Primary School of the Year 2022
Health focused learning
We have been learning about healthy eating and all the different food groups. We have designed our own sandwiches and got to make them! We also learned about hygiene in the kitchen, how to use sharp knives safely and Mrs Holyoake explained all about the different chopping boards and how to store food correctly.
One day after rugby club we where pulled in and I was chosen to be the mascot for the Scotland Rugby Team through the Islay Minis Rugby club, which is a club for people who want to play rugby till there in s2 and then they have to go to the one in high school. On February 24th me, my dad and my grandad headed to Murrayfield to see the Scotland vs England rugby match as I was the mascot. When we got the stadium we had to meet up with the rest of the mascots to go and sit in a room and wait for some other people as they were late. When every one was in the room our parents went to there seats and we were taken into the tunnel where we waited for the game to start. When the game was just about to start the players came out and lined up. I was partnered with Stuart Hogg who was my favourite player. When we ran out we had walk forward and kneel as Princess Anne walked behind us and shook the players hand. After that we went off and went to our seat and watched the game. Where we were sitting we had the subs right behind us. After half time we back to our seats and the game started up and it started up. When England were progressing through our defence, Jamie Bhatti, another one of my favourite players, he was injured and carried off and when he came up the steps to his seat he almost fell as he had torn something in his leg. After the game we went down and had to wait till the players got ready and got changed then they came out to sign our t-shirts and other stuff. I was really thrilled that Scotland won!
By Taylor
On Saturday 27th January Dolphins were having a championship event. They did lots of different types of strokes. They did butterfly, breaststroke, front crawl and backstroke. Some of the swimmers also did tumble turns and dives for starting. All of the children that attended had an amazing time. From the people that attended seven of them were from Port Ellen primary and two more from Port Ellen Primary helped at the pool side. Everyone got a medal at the award ceremony, we also got loads and loads of food after swimming as well. All of the people that went and also the people watching were very proud that there are such good swimmers on this tiny island.
by Ellen and Sophie
On Friday 26th of January Port Ellen primary school had our 10th anniversary Burns Celidh. We had loads of people from the community coming to join us and we all had great fun. We had all learned different Scots poems for the poetry competition and the judges came in to hear us read them before we all went to lunch. At lunch the Primary 7s said their poem, Address to the Haggis over the haggis and Lauren got to cut the haggis open. After lunch we went to the hall to celebrate with our family and friends. We did lots of Scottish Country dancing; my favourite was the Virginia reel. We also heard people play their musical instruments; Rowan and Rebecca did a duet on the accordian and tin whistle. All the winners of the poems read them out: P1 was Rachael, P2 was Chloe, P3 was Mya, P4 was Kayla, P5 was Dearbhla, P6 was Aidan and P7 was Rowan. We all had a great time and enjoyed tea and shortbread made by Mrs Holyoke afterwards. Thanks to everyone who came along.
Listen to two of our poems below:
Each Thursday for 6 weeks we go to Bowmore and we go in the swimming pool. P5/6/7 go to the pool and we go up and down the lanes and do different this like backstroke or front stroke. When we go in the pool we play a warm up game at the end we do some different things like the mushroom float or the pencil float. After we have done everything we get a 5 minute time play around in the water. After the 6 weeks, we have a swimming gala. We really enjoy getting to do swimming for PE.
Wednesday 15th November was the Argyll and Bute swimming competition for qualifying for the nationals in Dunoon. From Islay and Jura Dolphins swimming club there was: Ross Thompson, David John Morris, Matthew Mcusker and me. The coaches were ; Karen Siddle and Allan Campbell my dad. It was my first swimming competition away from Islay and I loved it. Ross was a big help; he told me when to go up to the Marshall which is when you line up to get ready to go up to the blocks to dive off. My races was front crawl and back stroke. In my front crawl my previous personal best was 1:07.7 min but now my personal best is 47.35 sec. In my back stroke my previous personal best was 59.73 sec but now my personal best 55.34 sec. I had a great time, thanks to Karen and my dad for taking us!
P4/5 have been investigating 
how craters are made. They thought about the different variables that might change the size of the craters – things like the size of the meteorite, the weight, the shape and even the angle that it hits the surface. Here they are testing out their predictions.
On Thursday 17th of November P567 was doing Shinty with Euan McMurdo the shinty development officer. He taught us different skills you need when playing shinty, like stopping the ball with your feet. We also got to play shinty which was very fun and everyone enjoyed playing shinty and look forward to playing it again soon.
On Wednesday 28th October a policeman and a fireman came to our school to talk to us about firework safety. They told us what to do when you were finished with a sparkler which was to dunk it into a bucket of water and to wear gloves to protect your hands. They also told us what to do if an adult lit a firework and it didn’t set off, which was to stay away from it and tell an adult.
The fireman told us that they have to attend to bonfires set off by kids and since they have to attend to this, they can’t attend house fires because they will be busy putting out the bonfire. They also told us that to keep your pets inside like cats, dogs etc. They can either get frightened or hurt. So remember this information and stay safe during firework night!
At the weekend there was a swimming competition in Helensburgh. Three people from Port Ellen primary school took part. These three people were Ross, Struan and Matthew. Islay did very well at the competition with some people getting first, second and third. At the end of the first day all Islay, Kintyre and Oban teamed together to make some relay squads to face Helensburgh relay teams. Then on the next day there was a 3 hour long training session with all people from Argyll and Clyde. It is called path finders or B squad. There is also a A squad for older and more experienced swimmers. Four people from Islay got picked and Ross was the only person from Port Ellen Primary School.
By Ross and Struan
P5/6/7 have recently started Endeavour. They all get to pick there own topic for 6 months and before they get started they always get a computer to do there plan for the 6 months, so for instance you can plan what you would do January to February. You have to make your Endeavour ambitious. It has to be something that you can write and research about. Your Endeavour has to be something achievable. Then if you can do the six months complete your teacher will call you a star.
P5/6/7 wanted to do a mile walk or a mile run to improve our fitness. But first we had to calculate and measure how long a mile is. We had to use Google maps to see how much it takes for a mile from up the path and back. We were going to go up the path but we did not want to go 2 miles so we used Google maps to see how it is a 
mile from somewhere on the path and back. Our class found out that it stopped at a wee bay right beside a stone wall. We thought if we go around the school a lot of times we could measure the school and see how many time it would take to do a mile. For the run we had to time each other to see if we improve each week. For the run we had to run around the edges 4 times. We know that running around the school 4 times because we measured it on the app called Map My Walk.
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