The children in Primary 1X have been very busy today. As part of our plants topic, we have been out in the school garden planting sweet peas and potatoes. Next week we will be carrying out a series of experiments to help us determine what plants need in order to grow.

The following link contains some pictures of us planting in the garden:

http://photopeach.com/album/fwuopk

We then worked on map reading skills and visited the centre to learn facts about puffins, gannets and other birds that visit the coast.

A great day out – all the pupils looked tired out by home time!

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 As part of our outdoor learning week children from both Primary 1 classes went on a observational walk in the woods. We worked with a partner from the other class to listen for different sounds in the woods and to look for different colours. All the children thoroughly enjoyed themselves and had lots of fun. The most popular activity was creating an imaginative meal out of materials they found in the woodland. The children created classic dishes such as spaghetti bolognaise with rocks and grass and used their talking and listening skills to describe their meals to another pair.

You can see the children in the woods by clicking on the link below:

 http://photopeach.com/album/7ydge5

Can you ensure your child is prepared for whatever the weather may hold.? Preferably  wellies as the path can be a bit muddy and the essential waterproof jacket and hood!

We will be setting off at around 10:45 and the walk should last around 40 minutes.

This week P1X have been learning outdoors in lots of different ways. This morning we played lots of different maths games outside and we really enjoyed it!

You can see some of the fun we had outside by clicking on the link below:

http://photopeach.com/album/nn2xk7 

The mosaic coasters that the children created last week are now available for sale and are priced at £2.50. The coasters can be purchased by sending money into school with your child or, alternativley, will be available for purchase at the spring fayre.

Josie SF, Josie S & Sasha, Stuart and Andrew – P5 bloggers

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The children in P1X have been busy creating coasters this week. We used glue and small tiles to create patterns on our coasters and we think they look great! The coasters are being made for the spring fayre- details to follow.

You can view the children making their coasters by clicking on the link below:

http://photopeach.com/album/maogjv 

The children in P1X have been busy learning about mini beasts this week. We worked in groups to discuss all of the different things we thought a mini beast would need in it’s habititat and used these to create a criteria of what our habitats should include.

We then created a plan of how our mini beast environment would look and used these to create our very own habitats, using recycled boxes. We think we did amazingly well creating these mini habitats and have left them out over the weekend to see if we have convinced any mini beasts to find a new home! We will keep you posted.

You can see all of the fun we had learning outdoors by clicking on the link below:

http://photopeach.com/album/101xskb

by Olivia, Charlie, Anna & Hannah M - P5 Bloggers

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The children in Primary 1X have been learning about mini beasts this week. We used an interactive programme (http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/minbeasts/eng/Introduction/MainSessionPart1.htm) to discover the kinds of places that mini beasts like to live.

We then went out in to the playground, and school garden, to see if we could find any mini beasts.  We found lots of centipedes, beetles and a snail. Some of us were very eager to hold the mini beasts,  others were not so keen! Whilst outside we also collected some worms for our classroom ‘Worm World’ (kindly donated to the class by Issi and family). This allows us to view worms in their own environment. We are all very excited about having ‘Worm World’ in class and look forward to watching our worms settle into their temporary home.

 You can view some pictures of our outdoor fun by clicking on the link below:

http://photopeach.com/album/yjei76

Activity 1 was with Ranger Richard. We had to measure the depth of the river and released some plastic ducks to see how fast the river was going. We proved that the river was fastest when it was shallower and when it was deep the river was slower. We also looked at erosion and how the banks of the river were different at corners (meanders – new word). At the inside of the corner the water runs slower and drops lots of sand and rocks. At the outside of the corner the river runs faster and makes the bank more like a cliff. It was great wading in the river. Some of us were careful and kept the water below our wellies. But some weren’t…..

Activity 2 was with Ranger Jen. She took us to the bottom of the big weir and we had nets to try and catch some beasties. we had to put the nets in the water so the water flowed into them and scrape our wellies along the river bed. All the beasties were washed into our nets. We then put them into fat trays with water and then looked at them through magnifying glasses. Some of them looked huge! They were way bigger than the ones we found in the burn at school. We then used a key to try and find out what creatures they were. The biggest one was a Stonefly Nymph. We scared Mr Cain with it!

Activity 3 was with Martyn from Outdoor Ed. He took us canoeing up the river. It was the best fun ever. The canoes were all tied together going up the river so we could get used to all the paddling. But then the canoes were untied on the way back so we were doing it by ourselves. It was scary but fun. We learned lots about the river on the way as Martyn kept on pointing out things as we went along.

It was a great day – much better than being in school.

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P5 Blogging group.

In an effort to help parents better understand this process we are reproducing the guidance Colin put together along with his helpful diagram.

Pupil Placement and Classroom Organisation

East Lothian Pupil Placement Process – click above to view

The following information has been put together by the Pencaitland Parent Council as a brief overview for parents. It seeks to outline the ELC pupil placement process as a simplified guide and does not replace or supersede any of the councils existing processes.

The process of allocating pupil placements and setting class organisation is started early in the school year in preparation for the following year. Several factors are taken into consideration and each school has a responsibility to provide an accurate update to the Education Department, who then have to consider other potential demands on places in the school, such as new housing, families moving into the area, school capacities. All this information informs how many places will be available in primary and secondary schools for that year. A brief overview is shown in the diagram.

The ELC website has specific information on placements outlined the process for enrollment and placements. In addition, they have produced a helpful leaflet entitled “Placing in schools” which outlines how to enrol your child into a school, placing requests and what happens when you make a placing request. The leaflet also has advises on further reference information with regards to legislation around this area.

School Intake

The total number of available places agreed for some primary and secondary schools and the number of places the be held in reserve for families moving into school catchment areas are then presented to the Education Committee for approval. These reports are in the public domain and are available here by looking up the school and academic year in question. After the reports have been agreed, any out of catchment requests are taken into consideration and if the requests for a place in school cannot be accommodated parents will be informed that they can appeal the decision.

Out of Catchment applications

Consideration also has to be given to families who may be moving into the county and have a need for placement at their local school. In most instances, the council will request that some spaces are held in reserve for this scenario, so that those moving into East Lothian are not disadvantaged.

In addition, some parents may also wish to opt for their child to attend a school out of catchment. It should be noted that this is at the discretion of the Council and there is a guide to the criteria for these requests outlined on the ELC web pages. If the council are able to grant parent requests this may free up places in other schools for those parents making out of catchment requests.

There is no guarantee that places can be reserved and the situation may change on a year by year basis, depending on factors such as housing, thus population increases which would place more demand on catchment placements.

Additional Information

Finally, the Scottish Government has published an information guide, called “Choosing a School: a guide for parents”, which provides useful information on making requests for places in schools.

Eduardo Paolozzi

P1X have been learning about the Scottish artist Eduardo Paolozzi. He was born in Leith, Edinburgh, in 1924. We studied his ‘Head of Invention’ sculpture and picture, using these as a basis for our own artwork. We all had lots of fun making our pictures and we think they look great.

You can view all our pictures by clicking on this link:

http://photopeach.com/album/w4gjbi

The children in Primary 1X have been busy learning about their new topic, food. We identified the five main food groups.

We have also researched different types of fruit and have been learning about the different vitamins and minerals our bodies get from these foods. This afternoon we enjoyed tasting six different fruits: apple, pear, orange, melon, banana and pineapple. We used descriptive words to record the taste of these fruits on a grid. We then used our notes to choose which was our favourite fruit.

We all had lots of fun, and very sticky fingers!