Outdoor Education Orienteering Festival

Posted on May 10, 2015 by K.Thomson

Around 600 P5-P7 pupils from Midlothian and East Lothian schools participated in an orienteering festival organised by Outdoor Education at Vogrie Country Park. Having spent a 6 week block last term learning orienteering, it was an excellent chance use the skills we learned in a large competition.

P6 pupils were allowed to work in pairs and P7’s had to work individually on this timed challenge. I was extremely proud at how well the class did. Their results showed very quick times on completing the orienteering course.

Outdoor Education Orienteering Festival at Vogrie Park on PhotoPeach

The winner from another school completed the course in 11.54 mins, only 6 seconds ahead of our class winners. Well done Leon & Aaron who came in overall 6th place with a fantastic time of 12:00 mins! Hayley & Jessica were close on their heels with a time of 12:01mins placing them 7th overall! The rest of the class timings were:

19th shared place Lara & Josh– 14.54 mins, 21st place Emma & Lauren-15.10mins, 48th place Daisy– 20.07 mins, 50th place Charlotte– 20.37mins, 107th place Latisha– 37.06 mins, 108th place Amalea– 37.58 mins, 109th place Sophie– 38.28 mins.
Considering that that were nearly 600 pupils taking part, I think these are excellent results! Despite the terrible weather, the children all had a great afternoon at Vogrie.

Dog Trust Workshop

Posted on May 10, 2015 by K.Thomson

Rachel from ‘Dog Trust’ returned to Elphinstone to carry out follow up workshops with individual classes. These followed on from last week’s assembly. In the P6/7 workshop Rachel talked about case studies of dogs and the type of care they received from ‘Dog Trust’. There were very sad stories of neglected dogs but it was good to hear of the positive outcomes when each dog was treated and returned to good health. They were then adopted by new owners. The discussions focussed on the five welfare needs of a dog.

The Five Welfare Needs

A Good Diet– Right type of food to keep them fit

Somewhere Suitable to Live– Right type of environment

Protection from pain, injury and disease– Prevention and rapid treatment

The need to express normal behaviour– Enough space, facilities and opportunities

The need for companionship– To be housed with, or away from, other animals

The Dog Trust can receive lots of applications to adopt a dog. Each application is looked at carefully so that suitable homes can be found for every dog. The class were given information cards about different dogs at the Dog Trust, and several applications from interested people who wanted to adopt a dog. In groups the pupils worked together to discuss the welfare needs of each dog before making the important decision on the best and most suitable matches. The children completed this task very well.

Red Nose Day Fun!

Posted on March 14, 2015 by K.Thomson

P7 Transition Day at Meadowmill

Posted on March 9, 2015 by K.Thomson

P7 enjoyed a whole day of mixed fun activities at Meadowmill Sports Centre. The children had the opportunity to meet other P7 pupils (from Tranent cluster primaries) that they will join in S1 next session at Ross High.

On the Move with Outdoor Ed!

Posted on March 9, 2015 by K.Thomson

The Outdoor groups swapped over after the February break for the next six weeks of Outdoor Education: Mountain Biking and Orienteering. The children have kept weekly logs of their adventures and at the end of their 6 week block, we held a ‘Circle Time’ to share their experiences and to swap ‘Top Tips’. It was good to hear that several of the biking group had been cycling over the holiday! The children also had the opportunity to read each other’s jotters, ask questions and discuss what happens with each group’s activities.

On the move! Week 2 on PhotoPeach

Smokefree Leaflet

Posted on March 9, 2015 by K.Thomson

Laura from Fast Forward visited us earlier in the year (see January post) and left us a challenge to design Smokefree leaflets to inform parents about the dangers of second hand smoke. The children took this task very seriously and have produced fantastic leaflets. Some chose to design their leaflets on the computer and others preferred to handwrite and draw their own designs. The results are impressive and can be seen on the Photopeach slideshow, and in school on our P6/7 Smokefree display.

Smokefree Leaflets on PhotoPeach

Laura chose a winning leaflet (Well done Lauren Fraser!) which has been printed and sent to every Elphinstone parent, together with an NHS leaflet asking them to sign a pledge not to smoke in front of children. Thank you to the many parents who have signed the pledge!

SSPCA visit

Posted on March 9, 2015 by K.Thomson

Scottish SPCA animal rescue and rehoming centres across Scotland care for thousands of abandoned, hurt and defenceless animals every year. Amelia visited our class to tell us about the work she does and showed us some of the equipment she might use. She explained the situations when the SSPCA would use these.