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Plastic is originally made from fossil fuels.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.
It’s a busy busy week – fresh from their superb show performances yesterday, Leswalt pupils enjoyed a fabulous party afternoon today!
House Captains Hamish and Carys and Vice House Captains Cara and Faye had been the organising elves and Mrs McKnight and Mrs F followed their plans so that everyone enjoyed an afternoon of festive fun.
The tunes were pumping as they played Christmas Corners, Musical Baubles and Pass the Present before taking a break for some crisps, juice and sweet treats prepared by P5-7 and Mrs Kyle. It was then back to the hall for a rousing rendition of Jingle Bells – just in case this might be the favourite song of a certain mystery guest….
Sure enough, we soon heard the sound of bells and who should join us in our school hall but Santa Claus!!
He was so cheery and chatty with all the boys and girls who, thankfully, had all made the good list! Phew!
Everyone had lovely time and headed home wearing their new personalised hats with pride and munching their chocolate Santas!
Huge well done to our Leswalt Primary 5 pupil Murray Reid for winning this year’s Millennium Centre Light Switch-on poster competition – out of all our local primary schools!
He will be enjoying a trip on Santa’s Float and be part of Stranraer’s Light Switch-on this Saturday. Look out for his winning poster on display as part of the town’s Christmas celebrations too.
What a fantastic achievement Murray!
Lactalis Cheese Factory and McLelland Cheese Packing
On Thursday 23rd of November, Leswalt P5-7 class went on a trip to Lactalis Stranraer. We started off in the meeting room, learning about the history of Lactalis (it’s owned by a French family), how it has grown over the years and the health and safety rules and guidelines which are really important to keep employees safe and produce top quality cheese.
Then group 1 went to cheese packaging across the road from the main factory. Meanwhile group 2 went down into the cheese production factory to see how the cheese was made starting from the milk being delivered and through every stage (curds and whey and the use of ‘good’ bacteria) to the finished product of 20Kg blocks of cheese. This is all done in an area where there are HUGE machines. There is a lot of engineering and Science involved in making such tasty cheese. There was even a small museum there showing the ways in which cheese had been produced over the years.
After that, the Groups came back to the meeting room and tasted different types of cheese. The types of cheese that we tried were mild, medium, mature and extra mature cheddar. That’s not something that we get to do every Thursday!
Lastly, the two groups swapped over, and group 1 went to cheese production and group two went to cheese packaging. At cheese packaging is across the road at the McLelland Cheese Packaging plant and we watched the 20Kg blocks pass through on different lines to be unwrapped, then cut, sliced or grated, packaged up and sealed and then packed ready to go out for delivery. If the bits of cheese are too small, they get collected up and get sent off to be grated.
Lactalis are working really hard on eco issues and recycle all their cardboard, are trialling some recyclable plastic packaging and are investing in producing their own power to run machinery. There are solar panels planned for next year.
Do you know that Stranraer’s factory produces and packs cheese products to be sent all over the world?! And we learnt that there are so many different jobs at the factory – it was really interesting.
Overall, we had a fabulous time at both factories, and we would all like to thank all the staff at Lactalis for giving up their time to show us around.
Thank you!
Report written by Faye Adams and Brandon Millar (P7)
Today, Aileen and Ross from the Glasgow Science Centre team came to our school with their roadshow called ‘Future Fuels’. Aileen told us about Fossil Fuels and why it is so important to find renewable energy sources. She showed us an experiment using methanol and demonstrated the Fire Triangle which needs Oxygen, heat and fuel to work. The tiny amount of methanol made a huge bang when the Fire Triangle was completed but this is not something which can be easily controlled. It can be super dangerous (that’s why she demonstrated it wearing safety goggles and using safety equipment!)
She told us about research which is going into some amazing projects like the Solar Array in California, the Hydrogen Plant outside of Rome, Italy, the Solar Car Race which is held in Australia (Kaiden and Katie competed – the KGs!- competed in a mini version of this using a tiny car with a solar panel and a torch as the light source) and the Solar Impulse II which is an solar panelled plane! It took 505 days to travel all the way around the world so not handy for your summer holidays in the sunshine just yet, but maybe in the future!
Ross then demonstrated all ten exhibits which we were allowed to play with and investigate the different renewable power sources. The exhibits were called:
Directional Drilling Nuclear Reactor Solar Array Windmill Kit
Million Watt Drop Three Phase Generator Crank Power 50 Hz
Hydrogen Launcher Hand Crank Generator
We had a great morning finding out about Science of the Future! Thanks to Ross and Aileen for visiting us.
Following on from yesterday’s World Children’s Day, PC Walker visited Leswalt Primary this afternoon to talk about UNCRC Rights of a Child and the role the police play in keeping us all safe.
Working in our assembly groups, we all chatted about our rights and what each article meant for us day-to-day. There was lots of chat about the right to be safe, to learn, to be fed, to be warm and to be listened to. PC Walker talked about adults who are there to help make sure children’s rights are met. We also talked about the importance of respecting the rights of others.
There was time for a chat about the ‘day in the life of a police officer’ and how there is no typical day for them. She told us about the age at which you can be charged with a criminal offences – it’s 12! Some of us thought that was a bit too old… what do you think?
Many thanks to PC Walker for taking the time to come and speak to us.
UNCRC Rights of the Child – Article 17 Access to Information
Pupils and staff rocked up to school today wearing blue (to support World Children’s Day on Mon 20th November) and with their pockets full of pennies to add to our Children in Need collection bucket!
All week, House Captains had been manning their Children in Need merchandise shop and selling Pudsey ears, pens and pin badges. Their shop was super busy – with lots of money being raised.
As a school, we checked out the Children in Need website and chatted about where our donations go and how they are used to help children.
Grand total to follow… thanks for everyone’s support!
