Primary 6 and 7 had a visit from an author today to kick off what promises to be a fun and exciting book week at St Mary’s! Writer Emma visited our school to share how she became an author and what it’s like to get your fiction and poetry published.

She shared how she writes from her own experiences, why she keeps all her ideas in a diary, and how perseverance (one of St Mary’s School Values) is the reason she has become a successful author and poet.

After an interesting talk, P6 and 7 asked lots of questions about how to become a writer.  However, the main message from Emma was to follow our dreams, no matter what they are, as perseverance will take you far!

Today P6 led the annual Remembrance Assembly and welcomed special guests from the armed services.

P6 have been learning about Remembrance including why we have a two-minute silence, who we are remembering, which special poems are shared at Remembrance, what Article 38 means for children and why we wear a poppy. Pupils all wore poppies they had made themselves and placed a beautiful hand-made wreath centre stage to mark the occasion. The class have been rehearsing every day for the last week  and did a wonderful job of sharing a reflective and thought-provoking assembly.

We were incredibly lucky to be joined by Lance Corporal and Private Mallaney from the Royal Logistics Corps who answered lots of interesting pupil questions and spoke about their experiences in the armed services. We were very grateful for them to give up their time to come in and we even got to try on some army equipment and uniforms at the end.

Well done Primary 6, you certainly gave us all an experience to remember.

Halloween came to P6 on Friday with pupils showcasing their costumes on the classroom catwalk and in the hall. All manner of spooky and scary beings strutted their stuff and enjoyed lots of fun games, dancing and snacks.

In other news this week P6 have been continuing with their spelling strategies and spelling rules. We have also begun a new reading scheme looking at non-fiction books which will help us with our new writing topic, Information Report. In numeracy we are just about to complete a new assessment to identify gaps in learning. In topic we are learning all about space, based on topics pupils have chosen themselves. Well done Primary 6!

Today P6 enjoyed a well-earned trip to the Hub to take part in a music well-being workshop with local band Saint Phnx. Brothers Stevie and Al welcomed P6, introduced themselves and explained how music can help you with your emotions and wellbeing. Speaking candidly about some of the tough times they have faced, the band shared strategies to channel negative emotions through the power and positivity of music, to find  your ‘Happy Place’.

The brothers performed some of their big hits, including Happy Place, talked about touring with Lewis Capaldi, and how they got started with their music careers.

P6 have been watching their songs for a number of days during class breaks and have been really enjoying their music! We prepared questions for the band and the boys answered them all and signed autographs and had their picture taken with the class.

This was memorable and very special afternoon that was enjoyed by all pupils and staff and it doesn’t end here! The band have asked us to create a piece of art showing what each pupil’s ‘Happy Place’ looks like and the band will make a wall mural to display this. We will be working on this from tomorrow and are really looking forward to sharing our imaginations with such wonderful and inspiring role models! The message you have shared with us is very positive and thought-provoking. Thank you Saint Phnx!

P6 have been working hard since the start of term. We’ve hit the ground running in literacy and have been doing daily spelling and writing as well as visual comprehension, handwriting, dictation have started looking at reciprocal reading skills. In numeracy we have been getting to grips with the four operations through games and activities and have been focusing on written methods.

We have also been enjoying outdoor learning, creating our class charter and door theme, and have already got numerous attractive pieces of work on our classroom walls already!

We’re also working away on our French and will soon begin our topic on space and the solar system.

Well done Primary 6!

P6 have had an amazing last few weeks!

We have enjoyed some great outdoor learning sessions – climbing trees and making s’mores. We also enjoyed a fantastic trip to Edinburgh zoo where we enjoyed a picnic in the sunshine and got to see lots of amazing animals. We took our performance of Shrek the Musical to the stage and loved every minute of it – well done to all our actors and set designers! Then we rounded it all off with a ‘goodbye P6’ party before receiving our P7 ties.

Our future’s so bright, we gotta wear shades!!! P6 – Yoda Best!

Parents and carers were treated to another amazing  performance of Shrek the Musical Jr! Once again it was an ‘all hands on deck’ situation and our P4-7s really showed that teamwork makes the dreamwork.

Feedback was amazing, with parents and carers saying they were blown away by the brilliant acting, singing and dancing and by the beautiful costumes, set designs, face painting and scenery.

Well done to every single member of P4-7 for working so hard these past few months to create such a memorable event.

Tonight was the opening performance of Shrek the Musical and what a show! All pupils have worked hard for months to bring the show to the stage! As well as learning lines and dancing, pupils made all the scenery and props, created a giant Fairy Tale book and did important behind the scenes work including lighting, sound, scene changes and more! Well done everyone! It really was a Shrek-tacular show!

This week P6 enjoyed a trip to West Calder Library to borrow a book and collect some topic books about The Victorians.

We also enjoyed meeting our nursery buddies in the woods and took part in an outdoor learning session together.

It’s also been a full on week finishing our props and scenery for Shrek the Musical.

Well done P6!

This week Lego club’s challenge was to create a Robot with a specific function. As expected, our clubbers rose to the challenge and a new wave of bots came into being!

We had a robot that makes the jungle tidy with its long arm. We also had a robot dog that could fly and a robot cat that didn’t ‘byte’. We also had a team that programmed a robot that offered a number of functions including a spinning arm, a sensor light and a basket ball net! There was also a Robot that was designed to clear things out of the way.

Well done Lego club!