Tag Archives: Sandbank

ANY EXCUSE TO DRESS UP!

sandbank-any-excuse-to-dress-up-1Sandbank Primary became a place of confusion on Monday 31st Oct.!
With staff and students enjoying a day in costume, no one was quite sure who was really who! We think everything has returned to normal now; vampires vanished, batman returned to the bat cave and the undead laid to rest. Staff have managed to remove most of their glitter and makeup!

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Sandbank Stops, Thinks, Remembers.

sandbank-ps-remembrance-2016Primary 6/7 (Eng. lang. classes) show their Remembrance Day work to the school at Sandbank Primary’s Assembly. Their display highlighted the Scots who have won Victoria Crosses, and after being used in the service was put on display in both Kirn and Sandbank Parish Churches on Remembrance Sunday.
Six of the school’s House Captains (on left) represented the school, along with the head teacher, at the parade and act of remembrance at the war memorial at Lorenzo Point on the Sunday, laying a wreath from the school.

SANDBANK PUPILS HELP TO ‘SEND MY FRIEND TO SCHOOL’

Sandbank send a friend 2The pupils of Sandbank Primary School and the Early Learning and Childcare Unit are very aware of how lucky they are to have access to a safe and stable school environment where they can learn and have fun together with their friends. They, along with their teachers, know that this is unfortunately not the case for all children around the world and the school regularly has participated in the “Send My Friend to School Project”

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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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Gaelic Transition through Local History

Ms Howitt from Dunoon Grammar School initiated a transitional topic for the Gaelic medium pupils of Sandbank Primary School where they could gradually get to know the staff, subjects and building during their last couple of years at Primary. The pupils were already working upon an enquiry based local history project which allowed many opportunities for interdisciplinary work, some of which were suitable for the Grammar staff to lead.

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Auchindrain / Achadh an Droigheann

On the last week of term, June 2014, the pupils of Sandbank Gaelic Medium Unit visited Auchindrain as part of their local history project and Crofting Connections work. They had brainstormed a set of questions that they wanted to ask the curator, Mr Bob Clarke, which would help us to understand the forces of change in the lives of local people through the last couple of centuries. Mr Clarke took us on a tour of the houses, telling us about some of the inhabitants and their way of life. We learned so much that we would not be able to write it all down in one report!
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Whole School Orienteering at Sandbank Primary!

A whole school orienteering event took place at Sandbank Primary School on the last Thursday of the June term 2014. The pupils of Gaelic medium P6/7 had walked up to the Heritage trail the previous week, chosen a safe but challenging area for a star-orienteering exercise, drew the maps and planned the course. Back at school they prepared the materials (bilingually (Gaelic & English) and laminated the maps ready for the big day. Miss Wombwell split the rest of the school into mixed ability teams.
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GUARD at Tigh Caol

Sandbank Gaelic Medium P6/7 class were fortunate enough to be invited to participate in an archaeological dig at Tigh Caol near Glendaruel along with many other schools in the area. The dig was performed by GUARD (Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division) with support from the local community (Forestry Enterprise and Strachur and District Local History Society). Kilmodan and Sandbank both attended on the same day and the pupils were given the opportunity to metal detect, trowel and bag finds, draw the plans of the site and sieve the spoil heap.
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Allt na Blàthaich

During May – June 2014 the pupils of Sandbank Gaelic Medium Unit P6/7 began to explore and record some old ruins amongst the trees at Ard na Blàthaich on the side of Loch Eck. First of all we mapped the area, photographed the ruins, and measured the walls using tape measures and measuring wheel. We also used a compass to give us the direction that the walls were running in and used some GPS machines that we’d borrowed from Clyde Muirshiel Countryside Ranger service. These gave us a grid reference number that we can now plot on a map.

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Owl Magic

On Wednesday the 7th May Sandbank Primary School, Nursery, Gaelic Medium Unit and Sgoil Araich were visited by Owl Magic from Kilmarnock. Nine different owls from all over the world spent the day with us, as each class learned about birds of prey and how to handle them carefully and safely. The owls ranged from a large eagle owl from Afghanistan called Bailey down to a pygmy owl called Titch.

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Sandbank’s Great Exhibition

Gaelic unit P6/7 from Sandbank Primary (Bunsgoil Thaigh a’Chladaich) were learning about the history of the Holy Loch area over the past two hundred years. The work was organised by Fiona Lochhead from Kilmun Mausoleum who arranged for a weaver called Fiona MacDougall and a heritage worker called Robin Patel to come in and work with us.
We got a lot of information from the gravestones at Kilmun, including occupations, infant mortality and the gristly work of resurrectionists. Continue reading Sandbank’s Great Exhibition

Fruitshare at Sandbank

After the Christmas holidays, Sandbank Primary Pupils got back to work and planted their fruit trees which arrived in January. The eco-committee had applied for the trees through the fruitshare scheme which was advertised on a cookery programme on TV. We were very fortunate in being one of the first schools to apply and we were successful in receiving 4 well-grown fruit trees for free.

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Sandbank Primary’s Eco-Committee

Sandbank Primary’s Eco-Committee requested a visit to their local waste handling facilities and were kindly given a tour of both facilities by Shanks Waste Disposal Company. They began by looking at the recycling facilities at Bogleha, where they saw the containers for electrical goods, metal, wood, paint, batteries, plastic bottles, soil and many more items. They heard that many items, such as electrical goods, go to Perth where they are broken down and precious metals from circuit boards are taken out.

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Christmas Carpentry at Sandbank Primary School

Primary 3 (Mainstream and Gaelic) and GM 6/7 from Sandbank Primary School are using their woodwork skills to transform a square of wood into a star with the minimum of wasted material. GM 6/7 have proved themselves to be responsible and trustworthy therefore they are making their stars as an independent mini-topic whenever they have a spare moment of the day. The younger pupils get their instruction during their Friday afternoon activity lessons.

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Sandbank Primary School – Act of Remembrance

On Monday the 11th of November 2013 Sandbank Primary School’s senior pupils in mainstream and Gaelic held an Armistice Service attended by the junior pupils, pre-five unit and staff. The older children had all walked down to the War Memorial at Lazaretto Point the previous week and researched the history behind it. They discovered plaques from both the 1st and 2nd World Wars detailing the names and roles of local men who lost their lives in conflict.

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High Tea for Grannies

P1/2 of Sandbank Primary concluded their Katie Morag topic by hosting a High Tea for their Grannies. The guests all dressed for the occasion wearing some wonderful fancy hats.
As Grannies, and some Grandpas, tucked into a variety of cakes baked and decorated by the pupils, they listened to the children singing some traditional Scottish songs including ‘You Cannae Shove Your Grannie off a Bus’.

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Dunoon Primary School Rugby Winners

The Primary 6’s in Dunoon, Sandbank, Kirn and St Mun’s schools have been enjoying a six week block of coaching to develop their skills in Non Contact Rugby. Our phenomenal coach was Brendan from Inverclyde. Each Tuesday, the schools enjoyed a 45 minute session where we learned the skills and rules required to play a match. To celebrate the end of our fantastic training sessions with Brendan McGroaty, Lindsay Mitchell of Active Schools organised a Rugby Festival at Dunoon Grammar School on Monday 10th June.
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