What age can your child be left alone? When can they drink? We answer parents’ frequently asked questions about legal milestones in their children’s lives
STRAMASH!
On Tuesday the 19th of September P6/7s from Islay and Jura went to Oban for the fabulous Stramash trip. At first I didn’t feel too sure about going but as it got closer I felt more and more exited. We were on the ferry first and then the bus for 1 hour in order to get to the hostel. By the time we were in Oban we had already got told who was in our groups and who was in our rooms. After the chat we went into our groups and discussed what we were unsure about and what we were exited for. That night we had already been in our rooms so we went and played games at the lovely Ganovan beach and grass. We played fun games in our groups but by then I just wanted to go to bed.
The next morning I woke up to a shock when I found out we were doing canoeing in about an hour, I wasn’t really sure about canoeing so it just made it even worse when I found out I had to wear a wetsuit! At the end of canoeing I found it WAS really fun so it made me more confident about the rest of the week. That afternoon we were doing coasteering, another one I wasn’t to sure about! I thought it was just jumping off a rock into the sea but that was a small part of it. You had to climb rocks with barnacles on them then at the end you got to jump of the rock which was fun. That night we got to go swimming, the pool had a big slide in it so I went down it. My friend Taylor also belly flopped into the pool!Â
On Thursday morning my group was going gorge walking so I had to put on another wetsuit sadly. We got into the bus and drove to the gorge. Once I saw the currents I knew it would be fun so I had a go at going down on my back. I knew whatever I did I would be happy with but this one was even more fun than I thought, it was so deep at the waterfall I couldn’t touch the bottom. We carried on up the woods until it came to a dead end then we went to the hostel to have lunch. There was lots of different instructors for each activity. After lunch my group did an adventure walk to the woods then a castle. Some of my friends that went before me said it was rubbish but when we got to light a fire it got interesting because it took my friend Craig 32 tries with the Swedish fire stick to light a fire. We then drew a picture of what we could hear and see. We then set off to the castle. Once we got to the bottom of the hill at the castle the instructor said a story about a whale a guy and a girl attached to the whales heart. After that we got to the castle and saw an eagle. That excellent day we had a bonfire that night so we got to toast marshmallows on it.Â
The last day we only had one activity left that was rock climbing. Once we got to the amazing Ganovan beach and grass we walked to the rocks. I never knew how much equipment you needed to wear until he explained that it was so safe. The first rock we climbed was easy. I did it with Robbie from Keils then we moved on to the next rock! It was scary at first because it was big but when I started I was up there in seconds. We had the choice to abseil down but I didn’t but some people did. Â
Overall I achieved making friends, rock climbing, abseiling, gorge walking and coasteering. The one that I found most challenging was coasteering because of the wave splashing up on to you. I found gorge walking the funnest because you got to float down the gorge. I also found rock climbing boring because you had to wait but when it was your turn it was so fun. I was scared of jumping of rocks and swimming in the sea but when I finished coasteering I overcame my fear. Overall Stramash was brilliant and I did stuff I would of never thought I would of and I would certainly go back to Oban for Stramash.  Â
By Jack
Boat Building
As part of our Transport topic, P1/2/3 have been learning about boats, what makes them float and then designing and building their own. Â We have also learned that engineers design boats and more about the design process – tying in well with our Rolls-Royce Science Prize project for the year.
Viral Trends 2: the sequel
Viral challenges continue to shape a lot of young people’s experiences online. fare harmless and just good fun, but some are more sinister and could pose risks. Here’s what parents need to know
Naves Soaps
On Monday 18th September Nave was selling soaps to the school and for a big soap it was 50p and for a small soap it was 10p. At the end of the day Nave counted up all the money and they raised £16.80. That £16.80 is going to our school breakfast club so that we can buy some food for it. Things that we are hoping to buy with the money that we raised; Bread, chocolate spread, fruit, rolls, cereal, butter, jam, cheese and eggs.
Port Ellen Primary P6/7 Engineering
P6/7 are learning about engineering. We have drawn and annotated a picture of a engineer and discussed what and engineer is. We have found out different types of engineers there are (electrical, biotechnology, chemical engineers, etc.)Â We have watched a video of a engineer and videos on what an engineer is. We have done research about a type of engineer and we wrote the facts down on a piece of paper.
We have found out that you need to be good at linear algebra to be a computer engineer. We also found out that that coding engineers work with a lot of other types of coding engineers, such as programmers. We can’t wait to do some of our own engineering. Watch the video on engineering below…
FARMING ON ISLAY
Islay is a beautiful island off the west coast of Scotland, and one of the reasons it is so lovely is because farmers work hard to keep the land the way it has looked for generations, conserving the environment. But the land has also influenced how and what types of farming happen on Islay. As an Island the costs of transport are also an important consideration, as is the weather. All these factors contribute to the difficulties and successes of farming beef, sheep and barley on Islay.
Farming on Islay is very important to Islay’s landscape and the farmers that work hard to get paid and have more than just one job but two! The farmers on Islay have kept the landscape as it was years ago. The farming on Islay gives jobs to many people so that they can make money and live their lives as the years pass by.
The main land types found on Islay are rough grazing, grassland, peat bog and moorland.  Grassland is low lying and is used by farmers to grow grass for silage, grass to feed animals and can also be used to grow barley; this is the most useful land for farmers, but in the winter it gets very wet and muddy and can’t be used to keep animals on.  Rough grazing land can’t be used to grow grass or crops, it tends to be hilly with plants like heather, rushes and patches of rough grass.  Animals can graze it, although it is mostly used by sheep.  Rough grazing is useful in the winter because it stays dry, drains well and you can overwinter animals on it.  It can’t be used to grow vegetables or crops because it is stoney and the soil is poor.   Peatbogs are of no use to farmers as animals can get stuck in the bogs and the grazing is too poor. Farmers on Islay often drain the land to keep it dry enough to grow grass. Because of the limits imposed by the type of land on Islay, the main farming is Beef and Sheep, with a little barley production.
Islay has a wonderful type of weather for grass which has mainly rain and wind with a tint of sunshine as there is hardly any snow or frost on the island. The normal temperatures varies as seasons pass as in the summer there is more sun and it is not as rainy as autumn or winter as in winter it is mainly rainy and windy but it is still sometimes sunny. The lowest average temperature on islay is 3’c. In autumn the weather is changing to winter and during that there is sometimes gale force winds and there is about 130mm of rain through the season. In summer the weather becomes less rainy and becomes more sunny.
Islay is an island than can only be reached from the mainland by ferry or plane. This means farmers have to pay to get their produce off the island and also pay extra to get the equipment and resources they need to farm on the island. As a result of this farmers on Islay struggle to compete financially with those on the mainland. For example, fertilizer and concentrates need to be brought over on container ships and unloaded onto lorries. This means fertilizer and concentrates cost more for Islay farmers. The type of farming that can happen here is also affected by transport; milk, soft fruits and other products will go off when transported for long periods of time so are not farmed on Islay. However, sheep and cattle are easy to transport over time, and the barley that is grown is sold locally. So farmers on the mainland have an advantage over famers on Islay.
Investigating wheels
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As part of our transport topic, P1/2/3 wanted to find out about wheels. Â They found lots of tyres out in the garden and checked out wheels on cars in the car park and bikes in school. Â They found out that wheels are attached to axels and have written to Mr MacKerrell at the garage to see if they can find out more about how cars work.
A girl’s beauty confidence starts with her mother
How a secret code between parents and their child could help protect young people when they have problems. Read our advice from the Dove Self-Esteem Project
Saving made simple
Tips to help children learn to save and manage money in the real and online worlds.
What is an Engineer?
P1/2/3 have been wondering about engineering and what engineers do? Â Evie (P1) thinks that engineers ‘fix cars’ and are ‘always men but sometimes ladies’ while Iona in P2 thinks engineers can be ‘boys and girls’ and that engineers make boats.
We asked these questions as part of a baseline assessment for the Rolls-Royce Science Prize. We will be asking children to revisit these ideas at the end of the project and see how their views have changed.
Look for the good: positive role models
Parent Info has partnered with the Dove Self-Esteem Project to offer parents advice and information to help children and young people build confidence and feel good about themselves. In this article, we look at how teenagers can feel pressur
Creating a positive personal style
Lorraine Kelly helps children and young people boost their body confidence with help from the Dove Self-Esteem Project
Digital resilience: a parent’s guide
Parent Info’s partner organisation, Parent Zone, began the conversation about the importance of promoting digital resilience in children and young people with its 2014 report with the Oxford Internet Institute,
The Local Mod
On Saturday 9th September the joint choir, gaelic choir and individual competitors performed at the local mod in Islay High School. Both choirs came back with trophies for the unison, peurt ubeil and two part competitions. Lots of individuals came back with medals for poems, solo’s, duets and instruments. Mrs MacDonald was very pleased with all the trophies that the joint choir and the gaelic choir won.
Rolls-Royce Science Prize- Find out more!
We are pleased and proud to announce Port Ellen is one of 6 finalists in the Rolls-Royce Science Prize 2017-18! We are going to be carrying out a year long project on engineering and renewables. Read more about the prize taken from the Rolls-Royce Website below:
About the prize
The Rolls-Royce Science Prize is an annual awards programme that helps teachers implement science teaching ideas in their schools and colleges. The Prize recognises and rewards excellence in Science teaching across the full spectrum of teaching, from special education needs to high ability pupils. It also promotes innovative and sustainable strategies for teaching science which addresses a specific need in the schools or colleges and at the same time contributes to teachers’ continuing professional development.
Welcome to Primary 1
Welcome to our new Primary 1 children.
NEW SCHOOL YEAR
Download a FREE parent guide to boosting children’s self-esteem
The Dove Self-Esteem Project has worked with experts from the fields of psychology, body image, self-esteem, eating disorders and media representation to create a resource offering parents advice on how to identify self-esteem issues you think may
Five tips for starting a new school
Five tips to help your child tackle their first week at a new school with ease and confidence.
Picnic Lunch
On Tuesday 27th we had a picnic lunch to celebrate us winning the STEM awards. When we went down for lunch, everyone was excited because there was music playing. We got told there would be a surprise at the end but we didn’t know what it would be. Everyone was dancing and then we went up to get lunch. There was cakes and sandwiches. After we all got told to look out the door and when we looked out we seen and heard the ice cream van. We then got told we were getting ice cream. Everyone was really surprised. We went outside to eat our ice cream and when we came back in we watched the movie sing. It was fun!
Skin Care And The Beauty Industry Endeavour
Endeavour is a long term person topic of your own choice that has to be ambitious and is carried out all through the year.
My endeavour was on skin care and the beauty industry. I chose this because of Lush. Lush is a well known brand because it is all organic and doesn’t test on animals and I wanted to be able to know how to look after my skin and make products.
In my endeavour I was able to make my own recipe book, which had recipes I had made. I made products to sell. I made a video on how to make lip balm. I had a poster all about animal testing, I also had research and I had a sway that I added to as my endeavour progressed. I also had my Aunty Bam in for an interview because she use to run Body Shops and knows all about working in the industry. I also learned about the chemistry behind products.
I had to over come problems when I was learning about allergies. I had to keep on checking if the information was reliable.
This year I definitely improved my time management and I was definitely more organised that I was previous years.
The reasons why my endeavour was ambitious was because I had to learn how to follow recipes, I learn about things I didn’t really know about, I also learnt how to write recipes out. I learnt how to make different products.
I want to say a thanks to everyone who helped me. My Aunty Bam for coming in and helping me. My Gran and Papa for letting me use their computer and my Mum for buying me ingredients.
By Eva Munro
Horse Care And Instructing
My Endeavour was Horse Care and Instructing, through my Endeavour I achieved how to teach someone to ride, a leaflet on diseases, a model horse that is labelled and a poster about safety and care about horses. I chose this Endeavour because it was challenging on what horse care actually is and what it takes t own a horse and how much it costs.
Endeavour is an independant project we chose to work on from October to June then we share it with family and friends who want to come to the school and see what we ahve learnd. The P7s also go to the High School to share it there aswell to get to know more people and what they have learned.
The skills I learned through out my Endeavour is to be organised all the time and also to watch my time on stuff. In the video I made I thought about editing and that was a struggle. I lost my video half way through my Endeavour so i had to try find all the videos and edit again so that was a struggle so i learned to keep work on a school computer.
In my Endeavour I learned a lot new things, I learned how important safety actually is and how much is costs to buy a horse. Also how to draw horses much better that I did.
Problems I over came in endeavour are my video where it is and what I made my model horse with but I slowly over came these problems.
I shared my learning in a video and on the endeavour day and also on a poster.
I am thankful for the people who helped me through out my Endeavour. The people who helped me are Mrs Clark with my model horse, Harriet at Ballavicar for letting me use her horses and my sister for helping me edit my video.
Natalie
charlie’s endeavour review
Charlie’s Endeavour review
Introduction
What is Endeavour?
Endeavour is a long term planning that you start in October until June. When you are in P567 you will start Endeavour. In June you will present your endeavour.
How helped me with my endeavour?
Andrew Campbell helped me with my endeavour because he gave me lots of photos and a website that shows me when the boats were made? How much they cost in total.
Problems I Overcame?
I overcame how to start up a Blog and how to make a map and a Calmac boat.
Skills I Learned?
How to make a blog and a map of Islay and the mainland.
How Was It Ambitions?
It was ambitions because lots of people put money into a bowl for the Calmac workers that helped me.
What I Learned?
I learned how to draw a Calmac ferry on a Promethean.
Sharing your learning?
On Monday 19th June we had our Endeavour Fair.
Photography
Endeavour is when you get to choose your own project and do it for the whole year. For this year’s project I choose to do photography because I really like taking photos and I really wanted to see what it was like to take photos and display them to lots of people. Only p5/6/7 do Endeavour but the rest of the school do mini projects. This year I achieved lots, I also learnt new things, I had to overcome lots of problems and I learnt new skills.
I learnt lots of things ; learnt how to take photos, how to hold a camera properly and how to print photos. I learnt some skills ; learning how to write an email, time management, learning how to use a printer, learning how to use photo paper and be organized. I came across a big problem. The big problem was the camera died when I was in the middle of taking a photo, I also got an even bigger problem that the printer ran out of ink. My mum helped me print my photos and she also showed me how to use the printer. Mrs Macfarlane helped me make my photo booth and so did my mum, Mrs Clark gave me some props to go with my photo booth.
By Abi Logan
Magic Endeavour
When you go into p5/6/7 you do endeavour. Endeavour is a long term project that lasts from December to June. When you do endeavour it has to be something you have never done before and it has to be ambitious. This year my endeavour was magic. My endeavour was ambitious because I doing magic is a really big push and you need to be very patient and I have never done magic before and I wanted to try it out. I chose magic because I have seen my dad going around the house doing his magic and I want to be like him one day. Also I have seen dynamo on the TV and I have always wondered how you do the magic tricks so I decided to give it a go. Throughout this endeavour I have achieved lots of things, developed new skills, I learned new things, I had to overcome problems, get help and then I shared my learning with the rest of the school and some of their parents.
For this endeavour I have achieved lots of things like learning eight tricks, a sway about famous magicians and some from the past, a magic show for the nursery, a poster about different types of magic on them, and I did a magic trick on the laptop and in that movie I was through the monitor reading people’s minds. I also developed new skills throughout endeavour. One of the skills I developed was being patient when learning the tricks because you won’t just learn the trick in a night you will have to be patient and keep on practicing, I also had to manage my time well because sometimes you set yourself to much and you don’t have time to do it all but make sure you set yourself a reasonable amount to do and I had to be organised as well I had to be organised because I had to remember all of my things to learn my magic with.
Also when you do endeavour you will have problem you had to overcome. One of my problems with my endeavour is learning the tricks and getting them perfect, another problem that happened throughout my endeavour was being organised because I mostly forgot all of my magic tricks. When you do your endeavour you write to someone that knows things about your endeavour. This year I wrote to Dynamo and so far he has not sent a letter back. I also got help from my dad he has taught me all of the sneaky trick when you are doing the tricks and he helped me learn the magic tricks. My mum also helped me with the posters and putting on the QR code they have been very helpful.
When everyone has finished their endeavour at the start of June all of our mum’s and dad’s will come in and sees your endeavour and other people’s endeavours. I had lots of things to show at the endeavour fair. At the endeavour fair I thought that my endeavour was good and I think that some people liked that video that I made. Most of family came in to see my endeavour and I think they thought it was a good endeavour fair. I thought that there was a lot of good endeavours there and soon enough I wat to be as good as my dad at magic and as good as dynamo. Some day! Here is a little bit of advice for you don’t do something to difficult, don’t expect yourself to get lots done and do well!
Rowan Morris
Holly Birds Endeavour
Endeavour is a long-term project that you can pick to do all through the year for my endeavour was birds. For my endeavour I made three bird boxes, bird food, a sway, a book creator, a photo album of what I’ve done for my endeavour and what I’ve saw, a scrap book with photos I printed out and writing to explain about the photos.
When I was doing endeavour I had a lot of problems to overcome like making my sway, getting photos for my book creator, measuring the right size for my bird box, figuring out how to layout my stuff at the endeavour fair, how I was going to finish everything in time for the endeavour fair.
The skills I learnt through my endeavour is how to blog, how to make a sway, how to make a book creator, how to manage my time, patience, how to build bird houses, how to do a good layout, how to give a report.
My endeavour is ambitious because I didn’t know a thing about birds. Also because I planned to do a lot of things that are very challenging like building a bird box but instead of building one I built three, I also planned to make a sway all about migration, to make a book creator that related to everything in my endeavour, to learn all about bird anatomy, and share my learning with others.
A lot of people kindly helped me with my endeavour like David wood who was a big help he gave me tones of great facts about bird migration and he told me about what they do at work and why they do it. Mrs Macintyre was also a big help because she let me come into the nursery and do the bird watch with everyone.
At the endeavour fair you have to share your learning with others. When people came to my stall they asked me a lot of questions like why I chose birds as my endeavour, what I have done for it and they just asked me about the birds and other questions. I am very pleased with my endeavour and what I’ve achieved throughout endeavour.
By Holly Mckechnie
Endeavour Rebecca
Endeavour is a long term project that primary 5/6/7 work on. You can choose what you do yourself but it can’t be something you already know how to do, it has to be something new and ambitious. We do endeavour so that we can learn and be independent and not get your teacher to do it for you. This also means that you can learn for yourself and learn new skills.
When I was doing endeavour a developed lots of new skills. I learned how to use wix, how to be organised, time management and presentation skills. These skills have helped me a lot with my endeavour because usually I am not very organised and I think that this endeavour has helped me be more organised.
With this endeavour I have learned how to use a website builder called wix. For my endeavour I was creating a website for kids and what they can do on Islay. My website was called Islay Kidz Information. I wanted to make my website for kids because I am a child and I live on Islay and I would like children to know what a good island Islay is and what they can do on it.
I think that my project was ambitious because I have never made a website before and it was hard to get used to wix but I got there in the end. To share my learning I showed people my website and I asked them to evaluate my endeavour. I also made a quiz for them to do at my stall so that they wouldn’t be bored.
My Mum and Dad helped me with my endeavour because my Mum helped me with my website and my Dad took the videos that are on my website with his drone. I remember one day my Mum was helping me with my website and she deleted all of the writing on that page and we both got really annoyed. I also accidentally deleted a page and it was the only page I had completed.
When I was building my website I had to overcome a lot of problems. I deleted a whole page and my Mum deleted all of my writing as well. I was really proud with what I achieved this year for my endeavour.
You can see my website here: https://islaykidz.wixsite.com/islaykidz
Animation Endeavour By Sophie
Every Wednesday in the afternoon we do endeavour, endeavour is when you chose a topic to learn about and present stuff at the endeavour. For my endeavour I chose animations. I chose animations because as a kid I loved watching cartoons, my favourite was probably morph. Morph was a guy made out of clay that did silly things like annoy his friends and that kind of stuff, the cartoon morph was an animation!
At the endeavour fair I presented my Lego animation that I made for rejig, the animation was about how people drop litter on the beach and how they don’t think about what it can effect. The skills I learned while doing my endeavour was patience, time management and learning to use imotion. Imotion is the app I used to make my animations.
During my endeavour I learned that no matter how hard you try in your endeavour, you will still make mistakes. I made a lot of mistakes in my animations like; my hand getting in the way or the camera moving out of place or that I moved the character in the animation too far. Making animations is actually very stressful!
The problems I had to overcome was iPad glitches or that the animation was too short or something like that. Animations was a new learning for me because I had never made Animations before and I had never made animation be for either. It was a bit tricky at first but I got there in the end.
The person that helped me with my endeavour was Mrs Clark, she taught me how to make animations and how to keep the camera steady, and she also showed me how to get good lighting so thank you Mrs Clark! I shared my learning by putting my animation on a key and they I put it on the screen at the endeavour fair with a lode of other amazing videos. For people that do endeavour next year I just want to say whatever you chose you need to make it interesting or else it won’t be as good as an endeavour project that you will enjoy! Good luck to people next year!
Taylor’s Endeavour on Sports on Islay
Endeavour last from December to June which means we have seven months to prepare for endeavour. Endeavour is a long term personal project where you can choose a project to do and this year I done sports on Islay.
For my endeavour lots of people helped me like my dad and my mum. I was also helped by muc-off because they sent me some stuff after I write a letter to them. Muc-off sent me a signed poster, a sighed t-shirt, a hat and twenty five stickers. My dad helped me with my cycle and my mum helped me plan different routes to draw out.
To share my learning I made a documentary of me doing different sports and other people doing sports. I done a sway on all the different sports on Islay. I made a kayak from Lagavulin bay round Texa and back. I also write down on a piece of paper what I did in my endeavour.
I made my project ambisous by giving my self-time limits to get stuff done some times it did get me to work others it didn’t and I would not get that thing done which meant that the time I should be doing something else which means my endeavour won’t be as good as I want it.
I had come over a lot of problems like my computer with my documentary had to go away so I had to restart it which meant I didn’t have everything. I also had to come over that the letter I sent was sent back to me is my mum helped me send it to a new address muc-off that my mum found.
I learned that Islay do lots more sports than you actually thing Islay do football, rugby, rowing, cycling, running, kayaking, swimming and lots more. I also learnt that you can send letters to a huge company that works with big people and get replied that is breath taking.Taylors Endeavour on Sports on Islay