Category Archives: Learning Stories

Achievements, Events, Health & Wellbeing, Primary 7, Responsible Roles, Uncategorized

Magical Mediators receive WL Stellar Award!

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On Friday afternoon the Magical Mediators and their parents/ carers were invited along to the West Lothian Stellar Awards at Howden Park Centre where they received the winning award for Responsible Citizens.

The information below details why these group of pupils were nominated for the award and the impact they have had on the school and themselves. A big Congratulations to all the Magical Mediators for this huge achievement, we are very proud of them.

https://www.westlothian.gov.uk/article/13221/Spotlight-on-pupils-at-Stellar-Awards

  • How the outcome was achieved, were there barriers, new ideas, teamwork etc.

Over two years as a Senior Management Team we recognised that we were having ongoing issues in the playground. As part of a way to address the issues we introduced Responsible Roles for Primary 7 pupils which included:

  • Playful Pals: They have the responsibility of teaching younger pupils playground games, looking after the playground equipment and ensuring children are not on their own at break and lunch times.
  • Safe Security: They have the responsibility of ensuring the playground area and toilets areas safe and pupils are using the facilities responsibility.
  • Magical Mediators: They operate a peer mediation programme which helps pupils solve disputes in the playground through a coaching programme.

The Primary 7 pupils filled out an application form and were allocated a role depending on their knowledge, skills and qualities, they then underwent training for their specific role.

  • Who was involved/ affected – those involved, those supporting, those who benefitted.

Initially the Magical Mediators were trained along with St. Ninian’s Primary by the Scottish Mediation Network, the pupils now run their own training programme. They work in partnership with the pupil support workers and are supported by the depute head teacher. The Magical Mediator service is offered to P1-7 pupils. Our Magical Mediators are still in regular contact with the Scottish Mediation Network, who have written case studies about our programme to share our learning with others.

  • What was learned.

The Magical Mediators help our pupils become independent by helping them develop conflict resolution skills there preparing them with skills for learning, life and work. Pupils in the school have become more solution orientated by trying to solve their own problems first before asking an adult for help.

The Magical Mediators programme has impacted hugely on their Primary 7 leadership skills as they have responsibility for leading and developing the programme. They have developed their communication skills in a number of ways from promoting and advertising the service through Assemblies, promotion videos and our school blog to how they communicate with the pupils who use their service. They have developed resilience and problem solving skills in order to independently  overcome difficult situations. They have also developed their organisation skills by

  • What makes the achievement/project/group/individual special.

Our Magical Mediators have represented our school and West Lothian at the Scottish Medication Conference and more recently they were asked to share our journey to schools across Scotland at the Scottish Young Talks Conference.  At this conference they received an award from the Scottish Mediation in recognition for our Outstanding Contribution to Peer Mediation in Scotland by a School.

  • What are the lasting impacts of the achievement/project etc.

Our Magical Mediators continue to have a lasting impact on the health and wellbeing of the pupils in our school. It is a sustainable programme, as the Primary 7 pupils have developed training workshops to  train the new magical mediators each year. We regularly support the Scottish Mediation Network with their research and have appeared in their Young Talks Magazine several times.

You can find out more about our Magical Mediators on our blog:

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/wl/mcps/?s=magical+mediators&searchsubmit=

Primary 1, STEM 2017, Technologies

Building in P1

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We are learning that buildings are created for a variety of purposes                               

We are learning that different materials are used for different parts of a building

SC

  • I can name different types of buildings
  • I can name different parts of a building
  • I can describe the different materials used in a building and say why each one is effective

We started our new IDL by reading and talking about the story of The 3 Little Pigs. We explored the materials used to build the houses in the story, and decided why the straw and the sticks were not particularly suitable. The bricks were definitely the best choice!

We then watched a video clip about building a house, and considered some of the materials suggested for the different parts of the building – jelly walls? hair roof? newspaper windows? We could give very good reasons why these materials would not be appropriate, and we suggested much better alternatives. There were lots of examples of these building materials all around us in school- eg bricks, concrete, wood and glass.

We decided that these materials would probably be used for other types of buildings too.

We have now set up a Site Office in our classroom,  and we are going to keep an eye on the progress that is being made with the Nursery next door. Now, we plan to investigate some of the different types of work carried out when a new building is created, and we would also like to explore the various roles that people have throughout the process.

English & Literacy, Interdisciplinary Learning, Primary 5, STEM 2017

MISSING!

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L.I. We are learning to select key information from a description.

As part of our STEM topic, ‘KIDNAPPED’, Primary 5 have been helping the police in their search for the missing Green children who have been kidnapped from their home. This week we decided to create some Missing Persons posters to help with the investigation. We revised all the information we already had about the children and the circumstances of their disappearance.

In our investigation groups we discussed the information we had and selected the key points to include in our posters. We agreed that they had to:

  • be eyecatching, to hook people in
  • provide as much accurate information about the children as possible
  • give details of the date and time of the disappearance
  • give an accurate representation of how the children look
  • provide details of who to contact with information

Once we had planned our posters, we got to work in our teams and managed to produce some really eye-catching posters. We are hoping to get permission to display some around the school – look out for them!

Primary 7, Sciences, STEM 2017, Uncategorized

Cool Chemistry in P7/6

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LI: We are learning to identify the features of a fair test

LI: We are learning to classify materials

SC: I can identify that a material/substance has changed through decay, cooking, burning, rusting, melting and dissolving.

I can investigate what causes this change.

This week we kicked off our new topic ‘Cool Chemistry’ and we have been very busy discovery what chemistry is and what processes we have to go through when conducting an experiment.We are all excited that we are going to be learning about chemistry and what this involves. At the beginning of the week we looked how materials can changed through different processes. We were all given a small piece of clay which we examined and we had to describe its properties. Some of the words that we came up with were: flexible, moist, dusty, strong smell, squishy, gritty and soft. We then watched a film to see what happens to clay when it gets fired in a kiln. Once the clay had gone through the heating process the properties of it were very different. Some of the words that we used to describe the properties of the fired clay were: smooth, hard, fragile, rigid, breakable. We discussed how clay would not be able to go back to its original form and came up with other materials that this would happen to when they have gone through a change, we discussed that  bread and eggs could not go back to their original form.

We also learned about fair testing, what this involves and why it is necessary. Once we had learned about fair testing we then conducted our own investigation into what melts faster, butter or chocolate. We discussed how we could make this a fair test and decided that we had to keep the water at the same temperature when melting the butter and chocolate, the water had to be the same amount and the butter and chocolate had to be the same amount otherwise this would not be fair and our results might vary. We made predictions and were surprised at some of the results. We are looking forward to learning more about chemistry over the coming weeks.

 

Keep your eyes peeled for more experiments.

 

Miss Anderson

 

Interdisciplinary Learning, Primary 1, Primary 2, STEM 2017, Technologies

P2/1 – Building Our Nursery

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We are learning to understand that different materials are used for different purposes.

We are learning to investigate the properties of different materials.

  • I can name different materials and explain why they might be used for different parts of a building.
  • I can find a variety of materials around the school and explain why it has been used for the purpos

This week we have been exploring the different materials we can use to build and design, we had a choice of different rotations:

  • Using machinery in the sand to build.
  • Designing plans for the nursery in the architect’s office.
  • Selecting materials to build a nursery.
Primary 5, Sciences, STEM 2017, Technologies, Uncategorized

Mission 6: Fingerprint Discovered

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Learning Intention: We are learning what a fingerprint is
– I understand that everyone has a unique fingerprint
– I can identify the key features of my own fingerprint
– I know how and why the police use fingerprints to help them solve crimes

As part of our STEM IDL context, Kidnapped, P5B have been receiving missions from Police Chief Anderson to help Police HQ to find Jack and Sarah Green. This week, we discovered that a fingerprint was found on the strap of a watch belonging to Jack. Chief Anderson sent our investigation teams a fingerprinting kit so that we could find out more about our own fingerprints. 

We learned there are 3 main characteristics to look for; loop, whorl and arch. We put our fingerprints onto a balloon first and inflated it so that we could see our print pattern more clearly. We used magnifying glasses to get an even closer look.

We then took prints of all ten of our fingers and analysed them to find the specific characteristics of each one. It was interesting to compare all ten fingers and see which was the most common characteristic. We recorded out findings and added this to our growing case files.

We also discussed how difficult it must have been for the police to match fingerprints in the days before technology. We used our own and the school devices to find out when the first crime was solved using fingerprint evidence- all the way back in 1892!

Primary 7, Uncategorized

Primary 7 elect new Prime Minister!

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Learning Intention:  We are learning to identify how an election works, including new associated vocabulary.

Success criteria:

  • I can run and organise an event with team members.
  • I can promote the beliefs and values of a political party.
  • I can use persuasive language and propaganda.
  • I can show my understanding of democracy through participation in a vote

As part of our learning in IDL, finalising from this term, we have been learning about democracy and how voting systems work.  We had a very successful visit to the Scottish Parliament where we could see politics in practice….listening to a live debate was very very interesting.

This week we asked all members of our class to present their individual manifestos and candidates who wished to run for Prime Minister, were put to our vote.

After the votes were counted and verified, NOAH AITKEN has this morning been announced as our class Prime Minister.  Well done to Noah for this achievement but also to all pupils who presented some very successful manifestos.

During reflection time, pupils described their experiences…

Charlie – “I was torn between two candidates – the one who was your friend and the one you thought would do a good job.”

Noah – “I was nervous because I didn’t know who to vote for.”

Keira – “It was a scary experience because you knew that one vote could change the whole thing.”

Greigor- “You were under pressure to choose between two people and make your decision.”

Reece- “It was nerve-wracking making that kind of decision.”

 

Community, Events, Primary 3, Uncategorized

P3’s Amazing school trip to Jupiter Art Land!

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P3 went to Jupiter Art Land and saw lots of interesting and cool sculptures!

Euan: My favourite sculpture was the stones in the trees by Andy Goldsworth because they were really interesting!

Lewis A: My favourite part was having a wee seat on the stones in the secret house!

Jacob: I liked the statues of the weeping girls because they stayed really still like a statue.

Olivia: My favourite part was the crystal cave. It was really shiny and cool!

Ciara: My favourite part was the weeping girls because they have long hair that hides their faces. I remember it was by Laura Ford!

Amelia: My favourite part was the trees with the giant stones because it was stretching the tree out!