This week P6 went back in time to 1897 to take our lessons in a Victorian classroom and to see what life was like during Queen Victoria’s reign. On arrival we changed into our school uniform – a white frilly smock for the girls and shirts and waistcoats for the boys. Sitting the girls away from the boys, began our work on the 3 Rs – reading, writing and ‘rithmetic!

We did our ‘rithmetic test on our chalk boards with a chalk board pen. This was hard to read and a little scratchy, but they won’t dry up like whiteboard pens! Next we did choral reading from the whiteboard. Finally we did our handwriting using an inkwell and fountain pen with blotting paper.

For those who were not completely silent with arms folded and eyes facing front, there was a selection of punishments awaiting them. Firstly was the stoop at the front, where you could sit with shame for as long as the teacher wanted you to. Next there was the fidget board that you had to wear under your arms to stop you from moving in your seat. For the left handers, there was the finger stocks which you would put your fingers in and tie it to the back of your uniform to stop you from using your left hand. Finally there was the strap or cane, from which you could receive ‘six of the best’! You could be punished for minor things such as talking, not sitting up straight, moving in your chair, not having your feet flat on the floor, using your left hand or not saying ‘sir’ or ‘miss’ after speaking to the teacher!

Talking partners or group work was completely discouraged! It was fun for us but we all agreed it would not be fun all day long!

After our lessons we enjoyed the museum where we learned about many Victorian household items, artefacts and ways of life that are so different to how we live today. We got to try out  and learn about mangles, bed pans, irons, shoe dolls, hair curlers and more! We all agreed it was  really interesting and fun class trip! However we all left feeling  very privileged to be living in the 21st Century!

This week P6 took part in the West Calder High Cross Country event. Local schools from across the region took part which took them along the route skirting the school grounds.
Every pupil finished the race and really enjoyed it so well done to all. Particularly well done to Codi and Phillip who had the fastest times in our class group!

We have had another fun-filled week at Lego Club! This week our challenge was to build an animal habit for their favourite animal for Earth Day.

Amongst the creations were snakes in the jungle, sharks in the ocean, fish in the coral reef; as well as penguins, polar bears, rabbits and more! One clubber even created a ‘true view’ of the ocean with plastic and old junk floating in it – which was very sad but very important as we all agreed this should not be allowed to happen.

Well done for your creativity and great discussions Lego Club!

This week in P6 we have finishing our Europe topic by presenting our Power points on our favourite country. Next week will will start our new topic Victorians. In maths we have been learning about decimals and angles.  We have started a new writing topic – Persuasive Writing – and have been practising presenting a series of arguments in two class debates.

We have also started working on our Shrek the Musical Jr show, with all pupils rehearsing or helping to paint and build props.

We also began a new session of outdoor learning and will be planting up our raised beds and finishing off our John Muir Award.

In other news well done to Codi and Maddison for taking part in the gymnastics competition – they each received a medal and certificate. And also huge congratulations to Luke, Kymberley and Keira who received an award from St Kent’s for participating well in the Young Stem Leader’s lesson before Easter. Well done!

St Mary’s held a whole-school Careers Fair on Weds 22nd March in the hall. More than 25 local employers came along to speak to all pupils – from the Nursery to P7,  about what they did to help our young people think about their interests and next steps.

We had representatives from the Police, Fire, The Army, NHS, professional athletes, Network Rail, beauty, West Calder and St Kent’s High Schools Careers, hypnotherapy, law, Glasgow Kelvin College, the News and more. See the link below for our budding reporters!

We were so grateful to all our wonderful guests who took time out of their busy schedules to talk to our young people. Feedback from our pupils and guests was overwhelmingly positive! Let’s hope we can make this a regular occurance!

https://fb.watch/jyM6lbnEfT/’

This week’s lego challenge is complete! First our intrepid clubbers tested last week’s lego with the strength test – they had to stand on their structures to see if it would bear the weight of a human. Next they began to construct their Easter garden! So bunnies, ducks, eggs and Spring themes were in abundance! Happy Easter lego club!

Well done to P6 for taking part in the EuroQuiz! They got a brilliant 35/60, answering questions across four rounds . The team comprised Adam, Luke, Shaheen and Katie with Kymberley as the stand-in. Well done for working so hard! Here they are with their certificates.

This week was a super busy one in P6! In numeracy we have been working on fractions and will soon see how they relate to decimals and percentages. Before that however we will learn about common denominators and continue to simplify.

In literacy we have started our new reading groups and have all received new books Over the coming weeks we will learn in more depth the roles of summarising, prediciting, clarifying and questioning.

We also made pancakes this week, which was great fun! They were delicious!

Finally we had some very special visitors in our class this week. On Friday we had Young Stem Leaders from St Kent’s who gave us a really interesting lesson on magnets and the expansion of the universe. Well done to Edward for sharing his learning with us and thank you to Mr Jack.

As well as this we also enjoyed having the guinea pigs in our classroom for three days. We learned how to clean out their cage, what to feed them and how to handle them. Biscuit and Muffin got lots of cuddles. All in all another brilliant week in P6!