Author: Mrs Ferguson

In a bid to make the most of the late Summer and early Autumn sunshine, P5-7 have been enjoying their Fresh Air Friday sessions.

It’s a chance for us to be outside and learn together; using our playground and village surroundings as a real-life context for our activities.

From mini den-building to circuit training, storytime sessions to whole school rounders, place value maths game to chalk symmetry, village quiz walk  to number games – it’s been a fabulous way to enjoy outside learning!

Fun, fresh air and learning – what’s not to love!

And next week marks the start of Maths Week Scotland – keep your eyes peeled for more outdoor activities featuring on this blog!

Well done to this bunch of super workers! Usually we would have an end of term assembly to celebrate success, but unfortunately Lockdown meant this couldn’t happen. Still, we wanted to give a big ‘high five’ to these fabulous readers and to those who achieved their Gold Star award too.

This happy gang of readers were STAR readers within their year group. What brilliant bookworms we have! Keep up the fantastic work.

P2 – Ela and Hamish

P3 – Faye

P4 – Struan

P5 – Aidan (also a Word Millionaire!)

P6 – Luke and Gregor

P7 – Finlay (another Word Millionaire and not in the photo above as he’s now in S1)

Ela, Hamish, Faye, Struan, Aidan and Finlay were also our winners in our inter-schools challenge. We had a super exciting trio partnership competition to aim to be the STAR reader across each stage in all 3 schools and, amazingly, 5 out of 6 of those pupils were from Leswalt Primary! Whoop whoop!

Star Awards are home/school activities which pupils work on throughout the year. There are Bronze, Silver and Gold certificates to achieve and two of Leswalt Primary’s pupils worked super hard to reach Gold last session.

Well done to the Gaw team of Phoebe and Noah – fantastic work! Phoebe has headed on to pastures new (S1 at Academy!) but Noah is pictured below.

 

We can’t tell you how good it was today to see all the smiling faces of the pupils of Leswalt Primary! We had the most wonderful day – check out our photos below to see for yourselves….

Mark and Rachael have been very busy whilst school has been closed! Mrs McKnight had set her task a weekly maths topic based around money.  Team Drummond decided the very best way to learn lots about money was by using it in a real-life situation, so they decided to set up a little shop next to the road at their farm.  They started selling crisps and rolls to passers-by. I am sure their winning smiles drew would-be customers in! They then decided to make cakes and biscuits to add to their stock. Their very kind Grandpa offered to match the money they made – and they contacted Mrs McKnight last week to say they had a fantastic £300 to donate to the school!

What a lovely thing to do and such super teamwork! A huge thank you from Leswalt Primary staff and pupils.

‘Get arty and create a rainbow of hope’  was the challenge set down to the pupils of Leswalt Primary by Mrs Copeland our Art Specialist. Well, neither she, or any of us, were quite prepared for the multitude of colourful rainbow designs which came flooding in. They certainly raise a smile to all who spot them in windows; at road-ends, pony jumps or even on a pony’s rear! Pens, paint techniques, chalk, fruit, vegetables, Hot Wheels cars, science experiments, salt dough, pony rosettes –  there really is no limit to the creativity of our pupils. Our tech-savvy pupils then emailed and uploaded their photos and pictures in to be added to our Rainbow blog to be enjoyed by all.

We absolutely love them! Most of all, we love the wee community spirit of Leswalt Primary.

Thank you! You have all made us very proud.

Sun shining? Tick! Smiling, happy pupils? Tick! All the ingredients for fabulous fun outside for Fresh Air Friday!

We looked out the playground games and enjoyed one another’s company. From skipping games to dominoes, hula hoops to draughts, balance boards to Connect 4 – there were plenty of laughs to be had.

I hope these photos make you smile. Hopefully we’ll all be back together soon to plan some more fun times.

Here is a handy ‘how to’ guide on how to access your child’s Glow account at home.  This gives access to email and shared resources could be uploaded to Microsoft Teams here too. Your child’s Glow login will be in their homework diaries.  They have all been checked as working today.

Some pupils tried sending emails to one another today, after being reminded about responsible internet use. They seemed to really enjoy doing this!

 

 

This morning we welcomed S6 STEM Ambassadors Lily and Emma into our P4-7 classroom.

The young ladies delivered four fun Science activities.

The first activity was testing our peripheral vision.  The boys and girls attached string to a protractor to create an arc with which to rotate an object into our field of view.  We were using our rod cells to sense objects.  There are fewer rod cells at the periphery of our retina.  This is why we could not determine what the object was until it was more directly in front of us.

Then, the children used their sense of smell to determine whether they could smell as well as a shark.  The pupils had to sniff vials of varying strengths of water/perfume from zero, 20ppm, 200ppm and 100ppm.  They then ranked them in order of weakest to strongest.

Next up, the pupil had the very enjoyable activity of making slime like a slug by creating a mixture of cornflour and water .  The children explored the properties of this substance – what force needed to be applied and how this linked to the movement of slugs.

Finally, the pupils engaged in a brain challenge.  They read colour words written in a non-matching colour e.g. the word pink written in green pen.  The children had to try and say the colour word and not the colour it was written in.  This isn’t easy!  Most people find it easier to say the word rather than the colour as the word has a strong influence on the brain.  The class worked in two teams to see who could conquer this tricky task!

The STEM Ambassadors held a Q+A session at the end and took feedback from the pupils.

It was a great learning experience – thank you Lily and Emma!

Our 4 P7 pupils formed a fabulous team for the annual Curling’s Cool Bonspiel held at the North West Castle Hotel in Stranraer.

They enjoyed a full and busy day curling, working well as a team and meeting new people who they’ll move up to Stranraer Academy with.

Many thanks to Finlay’s mum, Mrs Scott for accompanying them.

Leswalt Primary pupils enjoyed celebrating World Book Day today! The Great Big Book Swap Shop took place with everyone heading home with something new to read! Noah and Ellie, the library monitors, had created a Front Cover competition (this will be judged on Monday) and also took charge of the Swap Shop with a little help from the P7 pupils.

P1-3 enjoyed a book hunt in the library and watching author Chae Strathie as part of the Scottish Book trust author events. P4-7 were busy using the Book Creator app to design their own books linked to their RME topic of Sikhism and completing their own podcast stories using Soundtrap. They also enjoyed listening the prologue of an audio book through the World Book Day website and sketching freeze-frames of story scenes as they listened.

Pupils have all headed home armed with their pre-loved book (or perhaps quite a few pre-loved books!), a World Book Day sticker and a book token which can be exchanged for any £1 book in WHSmith or used to reduce the price of another book they like the look of!

This afternoon we all travelled to Kirkcolm to enjoy a theatre production by a very talented foursome known as 4front Theatre!  The show had been written and produced by one of the members and retold the story of Jesus through the eyes of four disciples James, John, Andrew and Simon Peter. The production was full of music, dancing, acting and fun… and the audience loved it! From the fishermen on the shores of Lake Galilee to a non-stop run through the many parables; this was a fabulous RME lesson on Christianity for our pupils. This production was supported in our schools by The Scripture Union and Stranraer Baptist Church – who very kindly gave every child a pencil. Brochures outlining Scripture Union Camps for any interested P5-7 pupils are available too.

Do take a look at 4front Theatre’s website. You can check them out at https://4front-theatre.com/

 

Today we enjoyed session 2 of our rugby input with Mr McGregor. A beautiful, sunny Spring morning to be outside working on warm-up drills and passing techniques. Great fun!

Looking forward to next week already!

As part of this week’s World Book Day celebrations, our whole school joined an Author’s Live Event this morning. This was the 10th birthday for the Author’s Live Events – bringing authors to our pupils. This Glasgow-hosted event featured Michael Rosen who shared lots of rhythms and rhymes with us and encouraged audience participation from everyone! His rhymes ranged from baby buggies to chocolate cake, Stone Age school to speaking Yiddish! We tried a tongue-twister too about a sticker and a ticket. It wasn’t an easy one to say! Michael had been part of the very first Author Live event back in 2010. He answered lots of questions and shared some very funny stories with us – he was hilarious! He had lots of suggestions and ideas for us to try; freeze-frame and hot-seating as well as illustrating particular scenes; creating a tableau of a scene. We will definitely be trying this out!

Tanya Roberts, who is a Scottish comic illustrator, was on-hand to sketch characters as Michael entertained us all.

The Author’s Live event introduced us to Cressida Cowell who is this year’s Waterstone’s Children’s Laureate as well as being the fabulous author of the How to Train Your Dragon series.

We have lots more World Book Day fun planned this week – keep an eye on our blog. Why not google BBC Author’s Live to catch up on previous events?

 

Huge thank you to the boys and girls of P4-7 for helping to make my Grandad Fred’s 100th birthday super special today by entertaining him, and other residents, of Thorneycroft in Stranraer!

This meant a great deal to him – and to me! For his 99th last year, we phoned him to sing Happy Birthday but this year, to celebrate his centenary, we decided to take the bus in to pay him a visit.

We had done some research into the year 1920 in the morning; marvelling at the fashions and music, and finding out about new inventions of the time and the reign of King George V. Things have changed quite a bit in the last century!

The children sang Happy Birthday, gave him a card from them and then regaled the room with their Scots songs Caledonia and the fun Daphne Cochrane! In addition,  Alexander. Breagh, Gregor and Phoebe recited their Scots poems. All very much enjoyed by our audience.

Grandad Fred then showed us a very special card he had received in the post this morning; from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.

Happy 100th birthday Grandad Fred!

 

This morning we welcomed Mr Cameron back to support us in the development of our very own podcasts. Working in pairs or individually, we have used our fabulous imaginative writing skills to pen stories with the title ‘Enchanted Lands’. Doing this pulled together all of our VCOP techniques to make our stories sparkle, then peer evaluation helped us to edit our stories to make them even better!

Next stage was to record our stories onto the Soundtrap website, then use sound effects and music beats, rhythm and phrases to created the finished podcast piece. Everyone is loving using this technology!

Mr Cameron will be with us for one more session in a fortnight’s time.

Then our next stop will be Moat Brae in Dumfries where our podcasts will be available for all to listen to at the National Centre for Children’s Literature and Storytelling! Check us out – podcasters of the future!

This term, P4-7 have tried to make it their mission to go outside and enjoy Fresh Air Friday outdoor learning! They have managed this almost every week (Storm Ciara put a spanner in the works!) and they have enjoyed lots of activities. Traditional playground games, gardening, finding area and perimeter, circuits and story sessions to name just a few. Lots more fun is planned for the second half of the term with spring planting, making bird cakes, a trip to the shop to find out about money in the real-life situations, using a bus timetable and creating natural maths equations!

Today we had the privilege of welcoming Mr Alan Cameron to work with us for an introductory session on podcasting.

The pupils of our North Rhins primaries have been given the fabulous opportunity of being invited to create their own ‘Enchanted Land’ story to produce as a podcast; with accompanying music and sound effects!

These podcasts will then be on show in Moat Brae Dumfries – a National Centre for Children’s Literature and Story-telling and the adventure garden enjoyed by J.M Barrie author of Peter Pan!

These will be shared at a very special launch this Summer – which we are hoping to attend!

Today was session 1 – with two more to follow. The pupils absorbed the information given and worked fabulously! We have started on our story-writing and are raring to go.

Watch this space…

 

Our celebration of all things Scots this week culminated with family and friends joining us for our Scots Showcase Assembly. The handwriting, artwork and recitation winners received their certificates, the winners recited their poems and both classes entertained with Scots songs; P1-3 had some great adaptations to ‘Ye Cannae Shove Yer Granny Aff a Bus!’ and P4-7 sang Caledonia and ‘Daphne Cochrane’ – a great action song!

The winners were:

P1 – ‘Ode tae a spider’ – Recitation winners : 1. Colin McGregor; 2. Roman Haver; 3. Rachael Drummond:

Illustration winner – Ruby McMillan : Handwriting winner – Roman Haver

P2 – ‘Twa legged mice’ – Recitation winners : 1.Ela Chang; 2. Ewan Clark; 3. Ellie Bennewith :

Illustration winner –Ewan Clark : Handwriting winner – Ela Chang

P3 – ‘Sair finger’ – Recitation winners : 1.Hamish McGregor; 2.Cara Jamieson; 3.Carys McHallum:

Illustration winner –Mark Drummond : Handwriting winner – Faye Adams

P4 – ‘The Bogle’ – Recitation winners : 1. Alexander Clark; 2. Struan Scott; 3. Fraser Reid :

Illustration winner – Fraser Reid : Handwriting winner – Noah Gaw

P5 – ‘Wee Kirk moose’ – Recitation winners : 1. Breagh Kirkpatrick; 2. Aidan Adams; 3. Malcolm McGregor & Murray Williams:

Illustration winner – Murray Williams : Handwriting winner – Malcolm McGregor

P6 – ‘Wullie wastle’ – Recitation winners : 1.Gregor Reid; 2. Jack Cloy; 3. Joshua Obonyo:

Illustration winner –Luke McHallum : Handwriting winner – Chloe Kennedy

P7 – ‘Address to the haggis’ – Recitation winners : 1.Phoebe Gaw; 2.Auryn Kirkpatrick; 3. Erin Jamieson & Finlay Scott : Illustration winner – Finlay Scott : Handwriting winner – Erin Jamieson.

We’ve all had a richt guid time! And we hope you’ve enjoyed it too!

We were delighted to welcome Kathryn from History Alive to join us for some fun at Leswalt Primary this morning!

The children are enjoying lots of activities for Scottish Week. This kicked off with their Scottish poetry recitation, handwriting and artwork judging on Friday, followed by a very successful Burns Lunch – complete with Mr Gaw piping and Mr McClure offering the Immortal Memory. This week has included art and design inspired by the Kelpies and the McCoo family, traditional music-making with Feis Rois and the tin whistle, writing in Scots, a whistle-stop tour of Scottish geography and, the highlight, today’s visit from Kathryn to fill us in on Scottish history from Mary Queen of Scots to the Jacobite Rebellion and everything in between! The grand finale will be our Scots Showcase Assembly this Friday – hope to see you there!

It’s been great fun and a tremendous way for the children to learn more about Scottish traditions, culture and history. Just take a look at our photos below…

What a busy day we’ve had with Scots handwriting, artwork and poetry judging in the morning and a delicious feast of haggis, neeps and tatties for lunch!

Mrs Gillian Murdoch had the unenviable task of selecting winners for every primary in the handwriting, artwork and recitation categories. A very tough call as all pupils were fantastic! The winners will be celebrated in next week’s showcase afternoon which is open to family and friends!

And then it was time for our Burns Lunch! Many thanks to Jodie and Carole in the kitchen, Mr Gaw for piping, Mr McClure for the Immortal Memory and the P7 pupils for their organisation and participation in Leswalt Primary’s Annual Burns Lunch.

We all had a richt guid time!

Every Thursday morning we are going to be enjoying some singing, movement, rhythm and tin whistle fun with Dickie and Wendy from Feis Rois. Today we learnt how to count in 4 beats in Gaelic, create rhythms using syllables and our bodies as percussion, enjoy an Irish action song called ‘ Rattlin Bog’, explore non-pitched percussion from all over the world as an accompaniment to Dickie playing and singing ‘Stand By Me’ and ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ and finally starting our tin whistle playing with ‘Hot Cross Buns’ – phew! A very busy and productive morning!

We had a fabulous session – roll on next week!

Welcome back and a very Happy New Year to you all! 2020 started with great enthusiasm today for all the fun this year has to offer.

P4-7 raised their glasses of fizz (flavoured water!) to toast a welcome to one another and, after much soul-searching, decided upon their own New Year Resolutions. Hopefully they will find them easy to stick to!

Just look at these happy wee faces!

 

Paaaarty Time!

Today we put on our party togs for Leswalt Primary Christmas Party!

To kick off proceedings we all tucked in to a delicious buffet, with party poppers popping, crackers cracking and festive tunes on to sing along to! Then the House Captains (Phoebe and Auryn) led the party with fun games and lots of dancing! From Pass the Parcel to Musical Statues, Christmas Corners to Strip the Willow, the Gay Gordons to Let’s Build a Snowman – it was a high-energy afternoon! There was lots of laughter and excitement; especially as we sang Jingle Bells to welcome a very special visitor. And this very jolly man in red brought fabulous gifts for each and every lucky pupil! What a brilliant Christmas party!

This morning, Leswalt Primary pupils donned their wellies  and headed over to Aldouran Wetlands to meet up with members of Stranraer Rotary Club.

The challenge: to plant 4000 purple crocus bulbs as part of the Purple4Polio campaign. Every year, Rotary Clubs across Great Britain and Ireland help to plant millions of purple crocuses to raise awareness for efforts to end polio. Leswalt Primary pupils were delighted to be able to lend a hand and are looking forward to seeing the results of their gardening efforts in the Spring when the bulbs flower!

So you thought Strictly had finished for this year? Not so as the pupils of Leswalt Primary staged a fabulous Strictly-themed show entitled’ Lights, Camel, Action!’ for parents, friends and the wider community!

It had everything you might wish for; glamorous hosts, entertaining judges, fabulous voice-overs and a stellar cast! Oh and the dances; from ballet to line dance, funk to tango, Morris dancing to the disco-floor – the show was packed with fun, laughter, catchy songs and some very nifty movers, all whilst retelling the story of the Nativity. The village hall was packed with an extremely appreciative audience who enjoyed the show immensely!

Just take a look at the Leswalt super stars below…

 

This morning, Leanne from Compass (Brain Injury Specialists Ltd) visited both classes to lead the pupils in a presentation and discussion about the importance of wearing a helmet (on bikes, quads, dirt bikes etc) and the consequences linked to brain injuries.

The children discussed why sometimes people don’t wear helmets and Leanne reinforced the important job the helmet does in protecting our brain. She had a ‘jelly’ brain to pass around so that the children could envisage what was inside their skull! She also shared some fun brain facts: an adult brain weighs about a bag and a half of sugar, a jelly fish has NO brain and a brain cell is called a neuron! We actually have 100 billion neurons in our brain – if we started counting all the neurons in our brain it would take a staggering 3176 years! Our brains are like our very own super computer, and that’s what makes us really smart!

Leanne talked to the pupils through what each part of the brain does; and the pivotal role played by the frontal lobe in making us the individuals we are.

She highlighted the need to drink plenty of water, sleep well, eat healthily and get plenty of fresh air to help look after our brains. Brightly coloured fruit and vegetables are fantastic for helping to ‘feed’ our brain!

Compass visits schools to raise awareness of helmet safety and do, in fact, provide free helmets to those who need them. The short video which concluded the  P4-7 presentation told the story of a little boy who hadn’t worn his helmet and was left with an acquired brain injury which changed his life.

It’s not cool to be the fool: wear your helmet!

 

Many thanks to Lauryn Steel, Principal Technician: Structures with Dumfries and Galloway Council, for joining the P4-7 class this morning to lead a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and maths) session on bridge building. She told the pupils a little about the day-to-day aspects of her job and spoke to them about the different types of bridges that you might spot when out and about across the region.

After looking at some pictures of different bridge styles; the pupils were put into groups to work on a bridge challenge. They needed to work together as a team to discuss, design, build and test a brand new bridge!

This brand-new bridge needed to be able to hold a full water bottle! Three out of four teams managed to design a bridge to meet the design brief: one team even managed to put a number of items on their bridge! It was a super design.

Well done to all the boys and girls for their teamwork and engineering skills, to Ms Whorlow from Portpatrick to organising the visit and to Lauryn for leading this STEM event. Great fun!

 

Children in Need 2019

P1-3 were given the responsibility for this year’s fundraising efforts.  The main aim was to beat the previous total of £258 whilst at the same time, have lots of fun.  After much brainstorming, the children voted on their favourite fundraising activities and set to work.

The quiz proved to be an amazing success, raising a grand total of £375 alone!  Wowsers!!  The winning family, selling an astonishing £76 worth of quizzes, were the Clark Family!  The boy’s prize for being top sellers is the chance to take charge of the school for an afternoon and become Head Teacher and Depute Head – wish us luck!  The winner of the actual quiz itself was Mr Angus Brown! This lucky winner has won a Pudsey Wristband and a set of Pudsey Ears.

We also had a successful Bring and Buy Sale.  Not only did the parents get the chance to clear out old and unwanted toys before Christmas, the girls and boys got the chance to buy some new goodies!  All remaining items will now be donated to the Cancer Research shop in town.

The girls and boys also got to come into school for the day dressed in their pyjamas, and bring their favourite teddy and a pillow too.  In the afternoon we snuggled down and enjoyed cookies (kindly donated by the McGregor family) and hot chocolate.  We were also delighted to welcome Renita Boyle to school to entertain the team with a bedtime story.

Other daftness on the day included face painting (thank you P7 girls!) and a marshmallow competition for the teachers…who could fit the most in their mouth?? Some controversy there – was it Mrs McKnight? Or Mrs Baillie? In the end, Mrs Ferguson, Mrs Baillie and Mrs McKnight all rook one for the team and skipped to the shop and back (a forfeit decided by the P1-3 class!), whilst the boys and girls stood at the school fence and cheered them on!

Amazing effort from all the girls and boys and on the day we raised an incredible £568 so far – with the final total yet to be announced! Wow!  Thank you to all the parents for supporting this too!  What a team we have at Leswalt Primary!

 

 

Today we welcomed Mr Kerr back into our class to lead our Spanish lesson. We have been working on counting to 20, days of the week, months of the year, colours and food.

Every morning in class, we get our whiteboards and have a shot at writing the date in French and Spanish – and we’re getting really good at this! We’ve noticed some similarities between the two languages too; all helpful when learning different languages.

Songs are really helpful when learning – we’ve found lots to help us learn new vocabulary! They’re fun to do too!

Today we took our Maths lesson outside! We have been doing some work on finding percentages; 10% and 50% with everyone, with some people working on some even more complicated percentage work!

Mrs Ferguson had set up a quiz with 10 questions which involved using clues in the village; doing some mental calculations and working out the % required. We worked with our Talk Partners to do this; and we all started at a different question too.

We also popped into the shop to tell Kim what we were up to. She told us how percentages are used in the shop too; for special offers and ‘money off’ deals.

Back in class, we compared answers and all agreed it had been a fun and different Maths session today!

 

OOOOOH! If you were to pop into Leswalt Primary this afternoon, you might have got a bit of a fright! From witches to Egyptians; Batgirl to Cruella de Vil, vampires to zombie brides…. there wasn’t a Leswalt Primary pupil in sight!

This party was organised by Phoebe and Auryn the House Captains – and what a wonderful job they did of it!

The costume winners were:

P1 – Colin

P2 – Ela

P3 – Kaiden

P4 – Alexander

P5 – Breagh

P6 – Andrew

P7 – Auryn

The pupils enjoyed a game of Tramp’s Tea-party, followed by ‘Pin the Stem on the Pumpkin’. There was lots of giggling as they played Pumpkin Bumps, followed by a game of Scary Corners.

Finally, everyone enjoyed some cool disco-dancing and had the chance to ‘Dook for Apples’ if they wanted a shot – there were a few wet faces!

Joshua, Kaiden and their mum Natasha had very kindly made up Halloween goody bags for every pupil, so these were handed out as everyone was leaving.

What a wonderful afternoon! Thanks Auryn and Phoebe!

 

 

Huge thanks to Mr Drennan of Balgracie Farm and Isobel Milroy from RHET for inviting the P5/6 pupils from Kirkcolm, Portpatrick and Leswalt to the farm for a farm tour and question session on a beautifully chilly October morning.

Mr Drennan has lived/worked at Balgracie for over 46 years. The farm  is a dairy,beef, sheep and crop farm. Teamwork ensures all the jobs get done on the farm – it’s a very busy job! He works alongside two workers to keep the farm going and sometimes workers from nearby farms help one another out too. Isobel Milroy was on-hand to help us with some of the questions and guide us around. She also tested our listening skills with a ‘Million Pound Drop’ style quiz. This really got us thinking!

We saw the calves and heard about what they are fed and when. The calves must have their mother’s special colostrum milk in their first six hours of life as this contains special antibodies to help them be healthy. We saw where the cows are milked and Mr Drennan explained how this is done and where the milk is then stored. Milking is done twice daily; at 6am and 5pm and it tends to take about two and a half hours to do this. Once they are milked, the cow’s teats are dipped in a special anti-bacterial liquid which helps to kill off bacteria.The milk is collected from the cows at body temperature, cooled to about 16 degrees as it passes through the pipes then, once in the milk tank which holds 5000 litres of milk, it is cooled to below 3.5 degrees. The milk tanker collects the milk every 2nd day. At the moment, milk is sold for about 29p a litre – it is crazy to think we pay more for water! Mr Drennan’s milk is sold to Nestle and is used to make the chocolate covering for Kit Kats!

Mr Drennan talked about the animal’s passports and how important these are; they cannot be bought/sold without this paperwork. Tagging the animal gives it a unique reference number; each farm has a number too. This keeps a paper trail of every animal.

The cows have a shed where they sleep at night. Soon they will be brought in through the day too as it is becoming colder. The cows sleep in the shed between cubicle divisions on a rubber mat and sawdust. The shed is scraped and the muck falls to a cellar below. This is then pumped every two weeks to a slurry tank and then used on the fields. No waste!

We went into the shed which houses the hay, straw, cattle crush and some cows in for their ‘dry’ period before they are due to calve. Cows are brought in for this for the two months before the calf is due to be born. The scanner is actually visiting the farm tomorrow to scan 70 cows! This job will take all morning.

It was amazing to see just how much there is to do on a farm. Some of our pupils were able to talk about their own experiences too. It’s a busy time for farmers all year round. We made sure we cleaned our hands and welly boots thoroughly and the beginning and end of the visit – and again once we were back at school.

Getting a Kit Kat from Mr Drennan was an extra bonus at the end of our visit! Thank you!

The Kilmorie Cross

Yesterday P4-7 travelled to Kirkcolm Primary to enjoy a day of learning with them in the village hall – this was in conjunction with the Rhins of Galloway Coast Path Project. At first, we were told about the Rhins coastal path which is to be built over the over the next 2 years. Archaelogists are ready to start their careful examinations of the areas in which the paths will be created. In groups we went to visit the Kilmorie cross stone which is in Kirkcolm church yard. The stone has been there for, it is believed, about a 1000 years. The ‘monk’ explained that it told us the stories of the people living in the area at that time. On one side of the stone it had the Last Supper with the table held up by two drinking horns. And on the other side there was the story of Sigurd and the dragon. He was regarded as a Viking Superhero! We think people carved this stone and possibly added to it over the years – you had to look really closely to be able to spot the picture clues. There was a picture of Jesus on his cross. There were workshops to participate in:  rune writing, weapons and artefacts with Sven, blacksmithing, a settler’s game and a battle re-enactment. It is really cool to think these things were around all those years ago and we can still see them today! We all got a tshirt with the newly-launched Rhins Coastal Path Project logo on it – it’s a version of the Viking rune symbol for a person.

We had a great day with our friends from Kirkcolm. We learnt about our local area through fun activities! Thank you to the Rhins Coastal Path Project!

P6/7 Digital Leaders Leswalt Primary

(Chloe and Erin)

What fabulous Friday afternoon fun! The McDougalls brought their brilliant show to our school! The children enjoyed a great afternoon of singing and dancing as they went on a ‘global adventure’ with Max and Auntie Aggie visiting Spain, France, China and Scotland! The songs used Spanish, French, Mandarin, Gaelic and Scots with lots of fun actions to go along with them. The songs had everyone joining in and dancing along.

HUGE thanks to Natasha (Kaiden and Joshua’s mum) for winning this show for the school through a Facebook competition. Lucky lucky Leswalt!

Lots of Maths Week fun has been on offer at Leswalt Primary this week!

P1-3 headed off to a fabulously-named Bubbly Maths Show this morning. Bubbles of all different sizes were created.

P4-7 pupils ventured out into the Autumnal sunshine to refresh their shape skills; spotting parallel lines, 2D shapes with more than 4 sides, angles, perpendicular lines and 3d shapes in their playground. After this quick recap of prior knowledge; they investigated Roman Numerals using twigs to represent our more commonly recognised numbers. We then set each other some Roman Numeral sum challenges which really got our application skills working!

The class headed back inside and resumed their Talk Partners’ Famous Mathematicians research task. The pupils used suggested websites to collate the who, what, when, where, why and how about celebrated mathematicians such as Alan Turing or Stephen Hawking. Some even went rather further back in history to look at Leonardo da Vinci; whilst Mrs F researched Pythagoras. We then brought all our information together to share with one another.

In the afternoon, P4-7 had their turn at the Bubbly Maths Show. They too enjoyed watching bubbles of all different sizes being made with the children working out the diameter of the bubble sphere. Attention was then turned to estimation skills using metres; calculating area and volume, and checking their estimates using metre ‘balloons’. Finally the pupils tried to work out how many children might fit inside a cubic metre which was created entirely out of balloons!

Busy times indeed!

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!

 

Boyd, Charlotte, Cameron, Logan, Jenna, Eva, Kirstie and Millie enjoyed a delicious meal at Henry’s Bay House to toast their last days as Leswalt Primary pupils.

Many thanks to parents for accompanying them and to our Parent Council for their kind donation towards their night out.

They all had a wonderful time!

What a wonderful day we had yesterday on our whole school Summer trip!

The sun shone, the children squealed with laughter and great fun was had by everyone! Between visiting lots of animals, playing on the bouncy pillows, slides, zip wires, quad bikes, water bombs, the fortress and so much more; the children had a fantastic day with their friends.

Many thanks must go to the Parent Council for their help in funding this trip!

If you had been heading into town on the service bus yesterday morning, you’d have noticed a happy, smiling bunch of P1s, accompanied by Mrs Smith and Mrs Dinsmore, who were off into town to spend their earnings from their very popular tuck shop!

The boys and girls (and ladies!) enjoyed a lovely morning in Stranraer; visiting the museum, choosing some sweeties, playing at the the park and enjoying an ice cream. Just look at the pictures to see how happy their wee faces are!

Well done P1! You had worked hard to collect your earnings- we’re glad you had a great time spending it!

Yesterday Leswalt Parent Council held an extremely successful Cream Tea fundraiser. Stalls ranged from face painting to BBQ, bottle stall to a 50/50 raffle, baking stall filled with yummy treats to a fabulous raffle. The P6/7 pupils mucked in and helped to run stalls too; Beat the Goalie, Guess the Number of Sweets, Glitter tattoos and Nail Painting, Lollystick Game and Pre-Loved Toy stall. A bouncy castle and of course, the delicious Cream Teas were a huge hit!

Friends and family from far and near came to enjoy the afternoon and over £900 was raised. What a fabulous team effort! Huge thanks to all members of the Parent Council and all parents, staff and pupils who came along to lend a hand.

Report added by our Digital Leaders!

The weather was kind to us for a dry but breezy Sports Day. We all headed over to Leswalt Park and cheered each other on for a great afternoon of sprinting, sack, egg and spoon, distance, obstacle and skipping races and the bean bag throw. Add in some ice-cream tubs (thanks Parent Council), free bottles of water (thanks Leswalt Village Store), ice poles (thanks Logan’s family) and even more fun watching mummies, daddies and little ones race and it all made for a lovely afternoon. Have a look through the photos above…

Thanks to those parents and Mr Brawls who helped in transporting equipment to and from the park.

See you all at the Partnership Sports on Tuesday 25^th June!

 

Many thanks to Mrs McKnight (and her band of willing volunteers!) for a super Farming afternoon!

If you had happened to drive by our school on Friday, you might have been surprised to see tractors, sheep, a mini Auction Mart, ducks being herded by dogs and sheep shearing! They were all there to bring alive the P1-3 Farming topic.

Another exciting school day at Leswalt Primary!!

 

On Friday our 4 Primary 6 pupils, accompanied by Mrs Gaw, headed into Stair Park for the Annual Operation Safety event. They had a fantastic time; learning lots of new skills and making new friends too.

Read all about it in their reports below…

My trip to Operation safety!

The p6s went to Operation Safety on the 31^st May to experience how to stay safe. The first activity was internet safety and we had to text people on a computer and try not to give any personal information. It was really fun. After that we watched a video clip all about this girl that was getting threatened online. Then we had a talk about vandalism which was very informative. Next we learnt about drugs and alcohol safety and then coastguard safety. Our final activity was with Scottish Power and it was really good to find out about electrical safety .This is a great thing for people to go to and I wish I could go again.

by Phoebe

 

My trip to Operation safety!

On the 31^st of May primary 6s  went to operation safety at Stair Park football stadium with Phoebe’s mum Gael and Ivy’s mum Becky. We did lots of activities about how to keep safe on all sorts of things; like on the internet and and how to save someone that’s in the sea drifting away. We covered internet safety, vandalism, ambulance, fire safety and then we had lunch. In the afternoon we talked about drugs and alcohol safety, the coastguard and our last group was with Scottish Power. I loved going to Operation Safety and I would love to go again.  We also made three new friends Jenny, Ellie and Charlotte from Sheuchan.

By Auryn

My Operation Safety Report

On the 31^st of May I, and the rest of the P6s from Leswalt and Kirkcolm, went to Operation Safety at the Stranraer Football stadium. My favourite activity was internet safety because we got to go computers and type messages to each other and the only bad thing that happened was when we got on the wall of shame. My favourite thing that happened was when we arrived I met three new friends from Sheuchan called, Jenny, Ellie and Charlotte and we learnt lots about keeping safe.

By Erin

P6 Operation Safety

On Friday 30:5:19 the p6s of Leswalt and Kirkcolm went to Stair Park stadium to do Operation sSafety which teaches kids about being safe. First we had internet safety, and we watched a video clip, then an activity about vandalism. First aid procedures was next, then fire safety, which was in the away changing room. After lunch, our group found out about being safe with drugs and alcohol (that activity was held in the refs changing room.) After that we visited the coast guard group and finally electricity safety with Scottish Power. I really enjoyed my experience and now know lots more about keeping myself safe.

By Finlay

What a gorgeous day we have had!

P4-7 headed over to the beautiful Aldouran Wetlands this morning and had some maths fun in the sun. The pupils have been working on 2D to 3D shapes in class, so they used natural materials to recreate these shapes. Too soon, it was time to head back to school; but there was more outdoor fun to come!

A very kind group of volunteers from Aldouran Wetlands came in to help the pupils add a little TLC to our garden area. Plant pots were revamped, weeding done, tyres painted, new plants homed, bug hotels spruced up….it was a tremendously busy morning. All made so much easier with having lots of knowledgeable helpers – huge thanks to Elspeth Jamieson, Colin and Ruth Belton, Theolette Watson, Ann Ireland and Jane Sloan for giving up their time to help us (and to Colin for all the plants he brought along for us too). We’re delighted with the difference to our garden area!

 

This afternoon, P.C. Wilson visited P5-7 to tell them more about legal and illegal drugs. She had some replica illegal drugs to show the pupils in an afternoon which was based on awareness raising, ensuring that pupils know who to speak to if they have any questions and most importantly, how to keep themselves safe. P.C. Wilson emphasized the dangers and knock-on effects of becoming involved in drugs. Education is key in this area as well all work together to help our pupils become responsible, happy citizens. The class listened keenly, asking the questions they had prepared. I know they learnt a great deal from this session.

Well done to the Confident Individuals of Luke and Joshua who travelled to Dumfries on Friday to compete in the regional heat of Glasgow Science Festival’s K’Nex Challenge.

The boys were set the task of designing a moving wind turbine using the K’nex, which they built using teamwork and logic. The boys were fabulous representatives of the school and received a certificate each as a memento of their involvement. Thank you Joshua and Luke – we’re very proud of you.

Thanks also to Luke’s dad for providing their transport to and from Dumfries.

What a busy, energetic morning the P5-7 pupils had at Green Valley. It was the annual Rhins Primary Cross Country event! Pupils had opted for either a half mile or mile distance race. Some pupils felt a little anxious – after all running for an extended length of time is quite an ask! But they all were superb – real troopers who all tried their very best! We also had two teams who entered the relay; with each leg being half mile a long. Well done runners!

Gregor Reid was 3rd in the Primary 5 mile run. Super stamina running Gregor – we’re all very proud of you!

 

P4-7 headed outside this morning to put our angles, shape, measure and area skills to good use.

Remembering what we had learnt in the classroom, we got busy spotting 2D shapes in the environment, measuring the perimeter and area of squares and rectangles (everything from bricks in the wall to the gate!) and identifying and drawing angles. We had a chat about why these skills really are important and when we might need to use them. Even better, the sun was trying hard to shine. What a nice way to start a busy week…

 

P4-7 enjoyed a cultural afternoon at the Ryan Centre courtesy of a group of musicians called Trio Ecossaise. The three ladies entertained the packed theatre with various pieces of music on the piano, cello and clarinet. They told the children about their instruments and invited them to talk about how the different pieces of music made them feel using emojis. They rounded the afternoon off with one we all knew – the theme tune to Star Wars!

Thanks to Joshua and Luke’s mum for accompanying us.

 

Huge thanks to our talented Rotary Quiz Team of Eva, Logan, Charlotte and Euan for representing Leswalt Primary so well at the recent local Primary Schools Rotary Quiz.

The four of them worked really well together and were fabulous school representatives answering some rather tricky questions. The team was chosen after a P7 general knowledge quiz was held in class when they demonstrated their super quiz skills.

Eggheads of the future perhaps?

 

 

The boys and girls of Leswalt Primary, together with Mrs McKnight, Mrs Ferguson and Joshua and Kaiden’s mum and dad (with little Aria-Rose in the buggy!), did their bit for their community this morning by heading out in the drizzle with their litter pickers to spruce up the streets of their village.

Well done everyone. What responsible citizens you are!

Big thank you to Natasha, Ross and Aria-Rose for joining us!

Well done to all the boys and girls of Leswalt Primary for their superb hard work in putting on another fantastic show!

The story told of a lonely dragon hiding high in the mountains above the Alpine village of Stumbledorf, the hilarious villagers who were a little frightened of this creature, Old Ma and her hero son Tommy who came to save the day and Gilda the Goatherd who made friends with the dragon and encouraged others to do the same. By the end of the show, the villagers and the dragon were great friends with everyone agreeing to ‘Not Judge a Book by its Cover’- the message of the final song.

Super songs helped to tell the show’s story; a mixture of cheery tunes, rock n’ roll Tommy, a melancholy ballad from the lonely dragon, a frantically upbeat reminder about social media’s effects and a touch of yodelling too! The children’s fabulous singing (as always!) and acting combined to make ‘Dragon Days’ a feast for the audience’s eyes.

Huge thank you to Audrey Buchanan from Stranraer Drama Club for her help with costumes- they really helped to bring the characters to life!

Well done everybody!

On the 18th of March, we (that’s Jenna, Millie, Eva and Charlotte) represented Leswalt in an InterSchools curling competition. On a Tuesday night we all go to the ‘ Curling’s Cool Club’ at the North West Castle. We had a great day and managed to come home in 2nd place out of twelve schools! The final was a closely fought game but unfortunately we weren’t the winning team. As a prize, we got an Easter egg. We really enjoyed the experience.

Report by Millie, Jenna, Eva and Charlotte

 

 

Crazy hair was all the rage at school today! The boys and girls had been buying red noses all week in support of Comic Relief and rounded the fun off today with their mad hair-dos, casual clothes and a very entertaining afternoon….

We hosted Leswalt’s Got Talent; with the children putting on an excellent showcase of their acts to a very appreciative audience made up of their fellow classmates, staff and parents and friends. From dancing babies to cello playing, comedy synchronized swimming to gymnastics, family dance troupe to guitar playing, solo singing to a self-choreographed dance routine – there was quite a variety of talents on show! So lovely to see all of these Confident Individuals giving it their all!

The very tricky job of judging was given to Mr McCracken, Gillian Murdoch and Mrs Buchanan – not an easy task. The boys and girls treated their audience to a sneak preview song from their upcoming show whilst allowing the judges some thinking time. After some discussion they gave the winning certificates and yummy Easter egg prizes to:

1st place – Jack Cloy – singing ‘Rule the World’

2nd place – Mille Smith and Jenna Calderwood – dancing babies routine

3rd place- Auryn, Breagh and Isla Kirkpatrick – synchronized swimming and Baby Shark routine.

Many thanks to all the wonderful acts for the hard work they put into learning their routines. We thoroughly enjoyed watching all of you, having a great afternoon AND raising money for a very worthwhile cause.

** Fundraising update – We raised over £190!! **

Take a look at the photos of a fun-filled day in aid of charity.

 

 

In a follow-on to Friday 1st’s  Super Science morning enjoyed by the P4-7 class, the P1-3 pupils had a blast last Friday afternoon! This was to celebrate British Science Week; engaging everyone in lots of fun science-based activities! There was all manner of investigations set up in the classroom and in the hall for pupils and their families to enjoy.

Take a look at all the fabulous photos below.

 

p1-3 welcomed Kathryn Purchase from History Alive into their classroom for a fabulous morning crammed full of Ancient Egyptian facts, fun and activities.

The boys and girls have been learning about this historical period over the last few weeks and Kathryn’s visit yesterday was a super way to share their learning, find out even more, do some digging (!) and enjoy dressing up in typical Egyptian costume.

Just look at the fabulous photos below…

Huge well done to Finlay Scott and Luke McHallum for winning the K’nex Challenge this morning. This competition was held at Stranraer Academy and was set up by the Glasgow Science Centre, and overseen by our STEM advisor Miss Creighton along with three judges.

The boys were set a brief to build a go-kart with a steering mechanism; with  certain measurements to adhere to and a design plan to be sketched. They worked really well together and their creation was crowned the winner!

The boys will now go on to compete in the next stage which is to be held in Dumfries. Fabulous!

 

 

Today we had the pleasure of History Alive’s Kathryn Purchase who delighted P4-7 with an informative presentation on World War Two. She sped the children through the years before war broke out, the events oversees and at home between 1939-1945, and the after-effects in the post-war years. The children were enthralled; quite literally sitting on the edge of their seats as they soaked up the WW2 experience. After sharing all of her vast knowledge; the children enjoyed handling the artefacts, looking at the propaganda posters and trying on replica WW2 clothing. Such great fun!

Take a look at the photos below. I’m sure you’ll agree it looks like a lot of fun and a brilliant way to learn!

Today we celebrated International Safer Internet Day! This year the theme was: Together for a better internet. Over 160 countries participated, with over 2000 UK schools and organisations too.

The world wide web is a fantastic resource that our parents, grandparents and teachers did not have when growing up – but we do! But all great resources need to be used wisely and there are things to be aware of. We learnt today how to be super computer savvy…

1. Choose to be aware 

Make sure you know the rules about how to behave and stay safe on the sites, games and apps you like to use. Look out for buttons that let you block, mute and report other users who aren’t behaving and always ask for help if there is something you are not sure about.

2. Choose to make sensible choices online 

Always keep your personal information safe and any personal information belonging to your friends and family.  Check with an adult before signing up to a new game or online service and before downloading a new app or game .

3. Choose to ask if it’s okay 

Always think about how your online actions might make others feel. Be a respectful friend online and remember to ask for permission before sharing something about someone else. This could include a picture, video or piece of their personal information like where they live or their full name. Take a look at our Safer Internet Day film to see what other young people think about asking for consent online.

4. Choose to be a role model 

Always be kind to others online and support your friends if they are having a difficult time. You can help your friends by showing them how to block and report in games and apps or by going to talk to a trusted adult with them.

5. Choose to ask for help

If you are ever unsure about something you see online, or anything makes you feel worried, upset or confused then ask a trusted adult for some help and advice.

 

Remember! Think SMART – Safe, Meeting, Accepting, Reliable, Tell.

 

Check out www.saferinternet.org.uk for more information including a section with top tips for parents/carers.

 

Pupils can easily access the ThinkUKnow website via their GLOW launch pad. This has some fantastic games and a Parents/Carers section too.

What a fabulous celebration of all things Scottish at Leswalt Primary’s Showcase Assembly! The children had worked very hard throughout the month of January on their Scots poems; writing them out in their most beautiful handwriting, creating pieces of Artwork to accompany their poem and learning their poem in order to recite it with gusto. In addition to recognising every child’s hard work and celebrating and enjoying listening to the recitation winners, the assembled parents and friends were treated to Scots songs from P1-3 and P4-7. The younger pupils raised many a smile with their re-enactment of that well-loved song ‘Three Craws’ whilst the older pupils used their own lyrics to the song ‘If you will marry me’ to tell of a young lad who is trying to win the heart of a lass, only to have second thoughts as their song unfolds! Such a fun afternoon celebrating Scottish culture.

 

Burns results  – Friday 25 January 2019

P1 – ‘Mince and Tatties’ – Recitation winners : 1. Ela Chang & Hamish Scott; 2.Ewan Clark; 3. Ellie Bennewith:

Illustration winner – Ellie Bennewith : Handwriting winner – Ewan Clark

 

P2 – ‘Donkey Ride – Recitation winners : 1. Hamish McGregor; 2.Carys McHallum; 3. Faye Adams :

Illustration winner –Mark Drummond : Handwriting winner – Faye Adams

 

P3 – ‘Street Talk’ – Recitation winners : 1. Alexander Clark; 2.Noah Gaw; 3.Thomas Clark:

Illustration winner –Noah Gaw: Handwriting winner – Noah Gaw

 

P4 – ‘The Heron’ – Recitation winners : 1. Aidan Adams; 2. Malcolm McGregor; 3. Breagh Kirkpatrick:

Illustration winner – Murray Williams : Handwriting winner – Aidan Adams

 

P5 – ‘Twins’ – Recitation winners : 1^stequal. Chloe Kennedy & Gregor Reid;  3. Jack Cloy:

Illustration winner – Jack Cloy : Handwriting winner – Chloe Kennedy

 

P6 – ‘The Evacuee’ – Recitation winners : 1.Phoebe Gaw; 2. Erin Jamieson; 3.Auryn Kirkpatrick:

Illustration winner –Phoebe Gaw: Handwriting winner – Phoebe Gaw

 

P7 – ‘Address to the haggis / Willie Wastle’ – Recitation winners : 1.Charlotte Gaw; 2.Jenna Calderwood; 3.Eva Ferguson:

Illustration winner – Millie Smith : Handwriting winner – Charlotte Gaw.

What a busy Burns day we’ve enjoyed! Mr Plant our judge had a packed morning; listening to poem recitations and viewing artwork and handwriting. He had some very tricky decisions on his hands but chose worthy winners, second and third places.

Following this, everyone tucked into a delicious Burns Lunch. Mr Gaw piped in the haggis, Mr Plant gave The Immortal Memory and the children entertained with their poems and songs; led ably through the lunch by our organised team of P7s.

Happy Birthday Rabbie and… Auld Lang Syne!

Phoebe and Erin took part in the Rhins Annual Primary Badminton Competition at Stranraer Academy. They really enjoy playing this sport and had a fabulous time playing against other children from different schools! Phoebe was placed 4th overall too. Well done girls- you are such great sporting ambassadors for our school!

On the 21st of January we went to the Rotary Lunch to represent the school. Mrs Smith came with us. Every year, P7s are invited along to join the Monday Rotary Lunch meeting. We had a lovely meal and we also got to listen and talk to Adam Gray. He is the Development Manager for the Scottish Rugby Union. He gave an amazing speech, it was so interesting, and he also gave us Scottish Rugby pin badges. We had a fabulous time and it was a great experience!

Logan Wilson and Jenna Calderwood

What a fabulous way to start bringing our fun-filled term to a close. The whole school journeyed up to the Gaiety Theatre in Ayr to enjoy a fantastic production of the pantomime ‘Aladdin’ – and what a show it was!

The Parent Council had very generously organised an ice cream for everyone at the interval – yum yum! Then, after lots of laughing, clapping and singing (Baby Shark!!), the children headed off for a delicious lunch at the Stage Door restaurant before heading back down the road to Leswalt. Now that’s what I call a perfect way to spend a Thursday!

 

What a fabulous afternoon we had at our school Christmas party! Crackers, party poppers, food galore ( a party buffet supplemented with goodies sent in by parents – thanks folks), fun party games, some super cool disco dancing and a visit from a very special man in red all added up to so much fun! The children had a ball! Just take a look at our snaps below!

The boys and girls of P4-7 collected some goodies together to create a Reverse Advent Calendar – a calendar which gives! They donated this to Alison (Jack’s granny) from Apex Scotland so that the tasty treats can be divided up and given to those in need. It’s nice to be nice!

We raised money today by coming to school in our festive knits! All money will be combined with our End of Term Church Service collection and be donated to Save the Children.

Yummy! A delicious Christmas lunch was enjoyed by all today. The P7 girls had worked their elf magic in setting up the tables laden with crackers, with Christmas music to accompany the happy chatter. The staff served the excited children and then sat down to enjoy a lovely lunch together. Look at all of these happy faces!

On the 13th of December P4-7 were joined by Scott for our first session of rugby (the last two weeks have been rained off!) The whole class enjoyed a warm-up game of Bulldogs. Then we all worked on some basic rugby moves and learned how to do the cheek to cheek tackle. We had lots of fun trying this out.

We are looking forward to more rugby training sessions next term!

Charlotte and Millie

The P4-7 class were set a space homework task and they certainly rose to the challenge! Models, power points, leaflets, mind maps, posters, books and emails zoomed into the classroom created by our super space enthusiasts! I was completely wowed by the quality of what the children produced. Well done everyone – you’re finished space challenges are out of this world!

(2 photos to follow!)

Many thanks to the team of fabulous pupils, teachers and staff who worked their little socks off on Saturday in Morrisons, helping the shoppers out with their bag packing. Polite and cheery, the bag packers helped many a shopper and were rewarded with their buckets being filled to the tune of £730! Well done Team Leswalt!

Today we welcomed Carol Moyes from the STEM team to Leswalt Primary to lead us in an Hour of Code! This week is Computer Science Education Week and so, having tried Scratch coding before, we tried the fantastic code.org website today. Mrs Moyes gave the pupils a quick information session, then working in the Talk Partners, the children got to it!

Wow – they were so good at this! From Dance Party to Minecraft, Frozen to Flappy Code –  the list of possibilities for fun is endless! The children overcame some computer glitches to all produce a short program. And yes, they were much more proficient at this than Mrs F! I’ll need to keep practising…

Photos to follow!

 

Feis Rois

For the last twelve weeks P4-7 have been enjoying singing and song-writing with Sean, Paul and Sarah. Today we put on a concert for P1-3 and any family and friends who were free to come along. The children sang and were accompanied by Sean and Paul on guitars:

Katie Bairdie (the pupils made up verses with their own words),

The Border Hills,

Bananas are the best (their favourite!)

and Ae fond kiss by Robert Burns.

The pupils really enjoyed their traditional music-making sessions.

Thank you so much to Sean, Paul and Sarah! Sarah is actually a finalist for Young Traditional Musician of the Year. The final is to be held in January at the Royal Concert Hall. We’re all rooting for her!

Report by Eva Ferguson P7

The boys and girls had a great morning with the team from Let’s Get Sporty! They will be coming over the next two weeks to share some fun games and teamwork challenges to encourage the pupils to get active!

Unfortunately, the weather conditions meant that all the activities were held indoors this week. It didn’t stop any of the fun though!

Mrs Ferguson

The Let’s Get Sporty team were at Leswalt school on Wednesday and we ALL LOVED IT! I am sure the Let’s Get Sporty team loved us as well… Their names were coach Mary and coach Craig. They were very nice. The weather was atrocious so we stayed inside but at least we all had fun.  They will be here over the next two weeks and we hope we are the best school they have had.  I hope we gave a good first impression! They did hockey with us; drills and much more. We can’t wait for next week!

Reporter – Cameron McCutcheon

Well done P4-7 pupils! Under the guidance of Laura McClymont and three training sessions, the pupils planned and delivered short ‘Playmaker’ sessions for their P1-3 schoolmates. A busy, active (and loud!) afternoon was enjoyed by the younger pupils who followed the instructions given by their older friends. Hopefully some of the upper primary might use these skills in the future in the playground or outwith school – what a great life skill to have! Thanks to Laura for her time and advice.

Today we all took advantage of the glorious sunshine to head over to Aldouran Wetlands. P1-3 were looking for signs of Winter and P4-7 were ‘adjective collecting’ for their Haiku poetry writing; the carpet of Autumn leaves and bare trees were a great stimulus for our imaginations!

We explored the gardens and found a brilliant new structure there – a fabulous new outdoor classroom! We can’t wait to use this lots over the course of the school session! What a lovely morning!

Today the whole school travelled to the Ryan centre to watch the new adaptation of “The Little Vampire”, an animated film of a series of books about how 2 young boys overcome their differences and prejudices to become friends.  This film was being shown free to schools as part of National Film week. What a lovely way to spend a blustery Friday morning – watching a movie with friends!

 

Today the boys and girls of Leswalt Primary headed over to Leswalt Parish Church where they were met by three ladies of the congregation. The ladies told the pupils about the ceramic poppy garden, created by a member of the congregation, one poppy for each Leswalt parishioner lost in WW1 and WW2. They also told us about the stunning poppy fall outside the church (1564 poppies were crocheted, knitted or felted to create this memorial for the 1564 days WW1 lasted). Together we all held a 2 minute silence to take some time to pay our respects.

The P4-7 class had printed a poppy banner under the guidance of Mrs Copeland our art teacher. The children felt it was a fitting tribute to hand this over to the church so that this can be put on display in the village hall on Remembrance Sunday.

Alison from Apex visited on  Friday afternoon (and will be in every Friday over the next six weeks) to talk about Healthy Eating. The children got the chance to chop vegetables, smell their soup simmering, taste their culinary creation, enjoy some fun games about nutrition AND head home with a recipe card and a back of vegetables so they can show their folks at home how to make this delicious soup too! The first group had a fabulous time and learnt lots too. The rest of the school were most envious but their turn will come…promise! What a great opportunity!

Laura McClymont got the class together today to work on their organisation and leadership skills – the Playmakers’ Award.

Working in small groups, the pupils used  teamwork to plan and deliver a sporty activity to the rest of the class. The children thought about the personalities and skills within their group and how to ensure everyone was involved in the activity. Fabulous life skills to have! Laura was on hand to offer any nuggets of advice to the children too.

The children enjoyed their session and are already looking forward to their next two sessions.

Today P4-7 were lucky enough to welcome John from Computer Xplorers. He spent a whole day with the class jam-packed with fun hands-on activities to investigate energy and renewable energy sources.

We started by looking at the transfer of energy through thermal imaging. Maisie left her hand print on the desk transferring the heat from her hand to the desk, Phoebe left her toasty footprints on the floor – we couldn’t see the handprints of footprints with our eyes but we could with the thermal imaging camera! Cool!

Throughout the day, the children worked in 2s and 3s to build Lego Educational models. John organised a competition – to design and create a model which could produce the most voltage. The small groups tested out their designs and then tried to improve on the voltage they could produce by altering their design slightly. Chloe and Euan won having produced a voltage of 14.94v!

The boys and girls also built wind or water turbines and tested these out. Then found out more about solar energy by building (and racing!) solar cell cars.

John spoke to the class about the desperate need for renewable energy sources for the future of planet Earth. The boys and girls had already done some work on fossil fuels; how they were created and the finality of their supply and so were aware of the importance of renewable energy sources.

The second challenge faced by the pupils was to build a wind or water turbine. John talked to them about wind and water power first and how this would work on a grand scale.All groups worked together so well on this. I overhead snippets of chat, “this is well cool!” and “I’m getting the hang of this” to “you want a shot doing the next bit” – so good to observe children working in this way.

In the afternoon, the children were set the task of building a solar panel car which they powered with a lamp (unfortunately weather was against us today).

So – three renewable energy sources covered in a day and awareness raised within our adults of the future and all whilst having lots of fun! Win win!

 

Today Lisa from NHS D&G Quit your Way popped in to chat to us all about the negative , and very yucky, effects of smoking on your health. The pupils were involved in lots of experiments; from Dr Finlay and Dr Joshua investigating just some of the chemical concoctions that make up a cigarette ( in actual fact there are over 4000 chemicals!), to our fresh-faced and gorgeous Charlotte and Robin being transferred (by the powers of technology) to being ‘not so fresh faced looking ‘ after many years of smoking – you wouldn’t have recognised them!

The boys and girls tried out some fitness tests too. Not too healthy if you were a smoker and the cost?! So expensive – who would want to waste their money on something which is bad for you, affect your health and appearance? Crazy!

The class also considered the dangers involved in passive smoking – second-hand smoke. NHS Scotland has a bid to be smoke-free by 2034! Let’s work together to do this!!

P4-7 were lucky enough to meet Prof Lockhart from the University of the West of Scotland yesterday and hear all about COPD (and its links to smoking) in our area. This presentation is designed to teach primary pupils about the dangers associated with smoking and hopefully, completely put them off trying it out in the future!

The children learnt some shocking facts and got to work around 4 activity stations; the peak flow meter, identifying the healthy model lung, COPD keywords word search and re-creating a model lung using a bottle and balloons. Time was a little against us, but I know all would agree it was a fun afternoon tackling a very serious subject. The pupils will continue to do some work on the ‘No Smoking’ message this week.

 

On Monday the 24^th of September P4-7 went on a bus with Kirkcolm to Wigtown Book Festival. We went to see an Author called Gareth P.Jones who sang us songs about Death or Ice-cream and The twins who kept on trying to kill each other! He also talked about his new book-The Daily Joker. The Daily Joker has a joke for every single day of the entire year! He also had some of his other books on sale like Class of the Robot, Beards from Outer Space and the Ninja Meerkat series. Everyone laughed very much at his jokes and songs – and we’re more than sure to say that everyone enjoyed their trip to Wigtown Book Festival!

 

Reporters – Millie and Eva

 

 

Last week primary 4/7 had Miss Creighton in to show them how to use the green screen.

Miss Creighton taught us how to use Serif Movie Plus a computer program and the green screen kit the school had received. We learnt how to build up the green screen then used Serif Movie Plus to do our slide show. The slide show was like magic because you were at the school but on the computer it looked as if you in Scotland somewhere else! We took each other’s photos, uploaded them to the computer and imported them into the program. Miss Creighton is a Stem advisor. A big thank you to Miss Creighton for coming in to show us how to use this cool piece of equipment!

Reporter – Kirstie P7

As part of Maths Week Scotland, the Clark, Millar, McHallum, Adam, Drummond and Agnew families created these amazing collages! Look at the work that went into these. From farming matters to baking, maths around the world to maths and our toys and in our homes – the boys and girls (and their helpful families) had thought of so many examples of maths being everywhere around us!

#effective contributors    #successful learners    #maths is indeed everywhere!

Today kicked off our ‘Maths Week Scotland’ fun – Leswalt style! The boys and girls had a get-together this morning and chatted about the fact that Maths really is Everywhere – from Mrs F’s morning routine of the buzzing alarm clock to how many spoons of coffee and sugar she needed, to the shapes, time and numbers they could spot all around them in school.

Maths in Art was our first theme; with the infants looking at the shapes and patterns of the artist Paul Klee and P4-7 investigating parabolic curves and hearing about the free-hand line work of Dutch artist Piet Mondrian.

Maths in Computing had the P1-3 pupils using online sites Sum Dog and Education City (use those Sum dog log-ins at home as part of the national competition too!) The P4-7 class were busy coding using Scratch . Their challenge was to try and write a program to spell the word LESWALT. They used the sheets with the instructions as a starter but we’re hoping to try and code our own instructions as a next step.

Maths Outside had P4-7 heading off to tackle Mrs Ferguson’s Maths Challenge. Working in pairs the pupils needed to identify lots of examples of shapes, angles, measuring and number tasks. It was good fun!

Family members were invited in for some baking fun! Yum yum – using our counting and weighing skills we enjoyed making some delicious tray bakes with our classmates and family. P1-3 made ‘Fifteens’ and P4-7 made Rocky Road!

Don’t forget our optional Maths Homework Challenge of creating a collage on the theme ‘Maths is Everywhere’.

. Keep your eye on our blog to find out what we’ve been up to – photos of P1-3 have been added too!

 

 

What a wonderful musical experience P4-7 enjoyed today with a visit from Sean and Paul from Feis Rois. They will be joining us every Tuesday for most of term 1 and 2. The pupils loved listening to them playing Scottish music on their guitar and whistle/flute. Lots of foot-tapping! We then joined in singing a Gaelic name song together and a Matt McGinn song ‘Coorie Doon’. We talked about the meanings of the Scots words and learnt the song melody as Paul accompanied us on his guitar. What great fun – it certainly put a smile on all of our faces! Happy Tuesday – roll on next week!

19/6/18         Our Trip to Culzean Castle

On the 18^th of June the whole school went to Culzean Castle for our school trip.

P1-4 headed off to explore the beautiful castle. They saw lots of really interesting things in there – including a bell to ring for a servant! We don’t have things like that nowadays! They then enjoyed some fun at the playpark.

P5-7 worked on two workshops; Materials from our Earth and Using Maps. They spotted and chatted about man made materials and natural materials. Then they headed down to the beach to search for sandstone, volcanic rock, driftwood, feathers and limpet shells. In the map workshop, they learnt how to position a map the correct way and set a compass. They used their maps to navigate their way to the castle and back to the Home Farm and also created a felt map. After a busy day it was time to get the bus back to school! What a grand day out!

Reporters – Eva and Erin

 

 

Well done P5-7! Today they held an Eco Friends Coffee Morning to display all the work they have been doing this term on plastic pollution, Fair Trade, The 3 Rs and Super Energy savers. They served banana muffins and chocolate crispies using FairTrade goods and FairTrade tea and coffee. Parents enjoyed browsing their stalls , looking at the pupils’ upcycling homework and junk modelling hats and chatting to the pupils about what they had learned.

£30 was raised which the children have decided to donate to Aldouran Wetlands. Mrs Jane Sloan popped into school to pick this up. The P7 pupils presented the donation to her which, she said, would be used to ensure there are plenty of nuts to keep the ever-hungry red squirrels going.

P1-4 have been learning about how different world religions welcome a baby. With the help of Rev Claire, we christened our very own Baby Annabelle in Leswalt Church.  Thomas and Breagh acted as parents, with Jack and Maisie accepting the responsible position of Annabelle’s godparents.  Baby Annabelle behaved wonderfully and we all learned lots about this family celebration.

Ground-breaking visit today when P5-7 headed to the Community Reuse Shop and Stranraer Zero Waste Project!

What an informative morning we had; looking around the Reuse shop at all the goods which have been donated by the people of Wigtownshire to be re-used by the people of Wigtownshire. Everything from full-size snooker tables from the George Hotel to pianos, from books to CDs, from golf clubs to food processors – you name it, it was there!

After Wilma had shown us around (and we’d enjoyed a pit-stop with juice and biscuits!), we headed over to the recycling area. We were amazed at how tidy it was for, essentially, a place where all your rubbish goes! Plastic, cans, paper, garden waste, electrical appliances, clothes, batteries and even cooking oil can all be recycled!

The Scottish Government has a goal to have no biodegradable land-fill by 2020 and it’s clear to see that Stranraer is definitely one of the leaders in this area! And now that our P5-7 pupils, who will be our adults of the future, are aware of just how much can be recycled, things are looking really positive. Well done Eco Friends!

Well done to the Leswalt Primary and Portpatrick partnership team – LesPort United perhaps?!- who won the football tournament at Castle Kennedy Primary’s Fun Day on Saturday!

The final game saw them playing the hosts in a thrilling match which ended in victory with Euan McCredie’s winning penalty shot! As always the team were a credit to the school. Well done to Ethan, Finlay McMillan, Alistair, Euan, Eva, Millie, Cameron and Rowan and Rhian from Portpatrick.

What a fabulous afternoon we all enjoyed over at Leswalt Park for our annual Sports Day! The sun shone which was an added bonus. The parents enjoyed a fun afternoon cheering on all the boys and girls who were such good sports. Logan’s mum, Lizzie Kennedy, very kindly provided the children with ice lollies after the long distance race – phew they were all ready for something refreshing then! The Parent Council then treated all boys and girls to a tub of ice-cream from Gillian’s shop. An afternoon with friends in the sunshine, participating and supporting each other in fun sporting activities and enjoying ice creams and lollies – all sounds perfect to me!

Check out the smiley faces in our snaps below!

P1 accompanied, by Mrs Smith and Mrs Dinsmore, headed on the service bus into Stranraer today. They headed to Sugar Rush to spend their well-earned pennies from their tuck shop initiative, had a fabulous time playing at Agnew Park and scoffed a yummy ice cream from Dunns. Such fun! Have a look at the photos below to see their happy, smiling faces, the golden sand, blue sky and tropical palm trees – just idyllic I’m sure you agree!

Cameron came into school this morning armed with a bag of 2 footballs and 2 basketballs which he and his mum had bought for the school’s playtime box. As we thanked her for being so thoughtful, Sharon commented, “It’s nice to be nice!”

What a lovely gesture! A huge thank you to you both – the boys and girls are delighted 🙂

 

Our P6 pupils headed to Stair Park in Stranraer for their Operation Safety experience today.

The pupils picked up a wealth of information from 9 different activity stations; Ambulance, Drugs and Alcohol abuse, Coastguards, Online Safety, Electrical Safety, Anti-Social Behaviour, Cyber-bullying and more.

The Emergency Services get together to provide this information day for every P6 pupil and it has proved to be a fantastic learning experience for them.

Many thanks to Gael Gaw for accompanying our P6s along with Mrs Maxwell and Kirkcolm P6 pupils.

P5-7  have been very lucky to have had four rugby training sessions with Andy Lang the Rugby Development Officer. The children have thoroughly enjoyed these as you can tell from the pictures below!

There are Rugby Training sessions available on a Sunday for anyone interested.

P5-7 have all achieved the Level 1 Bikeability! Over the last few weeks they have been out and about in the playground and on the road, led by Mrs McHarg and Mrs C Brown. They all now know how to do a bike check before hopping on their bike, and have picked up some handy tips and skills to keep them safe when out and about. We love the fact that the children are keen to be active, especially in this fine weather. Now we know they have the necessary skills to keep themselves safe too!

Many, many thanks to everyone who supported the Cream Teas event in any way; everyone who baked, donated raffle prizes/bottles  or helped in any way.  Thank you, to Mrs  Louise Jamieson for helping to co-ordinate and organise the Cream Teas and to each and every person who played their part this afternoon – all the parents, pupils and friends of the school.  You are all stars.🌟

Thanks to your combined effort you have raised over £1000 for your school!

£906 profit was made on the day and the silent auction for the Stena Line Trip made an incredible £295,  taking the  total to over £1200!

Great team work!  Well done little Leswalt! 😊

* *Quiz update**

Many thanks to all those who entered our quiz. Mrs Smith was the winner!

 

 

Don’t we all scrub up beautifully! Boys and girls came to school today dressed in their finery in honour of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s upcoming wedding. The girls had worked really hard in school this week to create the most gorgeous fascinators and hatinators and the boys had designed their very own funky ties. The children enjoyed a yummy picnic lunch outside too.

We were most honoured when Prince Harry and Meghan even managed to find some time to pop in to say ‘hi’! Wow!

 

What a fabulous day we had enjoying Outdoor Education Day in the glorious sunshine!

P1-4 had a blast of a morning working together to build their mega-sized 3d junk castles! They all looked fabulous – fit for a knight.

P5-7 headed to Aldouran Wetlands to do some 2d triangle shape work. They built their own triangles then completed their ‘Boast Sheet’ full of all the facts and knowledge they had about different types of triangles. They then were busy in the garden back at school; weeding, sprucing up tubs, planting, watering and collecting any litter that had missed the bin.

Active children were the order of the day in the afternoon, enjoying team-games and Bikeability activities.

How we wished the sun could shine every day like this! We all had great fun…

 

This morning we had seven very welcome visitors; Sophia, Sean, Ella, Ellie, Ewan, Hamish and Amelia came to spend an hour with us. They will be our new Primary one pupils in August and we are very much looking forward to having them. Their visits will build up over the next few weeks so they will get to know us, and we’ll get to know them! By all accounts, they seemed to enjoy themselves – look out for some photos to follow next week when they are not quite so camera shy!

P4 pupils made the BIG step through to the P5-7 classroom too. They all headed outside to take part in a Maths Treasure Hunt. Working in teams, they were all very busy 2d and 3d shape spotting, calculating area, finding angles and working with numbers found in the environment.

A very busy morning for all!

New P1 update – check out the snaps of our youngest visitors to Leswalt Primary. We are really enjoying their Tuesday visits! Hope they are too.