Scottish Parliament Visitor

Flotta and Westray classes took part in a Scottish Parliament Workshop on Wednesday afternoon.  The classes welcomed a visitor from the Scottish Parliament Outreach programme who came to teach us all about how the parliament works.                          

 We took part in some power voting where we had to decide on answers to various questions about the Scottish Parliament.  Then we split into groups which became different political parties.  We had the 'sporty party', the 'school party', the 'music party', the 'computer party', the 'save the earth party' and the 'animal welfare party'.

 We then came up with a manifesto which states the parties promises and the party leader gave a speech.  Once all the speeches had been heard, we then took part in a ballot vote.

 Our presiding officer then took charge of a debate, where we argued the points for and against the motion that there should be an hour of P.E in schools every day.

We all came up with some really good points for and against the motion.  We completed a power vote, which decided the motion would pass!  In a real voting ballot the motion would then need to go to the Queen before it could be put in place.  

Scottish History

Flotta class have been learning about Scottish History.  We worked in groups to learn about the Stone age farmers and the hunters.  We had some lengthy discussions which helped us understand the differences between farming in the past and present.                

Indian/Orcadian Comparison Presentations

Flotta class begun by researching various aspects of Indian culture and Orcadian culture.  The class then researched a building from each place in more depth and used various methods to present it to the rest of the class.                                                          

Some of us made powerpoints and others made posters or models to compare the two different buildings.  

Puppet Theaters

Flotta class have been working hard to create puppet theaters in which they will use their Rajastani puppets to tell a traditional Indian story.                                       

Indian puppets

As part of our India topic this term we have decided to make some traditional Indian puppets.  We begun by carving out a face from a polystyrene sphere then we used paint and markers to add detail to their faces. 

We've now begun designing and creating Indian clothing for our puppets...some of us are sewing bits of material to make outfits...this is proving to be an interesting skill to learn and a peedie bit tricky at times!!

Leadership Qualification

Michael Swannie from Active Schools came out to begin a Leadership qualification with Class 7.   We learnt about the main qualities of leadership through playing games and holding discussions. 

We learnt that communication is one of the key points to becoming a good leader.  We have begun to think about how we can use the space we have to help us lead activities for the whole school.