World’s Biggest Coffee Morning

Events, Primary schools

Barcaldine Primary took part in the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning event in support of MacMillan Cancer today. Primary 5-7 went along this morning to Poppies Garden Centre in Dunbeg by Oban.  We helped Poppies by entertaining all their customers while they enjoyed their cuppa as well as selling raffle tickets and baking.  We sang a few songs and also some of us managed to play our musical instruments like saxophone, clarinet, piano and violins to name but a few.

Yesterday we had our textile bank emptied and because we managed to raise so much we decided to donate our earnings to MacMillan Cancer.  We presented Mrs Marion MacPherson of Poppies Garden Centre with a cheque for £100 to pass onto this worthwhile cause. We really enjoyed ourselves this morning taking part in the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning and hope we helped to raise lots of money for this great charity.

KILCHRENAN SPLASHES OUT

Outdoor Learning, Primary schools, School trips

Kilchrenan Primary took to the waters this week, making plenty of waves.  The pupils had chosen a coasteering event with Stramash as an adventurous outdoor challenge, which they met with great success.

With everybody safely equipped,and squeezed into wetsuits, they took to the rocks at Ganavan Sands, by Oban and, led by Andrew from Stramash, set out to explore and to have an adventure.  They sat watching an otter, swam in a sea taxi, scrambled across rocks, jumped from the cliffs into the sea and, all agreed, had a fantastic time. Continue reading KILCHRENAN SPLASHES OUT →

Event Heroes Ensure a Warm Welcome at Dunoon Grammar School

Events, Secondary schools

Teaching staff, travelling from across Argyll and Bute, arrived to a warm welcome at Dunoon Grammar School on Friday, 21 September 2012 thanks to a group of S3 DGS pupils.  The pupils from the S3 Administration & IT class had sacrificed a long-lie during their extra day off to ensure the planning day for authority teachers ran smoothly.

The purpose of the day was to allow teachers from each subject area to get together to discuss, plan and organise courses for the new National qualifications.  S3 pupils from DGS are already working on these new qualifications and those from the Administration & IT class put some of their newly acquired event administration skills to good use to help plan, run and review the day.
Continue reading Event Heroes Ensure a Warm Welcome at Dunoon Grammar School →

Dunoon Grammar School Pupils Go for Gold!

Active Schools, Events, Secondary schools

On Wednesday, 12 September 2012, Dunoon Grammar School played host to its very own Olympic Games. The Games were officially opened by a performance from Dunoon Grammar School Pipe Band. Then the Games began. Around one hundred pupils took part in the 7 events that were on offer. These events were the 90m, 200m, 800m, Shot Put, Long Jump, Triple Jump and High Jump.

Originally planned to take place in June, the Games were held in order to raise awareness of the Olympics, their history and their values. It also allowed the competitive edge of the new house system to come out and gave everyone involved a fun filled afternoon.
Continue reading Dunoon Grammar School Pupils Go for Gold! →

Dunoon Grammar School Stars Shine for Scotland

Events, Expressive arts, School trips, Secondary schools

Pupils from Dunoon Grammar School again played a key role at a significant International Reception hosted by Education Scotland at the City Chambers, Glasgow last week.  The Dunoon Grammar School Pipe Band and Highland Dancers entertained a distinguished audience consisting of educationalists from across the globe.

Dr Alasdair Allan MSP, Minister for Learning and Skills from the Scottish Government introduced the Grammar school pupils to the international audience gathered in the stunning City Chambers, Banqueting Hall.  Continue reading Dunoon Grammar School Stars Shine for Scotland →

Croft visit

Outdoor Learning, Primary schools, School trips

As part of their crofting topic P5,6,7 pupils from Bunessan Primary enjoyed a very informative visit to two local crofts.  On the croft they learned about cutting peat and how to look after different kinds of animals. 

They especially enjoyed comparing crofting methods from the past with the present eg the horse with the quad and the scythe with the binder.

Continue reading Croft visit →

Harvest at Port Charlotte

Events, Outdoor Learning, Primary schools

We had an amazing day in Port Charlotte Primary School recently when we held a Harvest Lunch for our parents, friends and family.  We had been busy all summer in the garden; growing vegetables like potatoes, turnips, carrots and leeks and had gathered them all in this term. 

As part of our Crofting Connections project we also had a go at growing barley, oats, rye and wheat.  It took us ages to mill the wheat and oats to make flour!
We used the flour to bake bread and we also made soup from our vegetables and cheese scones and shortbread. 
Continue reading Harvest at Port Charlotte →

Ulva Potato Harvest

Outdoor Learning, Primary schools

Last May we had planted potatoes in big yellow tubs in our school garden.  We watched the plants grow … and then die down.  After the summer holidays we decided to wait a few weeks and then harvest our potatoes on a sunny day. 

We had to tip the tubs up to empty out the soil and then hunt for the potatoes.  We collected lots of potatoes.  We counted them, ordered them according to their size and weighed them.  We had collected nearly 2 kilograms of lovely potatoes.
Next week we will make some lunch dishes with our potatoes.  We hope they taste good!!
Continue reading Ulva Potato Harvest →

P5 visit to the beautiful Castle Gardens

Interdisciplinary, Outdoor Learning, Primary schools, School trips

On Wednesday 26th September, Dunoon Primary P5 pupils (as part of their Interdisciplinary Topic ‘Our Local Area’) visited the Castle Gardens. 

The sun was shining brightly and each group, clipboards in hand investigated the various areas of the gardens to find out as much as they could about the history surrounding this central area of Dunoon.  They took rubbings of plaques,sketched any monuments found in the garden and completed worksheets. A superb time was had by all and lots of interesting information was collected to make a collage of the facts they found. Continue reading P5 visit to the beautiful Castle Gardens →

Fairy Bridge

Early Years, Outdoor Learning

Strath of Appin Pre 5s and two of our Gaidhlig pupils went on an outing to Fasnacloich in Glen Creran.  They went to visit the ‘Fairy Bridge’ …. with a twist.

As the pre 5s interest was learning about dinosaurs, the children had to imagine the bridge looked like something else. Many guessed that it looked like a stegosaurus’ back, and our parent helpers were also impressed with the similarity.  We also discovered what ‘fasnacloich’ meant – ‘the tree in the rock’ – as one helper had local historical knowledge, and a bit of Gaelic, and we went to visit the ‘tree in the rock’, (spot the photo!!).  The weather wasn’t great, but it didn’t stop us, and we look forward to more outdoor sessions throughout the year. Continue reading Fairy Bridge →

New resource from CETS

Primary schools, Secondary schools

The Co-operative Games: Succeeding Together is a free school resource which links into Curriculum for Excellence, developing all 4 key characteristics, and supporting cross-curricular teaching.

It looks at the wider meaning of “common wealth”, how that links to co-operative values and principles and how the Scottish co-operative heritage has supported community and economic development in Commonwealth countries.
 The resource is available to use online and as a PDF
http://www.cets.coop/resources/co-op_commonwealth_form.html

A&B at the Scottish Learning Festival.

Events

Argyll & Bute Council ran a stand within the ‘Local Authority Village’ at the Scottish Learning Festival last week. The SECC was the venue for the festival which attracts delegates and speakers from the UK and further afield. We met delegates from Estonia, Iceland, France and Holland as well as many many Scottish teaching professionals. On our stand we offered visitors the chance to make an animation using an ipad and full set inc. lighting all borrowed from Kilninver Primary. We also encouraged comments on the theme of the Festival this year which was ‘Creative Learning….Creative Thinking’. Visitors were asked to write on a blue cloud which was then pinned up to decorate the stand. Continue reading A&B at the Scottish Learning Festival. →

Mushroom Hunt

Outdoor Learning, Primary schools, School trips,

Barcaldine and Ardchattan Primary school children went along to Sutherlands Grove on Monday afternoon for a Mushroom Hunt.

Robert MacPherson kindly took us through the woods to find a variety of different mushrooms.  We found Amethyst Deceiver, Angel Wings, Jelly babies, Chanterelle, Sickener and the Common Yellow mushroom were just a few of the types we found.

We were all over Sutherlands Grove and found the mushrooms under trees, in the grass, below logs plus we found a few mushroom sticks.

Eilidh & Rianna P7

Toothbrushing Skills

Health and Wellbeing, Primary schools

Nursery and Primary 1 children at Lochnell were visited by Yvonne Sloss, the dental nurse, who reminded us how to stay healthy by eating and drinking the right things at meal times.  She also showed us how to brush our teeth properly so that we won’t get any holes in them … we all agreed that we didn’t want toothache.

All of the children were given new toothbrushes to use at home as well as the brushes they have in school.  Yvonne had a giant sized toothbrush that we got to brush huge teeth with.  Thanks Yvonne!

THE OLYMPIC TORCH COMES TO INNELLAN

Primary schools

The children were wide-eyed when a visitor bearing an Olympic Torch appeared in their classroom on Wednesday morning!  Lindsay Moss, who carried the torch in Inverness, very kindly offered to visit the children and allow them to be photographed carrying her Olympic Torch.  The children were absolutely thrilled.  Lindsay then took the time to answer the many questions that the children were desperate to ask.

An “otterly” brilliant day at the Sea Life Centre

Outdoor Learning, Primary schools, School trips

As part of their topic about the sea, Lismore Primary School children spent a very enjoyable day at the Oban Sea Life Centre last week.  The two Pre Five children also joined them for the day. The children began their visit with a tour through the various aquaria with aquarist, Innes. They saw all sorts of water animals which live around the local shores including sea urchins, starfish, lobsters and jellyfish.

A large pool contained many different species of flat fish which were well camouflaged on the sandy bottom. There were also cod and coley in the pool and the children were able to get up very close to them!  A rather large conger eel caused great excitement as did a number of different sharks and a very active octopus.

Continue reading An “otterly” brilliant day at the Sea Life Centre →

Keith Brumpton Visits Bowmore Primary School

Expressive arts, Literacy, Primary schools

Eventually, after much anticipation, Keith Brumpton, the amazing, famous author, appeared in our school on Friday 7th September 2012!  Although he came to our school, he originally came over for The Islay Book Festival.  For some odd reason Keith Brumpton came early but Joan Lennon and Linda Strachan (two other fantastic authors) were stranded on the mainland due to the unpredictable mist!

 Firstly he told us that he writes scripts for brilliant television shows like 64 Zoo Lane, Balamory and MIHigh but after that he drew scenes from his interesting books.  The pictures were amazing (I especially liked the picture of Dino FC). Then he told us his new ideas for books such as Space Bunnies and Meet the Robotsons (I definitely want to buy them!)

Continue reading Keith Brumpton Visits Bowmore Primary School →