Category Archives: News

Playful Pal Training

It is the end of another term and it is time for the P7’s to hang up their safety jackets and pass on the responsible roles to the P6’s. On Monday all of the P7 Playful Pals were involved in training the P6’s for their upcoming year of taking on their roles. It was a fun packed morning and all of the P7’s were responsible for creating a programme that would fully equip the P6’s in their roles. The P7’s took 2 mornings to create their programme and had to think of things that would fully involve everyone and make sure that the P6’s understood the role of a Playful Pal and what this actually involves, and of course there was some fun along the way.

The morning started off with a bit of first aid training and the children learning basic first aid of putting a bandage on and how to stem a wound. Things got a bit more serious when the CPR dummy came out and the children got the opportunity to try out some life saving skills. I would feel safe in any of their hands now!!!  Once the children had completed their first aid training it was time to hand it over to the P7,s. First on the agenda was a short video letting the P6’s know exactly what the Playful Pals do in the playground and a short expectations power point. Next was on to some team building games, the P7’s really thought about what games would bring the children together as a team. In order for the P6’s to experience what scenarios they might come across in the playground, part of their training involved role play situations. Finally our new Playful Pals had to write a job description for their role and after all of their training they were able to pinpoint the skills required for their new position.

Overall the P7’s put on a great programme to train our new Playful Pals and the P6’s had a great learning experience. The P6’s are now fully equipped to take on their new roles.

Good luck in your new roles.

I hope you all have a fantastic holiday and stay safe.

 

Miss Anderson

 

PSA Easter Egg Competiton

A big well done to everyone who participated in the PSA Easter Egg Competition. Mrs Murray and Miss Sherlow had a difficult job judging the competition! Mrs Learmont from the PSA presented the winners with an Easter Egg at the Church service today. Thank you to the PSA for organising this event.

 

P2/3 Prepare for Spring Assembly.

P2/3 Easter Assembly
Rhuairidh – Easter is a very nice time because there are lots of new flowers and new animals. All the flowers are bright.
James – We love seeing new things being born and growing up. We like seeing calves and especially lambs.
Cara – We have been learning how to draw and paint Easter-time flowers and we love seeing loads of flowers coming out.
Annalise – We like planting flowers at spring because we really like the petals when they bloom and the colours.
Daisy D – We love to celebrate the new life at spring-time.

We loved learning about the artist Elizabeth Blackadder and the Easter story. Some girls loved learning new words for yellow – pineapple, butterscotch and a lovely shade called daffodil! We did a lot of colour mixing to get the right shades for our terracotta pots of dwarf narcissi.

We hope you can come and see us at the church on Thursday afternoon. Daisy F says you can look up the yellow words on Google.

Cracking the case with the Constable

Today, Primary 5 had a special visit from Constable Graham McKenzie who gave us an insight into the different roles the police would play in an investigation similar to the one in our IDL context, Kidnapped. He explained different useful ‘intelligence’ or clues that the police would look for at a crime scene, and how they would gather the evidence. He also explained how he and his colleagues might use this to solve a crime and catch a suspect.

Constable McKenzie also gave examples of the different roles he has taken on within the police, and examples of crime scenes he has attended. We also had the opportunity to touch some of the vital equipment an officer requires to keep themselves and others safe. We even got to try some of it on- the body armour was much heavier than we expected it to be!

A big thank you to Constable McKenzie for coming to talk to us and help us with our investigations.

P5 Trip to Dynamic Earth

On Thursday, Primary 5A and Primary 5B took a trip to Dynamic Earth to consolidate our learning about natural disasters. As well as feeling the ground shuddering as a molten lava flow sped towards us as we watched volcanoes throw clouds of ash and gas into the sky, we also had the chance to travel back in time, touch an iceberg and fly above the Polar ice caps. We took part in a workshop where we were able to show off our knowledge of different natural disasters, as well as learn new and interesting facts as we created our own tornadoes, held real moon rocks and tried to construct a building that would withstand an earthquake.

Thank you to our parents helpers for your help throughout- what a fantastic trip!

Building Site Safety

Today, Mid Calder Primary had an important talk from Stephen from Hadden Construction, the company who are building our new nursery. He showed us the plans for the nursery, described what it will look like, and spoke to us about some of the equipment that will be used to build it. We also learned about the different careers people can have in the construction industry. He also taught us, very importantly, about the potential dangers found on a building site, and how to keep ourselves safe.

Stephen also introduced a whole competition to design a poster about building site safety. Hadden Construction have very kindly donated money to the school for prizes, so we are very excited to take part and to share what we have learned about how to stay safe.

If you want to learn more about building site safety, visit Ivor Goodsite’s website: https://www.ivorgoodsite.org.uk/kidszone/

Learning Walk Part 3 .. Visit to Woodmuir Primary!

Today our Pupil Council went along to Woodmuir Primary School, along with Addiewell Primary for the finale of our Cluster Learning Walks. The Pupil Council gave us a presentation about their school.

We asked the Pupil Council some questions about their school:

  • What is your favourite thing about your school?
  • Is there anything you would like to change about your school and why?
  • What is it like being in multi-composite classes?
  • Do you get awards at your school? What kind of awards?

We also asked Ms Hamilton, their Head Teacher some questions about her job:

  • What is your favourite part of your job?
  • What do you like about your school and why?
  • How many pupils and teachers are in your school?
  • How do you plan your assemblies?

There were lots of things that we found interesting about Woodmuir Primary:

  • There are 23 pupils in their whole school.
  • They have 2 classes.
  • In the mornings they go for a walk and have a quick assembly everyday.
  • They have toast after break time every day.
  • Outdoor learning is an important part of their learning and they have lots of outdoor spaces.
  • There is no fence around their school.
  • Woodmuir is a new school so it looks really nice.
  • They have unisex toilets.
  • P5-7 have been learning about the Mars Rover.
  • Some of their school values are the same as ours.
  • They have walls in their classrooms.
  • P1-4 were learning about Art.
  • We even got to meet Ms Gordon who used to teach at our school.

Thank you to our tour guides and answering our questions.

A big well done to Harry for helping Miss Burton navigate her way to Woodmuir (after getting lost!).

West Lothian’s LAL Day Event

Today, Mid Calder Primary School were invited along to West Lothian’s Literacy Across Learning Event to share how we improve literacy using digital technologies. Calum, Ben, Grace and Kirsty joined Miss Burton and Miss Sherlow to present to Head Teachers, teachers and a range of other practitioners from across West Lothian. They did a fantastic job in sharing how we use a variety of digital platforms and tools to enhance learning in our school, and received positive feedback about how confidently they presented. Well done Calum, Ben, Grace and Kirsty!