Month: March 2013

Burns Birthplace Museum – Emma Drennan

On Monday the 18^th of March 2013, the pupils of Leswalt Primary School jumped on a James King bus and the first question was; “I wonder what it will be like at the museum?”

They were going to the Burns Birthplace Museum because their topic was Scotland and they had learned wonderful Scottish poems in January.

As all 37 pupils arrived at the museum, they split into two groups.  They were primary 5-7 and primary 1-4.  The 5 to 7 group headed off down Poets’ Lane, which was a long path which took you to the museum.

At the museum they went to the Whispering Gallery, that was where they saw Robert Burns’s actual writing desk (where he wrote most of his poems).  They moved into the next room where there were interactive games and sounds to do with Robert Burns.

From there they moved onto the gift shop with lots of different items to buy.  After the gift shop we walked to the Burns Monument and it was huge.  They went up it in groups of 6.  It was very steep, from the top they could see the Brig ‘O’ Doon

They headed off to the ‘Auld Kirk’ (that was where Tam ‘O’ Shanter shouted “weel done cutty sark!”).  It was all in ruins.

They walked to the Education Pavilion to eat their lunch.  After a while they went into a room where they tried on costumes and headed out to Robert Burns’s cottage.  There were four different rooms, they were; the kitchen /living-room / dining room / bedroom, the Spence, the byre and the barn.  The kitchen was one of their favourite rooms because they could not believe that seven people had to sleep in one tiny bed.

 While in the education pavilion the Primary 1-4 class were learning about how times have changed since Robert Burns was alive.  The younger pupils even made some butter, using different utensils.  Mrs Baillie had to taste all of the different butters blindfolded, to see which one she thought was the best!

 All of the children enjoyed the trip, especially the cottage.  They learned more about the tale of Tam ‘O’ Shanter. 

The boys and girls at Leswalt Primary had a fun day on Friday 15^th March when they all arrived at school in their pyjamas to help raise money for Comic Relief.

As well as paying for the privilege of wearing their nightwear to school the pupils also had the “Great Leswalt Bake off” and sold off delicious home baking.  And, all week the school had been selling the official red noses to pupils.

Primary1-4 had been working very hard on their enterprise business this term.  “Smarty Pants” was the company formed by Mrs Wither and the younger class.  They created and sold fridge magnets, book marks and ornaments, with a Scottish theme.   After calculating their costs the pupils are donating all profits to Comic Relief.

Primary 5-7 designed and sold their Scottish quiz sheets – with the eventual winners being the Anderson family.

In the afternoon of 15^th March the whole school came together with parents and family to watch “Leswalt’s got talent”.  Pupils signed up to audition for Mrs Baillie and the finalists performed in front of the judging panel which consisted of Harold Mc Cracken, Nina Agnew, Claire Agnew and Mrs Mc Knight.   There was a wide variety of talent on display from saxophone and piano playing to singing, dancing and cheerleading. After all 12 acts had performed the judges had the difficult job of selecting the winners. Millie and Ethan Smith did a wonderfully choreographed dance routine together, and were rewarded for their efforts with chocolate Easter eggs.

After all the fun the boys and girls of Leswalt raised £250 for Comic relief.