Category Archives: Uncategorized

What we have been learning in P2R…

“This week we have been learning about space.  We learnt that the earth spins around but the sun stays still.”

By Nivyn

“This week we have been learning to join our letters.”

By Morgan

“This week we have been learning about ordinal numbers.  These are numbers like 1st, 2nd and 3rd.  They tell us about which order something is in.”

By Dean

P6 & P7 Dalguise Residential Camp: Monday 4th – Friday 8th November 2013

There will be an ‘Information Session’ on Thursday 31st October at 3.30pm for all parents/carers of P6 & P7 pupils who will be attending this year’s residential trip to Dalguise, Perthshire.

This will be an opportunity to find out a little more about some of the activities the children will experience and a chance to ask any questions you may have.  If you have any queries/questions regarding this trip and are unable to attend this meeting, please don’t hesitate to contact the school to discuss these further.

An information sheet and suggested clothing list for parents/carers was sent home at the end of term.  If your child has not received this then please collect a copy from the school office.

Making maths real

We had a very interesting maths lesson last week, when some of the children in Mrs Millar’s group went to do some shopping down at the Mill Centre in preparation for the arrival of our French visitor, Mme Savoie on Thursday.  It turned into an experience which taught us lessons on lots of different levels.

We did mental maths in Scotmid, calculating the best prices for fruit.  Would it be better to buy pre-packed apples or buy them individually? Could we estimate how much money we were going to spend?  How much money would we save if we bought multi-packs?  What would the change be at the till?  Was Liam strong enough to carry both baskets of fruit or would someone else step up and help him..?

On the way home, we popped in to Blackburn Library, where we signed up for a library card and then were treated to a “private viewing” of the mobile library van.  The driver, Carol, explained about her previous jobs and how the experience of driving a whole range of vans and lorries helped her in her job.  She told us about the pros and cons of the different jobs she’d done and gave us an insight into what it was like to drive the mobile library van.  She also gave us a quick introduction on how to use the Dewey System to find books.  (I’m a teacher and I like the added extras!  I was also thinking that it would be good to see how well they were listening and wondering if I could ask them to tidy up the school library when we got back to school.)

Thank you to everyone who helped to make our trip into our local community so welcoming and interesting.  We are looking forward to going down to the library next term to do some research and to find out how they will be able to help the children with their school work as they transition from Murrayfield to their local Secondary Schools, Bathgate Academy and St Kents.

Murrayfield welcomes Mme Savoie from Chambery

Mme Aurelie Savoie is visiting our school on Thursday and Friday this week as part of a Comenius visit sponsored by the French Institute in Edinburgh.

Mme Savoie teaches P2 and P3 equivalents at Ecole CONCORDE Barberaz in Chambéry, where the children spend half of their day learning in English and the other half learning in French.  Murrayfield hopes to set up a link between the two schools and to encourage children from each school to communicate in a variety of ways. 

Our pupils are very enthusiastic in showing Mme Savoie around and staff have been keen to discuss and compare teaching and learning in France and Scotland with her.    We are all looking forward to further developing our relationship with our French colleagues and pupils in Chambery.

West Lothian Council’s Attendance Policy

An AIMS team (Attendance Improvement Management Service) has been created within West Lothian’s Children & Young People Team (CYPT) which will raise the profile and priority of attendance issues with a focus on early intervention, transition, individual and group work approaches.  The AIMS team work in partnership with schools and families to support West Lothian Council’s Attendance Policy.  The AIMS information leaflet for parents/carers has been posted on the blog for you to have a look at and hard copies are available in school.  West Lothian Council’s Attendance Policy provides a system that intervenes at an early stage and letters are sent to parents/carers when their child’s attendance falls below 90%.  This system keeps parents/carers informed about their child’s attendance as absences can mount up easily and this has an impact on their overall attendance percentages.

CYPT Attendance Leaflet