Category Archives: Junior Leadership Teams

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)

Today at our Pupil Council meeting we discussed the concerns we had about bring our own device and came up with some solutions.

  1. Lost, stolen, damaged devices: We recognised that we would have to trust each other. We think it’s important that your device has a protective cover. Some of us discussed that if you brought you own devic e it is just for you to use. We would have to learn to take responsibility for our own devices and respect other children’s property.
  2. Taking photos & videos: Some of us had the idea that if you were using your own device you could only take photos of yourself and your work and you could use school devices to take photos of other pupils in your class. We discussed how you had to ask someone before you took a photo and then delete the photo from the device when you are finished. We recognised that we would have to be responsible when taking photos and videos to ensure they were appropriate.
  3. What if I don’t have a device?: ‘So what?’ -We have lots of devices and eq uipment in school that you can use. We discussed how you might want to take an old device to school with you to use.
  4. Responsible use: We thought it would be a good idea to create a contract so children remember how to use the devices responsibily. We don’t think we should use social media or texting  at school, we want to use our devices to help us learn.

On Thursday some of the Pupil Council and Technical Troopers are having a Glow Meet with the Pupil Council at Williamston Primary. They are using BYOD and we think we could learn lots of them.

Our new school devices are almost ready to use on our Anytime Anywhere Learning network … We are very excited abut the possibilities this will have for us and our teachers!

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Road Rangers

The Junior Road Safety Officers have been learning about how to keep safe on the roads.

 

These are some of their top tips. Could you follow them when you’re next out and about?

 

– Never cross a road at a corner. (Caitlin N, P6)

– Be careful when the paths and roads are slippy. (Joe S, P1A & Caitlin S, P4 )

– Get off your bike when crossing the road. (Callum W, P7)

– Wear bright clothing and hi viz when riding on your bike. (Ryan C, P5)

– Always look both ways when crossing the road. (Josh M, P5/4)

– Never cross the road when there are two cars parked next to you because you can’t see when cars are coming past. (Charlie S, P6 & Daniel M, P1B)

– Listen, look and learn. (Freiah T & Gemma B, P3)

– Try to cross at a zebra crossing or traffic lights. (Ellis M, P7/6)

– Never run across a road. (Logan U, P7/6)

– Try to cross at a lollipop man. (James L, P5)

– If you’re not sure whether it’s safe to cross, ask an adult. (Jamie R, P7)

 

‘Be aware, be safe!’ (Logan U, P7/6)

 

How do you keep safe on the roads? Leave your comments below if you have any ideas!

Anytime Anywhere Learning is coming to Mid Calder!

This week the Pupil Council and Technical Troopers took part in some very exciting discussions about Anytime Anywhere Learning (AAL). AAL is when we have a wifi network where we can connect handheld devices to the internet. The first stage of AAL is when we connect our in school devices such as iPads to the network, the second stage is bring your own device (BYOD) that is when we have the opportunity to bring our own devices into school.

We are currently at stage one.

The Pupil Council and Technical Troopers have a lot of research to do before we are allowed to bring our own device to school, this will begin will a consultation with pupils and parents … so watch this space!

This week during our Junior Leadership Team meeting we discussed the benefits and issues of bring your own device. Next time we will look at the issues and see if we can think of solutions. If you have any thoughts on bring your own device please leave a comment below.

 

Magical Mediators @ Scottish Mediation Conference

Six of our Magical Mediators were invited along to the Scottish Mediation Conference on Friday. It was a school trip with a difference, as we had to get two trains in order to get to Queen Margaret University, and our day started at 7:45am, some of us felt a little sleepy!

We managed to fit in some numeracy work, as we had to calculate how much money we needed at the shop, and we used our prior learning to calculate the duration until our train arrived. We bumped into Carol Hope our Peer Mediation trainer at the platform at Waverly and we got the train to Musselburgh together.

First of all we listened to a keynote from Kenneth Kressel from the Psychology of Mediation. Some of it was a litte bit difficult to understand but it allowed us to reflect on what time of mediator we are. It also was our first time in a huge lecture theatre (and university).

We then attended a workshop with Mediator Magician Nick Patel (who has worked with the famous Magician Dynamo). He reminded us of all the important skills and knowledge we need to be a mediator, while showing us some tricks. In the second workshop we discussed the challenges and solutions to peer mediation being sustainable in our schools, here we had the opportunity to share our magical mediators story and learn from other schools.

On the way home we reflected on the day, some of us thought it was ‘The best day ever!’. Our next steps are to share this event with the other magical mediators and discuss as a group how we can develop the magical mediators service. A big thank you to Roxan and Carol for inviting us to this event, and to our parents for dropping us at the train station. Miss Burton said we demonstrated excellent communication skills and that we represented MCPS in a positive way.

mediators

 

Roxan the  Peer Mediation Network Coordinator send an email to say:

So glad to hear your pupils enjoyed it – it was such a great, positive day! Your pupils were all so lovely, clever, motivated, and talented and it was our pleasure to have them there. Nick was also very very impressed with the peer mediators, and said it reflects very well on their teachers and trainers! The rest of the conference delegates were also delighted with the presence of the young people. Overall, it was a very happy day! Thank you so much for joining us.

Eco JLT’s new Anti-Litter Policy

Mid Calder’s Eco Junior Leadership Team have been working hard to combat litter in our indoor and outdoor school environment. After carrying out a litter survey, they created an Action Plan for reducing litter, whilst raising awareness of the negative impact of litter on the environment. The children identified the creation of a school wide Anti-Litter Policy as one of their actions. At their last meeting they brainstormed lots of ideas to include in the policy under given headings. Please check out their results!

Mid Calder Primary Anti-Litter Policy

 

Term 1 Achievement Assembly

On Friday we had our first Achievement Assembly of this session. Each class nominated one pupil to receive the Achievement Award for their class and parents and carers were invited along to watch the assembly.

We also gave out Star Writer Awards, Top Scorer prizes, JRSO certificates and announced the winning house for the term. 

Well done who everyone who received an award!

 2015-10-16 achievement assembly nominees

House Meeting 2

Today we had our second house meeting which had a focus on our playground. First of all the vice and house captains shared with us our house logos and slogans and also the values that our house thought were the most important:

  • Almondell: Friendly & Enthusiastic
  • Cunnigar: Friendly & Inclusive
  • Linhouse: Friendly & Enthusiastic
  • Calderwood: Enthusiastic & Successful

The vice and house captains taught us a new community builder called; elephants, monkeys, helicopters and palm trees. They were taught how to play this game at peer mediator training.

Next we discussed the importance of being safe in the playground and why we need to create a playground charter. We got into groups and discussed what we should have in our playground charter, and the house and vice captains will take this information to make a school playground charter.

Thank you to our house and vice captains for organising the house meeting, and to the P7s for organising the groups.