Port Ellen Primary School has 4 values they are respect, resilience, honesty and success. We have been talking about respect. We have come up with different ideas of how to show respect here are some of our ideas. Be kind and caring to everyone around you, remember your manners, Don’t be cheeky to adults. We have been talking about this at our early assembly’s on a Monday morning. We are going to have a character for respect value and all the other values. We always get told on assembly’s on a Friday to always respect one another. Every week we will pick a new value and we will discuss that one until the next week.
My Amazing Baking Project!
I have been doing a Endeavour Project on Baking. I chose Baking for my Endeavour because I had never done Baking before. I planned it by using a Endeavour planner. I wrote all the things that I wanted to do for it. I have achieved doing baking for all the class and making pizza for the whole school to eat. I have also achieved on nearly doing my Recipe Book with all the recipes that I have cooked so far. There has been a few problems that I have overcome. Sometimes I can’t go baking with Mary because she is busy and I had problems when I could not find books with recipes that I need in them. Mrs MacFarlane helped me when I was going baking at school. Mrs Holyoake also helped me by lending me her recipes for me to use. Out of school, Holly’s gran Mary helped me bake things for my sisters bake sale for her Endeavour. Nearly every Saturday, I go to Mary’s house to do some baking. At the Endeavour fair, I will be showing a recipe book, A taste table with all the recipes typed on a sheet of paper, and a video of me baking, and top 5 recipes that you can bake at home.
Sweet Making Endeavour
For my Endeavour this year I have picked to do sweet making. The reason I have picked to do sweet making is because I really like sweets and I really wanted to learn how to make them myself. I have made lots of diffrent types of sweets such as honeycomb, peppermint creams and lots more. The only problem I have had so far with my Endeavour is running out of time for the sweet to set so I had to leave the sweet till the next day. Mrs MacFarlane has helped me in the kitchen with making sweets and she has also helped me come up with sweets to make for the week after. At the end of my Endeavour I will have lots of sweets to show and for people to try and a video of me making sweets and I will share some recipes and even have invented my own sweets.
SHARING THE LEARNING
The culmination of the Endeavour project for the students is the Endeavour fair. For primary 7 pupils they join other primary 7s from around the island in High School for an afternoon alongside S1 and S2 pupils to showcase their learning. There is also an Endeavour fair in school for P5-7.
The High School Endeavour fair is an opportunity for students to see what others have managed to achieve in their projects and chat with them about their journey. Teachers from High School also have a chance to meet with students and discuss their learning alongside members of the public. It is a great opportunity for children to
demonstrate their communication and presentation skills.
Our school fair is always widely supported by parents and we have had food, cake, plants for sale, live lobsters and chicks and exploding volcanoes to entertain the visitors, as well as music and videos and games. Sharing the learning is the final an most crucial part of the Endeavour project and it is an opportunity and motivation for children to make the effort to complete their projects.
What I Achieved Through The Holidays
Through the holiday I managed to achieve 2 walks up to Lagavulin with my mum and my dog both times , we didn’t meet anyone and 2 trips to the Singing Sands. The first time I went to the Singing Sands it was just me, my mum and my dog but the second time I went it was me, my mum, Emily, Eva, Charlet-Rose, Patricia, Eva’s Auntie Katie and Chloe. Eva’s mum and auntie brought their dogs as well and luckily there were no goats to chase!
I also managed to find a website called “plot a route.’’ It is where lots of people share different places to walk, cycle, run and many more activities. Its a great website:)
The Scottish Mathematical Challenge
This year pupils at Port Ellen primary school took part in the Scottish Mathematical Challenge where they had to answer problem solving questions 3 times over the year showing their working out. To get a bronze award you couldn’t lose more than 10 points, to get a silver award you couldn’t lose more than 6 points and to get a gold award you couldn’t lose more than 3 points. Rebecca, Katie, Ross and Matthew got a bronze award and I got a silver award missing out on a gold award by only one point! I feel happy because I got a silver I am also very surprised because I didn’t think my problem solving was that good. One of the questions was “Maureen, Alice and Siobhan are three young sisters, in that order of age. Alice is two years older than Siobhan. Each year, their wealthy aunt gives each of them, for each year of her age, as many pounds as she is years old. For example, on her first birthday a girl would receive one pound and on her third birthday nine pounds. The aunt has promised to continue this family custom with each girl until her twelth birthday. This year Maureen received as much as Alice and Siobhan put together.
How much will Siobhan receive next year?” I found this quite tricky. There was also a question about a diagram that represents a rectangular net, which is made from string notted together at different points. Another one was about a diving competition where there are 5 judges that each awards a whole-number from 1-10 and you had to work out all the possible scores awarded. It was really challenging but helped me get better at my maths problem solving. There is an award ceremony in June in Glasgow. Next year I will try to get a gold.
Beat the Flood
For National Science and Engineering Week P3/4 were trying to Beat the Flood. This was a challenge set by Practical Action to try and design and build a floodproof house that could stand up to flooding and monsoon rains. The design also had to be sustainable, use materials available on a small Pacific Island and be cheap to build. This innovative design has a water catcher and grows food on the roof so that people can still eat if the land around has been flooded.
Wild Weather
P3/4 investigated extreme weather events as part of their weather topic. Charlet Rose found out about the flash flooding in Boscastle in 2004. She discovered the cause of the flooding and used weather data to show the rainfall pattern over this event. She found out how the flash flooding affected the people and the disruption it caused. This was a great piece of work that pulled together learning in literacy, numeracy and social studies. Well done Charlet Rose.
Easter Assembly
P3/4 put on a fantastic Easter Assembly and Daffodil Tea for parents afterwards. The audience enjoyed the performance and great singing. We even made our own stained glass window backdrop for our assembly, which told the Easter story.
Investigating Microclimate
P3/4 have been investigating the microclimate in the school grounds. They used digital thermometers on loan from the Royal Meteorological Society to record the temperatures at different places in the school grounds. It was a great way to consolidate all they had learned about maps as part of their orienteering. They then worked in the group to produce a scientific report complete with prediction, method, results, bar chart and explanation. A great piece of work!
TOP SEVEN TIPS FOR ENDEAVOUR
Here are some of our top tips for carrying out Endeavour:
- INVOLVE PARENTS AND MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY
- THOROUGH INITIAL PLANNING ESSENTIAL
- REGULAR REVIEWS OF PROGRESS
- KEEP A FINAL GOAL IN MIND
- ENSURE THERE IS CHALLENGE AND NEW LEARNING
- REMEMBER SET BACKS HELP US LEARN
- PLAN, DO, REVIEW OFTEN
Waste Week
Last week the Eco group decided to do a waste week and try to find out how much packaging gets wasted at lunchtime in school.
We collected it for only three days. There was quite a lot and I don’t think that it was very good. I think we should do the waste week again because on Tuesday 15th we collected 650 grams and to me that is very wasteful. On Wednesday it got a little better and then on Thursday it was the same as Monday, terrible. Hopefully we might be able to do it again and try to improve and have less packaging that gets wasted.
by Rowan
The Rock Cycle
P567 at Port Ellen Primary have been doing Geology. This includes learning about rocks. So, we learned about how all the rocks are formed. They are formed by a cycle which is the Rock Cycle. There are 3 types of rock groups: Sedimentary rock, Metamorphic rock and Igneous rock. First, little broken up pieces of rocks, called Sediments cement and compact together to make Sedimentary rock. Sedimentary rock then heats up and gets lots of pressure building up on it. Then it turns into a Metamorphic rock. Next the Metamorphic rock travels to the core of the Earth and melts into magma. When magma crystallizes, it makes Igneous rock. Finally, Igneous rock then experiences Weathering, Erosion and Depostition. Then the Igneous rock turn back into Sediments. Then, It starts again. The process of the rock cycle takes millions of years to complete. When we were learning about the Rock Cycle, we all made A3 posters and we drew a diagram on the Rock Cycle. I thought learning about The Rock Cycle was really fun.
Science Club
Mrs Clark has started a club called science club on Wednesdays from 3:30am to 4:30pm. We have done it for 2 weeks; the 1st week we did it we were doing looking for worms for citizen science. The next week we did balloon rockets and the boys won by 2 meters with 1 balloon because we put more air in it for the pressure.
The Great Day of Sport Relief
On Friday the 19 of March all of Port Ellen primary walked down the streets collecting money for Sport Relief, even the nursery. The places they went to ask for money was the park, the Cyber, the Islay Hotel, Lennox Street, the Columba Hall, the whole village streets and the doctors. But before that long walk we sold lots of cake to everyone in the school. The amount of money we raised was £405.17. Well done and thanks.
Scottish Country Dancing
For the Day of Dance, which is when children from other schools come to Bowmore hall and we all do different dances, we have been practicing different dances in partners. We have learned the Dashing White Sergeant and much more. It has improved our level of fitness and we have learned to work together in groups and partners better. We have also improved our listening skills because we have to listen to the teachers so we know how to do the dances.
It is energetic and you can meet your friends and maybe new friends when we practice the dances and go to the day of dance and we will learn and get better at Scottish country dancing.
Fitness Club
Struan and Ronan are starting up a new club on a Wednesday and will be taking p 3,4,5. It will be running in the hall and out side when it is nice. Thy are going to be taking them for runs around the school and doing circuit courses in the hall. They are doing it as part of Struan’s Endevour which is fitness. It will be running at lunch time.
Orienteering Club
On Monday afternoons after school ends Mrs Harrison takes orienteering club from 3:30pm to 4:30pm. It is for classes 4-7 it is a great way for the children to get fit and more healthy. We either do 3 courses or 1 course. At the last club we did 3 courses, 2 timed ones and one just for fun.
The timed course had 3 different levels, Bronze, Silver and Gold. There were 10 numbers in all the courses you had to get as many numbers done in the fastest time you could. There was a tie for 1st place between Ruaraidh Macdonald and Bronagh Newman. In orienteering club we start 20 seconds after the person in front so when you finish you take off your starting time. Today is the last orienteering class before the holiday.
We have all enjoyed it!
The Euroquiz With Port Ellen Primary
The Euroquiz is a quiz about Europe. There are four rounds, Geography, Languages, History and sports. The group of four became a pair because two people were absent on the day which didn’t help our chances. We had one back-up who had been practicing hard with the others but they still needed another person so Kaitlyn volunteered to do it.
The first round was Geography of Europe. Some questions were about flags, landmarks and capital cities. To do this round they had to watch a powerpoint on the big board then they had to write the answer on an answer sheet.
The second round was languages. In the languages round they listened to Spanish, Italian and French. To do this round the teacher would ask a question then they would listen to it in Spanish, then Italian and finally French after that they would translate what the people said in the languages, then they would listen to it again to make sure they got the right answer, finally they would write their answer down on the answer sheet and hand it in to the teacher.
The third round was history. For the history round it asked questions about the History of Europe and some questions were about dates some countries joined the EU and what countries were the first to join the EU.
The last round was about sports. It had questions about sport and where some sports clubs are. To do the round it was the same as the first and the third round just with sports questions instead of geography and history.
The four pupils from Port Ellen Primary School who competed in the Argyll And Bute Euroquiz came 5th out of 5 schools-last! But everyone enjoyed themselves and had good fun.
Science week at the High School
On Wednesday 16th March all of the p7 in Argyll and Bute went over to the Islay High School to learn about science, because it was science week.
At the High School we made our own crystals and we also had to try and make a light go on by connecting wires. We all really enjoyed the science and we learnt a lot of new things to do with science. The next day in Port Ellen Primary School p3/4 and p5/6/7 invited our parents in to come and see some of the science we had done working with partners.
We set up lots of tables with lots of different activities such as a Islay map where you had to label lots of different rocks, cakes, the rock cycle, volcano, and much more.
It was great fun.
The Fantastic, Fabulous Fair-trade Coffee Morning!
A couple of weeks ago, Global citizens group at Port Ellen Primary had a fair-trade coffee morning. We baked tiffin, scones, tray bake and banana muffins using fair-trade products only.
The Port Ellen co-op gave us a kind donation of £30 to put towards fair-trade products. We bought fair-trade sugar, bananas, chocolate, coffee, tea etc.
At the coffee morning, we also had a donation box and the money collected was donated to Save the Children. When the coffee morning was over, we counted the money and found out we raised £86.54! We think it was a really successful morning.
We thank everyone at Port Ellen co-op and the Mums, Dads, grandparents and babies for making this possible.
The Beach Clean
On Friday 4th March our school had a beach clean. The beach clean was for a very special reason, it was because it was the Queen’s 90th Birthday.
The Queen asked everyone to help clean Scotland instead of sending her birthday cards because that would have meant a lot of stamps! So our school went down to the Co-op beach. The Primary 1s were very excited was because it was their first beach clean.
I think we made a big difference.
A Little Update On My Endeavour
The past few weeks I have been visiting quite a lot of places. So far I have been up to Ardtalla, Claggan Bay, Ardnave Point and many more, I have also been a couple of places on horse back. Me and my mum have taken the camera every place we go, which means I have been sticking and writing, sticking and writing in my Explorers Log!
I am also planning on making a little collage of photos on the laptop and will add some information of the places I have been.
So far my favourite place has been Ardnave because there is a beautiful lake, lots of sheep and when I was there what two beautiful swans were gliding across the lake.
We had to obey the countryside code and close all gates which you MUST keep shut unless you want chasing after you!!
British Science Week Parent Afternoon
After a week of science learning at Port Ellen we invited parents in to find out more about Rocks, Floods and Boats.
In P567 we have been doing geology this term, finding out about Islay’s interesting rocks and how they are formed. Parents got to make rocks out of food, saw a cake model of the earths crust, our map of Islay’s geology and identified different types of rock by testing them.  They asked lots of interesting questions!
In P34 parents were presented with flood proof housing and has to test the houses to see if they worked!
In P123 they had to build waterproof boats that didn’t sink out of different materials and they also made paper.
TOOTH SCIENCE
Today we were finding out about the science behind teeth with Mrs Birmingham. We found out that a low ph means acid and can encourage bacteria to attack your teeth. We also found out about how bad sugar is and how much can be found in some foods.
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2014 PROJECT LIST
Here are the outlines for some of the projects carried out in 2014:
ALICIA
CHICKEN FARMING
I will research the care of chickens, chicken housing and breeds of chicken. I will build a model chicken coop, then use this as a model to build my own house. Having persuaded Mrs Macdonald to have chickens in school I will then incubate and hatch the chickens.
ROBBIE
CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL DISASTERS
I am interested in learning about natural disasters, what causes them and how climate change may have an effect. This will involve a lot of research, and I also hope to make experiments that look at the effects of climate.
CAMERON
CROFTING
I am interested in setting up my own garden at home with raised beds, and planting and managing the school croft. I will write to the Beechgrove garden for advice, will need to research vegetables and growing conditions, build and maintain my garden. We could use vegetables grown in the school croft for a café.
ELEANOR
OFFICE SKILLS
I would like to work in an office when I grow up and so I have decided to learn about the skills needed to work in an office. I will create spread sheets, learn about keeping books and get experience working in an office for my dad and in school. At the end I will be able to make a working model of an office.
CIARA
FITNESS
In school we have learned about health and I wanted to try and become more healthy by learning about keeping fit. I will walk and do fitness at home, research fitness techniques and run a fitness afternoon at school.
ASHER
SURVIVAL SKILLS
I will research tribes around the world and the different survival skills they have learned. Looking at survival skills, I will try different activities such as foraging, lighting fires and building shelters and then use these to organise a trip into the wilderness where I will need to apply my skills.
JODIE
HORSE RIDING INSTRUCTOR
I would like to be a horse riding instructor so I plan to learn all aspects of horse riding, including making a labelled model and writing a blog. I hope to teach someone from my class to ride a horse and make a video of how to tack a horse.
EMILY
WRITE MY OWN BOOK
I enjoy reading and writing so I have decided to write my own book for my Endeavour project. I will research top tips, plan my plot and then write and edit the story, getting people to read and suggest improvements as I go.
ANWEN
SEWING CLOTHES
For my Endeavour I want to learn how to sew and make my own clothes and other items. I plan to make a skirt and top, as well as a bag which means I need to learn how to use a pattern, sew by hand, use a sewing machine and design clothes.
GREAT PORT ELLEN BAKE OFF…
A popular area for Endeavour projects has been cooking. We are very lucky at Port Ellen to have our own teaching kitchen area and take advantage of it for children wishing to cook or bake for their Endeavour.
Maisie used the kitchen extensively to create beauty products like smoothies and face masks for her 2014 Endeavour, and even persuaded some of the boys to try it! She also researched the impact of the beauty industry on the environment and animal welfare, and enjoyed creating her own eco-friendly beauty products.
Abbie was a joint winner of the first Endeavour award for her cookery book on international cooking. She would bring in 
ingredients every week for recipes around the world and would then feed the class, who would give her feedback on the project. I really enjoyed her Indian onion chutney.
We have had two trainee bakers, Annie and Natalie. Both baked the guess the weight of the Christmas cake for the school fair and sold their cakes as businesses, developing skills for the world of work at the same time. Both made birthday and Christmas cakes, and their baking was amazing as you can see from the photo. You can read Natalie’s cake blog in the link on the right.
Emma also enjoyed developing her skills in the kitchen. She was learning to cook and develop independence in the kitchen, shopping for food, finding all the equipment, following a recipe and cleaning up afterwards. Despite her communication difficulties she enjoyed working with other children and learned skills for life.
PAPERWORK…
Over time we have developed a lot of different resources to help provide structure to Endeavour through a process continuous improvement and tweaking. The planners and assessment rubriks used are not essential to the project, but do help guide the process.
Initial planning for Endeavour is key and children fill out this planner at the start of the project to guide them to the finish line. This long term planner is then broken down over time into medium and short term plans, the short term planner being based on a simple plan, do, review format (see below). We also carry out a SWOT analysis so children can assess the likely success of their project.
Children also regularly carry out peer and self assessment tasks over the course of the project to check they are making progress. There are task management, collating information and presenting rubriks.
Endeavour task management rubrik
At the end of the project children complete an assessment sheet with teacher and parents input, and there is also a review presentation.
All these documents are useful tools in the management of Endeavour, and are applied rationally over time to ensure high quality self evaluation of progress and of their own project, and should always be accompanied by lots of class, peer and teacher discussion.
