TodayPrimary 4-7 took part in their first Sound Trap input and wow- what a fantastic digital learning experience! 💻Pupils were working in partners to develop their sound engineering skills, with the guidance and help from Mr John Dinning and I, for one, am truly in awe at their DJing skills already🎶. Children can access and share their music at home on www.soundtrap.com
Our upper class were delighted to welcome Robert McCrorie, a Community Safety Advocate from the Fire and Rescue Community Safety Team. He spoke to the pupils about staying safe around fireworks and Bonfire Night celebrations. 🎇
Robert covered important safety topics including fireworks, sparklers, and bonfires, highlighting potential hazards. Hannah gave a great demonstration on how to hold a sparkler safely—at arm’s length and without waving it around—unfortunately nobody offered to do a demo of the vital Stop, Drop and Roll technique in case clothing catches fire. 👩🚒🔥
The session also explored what should never be added to a bonfire and the reasons why, along with key rules and regulations for purchasing and using fireworks responsibly. 🎇🎆
Collaborating Cora
Critical Thinking Chris
Initiate Ivy
Article 19 – Protection from violence, abuse, and neglect: Children have the right to be protected from all forms of harm. Learning how to stay safe around fireworks and bonfires supports this right.
Article 6 – Right to life, survival, and development: Teaching children how to prevent accidents and respond to emergencies (like Stop, Drop and Roll) helps safeguard their well-being and development.
After lunch we kick started our Halloween party by judging the winners of Mrs Adams’ pumpkin carving competition which was judged by our house captains Rachael and Colin and the teachers. It was a very difficult decision as there were so many creative entries but in the end, we whittled it down to three pumpkins from each class.
And the winners were.. Drumroll… 🥁
P1-3 – Leo, Jorgie and Phoebe
P4-7 – Lily, Keira and Eilidh
Well done, and thank you everyone for your hard work at home! 🎃
Next up was the costume competition, which again was very, very tricky to judge.. but after much deliberation the Captains decided on their winners 🎃😈🐺🧛♀️👻🦇.
P1 – Leo
P2 – Erin
P3 – Jorgie
P4/5 – Hannah
P6/7 Colin
Then, when all the serious business was finished, we let loose with some dancing and games. We had fun playing spooky corners, musical statues, musical bumps, pass the pumpkin and dunking for apples.🍎
We finished off with a quick dance off to decide who today’s best dancer was well done Ellis, great moves! 🕺💃
Today some witches, clowns, vampires, cats and even Kevin the Minion took part in the Parent Council’s first ever Halloween Hike around the Wetlands – and what an un-boo-lievable time we had! 👻🧛♂️🦇🙀
Our walking trail started in the Wetland’s outdoor classroom and took us up over the bridges, down the Kirkland hill and back to school (a big walk for little feet)! Along the way, we stopped at 5 check points and completed some spooky challenges – dancing the Monster Mash, mixing a cauldron and climbing through a Spider’s Web! 🕸🧟
Back at school, we were treated to some hot chocolate (with cream and marshmallows of course) and some sweets from the Parent Council!
A huge big thank you to Lauren Paton and the volunteers to gave up their morning! 🕷🎃
Primary 1-3 started a weekly block of Rugby training today – taken by staff from Wigtownshire Rugby club.
Our younger pupils enjoyed all the fun activities, and the brief shower of rain only served to help make the ground and them all the muddier! It was certainly big smiles, and big fun all round.
Meta Skills being developed-
Resilience Players face intense physical and mental challenges—bouncing back from setbacks, injuries, or a tough loss is crucial.
Collaboration Rugby is a team sport through and through. Success depends on trust, communication, and working together under pressure.
Adaptability Game plans shift, opponents surprise you, and conditions change. Being able to adjust quickly is a major asset.
Decision-Making Whether it’s choosing when to pass, kick, or tackle, players need sharp judgment in split seconds.
Self-Leadership Staying disciplined, motivated, and focused—especially when things get tough—is vital for personal and team growth.
Emotional Intelligence Managing emotions, reading teammates’ moods, and staying composed helps maintain team cohesion and performance.
🏉 UNCRC Rights Fostered Through Rugby
UNCRC Article
Right
How Rugby Supports It
Article 31
Right to play and leisure
Rugby provides structured and enjoyable opportunities for recreation and social engagement.
Article 15
Freedom of association
Children learn to be part of a team, form friendships, and collaborate with peers.
Article 12
Right to be heard
Players are encouraged to express opinions, contribute to team decisions, and reflect on their experiences.
Article 29
Goals of education
Rugby promotes personal development, respect for others, and preparation for responsible life in a free society.
Article 24
Right to health
Physical activity through rugby supports physical and mental well-being.
This term, Primary 4-7 have been learning about renewable energy sources and ways we can save energy and make eco-friendly choices! After the October break, we will be learning about Sustainability and what we can do day-to-day for a better future! To make this big topics seem relevant to us in little Leswalt we had asked to visit the new housing development to find out how they make sustainable choices in their new land development. 🏘
This morning, we buddied up with our friends from Kirkcolm as well as site manager Ross and his colleague Sophie from McTaggart Construction and made our way across to the building site in our snazzy hi-vis vests! We were given a tour of the plot, where Ross explained all the adaptations they make to their houses to ensure sustainable living; from foam insulations, to wood identification trails to make sure they know exactly where the timber frames were grown.🌲🏘 ♻️
Afterwards. we invited Ross and Sophie back to Leswalt to show us how the experts do it and build some houses of our own! 🏡 We used cardboard boxes and MakeDo kits to build a sustainable house of our own and absolutely loved using the bolts and tools to do it! So much so, that McTaggart Construction have kindly offered to purchase for us to use in school! 🎁📦
*Disclaimer, the Leswalt housing will be much sturdier, and will include roofs
We had an absolutely super morning, and love every opportunity for the upper classes to get together for fun projects! A big thank you to Sophie and Ross from McTaggart Construction for taking the time to show us around the housing development and their very generous donation of the MakeDo kits for us to keep working on our building skills in school 🙂!
This term, the Primary 4-7 class have been working hard to save up their “class cash”. This week the managed to secure £1000 in savings and decided the only logical thing to do would be spend in on having a “Fondue Party!🤑 We enjoyed a selection of fruit and chocolatey goodies dipped into some delicious melted chocolate🍫. A super end to a super term! Well done Team P4-7! 😋
On Thursday afternoon, the boys are girls made the wet and wild journey over to Leswalt Church with their tatties, beans and carrots to celebrate Harvest. Reverend Marlene led a fantastic service, we loved sharing with her our crisps and sandwich picks! The boys and girls performed some beautiful songs; “Thank you for Almost Everything” was sang P4-7 and the little class gave a very cute rendition of “Big Red Combine Harvester” before everyone came together to sing “5 a day” We finished off with another sing of The Big Red Combine from 1-3 (it was too cute not to!) 😊
On Friday morning, Mrs Kyle, Mrs Baillie and our brave P6’s and 7’s headed around the village to delivery some bags filled with our lovely harvesty foods to Leswalt’s community member! We thoroughly enjoyed our door hopping! The perfect way to brighten up a wet and wild weekend with some wholesome foods 🙂🍲
Thank you to everyone who joined our celebrations at Leswalt Church and the kind food donations. A big shout-out to the Baxters and their hens for the very generous egg donation, Papa John and his committed green fingered gardening club (Leo) for their (giant!!) carrots and onions!🥕🥔🌽
As James said ” The Leswalt community is so nice!” We definitely agree! 💕
Meta Skills
Creative Cassidy Communicating Cate
Collaborating Cora
Article 14 – I have the right to have my own thoughts and beliefs and to choose my religion, with help from my parents
This morning Leswalt opened our doors a little earlier to welcome our first crew of breakfast clubbers! On the menu this morning Mrs Kyle whipped up a delightful array of continental options – yogurt, cereal, toast and fruit. Just like the toaster, the first day of the breakfast was popping off with lots of happy, smiley faces enjoying their breakfasts, with some sampling many of the choices on offer – I think its fair to say the first day was a big success and we hope it continues to make everyone smile! I for one would love Mrs Kyle to serve me my breakfast each morning 🍌👩🍳🍽🍞
After breakfast some of the girls had a little play of the games on offer, including hungry hippos – but luckily there is no chance of any of them in the building now! 🤤 This breakfast club is funded by a successful grant application to Bright Start breakfast club to give our little people exactly that – a bright start to their day!
Meta Skills – Collaborating Cora, Communicating Cate
Article 27 – The right for children and young people should be able to have the food and housing they need to reach their full potential.
On Monday, we welcomed Richard Patchett back into school to do some outdoor maths with us! Richard had kindly collected some branches for us and we made sling-shots using elastic! Using the conkers we collected on Friday afternoon from the Wetlands and some kind conker donations, we (safely) launched conkers using our slingshots (Risk assessment assured😏). The aim was to launch the conkers to hit the target and use their adding strategies to tally up their scores! Such a fun, hands on opportunity for children to use their maths skills!
Tuesday – Big Maths with our Big People ✖️➕➖➗
On Tuesday afternoon, both classes welcomed their families into school to show off our Big Maths! Whether you’re Primary 2 or Primary 7, Big Maths is a big deal! We had a fantastic afternoon showing off our Clic Tests and the strategies we use to reinforce number operations and facts. We then tested our quick number fact recall with our Learn In Tests, with the added fun of our families joining in with the Primary 6-7 test! 😆Primary 1’s had fun with their big people in the hall, playing some fun games and showing off how we use Numicon to reinforce number recognition.🔢👨👩👧👦
Photoshop Filter Fun 🔣🖼
On Tuesday afternoon, Primary 4-7’s captured some of Leswalt’s beautiful landscapes; from still waters to winding paths, rowed up fields and autumnal trees at the Wetlands🍂🌳🌿 Back at school, the pupils worked hard to edit their photographs using the iPads ‘edit’ function. We looked at percentages and how the increase and decrease in saturation, vibrancy or sharpness percentages can really alter the shot. We experimented with the percentage combinations on our own shots and feel very proud of the Instagram worthy shots we have created!
James and Murray
Eilidh and Keira
Hannah and Lily
Colin and Ben
Rachel and Rebecca
Wednesday – On Wednesday both classes played some fun maths games indoors, Primary 4-7 played an all-time favourite – SPLAT! to practise their tables and number fact fluency! Miss Douglas had created a fun Kahoot Quiz to compete against each-other to solve maths word problems!✖️➕➖➗
Thursday – Chasing Shadows: Maths Measurement 🌞
This term, P1-3 have been learning about the sun, moon and stars. Today’s mission was to explore the movement of the sun throughout the day, by measuring their shadows at different times. With the help of their P4-7 buddies, they headed out early this morning to measure their shadows in the morning sun – afterwards, they predicted what would happen later in the day, would they move? would they get bigger or smaller? ☀️
Later on, they tested out their predictions by re-measuring their shadows, before and after lunchtime. 📏They were amazed to see that their shadows were not the same length as in the morning, and some were pointing in a different direction too. Some fun hands-on maths fun in the sunshine!
Friday – Mandala Maths in the Mud! 🍂🌳⚪
This afternoon Primary 4-7 ventured up the Wetlands to create some Mandala Pattern Art, practising some of the symmetry and rotation we have been learning as part of our shape focus in Maths! We collected sticks, stones, conkers and feathers and used these to create unique mandala patterns!
Phew! We’ve had a fantastic week and luckily some fantastic weather to celebrate Maths in Nature as Part of Scotland’s National Maths Week! 😆
