International visitors welcomed at Law Primary School

Despite the weather, visitors and pupils alike enjoyed a wee change from the norm in their lessons last week.

P6 class teacher Chelsea Snobel has been involved in the government and European-funded Erasmus project, Mindfulness in Education.

Working with schools from Northern Ireland, Turkey, Spain and Poland, teachers visit each other’s schools to both teach and learn their own mindfulness classes.

Having already visited Northern Ireland and Turkey, it was Chelsea and Law Primary’s turn to host the international visitors last week.

Erasmus project enabled pupils to learn about different cultures and countries.

She said: “Pupils from my P6 class welcomed the delegation by giving them a tour of the school last Monday. We then held our delayed Burns Assembly for the whole school, which gave the visiting teachers a real flavour of Scotland.”

Throughout the week, visiting teachers delivered talks on their own countries and cultures, as well as mindfulness classes with pupils and observing Chelsea’s lessons.

She said: “The pupils loved finding out about different countries and thoroughly enjoyed their lessons.

"For the teachers, it’s an opportunity to learn too as we pick up ideas from each other which we can then deliver in our own schools.”

Visit afforded both teachers and pupils alike to learn something new.

The teachers’ strike on Friday gave the visiting delegation a chance to explore Scotland, with a visit to Stirling Castle, as well as trips to Glasgow in the evenings.

Mindfulness is a technique now being employed in schools to help children concentrate, with lessons designed to keep pupils’ focus on one thing at a time. This includes everything from breathing techniques to birdwatching and yoga.

Chelsea explained: “It's a great skill for the pupils to learn because they can use it in other areas of their life too.”

With the project being funded by European money, it is the last time such a project is likely to take place in Clydesdale and Chelsea was pleased to ensure Law Primary pupils benefited.

Mindfulness was the key to most of the lessons that pupils' enjoyed.

She added: “It’s about ten years since a primary school took part in South Lanarkshire so I was delighted we secured the funding.”

Chelsea and a fellow Law teacher will visit Spain and Poland before the project comes to a close at the end of the school term.