P7 pupils, Hamish and Faye, represented Leswalt Primary at the Rotary Lunch at the North West Castle today. They were excellent Responsible Citizens, able to chat politely to all and be superb ambassadors for our school.
They enjoyed a very interesting talk from Mr V. Plant about Robert Burns and enjoyed time talking with Rotary Club members.
Thank you Faye and Hamish for being fabulous school representatives – we are very proud of you!
Well done to Ben Gill and Ewan Clark who represented Leswalt Primary at the Rhins K’Nex competition held at Sandhead Primary this morning!
The boys were set the challenge of building a go-kart. They set to work by sketching a plan and using the pieces in their kit to build their design. Though they didn’t win the engineering task today, we are extremely proud of their efforts and delighted that they were our representatives for today.
Both boys were presented with a certificate for their participation. We awarded them 2 merits each once they returned to school – for being Responsible Citizens and Percy Perseverance skills in being faced with a tricky task – and in finding success in their end product!
This morning, we were delighted to welcome Ribh and Faith from GSA (Galloway and South Ayrshire) Biosphere who had come to deliver a presentation about Ocean Odyssey and the marine life found in and around our shores.
The time was packed with quizzes, activity, matching tasks, questions and chatting about a information powerpoint. Below are just a few of the facts that we noted down…
Galloway Forest Park
Inside zone – peatlands Outside zone – Galloway Forest Park
Transition zone – areas where people live and work
Marine Life
Basking shark – Scottish. They eat plankton – water leaves through gills
Atlantic salmon – Scottish. They live in freshwater and saltwater. Live in rivers/lochs to breed. Then leave to seas/oceans to grow. Change colour to adapt to water type.
Crocodile- not Scottish!. Not warm enough here!
Bottlenose dolphin- Scottish. Eyes at side of head – almost 360 vision! (like a teacher perhaps?!)
Loch Ness monster – Scottish?? Is it real….
Grey seal – Scottish. Babies born white and furry which keeps them warm.
Penguins – not Scottish! Not native. Live in the Antarctica. In the South.
Common whelk empty shells looked amazing! Looked like Rice Crispies 🤣
Lesser spotted dogfish and Thornback Ray – empty shell casings looked and felt a bit plastic but weren’t!
Plastic is originally made from fossil fuels. Takes from 20-1000 years to breakdown. More than 40% is only used once.
Polyester is plastic. This is in your clothes!
Glass jar – plastic round seal.
Bubble gum – in wrapper. Also in actual gum. Makes it stretchy.
Suncream – bottle, lid and actual lotion!
Teabag – glue down sides of bag
Cans – lined with plastic to keep products fresh.
Paper cups – plastic coating so they don’t disintegrate. 95% paper!
How plastic ends up in sea – littering, from boats, industrial waste, over-fishing, over-flowing bins, flushing things down toilet, draining micro plastics down sink/shower from hygiene products. Shampoo, shower gel etc… washing machine takes micro plastics from clothing.
We talked about ways in which we could all do our little bit to help. Ribh and Faith were impressed to see so many reusable water bottles! We are hoping to plan a Beach Clean for next term – and now we know so much more about some of the things we might find on the beach too!
The pupils of Leswalt Primary went ‘all things Scots’ in celebration of the Bard’s Birthday!
We were delighted to welcome Mrs Mary Buchanan (Mrs B – formally a teacher at Leswalt Primary) to do the official judging of the pupils’ handwriting, artwork and recitations of their Scots poems. Goodness, what a hard job she had!
Following this, everyone gathered in the hall to enjoy their Burns Lunch together. Ably compered through proceedings by Brandon Millar, we began with Mark Drummond leading us with the Selkirk Grace and the haggis being proudly carried in by Jorgie Paton P1 and accompanied by Katie Gill P7. Hamish McGregor P7 gave a rousing Address to the Haggis and we all tucked into our haggis, neeps and tatties!
Then it was time for the after-lunch entertainment with recitations from Ellie Bennewith P6, Roman Haver P5, Lily Bennewith P3, Hannah Drummond P2 and Cameron McDonald P1. Both classes sang their wee hearts out with P1-3 performing ‘Broon Coo’ and P5-7 singing ‘500 Miles’ by The Proclaimers Leswalt-style as ‘I’m a Wean Fae Leswalt Schule’. Then whole school got together to sing a Scots version of ‘Let it Go’ from Frozen – renamed ‘Stuff ’em Aw’!
Interspersed with the pupils’ performances, the P7s continued with their Burns Lunch traditions with Kaiden Giblin giving the Toast tae the Lassies, Cara Jamieson offering the Reply to the Lads, Faye Adams with her Toast tea the Schule and Carys McHallum rounding off the afternoon with a vote of thanks. All done with confidence – they were braw!
After a rousing sing-song of Auld Lang Syne, the pupils dashed outside for a quick break, and staff got the hall ready for the afternoon’s Scots Showcase with friends and family invited in to enjoy!
Faye Adams danced a Highland Fling to welcome the audience, the Scots songs were sung once again and all were treated to the judge’s results! Great excitement as pupils sat on the edge of their seats to find out who had won each category in each year-group, with the winners being invited up to show off their handwriting or artwork and to perform their poem in front of everyone.
The results are as below:
P1
Handwriting – Beathan Wright
Artwork – Cameron Mcdonald
Recitation ‘Mince and Tatties’
Jorgie Paton
2. James Hunter
3. Cameron McDonald
P2
Handwriting – Keira Richardson
Artwork – Aria-Rose Williamson
Recitation ‘Twa-Legged Mice’
Hannah Drummond
2. Eilidh Ramsay
3. Emma Shirley
P3
Handwriting – Lily Bennewith
Artwork – Lily Bennewith
Recitation ‘The Sair Finger’
Lily Bennewith
2. Ellie Burton
P5
Handwriting – Murray Reid
Artwork – Roman Haver
Recitation ‘ Wee Kirk Moose’
Colin McGregor
2. Roman Haver
3. Murray Reid
P6
Handwriting – Holly Santangeli
Artwork – Isla Kirkpatrick
Recitation ‘Wille Wastle’
Ela Chang
2. Daisy Doyle
3. Ewan Clark
P7
Handwriting – Faye Adams
Artwork – Hamish McGregor
Recitation ‘Address to a Haggis’
Cara Jamieson
2. Hamish McGregor
3. Mark Drummond
Huge congratulations to everyone for their efforts! Rabbie would be proud!
This morning, Leswalt Primary hopped on a bus to make the quick journey round the coast to our friends at Kirkcolm Primary.
The purpose of our visit? Well, there was a visit from the pop-up planetarium and the Galloway Forest Astronomical Society there to talk to us! Not an opportunity we wanted to pass up…..
We joined our buddies once we arrived at school and enjoyed some time together first for a quick catch-up. The younger class went into the Planetarium first whilst the older bunch worked together on their Rights Respecting Schools activities – and created some fabulous quizzes to test us all on the UNCRC. Some questions created to really make you think…
Then it was time for a break outside and a chance to enjoy the company and playground of our friends on this beautiful January morning!
Swap over time….and the older group got the chance to enjoy the wonders of the Planetarium whilst the younger pupils created their own aliens – wonder if any of their designs might be spotted in Outer Space?
Inside the Planetarium, Doug (the computer expert) and Andy (the lead presenter) took us all on a tour of the night sky exploring the moon, Mars and Jupiter. We talked about the hugely varied temperatures on planets in Space, gravity, signs of life, moon controlling tides and the individual features of planets. Such an interesting session!
Many thanks to the Galloway Forest Astronomical Society (and Kirkcolm) for a morning of inter-galactic fun!
It’s so good to see our Leswalt team back together for the start of a fabulous year!
We decided to kick things off with a traditional Scottish toast – with sparkling flavoured water and some delicious shortbread- raising our glasses to wish one another a very happy 2024!
We then joined together in a rousing rendition of Auld Lang Syne and worked with our buddies to create our New Year’s resolutions.
P7 pupils, Hamish and Faye, represented Leswalt Primary at the Rotary Lunch at the North West Castle today. They were excellent Responsible Citizens, able to chat politely to all and be superb ambassadors for our school.
