Month: September 2019

P1-3 enjoyed a fabulous time at the Wigtown Book Festival today! The author of One Button Benny, Alan Windram, had the boys and girls (and adults!) up dancing and singing at what has been hailed as “the BEST Wigtown Book Festival yet!”

Ellie and Ela formed a new girl band ‘El’ and wowed us with their performance!

A great time was had by all! Many thanks to Sue Caunce for accompanying us.

That’s the Book Festival kicked off for another 10 days of literary fun this year. Go and check it out!

Today, P.C. Wilson visited P4-7 to give them an insight into her job as a member of the Emergency Services. The pupils heard about a normal day in the life of a police officer (there really is no normal day!)

P.C. Wilson explained that the main aims of the Police force are to guard, watch and patrol. They work to ensure communities are kept safe. Our area has a Road Traffic Unit to deal with accidents, speeding and any other vehicle issues and a Port Unit which deals people’s safety when going on/off the boat.

The youth section of Police Scotland (P.S.Y.V.) do lots of work locally and this is open to children from the age of 13.

She reminded them of the emergency number 999 and the non-emergency number 101 and the times when each would be used.

The children asked lots of great questions. This visit really helped their HWB understanding of Emergency Services.

What a treat we have had this week! Each pupil researched, prepared and presented a talk on a Victorian Scientist or Inventor.

From posters to leaflets, power points to models; the work put in by the children, both at school and at home, were superb!

Well done everyone!

Sadly today saw the end of our three week rugby coaching sessions. Huge thanks to Nick and Campbell for their teaching input. Warmup sessions, training drills, mini games and lots of top tips helped the pupils to develop their rugby skills. The class thoroughly enjoyed this sporting input.

Remember rugby sessions are held on Sunday mornings at 10.15 at the Transit Camp in Stranraer for primary school aged children £1 a session or become a member for £20 and every session is free!

 

Today we had a visit from Mr Kerr who introduced us to learning a little Spanish. We sang a song which had lots of new vocabulary in it to say Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Night, hello, how are you and more…

Mr Kerr also showed us a map of Europe and we did some country spotting; Thomas found Spain very quickly! We had a go at a quiz about Spain too to develop our knowledge about the country, its geography and its culture.

Gracias Mr Kerr!

 

Huge thanks to Tanya Ellis; paramedic and retained fire-fighter, for coming to visit us as part of our HWB topic. She was full of brilliant information about the role of the emergency services and the things we can do to help.

The pupils worked on putting one another in the recovery position, the dos and don’ts of making a 999 call, how the pager system works and the basics of CPR.

It was really interesting to get a closer look at some of the careers available in our community too.

The P7 pupils each typed and emailed their reports to me as an attachment, so I could upload them to GLOW. They show the insight the pupils got!

 

Paramedic Visit

By Erin

On the 23^RD of September 2019 P4-7 got a input on First Aid from Tanya Ellis. Tanya is a retained Fire Fighter and a full time Paramedic. Tanya came to the school to give the input because P4-7 is learning about First Aid in HWB. Tanya got in to this job because she always wanted to be a fire fighter; she became a paramedic six years ago and decided to do full time paramedic and part time fire fighter. Tanya told us is someone has an allergy to something they will have an Epi-Pen; they stab the Epi-Pen in to the back of their thigh or their butt because they are big muscles. We also learned if someone is conscious the person who is with them would put them into the recovery positon. If they were un-conscious the person was with them would have to phone 999 and give them CPR. Tanya became a fire fighter when she was twenty.

 

Paramedic Visit

By Finlay

On 23^rd September, Tanya Ellis came to give an input the Leswalt class of p4-7. Tanya Ellis is a part time firefighter and part time paramedic. She came to demonstrate first aid stuff. She showed us the recovery position, how to do CPR, what to do if someone has an asthma attack and about epi pens.

 

Paramedic Visit!

By Auryn

On the 23^rd of September p4-7 Tanya Ellis a paramedic and a retained fire fighter came to Leswalt to tell us a bit about her job. She had always wanted to be a fire fighter and just became a paramedic six years ago. She told us how to put people in the recover position and where to put a epi-pen. You also need to stay came when you are going to call 999.And when if you are doing CPR you need to keep doing it till the ambulance comes to your help. I think this is important because if someone you know is hurt than you know what to do and how to help them.

And maybe you could save someone’s life one day.

 

Paramedic Visit

By Phoebe

On the 23^rd of September p4 to 7 got a visit from Tanya Ellis, who is a retained fire fighter and a paramedic. She gave us lots of really good information about how to put someone in the recovery position, where to put and eppypen, how to do CPR , how to help someone who has an asthma attack and how to handle burns . She became a fire fighter when she was twenty and became a paramedic six years ago . She taught us a lot and we even had to put someone else in the recovery position . I think it was really good that she came to talk to us because it was really important for kids to know this because one day you might have to save someone’s life.

 

 

 

 

Today P4-7  had the pleasure of John Dinning who is a Sound Engineer and Music Producer. He led us all through the fantastic digital music platform ‘Soundtrap’ and will be coming along every alternate Wednesday for 6 sessions to lead us all in the wonders of composing and collaborating in the creation of digital music.

The class LOVED it! Lots of impromptu dance moves ensued as they listened to the demo; then started to create their own musical masterpieces. The children can access this from home too (www.soundtrap.com/edu) and the pupils then log-in with their GLOW email address and our shared Soundtrap password of Leswalt1.

Watch out for these names in the future – Leswalt could well be the starting block for budding musicians/DJs and could be gracing the music decks of the White Isle for summers to come!

 

Pupils have had a busy start to the year, applying for various jobs in the school and demonstrating they are keen to take on positions of responsibility. We received lots of applications for Pupil Council and monitor jobs; several pupils were keen to be interviewed for the Eco committee; lots of boys and girls in the senior class applied via the online application for Digital Leaders; and P7 pupils said their House Captain election speeches at assembly.

This year, we have decided that pupils will earn a ‘salary’ (in the form of merits – not cash!) for undertaking their job to give them further experience of the world of work.

After a difficult decision, we have selected our new committees for the year.

Our new Pupil Council members are:

Our new House Captains are:

Our new Eco Committee, hoping to work towards achieving our 2nd Green Flag in 2 years’ time are:

And finally, our new Digital Leaders who will help to develop ICT in classes and provide technical support in the school are:

Finlay, Chloe, Joshua and Erin (photo to follow)

We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded our first Eco-Schools Green Flag! Pupils in the Eco committee have been the driving force behind all of the environmentally friendly work that we have undertaken throughout the year, with all pupils in the school joining in on activities and taking responsibility for making the school and community a greener and more sustainable place.

Over the last year, pupils have participated in various Eco-friendly activities, organised and led by the Eco committee. They have carried out a local litter pick, inviting parents and the local community to join in; joined various recycling projects including crisp packets and batteries; worked with the local community group ‘Wetland Watchers’; and held litter assemblies to raise awareness of the impact to the whole school.

Our Eco-Schools assessor stated, “Congratulations on successfully achieving your Eco-Schools Green Flag award! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your application and am very excited about the work being done at Leswalt Primary School. I was very encouraged to read about the successes you’ve had and how you’ve gotten the whole school involved in the effort.” The assessor also stated that aspects of our work were noted as examples of good practice and may be used on the website/social media as case studies to support other schools with their Eco-Schools work.

Work is already underway to select our new Eco committee and continue the good work to ensure we are able to renew our Eco Schools green flag in 2 years’ time.

Have a keek below to see photos of the pupils with our Green Flag, which we will be displaying in the school corridor. The Eco Committee members were particularly proud as punch of their achievement – well done to you all!!