A number of schools have asked us about a Parent Info poster to put up around the school or send home to parents, telling them about the service.
Well, now we have one – and here it is!
Mesolithic Storytelling-Hunt for the Beast
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Harvest Tea
On the 12th of October at Port Ellen Primary School we had a Harvest Tea for the pensioners in the village. All the children baked cakes for all the pensioners, including ginger biscuits and tray bakes from P45, scones from P123 and iced buns from P567. They enjoyed listening to Port Ellen Gaelic choir and solos and poems from some of the pupils who are going to the Mod. P5/6/7 came down to join them and we chatted with the pensioners and we got to know them and we asked them what their school was like when they were younger and other different questions. While we chatted with them, Primary 45 read out some harvest poems they had written. P123 also read out what they had written about harvest, and they had made some lovely bunting for decoration. Next year we decided to do a bingo for everyone who comes! Everyone will hopefully take part next year as everyone had a great time and had a good laugh!
Matthew and Sarah
Stone Age Phone Age
Jack and Rowan Mesolithic Sway
Kaitlyn and Darren’s Sway
OUR MESOLITHIC SWAY
Sophie and Taylor Stone Age Sway
Holly and Ruaraidh Mesolithic Sway
Struan and Lauren
RHYS AND REBECCA STONE AGE PHONE AGE
STONE AGE VERSUS PHONE AGE
Port Ellen Primary School’s Rugby Trip
On Tuesday 4th October Port Ellen primary went to Bowmore on a rugby trip with other schools on the island. First I did tag rugby and then I did skill practice and then touch rugby and then bull dogs. I learned that no matter what you have to run forward in rugby. When it was lunch time everyone ran to the grass where our pack lunch was. I had cheese sandwiches, some crisps, some ribena cartons and a banana. Then in the afternoon we only did rugby and also we got a snack which was a bottle of water and a fruit bar donated by the Islay Rugby club, who also paid for our bus which was very kind. It was very fun.
Mod 2016
This year for the Mod Port Ellen Choir are going to Stornaway. The Mod is on the 19th October. We are going to sing a puirt a bueil, and two unisons. I think we are doing pretty well so far and I am looking forward to the Mod. Some people are doing a solo, poem or a duet and I am doing the three. Soon we are going to have a fundraiser event to earn money for the costs of going to the Mod called the Pre Mod concert, we have to sing at it and some people are doing their solos, poems and duet. I am very excited to go to this mod too and I hope we will win something this year. We are going to the Mod in a short time and hopefully we will be ready for this year! We are against Bowmore Primary choir and many other choirs. We are singing at the Mod because we want to win and show people how good we are. We have learned to control our voice and to sing high and low notes very accurately a good pace when we are singing and learn and read Gaelic and sing Gaelic.
By Rowan and Kaya.
P5/6/7 Mesolithic Quest Tales
On Monday 3rd October P5/6/7 wrote Mesolithic quest tales for their clans. The clans are Orca clan, Golden Eagle clan, Artic Fox clan and Red Deer clan. Each clan had a different tale to work on and we had to have a hero to overcome a problem in the tale. While writing the quest tale we learned how to add onomatopoeia, personification, similes and metaphors into our writing and include paragraphs. Everyone in each clan gets filmed when they are telling their part of the quest tale.
Our Trip To The Woods
On Wednesday 5th October, P5/6/7 from Port Ellen Primary School went to Cairnmore woods to live in Mesolithic times. At school we all have four clans, The Golden Eagle Clan, The Arctic Fox Clan, The Orca Clan and the Red Deer Clan. In our clans we got given a leaf and we had to find out what tree the leaf came from and then when we were at the woods we had to find a tree in our clans that aaas the same tree as the leaf. We then made a den at the woods. We made a model of a village for our clan and an actual den. The Golden Eagle clan had a beach tree. The 
Arctic Fox clan had a sycamore tree. The Orca clan had an oak tree and The Red Deer clan had the ash tree. The Golden Eagle Clan had a tree and they made their den under it and made the model outside. They also had a spy hole where they could see the Orca clan who had a mud trap near them. The Arctic Fox Clan’s base was a fallen over tree that we could get over to get to our den but the rest of our base had a massive mud pile in and we used some of the mud to make our mini village. We did a hunt for sweets, this was to improve our hunter gathering skills. The Orca clan got the most sweets. We also made clay tree spirits to leave guarding our dens. We had really good fun. We learned to observe objects better than we did before. We hope to go back soon.
Making a Fire and Gutting Fish
On Wednesday 5th October p5,6,7 went on a trip to the woods. After we had made our dens and completed some challenges we went to have our lunch near the beach. When we went to the beach Mr Gairns had set up a fire for us to have our lunch round, and we had brought firewood from the woods to put on our fire. When we had finished all our lunch some of us went to gut some trout so we could put it on the fire to cook and we also got to roast home grown apples as well. We put the trout and apples on sticks to cook them and when they were cooked they tasted delicious. We also got to try other Mesolithic foods for our lunch, cockles and nuts. Not many people liked the cockles but we did like the trout and apples. It was interesting to see what food would have been like in Mesolithic times.
Percussion at Port Ellen
Port Ellen Primary School have just got some colourful, outdoor drums for our playground. The drums have been put in beside our stage which has just been done up. They look good together as they are both bright and beautiful. Ellen and Morgan think they are loud, popular and FUN! There are five sizes of drums and they all make different sounds. All the pupils and staff are very happy with them.
The school got a grant of £500 from the Fourteen Fund and the same from Diageo. The drums cost £1600 so the rest of the money came from the Parent Council. The school paid for the stage to be fixed. The pupils and staff would like to say a huge “Thank You” to everyone who helped to make it possible.
The drums are a great addition to the playground and the pupils think they are amazing.
Aiden Munro (P4) said “The drums are really good to play with because they make different sounds”. Mrs Campbell (Treasurer from the Parent Council) said “The drums look and sound fantastic”.
By Rhuraidh Blair (P4) and Aiden Munro (P4)
Primary Rugby festival Bowmore 4th October 2016
120 Children from across Islay and Jura took part in the Active Schools Primary Rugby Festival. Having already taken part in a series of coaching sessions with Allan Wright Rugby Development Officer over a series of weeks the children were looking forward to the festival. Children from P4/5 and P5/6/7 from Port Ellen took part.
During the day the children took part in several drill’s and games to develop their skills. These sessions were refereed by nine of the Islay High School Sports Leaders. The Children’s skills noticeably improved as the day progressed. A special thanks goes to the Islay Rugby club for organising some of the travel and snacks for the Children who attended.
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The Kelpies
After we had had our dinner we were going to go on a night trip to The glowing flashing Kelpies. We left our day bags in our rooms. After dinner we got into our groups that we found out when we were on the ferry. We all partnered up and then left to see the Kelpies. On the bus it was dark so everyone was excited because that would mean the Kelpies would glow up. Before we got off the bus they talked to us about being safe they had said to stay away from the canal and watch out for cars also strangers. When we got there we got of the bus and walked towards the Kelpies everyone knew they were huge because they were really big even when we were far away from them. Once we had arrived there was two huge horse heads that were glowing up, they were changing colors after about a couple of seconds. I didn’t know it was going to be two heads I thought it would be one, it was a fantastic sight.
Roald Dahl Day
On Tuesday 13th S
eptember it was Roald Dahl day! Everyone got Roald Dahl cakes and every cake had something to do with one of Roald Dahls books. We were doing art to do with Roald Dahl and at 2:30 we got to watch Matilda for a hour. It was great! Here is a picture of Bronagh with Mavis Gulliver receiving a framed copy of her BFG picture.
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Stirling University
On Thursday 15th September p6/7 from all the schools from Islay and Jura went to Stirling University and while we were there we got to dissect fish. When we were dissecting the fish I was working with Rowan and we were testing to check the bacteria in the kidney but first me and Rowan had to push away a bubble that was protecting the kidney. After we pushed away the bubble we stuck a plastic stick in the kidney to get a sample of blood to rub it on a petri plate so that when they take it out a warm fridge they would be able to see the bacteria that was in the fish’s kidney. After we dissected the fish we did a quiz that had nine questions in it and me and Rowan got 7 questions correct and two questions incorrect. When we got back outside we all got tour of the university and we even got to see what the rooms would look like. After the tour we headed back to the youth hostel.
By Rebecca Morris
swimming competition
On the 8th of September Struan and other people from Islay High School went on a swimming trip with the Dolphin to the Argyll and Clyde competition. There was five swimming teams there including Dolphins. Struan beat all his PB apart from his back stroke. The highest place he got was in breaststroke which he got 5th, the person who 6th was about 7 seconds behind. It was his first time doing 200 meter IM which means you do all the stokes two times including butterfly. He got 15th that.
P6/7 Trip To Stirling Castle
On Wednesday the 14th of September, P6/7 from all the schools on Islay and Jura went to Stirling Castle. We had to walk up a small hill just to get to the castle. When we got up to the castle we had to go into the middle of the courtyard. Then we got told by a tour guide just to go up to the main hall and wait until the woman came and told us to follow her and then we went into the grand hall. We were told that the grand hall was used for when the king was having his dinner. It was also used for dancing and it was used for the servants to sleep in. Then the woman took us over to the palace. The palace had two rooms in it. One room held all the people that the king had requested to meet. But the king only picked some of the people to meet in the other room. If you were very special you got to meet in his bedroom. The queen had the same thing two rooms and a bedroom. Then we got to go into a room when we got to dress up as characters from Mary queen of Scots times and Robert the Bruce. Then we went back to the bus and we drove of to the Bannockburn centre
By Ruaraidh Macdonald
Blair Drumming Safari Park
Most of P6/7 from Islay and Jura went on the Stirling trip on the 13th till the 16th of September.
One of my favourite parts was going to Blair Drummond Safari Park so that’s what I’m writing about today.
Me and my group (Mrs Mactaggert, Anna, Lorne, Ewan, Toby, Daisy, Ryan and Sam) started of at at the Elephant (Mondy) and it was very interesting then we went into the Rhino section. Bruce the Rhino’s Mum Dot was pregnant with her fourth calf. We also looked at giraffes but they were quite boring because they were just standing there. After that we went to look at the lions and we saw a male lion eating a calf. Then we headed to the horses and the two tigers. After we got to go see penguins, meercats and sealions. Next we went to the park and played with the amazing, gigantic wooden castle. Soon after we drove through the all the animals in the car my favourite animal I saw in the car was the zebra. But sadly after we had to leave to get to the ferry.
By Eva Munro
