We were very proud of our five performers last night at the West Lothian Burns Festival, held at St. Kentigern’s Academy. A fantastic achievement for Oliver, Adam, Kaylie, Leah and Cailin! A special mention to Oliver (P1), who was runner up in the P1-3 section. Well done everyone!
CREATIVITY IN THE SNOW ANYONE?
Have a go at making an igloo? With help from adults you can make snow bricks and a great den. How will you decorate the interior?
The Scandinavians have long dark winters but try to create warmth with candles, blankets etc What is Danish hygge?
Check out images of Harbin in China and their amazing snow and ice sculpture event for 3-D ideas.
Go to new places to enjoy the snow and the views. Take some pictures of wintry trees and then use these as an art inspiration. Victoria Crowe is an artist who has done just that. Google her.
What can you make with icicles? What can you make with powdery snow or another kind of snow.
Il neige. It is snowing in French. How many other languages can you say that in? The winner wins an ice-cream. Try making a fun-flavoured ice-cream outside!
If you can get on skis and sledges and swish through The White Stuff!
Good morning everyone,
Here we are all stuck at home and wondering what we can do!
I do not imagine that is the situation at all and you are already very busy. However, boys and girls you could catch up on your spelling homework, read an extra few pages of your reading book or use your Sum-dog log in to complete some maths challenges OR you could get outside build an amazing snow structure, take a picture and e-mail the school with them. I am sure your teacher would love to see what you did on your day off. Take care and keep safe when you are outside, hope to see you tomorrow. Mrs McKenzie
As you might know its Robert burns night on the 25th of January our school tradition is to learn a Scots poem and this year we’re doing it on the 1st of February. we have filmed a video telling you facts all about Robert burns .we all give you good luck.
On December 22nd, we welcomed parents and friends along to our Celebration Assembly so that pupils could receive their STEM Super Star and Successful Speller awards. We also announced the Top Scorers for each house.
A big thank you to Mr Welsh for inspiring us by sharing his interpretation of our school motto, Believe, Achieve, Succeed, and for presenting our Primary 3 pupils with their certificate for coming first in West Lothian’s Sumdog Maths Contest. Certificates were also awarded to our pupils who came in the top 50 in the competition.
Well done to all of our award winners!
Miracles at Mid Calder
A Leither who Left us all Thinking!
P7s went to the National Galleries of Scotland MOD2 on the 28th of November for a tour of Sir Eduardo Paolozzi’s studio and to explore a few of his sculptures in the gardens and cafe there. They went to explore further the work of this famous Scottish artist, born in Leith, who had great success not only in 3-D work but also in printmaking, collage and textiles.
In class we had discussed the Pop Art movement and worked on Pop Art posters with bright coloured backgrounds and collaged onto these with drawings of what they thought were the most popular cultural items of their times. Now it was time to find out from Duncan and Mo at the National Gallery more about his sculptures of man and machine such as the monumental Vulcan and The Master of the Universe.
So what did we think:
I was amazed by the fantastic responses of the children about the meaning of the artworks and what creative ideas they had. When we looked at the recreation of Paolozzi’s studio we discovered that maquettes were small models for sculptors to work from and we saw the explosion of interesting things he had around him.
Olivia enjoyed seeing the studio that Eduardo Paolozzi had and seeing all the finished and unfinished works that he made. She wants to learn more about him and how he fell in love with Art. Kiera thought it was interesting to see the artwork in his studio and there was lot to see.
Then we got the chance to “play with shapes” and were free to make our own 3-D artworks from card and tape and the pupils rose to this imaginative challenge and got the opportunity to evaluate their peers’ work. The parent helpers, Mrs Ramsay and Mrs Smith were invaluable in encouraging and supporting the frenzy of work.
Bethan enjoyed making the sculptures with her friend but wanted more time to finish them. Calum enjoyed making models and having fun with his friends.
Afterwards some of the children chose to look around some of the NOW exhibit at MOD1 and others chose to play in the sculpture garden. With a smaller group wandering through the sounds and sights of the Turner prize-winning Susan Philipsz’s work it was quite an eerie, melancholic experience with 7 turntables each playing single notes for 17 minutes and in the next room salt paintings of different kinds of tears that linked with the sad music. Really moving. Especially to see some of the least engaged pupils at the start of the day truly immersed in the experience. We had an opportunity to look into the mind and work of a great new artist and in doing so this allowed us to open our minds.
Cade liked the turntables because the men in the rooms told us about them and we got to listen to the sounds but he got bored quite quickly.
Well done to everyone! Great creative thinkers.
It was great to hear that three pupils from Mid Calder PS took part in the West Lothian Schools’ Swimming Championships on Sunday. Bethan, Olivia (both P7) and Fraser (P7/6) had to qualify for these championships and then took part in two races each on the day. Well done to each of them for their achievements! Their results are below:
Bethan
16/27 Girls 12 and under 50 metre freestyle.
11/17 Girls 12 and under 50 metre butterfly.
Olivia
12/27 Girls 12 and under 50 metre freestyle.
6/15 Girls 12 and under 50 metre backstroke.
Fraser
16/21 Boys 12 and under 50 metre freestyle.
5/5 Boys 12 and under 50 metre butterfly.
This morning, we welcomed parents and friends along to our first Celebration Assembly of the 2017-18 session. We acknowledged the success of pupils from across the school and nursery with out STEM Super Star and, in line with our School Improvement Plan, our new Successful Speller Award. One member of each of the 6 groups from our recent Loch Insh residential were also presented with an award.
We announced the Top Scorers for each house and a big well done to Cunnigar who won the House Cup for the term.
As our residential week comes to end, I would like to say a big well done to all the pupils who attended. They all demonstrated their resilience and perseverance by trying all activities and not giving up. They also showed our school values of being responsible and respectful when visiting Culloden and the Highland Wildlife Park.
A big thank you also to Ms Richmond, Miss Sherlow, Miss Anderson, Mrs Combe and Mrs Findlay got attending camp with the pupils and making this trip possible.
It was great to see all the likes and comments on Twitter and we will try and add more photos to the blog next week.
Hope you all don’t have too much washing!
Pupils at Mid Calder Primary and Nursery School had a surprise visit from Donna McMaster, West Lothian Council’s Head of Service for Education Curriculum, Quality Improvement and Performance, recently.
Mrs McMaster dropped in to congratulate the school on gaining national ‘Digital School’ status for excellence in digital technology in teaching and learning.
The Digital Schools Award recognises the dedication and innovation shown by Mid Calder Primary in areas of leadership and vision, digital technology for learning and teaching, school culture, professional development and resources and infrastructure.
Donna McMaster commented: “I was delighted to have been invited to Mid Calder Primary School to congratulate pupils and staff personally on their achievement.
“Mid Calder is the second primary school to achieve the Digital Schools award in West Lothian, earlier this year Kirknewton Primary School was also recognised as a digital school.
“Bathgate Early Years Centre was the first facility to pick up the prestigious award in West Lothian, and it is believed to be the first early years centre in Scotland to achieve the accolade.
“It is fantastic to see the work which has been achieved to embed technology into the school ethos and how technology is being embraced by the pupils, staff, parents and carers.”
Depute Head Teacher, Sarah Burton, Mid Calder Primary, West Lothian said: “The Digital Schools programme offered our school a supportive structure to evaluate our digital learning journey and where we needed to go.”
“It has also enabled our Technical Troopers pupil group, to take on a valuable leadership opportunity within our school. We are very proud of how digital learning is embedded in our school from nursery to primary 7, and this award was a chance to celebrate this work and share with others.”
