We are excellent!!

The drama continued on our history day as pupils showcased their learning and helped one another make links between the periods we are studying.






















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The invasion continues!

Following our living timeline, pupils performed plays demonstrating their learning across the curriculum this term. Lots of confident individuals and successful learners here!

History day!!

Watch out if you are in Cedars School today- we've been invaded! Pupils from P2-S2 are dressed up in costume from the time they are studying! Look at the photos and see if you can guess who we are learning about this term....



We are improving our chronological understanding and making links between the different periods in history.



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S5 Broader Curriculum

S5 girls were doing some home economics yesterday - filling and icing profiteroles and stacking them up in a tower - yum! I think the best part was eating the icing! They did a great job!

Heartstart CPD

Today after school the staff had a CPD session from Angela who works with the British Heart Foundation. We are going through the Heartstart programme and most staff will be qualified as instructors at the end of the course. It was nice to meet Angela and an interesting course which helps prepare us for emergency situations.
















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Primary Planning Evening

Today the primary staff are meeting for a twilight planning session. We are transferring our existing planning formats to new Curriculum for Excellence templates that we've been working on over the past few months. A productive night, helped by a wee Chinese carry out! :)


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Staff meeting!

Today after school the staff met to feedback some very interesting courses that we have been on recently. We discussed interesting presentations at the Scottish Learning Festival and the exciting recent interest in our recent iPad deployment.
The meeting began by Miss Speirs sharing what must surely be the worlds most sour sweets!











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Visitors from Denmark

Today in school we were delighted to be visited by a group of teachers and educationalists from Sweden and Denmark. Our visitors were keen to see the iPad deployment in Cedars school and to talk to the teachers and staff. They spoke to children in various classes throughout the school and were very impressed with what they saw. We have taken some email addresses to keep in touch and find out why life is like in Scandinavian classrooms. We had a very interesting discussion session t lunch following their tour round the school. All in all, a very interesting day!









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Scottish Learning Festival

Today myself and Mr Speirs are visiting the Scottish Learning Festival at the SECC in Glasgow. The festival attracts teachers from all over Scotland and is a showcase for many new innovations in learning and teaching. We will be meeting some people to discuss the success of our recent iPad launch and attending various seminars. It was at SLF a few years back that we got the inspiration for the school blogs that are now so popular so let's hope for some other great ideas today!



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Robin Williams

Mr Atkinson was talking about Robin Williams in assembly. He spoke about how Robin has not let dyslexia hold him back and how he is now an Oscar winning actor and one of the best known comedians in the world.

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Big Writing and VCOP

This afternoon are school the Primary staff are working on what is an exciting development in language for our Primary school. The concept is called Big Writing or VCOP. Mr Atkinson has been looking into it and presented the idea to us in an excellent after school presentation. The idea of VCOP is to develop a writing voice for each individual pupil. The programme links speaking voices and writing voices and is based around four main targets: Vocabulary, Connectives, Openers and Punctuation. The structure of this strategy looks exciting and we are looking at ways of incorporating it into our language programme.






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iShirts?

As well as our recent 1:1 deployment of iPads it seems a 1:1 deployment of shirts has also begun amongst the staff at Cedars. Mr Creighton and Mr Atkinson arrived at school wearing the same shirt! :)

Olivia Giles

This week our assembly on disability was about lawyer Olivia Giles who made an amazing recovery from meningitis and now helps others avoid a similar struggle by raising awareness of the disease.

iPads!

Here is what some of the pupils are saying about the iPads so far:

It makes homework and work in class more enjoyable. Jonathan

It's pure awesome. It's the size of a book but it can do a million things! Zander

Magical! It helps in all subjects especially art. It makes all of school more interesting. Beth

It makes homework much easier to do and so much easier to submit - you can do it all through email... it's just very exciting! Chloe

Inspired by Andrea Bocelli in Senior Assembly

In Senior assembly today, Miss Rukin told the story of Andrea Bocelli's astonishing successes as a tenor. Most well known for 'The Prayer' in which he dueted with Celine Dion, Bocelli is a critically acclaimed, high achiever in the classical music charts across the world. Pupils heard how Bocelli, born with congenital glaucoma, was blinded at 12 after a soccer accident. Bocelli over came all odds, putting himself through university by singing in piano bars, becoming a lawyer before embarking upon his professional singing career. Pupils were encouraged to overcome any difficulties they might face, however big or small, through determination and hardwork. This ties in very closely with our school motto- Perseqor ad bravium- which means 'press on towards the prize.'

iPad Information Evening

Tonight we are holding an information evening for parents and friends of the school to present the iPad and demonstrate how it is already transforming the teaching and learning in our school. There has been an enormous interest in the project locally, nationally and even internationally. We welcome the opportunity to present this very exciting development to the parents and friends of the school. Tonight Mr Speirs, who has been at the forefront of this project is presenting an introduction to the iPad and talking about the great things the children have done already. Afterwards we are giving the parents the opportunity to have a hands-on experience of the iPad. We had about 50 parents and friends and the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.





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Primary Assembly

In primary assemblies this week we were finding out about Andreas Boccelli who overcame blindness from the age of 11 to become a leading singer who has now sold more than 70 million albums world wide. We were also hearing about Daniel from the Bible and how he obeyed God and God looked after him.


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iPad impact- end of week 2

The iPads have made a much bigger impact than any of us envisaged! In the secondary department, the immediacy of internet access means pupils can search quickly for answers online to questions they have, share them with the class via email, and send their drafts to the teacher for feedback- all in the space of minutes. As well as improving their word processing and internet skills, pupils are increasingly interactive in the learning environment, as we all get to grips with the possibilities presented by 1:1 iPad deployment.

Here are some of S4 and S5's comments at the end of week 2: (sent to me via their iPads of course;)



The iPads have become invaluable to my educational experience. They help greatly with making sure our homework is on time and the ability to go on the Internet whenever you want in class to find out facts is very helpful. We have used the apps in all our classes. There are apps especially for drama, art, modern studies, English, biology, history, geography and maths. It's also helpful to be able to email our homework to our teachers. Also we have seriously cut down on paper!!

S5 student.


The ipad is the best thing that has ever happened in my school years. This is because I can sit at home on my couch with my iPad instead of sitting at a table with a pen and paper! Also When I am finished I don't need to worry about losing it because I can just send it to my teachers.
S4 boy.

The iPad has helped all pupils learn in a fun and easy way. Pupils can now send homework to teacher from home via email.
S4 pupil

Hi
I have found that using the ipads have greatly increased my ability to produce better homework, and to work more animatedly in school than before, there are many educational apps on it to help me during class such as course notes and a very quick and easy to use e-mail system. Also the school had saved a lot of money on paper, which in turn will save the rain forests and the environment.

From S5 Student

The iPad has made lessons much more exciting, and it also has various educational apps - for example boggle, we also have many art apps that helps us with our drawing skills. It also benefits the children who don't have internet at home.
S4 :)


The iPad has made lessons much more exciting, and it also has various educational
apps - for example boggle, we also have many art apps that helps us with our drawing
skills. It also benefits the children who don't have internet at home.
S4 girl :)

Secondary Assemblies: Diversity

A many of you will know, we have changed the structure of the secondary assemblies this year, and are using Mnday, Wednesday and Friday's as Guidance classes. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the Senior School have assembly. Tuesdays will cover aspects of the RME course, and on Thursdays pupils will learn about diversity.

This term, we are broadening our understanding of disabilities and their impact on individuals and communities.

Miss Oakley took yesterday's assembly and spoke about autism and aspergers. She displayed some of the work done by artist, Peter Howsen, and discussed the bipoic film, which details Temple Grandin's struggle to overcome the difficulties facing her as someone with autism, nd shows how she went on to become a top scientist in the humane livestock industry.

Lunch

We always have exciting lunches at Cedars and today it's asparagus risotto.


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