Primary School of the Year 2022
We spent the afternoon cleaning the Co-op beach as part of our Eco citizenship groups plan leaning this term. The children worked as a team to gather all the rubbish and make our beach a safer and cleaner environment for all.
🌎 SDG 6- Access to Clean Water 14- Life Below Water
✨ UNCRC 24 Good health and clean water
P12 from across the island had a literacy filled trip to Bridgend Woods. What an adventure they had! We loved our trip on the big bus, even if it was a little cosy, meeting all our new friends from across the island and having our yummy packed lunches too! Our focus today was ‘Room on the Broom’ and we began by listening to the story in English and Gaelic. We had a witches cauldron to make s’mores, we had to help find all the characters in the story using a map, scavenge for things in a hunt and even made magic wands too!
Thank you to everyone who came along to our big breakfast 
this morning, we hope you all enjoyed it. We raised £300, £100 will be donated to the STV appeal and the additional £200 will keep our school breakfast club going!
We are the rights and nurture group and we are working on supporting the children in the school to meet their right to good health (24). We have decided to make a friendship bench and a happy boxes and then put them around the school.
People are voting for different types of bench designs: flower, Dinosaur, fish, boats, rainbow.
People had paper and there where righting out different ideas we were in groups of three. We also had to write ideas for where to put the boxes around the school or the playground.
We are the Bee Readers group. Today we recorded for the Islay podcast to say about what our favourite book is and why. Also we wrote a letter to Laphroaig and Mrs Mcgilvery to ask if it is OK to set reading rocks so when tourist or locals come over there will be a QR code for them to scan. So they can listen to our stories and our amazing podcasts!.
Today we had a eco group meeting to start working on our action plan. Our plan today was to save water because one of our rights(24) is the right to clean water. Water uses a lot of energy to be made safe to drink so we should not waste it. I learned that hoses use lots of water so when washing a car we should use a bucket of water and a sponge. We learned to reuse the water in our school water bottles rather than throwing it away.
Next time we will be planting fruit and vegetables so we can grow them in school instead of buying them. Here are some potatoes we grew in our garden this year and we had them for lunch!
By Finlay.
On 2nd of September 2024 the Scottish water came to our school and two of them were dressed as a tap and a toilet! They were talking about how they were doing a bunch of roadworks in Port Ellen because the pipes were getting old and rusty which would have meant we would have gotten rusty and dirty water.
Some pipes were bursting around Islay and Jura. They showed us the new plastic pipes that they were putting in. They told us the 3 Ps to put in the toilet; pee, poop, paper!
They came in to show us what they have been doing around our village. They set us a mission called H2O and it basically is we got a card, so we must fill it in and at the end of the week we show our class what we have done to save our water.
They told us about the water cycle and in the summer whem its really hot we start running out of water so that’s why we need to save as much water as we can.
At the end we got to stay and try on the uniform, tap and toilet outfit so we could take pictures. Altogether, it was really fun and the whole school had a blast! So, save your water everyone because it is not unlimited.
On Thursday 29th August we went to Islay High School for a STEM day. There was workshops about different stuff. The opening speech was a lady from a stem company encouraging STEM for young people. The next speech was a worker from the SSE that was talking about the SSE. Then there was an SSE graduate that moved from the Philippines talk about his time in the SSE. The first workshop we went to was a coding workshop. The little bright lights on the bots were glistening like a stars in the middle of space. The main thing about this workshop: Coding spheros. We got to make spheros weave in and out of cones and do challenges with it. The next station was outside in a polytunnel. It was about bees and other animals. We got to make paper Mache balls. During lunch we asked to get raffle tickets. and the final workshop was about birds. We went to see birds outside with binoculars. We didn’t see much birds. nor variety. But we had a great time!
On Friday the 22nd of August we visited Bowmore high school and met Saint Phoenix. Saint Phoenix was a band of two men who sang the song happy place. All of Primary 5 and upwards from Port Ellen, Port Charlotte and Bowmore primary came with us. P56s went on the Mundell bus while P 7s went on the mini bus that we use for the school bus. They showed us how to practice our vocals and it goes like “mmm” they also showed us some exercises they do like wiggles and wobbles! Their icon was a blue feather and they told us a story about why they choose a blue feather as there logo. The story was, he was scrolling through TikTok at night because he couldn’t get to sleep but he found this video about a blue feather and he watched it and it was quite interesting and it made him fall asleep. as he woke up to go to work he told his wife about the video his wife didn’t really believe it but when he went out the front door, she shouted stop to him so looked around and when he looked down he saw a blue feather and that’s how it started! After that they played us their song happy place. It was really helpful.
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.
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!
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:
On lunch break we run clubs! The different clubs are drawing, dodgeball, playground games, reading. The captains of the one house run them and everyone in there house is allowed to come. Every day it is a different house so that everybody gets to go to clubs. It is super fun because everyone gets to play with each other. We enjoy the chance to run our own clubs and this links to the right to play Article 31.
On the 14th of September we went on a school trip. We went on The Banana Bus and headed to Kennacraig. As we were waiting for the ferry, we all got out of the car and had a bit of HIIT. With a cool breeze on our faces, we done squats and lunges, which was great fun. When we were on the ferry it was so beautiful, there were dark blue wavy waters, with fish all around. With a bump, we arrived at the pier. It was so fun driving with all the big bumps of the road and the massive stag everywhere.
When we arrived at the town, the sun was shining like a fireball in the sky trying to set us on fire. When we arrived at Small Isles Primary School, they showed us where to put our stuff and where the classroom was. When we got in, we got to choose where to sit, and they were so kind they even gave up their seats for us to sit in. Not a big class, but they were all so kind. We decided to play a game… It was where you had to walk around the class and when the music stopped you had to turn around and the person beside you must tell you their name and then three facts about themselves (and vice versa). After we done that, we got into our groups that were on the board. The people in my group from the different school were: Grace and Shein. They were kind and had a lot in common with me. Shein was the same age as me and Grace was a year younger than me. We made a hilarious team name; can you guess what it was… THE GREESY BESTIES! Thirdly, we done a team quiz all about climate change and children’s rights. After that, we done a thing where we had to produce ideas to become eco-friendly. Each group produced two ideas to write to the government or Jenni Minto. We all had great ideas. Then for the main event… drum roll please! THE BEACH. We all went for a lovely walk to the beautiful beach. We all sat down and then we heard the teacher shout “The Greesy Besties please come and line up for ice cream,” a smile showed up on our whole team’s faces. We all got our ice cream and went to sit on the beach side.
We arrived at Jura at about 10:30. It was a fun journey, and we enjoyed it.
The school was in the middle of Jura, which was a beautiful place.
Overall, we all had a blast and would absolutely love to go back to the Isle of Jura.
Rachel Heads
On the last day of term Port Ellen primary school did Dance a Thon to raise money for making Blytheswood shoe boxes for children in Romania. Children in the school danced to different songs in the hall and in each class the best dancer got a prizes. Everyone has enjoyed the Danceathon and it has raised a lot of money, helping children meet the right to health care article 24.
On Thursday 14th September we all went on a trip to Jura primary school to share our Rights Respecting Schools work with each other. Small Isles Primary already has their silver award and we wanted to learn more. We went with Mrs. Mackenzie, Mrs. Clark and Miss Clark. When we got there we learned about the Outright campaign on climate change and we worked in groups to come up with a problem we want our local councillors and MSP to solve. We will work together to write to them about it to see if we can make a change. We got to go out and play at break in Small Isles playground and then we went to the beach for lunch and ice cream. We had a great day out and enjoyed making friends with children from Jura.
Rights are very important to children up to 18 all around the world. We have been working on them to help us understand the value of it all. We have learnt that our opinion should be heard, no matter what age you are, All children up to 18 should have their rights and know them but some children in wars don’t get their rights, like education, Safety, health, and to be heard. If you think that you are not getting your rights tell someone you trust. In Port Ellen school we have made a playground charter of rights so children can respect other children no matter what they look like or what country they are from.
This term we have been working with the new primary ones and twos. We have been reading them stories and they have been loving it, playing with them with the parachute and more. We all had a good time. On Friday we had a teddy bear picnic with them. We also had banana muffins when we were outside. We built houses boats and more for our and our buddies teddies. we looked after the new primary ones at their first day. After we had the muffins we did a teddy bear race, it was fun!
On Wednesday the 28th of June we took part in the Commonwealth fly fishing parade to the NO1 gardens from the school. The nursery wore yellow tops, p1,2s wore red tops ,p3 green top, the p4 wore light blue tops and we also wore purple tops. Evie designed the tops with the fish on them the design was a fish on Islay with a fishing rod going around it. We got free burgers and drinks and even pin badges and we asked all the countries for their badges to collect them. The countries what took part were Australia, England, South Africa, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Lots of people where there Heathers ices was there you got to go on the bouncy house Thomas and Marcus mum was selling stuff like bracelets key rings, bottle openers. The highland dancers were dancing outside on front of every fly fishing team was watching. We done it because we were supporting all the countries.
On June 12th 2023 Port Ellen primary school had a sports day for everyone from nursery to P7. We all had different races like the flat race, sack race and obstacle course. At the end of the sports day we had an inter house relay for the p5,6 7s. For the relay the captains chose 4 of the fastest runners form their house in primary 5,6 or 7 and then pick an order. After the relay they announced the winners for the sports championships the winner for boys was Finlay in second Hugh and in third Dylan the first for girls was Chloe in second Iona and in third Evie. The overall winning house by points for the whole of sports day was Nave. For winning sport day Nave you get a plaque/trophy.
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!
P1/2 have had the best day with our friends from @BowmorePrimary on our #bilingual Stickman adventure day. @sngaidhlig @abc_OCTF @EdScotOL pic.twitter.com/VUw1Z2Awvi
— Port Ellen Primary School (@portellenps) February 27, 2023
⭐️ 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! ⭐️
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 ☺️
On the 28th January Dolphins had a swimming championship. It was for everyone that goes to dolphins. There was 5 heats for most of the races and there was about 20 races. There was different age groups so people are racing against people their age instead of a 5 year old vs and 16 year old. The races are 25 meters for 1st session there is 25 front crawl, back-stroke, butterfly and breast-stroke. For 2nd session there was 50 meter and 100 meters which were all 4 strokes again. There was a IM (which stands for induvial medley) 100 meters which is 1 length of each stroke. At the end the older ones all jumped in. After we done all of that we went up to the high school to get all of our medals. When we were there we got cakes, brownies and lots more. After we ate all of or food that we picked. Then it was the time to go up when your name was called to get all of your medals and trophies. It was a great day.
This term we have been going tho the Celtic house and looking for books to buy for the school. Before we go upstairs we do a book scavenger hunt to see what books we can find, we get different categories to try find the book for that category. Then we get to choose a book we want. When we go upstairs we get hot chocolate with marshmallows with cream, then Mrs Clark reads the first page of two books and we vote for what book we like the most. When we are done voting we get a biscuit and the we get the three books that we voted on. We all loved reading the books and we want to do it again.
On the 10th of December, our school held a Christmas fair for the local community to attend. We had lots of merry raffle prizes for adults and children. The nursery and p1/2 had a stall, and p5/6/7 had 4 stalls for each of the tables in the class. The groups that were handling the stalls in p5/6/7 were called:
Santa’s Elves: Chloe, Teddy, Ayla, Evie, Freddy and Sani.
The Gonks: Iona, James, Jacob, Brody, Stephen and Ellie.
Da Boys on Da Shelf: Aiden, Thomas, William, Finlay, Archie and Alfie
Santa’s little helpers: Rachel, Duncan, Ella, Hugh and Dylan.
These groups made:
Santa’s Elves made Block Christmas Characters, Snowman Face Tree Decoration and Stone Bird Tree Decoration.
The Gonks made Clay Gonks, Scrunches and Block Calendars.
Da Boys on Da Shelf made phyrogrithy cooking spoons and ornaments, Christmas trees decorations made out of blocks and sock creatures.
Santa’s little helpers made keyrings made out of thin blocks, coasters and sock snowmen.
Lots of people came along and we raised loads of money for the school. There was Santa’s Grotto run by the parent council and also waffles to buy and eat. Ms Brown did face painting too. It was a wonderful Christmas Time!
This afternoon the school were invited to attend the St Andrews Day ceilidh in the Ramsay Hall with the pensioners in the village. P12 had been practising Ally Bally Bee and Wee Willie Winkie with our friends from the ELCC for this occasion. P3-7 sang S’ann an Ilè and some of the P67 did dancing as well. It was great fun!
At our school, Port Ellen Primary School. We received the National Teaching Award for Making a Difference, Primary School of the Year. The teaching award is a once-a-year award that is given out to special schools across the UK. Our school was very lucky to be given the award considering that there was 4 school who also received the silver awards in the UK, 2 in Scotland and 2 in England. Iona says, ” This is a great opportunity for our school, I am very lucky to be in such a great school” Another opinion gave by the editors are by Chloe, she says, ” We are one of the many schools who could have been picked out of all the schools that entered. We are extremely lucky to be given this golden award.” From another student, Brody, ” I was speechless.” Our school is very active with the community and brings Joy to all the students. Making a difference is important to the community as our Island is special in its own way.
By Chloe and Iona
We had a lovely game-a-thon this afternoon in aid of Children in Need.
