Category Archives: News

Community, Events, Health & Wellbeing, Outside of School, Technologies, Uncategorized

P4A Visit to Fork and Field

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This week we have been fortunate enough to visit the ‘Fork and Field’ restaurant as part of our Field to Fork topic. We were able to learn and ask questions including; how the restaurant was developed, how the restaurant works and the responsibility of all the staff.  We had a practise at holding heavy meals and ordering food. It was fantastic to visit a local restaurant and it was a great way of learning in a real life context. Additionally we had a representative from Scottish Beef to educate us about healthy eating.

LI:We are developing our understanding of restaurants

Success Criteria

I am aware of the various job roles within a restaurant and why they are important.

I understand the different responsibilities of a waiter/waitress.

I can use the skills learned in an imaginary restaurant situation.

We have thoroughly enjoyed meeting people that work in the food industry  this week and look forward to making our own food and creating our own restaurants next week, with all the skills we have learned.

Community, Events, Health & Wellbeing

P4b’s Fantastic day of food!

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P4b had a very exciting day yesterday learning all about food, restaurants and cooking. In the morning we went to visit the ‘Fork and Field’ Restaurant in Mid Calder, it was brilliant! We were given a tour around the restaurant, shown how orders are made and sent to the chef and we were also able to pretend we were waiters and waitresses serving food and drink to customers. It was a super experience and cant wait to tell everyone about all the information we found out.
In the afternoon, Jennifer Robertson from Quality Meat Scotland came into class to talk to us about the importance of local farms and meat. Jennifer also taught us how to prepare healthy beef fajitas, filled with homemade guacamole, lettuce, tomatoes and peppers, YUMMY!

Events, Fundraising, PSA

Thursday 2nd February: Movie Night

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Bring a cushion or a pillow to sit on, wear your PJs or Onesie and tuck into a snack with juice whilst chilling out to a good movie and good company It costs £2.50, which includes juice and snack.

Whilst every effort is made to accommodate certain special dietary requirement, please ensure your child is aware of the foodstuffs they can consume. Add dietary requirements to the back of the booking slip. DO NOT provide your child with their own snack and juice. Any questions please ask the PSA via their e-mail.

Please fill out the form below (one per child) and return to the school in a sealed envelope marked MOVIE NIGHT, together with your payment, by Monday 30th January. The pre-payment is to ensure there will be enough snacks and juice for everyone. We accept walk-ins on the night but cannot guarantee them the snack and juice. They must be signed in. No photography/mobile phones Please only allow younger children to wear onesies if they won’t need assistance in the toilet.

*COLLECTION INSTRUCTIONS —

All children must be collected by a responsible adult

P1-4 Children will be ready to leave the school by 7:50pm PLEASE be waiting for your child at that time.

P5-7 will be held back until 8pm We will call out names and bring child forward for collection. We ask that you stand well clear of the collection area until that time to allow other parents access.

P1-4 : Leaving by the MAIN DOOR by primary year, starting with P1. Please gather at front path/grassy area, but stand clear until your child’s year is leaving.

P5-7 : Leaving by the NEW PLAYGROUND exit (front of school, door with metal stairs). Please gather in the new playground area to pick up your child.

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Events, Primary 5

Tales of disaster in Primary 5

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Yesterday, Primary 5 had two very special visitors who came to share their experiences of natural disasters as part of our IDL context for learning. Ellie shared her experience of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that followed in Japan, telling us all about what she went through personally, what devastating effects both disasters had, and how the people affected worked together to rebuild their lives and their cities. She also told us about a memorial in Ishinomaki which has the words, ‘Ganbarou! Ishinomaki.’ We learned that this was a message of hope at a time when the people of Japan didn’t have any.

Mrs Findlay also shared her story of an earthquake she encountered in Rhodes while on holiday with her family. She told us how people had to react quickly despite being completely unprepared, as well giving us some advice about what to do to try and stay safe in an earthquake. She also shared how each of her family members reacted to the shock of the event. Both visitors shared very different experiences, but both were caused by the same extremely dangerous and highly unpredictable natural disaster.

A big thank you to both of our visitors for sharing their experiences. It was invaluble for us to hear first hand about how terrifying these disasters can be, and how much damage they can cause.

Anytime Anywhere Learning, Information for Parents, Primary 5, Primary 7, Technical Troopers, Technologies

Bring Your Own Device Update

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This week, the Technical Troopers met to discuss the use of Bring Your Own Device in MCPS to find out what is going well and what can still be improved. As we are still in the trial phrase of Bring Your Own Device, we have decided to allow children in P5-7 who have a signed BYOD contract to use their own device during Free Time Friday. The Technical Troopers brainstormed the benefits and possible problems that could occur with this, and also discussed the possible consequence of the contract being broken during Free Time Friday.

We decided that all of the details outlined in our Responsible Use contract will still stand. This will be reviewed regularly to ensure that our pupils, staff and devices remain safe. You can see a copy of our Responsible Use contract here. If you would like your child to engage with Bring Your Own Device, copies of the contract can be obtained from the class teachers in P5-7.

In addition to this, and following on from our taster session from Google at the end of last term, we have recently purchased a set of 10 Virtual Reality headsets. These can be used with most smart phones using the ‘Expeditions’ app. Google Expeditions takes children on virtual trips all over the world, allowing them get up close with historical landmarks, dive underwater with sharks and even visit outer space! This is an exciting new use of Bring Your Own Device that we are looking forward to exploring.

Achievements, English & Literacy, Events, Primary 1, Primary 2, Primary 3, Primary 5, Primary 7, Uncategorized

Mid Calder celebrates Robert Burns in style!

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On Friday 20th January, pupils from across each class demonstrated their Scots skills by participating in our annual Robert Burns assembly.

Two pupils from each class recited their poem in front of the audience, led by our House Captains.  We learned a little information about Rabbie Burns himself and we were treated to a real celebration of Scots culture, when girls from P6 and P7 performed some Highland dancing.

Niamh Sher, Cailin McKenna and Zach Paris will now go forward to represent Mid Calder Primary at the West Lothian Burns Recital competition later on this term.

ALL boys and girls who took part were a real credit to themselves – their use of Scots language was outstanding and dedication to learning their poems off by heart was fantastic.

Thankyou to our judging panel, Mr MacFarlane, Mrs Bokhari and Mrs Mackenzie had a tough job choosing a representative from Primary Five to Seven.

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Newsletter

January Newsletter

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Dear Parents / Carers,

I do hope you had a lovely Christmas. I would like to wish everyone a Healthy and Happy New Year.

The children have all settled back into school routine and are now thinking about their next topics, including learning a Scottish Poem for the Burns competition.

Having completed an audit about our resources for Reading and Spelling we have begun to update and extend the resources within the school. It is lovely to get new books into circulation and supply the children with high quality resources to use both at home and in school. I would like to thank all parents who took time to complete our evaluations; this information will feed into our School Improvement Plan and help determine how we continue to take it forward. Our staff have been working closely with West Calder cluster schools to further develop the understanding of ‘Growth Mindsets’, ‘Building learning Power’ and ‘Visible Learning’. They will be, in conjunction with all cluster staff, implementing small tests of change within their classrooms. Information to report on the outcomes will be available to parents on our Standards and Quality leaflet next session.

School is not just about children extending their knowledge but about everyone within our learning community ‘learning’ in some capacity. We intend to have another open afternoon this session, to share our learning with you. We hope you will put this date in your diary and come along and enjoy seeing what your children are achieving. The date for this will be Wednesday 15th march at 1.30pm. If you have any ‘skills’ or ‘expert knowledge’ you would be will to share with staff and children in our school please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Mary McKenzie

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