‘The Primary 7 and pre-5 pupils at Strath of Appin school have been busy foraging berries along the local cycle track, learning about what berries you can eat and those that can be used to make jellies. Their efforts resulted in a sale of jellies that were made from the fruits picked. There were a variety of jellies such as rowan, hedgerow and bramble. £43.28 was raised and has been placed in school funds for future use. This project has developed from a pilot scheme where the P7’s meet with the pre 5 children every week, encouraging learning, developing good friendships, mentoring and building confidence all round.’
Category Archives: Outdoor Learning
The Green Man at North Bute
Primary 4/5 have been busy working on a science topic of plants. As part of that topic, we went on Thinking Walks, copying the idea from Charles Darwin. He went on these walks regularly to think about his discoveries. We did this too and collected specimens and pressed them to study them more. On one of our walks, we collected leaves that had fallen from the trees and that were beautiful autumn colours.
Continue reading The Green Man at North Bute
Dalintober PS Make ‘Guy’ for Community Bonfire.
Primary 6 pupils were very busy in the lead up to Guy Fawkes night when they were asked to make the Guy Fawkes effigy for the annual community bonfire and fireworks display which is organised by the Dalintober and Milknowe Tenants Association. The children took ‘Guy’ on a tour of the school before he was collected by members of the fire brigade and taken to be placed on top of the bonfire before the event on Tuesday 5th November.
Dalintober PS make ‘Penny Jars’ for local fundraisers
Primary 2 and Primary 5 pupils from Dalintober PS have been busy making ‘Penny Jars’ to be placed in local shops to support two important fundraising ventures in Campbeltown. The pupils created the jars, in conjunction with ‘Explore Campbeltown’ to encourage shoppers to give their loose change to funds being raised for Campbeltown Christmas Lights Group and CGS4Gambia.
Zumba Dancing at DPS!!
Dunoon Primary held a sponsored Zumbathon in the lunch hall of their school. All pupils thoroughly enjoyed it! The music and the atmosphere in the hall was very energetic and Dunoon Primary cant wait for another shot at this super experience. The staff of the Queens Hall led the way and pupils from P1-P7 were smiling all the way back to their classes. The staff are raring to go with their own Zumba Class! The pupils even had a wee class of their own in the playground after it at lunch time.
Nature of Scotland Awards 2013
On Wednesday 30th October representatives from SNAPBERRY, the photography collaboration between Lochgilphead High School and SNH, attended a black tie function in Edinburgh for the RSPB Nature of Scotland awards.
The group had been nominated and shortlisted in the largest category, the Community Initiative award, and faced fierce competition from projects across Scotland. We were absolutely thrilled to be runners-up and recieve a Highly Commended award which will have pride of place in the school trophy cabinet.
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Beautiful Butterflies
Primary four pupils at Colgrain Primary school have had the opportunity to care for and release Painted Lady Butterflies. On the 12th September the tiny caterpillars arrived through the post in a tub full of food. After 2 weeks the caterpillars had formed their chrysalides and were then ready to be transferred into a butterfly garden. On the 30th September an amazing thing happened – the butterflies began to emerge from their chrysalides! Primary four pupils were extremely lucky to see this super transformation. After a few days of admiring the beautiful butterflies and feeding them with homemade nectar and fruits, primary four pupils were very proud to set them free in the school Eco Garden. What an amazing experience and a great addition to our Living Things topic.
John Logie Baird Primary Red, White and Blue Day
John Logie Baird Primary recently held a ‘Red, White & Blue Day’
The ‘Red, White and Blue Day’ is a campaign that goes towards supporting military benevolent societies, for those in need whose families are serving in our country.
Children made a donation and wore red, white and blue clothing instead of school uniform Continue reading John Logie Baird Primary Red, White and Blue Day
Park Primary Apple Day
Park Primary School celebrated their second Apple Day since the creation of the school orchard which was funded by Grounds for Learning and Heritage Lottery Fund.
Both pupils and staff showed great imagination dressing up for the theme of the day ‘British Grown Fruit and Vegetables’. And what a variety it was: blueberries, broccoli, apples, tomatoes, strawberries, potatoes, carrots and even a runner bean (school janitor) that did laps around the hall and put smiles on everyone’s faces. Continue reading Park Primary Apple Day
Outdoor learning at its simplest!
We often reflect on how fortunate we are in Argyll to have a rich outdoor environment on our doorstep. At Dalmally Primary this is literally true- yesterday 28 pupils from P3-7 took their bikes for an adventure in the forest. We cycled from school through the forest, stopping for lunch on the way finally making the summit of the Duncan Ban MacIntyre (Gaelic poet) monument. At the top we managed to find a geo cache and as you will see the children had great fun jumping from a rock down the hill!
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Achaleven Adventures
We had heard that an amazing plane was coming to visit Connel Airport. As it was just along the road, we decided to go for a visit. Not only did we get a visit inside the Catalina, we also learned some fantastic facts from members of the crew. We were also very surprised to see vintage cars parked around the plane. We had so many questions about the plane and the cars that we decided to tackle a topic on Transport – Then and Now.
Port Ellen Pre Five, Our trip to the finlaggan
This term at Port Ellen Pre Five Unit Christopher, Caillin, William, Connor, Katyn, Robyn, Phoenix and Dylan have been reading the fantastic Katie Morag books by Mairi Hederwick. They say;
We love the books and have decided to learn about floating and sinking, ferry boats and we’ve been comparing our lives on Islay to Katie Morag’s on Struay. We have even made our own ferries with help from Caillin’s dad Donald.
Continue reading Port Ellen Pre Five, Our trip to the finlaggan
Cardross Primary Football Winners
Cardross Primary came out on top at the recent HALCO schools Ardencaple Cup Football Tournament. The Tournament was played over two consecutive Friday nights with boys and girls from all of the HALCO school able to participate. It was a great event run by Ardencaple in association with Active Schools.
Islay and Jura Schools Stramash
The P6/7 children from Islay and Jura had a fantastic four days from 24th – 27th September with the Stramash Team, in and around Oban. A brilliant range of activities including coasteering, archery, dinghy sailing and climbing, challenged everyone (including the staff!). The Stramash staff supported us all to do our best, and the team at the Oban YHA looked after us brilliantly. New friendships were made and others rekindled after the Stirling Trip in May. We’re looking forward to lots of shared learning over the rest of this session.
PRIMARY 7 VISIT ARDMAY OUTDOOR CENTRE
Our Primary 7 pupils visited Ardmay Outdoor Centre for a three-day residential course from 24th – 27th September. They had a great time, discovering new talents, making new friends and bulding on existing friendships. During their stay they undertook their Dynamic Youth Award.
Litter Pick – Lochgilphead Primary Pre-5 Unit
The children at Lochgilphead Primary Pre-5 Unit are currently working towards raising funds to purchase iPads for the nursery and to boost their funds they recently took part in a litter pick along the path towards Kilmory Castle. They very quickly became expert users of the litter pickers and were shocked when they managed to collect three large bags of litter from along the path!
Rockfield P2 visit Oban Fire Station
As part of our “People Who Help Us” topic, the P2 classes visited Oban Fire Station this week. The children were split into two groups, one had a presentation about the role of the Fire Service and how to keep themselves safe in their homes. The other group got to look around the fire engine, climb inside and play with some of the buttons. The children also tried on the fire officer’s uniforms and each had a turn of using the hose, aiming for a traffic cone.
Sunshine Nurture Group High Tea
The Sunshine Room Nurture Group at Parklands School, Helensburgh, have been learning all about Katie Morag and her adventures on the Isle of Struay. They have been taking part in lots of activities including creating drama freeze frames of parts of the story, baking yummy shortbread, inventing musical sounds of the sea with a variety of musical instruments and learning a traditional Scottish dance. To celebrate the pupils’ achievements, Grannies and Granddads were invited to The Sunshine Room for a special Scottish High Tea, everyone said they enjoyed their lovely morning at Parklands.
The British Ecological Society Centenary Awards : Success for Kirn School
Three former pupils of Kirn Primary School travelled down to Birmingham with their former teacher, and some friends and family members to attend the Centenary Awards Ceremony of The British Ecological Society at The Think Tank Science Museum on Thursday, 26th September.
Continue reading The British Ecological Society Centenary Awards : Success for Kirn School
Barcaldine Plum Jam
Our plum tree had its very first harvest this year. There was loads and we were unsure what to do with our plums! It was decided that we would try to make plum jam for an event that we planned to participate in. Unfortunately the event was cancelled due to the weather conditions but that didn’t matter because our jam was a resounding success – much to the astonishment of staff!! The children all helped by picking, cleaning, cutting and cooking the plums and one Friday morning we had the pleasure of tasting our successful jam. Toast all round for playtime snack – yum yum!!!
