Luke's RMPS Blog

I’ve just returned from a fantastic Educational Excursion to the South of France with a group of S2 pupils. We travelled with PGL and stayed at two resorts. The first resort was Domaine de Segries closely located to the nearby the Ardeche Valley. Here we canoed down the Ardeche for three days, allowing the pupils to achieve their one star canoeing award. We then travelled to Club Mimosa, a PGL centre near the Mediterranean specialising in water sports. Throughout our stay here we had the opportunity to windsurf, snorkel, body board, as well as being offered the chance to complete our star sailing qualification with the RYA. During the evenings PGL staff entertained pupils with a range of games and activities, before accompanying them to the disco. I thoroughly recommend this trip to any schools thinking about taking pupils abroad; not only is it great fun, pupils walk away with two highly regarded outdoor qualifications.

Often in my Intermediate2 RMPS class I hear pupils discussing BEBO – who has added a new post, what comical picture has been drawn on someone’s wall, what new poll has been added etc. Taking their passion for ICT and communication outside of school hours we’ve decided to start an Intermediate2 RMPS learning log.

At our weekly revision/homework club this topic became our priority. Pupils led the discussion and came up with aims and objectives about what the learning log should be like. So, without further ado, here is what they came up with:

• Colourful
• Inspiring others to take RMPS/challenging peoples’ perception of the subject
• Not too much text
• Helpful
• Readable
• Well laid out – you know where everything is
• Interesting
• Personal – reports on trips, pupil work and photos
• Links to other useful sites
• Open up to wider than our class: finding out more about RMPS

As soon as the site goes live I’ll post the address.

Today I had the opportunity of facilitating a Buddhism lesson to a class of P4 pupils at Gullane Primary School. I thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of my visit, especially the enthusiasm of pupils. The secondary sector has so much to learn from primary schools, especially concerning developments relating to A Curriculum For Excellence; for example, the implementation of Critical Skills in the classroom as a learning tool.

The lesson I facilitated was on ‘Interconnectedness’. Each pupil had to pass a piece of string to another pupil who had a similar feature/characteristic as him or her. Eventually every pupil was holding the string, creating a massive web across the classroom. I developed this idea of interconnectedness by using a clip from the Lion King to promote discussion about the ‘circle of life’ and our responsibility to all living creatures. This was concluded through a visual display detailing the early life of Siddhartha Gautama.

As well as facilitating the lesson I was able to observe a P5 poetry lesson. Pupils wrote personal poems on a colour of their choice and then made a pod cast of their work to put on the P5 learning Blog. This activity was excellent, not only in developing core IT skills but in developing pupils’ confidence in terms of oral presentation. Keep up the good work Gullane!

Knox Academy has once again triumphed in the annual East Lothian inter-school RMPS quiz. S1 and S2 Pupils were ecstatic when they received news of their victory. Individual rounds were based on information learnt from a number of websites, including BBC Religion & Ethics and Show Racism the Red Card. We are looking forward to celebrating pupil success (and keeping the impressive RMPS Quaich for another year!).