NEWS

On Tuesday the  27th of August, p6/7 Port Ellen Primary went on a trip to Rubha Port an t-Seilich. They met professor Steven Mithin, who talked to them about the time of Mesolithic people. They went on this trip as part of their Mesolithic topic in which they are reading the book Wolf brother.

Class pupil David Baker says”It was amazing and I learned loads of facts.” Some of the things the class learnt about were how the archaeologists found the digging site. The digging site was found by pigs and this site could be the oldest digging site in Scotland, as they have not only found Mesolithic flints they may have also found Paleolithic flints! There were two different kinds of flints found on the digging site; there were Microliths and Burlins. As well as hammer stones, limpet hammers and part of an axe head which is very rare!

Professor Steven Mithin told them all about the dig site and what they had discovered he was very about a piece of bone that was stuck in the wall of the trench. After the class looked at the trench they went down to the shore and were showed how they hosed of the soil from the artifacts and were allowed to have a go themselves. When they were allowed to have a go themselves they found Microliths, Burlins, Hammer stones and burnt hazelnut shells!

After this they went back to their school for lunch.

By Emily and Asher

In  August p6l7 held a car wash at the school. People from all around  the village  came it was great fun.The class where raising money for their exciting Stramash trip to Oban. It was  very successful we raised £241 which was very good. S0 the class are very  lucky and are very excited about their amazing trip which will attend on the 24th to the 27th of August.

At the end it turned into a bit of a water fight and we got a bit wet but instead ended up soaking our teacher it was a great day.

By Emma and Abbie

On the 24th September  Port Ellen Primary P6/7 are going to Oban to go on loads of different of adventures they are going to be doing rock climbing!, swimming!, Jumping of rocks! and archery!. They will be away for 3 nights 4 days, there are some people who aren’t going, they will be staying in school with another class so they are not alone in the classroom.

They will be going on the ferry boat to Kennacraig, then getting on a bus. Then going to the cottage where we are meeting other schools around Islay and Jura. When we get there we will have dinner and play with our friends from around Islay and Jura. It’s important to be on this trip because we will communicate and be with other various schools.

On Saturday 7th September Islay book festival was at Port Ellen Primary School.  There was four famous authors in our school called Margret Ryan, Marie Hedderwick, Matthew Fitt and Keith Charters.

Margret Ryan writes weird street and rued ca the rued. Marie Hedderwick wrote Katie Morag.  Matthew Fitt writes Scots books.  Keith Charters writes lee goes for gold, lee’s holiday showdown, lee consul[mu]tants and lee  on the dark side of the moon.

By Annie and Ciara

On the 17th of August Port Ellen Primary welcomed 14 new primary 1’s! We welcomed Rauridh Blair, Katherine Borthwick, Drew Brown, Orla Campbell, Millie Clark, Harmoni Edwards, Millie Holyoake, Scott Hope, Caitidh Johnston, Braeden Macgillvary, Morgan Mcfarlane, Charlet-rose Munro, Aiden Munro and Dearbhla Newman.

We asked 2 pupils from the new p1 class how they’re enjoying it, this is what Breaden Macgillvary said, he likes playing with the cars, trains and enjoys learning all about Katie Morag!

We also asked Millie Clark what she enjoys about being a new primary 1. She enjoys visiting the writing table and likes being in all day, because she enjoys having 3 breaks!

So we hope all the new primary 1’s enjoy being in school andare happy to be learning new things!

By Maisie and Jodie

On Friday 21st of May P6/7 showed some of the parents all about their Endeavour project. The parents walked round to see everyone’s Endeavour projects and some peoples videos were projected on to the screen.  Connor sold some crabs and some lobsters and Robbie let lots of people play his Kodu game. Eilidh made a movie on lambing and everyone saw it, Liam and Danni had made animations, Calum had built a model engine and Ellen had made a relaxing CD.  There were great comments on everything.  While we were  presenting our endeavours people went up to see p5s Titanic topic presentation, got to eat posh fish and chips in P3&4 and learned about bugs in P1&2.

By Helen

On Wednesday 12th June, Liam Campbell, Scott Kinloch ,Calum Campbell, Connor Jameson , Eilidh McMillan and Maisie Logan went away to big bang science event in Glasgow that was taking part in the  SECC and entered the Saltire competition and the Eco ferry challenge; Scott, Calum and Maisie entered the Saltire competition and Liam,Connor and Eilidh entered the Eco ferry challenge, as well as that they all  did a presentation on the science that they have done through the year.

We went to the university to test our wave power machine, Port Ellen Primary were the first to get there’s actually working and we were the only primary school that was testing their wave power device at the same time as all the secondary schools!  We were able to produce light at a high frequency in the water movement. After testing the device we went to the transport muesum, We were even aloud to go inside some trains! Inside they  had some games like  a fireman game were someone had to turn the wheel to make the  ladder that you were standing on move while, as you had to aim your hose at the fire and put it out. There was also another game were you had to row as a team to beat the white dot round but it was broken.  After looking around inside we went outside and went on the tall ship were we scrubbed the deck, and went down in the coal store, there was a play room were Calum dressed up as a pirate while Liam and Scott walked the plank!

Later that night we went to Frankie’s and Benny for dinner and went to bowling after, we had a competition, girls vs boys and the girls thrashed the boys! The next day we went to the SECC to present our presentation to the judges, we were a bit cramped at where we were set up and we had to be really loud when we were presenting because were we were doing it lots of people were talking!   It was really fun and very interesting because I learned a lot from it, and it was something that I have never done before!

By Maisie and Eilidh

P6/7 are have a levers assembly on 27th of June. We are doing it all about Doctor Who time travel BUT we go back in time instead of forward. We will go and see lots of different history events like the Vikings, Stirling battle, Highland cleaences and the Picts. But will we ever get back to the present. Come to our leavers assembly and find out what will happen to us.

By Helen

A few weeks ago we started crofting, Willie Curry and Allan Orr helped them with cutting the grass to make a dirt patch. They planted potatoes and beans in our class room, they also planted carrots and onions and rot pots. Katie and Bronagh planted cherry trees and a Burch and a rowan they also planted lettuce They enjoyed planting the peas as well, They done a very interesting test to see what tomato will grow the biggest. They also put sand down and the sand died. but the normal compost had still not growing, they planted Wheat, Barley and horse Oats.

By Katie, Bronagh and Sophie

On Monday the 27th and Tuesday 28th of May P7 from Islay went on their induction days to Islay High. When we arrived we went in to the hall but when every one else left we stayed with Mr Weatherhogg.  He gave us our temporary lunch card and our timetables.  On the first day I felt scared I would get lost but I never did, lunch was my favourite part of the day it was really good.

On Thursday 21st of March P6/7’s from every school on Islay and Jura went to Bowmore Hall to dance. We started at 10am and finished at around 12pm. We did the Canadian Barn Dance, Gay Gordans, Mrs McLeod and the Bamkin. We all liked the Flying Scotsman, Strip the Willow and the Virginia Reel. They were fun because they were fast and energetic. It was really fun dancing with children from other schools and we could meet the people we will be going to high school with. Thank you to Mrs Cameron and Mrs Shaw for teaching us all the dances and Bowmore primary for supplying juice and crisps for half time.

By Eilidh and Elinor

This year the whole of Islay are putting together a big thing where all the musical groups on Islay take part, like choirs, soloist and instrumentalists.  the reason this project is taking place is because 2 years ago (2011) the Islay feis done a famous poem by an Islay bard(poet) called William Livingstone, the poem was called The Battle of Traigh Gruinart, a very talented lady called Clare Jordan put the poem to fantastic music. All the choirs will learn the song in different parts , the junior choirs will only learn some parts whereas the adult choir will learn all the songs. It will be very tiring yet very fun and exciting.

On Tuesday 23rd April, Mrs Onions came in and talked to us about art. There was lots of different artists and paintings and we had to look at the styles and textures that the artists used. We researched lots of paintings, then we would pick our favourite one and then we had to choose what we would use to colour our pictures in. Mrs Onions also set out a bottle of wine and a bowl of fruit incase we wanted to pick that for our picture. So we all picked different ones and then we started to colour them in.

Three weeks ago we started making Eco ferries for a competition. We had great time building them. We built four prototypes and four real builds as well. There was two well built boats and two boats that were falling apart. So the two best built boats were altered and entered. One was wind powered and one was paddle and part wind and propeller. They were both made out of recycled materials and glue. Lets hope one or the other wins.  We tested them in the sea.

by Ewan and Cameron

We have a visitor called Mrs Negretti and she comes from the south of Switzerland and she speaks Italian. Instead of cars to get to their house they walk or take the cable car but if they need to deliver furniture or get to the hospital they get a helicopter. They have take the cable car or walk because there are so many mountains. Mrs Negretti teaches 3 schools and teaches them all arts and crafts. Mrs Negretti loves walking, reading,cooking, singing and dancing.

Today we had a glow meet, with our partner school in Delhi in India. We partnered up with P3/4 to ask  children from India three questions. We wanted to find out about their life style, and ask quistions like, have they ever gone camping? Have they been out of India before? What is their living space like?

We found out that they live in three story buildings, their favourite food is burger and pizza, they listen to Taylor Swift and Western music as well as traditional Punjabi music, they like Hollywood films like James Bond and they do a lot of reading.  Our Gaelic folk group also performed their first international concert playing traditional Scottish music.  It was really interesting and next time we hope to do a Glow Meet where we can celebrate Holi, the Hindu festival, together.

Primary 6/7 were learning about  wave power and decided that we would make wave power devices and my groups name was called DUNLLY!!! and we tested it in the sea. Our device had one problem at the beginning of the design, we couldn’t get the LED light to work but managed to problem solve and sandpapered the wires to get the light to flash in the waves. We changed  the light around until we managed to get it to flash, it was really hard to make it generate electricity but we managed it in the end. But I think every group had a problem. When we were making the designs we got better at our communication skills, also there was another group called The DOUGHNUT Device they had a problem it sunk instead of floating, but eventually they made electricity too.

In about three weeks p7 will be having cycling proficiency with there janitor Mr Gairns and another person who is trained to help us.  Through the course we will learn to indicate and the skills we need to learn to cycle on the road. We all have a choice whether to do it or not.  We will do some of it in our school playground and some out on the village road.  I can’t wait till I start.

By Liam and Reece