Last year Isaac McAlinden from Strachur Primary entered a competition, along with the rest of his P6/7 class, to design the front cover of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival programme. His design was shortlisted and displayed in ‘Our Dynamic Earth’ in Edinburgh over the summer. We love his design, what do you think?
Well done Isaac!
First Harvest from Strachur Polytunnel
Pupils have been busy picking perfect potatoes, enormous cabbage and delicious cherry tomatoes from our polytunnel – all the hard work has paid off! Thank you to Mr Burke for his expertise and commitment to our school. Also thank you Mrs Speirs in the kitchen for preparing the vegetables to serve in the lunch hall.
What will we plant next?
Cove Park Community Open Day – 2-6pm, Saturday 17 September 2016
Cove Park Community Open Day – 2-6pm, Saturday 17 September 2016
Take a look inside Cove Park’s new Artist Centre, meet resident artists and get creative with a taste of Cove Park’s ’Hands-On’ programme at their Community Open Day.
Continue reading Cove Park Community Open Day – 2-6pm, Saturday 17 September 2016
Gaelic Learners Education Opportunities for (GLPS)
There are spaces available on this year’s GLPS course.
The training programme is held at Stirling Court Hotel and is centrally funded.
Those who have undertaken the GLPS training in the past are full of praise for the tools and confidence it has given them to deliver Gaelic Language Learning in their settings. The closing date for the participants to put their name forward via their Headteacher is Friday 9th September 2016
SPS Running Club Sprint Champion
Dalintober Primary 7 Lunchtime Buddies
Primary 7s have quickly started to learn about their new roles of responsibility by assisting the new Primary 1 pupils at lunchtimes. Each P1 pupil has a P7 buddy who helps them throughout the lunch break. The Primary 7s have all enthusiastically risen to the challenge and are demonstrating a range of leaderships skills such as good communication, empathy and organisation. Later in the session the P7s will run sports and art lunchtime clubs for other pupils in the school. The Lunchtime Buddy scheme is giving them the skills they will need for these more challenging roles.
DGS Learning Centre at Kirn Gala
On Wednesday 24th August Dunoon Grammar School’s learning centre had a stall at Kirn Gala.
On our stall we had lots of Different plants, Home baking, Tablet, Fudge, Home grown Organic Vegetables and Herbs
The weather was very kind to us, The sun was shining and it was very busy .We had a very successful evening. We raised £206.49
We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who helped us.
NEW! Gaelic Education documents on SALi
There is a tab at the top of the main page on SALi HERE where you can access Gaelic Education Policy Documents: please click on the links to view or download.
Cowal Inter Sports Winners !
Giant Walking Bus
Salen Primary School and ELCC pupils and staff had a lovely surprise during this year’s Giant Walking Bus. A vintage Model T Ford was sitting broken down in the car park. No sooner had we stopped to stare when lots of vintage Model T Fords drove through the village (slowly, of course) with drivers and passengers tooting and waving. After the other cars had passed the owners of the broken down car invited everyone to come and have a closer look.
P7 Graduation Dinner
Salen Primary School Mainstream and Gaelic Primary 7s enjoyed a wonderful graduation dinner at The Galleon Grill in Tobermory. They were accompanied by their teachers, Mrs MacCrone and Miss Chase, and Head Teacher, Miss MacLean. The Galleon Grill presented the pupils with specially printed menus to mark the occasion which they all took away with them. A great night was had by all. We send the young people our very best wishes and hopes for the future.
Sunshine and smiles
Salen Primary School pupils held a daffodil lunch to raise funds for Marie Curie. They were delighted to present one of our parents, Louise Scarlett, with a cheque for £400. An additional £116 was raised by holding a collection at the end of term service and the pupils requested that this also be donated to Marie Curie.
Olympic success for Team Kiribati
Salen Primary School was proud to represent the island nation of Kiribati for Island Sports Day. The pupils researched the competing nations before deciding to adopt Kiribati who had only one competitor travelling to Rio. Staff and pupils joined in the opening ceremony parade dressed in Kiribati colours.
Professional Learning Community – Supporting Armed Forces Families
For the past three years, primary, secondary and third sector staff in Helensburgh and Lomond have met together to form a Professional Learning Community (PLC) with the collective aims of:
Continue reading Professional Learning Community – Supporting Armed Forces Families
Outdoor Education news and updates
Scottish Advisory Panel for Outdoor Education news and updates are now available on SALi
https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/ab/sali/category/professional-development/outdoor-learning-professional-development/
Our Primary Writing Competition is OPEN!
In 2011 CAST renovated and relaunched an important art collection held within our schools and every year we run a successful writing competition using the collection as inspiration. The competition for 2016 is now OPEN and we are delighted to announce it has continued support from Scottish Book Trust. There will be first, second and third prizes of books for pupils. The winning pupil’s school will also receive £250 worth of books. Winning pieces will be posted online as part of the Argyll Collection website and on SAL. This year’s theme is ‘Getting Up To Mischief’ and we are focussing on four paintings. These paintings are held within different Scottish collections and represent children at play. Click TAC competition 2016 for full info and TAC writing competition images for the paintings on their own. GOOD LUCK!
Kodu 6-Week Teaching Pack
Kodu is an application developed by Microsoft which introduces young people to computer games design. The visual programming language allows students to design and build three-dimensional games. Kodu helps young people to learn the core concepts of computer science through a project approach which includes narrative writing, design, maths and programming skills.
Click here to view the teaching pack, and click here to look at the Digital Learning Team’s Kodu workshop instructions.
Parklands School In-Reach/Out-Reach Open afternoons.
The In-Reach/Out-Reach team at Parklands School in Helensburgh will be holding informal open afternoons from Monday 5th to Thursday 8th September from 3.30pm – 4.30pm.
Feel free to pop in to find out and chat to us about the various intervention programmes on offer to children within Mainstream schools, as well as taking a look at our planning, resources and classroom set-up.
Anne Paterson – Acting Head of Education
I am delighted to be taking forward the role of Acting Head of Education in Argyll and Bute. As many of you know I have spent all of my educational career in Argyll and Bute and am strongly committed to ensuring our young people get the best opportunities they can. I came into Education as a Primary Teacher in 1982 wanting to make a difference for the young people in my class. My focus today is the same only it is now about making a difference for all of the young people in Argyll and Bute.
1+2 Languages Newsletter
Take a look at the recent edition of the Argyll & Bute 1+2 Languages Newsletter. This latest edition is full of useful information for practitioners. You can learn about all the resources for teaching languages which are available within the authority. You can also find out who can provide training and support for teaching languages.