“Academy Swing”, the swing band of Rothesay Joint Campus have been performing at the Bute Jazz Festival since 2004 and this year will be opening the festival on 4th May 8 -9pm in the Pavilion. The band has made quite a reputation for itself in the past few years and performs regularly in the local community and further a field at venues such as the Loch Fyne food fair. It has also toured regularly throughout Argyll, giving community concerts and schools demonstration performances on Islay, Mull, Oban and Mid Kintyre. Continue reading Rothesay Joint Campus students to open the Bute Jazz festival
DUNOON GRAMMAR SCHOOL short listed for prestigious national award.
Pupils at Dunoon Grammar School have been celebrating news that a short film telling the story of a former pupil has been selected as finalist for Poppy Scotland’s Moving Stories competition.
The pupils now need your vote!
The film tells the tragic story of former Dunoon Grammar pupil Walter Sinclair Smith, who was killed during the iconic Christmas Day Truce of 1914 and is one of four films now subject to a public vote to decide the overall winner of the competition which is being run to mark the 90th anniversary of Poppy Scotland. Continue reading DUNOON GRAMMAR SCHOOL short listed for prestigious national award.
Careers Fair at Port Charlotte
This term in P5/6/7 we have been using our investigation time to research different careers. We grouped up and chose a career to investigate; these included actress, dancer, helicopter pilot, firefighter, paleontologist, nurse and vet to name a few. We found information from the internet, from various books in our school library and some of us even interviewed people who have that job. All this was to hold a Careers Fair for the whole school; this was when we set up stalls around the hall and presented our information in the form of posters and leaflets, and handed out a few stickers and badges as well. Continue reading Careers Fair at Port Charlotte
The Unsinkable Ship – Interdisciplinary Project
Captain’s Ball – Celebration of Learning
Over the last 8 weeks Carradale Primary School has received secret missions to do with the Unsinkable Ship, The Titanic. As a celebration of their learning, the pupils held a Captain’s Ball on Thursday 29th March for
parents and community members. The pupils performed ‘My favourite Things’ from the Sound of Music, ‘Breaking Free’ from High School Musical, ‘Castle on a Cloud’ from Les Mesirable with solos from P2 girls and our Pr4 sang ‘Where is Love?’ from Oliver. P4-7 played ‘Pavane’ on the recorders and finally P3-7 played ‘My Heart will Go on’ on the bells. Parents and community members then had the opportunity to look round all the work the pupils had completed to do with the Unsinkable ship, before enjoying the buffet. Continue reading The Unsinkable Ship – Interdisciplinary Project
Growing season underway at Southend
The growing season is underway at Southend Primary and when the weather was a bit warmer last week we took the opportunity to prepare the soil and get planting. Our wormery was emptied and the lovely worms added to our veg patches. We had collected peas from last year’s crop so they were picked over and the best ones kept for sowing in a few weeks. Potatoes were planted in our deep troughs, carrots and lettuce were sown and we divided strawberry plants from last year and repotted them to produce lots of new healthy plants.
Tarbert Academy French / H.E. interdisciplinary project
For several years now, renowned Tarbert Chef, Pascal, has supported Tarbert Academy’s pupils in a unique way. Teachers Christine Inglis and Heather Dixon from the French and Home Economics Departments work together to prepare pupils to receive a special cookery lesson delivered in the French language. During this lesson, pupils have an opportunity to work with Pascal as he demonstrates the dish and then assists pupils to prepare it themselves. Continue reading Tarbert Academy French / H.E. interdisciplinary project
Tarbert Academy S1/2 Work Experience/Enterprise Project
On Tuesday 20th March, all S1 and S2 pupils were given the opportunity to experience the world of work for a day. Where possible, pupils went to work with parents, family members or family friends. Where this was not suitable, pupils took on work experience in school. In S1, pupils’ placements varied from the Fire and Rescue Service to Scottish Water, and included hotel work, fish farming, agriculture, office work and Mundells. In S2, pupils worked with cars, Cal Mac, shops, primary schools, catering and hair-dressing – to name but a few. Continue reading Tarbert Academy S1/2 Work Experience/Enterprise Project
Port Ellen’s Selfish Giant
THE SELFISH GIANT
by Harry Rennell
P4/5 have just performaed their play named The Selfish Giant, which is adapted from a short story by Oscar Wilde. Firstly, we had to write the script so we all wrote a different part of the story. Then we put it all together. Our teacher, Mrs. Clark, added a few more lines and jokes, so everyone in the class has a part. Continue reading Port Ellen’s Selfish Giant
‘Bridges to Schools’ from Strone
Strone Primary pupils took part in an activity based session where they constructed a 12m long cable-stayed bridge, and then walked across the bridge. Pupils learned about civil engineering and the importance of team work and communication when they were dressed in their safety clothes – hard hat and fluorescent jacket – and worked in 2 groups, with the help of real civil engineers, to construct their side of the bridge. The sessions were run by Glasgow and West of Scotland branch of the Institution of Civil Engineers and are designed to raise awareness of civil engineering and encourage some to see it as a possible career.
The sessions were free and were a highly enjoyable, educational and motivational culmination of the Bridges topic for P4-7. For further information contact Strone Primary or ice.org.uk/Scotland/education.
Kilchrenan’s ‘Forest Schools’ update.
Look what has emerged in our Forest School this springtime. Our tree friends are wakening up.
Southend’s successful Open Day
The sun was shining for our recent Open Day and lots of parents came to see what their children had been up to in school recently. Pupils presented their learning to the parents through presentations, demonstrations and by inviting parents to have a go at some activities. Primary 2 and 3 got into role play and became Vikings for the day. Continue reading Southend’s successful Open Day
Kilcreggan Sports Relief fundraising update
We said we would keep you posted re our Sports Relief Fundraising activities. As well as our Sports Relief Mile our whole School took part in a production of The Selfish Giant (a musical). We gave two performances and donations have been given to Sports Relief.
In total over the two events our small School of 84 pupils has raised £882.60 and we still have some money to collect!
Continue reading Kilcreggan Sports Relief fundraising update
Events at Castlehill Primary
Pupils from Castlehill Primary School in Campbeltown have been involved in several events recently. These have included the Kintyre Schools Badminton Competition, the Sport Relief Mile and a School Concert.
Over 50 pupils from the school participated in the badminton competition with several receiving trophies, medals and other awards. Continue reading Events at Castlehill Primary
‘Composition to Exhibition’ in Tobermory
‘Composition to Exhibition’ is a visual arts and music collaborative project aimed at secondary pupils. After visiting Islay, Bute and Tiree the Creative Arts in Schools Team (CAST) held a two day workshop on Mull offering pupils from Tobermory High the opportunity to work with a musician and two visual artists.
The concept for the project is ‘recognising and celebrating potential opportunities for our islands through harnessing natural energy sources in particular tidal/wave energy.’ We have reflected this concept by focusing throughout on applying modern technologies such as film, sequencing and digital art to craft/art and music. Continue reading ‘Composition to Exhibition’ in Tobermory
Oban High’s New Manga, Anime and Comics Club!
Manga: food, mineral or comic? Not sure of the answer? You’re missing out on a whole world of possibilities when it comes to literacy and young people. Manga quite simply means “comics” in Japanese and is a term applied to an international market with a huge influence, especially when it comes to teens. Much of Manga’s growth in popularity is down to the impact of Anime films and series (Japanese animations). If you haven’t already, check out some of the visually stunning Studio Ghibli productions like Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away. Here at Oban High, we’ve been harnessing the popularity of this genre in building a new and thriving club. Continue reading Oban High’s New Manga, Anime and Comics Club!
SWIM AND WALK FOR SPORT RELIEF
Today was Sport Relief and at Port Ellen we were very sporty, celebrating in style. It was great to see all the children wearing red to raise money for Sport Relief. In the morning the whole school went to the swimming pool to take part in our swimming gala. It was very exciting, with some close run inter-house races! In the end the winners of the relay were Orsay, who also won the house swimming cup. The winning team were Maisie, Emily, Angus and Daniel. The winner of the boys swimming was Daniel Smith, and the girls Emily Logan. Thanks to Karen Siddell for all her help. Continue reading SWIM AND WALK FOR SPORT RELIEF
OUR WORLD IN MOTION at Port Ellen
From the 12th March-16th March it is science and engineering week. Primary 4-7 are all taking part in a whole week of science and all the activities we do is about forces. The first thing that we learned was Newton’s 3 laws and they are very important because they describe forces very well. The first law is “when forces acting on an object they are balanced,it will remain at rest or move in an straight line at constant speed”. The 2nd law is “force=mass x acceleration”. The 3rd law is “every action has an equal and opposite reaction” and that is Newtons 3 laws. Continue reading OUR WORLD IN MOTION at Port Ellen
Southend celebrates Sports and Ecoschools
Southend Primary pupils have had a busy couple of days. Yesterday they completed their Sport Relief Mile with the help of Active Schools Co-ordinator, Robbie Kupris. The 12 pupils in Primary 4-7 raised a total of £233 for the event and the younger children cheered them on as they ran the course.
Earlier, pupils demonstrated their knowledge of CPR after a recent training event. They will be teaching parents at our Open Day about how to act quickly if a person collapses and stops breathing. Continue reading Southend celebrates Sports and Ecoschools
Cooperative learning courses
Last week, on the 14th and 15th of March, Argyll ran the latest in its long series of cooperative learning courses. This particular one was a 2-day residential presented by Jay Helbert and Matthew Boyle. Participants covered a variety of major cooperative structures like Jigsaw, Carousel, Graffiti, Team Games Tournaments, Stand and Deliver to name but a few. In addition participants were kept wide awake and involved by a regular interspersal of shorter, pacy “Kagan style” structures like Rally Robin, Group-Pair-Share, Fan’n’Pick etc. Continue reading Cooperative learning courses
Kilcreggan Primary School – Sports Relief mile
What a beautiful day to go for a run! Today pupils, staff and parents from Kilcreggan Primary School took part in a 1 mile run in aid of Sports Relief. The sun shone, the children were smiling and everybody had a great time. Our event was sponsored so we hope to raise a good sum for the cause. We will keep you posted.
