Month: February 2022

So lovely to see the Spring sunshine today – what a change from last week’s storms!

We took the opportunity to take our learning outside and take on a STEM challenge at the beach.

Buddied up with P1-4, we headed down Fisher’s Lane to the beach looking out for the very welcome signs of Spring. On the beach, we found a starfish and a huge oyster too. Once in small working groups, we were tasked with our STEM challenge. The task set was to build a stone cairn as tall as we possible using natural materials.

The group needed to think about where they would build it, the shape and texture of the stones used, the positioning of the stones and the ‘look’ of the finished tower.

Some groups used their initiative to build upon what was already there – breaking the rules or not?! An interesting discussion was held about this – were they recycling? Were they still using natural materials?! Art came into the finished designs of many of the towers – symmetrical patterns too! A few groups built their stone cairn and then covered them with sand to resemble a desert ‘volcano’! Oh to be inside the minds of the young!

All in all, it was a fun morning on the beach putting some outdoor Maths and Engineering skills into action. And, better still, all done with the hint of some Spring sunshine on our faces!

We may have mentioned before our pride in having the utterly fabulous Vicky Wright (Olympic Gold Medallist) and equally amazing Bobby Lammie (Olympic Silver medallist) as past pupils of our wee village school! And with this in mind, Malcolm (one of our House Captains) approached teachers with a thought…might Leswalt get a Gold postbox in honour of the Ladies’ Curling Team’s success?

Only one way to find out Malcolm, and that’s to ask those in the know! Malcolm and Breagh (both of our House Captains) took on the role of penning a letter which was sent to the Royal Mail and local councillors explaining who they were, their link to Vicky and Bobby and their special request of a lasting memento.

And the responses were super speedy! Within ten minutes, they had replies of support from councillors and one from the Royal Mail who forwarded their email onto the relevant department.

Today (less than 24hours later!) letters arrived for Malcolm and Breagh sent by Special Delivery! These came from Michael Hogg, Senior Public Affairs Manager at the Royal Mail Headquarters in London. He wrote to thank them for their beautifully written request. Unfortunately, the gold postboxes were only done following our ‘home’ Olympics in London 2012 as a ‘one-off’ and so this won’t be happening following Beijing.  He did, however, promise a memento of specially commissioned Royal Mail collector’s stamps for every pupil in the school in this special Platinum year for Queen Elizabeth II as a token of the initiative of Malcolm and Breagh! In fact, Mr Hogg phoned Mrs Baillie today to say just how impressed he was with their letter. He said he doesn’t send many letters to Primary pupils but this particular one was a very special one and so deserved a very special reply!

Top work House Captains – what Responsible Citizens you are!

And, as for the lasting memento of our past pupils’ amazing Olympic successes, well we’re on the case! Due to move back to our newly refurbished school next term, we will ensure the Gold and Silver legacy of Vicky and Bobby will be there for all to see for many years to come. Watch this space…

From February 21st- March 6th is 2022’s Fairtrade Fortnight and so P5-7 Leswalt pupils spent some time finding out more.

Working in Talk Partners, the pupils researched the key questions about this topic:

What is Fairtrade?

When this started?

Why it started?

Where can Fairtrade products be bought?

Who Fairtrade works with?

How we can do our bit to help!

They used reference materials, website links, a video clip and our classroom chat to help them with their fact-finding. This was a top task for those all-important employability skills of negotiating, working within a time-scale, organisation and co-operation. And, most importantly, this task also raised awareness of Fairtrade.

The task was rounded-off by the pupils sharing their work with their classmates and enjoying some Fairtrade chocolate too! Yum! We might go as far to say that this was the highlight of the lesson!

 

 

 

 

As part of our journey towards Rights Respecting Schools Silver status, the children have been discussing all of the rights within the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). They have discussed what rights they feel are most important and have explained their views. Here is just a sample for you to see what responsible citizens we have!

RRS-Silver-Our-Views-On-Rights-video

If you would like to find out more about Rights Respecting Schools, here is a link to their website.

 

 

 

This morning’s outdoor maths fun, led by Miss Lammie, was somewhat hampered by the after-effects of the weekend’s stormy weather! Shooting and shining could be the descriptive phrase used. Still, it didn’t dampen the spirits and efforts of P5-7 in their Time Detectives clock faces task! Even if they did need to do most of their task indoors as they ducked from the heavy showers.

Miss Lammie shared the session Learning Intentions with the class; they needed to use their knowledge of clock faces (analogue/digital/minute intervals/Roman Numerals etc) to create a clock face using natural materials with their talk partner on which they could display times. The range of designs created by the pupils was fabulous. Pupils set their peers a challenge of setting a time whether it be in 24hr clock, am or pm,minutes past/to etc and explain how and why they displayed it as such. They assessed the accuracy of one another’s.

Buddy work, creating and applying skills, sharing learning, peer and self-assessment – all fabulous employability skills put to the test today! No excuses for ever being late…!

As the sun decided to make a late appearance, the lesson’s fun was brought to a close by a competitive game of times tables Splat  – Thomas was crowned today’s champion 🙂

A fun morning of active maths with all pupils busy and learning! Thanks Miss Lammie 🙂

All at Leswalt Primary could not be prouder of two of our former pupils – Bobby Lammie and Vicky Wright.

They have been part of Team GB at the Winter Olympics in Beijing and are returning home with medals – a silver for Bobby and Gold for Vicky!

The ladies final started at 1am, and there were many from the community cheering them on in Stranraer at the North West Castle hotel.  Mrs Baillie was able to speak to some some of the school children at 4am who were there until the end, celebrating with friends and family.

 

Wow! We are so proud of you both 🥇🥈

And, we cannot wait to welcome you back to Leswalt Primary !

Whilst the older pupils were spending time outdoors at Lockerbie Manor, the younger pupils got their ‘eco’ hats on to support our local bird population.

Everyone pitched in to help make apple bird feeders using foraged sticks and string.  It was then time to get outside to hang up the tasty treats for our feathered friends.

With two of our former pupils currently playing in the Winter Olympics in Beijing, Leswalt Primary has been going curling crazy!

The outside of our school has been decorated with Bobby and Vicky bunting, to cheer on Team GB and show our support for the local lad and lass.2591E85C-CCB8-4E37-9CC4-30E640CD83D8

Also Mrs Mc Knight hosted her own Curling bonspiel with P1-4.  Inspired after watching some of the Winter Olympic curling in class, they has their own competition.  And, just like his name sake, Bobby Lammie, it was our own little Bobby who showed he was the curling champion of Leswalt Primary.

Just look at how excited their faces are!

Well done Bobby, Winter Olympics 2036 for you?

The final day has dawned crisp and bright for another rotation of exciting activities.

There were a few sleepy heads this morning, but everyone soon shook of the zzzz’s and were raring to go.

Blaze treated everyone to a beautiful song to start the day – A Million Dreams from the Greatest Showman – so lovely!

The last day was crammed packed with more adventures.  A very weary, but happy bunch piled on the bus for the journey home.  A few zzz’s could soon be heard from the back of the bus. 😉

What a fantastic time was had by all!

 

Photos:

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Wow!  It’s been another super active day for our adventure heroes.  Have a look at everything they got up to outdoors. More to follow…

• Water sports
• Fencing
• Rifles
• Orienteering
• Climbing/Abseiling