Category Archives: Outdoor Learning

DGS pupil Shannon Brings Sunshine to Kirn Nursery

One of the four focuses (or capacities) of The Curriculum for Excellence is to encourage pupils to become effective contributors to their communities. What better way to do this than to volunteer some time to help out at a local nursery school. This is what Shannon Lyon, S5 pupil at Dunoon Grammar School and full time pupil in the learning centre, has been doing since August 2013.

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Sponsored cycle at Small Isles

In the Easter holidays almost all the children from Small Isles Primary on Jura took part in a sponsored cycle ride from Craighouse to Lagg. It’s a seven and a half mile cycle with some challenging hills, and everyone managed to do it, even our Primary One person. It took two hours for everyone to get there.

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Bunessan Easter Fun Run

Children in the P5,6,7 class of Bunessan Primary School have been busy raising money to restore the local war memorial which stands just outside the playground. They decided to take part in the local Easter Fun Run and raised money by collecting from spectators. The children have been quite overwhelmed by the support they have received for this project and are well on the way to eventually exceeding their target. Their hard work and dedication will ensure that the memorial survives into the next century.

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Zoolab visit Barcaldine PS

Barcaldine Primary School recently had a visit from an ‘Eco Investigator from Zoolab’.

Anthony from Zoolab descended upon us with a huge big box in tow to discuss with us our environment and what creatures and animals require from their environment to survive. The children got to touch, feel and handle the various animals but there were a few we didn’t dare touch!! Some of the animals had to stay inside their boxes but we did get a chance to see them when they appeared from their hiding place! Continue reading Zoolab visit Barcaldine PS

Dalmally Daffodil tea


The children from d Dalmally Primary School organised and held a ”Daffodil Tea” with all proceeds split between Marie Curie Cancer Care and MacMillan cancer Support.
We had a fantastic turn out and raised ÂŁ170 in only one hour!

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Dunoon Grammar School – Loch Fyne Oysters Visit

Two S3 Hospitality classes visited Loch Fyne Oysters and saw where the oysters and mussels were produced and packaged ready for sale locally and around the world. The classes then visited the Restaurant and Oyster Bar where they enjoyed a presentation and an opportunity to try different varieties of smoked salmon, bradan rost and oysters.

The photograph shows pupils being shown the machine that sorts the mussels out in relation to their size.

Barcaldine Tree Planting

Barcaldine Primary school children were invited along to Sutherland’s Grove on Tuesday afternoon to help plant Coastal Red Woods trees.

The weather was a bit wet to start but it soon dried up and the children along with Forestry Commission Scotland Craftsmen’s Peter MacArthur and Rory Maclean spent a couple of hours planting trees.

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Oban Schools Premiership Experience

On the 14/15th March, 43 pupils from 5 schools (Park, Rockfield, St Columba’s, Lochnell and Oban High) enjoyed a Premiership Experience football weekend in Newcastle and Sunderland. Over the weekend the boys and girls enjoyed a stadium tour of St James’ Park, a training session with Newcastle United coaches and watched Sunderland v Crystal Palace at the Stadium of Light. The pupils had a great time meeting and mixing with pupils from other schools. The photo was taken during the stadium tour.

Southend goes back in time

Pupils in the P5-7 class have been studying the Highland Clearances and Scottish Emigration through the novel, The Desperate Journey by Kathleen Fiddler. This inter-disciplinary project has brought together drama, art, music and literacy as well as learning about the lives of the Highland people 150 – 200 years ago. Model crofts were made of clay then thatched using dried grass and rashes from the fields.

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The Luss Powan Blog

The children of Luss Primary School in class P5-7 have gone blogging mad!

They decided that this year they would write a blog, in order to detail the development of their very special powan fish eggs. This means that the local and wider community can follow the various steps involved in caring for this endangered ice age fish. The children are delighted, as their blog has had views from as far afield as the USA and Australia.

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Mud, Glorious Mud!

Early Level children and staff at Rhunahaorine have embraced the wet weather this spring and created a marvellous mud kitchen.
Children have been making mud cakes, pies and ice cream… exploring volume, capacity, texture and much more in a multi sensory way.
When they have finished they have to do the washing up of course- outside!

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Together Again!

On Wednesday 5th of March Keills and Small Isles Primary travelled down to Port Charlotte School to do some team building challenges.

First we were put into teams and it was good because the groups had children from different schools. This meant we could make new friends. The first challenge we did was a dragon game. I liked it because you had to communicate with lots of different children. We had to try and catch the other teams’ dragon tails. It was great fun.

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Small Isles Primary nominated for Community Archives Award

In Spring 2012, Small Isles children became involved in the Crofting Connections Project. During the summer term they invited the community to be involved too by hosting four Crofting Community Cafes in school. Each cafe had a crofting theme (Crofting the land, Life as a child, Crofting Culture and Crofting at Home) and a panel of ‘experts’ from the community were invited to come and share their memories and experiences of the theme by answering questions from the children, leading discussions and having drinks and home-cooked treats.

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Scarecrow Making

Our pupils in Early Level have been getting ready for spring by making an extremely scary scarecrow. They had fun deciding what he should wear, bringing in a choice of old (and not so old) clothes, from home. Tasteful no, effective yes!
At the moment he is in the entrance, greeting visitors with his scary smile. Once the seeds have been planted he will be moved into the garden.
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Stramash Easter and Summer Youth Programme 2014

Stramash’s Youth Programme this year is one of the best yet, with loads of fantastic outdoor opportunities for young people aged 3-17, throughout the Easter and Summer holidays. All our courses allow children and young people to learn and develop, discover new places, build confidence, have fun, make new friends and be active outdoors! As well as our surf camp, yacht expedition and kayak residentials, we have lots of great additions including dinghy sailing courses, British Canoe Union courses, and lots, lots more! Continue reading Stramash Easter and Summer Youth Programme 2014

The Scottish Book Awards

Primary 1 – 3 pupils from Strone Primary School had a very exciting day out in Glasgow on Wednesday 5th March, attending the Scottish Children’s Book Awards at the Mitchell Library. All the pupils at Strone have been reading the shortlisted titles and voted online for their favourites. At the awards, pupils were able to get their own books signed by the authors and watched the ceremony as the winners were announced.
More literacy themed activities were enjoyed on Thursday 6th March when pupils took part in World Book Day and dressed up as their favourite book characters.

Oban High Supports Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday for Six Nations

Oban High School students journeyed to Murrayfield on Saturday 8 March for the Six Nations rugby match with Scotland v France. Although all were disappointed by the outcome, it was nonetheless an incredibly exciting match right up to the remaining two minutes of play.

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Traditional Toys from The Toy Shop!

Primary 1 at Cardross had an exciting afternoon testing traditional toys as part of their topic. Fiona from The Toy Shop in Helensburgh kindly gave up her afternoon to introduce the pupils to the toys. It was a wonderful afternoon and we are very grateful to Fiona for her input.

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