Author: Mrs Clark

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Leavers Assembly

We said an emotional farewell to our P7 pupils on Wednesday with our leavers and achievement assembly.  After a great musical introduction from Mr McDermid’s musicians, Rachel, Evie, Freddy, Brody, Ayla and Ella, we watched the P7 memory videos.  We had a lip dub in the middle and then the final song.

After it was the achievements:

  • Ayla and Thomas were sport champions
  • Evie won the Drew Brown Memorial trophy for maths
  • Hugh won the Endeavour Shield for his Hydraulics project
  • Rachel won the citizenship trophy

Good luck P7!

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SILVER AWARD WINNERS

On May 21st we had a virtual online visit from a UNICEF education advisor, Jenny Price and another teacher from the Borders. They had a busy morning, meeting lots of children, staff and parents online and talking about our Rights journey. She spent lots of time looking at our evidence and discussing with the rights steering group how Port Ellen Primary were rights aware. She said children were able to talk about their rights and were able to expand on their knowledge and understanding, talking about how they were safe in school and how they learned to be healthy.

We are proud to announce that we have been successful in achieving our Silver Award and are now Rights Aware. The award is granted by UNICEF UK to schools that show good progress towards embedding children’s rights in the school’s policy, practice and ethos. Our children and staff feel rightly proud.

Thanks to all who have supported this journey so far – we are now going to take the next steps towards being a Gold Rights Respecting School.

 

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Islay’s Chough; An endangered species

Mrs Clark’s P6/7 Class have been learning about Chough. The Topic, suggested and designed by Evie Wood with help from her Dad David Wood from the RSPB has seen the class learning all about one of Islay’s most endangered species – The Chough.

Chough are members of the Corvid family, along with Crows, Ravens and Jackdaws. There are less than 50 pairs in the whole of Scotland, occurring in only two places in the country, Islay and Colonsay. They are predicted to become extinct in less than 50 years.

An iconic species with their curved red beak and matching red legs – they are a culturally significant species on our rugged west coast landscape.

The children learnt that the Chough are at risk because of habitat change, lack of food, inbreeding, destocking and possibly climate change.

The class visited the RSPB Oa Reserve one afternoon in early June. There they met the Site Manager David Wood. The children were shocked to find out what the main features of a Chough diet are.

One of the main food stuffs they were surprised by, were dung beetles, which can be found in cow pats and other nutritious poo!

All the children were given gloves and a tray, they proceeded to go to David to get their trays filled with cow poo! They had to search through the poo to find as many dung beetles as they could. In one cow pat, there was over 20 beetles!

The children found 4 species of Dung Beetle: Geotrupes stercorosus, Aphodius rufipes, Aphodius pedellus, Teuchestes fosser. As well as Clown Beetles, Rove Beetles and all sorts of beetle larvae.

The children learnt that to help the Chough we should support nature friendly farming, provide them with nest sites, in old barns and caves, reduce the use of veterinary medicines in livestock, grace the right habitats and closely monitor the population.

The children were lucky enough to see Chough flying to and from their nest site through telescopes and binoculars during their visit.

David Wood travelled to Somerset to the Yeo Valley Farm to speak at a conference with leading experts from the Dung Beetle World – he will be sharing details of his work with Port Ellen Primary School for all to hear.

By Evie Wood

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Zero Waste Fashion Show P34

 

Recycled Couture at Port Ellen

P3/4 in Port Ellen Primary recently put on a fashion show to highlight the issue of clothes waste. They have been learning about where their clothes come from and what happens to them after they are outgrown.  The children were shocked to learn how much clothing goes to landfill each year and how some designer labels end up being burned. They watched an inspiring video about a New York design label called Zero Waste Daniel that reuses left over scraps from the fashion industry to make unique items. The children brought in lots of old clothes and they designed and made new items of clothing that they modelled brilliantly at the Green Ninja Fashion Show, to parents and members of the community who had helped out teaching sewing skills.

Niamh Dunn, P3, writes..

Have you ever thought about the clothes you throw away? Did you know that 300,000 tonnes goes to landfill every year! Some people just bin their clothes when one button falls off and don’t bother to repair them! That is horrible so we need to do something about it!

It is bad for the environment because it releases toxic gas and can get into the water and harm the wildlife and the world. It also uses lots of the world’s resources.

Everyone can try to stop wasting beautiful clothes. Everyone can help. You could recycle your old clothes or repair broken ones, don’t just bin them!

Finn Shakespeare, P3, writes..

Have you ever through about the clothes that go to landfill? The average person in the UK spends £980 every year on clothes but 7kg of clothes waste per year goes to landfill! That is crazy so we need to do something to stop this!

It is bad for the environment because it releases bad gas and uses lots of resources. Some clothes get burned or get buried. Is that all we can do! We can do better.

Don’t just bin your jumper if one button falls off. Repair it! Another thing you can so is recycle at the clothes bank.

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Signs of Spring in ELC

ELC have been looking for signs of spring.  They visited the Cherry blossom trees and they met a baby lamb.

🌸 Cherry Blossom Tree day today and what a day for it ☀️ the children had great fun explored the secret garden. We had snack under the blossoms, swung in the hammock and did some beautiful blossom tree art. Amazing Spring day 🌸

We had a lovely wee visitor in our garden today, Willows mummy and daddy brought a little lamb 🐑 in to see us, she was very cute and a big hit with all the boys and girls 🐑☺️ ⭐️I am learning about sheep and how to care for them 👣👣we would love to have a trip to a farm to see lots more animals

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P12 are Pirates for the Day

Well me hearties, what a day we did have!! Today we learnt to be pirates, we dressed the part, found buried messages in bottles, used maps, followed and created instructions and problems solved to find the hidden treasure! Well done boys and girls, we hope you had a super day! A special thank you to The Copper Still Coffee for being awesome and providing us with our treasure! All part of our explorers topic!

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Solar Punk Outdoors

P67 have been involved in an Education IDL pilot called Solar Punk this term. THE PROJECT-A challenge to design and brand your unique neighbourhood on an island that is based on the principles of the 15 minute neighbourhood rules and Solarpunk movement.

The children became passengers on a shipwrecked boat and had to work together to create Solar Punk Island, turning a section of the island into their own habitat based on ideas of sustainability.

They created designs for architecture, built renewable devices, learned to filter water, made gardens and spent a day practicing skills in the woods and the beach.  See the video:

 

 

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P67 TRIP TO STIRLING

27/02/24 Tuesday

It was a dreary Tuesday morning, and the air was full of adrenaline and anticipation as cars turned up one by one at the vast pier in Port Ellen. The sound of trundling suitcases and animated children speaking enthusiastically; soon after the trailers were loaded to the brim with luggage the ferry set off on its course, sailing smoothly towards Kennercraig.

After the trouble-fr

 

ee boat trip and the long bus ride we arrived at the majestic Stirling Castle to meet our tour guide. The regal Queen Ellie May Chandler (a P6 from Port Ellen Primary School) lead us around assisted by our guide. The magnificent ancient structures towered around us in the courtyard, the immense sandstone structures looking down at us like skyscrapers.

Soon after Stirling castle and a swift trip back to the hostel we went to Hollywood Bowling. We split into teams of six and claimed our lanes; many students knocked all the pins down, many even got strikes! Adversaries met in bowling battles and many new friendships and rivalries.

28/02/24 Wednesday

On Wednesday we set off on the long journey to Edinburgh. The schools were ecstatic and excited to get to the activities; the first thing we did was a snappy trip around the National Museum of Scotland. We walked through history, exploring the ancient timelines, identifying prehistoric noises, smells, and objects, and even seeing how much we weighed compared to various dinosaurs! But sadly, our journey came to an end, and we moved on to the next educational attraction.

We took a rapid bus ride to our next stop, the fascinating Dynamic Earth! The schools were eager as we adventured through time learning how the world was formed, first we got a brief explanation of how mountains were formed with shifting plates and so on. Then we hopped into a time machine to witness the big bang and the beginning of our universe and the making of our then young galaxy. Then we went and witnessed earth being formed and felt the vibration of our planet as vague landscapes were formed. After that we saw glaciers and snowstorms shaping the fantastic views we have today.

After that we went around Edinburgh Zoo to see adorable Red Pandas, Meercats on patrol and sun bears basking on their playpark. Then we went to Tony Macaroni in the lower floor of the cinema and then travelled upstairs to settle into the cinema to watch the marvellous movie, Wonka.

29/02/24 Thursday

Today we travelled to Stirling play park, a happy enjoyable experience, but then we took a brisk trip into the heart of Stirling, to Stirling prison where everyone was scared out of their skin by the incredible actor who impersonated the ancient historical figures who were instrumental in the history of Stirling prison. Later that day we travelled to Bannockburn the place a key battle was fought in the wars of independence we acted out the battle in the way the historical figures would have and learnt about the hard ship the knights had to go through.  Finally we visited the majestic Kelpies at night, a fitting end to a fabulous trip that will provide many happy memories.

Evie

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Trip to Stirling

At an early hour on Tuesday the 27th of February, we arrived at the Port Ellen pier ready for a long day of travelling…

After what felt like years travelling on the bus, we arrived at our first stop Stirling castle! The castle walls were reaching to the sky and were as old as time First, we went into the magical garden of the castle then we went up to the cannons (the majestic views stretched for miles)

Soon after we arrived at the comfort of the youth hostel, ate our dinner, but the excitement was not over yet we were going bowling! Some people were scoring strikes and spares but the others, let’s just say that they did not do so great.

The next day we took a trip to Edinburgh the first stop was the museum the best part of the museum was when we got to see all the animals some of them were extinct! After a long trek we arrived at dynamic earth. After we had gone back in time we went to the zoo where we saw mystical meerkats and amazing penguins. Then we went to Toni Macaroni where we had spectacular pizza and magnificent chicken. Then there was more excitement because we were going to watch Wonka!

On Thursday, the first thing we did was go to the Kings’ park where we had heaps of fun. Soon after we went to the prison of Stirling where we walked through the history of all the evil inmates that had stayed there. After that we went back to the warmth of the hostel to eat our lunch and soon, we were going to the battle of Bannockburn! After that we went to the hostel then we went to the Kelpies!

I loved the trip to Stirling and would definitely go again my favourite thing was going to the cinema.

Hugh

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World Book Day 23

This afternoon all the classes worked together in their houses to complete three World Book Day challenges; a scavenger hunt, costume design and healthy snack. We had a great afternoon together celebrating reading!

 

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Stickman Wood Adventure!

What an amazing adventure P1,2 had today with our new friends from Bowmore Primary! We had a day filled with stickman activities from raft building to mapping. We loved our packed lunches and were very excited to see what treats we had inside them. We made s’mores and played on the swings. Only a few of us fell asleep on the bus home until we saw a helicopter carrying an electricity pole! Well done team, you were fabulous!

 

 

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Robotics with St Andrews University

 

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Seachdain na Gàidhlig

A’ comharrachadh na Gàidhlig air feadh an t-saoghail / World Gaelic Week – Celebrating Scottish Gaelic across the globe. 20-26 An Gearran // February 2023

We had lots going on in Port Ellen for Gaelic week.  P12 made pancakes using Gaelic words, P567 made Gaelic healthy tuck for the whole school, P3 designed Gaelic T-shirts and as you can see, P4 made Gaelic weather forecasts! Sgoinneil a h-uile duine!

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Ardentinny

As we came around the final bend a blue sign came into sight, a sign that said Ardentinny. We drove up the drive and I saw a building, a building that looked like a dank grey box. This was Ardentinny.  We were coming here for a residential trip will all the P6/7’s from Islay and Jura on the 14th of February. Ardentinny is an outdoor education center that has activities like kayaking, archery and abseiling.

When we arrived, we went up to our dorm and unpacked a few things and went to dinner. After that we went on a night walk through the forest. I stepped into the jet-black forest. It seemed like my light got dimmer as we trekked into the forest, adrenalin keeping me going. I clung onto the rope for dear life and then we were told to switch our lights off, and we were plunged into blackness. When we were allowed to switch them back on, we quickly walked back. The next activity we did was a team challenge which was an obstacle course. In the afternoon, we did rock hop, which involves jumping from rock to rock and climbing.

The next day we did the climbing activity. Everyone was in a rush to the first activity. For climbing we climbed up three different slopes easy medium and hard in partners. Next, we abseiled where you must climb down a slope.  It was all so much fun!

Evie

 

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Trip to Ardentinny

The bus pulled up to an old dejected looking building. A building that somehow looked like a 1990’s prison. One at a time, we all made our way off the almost luxurious bus we had been sitting in for the last 2 hours. Lazily we all dragged our vast luggage towards the open door leading to the building. All P6/7 from Islay and Jura were very excited to be there.

After an introduction we briskly made our way up to the dormitories where we were supposed to get our room numbers. Without thinking, everyone ran towards their room. Everyone quickly unpacked and was down at the boot-room within 30 minutes. I headed outside and down the hill to the boot-room. We tried on our wellies and fitted them. Everyone got waterproofs for outside activities.

After the boot-room we walked up the hill, through the door and to dinner. About 15 minutes into dinner, a boy in group 6 ( Everyone was selected into groups 1-6 I was in group 1.) dramatically tipped the table and ran out the room. Everyone was talking about it for the rest of the night but it eased off as dinner continued. We all got about 20 minutes after dinner to unpack a bit and get changed, and then we went on a night walk. After that, we came back and had supper, and went to sleep.

In the morning everyone was complaining about the rooms but were still excited for all of the activities. We all sat and ate breakfast in our groups. I had 9 people in my group. That included: me, Evie, Maria, Catherin, John, Ruddy, Johnny, Jacob and Thomas. Our group leader was Catriona. We started off the day by meeting our group leaders and doing a team challenge, an obstacle course and an “Laser escape room” which actually wasn’t a laser escape room. Just some old rope attached to a tree to make a pathway to go through. I made it through on my second try, the main objective was to make your way through the rope/laser escape room without touching the rope. Everyone in my group thoroughly enjoyed it. But, I think everyone also enjoyed the obstacle course. It was a wonderful experience. After lunch we went rock hopping, rock hopping was probably one of my favourite activities out of everything we did. It was an activity that involved a bit of rock climbing, but with rock climbing you usually climb up the rock; with rock hoping you climb across. Rock hopping is an adventurous activity that consists of squeezing into tight spaces above ground. We took the Ardentinny bus to a beach nearby and walked up the path till we were at the place where we were to start rock hopping. We clambered across rocks and made our way towards the end, at one point we actually met team 3. Eventually, we made it to the final rock. We walked all the way back to the centre and packed up all our stuff and lay it down to dry. We all went upstairs to change if we got wet and then went down for dinner.

In the dinner hall we were given macaroni and cheese. There were also some side dishes that you could take instead, most people were fine with the macaroni and cheese but I took chips, garlic bread and pasta. After dinner we went downstairs to the boot-room to get ready for search and rescue, that was our night activity. We all did extremely well. Everyone was tired after a long day, we all fell asleep quickly.  It was so much fun!

Iona

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Sunny Beach Morning in ELC

This morning after going on our number walk with primary 1,2 we headed down to our secret beach for some morning snack and play in the sunshine ☀️ we had amazing fun exploring the caves, climbing the rocks, getting stuck in the sand and investigating all the different shells and creatures. ⭐️

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Weather in P4

This morning, we put out our rain gauges and answered our question from yesterday’s learning – why do we need to measure rainfall? We found out you need to measure rainfall to find out if the climate is changing and when to plant things.  We then began to look at air pressure and cloud formation.

 

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STEM in P1,2

P1,2 had a great morning doing all things STEM in class, lots of investigation and science fun!

 

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Kappla Towers with our Buddies

⭐️ We had great fun today with the Kapla blocks, the big boys and girls from Primary 3 let us borrow their huge box of blocks and even came down to show us how to build the biggest tower with them! ⭐️

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Harry Potter Escape Room

Primary 3 and 4 from Port Ellen met with Primary 4 and 5 in Bowmore to do a Harry potter Maths themed escape room.  There was lots of problem solving to do, including sorting the potions and spells.  It was great to meet with our friends in Bowmore to do some maths.

 

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Valentines day in ELCC

Some of us made cards on Valentines Day for people we love ❤️ We all love our families and they love us, we are going to be talking more about our families and who we live with ☺️ UNCRC article 9 – I have the right to live with a family who care for me. 🌟I can talk about who I love and care for. 🦶We will be talking about our families, and who we live with ☺️

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The Nativity

P12 have been busy getting ready for their nativity.  They have been busy learning the Christmas Story alongside practising our Nativity this week. We worked as a team to create a Nativity scene in the classroom.

Today we put on our Fireside nativity for all the parents to see.  The hall was packed and we even had the ELC join us as sheep.  We were very proud of what we achieved.  Thanks to everyone who helped!

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Christmas Cupcake Challenge

Last week P567 made Christmas Cupcakes for a competition in school.  There were 4 groups and they had to design a cupcake for each group.  They then had to make and bake the cupcakes and then they needed to ice the finished cakes.

One group made 24 mint swirl cupcakes, one made 24 chocolate orange unicorn cupcakes, one made 24 penguin Oreo cupcakes and the last made Christmas Tree candy floss cupcakes.

We had to measure the correct amounts using our maths skills and we also had to calculate how much profit we would make if we sold them.  We then got to take them home for our parents.  It was really fun.

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Christmas Fun in ELCC

We love painting and enjoyed painting a branch outside in the garden this morning, we want to make an outside Christmas tree 🎄. We had lots of discussion about ice and how cold it was in the nursery garden. We decided to make our own ice and added some bits of nature from the garden. Our freezer in the nursery was to small so we went and asked Mrs Holyoke if we could use her freezer!

We also went on a hunt round the village to find the Christmas numbers to 6! Fred knew that number 3 was at the Ramsey and Nola knew that number 5 was at Campbells 🎄 ⭐️ we are learning to notice numbers in our environments and all around us. 👣 We have loved looking at all the house numbers and in the windows, we hope everyone doesn’t mind.

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ELC Christmas Grotto

The boys and girls had so much fun this morning turning our home corner into Santa’s grotto 🎅 they used lots and lots of tinsel to decorate the tree ☺️🌲 over the next couple of weeks we will add all our Christmas crafts we make to it and also use it to write our letters to Santa 🎅 👣👣To turn it into a post office to send our letters to Santa

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