We all got dressed in our party clothes for the final night disco. We danced and sang the night away, starting with our beloved Smurf song – thanks to Mrs Findlay. Johny also showed us a video we had made about our time at Loch Insh – it was fantastic!
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!
Today we had a fantastic day starting with canoeing, then skiing and finally taking on a special challenge in the evening. Only a few of us had been in a canoe previously, it was exciting as most of us learned how to paddle in a canoe. We had few crashes into trees and navigating our way down narrow parts of the Loch. Thankfully no one fell in or got stuck. Skiing was incredible as we all managed to ski from the top of the hill in only 2 hours of practising.
The Egg challenge involved designing and making something that would hold an egg and support it when being dropped from different heights. After various designs we were ready to take on the challenge. We started from knee height and ended from the balcony outside. Three designs successfully supported the egg and as a result it didn’t crack.
We look forward to new adventures at The Wildlife Park tomorrow.
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.”
We started our residential by visiting Culloden Battlefield to put our Jacobite learning into real life. We explored the battlefield, took part in a charge and shared our knowledge of the battle. We also took part in The People of the Battle workshop.
This week we presented all the information that we have learned about The Jacobites. We presented our assembly in the form of a News Report, beginning with the story of how the Jacobites were formed and moving on to included examples of famous battles between James and King William. We ended the Jacobite story with the battle between Bonnie Prince Charlie and William at Culloden. We read a diary extract that one of us had written in class. This highlighted what it was like going in to battle for soldiers and the challenges that they faced. We all felt incredibly proud after the assembly.
West Calder Transition Club is running within West Calder High School on a Friday afternoon 3-5pm. This provision is for young people P6 to S1. Entry is £1.
Activities on offer are as follows, Chill Out Zone, Cooking, Arts and Crafts, Sports and so much more.
For more information please contact Errin Anderson at West Calder Community Centre on 01506 871278 or email errin.anderson@westlothian.gov.uk
On Friday, the PSA and House and Vice Captains organised a coin trail for money week and to raise money for school funds.
Longest line winners:
Total raised:
Total: £492.69
A big thank you to the PSA for counting the coins!
We are learning to explore the use of coordinates to plot points and describe positions and movements on a grid.
Success Criteria:
Primary 7 have been learning to work with coordinates. We have been working on drawing grids accurately then plotting points for our partner to identify. We have also been identifying the coordinates of shapes and creating our own shapes. We will continue with our coordinate challenges this week.
