your hands it would heat up, and show the number, but it was quite tricky” – P7 Pupil

We are very impressed with the learning taking place with both of these schools, and we can’t wait to hear what else you find out from continuing this project. Well done all!

Creativity Unleashed with Adobe Express

This morning, P7/6 at Eastertoun Primary had a creative morning working with the Digital Team, exploring Adobe Express to share their learning from their digital research project this term, all about planets.
They began a few weeks ago by learning to use Microsoft Search Coach to identify accurate and reliable information online and exploring the filtering options to narrow their searches, and used Microsoft Whiteboard and Microsoft Assignments to collaborate and share their findings.

Today they used this knowledge and information to share their learning in their own, incredibly impressive, creative projects, with pupils choosing to create posters, animations, videos and even podcasts!

We are looking forward to seeing what else you can create over the next few months. Well done P6/7!