The shone on Mid Calder for their annual Children’s Gala Day. We had a great turn out from our school community to walk with us in the procession.
The Primary 7 pupils had a special treat!
We entered three school teams in the Gala Relay Races. Thank you to the children who represented our school, especially the boys team who won!
You can find more photos on the West Lothian Flickr page.
Thank you to the Gala committee for organising such a fun, community event.
Congratulations to our football team who won the Jak Truman Cup at the Mid Calder Gala Football Competition! Thank you to our coaches who helped us train.
Last Friday, four pupils from Primary 6 – Aiden, Matilda, Calum and Erin – took part in the West Lothian heat for Euroquiz 2017. This took place at Howden Park Centre. The Scottish European Educational Trust runs an annual Euroquiz for P6 pupils, which sees teams of four working together to broaden their knowledge of Europe. Subjects covered include history, geography, sport, culture, languages and the European Union. Our four did us proud with their knowledge, effort and behaviour. They were a credit to the school and all really enjoyed taking part.
This evening Niamh, Cailin, Zach and their parents went along to St. Kentigern’s Academy to represent our school by reciting their Burns poems at the WL Burns Competition.
A big congratulations to all three pupils for being confident individuals.
Today our Pupil Council went along to Addiewell Primary School, along with Woodmuir Primary to continue our Cluster Learning Walks. The Pupil Council gave us a presentation about their school and showed us a video.
We asked the Pupil Council some questions about their school:
We also asked Mrs MacMillan, their Principal Teacher some questions about her job:
There were lots of things that we found interesting about Addiewell Primary:
Thank you to Charley, Jessica-Lee and Ryan for being our tour guides and answering our questions.
P2/3 visited the artwork entitled The Light Pours Out of Me at Jupiter Artland. They were using their senses to describe the artwork and they talked about the artist and the other senses she uses in her art such as the taste of her chocolate room!
Back in class they solved a design challenge to create an amethyst grotto as a class display. They made artworks with salt crystals and shades of purple acrylic paint. They also used triangles to make a geometric design. They used paint but also an Art app called Art Set. This can be downloaded free.
We learnt new words for purple such as mauve, periwinkle and magenta.
We also saw a smooth shiny material called obsidian. Can you find out more about this glass-like rock? can you find out more about the artist who made the huge grotto. What is her name? What other sculptures has she made?
Last week P1 and P2/1 finished their Castles IDL by having a fantastic Ball In The Hall. We all enjoyed a fun filled afternoon which was planned and organised by our P7 Buddies. Everyone joined in some games and dancing, before settling down to enjoy our Feast. Primary 7 served all the food and a drink, and then the Jesters provided us with some entertainment. We finished off with more games and dancing. A huge Thank You to Primary 7 for organising this for us. We had a great afternoon P7, and we hope you enjoyed it too.
On Tuesday afternoon the upper area visited the Scottish Parliament. When we arrived we spent a short while looking at our spectacular surroundings of Arthur Seat and the amazing architecture of The Scottish Parliament, even the bike stands are arranged in a special way, which can only be seen if you are standing in a particular spot. On arrival, all of the children had to go through very strict security, it was a bit like going through security in the airport. Thankfully we were all ok and we were all able to proceed to the main part of the building. Walking through the main foyer we could see the spectacular architecture throughout and there were many fascinating sculptures that we were able to take the time to look at.
Firstly we went into a small room where we were put into small groups. There were certain objects scattered around the room, such as; a ballot box, a gavel and sounding block, Â a crown and robe, the ceremonial mace, the act of union and a royal seal, we didn’t know that the bigger the seal you had, the more important you were, in our groups we had to discuss what we thought they might be and what relevance they had to The Scottish Parliament. As we have been learning about The Scottish Parliament we were very good at discussing the purpose of each object. We also learned a bit more about the history of the Scottish Parliament. In our groups we then had to decide the devolved matters and the decisions that were made in The Scottish Parliament.
Primary 6 were very lucky to be able to have a chat with our own local MSP Neil Findlay who spoke about his life as an MSP. He also gave us a few tips for when we are holding our own elections. Katie asked for some advice on how to become class president, Neil advised her to be confident when speaking, to know your questions and anticipate what your audience might want to ask, he also added that it is always good to put a bit of humour into your speech.
Finally we had the opportunity to visit the debating chamber. We were all very excited and the children were eager to see our First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. We had to be extremely quiet when entering the debating chamber  whilst the debate was on as there are cameras and microphones everywhere. When we entered there was a very lively debate going on and some of the politicians were even shouting and banging their tables, we later found out that this is their way of booing! We couldn’t always make out what the debate was about or who was talking but it was very entertaining. Our First Minister Nicola Sturgeon even made an appearance much to the delight of many of the children. It was a very interesting environment and gave us an insight as to what goes on at The Scottish Parliament.
I like it when the MSP’s were hitting their table during the debate as it was very funny – Natalia P7
The debating chamber was the best bit of the day, I particularly liked the way that all of the parties disagreed. – Keiran P7
I found the trip very interesting and learned a lot more about The Scottish Parliament – Matilda P6
I disliked when all the MSP’s were banging on their tables and interrupting each other because it seemed very disrespectful to the others that were talking – Cailin P6
As part of learning about castles P2/1 visited Stirling Castle today. They had a puppet workshop, explored the castle and even got to try on some costumes. Thank you to the parent helpers who supported this excursion.
