Here are our five top tips on enjoying tech together as a family.
Understanding and supporting anxiety in your child
It’s estimated that around 290,000 children in the UK suffer from this debilitating condition. Here are some tips to help you help them.
My New Endeavour Project
Hi my name is Natalie and I am doing an Endeavour project, and I thought I would share it with the world. Endeavour is an independent project where you choose your own project and learn about it for eight months and in June we have a big fair and share our learning with friends and family. For my Endeavour I chose “Walks Around Islay.” I chose this project because there are ALOT of places on Islay I have never been, and I would like to find out some information/ history about Islay. So every so often I will share some information and history about place I have been on Islay.
The people that are able to help me are my family, Walk Islay and mainly people that would like to go for a walk or another place that they have been before or a new place.
I planed my project with my mum and we had a wee chat about something she would be able to help me with and we could go places together in the holidays.
At the end of my project I will have an Explorers Book, A Collage of photos and maybe a book of information.
Viral internet trends: a parent’s guide
The growth of social media has brought with it some strange modern phenomena. One of the more recent ones is the viral online challenge…
Under 13s and social media
Most popular social media services don’t allow anyone under 13 to join. Even so, lots of younger children manage to set up accounts. What can you do?
P1-3 Nativity
P1-3 enjoyed performing their nativity in St John’s Church, Port Ellen in front of a packed audience. They sang all their 8 songs and were also joined on stage by the Pre -5 and Nursery Unit.
The Fabulous Panto
The children of Port Ellen Primary School had a panto and P5/6/7 and part of P4 had most of the main parts but all the classes were on the stage at the end. The panto was called What a Knight and it was about the legend of King Aurthur. The main characters are Kitty and Watt Cobblers they are mother and son. They were played by Ruaraidh Macdonald And Eva Munro. It was on the 10th and the 11th of December 2015. There was also bad guys in it and they were the Black Knight and Ernie and Bernie Blackhead and they were evil. Then we had Princesses Alberta, Alfreda and Alice. Two of them dressed like princesses and the other one was like a peasant. And at the end we were singing with the audience Winter Wonderland and Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. I really enjoyed it.
Muffins P5/6/7
 P5/6/7 of Port Ellen primary school have been making muffins in their table groups. The table with the most profit wins. Here is what they made. One table made a mint icing Christmas tree with a chocolate sponge. The next table made Santa feet sticking out of the snow with an apple and cinnaman sponge. The next table made a snowman face with a red and vanilla sponge. And the final table used a star design with a chocolate orange flavoured sponge. Some tables spent more than others on there cakes and some tables can’t make a profit on how much they have spent. We did a taste test; first was the snow man, second was the tree, third was the star, and 
fourth was Santa feet.
Written by
Ross Thompson
Don’t pay the price for your child’s online fun
Parents sometimes end up paying unexpectedly large phone bills and don’t know why. PhonepayPlus, the premium rate services regulator, explains what to look out for when giving your child a mobile device…
The Amazing Christmas Fair
The whole of Port Ellen Primary School will all help to setup the Christmas Fair on the 5th of December. There will be loads of cool creations to buy. P1/2 will be baking for the Christmas Fair, P3/4 will be making sweets and selling them and P5/6/7 will sell sock monsters, homeade calenders, mugs with hot chocolate,marshmallows,candy canes and also cans made into lanterns with holes that make constellations. There is a hamper with lots of biscuits, wine, chocolates, mince pies and lots of other brilliant things. Santa will also be there in his grotto and everybody is looking forward to buying loads of things. Come Along
A parent’s guide to Vlogging – what you need to know
Know your Zoellas from your PewDiePies: a parent’s guide to vlogging.
Tackling stigma about mental health for young people
1 in 10 children will experience a mental health problem – around three children in every classroom in the UK. A new campaign says it’s time to do something to help them.
Understanding online shaming – a guide for parents
You’ve probably heard of public shaming. It’s a centuries-old punishment, for anything from a crime to someone doing something others feel is morally wrong. But what is online shaming? And how does it differ?
It’s Amazing
As part of our orienteering training we made an amazing maze in the hall – we think the children will enjoy orienteering their way through this as much as we did!
Training Teachers
Lynn Walker from the Scottish Orienteering Association visited Port Ellen on the in-service day in Novemeber to train teachers how to teach orienteering. Everyone enjoyed the workshop – it was a lot of fun…..despite the rain!
Christmas video games without the surprises
Where to go for information on the video games your children will ask for this Christmas.
Bulimia nervosa: a parent’s guide
Bulimia is the most common eating disorder. Here’s Dr Pooky Knightsmith’s advice on how to tell if your child is affected – and where to get help.
PEGI games ratings explained
Video games ratings explained in full.
Get Parent Info FREE on your school website
SCHOOLS! Here’s how to get Parent Info’s expert information and advice on your own website for free.
How to protect your child from trolls
Sadly, once your child explores the online world, they may find a troll waiting for them. Here’s how to help them cope.
Space
This week p5/6/7 have started on their  topic space. We have learnt about our solar system and that Jupiter is the biggest planet in the solar system. We know that here is a moon or two around a planet and there is also 8 planets in our solar system. We can’t wait to learn more!
We also made constellations from spaghetti and marshmallows. Here is a Chatterpix of the constellation Cancer:
The National Mod
We went to the national mod in Oban. Two choirs went and they were the boys choir and the mixed choir. I was in the mixed choir with lots of other people. There was only 3 boys in the choir. Everybody stayed in a hotel but there was so many people that there had to be people in the Corran House and people in a different place. The mixed choir got two firsts and either a second or a third. We had a great time and there was even enough time for shopping!
Choosing age-appropriate video on demand and online content for your family
How to keep your family safe when viewing video on demand and films online and on mobile devices.
Why is Orienteering Fun?
We think orienteering is fun because you can get to increase your fitness and stamina which can make you more healthy. It can also help you improve your teamwork with others which will get you more involved in other activities.
The National Mod
On the 6/10/15 Port Ellen Primary School went to the National Mod and I was in the boys choir and it was our very first MOD and we came 2nd in our competition. We were in all the newspapers the ileach the Oban times. We stayed in 2 hostels then the mixed choir came in 1st and they were even on TV in the recording studios. I really enjoyed it.
ICycle Tests
On Thursday 29th October the whole of p7 did their cycling proficiency tests after practising for a term. Everybody passed the practical with an A or B, and no one got a C. Once p7 got back up to Port Ellen they did the written test and everybody passed so it was a success for p7. We also completed road safety posters as part of our learning. Well done everyone for all your hard work.
HALLOWEEN PARTY
Port Ellen Primary School had a Halloween party.We all got dressed up in our costumes and danced to spooky music in the lunch hall. First was the best costume competition. Rowan and Rebecca won for the p5’s, Murray won for the P6’s and Katie won for the P7’s. We all played Statues (when you have to stay still when the music stops) and Corners (a game when you have 4 corners and when the music stops you have to run to a corner) and finally we played musical bumps (it is the same as Statues but you have to sit down) Soon after we played Cat & Mouse. Soon after, we had a little snack and after we finished our snack. Soon after, we went dunking for apples and we ate them when we got back to the hall. We were crestfallen when we had to go home!
Our Solar System
For our topic we have been working on the solar system. So far we have learned what is the closest planet to the sun which is Mercury. In school we have been working on the eight planets they are all surrounding the sun.
We have also been learning about the rocky and the giant planets. We are going to tell you about the rocky planets. They are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
Now we are going to tell you about the giant planets. They are Saturn, Jupiter , Uranus and Neptune. Neptune is the furthest away from the sun it is 4.5 billion km away. Neptune has 165 years to complete orbit. We are learning lots.
Port Ellen Harvest Tea
We invited some pensioners from Port Ellen village to come and have a little afternoon tea. We normally have a harvest assembly and hand out bags, but now we only have three classes we decided to have an afternoon tea. The choir sang some of their songs for the national mod in Oban. We also had some other people in classes doing some performances, P1/2 did a prayer, P3/4 did a song and dance and P5/6/7 set the hall up and handed out the cakes and if they wanted any more tea we would get it for them. I really liked the chocolate cupcakes!
Book Review
In September P567 started reciprocal reading groups. My group was Joe,Eva and Kaya we were reading Vivian French’s book The Robe Of Skulls. It was about a lady called Lady  Lamorna and she was a woman who was buying a dress with skulls on it. She did not have enough money to buy it so she grabbed her assistant Gubble, he is a troll. She told him to get two donkeys for a journey for getting gold from castles. Eventually they introduce a girl who gets locked in a basement because of her step father Mange. Gracie’s mother had died so she lived her whole life also with her step sister except the whole story changes. They go on a quest and everyone has fun. I enjoyed reading this horror style fairytale.
