Enterprise in Education

Walk to School Week at Levenhall

Ann Burton — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:04:03 +0000

Last week we took part in Walk to School initiatives at the nursery. All the children received their Walk to School information leaflet along with “sound detective” stickers. On two mornings we had Walking Buses and everyone was encouraged to join in. We were delighted with the response and everyone enjoyed walking together. Of course, we remembered to be “sound detectives” as we walked. As well as lots of traffic noise we also heard different types of birds and some interesting noises from the building site on route, especially as on both days large lorries were delivering different materials. The children also took part in a survey to find out how they came to school on another day during the week. Through this we are able to promote walking as the health option as well as being good for the environment. Parents did comment that the street outside the nursery was definitely less conjested and how pleasant it was to have less traffic.

P6/7 Raise funds for clean water in The Gambia

Ishbel Chalmers — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:58:09 +0000

P6/7 decided to ask all the classes in school to fill a water bottle with their spare pennies. Each class was given an empty bottle to fill and when the pennies were counted the amazing sum of £200 was raised. This money is going to help children in The Gambia have access to clean water. The children were inspired to do this through their ES topic which was about Africa. They have also been making tie-dyed material which they are going to turn into cushions, selecting their colours very carefully. Well done P6/7.

Burns supper at Cockenzie

Ishbel Chalmers — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:45:32 +0000

P6N and 6D pupils at Cockenzie primary organised a fantastic Burns supper for nearly 200 people on Tuesday 29th January. All the P6 pupils in the school took part in the Burns supper including the P6 children from P6/7 and P5/6. They managed to run the Burns supper without it costing too much and make money at the same time. McKirdy’s donated the haggis, the Co-op gave £50 in vouchers which bought the juice and shortbread and to help the day go with a swing the children made sashes, badges, corsages and held a Wear Tartan Day on Rabbie’s birthday. The haggis was piped in by Struan , one of the P6 pupils learning to play the chanter and Robbie gave the address to the haggis. The assembled parents and grandparents enjoyed the afternoon’s entertainment of songs and dancing, poetry readings, recorder playing, piano recitals and speeches which were all introduced by by Jordan, the master of ceremonies.
Miss Nisbet and Miss Daly were extremely proud of the children in their classes who all worked hard so hard to make the occasion a great success with their excellent organisation.

Celebrations At Levenhall Nursery School

Ann Burton — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:55:12 +0000

This week the children are learning about different cultural festivals by celebrating Shrove Tuesday and Chinese New Year. For both events cooking plays a major part. We are making pancakes, of course, and preparing a Chinese Banquet. The children are also taking care of their “Little Pots Of Care” - daffodil bulbs planted in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care which have brought in from the dark now that shoots are showing.

Big Schools’ Birdwatch at Levenhall

Ann Burton — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 14:03:41 +0000

The children at Levenhall Nursery School are taking part in the
RSPB Big Schools Birdwatch this week. Children from both
playrooms are working in pairs to record the birds coming to feed in the garden during a 10 minute time slot. Over 3 days, every child will have had the chance to take part. The results are recorded on sheets provided by the RSPB
and each child’s copy will be filed in his/her nursery book. Once collated the results for each playroom will be sent to the RSPB, on line, and in
due course the school will receive a certificate for taking part. In
preparation the children made bird cakes last week which have helped to attract the birds to feed in the garden. As well as helping us identify the birds visiting our garden, the Birdwatch helps the RSPB to monitor bird populations.

First Prize for Levenhall

Ann Burton — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 15:10:26 +0000

Levenhall Nursery School was placed first in the Nursery Category of the Eskmills Christmas Tree Decorating Competition. Several of the staff and pupils were able to attend the Carol Singing at Eskmills on Friday evening where the winners were announced. The tree and gold certificate are proudly displayed in the school. The prize of solar powered lights will be used for decoration in the nursery garden.
Preparations for Christmas continue in the school. Last week children from the school went to Strawberry Corner Garden Centre to choose Christmas Trees to be decorated and displayed in the playrooms. Later this week some of us are going to Levenhall Nursing Home to sing some of our Christmas Songs to the residents.

Christmas at Levenhall Nursery School

Ann Burton — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:35:05 +0000

Preparations are well under way for Christmas in the Nursery School. Last Friday,
we held a very successful Christmas Fair which raised approximately £860 for the
school fund. There were a variety of stalls including children’s crafts made in nursery.
This week we have been busy making Christmas Tree decorations from recycled
materials as we are taking part in the Eskmills Christmas Tree Decorating Competition.
An amazing variety of hanging and chain type decorations have been made from all
sorts of things including corks, CDs, curtain rings, etc. On Thursday six children will
go, with their parents and Mrs McNeill (Headteacher), to Eskmills and decorate the six
foot tree provided by them. The result of the competition will be announced on Friday
at a Carol singing event to which everyone has been invited.

Enterprise Week at Gullane Primary School

Scott Lavery — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:53:57 +0000

Gullane Primary School are running a number of activities this week to demonstrate how they use enteprising approaches across the curriculum.

The nursery are having a tooth brushing and hand washing week, with information being sent out to parents and demonstrations in class. On Tuesday they are having the machine which shows up the germs on your hand!

P1 are having a Teddy Bear week because they are doing a Toys project, this involves bringing your teddy to school each day and involving him in different activities finishing up with a Teddy Bears picnic on Friday to raise money for Children in Need.

P2 are having a Viking week where they will be building mini settlements, and finding out all about life as a Viking.

P2/3 have been busy working on individual research projects and are presenting them to each other this week.

P3/4 & P4/5 are holding a sponsored walk in aid of Food Aid, they have created their own sponsorship forms and have been busy getting as much money as they can before their walk.

P5 are busy preparing for the Christmas art and craft fair that they are organising in the school at the end of this month. They have organised activities for each class to create for the fair and have been in charge of arranging stalls, producing advertising, sorting money and resources etc. The class had to apply for jobs such as advertising manager, general manager etc.

P6 have been given a challenge to create stained glass windows for the front of the school for Christmas. The groups have to measure their window, come up with a suitable design and create it for display throughout December.

P7 are creating an anti-bullying DVD (see attachment for details)

tv-drama-bullying.doc

Elise Sutherland

P6 Learning Festival at Cockenzie Primary

Ishbel Chalmers — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 14:36:03 +0000

9th November 2007
This morning P6N and P6D held a learning festival in the school assembly hall. The children decided that this was the way they wanted to show what they had learned. They prepared displays and activities and organised a Remembrance ceremony too. The children opened their festival to all the classes in the school who thoroughly enjoyed looking at their displays and trying out their activities which ranged from dancing to the music of Glen Miller, bombing a power station, a display about rationing, getting dressed in the dark in a blackout, how to set a table and go inside an Anderson shelter, to name but a few. They also invited their families to come and look at what they had learned. They were also treated to wartime sandwiches, cakes and biscuits and a nice cup of tea. The children held a minute’s silence during their Remembrance ceremony and Rev Glover led the children and parents in prayer. The children also collected donations for the Poppy Appeal. Congratulations and well done P6N and P6D.

Shadow Puppets at Cockenzie Primary School

Scott Lavery — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 09:55:53 +0000

For four weeks prior to the October Holidays I had the privilege to work with P4W and Mr Woods on a Curriculum for Excellence project. The project was all about shadow puppets and it turned out to be very enterprising as well!!! The children worked in groups to make shadow puppets with moving parts. They decided on their own theme and proceeded to write their own script. To make it meaningful and have a purpose they were to perform the finished play to the children in the nursery. The children excelled in this as they had never written a play script before so it was a real challenge for them. They designed invitations which were sent to the nursery.
On the day of the performance the children were excited and raring to go. All groups performed brilliantly and the nursery children thoroughly enjoyed the shows. The next day we heard that the children in the nursery were making up their own puppet plays!
To evaluate the project the children worked in groups again to produce a poster of all they had learned from working in this way and the key points that came up were-
‘We learned to cooperate’ ‘we learned how to make things better’
‘We worked as a team’ ‘if you don’t work together you never get anywhere’
‘We were able to help each other’
‘We did a better job’
WELL DONE P4W- YOU WERE SUCCESSFUL LEARNERS!

Jackie Hunter