All posts by Mrs Hood

P1/2/3 Visit to Dunbar Lifeboat Station

This morning we went to the lifeboat station in Dunbar. We split into two groups. One group watched a film about staying safe near water and the other group climbed onboard a lifeboat. The groups then swapped over. We learned lots of interesting things and heard how the lifeboat rescues people at sea. We looked at the lifeboatmen’s uniforms, and Maddie, Ellie and Callum B. tried on different uniforms.

We then walked along to see the big lifeboat anchored in the harbour.
We all had a lovely time and then it was time to return to school.

“I learned how to stay safe beside water.” – Grace

“I enjoyed finding out how they steer the lifeboat.” – Ellie

“I enjoyed looking at all the different things stored on the little lifeboat.” – Caleb

“I learned where they keep the petrol on-board the lifeboat.” – Eilidh

“I enjoyed learning about the two lifeboats.” – Cara

“I showed the class how to make the boat go fast and slow and how to steer it”. – Callum D.

“The lifeboatman showed me how they climb down the yellow ladder to get on to the big lifeboat”. – Callum. B

“We spotted Sally and Sammy seals in the harbour!” – Jack

I enjoyed testing the steel toecaps on his boots by stamping on them!” – Anders

“I found out where the anchor was stored.” – Ben

P1/2/3 Sound Instruments

P1/2/3 were so excited to share their wonderful sound instruments with their friends, which they had been creating at home over the last two weeks. Everyone had the opportunity to talk about the materials they had used to make their instrument, and demonstrate and explain how the sound was made. We also talked about volume and pitch, and the different ways to make a sound – by hitting, plucking, shaking or blowing.

Please take a look at our amazing instruments when you visit during the Open Day on Friday. We will be happy to share them with you.



Learning about Sound

P1-P7 children were very lucky to have a visit from Nicky Swaffer, who kindly came in to talk about how wind and percussion instruments make different sounds. She played a variety of tunes on different instruments and the children were very good at recognising the familiar tunes.
At the end, they asked lots of thoughtful questions about her musical instruments and her interests in music.
Thank you so much for making our learning about Sound so much fun and meaningful.

Nursery News

We have welcomed five, new Ante Pre-school children to our Nursery this session. All children are playing well and enjoying the exciting learning opportunities on offer. They have enjoyed playing, creating, building, making, baking pretzels and crumble, and going on weekly Learning Walks to explore and observe seasonal changes in the local environment.

The children have recently chosen “Animals” as their next topic and have helped to plan their learning around the room and outside. They have also started to use a newly-created map of their learning environment to plan and review their play. This map will be used as a planning tool which enables every child to have a voice in their daily learning choices.

More nursery photos and news will be shared on the school blog throughout the coming sesion.
Please leave us a comment. Thank you.

Nature Play 2017

We are so happy that our Nature Play sessions have finally started! Yesterday we enjoyed a lovely, sunny morning exploring the small woodland in the school grounds.
This week we had fun hunting for mini-beasts (we actually found two caterpillars!), putting on a puppet show, making mud soup and endless cups of “daisy” tea, before enjoying snack in our den. We really enjoy these weekly sessions where we can play and learn together in the outdoor environment. Thank you to all the parents who have kindly offered to help with the sessions in the coming weeks.

P3 Easter Bonnet Competition


Well done to the P3 girls who came third in a recent Hobbycraft Edinburgh Easter Bonnet Competition. Many thanks to all our parents and friends who voted for the bonnets when they were on display in the Edinburgh store over the Easter holidays.

The girls won a £25 Hobbycraft Classroom Hamper, and were happy to share their prize with the boys. They have all enjoyed using some of the new resources to create a name plate for their bedroom doors.

Sandcastles on the Beach

Yesterday the nursery children enjoyed a trip in the minibus to Thorntonloch Beach. First they had to each build 10 sandcastles as they had been sponsored by their friends and family to carry out this challenge. With the money raised from this sponsored event, we hope to buy some new toys and other resources for the nursery.

After all that digging, they then enjoyed a healthy snack before heading along the beach in search of interesting items to create transient art pictures.

There was then time for some races along the sand – running races, walking backwards races, running sideways races and running with a partner races. All that running certainly helped to warm them up!

Before we headed back to Nursery, the children enjoyed jumping on their sandcastles to flatten them out and leave the beach just as they had found it! Thank you to all the parents and siblings who joined us. We were so glad the sun shined, and the hailstones from the previous day stayed away!

We will let you know how much we raised once the sponsor money has all been returned.