WINTER FESTIVAL winner!

A proud Primary 4 from Lochnell Primary School is hoping that her picture will help to light up the dark days of Oban’s Winter Festival. Her picture has been chosen for the cover of the festival programme and the delighted 7 year old hopes that when you pick up your programme for the festival you’ll have as big a smile on YOUR face as she had on hers when she found out that her design had been chosen. We all wish the festival well for its second successful year and look forward to seeing lots of schools joining in the fun. Continue reading WINTER FESTIVAL winner!

Tree Felling at Innellan

On Tuesday we had the amazing experience of watching the Scottish and Southern Energy workmen cutting down a really big tree! We all walked along to watch while the tree surgeons scaled the trunk to cut all the branches before felling the tree. The tree made a very loud thud as it hit the ground. It was very exciting but a bit sad too because it had been there for a very long time and perhaps birds and animals had made their home in it. The tree was 26 metres high at least! We are going to measure out 26 metres in our playground to see if it would fit. Continue reading Tree Felling at Innellan

S2 Outward Bound 2013 at LHS

On Wednesday 24 October thirteen of the Lochgilphead High S2 pupils that will be attending Outward Bound took up the opportunity to walk from the school to Bellanoch Bridge (on the Crinan Canal) and back. The walk which was a total of 11.5 miles (18.6 km) was arranged so that the pupils could raise funds towards their trip via sponsorship.
The walk was challenging and lasted from 9.30am until 3.15pm with stops at Cairnbaan for refreshments and Bellanoch Bridge for lunch. Continue reading S2 Outward Bound 2013 at LHS

Football Crazy Day in Easdale School

Easdale Primary School were football crazy with a difference recently.  After some divergent thinking about how we could use balls but not play a game of football the children planned a range of fun learning activities.  The six mixed age groups from Pre 5 – P7 donned their designer t-shirts and explored maths, language, art and PE activities including time dribble, number ball, word shoot, roll the marble, ball art attack, coconut shy and dribble and shoot.  At half time they enjoyed some football poems and learned a song called ‘Fitba Crazy’.  When the final whistle blew all teams voted the day a great success and closed the day with their team chant and mascot. Continue reading Football Crazy Day in Easdale School

Kintyre Pupils & Scottish Opera……..COMING SOON!

In the midst of a city, in the midst of a war, an enduring friendship is formed between a young elephant named Sheila and her keeper. As the bombs begin to fall and the Head Zookeeper worries about the fate of the animals, the local children play and laugh and sing in the Belfast streets………..
The Elephant Angel is a heart-warming new opera for audiences of all ages by composer Gareth Williams and acclaimed novelist Bernard MacLaverty. Based on a true story, it tells the tale of a lady zoo keeper who takes a baby elephant home with her each night during the Belfast Blitz, looking after it and keeping it safe with the help of the children who live near by. Continue reading Kintyre Pupils & Scottish Opera……..COMING SOON!

World Porridge Day 10 October 2012

The Pre-school children, pupils and staff at Strath of Appin Primary School celebrated World Porridge Day a week early on the 2nd of October.  The children sang the Gaelic song ‘Brochan Lom’  (Thin Porridge), before sitting down to a bowl of porridge that had been prepared by Debbie, the school cook.   Not everyone enjoyed their porridge, but some children had 2 helpings!

Donations received at the Porridge morning were sent to support the work of Mary’s Meals in feeding hungry children in some of the poorest countries in the world.  The children were delighted to hear that their efforts had raised enough money to feed three children for an entire school year. Continue reading World Porridge Day 10 October 2012

Lochgilphead High School 4xl Enterprise Project

On Monday the 17th of September the 4xl group took a trip to Shearer’s Candles in Glasgow as part of their Enterprise Project.
The group were welcomed by Rosie who told them about the history of the company / factory and how it was developed. The group were then taken on a tour of the factory lead by Earkate who explained how the factory was run and explained the importance of health and safety within the factory. During the visit they had an opportunity to make their very own candles, which was a well received an enjoyable opportunity. Continue reading Lochgilphead High School 4xl Enterprise Project

SAL DEVELOPMENT

Now that SAL has settled in to our schools and has been widely embraced as a platform for sharing, we would like to develop the site to accommodate any additional uses that you might find practical. Please click on the ‘SAL DEVELOPMENT’ post title above to access the full post and then use the ‘comment’ facility to express your development ideas. (Suggestions welcomed from all pupils and staff).

Port Ellen Primary Gaelic Choir Success at National Mod

On Sunday 14th October Port Ellen Primary Gaelic Choir excitedly began their journey to Dunoon to compete in this years National Mod. The children had an early start on Monday morning with many competing as individuals before the choir competitions in the afternoon. All of the children had worked extremely hard to prepare for their competitions and we were delighted to learn that so many of our individual competitors had been successful in their categories. Continue reading Port Ellen Primary Gaelic Choir Success at National Mod

Kilmartin Early Level Class Blog

Kilmartin P.S. has been part of the Argyll & Bute Early Level Class pilot for just over a year now and the experience challenge has been one of the best that the school has ever undertaken. To help share the wonderful learning that takes place in the Early Level Class everyday, we have made a blog to help parents and any other interested people understand what the children experience and gain from this method of teaching. Our Early Level Class is made u of three year old children to P.1, with P.2 and P.3 also joining in at Level !. We would be delighted if you left some comments or asked questions!
https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/ab/KilmartinPrimary-EarlyLevelClass/

Help for Higher Students at Oban High

Oban High School’s Maths and English Departments recently held a joint information evening entitled, ‘How to Help Your Child Pass Higher Maths and English.’  The focus of the evening was to give parents helpful strategies and advice to enable them to support their children through the challenges of these very demanding courses.  Information on course outlines, deadlines and content was also discussed and parents were issued with helpful booklets and shown useful websites.  In addition, current S6 students spoke about the importance of good study skills and being organised from the beginning of the year.

Making story CDs was today’s mission at Lochnell

Reading for RNIB Day is 19th October but as that falls during the holidays we decided to have our RNIB day today. Children from nursery to Primary 7 in Lochnell and visitors from Achaleven Primary were involved in creating a huge range of story recordings which will be made into CDs and form a story bank for sighted children and those with visual impairments.  Stories for Early Years children will also have brailed books made to match the CDs and be kept in a story bag with items from the story for children to handle so they can understand more about each story. Continue reading Making story CDs was today’s mission at Lochnell

Golden Lunch Table Winners!

Kilcreggan Primary Golden Lunch Table Winners were treated to a “special” lunch yesterday.   Jack, Leah, Kizzi and Rory were awarded the prize for their excellent manners at lunch times.   Congratulations! 

In other news….. Primary 7 pupils returned last week after their residential visit to Ardmay Outdoor Centre where they took part in all sorts of outdoor activities and worked towards their Dynamic Youth Award.  We thought you might like to see some of the activities. Continue reading Golden Lunch Table Winners!

Social Enterprise Assembly at Strachur Primary

P6/7 presented their assembly to the rest of the school, parents and carers and our special guest, Mrs Sue Challis, from The Raven Trust.  The class were very pleased to present Mrs Challis with a cheque for £89.65 which will help support a school in Malawi, through The Raven Trust Charity.  The class raise this money through their social enterprise activities – producing and selling our school newspaper and selling second-hand school uniforms. 10% of the profit from the newspaper and all the proceeds from the second-hand uniform sales go to charity.
The theme of our assembly was greed and the children acted out a play based on the television programme, Deal or No Deal. Continue reading Social Enterprise Assembly at Strachur Primary

RME on Iona

In the first of this year’s RME days 54 S1/2 pupils and 7 staff  from Tobermory High School spent the day on Iona learning about the history of Iona and the life and work of the Iona Community.  The day was the RME part of inter-disciplinary work on Life in 6th Century Scotland.  The group looked at why Columba chose to settle on Iona and why thousands of tourists and pilgrims flock there every year.  In St Oran’s Chapel they learned about the life of the early monks before exploring the cemetery where Scottish Kings and politicians are buried. Continue reading RME on Iona

Pupils Learn About the World of Work

On, Wednesday, 26 September 2012, half of Dunoon Grammar School’s S4 pupils attended Industrial Awareness Day, held at the local hostel – with the other half going on, Tuesday, 2 October 2012.  The day is held in order to raise awareness of what goes on in business and to educate pupils of the day to day occurrences in some businesses.  It is also to show S4 pupils what the business world is like and allows them to work with people from outwith the school.  The day is always a success because of the fact pupils are put into groups and therefore working together and meeting new people.  The tasks that they have to complete are all business related, this making them use other skills that are not normally used in a classroom environment. Continue reading Pupils Learn About the World of Work

Parents go back to School

On, Thursday, 4 October 2012, Dunoon Grammar School held an information evening for parents of S1 pupils.  The evening was opened by a talk from Mr Shaw (Head Teacher) and Mr McLean (S1 Year Head).  The parents of some S1 pupils were able to visit the many different departments in the school, where each department had a display of the work they had already done with the new S1.  The evening was not a usual parents evening – where the parent and teacher sit down to discuss the pupil’s progress and behaviour  – but instead to allow the parents to see, as a whole, what S1 have been doing in their classes.  There were a number of senior students and prefects who helped out on the evening to guide the parents around the school.  The evening was very informative and showed how well the new S1 have settled in to Dunoon Grammar School. Continue reading Parents go back to School