Welcome! We hope that after having a look at our blog you will find out some more information about life at little Leswalt Primary School.
It is not the quantity – but the quality that counts!
Thank you Baxter Family for our New Shed!
Look at how happy we all are!
HUGE thanks to the Baxter family for their kindness in buying our school a new shed! The previous one was sadly flattened by the storm in January and the Baxters offered to replace this with a new one and a much improved model it is too! It was a lovely surprise when they knocked on the school door with such a kind offer.
Not only this, they also built the shed for us during the Easter holidays and popped into school to see us. Now all of our bits and bobs can be stored safely. We can use it for furniture, gardening equipment, playground toys – and even have our bikes for Bikeability in it just now.
We greatly appreciate their generosity and kindness from our former pupils. It was such a lovely thing for them to so for us.
Thank you 🙂
Leswalt and Kirkcolm P7s enjoy a great morning at Stranraer Academy!
Just look at those cheery faces! P7 pupils from Kirkcolm and Leswalt headed off for a fun morning of learning at Stranraer Academy today as part of their transition process.
3rd pupils were our guides and met us at the front door to take us to the Dance Studio where we joined Sheuchan P7s for a Stranraer Academy true/false quiz with Mr Hyslop. From there, we enjoyed an Art lesson with Mrs Hyslop exploring Amsterdam street art and a Science lesson with Mrs McHallum investigating acids and alkalis.
To round our morning off nicely, we ventured to the canteen and enjoyed a tasty lunch.
Safe to say, we all had a fabulous morning!
Thanks to Stranraer Academy, Mr Hyslop, Mrs Patterson, our guides Ruby and Brogan and Mrs Hyslop and Mrs McHallum for a fun morning.
Really looking forward to those three days in June now…!
UNCRC
Articles 29 Aims of Education
Meta Skills
Adapting Aleksander, Focusing Fergus and Communicating Cate
Forest School Week 1 – Bug Hunting and Pond Dipping!
This afternoon, we were all lucky enough to enjoy the first of our 6 week block of Forest School sessions with Richard Patchett with this week’s focus being ‘Bug Hunting and Pond Dipping’!
What a brilliant time we had! The sun was shining as we all headed to the pond at Aldouran Wetlands armed with nets with the very knowledgeable Richard there to tell us what we we had caught.
From Lesser and Greater Water Boatmen to Damselfly Larvae to a Great Diving Beetle larvae and at least 5 newts – the pupils all had a great afternoon pond dipping.
Just look at these happy photos! Thank you Richard – see you next week when we will be working on…ropes!
UNCRC
Article 24 Health, Food, Water, Environment
Article 31 Rest, Play, Culture, Arts
Article 29 Aims of Education
Meta- Skills
Focusing Fergus, Collaborating Cora, Curiosity Carlos
Bikeability Fun with Mike!
P6/7 started this week on their Level 1 and 2 Bikeability course designed to ensure they are safe road users when cycling!
This week involved working in the playground and going over the basic safety rules, following a course to check their balance and accurate steering and a few fun games thrown in too!
Mike Blakeman is great fun to work with and is super knowledgeable about all things cycling related. Safe to say Tuesday mornings are going to be a HUGE hit over the next few weeks!
UNCRC Article 31 Rest, Play, Culture, Arts Article 29 Aims of Education
Meta Skills
Collaborating Cora, Adapting Aleksander, Focusing Felix
Building Resilience and Relationships – HWB sessions with Matthew from D+G Youth Work
We were delighted to welcome back Matthew Robinson D+G Youth Information Worker for a block of six sessions starting today.
The focus for our sessions is on resilience, relationships and all the skills we need to be the best we can be – in life in general but particularly with a view to our P7s heading off to Stranraer Academy after the summer break. We always have lots of fun working with Matthew and enjoy learning lots more about ourselves through the different activities.
Thanks Matthew for coming along to work with us. Roll on next week…
Meta Skills
Collaborating Cora, Integrity Imani, Communicating Cate, Feeling Felix
UNCRC
Article 12 Respect for Children’s Views
Article 13 Sharing Thoughts Freely
Leswalt S1 visit – hello again Cara and Hamish!
On Tuesday, we were delighted to welcome back Hamish and Cara who came along with Mrs Patterson to tell us a bit more about Stranraer Academy life!
It’s not even been a whole year since they were wearing their Leswalt school jumpers and how they seem to have grown up! Looking super smart in their Academy school uniforms, they shared some top tips with the P7s i readiness for their transition visits over the coming weeks.
Thanks for coming to visit us Cara and Hamish!
Finding our Inner Kung Fu Panda
This afternoon we were delighted to welcome Mark Pogson into school to do a session with the boys and girls on QiGong – a Chinese art of breathing, and meditation. They were taken through a mixture of movements and breathing techniques designed to make them feel super zen – perfect for this time in the school calendar when everything is so busy 🙈!
Both classes took part in a 30 minute session. They used their arms and legs to create different poses while imagining a ball in their arms, they used this ball to create body poses and help to control their breathing – making them very quite, concentrated and most importantly relaxed. The time just flew in and they were all surprised when the sessions ended as it felt like no time had passed ☺️🥋
A huge thank you to Mark for delivering this session, it was definitely a big hit at Leswalt Primary.
Meta Skills – Focussing Fergus
Rights – (Article 31) The right to play and relax · (Article 13) Freedom of expression
Brilliant bowling
P1-4 have been getting into bowling as part of their P.E focus this term.
Dan, Colin, Bobby and and co. from Kirkcolm Bowling club were happy to bring some of their bowling gear to the school and this gave the pupils some hands on expert experience in developing their skills in bowling and learn more about the game.
They had an excellent time and we are very grateful to the gentlemen at Kirkcolm Bowling Club to make the time and effort to come into the school and take time out of their own personal lives for us. It is much appreciated and another example in how our local community continues to support us!
Fabulous football !
⚽️ Our partnership football team kicked off their debut in style , in the Primary league on Friday. Despite the two schools never having played together as one, they did us proud on the pitch .
Our top team won two games ( and lost two) on their very first outing. ⚽️
Well done ! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Buzzing for Bikeability at Leswalt!
Today we were delighted to welcome Mike from Bikeability to our P6/7 classroom to kick-off our practical cycle sessions!
This starts officially next week but today’s session dealt with an introduction, getting to know Mike and about his lifelong interest in bikes and safety checks on our bikes. What a fabulous opportunity for us 🚲
Our sessions will take place over 6weeks and we help us to become safe and responsible cyclists – lifelong skills! Mike has been cycling since he was young and has cycled in lots of countries! He used to be a primary school teacher in Coventry and used to cycle to work on VERY busy roads. He has also completed cycle challenges (a one day 161 mile ride from the Irish Sea to North Sea challenge!), cycled the Hebridean Way Ride 2023 from Barra to Lewis and taken his bike on holidays camping on the way. He shared his love of cycling with us – a hobby which helps him to keep fit too!
Our Bikeability sessions will focus on building confidence, developing our safe cycling and road user skills and having fun! Roll on practical session 1 next week ♥️
The Cycling Code
♥️ Resilience ♥️ Respect ♥️ Kindness ♥️ Patience and a smile 😊
UNCRC
Meta Skills 👍
Initiative Ivy Communicating Cate Collaborating Cora
