Category Archives: Outdoor Learning

John Muir award success at Kilcreggan Primary School

Kilcreggan John Muir certificatesTen pupils from Kilcreggan primary recently achieved John Muir Discovery awards in recognition of their awareness and responsibility for wild places work. The pupils were all part of an after school club which met weekly last session and undertook various activities in and around the school grounds relating to discovering, exploring, conserving and sharing wild places.

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Young Green Fingers!

Rothesay Green Fingers 1The pupils at Rothesay Primary were delighted to scoop a number of prizes at their local horticultural show. They entered peas, runner beans, broad beans, lettuce, carrots, grapes, tayberries, tomatoes, courgettes, cooking and eating apples, pears and giant stalks of rhubarb and won 9 first, 3 second and 2 third prizes! To top it off, the school also won the cup for the best salad display and the schools cup, which they received from Jim McColl of the Beechgrove Garden – the man who helped to build our garden!
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Dalintober PS Marks ‘School Food Day’

Dalintober PS Grow Your Own Food DayPupils, staff and Catering Staff decided to mark ‘School Food Day’, celebrating ‘Scotland’s Year of Food’ by holding an ‘Eat What You Grow’ lunch. Fruit and vegetables, grown on the school allotment, was harvested by members of the school’s Eco-Group and brought fresh from the site to the kitchen. The Catering Staff used the produce to make potato soup, potato salad, broad bean frittata and apple crumble – a sumptuous feast that was enjoyed by all!

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On the Road to Rio!

Tarbert PS Road to Rio 1Pupils in Primary 7/6 at Tarbert Academy have taken up the Team GB challenge of running the distance to Rio de Janeiro (9450 km from Tarbert) before the Olympic Games there next summer. Running three mornings a week, counting distances run in PE lessons and they are nearly 5% of the way there! After four weeks of running pupils have noticed a definite improvement in their fitness and are enjoying running as a great start to their day.

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DGS Learning Centre Sponsored Walk

dgslearningcentresponsoredwalk12On Thursday 3rd of September all the learning centre pupils from Dunoon Grammar went on a sponsored walk. Pupils and staff set of from School down Kirn Brae, along the front all the way to Bullwood Nature Trail, near Innellan. Some senior pupils supported the younger pupils, keeping them safe and happy as part of their youth Achievement Award.

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DELIGHTED AND VERY PROUD………………ROSNEATH PRIMARY’S FIRST GREEN FLAG

Rosneath Green Flag 2Rosneath Primary School pupils were so happy to “get their hands on” their very first Green Flag after an outstanding assessment report from Paula Love, Lead Assessor. They gathered together on a beautiful, sunny day (of which we don’t have that many!) out in the School grounds to show it off. We hope to have it flying high soon. As Julie Wilson , Education and Learning Manager (Keep Scotland Beautiful) said, “This is an outstanding achievement, congratulations to all.”

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Luss – Grow to Sell

Luss PS Grow to SellThe children at Luss went along to Waitrose on Wednesday this week to sell the produce they have grown through the summer for the ”Grow to Sell” Project in conjunction with Waitrose. This was a feature of their work last year which resulted in a 6th Green Flag and a 4th Total Green Award.

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Cowal Rugby Festival

Strone PS Rugby FestThe 2015 Rugby Festival for the Cowal primary schools was held on Thursday 3rd September at Dunoon Grammar School in glorious sunshine. The festival was extremely well attended with over 100 pupils taking part. All the schools had received a block of rugby coaching in the previous year through the partnership between Active Schools, the Rugby Development Officer Brendan McGroarty and Cowal Rugby Club. On the day a number of S6 students did an excellent job by helping to referee the games and coach the young players.
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Kirn P6 go wild at Ardentinny

Kirn PS Ardentinny 1 Sept 15Back to school was even more exciting for Kirn Primary’s P6 pupils this year as they set off for four days of challenges at Ardentinny Outdoor Education Centre.

Children were treated to a programme of gorge walking, which was very challenging and involved walking up waterfalls, canoeing, and lots of team challenges. Strategies had to be invented to move children through a rope course, and teamwork skills were needed to create a crate stack. Continue reading Kirn P6 go wild at Ardentinny

New Trim Trail for St. Joseph’s!

St Josephs TRIM TRAIL 1Monday 07 September was a day of great celebration at St. Joseph’s Primary School in Helensburgh. Thanks to the generosity of ‘Awards for All Scotland’, the school has just installed a brand new trim trail in the senior playground. The total cost of the work to date is slightly in excess of £11,500, £10,000 of which was given by the ‘Awards for All Scotland’ grant.

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‘Groundforce Day – Port Charlotte Pre 5’…

Groundforce day Port CharlotteParents, children, staff and members of the local community have been hard at work this weekend developing our Pre 5 outdoor area. There was a great turnout and we are looking forward to day 2! The children and parents have planned the different areas they would like to have, these include a ‘Dig pit’, ‘Magical den’, ‘Story stage’ and ‘Mud kitchen’. Here’s to a great start to outdoor learning!

Local History Display – Glenbranter Forestry Office July 2015

Sandbank Glenbranter office 1Taisbeanach – Ard na Blathaich
Chuir clas 6/7 o Bhunsgoil Thaigh a’Chladaich crioch air an topaic aca mun eachdraidh ionadail le taisbeanach san oifis Coiltearachd Gleann a’Bhrandaidh o chionn ghoirid.
Sandbank Primary’s GM6/7 ended their topic on local history by setting up an exhibition in the Glenbranter Visitor Centre and Forestry Offices.

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Crofting Connections – the story of wool

Sandbank Crofting Connections  card 12Rinn clas Ghaidhlig 6/7 ealain le cloimhe. B’fheudar dhuinn cìreadh, snìomh agus breabadaireachd a dh’ionnsachadh. Chuir sinn dathan nadarrach air an cloimhe cuideachd.
As part of our local history study and Crofting Connections programme, Sandbank GMU 6/7 worked on their handcraft skills to complete a piece of textile art together. We took the inspiration of a croft as the basis for a wall hanging, seeing as we had researched an abandoned farm settlement near Loch Eck.
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sandbank school trip – Bute

Sandbank woodwatch 1At the end of May, GM6/7 from Sandbank Primary (Bunsgoil Thaigh a’Chladaich) travelled to Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute to participate in some ancient technology courtesy of Gordon and Jessica at Bute Heritage Woodwatch.
We had a brilliant day in the woods learning about how our ancestors lived throughout history. Sitting inside the Bronze age roundhouse we imagined life long ago and saw how they made hooks, needles, whistles, arrowheads etc from natural materials such as bones and antlers.

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Health Week @ John Logie Baird

JLB Health Week 4 FunkyJohn Logie Baird Primary School children and staff took part in a variety of fun activities, to celebrate Health Week. The children’s activities included a presentation from SSPCA, Tae Kwon Do, Fruit demonstration and tasting by Waitrose, Big Pedal Cycling and Scooter event, the school sports day and nursery sports day, cardio tennis, rugby, mini kickers. Julie Smith of Funky Fitness put both children and staff through their paces with an energetic and fun filled day of fitness on the Friday to end the week in style.

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John Logie Baird Touch Ruby Winners

JLB Rubgy WinnersPrimary 4 children across Helensburgh and Lomond have been taking part in a Touch Rugby training programme through Active Schools this term. All schools entered a competition within this programme to link the number of passes they could do without dropping the ball.

John Logie Baird Primary are delighted to have won this competetion with 25 passes. Here they are being presented with the winner’s cup by Adam from Active Schools.

Success lands at John Logie Baird Primary School and Pre 5 Unit once again.

JLB Green photoFollowing a recent intense assessment from Paula Love, an Eco Schools assessor John Logie Baird successfully secured our Green Flag. Our amazing Mrs McArthur, Primary 6 class teacher and our Eco group worked tirelessly to showcase all that John Logie Baird was doing to recycle, reuse, manage waste and pick up litter. Paula commented on what a warm welcome she received and paid tribute to our whole school’s inclusive approach…. And what’s more, our nine newly erected raised beds will help us to gain our next green flag in the near future.

Life’s a Beach at Rhunahaorine

Rhunahaorine Life's a Beach 2Children at Rhunahaorine have taken to the beach this term. With the help of funding from the GRAB trust we set up our Crocodile Camp where we learned how to make a campfire safely and cook damper bread and marshmallows. We learned how to tie knots which helped us to set up our seating area and make shelters.We learned about some of the creatures that live on the shore and played the limpet game to help us remember how they survive.

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