Enjoyment and choice as an element of curriculum design is alive and well at St Joseph’s, Helensburgh as P5 embraced their first interdisciplinary topic of the year – The Egyptians! Creativity was in abundance as the children designed their own hieroglyphics and Egyptian jewellery to name but a few of the excellent active learning opportunities offered to the children this term. As an open plan school, the excellent wall displays inspire other learners, so much so that P4 have chosen to study the same topic with different foci next term. Well done to Mrs Friel and Mrs McLean who have inspired and motivated the children of P5 by addressing their desire to learn particular aspects of this exciting topic. Continue reading Egyptians
Monthly Archives: October 2012
The Flower Garden at Rothesay Primary Pre-5
Rothesay Primary and Pre-5, along with parents, carers and friends, celebrated the ‘Grand Opening’ of our new outdoor area on Wednesday 3rd October. The area was planned, almost 2 years ago, by our present P2 when they were in the nursery and it has taken a lot of hard work and determination for it to develop into the challenging, exciting and beautiful space it is today. The children decided they wanted a workers area, a secret hide-out, a quiet place, a place to plant flowers and vegetables, a slide and a tunnel, a huge sandpit and lots of music… and a place to find creepy crawlies and to fly with butterflies. Continue reading The Flower Garden at Rothesay Primary Pre-5
Rothesay Primary Wins the Cup!
The pupils at Rothesay Primary were delighted to win the James McMillan Trophy at their local Horticultural Show. The pupils had entered their tomatoes along with growers from all over the island and were amazed to win the best exhibit in section 7! They also managed to scoop a first for their cooking apples, dessert apples, rhubarb and sweet peas. We’d love to share the secret of success that our Young Green Fingers achieved – but we think it was mostly down to luck!
Dare to Dance DVD in Demand!
Oban Primary Campus hosted their show ‘Dare to Dance’ in The Corran Halls, Oban on Thursday 14th June. Approximately 130 children and 25 members of staff across the campus participated in the sold out show. Everyone enthusiastically performed in front of an audience of 600 people. Children and staff worked hard for 8 weeks to learn and perfect their routines, the show offered everyone participating the opportunity to develop their confidence and team work skills through dance. This was a massive event for our school community and raised a lot of money for our school funds. The show was recorded and DVDs have just been released to the public, the running total of DVDs sold is currently at 180, which is phenomenal.
Rothesay Primary trip to Science Centre
Primary 7 enjoyed a fun-filled day at the Glasgow Science Centre on Tuesday. We loved the planetarium – especially when it went pitch black and you could see all the stars overhead. It was fun to see the phases of the moon projected on the big screen above us. We watched ‘Hubble 3D’ in the IMAX cinema and couldn’t believe the amazing images that this telescope could bring us. The stars were incredible and seeing the astronauts getting ready for their missions to mend the Hubble was very exciting. The Science Mall is full of interesting exhibits. We particularly enjoyed the thermal camera, the visual illusions, the electricity orb, the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ feature and the technology labs. Thank you to Mrs Blair for organising our trip and to the Science Centre for a great day out! We’re just delighted the ferries were on!
Pirate Day at Dunoon Primary
On Wednesday the 3rd of October Primary 2/3’s took part in a Pirate Day in their class and around the school. They enjoyed a wonderful Pirate feast laid on by the kitchen staff as did the entire school. Mrs Campbell’s walls are decked with pirate memorabillia as the children have carried out a variety of pirate activities throughout the day. They created their own pirate names, played pirate games, made pirate hats and have been working on pirate puzzles, all as part of their class interdisiplinary topic this session. Much fun was had by all! aaarg me hearties!! Continue reading Pirate Day at Dunoon Primary
Lifelong Learners!
The pupils of Clachan Primary School found out about people in the past during a recent visit to Inveraray Jail. We were shown around by one of the ‘prisoners’ from 200 years ago called Eliza. We were able to go into a cell and find out how comfortable sleeping in a hammock could be, how the prisoners did their laundry and how difficult it was to turn the crank wheel.
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and hope that Eliza is found not guilty and is able to return to her family!
Taynuilt Nursery MacMillan Fundraising Coffee Day
Our Myself & My Family end of topic celebration coincided with this years MacMillan Coffee Morning. There was a great variety of cakes, scones and biscuits baked by the children and their parents. Tea, coffee and juice were on offer and everyone enjoyed a fun morning and afternoon. It was well attended and we raised the fantastic sum of £107.
A big thank you to everyone who supported this great cause.
The Cottage Kindergarten wins UK Nursery of the Year award
The Cottage Kindergarten in Helensburgh has been named “Nursery of the Year” in a competition against other nursery schools from across the UK. The prestigious award is sponsored by Nursery World, a respected publication in the nursery and early years sector which is read by over 100,000 education and childcare professionals. The results were announced at a glittering black tie dinner in London on Friday night.
The Kindergarten, based in East Montrose Street, had previously been told it had been shortlisted for the award during the summer and that it was the only Scottish nursery school to make the final shortlist. Continue reading The Cottage Kindergarten wins UK Nursery of the Year award
Garelochhead Primary ‘Smoke Free Me’
Garelochhead Primary 7/6 really enjoyed our Health and Wellbeing lessons on Smoke Free Me and we would like to say a ‘HUGE THANK YOU’ to everyone who helped us to enjoy the Rainbow Productions Theatre School at Hermitage Academy. It was a BRILLIANT morning.
Tobermory High School – ACE trip
S1 pupils from Tobermory High School, accompanied by four of their teachers, recently visited Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stirling as part of their induction programme. This annual trip allows new S1 pupils to get to know each other as well as to visit places and attend workshops relating to the course work they cover in S1. On the trip pupils chose books for the school library in Oban, visited Summerlee wind farm, St. Mungo’s museum, Glasgow Science Centre, The National Museum of Scotland, The National Gallery, Our Dynamic Earth, Stirling Castle and The Scottish Parliament. Pupils were fortunate enough to meet Michael Russell, our MSP, and Jamie McGrigor for a question and answer session after a tour of the parliament buildings. Continue reading Tobermory High School – ACE trip
Dahlicious Roald Dahl Dress Up Day
Last Friday, the usual pupils of Lismore Primary School did not arrive at school, but a strangely dressed selection of characters did! Oompa Loompas, Mike TeeVee and Veruca Salt from Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, Mr Rabbit, Mr Fox and Ash all turned up ready for a Roald Dahl themed day as part of the countrywide Roald Dahl Dress Up Day.
Activities for the children included making consequence stories using Roald Dahl characters, inventing their own interesting characters and a variety of general knowledge and logic puzzles about Roald Dahl’s stories. The children are now keen to read more of the author’s stories. They also had a lot of fun as well as raising money for Roald Dahl’s Charity.
Macmillan Coffee Morning
On the 28th September pupils and staff from Innellan Primary welcomed everyone to their Coffee Morning in aid of Macmillan Nurses. We were very happy to welcome so many people!
Staff and parents had been busy making lots of lovely cakes to sell along with tea and coffee. We also had a toys and book stall selling items donated by the children that they no longer wanted. Everyone enjoyed the morning and many visitors brought cakes to take home with them. All in all we raised an amazing £302.70 for the Macmillan Nurses!! Thanks to everyone who supported our Coffee Morning.
Let’s Eat, Kilchrenan!
Kilchrenan Primary has been eating its way around the world. Using the book, “Let’s Eat”, pupils used the experiences and cultures of other children, to reflect on their diets, life styles and skills. They learned about the importance of breakfast, and the wide variety of foods used in celebrations. Each stop on the journey involved a session cooking, baking and, of course, eating.
The children prepared Condensed Milk Pudding from South Africa, Salsa from Mexico, Spicy Eggs from Thailand, chocolate cake with yoghurt from France and Jamie Oliver’s chocolate cookies. Continue reading Let’s Eat, Kilchrenan!
Young Ambassadors Attend Leadership Academy
On Sunday 16 September 2012, 13 pupils and 3 members of staff of Dunoon Grammar School went to Skye for a week, to take part in Columba 1400 (a leadership training centre). They participated in the Ambassador’s Leadership Programme which allowed the pupils to learn about their leadership skills. They also discovered their true potential, learned about teamwork and communication and how to use these skills to improve their lives and the school. It was the first time the school had participated in this helpful event, which allowed everyone to improve their confidence – children who would not normally be capable of speaking in front of a group became comfortable enough to do so by the end of the programme. Continue reading Young Ambassadors Attend Leadership Academy
Dunoon Grammar School pupil achieves Gold success at swimming contest
S3 pupil, Nathan Robinson recently won 5 Gold medals, and broke 3 Argyll and Bute records at a swimming competition held at Dunoon Riverside Swimming Pool. The events which he competed in were the 200 Individual Medley, the 200 Front Crawl, the 100 Butterfly (which he broke Argyll and Bute records for these events), the 100 Front and the 100 Back. He won all of these events.
Mr Reid, from the schools PE department commented:
“Nathan performed incredibly well. He won 5 medals and broke 3 Argyll and Bute records. He is a credit to Dunoon Grammar School. Well done Nathan.”
Macmillan Tea
A marvellous turnout of parents and friends for the Macmillan Tea afternoon at St Joseph’s resulted in the school raising a whopping £540 for the charity. This was particularly poignant for us all as we had recently lost a very close member of the school family to cancer. However, in true ‘St Joseph’s style’ the afternoon was so well supported by parents, staff and friends either by their attendance or by their very generous donations. Father Lennon, out local parish priest, gave us his usual excellent support by attending and it was a lovely time for parents and staff to catch up. The biggest frenzy was at the ‘children’s stall’ where excitement and joy were in abundance. A lovely day with a fantastic result for Macmillan Cancer Support! Continue reading Macmillan Tea
Building a Sukkah
The pupils of Clachan Primary School have been learning about the Jewish Festival of Sukkot.
We built a Sukkah in the school grounds using wood for the walls and branches for the roof. Once it was completed the pupils sat inside to enjoy home-made scones and juice.
Roald Dahl Day at Cardross
Cardross Primary was transformed into Crunchem Hall School, to celebrate Roald Dahl Day. Pupils and staff raised money for Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity, by dressing up and taking part in activities throughout the day. Our Headteacher doesn’t always look like this! Well….. Continue reading Roald Dahl Day at Cardross
SCOTA-LAND IN PORT ELLEN
On Wednesday morning Leigh from the Mull Theatre group came to a workshop for P6/7 on creating props for the theatre. The props will then be used for a performance on Islay of the groups latest play called Scota-land. We made a map of the Isle of Mickle for their play Scota-land and we also made artifacts that will go in the pretend museum. We made models of black houses, a beautiful crown from copper leaves, ancient runic writing, clay pots and a dinosaur model that all went on the island. The Island was made by everyone passing a crayon along and doing squiggly lines. Continue reading SCOTA-LAND IN PORT ELLEN
