We have all been learning about life in castles at Port Ellen this term following our exciting trips to Dunyvaig Castle to take part in the archaeological dig. Primary 123 have made their own castles with working drawbridges from paper, and they have been researching what people who lived in the castles did. Here is a clip explaining their work.
EMBEDDING STEM IN THE PRIMARY CURRICULUM
Making Sways For Our Political Groups
When we were making groups for a certain subject to debate for, we had to make a Sway. Our group was about gender equality, and our sway was explaining what our group was about and what we were trying to do. The sway also had a video of two people in our group talking about our group and why people should vote for us. Each group also had a picture of the entire group. I was in charge of making the sway and I made slides about: Our members, our manifesto, what we are trying to do and our slogan. We showed our sway in front of the entire school to try to get them to vote for us. If we won the election, we could choose an activity everyone in the school could do, but we didn’t win however.
Lord George Robertson
Our class p6/7 are doing a topic about elections. For our topic we had a visitor come to are school called Lord George Robertson. George Robertson was an MP who is now in the House of Lords in London. He told us what it is like to be a MP and we had asked him many questions for example; we had asked had him did you always want to be a MP. He said “I was always a person with my own opinion”. We told him that we were doing a election topic and he gave all of are parties some advice. George wanted to be a MP because where he lived there was nuclear navel ships showing up so they all protested to get them moved. We had learned a lot about Politicians and MP’s we used all the key facts he told us and used it for are party presentation. It was a really interesting day!
Political Party
Last week we held an election for parties we had designed ourselves. Every political party has policies and everyone has a role; leader, manger, canvasser, speech writer, policy advisor and public relations. The party’s names were Party Animals, Boogie Bombers, Super Sports Bro, Gender Party, Cycle Islay and POP which is people oppose pollution. I was the leader for Boogie Bombers the winning team of the election and we are going to hold an X Factor competition, Yeh!
Captains and Vice Captain vote 2018/19
Every year we have a Captain and 2 Vice Capatins for each of our school houses. This year we have 3 vice captains in one house it is also the same as last years house. This year the house with 3 Vice capains is Nave: Vice captains Orla, Aidan, Harmoni and the captain is Ellen. Orsay’s vice captains are Morgan and Charlet and their captain is Dearbhla. Texa’s Vice Captains are Jack, Millie and Freya is their captain. Before the eletion for voting people from your house have to give speeches about what they would do for the school. A lot of people took part in the voting but not everyone could win something in the election because it works by voting and not who has the best hair do! It is about who you think is going to change the house and the school for the better. We hope the captains have a good year.
Islay Fun Fair
A funfair has arrived at Port Ellen. It has everything: a rocker, a inflatable slide, a lot of prizes to be won, a jungle run, gambling machines and dodge ems. There is bumper cars for little ones and zorbs that you are allowed in then you go on water and float.
So far i have been to the fair everyday except from one day. The money you spend starts to pile up after being there day after day. Each ride cost from £2.50 up to £5.00.
The fair will be here for just under two more weeks. Its here till the 15th of September.
The fair is really fun but it is expensive so dont go to often.
Teaching Bowmore Primary How To Use Sway
Today Bowmore primary came to our school so we could teach them how to use sway. First we showed them how to start from a subject on sway, and then they made their own sway with the information. Next we taught them how to use one note, and we told them about the collaboration space and how they could use the different subjects in their folder to work. They made there own pages about Dunyvaig and they write about their trip to Dunyvaig. Mrs. Clark showed them how the start form document feature works but they didn’t use it. We added sway and google classroom to their homepage so they could access it easily. Then they had to leave at 2:30 and they were told they could use sway, google classroom and one note at home.
The Cycle Islay Party
We are the Cycle Islay Party and we are mostly focusing on cycling and we are trying to win a school election. We all have our roles and we have 5 pepole and things that we will do if we win. We will do stuff for our school the isle of lslay, Scotland and the world and we need to try and improve the world so everyone has a better life. You should vote for us if you want to keep fit , reduce global warming and even go on your bike in school up the path. You can vote for us in the election becuase we will try and help you. We want to make cycling more fun becuase it is a very good way of transport because you can travel with fresh air while traveling instead of being inside while traveling and you can easily communiciate while traveling when pepole go along the path and chat to them while on the move. So vote for us.
Party Animals
Our Party is called Party Animals. We are trying to make animals have better homes and ask people to take care of animals. If we win the election we will adopt a dolphin through the WWF.
Our Four policys are:
School: Adopt a dolphin
Islay: Mobile petting zoo
Scotland: All schools adopt an animal
World: stop using palm oil -find alternative
In school we will adopt a dolphin because we will try to save a dolphin from extinction
In a mobile petting zoo we will make sure it is educational so people can learn to be responsible with animals before they get there own pet.
Scotland: Every school should adopt a pet that means no animals could be left extinct. Which brings us to our slogan “No animals left behind.”
To stop usng palm oil that means stop deforestion because the reason why they cut down trees is for palm oil. Palm oil is in Doritios, pringles and some soap and shampoo so if we stop using/ eating these things then we wouldnt have the problem of deforestion.
Remember adopting an animal only cost £3 a month so its not expensive so it is afordable for everybody here is the link:https://www.wwf-adopt-a-animal.co.uk/charities/wwf-animal-adoptions/?keyword=wwf%20adopt%20an%20animal&device=c&vm=brand
No Animals left behind
Boogie Bombers
Were the Boogie Bombers so we’re making this blog to campaign for our party. Vote for us if you love music, vote for us if you love instrumental music, vote for us if you love singing and vote for us if you love the x factor because if you are a huge fan of the x factor then your in great luck because if we win that means we will set up an x factor competition and you yes you might win the competition and earn a secret prize, are you intrigued yet? Well remember folks vote for the Boogie Bombers.

POP People Oppose Pollution

Did you know that all of the plastic we use in our world goes into our beautiful seas and into sea creatures mouths causing them to die. Do you want that to happen to your favourite sea creature ?
If you vote for us we will save our seas by doing a sponsored beach clean in Port Ellen. With the money raised from the beach clean we will buy a big fishing net for the fisherman so when they go out to sea and spot any plastic they can catch it with the net we bought for them. We hope this will make our seas cleaner and that is what everybody wants.
Please vote for us – People Oppose Pollution, The POP Party and we will save our seas!
By Charlet Rose, Aidan, Connor, Millie and Evie.
Vote the Gender Party!
The gender party is a group that tries to stop gender discrimination. We have made a sway about our group: https://sway.com/EZoyWpaimtukFRDx?ref=Link&loc=mysways in the sway we made a video about why you should vote for the gender party and we put information about our group (manifesto, roles etc). We plan on trying to stop gender discrimination around Islay and out school. An idea we had in our school was for girls to play Fifa and boys to play just dance. Our slogan is: It’s not who we are on the outside, it’s who we are in the inside. We have made a poster for our group and it is on the sway as well as our slogan. We have written a speech which the team leader is practicing. We have not done elections yet but we will be doing them soon. By getting enough votes, we can try to stop gender discrimination in our school, and then the whole of Islay! This is our logo:

Super Sports Bros.
Hello, our group is the super sports bros/ sports party. Our group is about sports around the world and our island. In our school we will get new balls, and we will organise a dodge ball tournament. On our island we want to make a skate board park, in Scotland we want more gyms to cost less money and for the world we want rich footballers to pay money to poor countries like Africa so they have sports gear and have more fun in the play grounds. We have 5 people in our group Freya Porter, Ciaran Middleton, Dearbhla Newman, Christopher Jamieson and Katie Harrison. We all have different jobs. Freya’s job is campaign manager, Christopher’s job is canvasser, Katies job is public relation, Derbhla’s job is policy advisor, and Ciaran’s job is speach writer and leader.

B.M.T Better Movers Thinkers
On the 22nd of August the whole class of p6/7 went down to the hall and did some B.M.T, which is activity that keeps you fit and helps your brain. It was fun but tiring. At first we all lied down on the floor and we all had to breathe in then out for 4 seconds. After that we did a workout sequence; first step we had to skip 4 times, 2nd step we had to side step 4 time, 3rd step we had to jump, then after that do a press up. At the end we all lied down again and in our head we had to think about the lesson like a video. We sat up and got told to say what we think we did best. I think that the best thing I did in that session is running.
Our School Election
In our school we are having a school election which has 6 parties. Each party in the election has to focus on one thing and the parties have around 5 or 6 people so everyone in primary 4/5/6/7 had to take part in one of the parties. The voting has not started yet but we have voting for house captains and vice captains at a very similar time. We are learning a lot about elections, making our own parties is very fun becuase you and your team get to choose your logo,roles and even things that your party will do to make the world better.
Alexander
A fun tool to help your child solve online safety dilemmas
The National Crime Agency’s CEOP command has created an interactive game that can help you start conversations with your child about making safer choices online.
Electronics
For my Endeavor I decided to do electronics because I wondered how they work. I have done was created 3 circuits the energy storage, led light with sensor and led light with switch. I have made a poster and a sign and I have learnt so much from doing endeavor. I have really enjoyed doing electronics this year. I’ve learned how to use a soldering iron and I got better at it so I don’t burn the circuit board or myself and I have been getting better better at electronics.
Biomedical Engineering
For my Endeavour I am doing biomedical engineering. I chose to do biomedical engineering because this year the school have been entering loads of competitions to do with engineering and throught this project I have took a great interest in Biomedical engineering. I also wanted to do biomedical engineering because I always love to watch the paralympics. I made a hydraulic robotic hand that could lift things.
Ancestry
My Endeavour is my family tree. Altogether I have done Ancestry,G suite site,brought in photos and wrote a letter but did not get a reply but I still have to do my sway. I think I have not done enough because I haven’t done enough because I haven’t started my sway.I have completed my planner And also have found out the definition of genealogy it means a study of someones ancestries or histories. I have completed my tree on two bits of A3 paper one is my nans side and one is my grandads side.
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Latin Endeavour
For my Endeavour this year I decided to do Latin! I decided to do Latin because I find it interesting that a lot of words we still use today come from Latin, I wanted to find out why we don’t use Latin and how some words from Latin sound similar to English words and some don’t. I am happy that I chose Latin because it was very interesting learning how to pronounce words and it was cool how I thought I didn’t know any Latin but after some research I found that I already knew a lot of Latin.
Rolls-Royce Look Back

This year Port Ellen Primary School have been in the finals of the Rolls-Royce science prize and we have had the BBC in to film us with all of our engineering that we have done over the past year. We also have a mentor called Neil Chattle and he has helped us all through the year.
Four people from this school went to the Celebration of science in Glasgow with their wind turbine and did very well. We also had a finalist in the younf Imagineers comptition and took part in the BP Stem Challenge. We have learned lots about renewables and engineering and are know much better at engineering. It has been a very successful project and I now want to be a civil engineer.
Matthew
Port Ellen Beach Day
On Friday 22nd of June Port Ellen Primary went to the White Hart beach. They were going to have some fun at the beach. When they got there they were with Bowmore Primary. When they got there they were digging holes and making sandcastles. Some time later Mr Shakespeare came with a bat to play french cricket. It was fun. After that we played rounders because there was too many people for french cricket. Rounders was also fun because we were all running about. It was Port Ellen Primary against Bowmore primary. Bowmore primary won. After that it was time for lunch. For my lunch I had a sandwich a pack of crisps and a yogurt. It was lovely and sunny and a great day out.
Mechanical Engineering Endeavour By Taylor
This year for my endeavour I have picked to do mechanical engineering. I chose mechanical engineering I like to play forza which is a car based game where you can buy and sell cars and drive around on a map with other players. I have also been really interested in cars and engines since I have been young but have never went into any detail with learning about them. Endeavour is a long-term project that lets people choose there own thing to do and learn about what they have chose. It also lets people to learn about things that they like and maybe don’t know to much about and want to learn more but also you can do completely new things to you and learn about that.When we do endeavor it can help with life after school as well as you might want to get a job or start up your own business and if you maybe did an endeavour on that you will be able to have maybe more experience to start of with.
For my endeavour i have made a Haynes model engine which has a electric motor on the back which turns the pistons and then turns the crankshaft and then the sparks the sparkplug. I also made a sway on all types of different types of engine like v4,v6,v8,v2,v10,v12 and more.
The skills I used endeavour so far is ICT, time management and being organised. I have came over one problem I was doing my model engine I ended up putting the base on the wrong way and I had to take everything of and put it on the right way.
P7 Disco and Trip On Seafari Boat
On Thursday 28th June P7 are going on a trip to celebrate finishing Primary Shcool and will be going on the Seafari boat and they are going to be seeing different types of wildlife around Islay. Before we go on Gus’ boat there is a leavers assembely and after school we go on the Seafari boat. After we get to go home and get ready for the disco but before we got to the disco all of the P7’s get to go to Seasalt to have pizza as our dinner. Once we get our dinner we all walk up together to the disco after everyone else is already there. Once we get to the disco there is music, juce and crisps and sometimes there is games. When we are on they boat and out far enough we might even get a turn of steering the boat! Here is a picture from last years trip.
P7 Leavers Assembly 2018
This year the P7 leavers assembly based on Alice in Wonderland. P6/7 had to read the book and do voice overs of the poem Jabberwockey. The first song of the leavers assembly is called Shine and the last song is called Wherever I go, in the middle is the lip dub, which is the song Build me Up Buttercup. There is also the films of all the P7s talking about their time at Port Ellen. We had to do lots of filming this year like the teaparty. Everyone had to dress up and act like the characters and eat lots of cake which was good fun!
Charlie’s Baking Endeavour
This year for my Endeavour I have been baking cakes and tray bakes. So far I have written a blog and I have made balance sheets for the cakes that i have sold in the last few months. Endeavour is a long term project that we do every year. Every year we choose something that is challenging and not something that we have done already or too easy. In baking i had to overcome a lot of problems because i forgot to add some of the ingredients into the mixture.
P7 Induction Days
On Tuesday 19th and Wednesday 20th of June the P7 went to the high school for their induction days for high school. Me Sarah and Taylor are in McBean. Rowan, Sophie and Matthew are in Winnard and Abi and Lauren are in Bryce. My favorite class in high school was P.E because we got to play bench ball and at lunch break the S1 girls got to go and try touch rugby. Now I am really looking forward to high school when I go to it in August.
By Rebecca Morris
Sports Day 2018

On Monday 11th June 2018 Port Ellen primary school had their sports day. Every year for sports day, their is a girl sports champion and a boy sports champion, so to be able to do that primary’s 6 and 7 had to do some sports activities to be able to win the sports champion winners trophy. All the class of 6/7 did activities from high jump and long jump to cross country and football dribble, as well as many more. As tiring as it seems everyone whom participated did exceptionally well and really tried their best which pleased lots of people. On the day of sports day all the school (as well as some of the adults) did the races to add points onto their house for the shield. All of the school was stunning and they were all fantastic at giving everything a go and not giving up. The sports champions where announced, Boys: 1st Jack, 2nd Taylor, 3rd Matthew and Donald. Girls: 1st Lauren, 2nd Sophie, 3rd Rebecca. Thankfully the sun was shining, meaning everyone was having a splendid time.
My HTML Endeavour
For my Endeavour I am doing HTML/JAVA coding. I am making a webpage and I am going to use the website CodeCademy to help me. I have completed a planner covering what I will achieve in a certain space of time and answered questions like: how is this project ambitious and how this Endeavour will help me with my world of work. I have written a letter to a creator of a coding boot camp however I don’t know what I am going to do on my webpage. I am hoping that I get a reply for my letter and that it can help me with my Endeavour.




