As we welcomed P6 back after the summer we decided to look again at the Wellbeing Indicators,School Rules and LEARN Values. We looked at how these link to the UNCRC Rights of a Child. We decided which elements we could use effectively when creating our Class Charters. We were surprised to see how many rights were already embedded in both our rules and values. The class created a brilliant display of both their Charters and and Indicators.
P7B were fortunate enough to visit Sky Academy this week. Sky Academy Studios uses the power of TV and innovation to open young minds and develop young people’s Creativity, Collaboration and Communication. Our day out included
As you can see from the images below we have some budding Producers,Editors,Directors,Scriptwriters and there should be an Oscar nominations for our Presenters and Experts! Well done to our fantasic Cameramen/women who filmed the whole experience.
On Monday 21st February both Primary 6 classes worked with artist Svetlana Kondakova to design a memorial artwork project for the new Almondell Cemetery.
To allow visitors time for reminiscing and quiet observation the theme for the artwork was water and nature. The children considered how peaceful watching a river could be and used local plants and flowers to decorate the top of the sculpture so it represented an autumnal river with plant life floating on top. Each child designed their own templates before cutting out and making their own design. These were then collated to make a larger sculpture including all 52 individual pieces. The paper template for the sculpture is now proudly displayed in school. We cannot wait to see the finished sculpture in the community.
We were lucky to have the opportunity to take part in a Fischy Music session last week. Everyone was so excited to see the people from Fischy Music who we have seen so many times on screen in Assemblies! We sang songs that we know so well and we learned a few new songs too. One of the songs reminded us of the importance of friendship and the qualities that make a good friend.
We really enjoyed our learning and Miss Cameron, Miss Beattie and Miss Marra certainly spotted some future performers among us. We are looking forward to using some of the new songs we learned to support our learning in class.
Article 29: We have the right to develop our talents and abilities.
Fantastic to welcome Maureen Liddell fromWest Lothian Museum Services to our class today. She shared with us a range of aretefacts and stories relating to our current context of WW2. We learnt about how our country prepared for war,discussing rationning,evacuation and shelters. The class were fortunate enough to handle a range of artefacacts including a gas mask,identity cards,ration coupons and even an ARP warden helmet. This visit links closely to the work we are doing in PM writing at the moment where we are looking closely at the features and layout of a recount.
We welcomed Michelle Sutherland from West Lothian Drug and Alcohol Service on Wednesday. Michelle spoke to us about identifying the different kinds of risks associated with the use and misuse of a range of substances.We discussed the impact that the misuse of substances can have on individuals, their families and friends. Moving forward East Calder has been chosen as a pilot school to work alongside WLDAS to create a HWB action plan which will then be used acoss West Lothian. Watch this space!
On the lead up to Bonfire Night, please find some information Police Scotland, West Lothian Council & Scottish Fire & Rescue Service.
Firework Letter Schools 2021 WLC
On Thursday October 7th both Primary 6 classes attended a digital webinar with Amazon. The live 1 hour session was highly engaging, fast moving and well presented by a group of Amazon staff demonstrating the whole process from clicking and placing your order to your packages arriving at your home. The webinar was a mixture of live streamed interviews and demonstrations of each step your package takes, videos explaining the technology and also interactive multiple choice questions. There was an opportunity to have staff respond to you questions in a live Q&A session at the end.
We were fascinated by the amount of digital technology used by Amazon to carry out work in their factories and distribution centres. We learned all about algorithms, databases, computer science and cloud computing as well as how they are used to make Amazon as efficient a company as possible. Keeping the process as quick and efficient as possible. We were so shocked to see that all products are stored on ‘Pods’ which are completely controlled and moved around by robots. The robots scan QR codes on the factory floor to constantly update their position and to plan the fastest route to a human picker. Staff who must access the floor in an emergency must wear a custom made AI safety vest that cost Amazon around £9.8m to design. We were also shocked that the products were all stored randomly as the Amazon research showed this was actually more efficient than organising and storing products in alphabetical order or grouping them in any way. We also loved seeing some of the other machines in action and finding out about ‘machine learning’ so that technology can adapt and learn to keep the company as efficient as possible. We were shown how quality control was carried out at various stages.
The ingenuity and forward thinking of the company was so exciting, as well as their dedication to reducing their carbon footprint by cutting packaging by creating more ‘frustration free packaging’ and purchasing over 100,000 electric vans. It was a great opportunity to interact with such a modern and exciting company with over 1.3million employees, we agreed as classes we are all familiar with those smiley boxes!
Scott said “I thought it was really interesting to see some of the machines and I was shocked at what they did. Looking at them I wouldn’t have guessed what they could do.”
Jack said, “I thought it would be a normal deliver service but it’s so much more than that!”.
Erin thought, “It was really interesting because I thought it would just be a video of how they did it but there were all these robotics. We actually heard from real workers!”.
Jake said, “I like there was a real Q&A quiz and the interactive questions so would could join in.”
We have received exciting news that one of our pupils has made it through to the 120 finalists of the Royal Mail ‘Heroes’ Stamp Design Competition! Well done to Lily in P6 🙂 We have our fingers crossed that you make it to the next round (where 24 from the 120 finalists will be announced in November) and hopefully even make it to the final 8 winning stamp designs! An incredible 606,049 entries were received from children across the UK, with an amazing 7,479 schools taking part so to make it through to the 120 finalists is a great achievement – we are very proud of you and love you ‘Heroes’ stamp design. 
Following on from the new guidance issued, face coverings will be worn by adults in school when they are in communal areas shared with pupils.
We ask that parents and carers still continue to wear face coverings when collecting children from the school grounds. Thank you for your support.
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