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 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. 
Good morning everyone,
I hope you all had a lovely Easter holiday with your family doing lots of fun activities.
Today is a very special day in the calendar called ‘Earth Day’. This year is even more special as it is the 50th anniversary. Below are some links for fun and interactive resources to give you more information about Earth Day. Have fun doing some of these activities.
Missing you all,
Miss Walkingshaw
P7S would like to thank Mrs Liddell for visiting us yesterday from West Lothian Library Services. We had the opportunity to handle a range of artefacts from WW2. We looked at a variety of uniforms and some of us (see embarrassing photographs!) even got the chance to try some on. We heard all about food and clothes rations, did you know you were only allowed 2oz of cheese and butter a week! Mrs Liddell has kindly agreed to join us in March for our Sharing the Learning Session so you will also be able to experience WW2 brought to life! We look forward to welcoming you….watch this space!
Primary 7/6L had an excellent workshop yesterday looking at the importance of Remembrance Day and Armistice Day. We learnt all about the Poppy and why it is a symbol of Remembrance. We also learnt a lot about World War 1. Alan Hamilton from the Royal British Legion visited our class yesterday to share with us his wealth of knowledge and personal experience in the armed forces and of East Calder Primary School and local area as a former pupil himself. Not only has Alan served in the army but he shared with us the experiences of both his great uncle who fought during World War 1 and his father who fought during World War 2. After lunch we learnt all about local people from East Calder who had been soldiers during the war and visited East Calder Cemetery to lay poppy crosses. Before leaving Alan shared with us the wonderful story of his Uncles army whistle he was given in 1916! What a journey his whistle has had! A very valuable learning experience yesterday which taught us all the importance of Remembrance Day.
