Note fropm Carol (Head Teacher) p1

Lammermuir Nursery P1-2

Glendevon Senior class P3

Art Club – Linda Halliday P3-4

Pentland (primary 5-7) p4-5

Camspie Nursery p6

Music – Gordon Turnbull p7

Hopetoun (P1-3) p8

Harburn Nursery p9-10

Ochiltree (S1-3) p10-11

Duntarvie (S3-5) p11

Lomond (P3-5) p12

Swimming – Pauline p13

Note from Debbie (Depute Head Teacher) p14-15

1.

Happy November everyone and welcome to our new look eco-friendly Beatlie Buzz!

It has, as always, been a very busy year so far. You can read all about the many, varied and exciting activities our

Beatlie pupils have been enjoying, from the many whole school activities to the individual class topic work and trips.

I have to be honest and say that there are times when, inevitably, I can get a bit bogged down in the necessary head

teacher responsibilities which tie me to my office and restrict my time with the children. It can be very frustrating

but it’s necessary. However, I am so delighted that life in Beatlie also provides so many magic Beatlie moments!!

Recently we had a theatrical group visit us to perform Peter Pan and it was fantastic! I managed to spend some time

in the hall, not watching the pantomime but watching the children watching the pantomime!!! They were SO happy

and smiling and laughing that it made me feel really happy too!

Last week we had a visit from Jim Cameron. He is our new Head of Education with specific responsibility for

secondary schools and ALN schools. He spent several hours in the school and seemed to really enjoy his visit!

Pudsey Bear is visiting the school on the 10th ahead of what I am sure will be a fun-filled Children in Need! I wonder if

Super Bee will buzz by again, I’m sure she will!!

Marie Troup, a relative of one of our little nursery pupils, has been raising money for Beatlie and recently arranged a

very successful Pies and Prize Bingo evening which raised a whopping £2000 on the night, with more money to come

through match funding. Thank you so much to Marie and all the people who helped make the event so successful.

The Federation of Small Businesses continues to support Beatlie and is doing another fund-raiser for us on Saturday

14th outside the Post Office in Livingston. If you are in the area, please drop by and cheer them on! They have been

so supportive and we appreciate their on-going efforts!

I hope you enjoy our new eco-friendly Beatlie Buzz!!

Carol

We have been very busy in Lammermuir already this year! We began the term with a new teacher.

Julia has moved across from Harburn nursery to join us in Lammermuir and Linda and Pauline have

moved up the school to do lots of fun and exciting activities with the older children. Linda still visits

us on a Wednesday morning and Thursday afternoon which is really nice.

Some of the children from last year have moved up to primary 1. We wish them all the best and we’re

sure that they are enjoying their new classes. We have also been able to say hello to some new

children in Lammermuir. This year Ndey, Benjamin, Kayla, Robbie, Ryan and Megan have joined us and

have all settled into nursery now.

Last term our topic was “People who help us” and we have enjoyed learning about the different range

of people who help us in our daily lives. We particularly liked our visit from the fire brigade in

September where all the children were able to explore the fire engine and have a turn spraying the

2.

water hose. We also had a visit at assembly from Kerry the guide dog and everybody was able to

have a turn stroking her and even give her a cuddle.

So far this term we have already been learning about Halloween and Fireworks night. For Halloween

we had lots of fun dressing up and investigating spooky sounds and Halloween themed food at snack.

We even had a Halloween party where we decorated biscuits and dooked for apples. This week we

have focused on Fireworks night and we’ve loved getting messy with paint and glitter to make

firework pictures.

Over the next few weeks we will be learning about St. Andrews day and getting ready for Christmas.

We will have lots to make for the Christmas Fair so we’ll need to get started!

3.

We have been busy organising a Jumble Sale for November the 13th when there will be a School Coffee

Morning in aid of Children in Need. All of our proceeds will also go to Children in Need. The boys have been

busy labelling and pricing items also making and putting up posters to advertise the sale. We had good fun

making posters by printing pictures and colouring with Pudsey dots. It’s amazing how many skills can be

practised organising jumble! A very good one has been sorting items into different categories. Let’s hope

we make lots of money for our charity after all the boys’ hard work and the kindness of all those who

donated items.

Raising money is the name of the game in Glendevon at the moment as we have continued from last year

to raise money for Riding for the Disabled by holding various competitions. Guessing the birthday of Pebble

the horse is the one of the moment. This is part of our work for the Volunteer Section of the Duke of

Edinburgh’s Award which is ongoing.

The boys have been keeping up their fitness skills by walking at Beecraigs and Murieston and visiting the

Gym. They have been out and about on their bikes whenever possible and working hard on their braking

and steering skills which is to the benefit of all those pedestrians who approach us!

The boys like to get out and about as often as possible and have enjoyed outings to Blackness, The Five

Sister’s Zoo and Edinburgh.

This year we are running a drop in art group on a Thursday afternoon between 12.30 and 1pm. Any child is able to

drop in at any point and stay as long as they wish. We have been very busy since the start of the school term,

covering topics such as mini beasts, fashion week, Autumn, water, Halloween and fireworks, as well as opportunities

for children to create their own individual masterpiece using a variety of media.

Some children have been regulars, coming every week and have really enjoyed exploring all the various materials.

At the beginning of the school term the children enjoyed making ladybirds, spiders and bees.

4.

Seasaidh Orin, and Andrew have been very enthusiastic during these sessions and have participating in most

activities on offer.

During Autumn we made hedgehogs using leaves we collected. We also made Autumn trees using our hand prints

and paint. The children enjoyed making Autumn sensory jars and also a scarecrow.

During Fashion week the children had the opportunity to design their own item. Some made bags, jeans, and t-shirts

using fabric paint, stencils, glitter and glue. Some very on trend items were produced!

It has been really good fun getting messy and creating some wonderful artwork! We are looking forward to lots of

winter and Christmas art activities this term!

Pentland class had a very busy first term back after the summer holidays. There were some changes

to our staff team too as Eileen and Mary moved on to work with the children in Hopetoun. We have

Clare joining us this year and she has had such fun getting to know all about everyone! We have all

settled again to our school routine and have enjoyed seeing all our friends again.

We were learning all about Photomaps in our topic and followed a sensory map around the community

to find different places. We made our own sensory map of school too with lots of different sounds

and textures to place alongside photos on our huge map. As part of our topic we explored the story

of Treasure Island and really enjoyed going on a journey to find the treasure with Billy Bones and

5.

Long John Silver. The sword fighting was great fun as was travelling across the stormy sea to the

desert island!

Susan, Isabel and Lauren have been enjoying Rebound Therapy this term and are always very relaxed

after each session. They love the different sensations they experience and the lovely relaxing music

and lights. Duncan has been having lots of fun at horse-riding each term, he is always really keen to

sign ‘horse’ when he returns to class afterwards to share this with everyone! Sophie has started a

weekly visit to the Yard and had a great time exploring the different areas in the first week,

especially the musical dome outside.

Susan, Lauren and Isabel have also been taking part in a weekly bench sitting group exploring lots of

sensory materials, sounds and lights. They have experienced Halloween and Firework displays as part

of this group and are always really excited to go along. Sophie and Duncan will be experiencing a

massage session this term too and will be exploring different ways to relax.

Every week our class take part in a Music or Drama class with either Catherine or Gordon. These

groups will rotate each term so every pupil has the opportunity to experience both. The Drama group

have been having great fun playing “Wake up” and dressing up as princesses, dragons and knights.

There have been lots of giggles and laughs during this group. In Music they have been using

instruments and exploring different styles of Music. This class has a nice, relaxing atmosphere and

encourages everyone to respond to the different sounds and rhythms.

We had lots of messy fun at Halloween scooping out our pumpkins. Everyone enjoyed helping to pull

out all the seeds and then we popped in some candles and watched our creations light up the room.

We also enjoyed our Outdoor Learning afternoons collecting autumn leaves and throwing them up in

the air and watching them fall all around us. We created some lovely Autumn sensory boxes at home

too and brought them into class to explore together. We are getting very excited planning our craft

activities for our Christmas Enterprise and practising for our Big Event this year! There is so much

to do and we can’t wait to get started.

6.

Campsie has been so busy so far this year! We had a wee boo-hoo when we said goodbye to pre-schoolers in

June but it has been lovely to say hello to all our new pupils. Cerys, Victoria and Riley are back with us in the

mornings and in the afternoon our returners are Muqtasid and Aaron. In the morning session our new recruits

are Declan, Hamish and Luke and in the afternoon we have Arran, Max, Hayden and now Aiden who has just

joined us. Everyone has settled in brilliantly and we are having lots of fun every day in nursery.

Last term we looked at ‘Myself’ as our first topic and then ‘People Who Help Us’. We especially enjoyed having

visitors into school like the fire brigade and Kerry the guide dog. We have been lucky enough to have a couple

of visits from the Clowndoctors – Aaron would have them every day if he could! We have so many great things

to do at nursery.

Most of us in Campsie enjoy soft play – there’s a swing and we can bounce on the airbed, slide or jump in the

balls. Max absolutely loves the swing, so does Declan and Victoria and it is Riley’s favourite too! We have a wee

play area just in the middle of the three nursery classes and we love to go there and play with the trains,

building blocks, sensory toys or dig in the sand. Luke and Hayden both really enjoy playing in the sand. Cerys

enjoys the sand so much she tries to get right in the tray! Every week we go to a department assembly with our

nursery friends – we find out about lots of interesting things and get to make things and sing songs. Hamish

really enjoyed making the ‘Water Cycle’ for our window. Our messy play activities really live up to their title –

we have been playing with foam, gel, bubble bath, cornflakes, lentils, spaghetti, yellow porridge and lots of

other interesting things… We also use the multi-sensory room which is very calming and has interesting lights

and a bubble tube. In the gym hall we love to get the equipment out and climb, slide and spin. At group times we

sing nursery rhymes and everyone gets the chance to choose. Arran really likes ‘Hickory Dickory’ while Muqtasid

chooses ‘Mary had a Little Lamb’. Aiden is picking up the actions really quickly and loves joining in!

We are all working hard on our IEP targets and lots of other things in the run up to Christmas. We will be

making things for our stall at the Christmas Fayre and getting ready to take part in the Christmas event too as

well as having a Campsie Christmas party. Hopefully we will see lots of our parent, families and Beatlie friends

there!

7.

Music is on a Thursday this year and we continue to explore and enjoy music with a mixture of songs, instruments and recordings.

Secondary Choices

This group enjoys playing along to different genres, which gives everyone an opportunity to listen to or join in with some music that they already enjoy or are discovering. This term we have tried some classic soul and funk, but some weren't too sure about that. However ska and reggae were more popular and some classical music always goes down well, as does old fashioned rock and roll. There will be some Scottish music around St Andrew's Day and things will become seasonal at the end of term.

Nursery classes

The classes enjoy a mixture of singing songs and moving to music. Some of the songs are familiar nursery rhymes, while others can be new ones set to the old music. They feature repetition, movement and actions and cross over into many other areas such as literacy and numeracy.

We use Signalong to support the singing and actions in the songs help to build up moving in time to the beat. Some time is also usually spent engaged in heuristic musical play, giving the children time to explore the sounds and feel of different musical instruments, dance or listen on their own terms, with adults assisting.

Primary groups

The Primary group before the October break concentrated on sensory experiences associated with music and we devised a piece together based on Autumn, featuring a song called Leaves are Falling Down, with accompaniment on the piano and mandola. We used a variety of instruments including Dream Drums, various chimes and bells and the wonderful lyres that we bought in the Spring from the Garvald workshop in Edinburgh. Alongside this, we also used special lighting, fans and fallen leaves for a rounded sensory experience.

This was a great opportunity for the children to experience music in a way that focused on their needs and it was a very chilled experience for everyone. We look forward to exploring further sensory music together in the New Year.

The present Primary group are working on music with stories. We've had an exploration of a spooky castle for Halloween and are now working with Marvin Wanted More, about a very hungry sheep who doesn't know when to stop, which has been great fun. There will of course be a story featuring elves in the coming weeks, too.

Glendevon

Chairobics has been an inspiration for part of the Gendevon music classes this term. Using Launchpad for the iPad to create different grooves and beats, we have been moving to the rhythms and using a range of instruments such as maracas, tambourines and boomwackers to get the boys moving and playing their instruments in different ways together. We follow this with some free improvisation and instrument choice, playing along to music that we like and ending with some chill time.

Instrument amnesty

The children enjoy access to a number of instruments at Beatlie, but if you have any unused instruments that are maybe languishing or lost in the back of a cupboard, we are always interested in accepting donations if we can find a way to make good use of them. Although we do our best to look after all instruments, accidents do occur, so best to keep the heirlooms and Stradivarius at home and safe.

8.

Hello from Hopetoun. We’re into November and we’re not sure what happened to October!! We’ve been so busy

that the time has flown by.

This year we’ve been joined by Mollie, our only p1 pupil but she’s settled so well it seems as if she’s always been

here. We also have a new team. Linda and I are still here and we’ve been joined by Elaine and Mary on Monday,

Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday Eileen and Michelle come to play and on Fridays it’s Eileen, Linda and

myself.

Our theme has been daytime. The children created a lovely display of things we do in daytime, from what might

waken them, what they might have for breakfast then coming to school. On the walls we have a colourful

cockerel, some pretty birds and bowls of cereal and porridge. We go out every morning to look at the sky and

check the weather for the day and of course we use our timetables throughout the day too.

We spent time exploring in the garden and had fun going through the leaves. We also gathered some leaves and

made an autumn collage. We painted our feet, walked over the card and made our collage into an autumn walk.

All the children love music and we even have some budding pianists in the class.

The boys enjoy shared play and we can do some maths at the same time.

Our sensory bags have been very popular. The girls love the vibrating lights.

We’ve had visits from the clown doctors, and rebound, horse riding and swimming continues. Our boys have both

started cycling and are doing really well. Everyone enjoys a massage too. On Mondays, Pauline has an outdoor

group that’s popular and on Thursday there’s fun at drama with Catherine and music with Gordon. Linda has a

drop in art group, which we intend to visit soon. Our new theme is Me and My Family, so looking forward to

some lovely family photos, and of course we’ll be busy with Christmas and enterprise activities too.

Our next event is our Children in Need coffee morning so hope to see you there.

9.

There has not been too much of a change this year for Harburn. We said ‘good luck and goodbye’ to Nadia and

Noah who have both gone onto have lots of new adventures in primary 1. After starting back with us after the

summer holidays we said goodbye to one of our staff team, Pamela, who hasn’t gone too far – she has moved up

to Glendevon secondary class. We have therefore given a big ‘Welcome back’ to Bronwyn, Brendan, Theodore,

Cara and Wiktor to the morning group and Stanley, Harry, Shea and Seasaidh to the afternoon group. Katie is

our only new pupil of the morning group and she has joined us from Busy Bees. Joining Katie is 2 new members

of the class team – Anna who has come down from Duntarvie in the secondary department and Linda who we

have for a couple hours a week who has come from Lammermuir nursery.

We have had a busy start to the year and to be honest don’t know where the time has gone. We are enjoying

working with all the pupils – building and developing skills preparing them for primary 1 and also with Katie –

getting to know her and working with her to build up her confidence. We have a busy timetable of a variety of

activities ranging from going to soft play, multi-sensory or the playground and school gardens as well as being

very busy in class doing table top activities, snack, fine motor skills, art, cooking, exploring through messy play

and water play as well as free choice. We have also been out and about this term walking along to Craigsfarm

Café and across to the library once a week.

The children have really enjoyed our topics so far, last term our topics were ‘Ourselves’ and ‘People who help us’

– we all had fun during our visit from the fire brigade when we were able to explore the fire engine, dress up

and have a turn using the water hose. We also had a special visit from Kerry the guide dog with Joe and Shona.

So far this term we have been having lots of activities relating to Halloween and Fireworks night. For

Halloween we had opportunities to dress up during assembly and for our Halloween party. We made our own

spooky biscuits (hope you had a taste) and dooked for apples. This week we have had a lot of messy fun with

paint and glitter to make firework pictures. We especially loved throwing balloons onto the paper to get the

effect just right.

We are now looking forward to celebrating all that is Scottish and St Andrews day before we get busy for our

Christmas Fair. It was lovely to see you all for the wig walk and parent consultations and we look forward to

seeing you again soon at our whole school events coming up.

10.

Ochiltree has had a very busy year so far…

We had a swimming block before the October holidays. Emily really surprised us with how

confident she is in the water – she even wanted to use the “big” pool!

We have also had opportunities to go out on the trike. Amy has been enjoying this and

gaining confidence even going outside on it!

We have all been thoroughly entertained by Andrew’s jokes on his talker and he is now trying

new jokes for others around the school – he particularly likes the “knock knock” jokes!

This year in Ochiltree we have been teaming up with Duntarvie for lots of groups. Our joint

topic group last term was all about Technology. It was really nice to have Aidan and Marc

back in our class for these groups. This term we will be continuing to join up for our topic of

Seasons. So far we have thought about Autumn - we relaxed with a tac-pac full of songs and

11.

resources all about Autumn and are hoping to do this for all the seasons in order. We have

also made pictures of autumn trees with the leaves changing colour and falling off and will

make these into a book to show how they change with the seasons. Our most fun activity was

going out with our umbrellas and listening to the sound the rain made on them then splashing

in the puddles!

We have also had lovely one to one interaction sessions when we mix with Duntarvie’s staff

too. We find a nice quiet area of the classroom and spend 20 minutes following the Intensive

Interaction programme. Nathan has been very responsive to this while working with Neil and

Anna and has even been initiating actions and sounds.

We are very excited about all our preparations for the Christmas fayre…read Duntarvie’s

news for more information.

We have had a busy term in Duntarvie with lots of new and exciting things happening. This

year we are going to work towards receiving the Bronze Caledonian Award. We have to

complete a service, skill, leisure activity and a residential experience.

So far, we have been focusing on our skill which is art and craft activities. Working with

Ochiltree, We have two art and craft groups focusing on clay and sewing. The clay group

have been exploring the clay with their hands, rolling out the clay, printing and using cutters.

We have been making hand print bowls and Christmas decorations. The sewing group have

been busy creating cuddly toy owls, focusing on pushing and pulling the needle and thread

through each hole. All of these items will be on sale to buy at the Christmas fair.

We have also begun to explore different types of leisure activities. Marc and Aidan have

been focusing on rebound therapy every week with Pauline. Alana, Vikki and Stephanie are

focusing on swimming which they will be doing on a weekly basis over the next few months.

They have also been attending Nordoff Robbins Music therapy where they are working within

a group. They have been participating by using different musical instruments, playing

together as a group and waiting their turn to play individually at times too.

During our language setting group with Ochiltree, we are going to be focusing on drama

throughout this term. We are working together to create costumes, props and set for our

Christmas Musical. Every pupil has a part to play. We will be rehearsing the show and

recording it to make a video.

We look forward to seeing you all at the Christmas Fayre and Christmas Performance

12.

Lomond have had a busy start to the new school year. We all got back into the swing of things very quickly, with

our staff team mostly staying the same as last year. We are looking forward to welcoming Elma back as she has

been recovering from an operation she had in the summer holidays.

There have been lots of new activities introduced into our timetable this term which has made for some exciting

changes. On a Wednesday, we have been enjoying having Catherine coming into Lomond after break time to do

some groups with us. She has recently started doing a group all about babies to help Charlie prepare for the arrival

of his little brother. On a Thursday, we have been splitting into two groups with one group going to music and one

to drama and have just swapped our groups for the new term. We have been doing lots of fun activities in these

groups!

Our first theme for the new school year was all about night time. We had fun exploring night time routines through

role play and we did lots of art work about lullabies. Our new theme is learning about how people used to clean

their houses in the past and we are going to have a go at washing some clothes in a basin and sweeping the floor!

Charlie, Luca and Rylie have continued to enjoy their rebound sessions and Aria and William have been enjoying

trips to swimming and horse-riding. After the October break, we have started our cross-class groups again and we

are enjoying seeing friends from different classes. Luca is enjoying being in the outdoor group with Jenna, Aria is in

Debbie’s art group and Charlie and Rylie are in Helen’s sensory group.

We have been very busy with our enterprise- in the first term we were making cheesecakes and selling it around the

school- it was very popular and our profits are going towards our Christmas trip and buying some new things for the

classroom. This term we are focussing on making different things for our stall at the Christmas Fayre. It’s going to

keep us really busy on the run up to Christmas!

13.

Every Tuesday morning a group of youngsters have been going to Excite Bathgate to swim in the pool. The facilities

for our youngsters are very good and the staff have been very helpful. Last term Nathan showed us how hard he

could kick his legs in the water, Andrew learned to kick his legs when asked, Amy learned to relax in the water and

rest her head on Emma’s shoulder, Emily indicated to us that she wanted to swim in the big pool and happily

propelled herself around the pool, Fletcher joined Ochiltree class and has been working on lying back and kicking his

legs when asked. I think they were all quite tired for their afternoon classes back at school! This term it is the turn

of Stephanie who shows her enjoyment of lying back with her head on the adult’s shoulder, Alana has been working

on kicking her legs, Vikki has been amused by Pauline blowing bubbles in the water and has put her chin in the water

when it is her turn, William has been showing us how he can lie back in the pool, and Aria likes to check on how all

her new friends are managing. It may look like a lot of fun but the pupils are all working hard and the girls from the

senior class are working towards their ASDAN tasks. It has been lovely for me to see the youngsters enjoyment of an

activity that is so beneficial for them and it is bringing back skills that I used in my past when I taught a variety of

swimming groups.

14.

Where to start?! We have so much going on this year that I am struggling to keep track of who is

where when! This table gives a flavour of the extra activities that are happening throughout the

week.

Day AM PM

Monday Clowndoctors (every second

week) School and Nursery

9.10 – 9.30

Nursery Jolly Phonics with

Pauline

9.30 – 12.00

Rebound for secondary

pupils with Pauline and

Tracy

1 – 2.45

Outdoor learning with

Pauline

3.30 – 3.50

Nursery Jolly Phonics with

Pauline

Tuesday Nursery Assemblies

Swimming at Bathgate

Xcite - Pauline

Nursery Assemblies

Wednesday Throughout the day

Massage with Eileen

9.30 – 11.30

RDA (riding for the

disabled)

9 – 12

Rebound for primary pupils

with Catherine Anne and

Anna

11.30 - 2.30

The Yard – group of pupils

from throughout the school

1.15 – 3.00

Bench groups

Catherine Anne

Thursday Secondary and Primary

Drama/ Music sessions

(Catherine and Gordon)

Nursery Music/Art session

(Gordon, Jaki)

12.30 – 1.30

Art Club –Open to all, with

Linda H

Nursery Music sessions –

with Gordon

Friday Primary/Secondary or

Whole School Assemblies

15.

So far, we have had lots of fun with the various events outlined on the calendar – Beatlie Fashion

Week, Walk Your Wigs Off, Water Week and Halloween. Pictures from all of these can be seen as

posts on the blog and I have uploaded a copy of the Calendar of Events on to the blog in the

communication section if anyone needs a spare.

I look forward to seeing everyone at the Children In Need Café on Friday and at our various

Christmas events.

I hope you have enjoyed this edition of our Beatlie Buzz. The next one will be out in May but there

will be lots of post on the blog in the meantime to keep you up to date with all that is going on.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with any comments, questions or suggestions.