Author: Mrs Ferguson

Today P5-7 enjoyed a whole day of WW2 activities!

Several pupils dressed up for the occasion and some brought in memorabilia from home too.

The day was action packed : from learning about Dunkirk to using 2D/3D shape knowledge to design a gas mask box; listening to music from that era whilst learning to sew on a button just like the Make Do and Mend campaign; working in pairs on an information treasure hunt about Pearl Harbour and looking at artefacts brought in by Carys, Amelia and Kaiden and planning own Evacuation propaganda poster or designing own WW2 powerpoint or Sway as part of their assessment!

Tomorrow, the pupils will be sharing their WW2 homework research activity – some have shared theirs with me already and they look amazing!

Such a busy day – full of learning and hard-working pupils!

Thank you and well done to Ewan Clark, Thomas Agnew and Daisy Doyle for representing Leswalt Primary at last night’s Scots’ Song and Verse Competition.

All three performed so well and we are all very proud of them.

Thomas was awarded joint 2nd place for his recitation of Burns’ Address to a Haggis, Ewan was awarded joint 3rd place for Harry by Matthew Fitt and Daisy sang Caledonia and was was given joint 3rd place too!

Huge thanks also to Mrs Jane Sloan for accompanying Daisy on the piano.

Top work team 🥈🥉🥉

This morning, P5-7 had their last Soundtrap session with John 🙁 This has been SO much fun and the pupils have learnt lots.

Today’s focus was on podcasting, teamwork, sharing work digitally and voice recording.

Each group had a chief technician (Rose, Thomas and Alexander) who ‘built’ their group’s podcast using the music produced by pupils over previous sessions. Add to that mini interviews and background music and each group were able to plan, design and produce their own podcast!

Excellent digital skills being used – all whilst learning and having fun! It’s a win win situation!

World Book Day Blog Report  

by Rose and Thomas  

(Leswalt Primary House Captains) 

Thursday was World Book Day – a day all about reading and we had loads of exciting activities on! 

 Over the last week, our head librarians Ellie and Ben planned some great fun for all of us to enjoy.  

They organised a ‘Draw a Book Character’ competition – The entries for this were amazing!  

We also had an Accelerated Reading raffle for whoever managed to take a test and passed that day!  

We all looked at the books we can buy with our free book tokens there are so many good options!  

 As well as free book tokens we all got to pick a pre-loved book to take home as a gift from the school. 

Later, on in the younger one’s classroom, we went on a Live Video Event with David Walliams. It was so good! He read an extract from some of his books and from his new book coming out soon. Whilst listening, we all cuddled up with some yummy hot chocolate – we even had some cream and marshmallows. 

All in all, the day was great fun!  

The competition winners were: 

P1-4 Book Character winner –  Murray Reid

P5-7 Book Character winner –  Hamish McGregor

Accelerated Reading Raffle winner –  Rose Santangeli

Huge thanks to the Construction Department at DGC Stranraer Campus – particularly Scott McEwan for helping us out and building our new playground shed!

We HUGELY appreciate their help!

Our Eco Committee typed up a letter of thanks.

 *******************************************                                                                                                                      Dear DGC Stranraer Campus Construction Department,  

We would like to thank you SO much building our lovely metal shed for us!! 

We really appreciate you giving up your time to help. 

Thanks to lecturers, students, and particularly Scott McEwan for all their efforts. 

 Thank you  

 From Evan, Cara and Daisy Leswalt Eco Committee  

and all the pupils and staff of Leswalt Primary   

We were delighted to welcome the fabulous Kathryn Purchase from History Alive into school today to work with P5-7.

The class have just started a study of World War Two and, in class, had found out about the unrest in Germany after WW1, the rise of Hitler, invasion of Poland and the start of WW2 with Neville Chamberlain’s momentous speech.

Kathryn brought along her amazing collection of WW2 artefacts and, after taking the children through a whistle-stop tour of the war and covering topics such as key figures, events, the Home Front, the Blitz (and Clydebank in particular), the role of women, VE day, the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and finally VJ Day (Victory over Japan) which brought the events of 1939-1945 to an end – finally!

We also dug out some of the school’s old logbooks which give a fascinating insight into the effect the war had locally. The Headteacher at the time wrote in detail with weekly war updates included and information on evacuated children coming to join the school.

A visit from History Alive is always a huge highlight for the pupils – and an excellent way to bring events of the past to life and to make it meaningful for them. Kathryn’s knowledge is quite something to listen to and we thoroughly enjoy having her with us. What a fabulous morning!

Safer Internet Day was actually Tuesday 7th February (yesterday!) but we were actually in deepest, darkest Barcaple yesterday abseiling and climbing through muddy challenge courses and so not using the internet at all!

So, we kicked off this morning back in school with a chat about how to keep ourselves safe online. P.C. Conroy came in to chat to us and talk us through a presentation about internet safety. The pupils were very open and honest with P.C. Conroy – most have mobile phones and use YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, BeReal etc. There are age limitations for all of these for a reason. We know that parents will be keeping a close eye on search history and what is being accessed/who is in contact – but it just helps to raise awareness with the pupils too. They are much more knowledgeable about these things than I am as an oldie!

The clear message is:

1. do not share personal details online
2. only accept friend request from people you know
3. be kind! Don’t be mean and if you see others being mean – report it!
4. enjoy using your phone – but have some downtime too!

The internet is an amazing and wonderful place but, it has its negatives too of course! Just be mindful and think.

If you are ever unsure – seek the advice of an adult!

Why not check our our Sway and select play to see our activity across our partnership.

Friends and family gathered at Leswalt Primary this afternoon to celebrate our month of Scots Learning with a packed entertainment programme!

Following on from Wednesday’s judging by Mr McCracken, the pupils learnt who had won the recitation, handwriting and artwork category for each year group. Very exciting! We even had a new category this year with Faye, Hamish and Daisy all singing.

The winners were:

P1 – ‘Ode tae a spider’

Recitation winners : 1. Eilidh Ramsay; 2. Hannah Drummond; 3. Thea Fisher

Illustration winners ; 1. Keira Richardson; 2. Eilidh Ramsay; 3. Thea Fisher

Handwriting winners; 1. Aria Rose Williamson; 2. Thea Fisher; 3. Hannah Drummond

P2 – ‘Furry hat’

Recitation winners : 1. Lily Bennewith; 2. Ellie Burton

Illustration winners : 1. Lily Bennewith; 2. Ellie Burton

Handwriting winners : 1. Lily Bennewith; 2. Ellie Burton

P4 – ‘Miss McCurdie’

Recitation winners : 1. Ben Thomson; 2. Murray Reid; 3. Rachael Drummond

Illustration winners : 1. Colin McGregor; 2. Rachael Drummond; 3. Murray Reid

Handwriting winners : 1. Rachael Reid; 2. Murray Reid; 3. Colin McGregor

P5 – ‘Harry’

Recitation winners : 1. Ewan Clark; 2. Ela Chang; 3. Daisy Doyle

Illustration winners: 1. Amelia McHallum; 2. Daisy Doyle; 3. Sean McCredie & Ewan Clark

Handwriting winners : 1. Holly Santangeli; 2. Amelia McHallum; 3. Ela Chang

P6 – ‘King o the midden’

Recitation winners : 1. Hamish McGregor; 2. Cara Jamieson; 3. Brandon Millar

Illustration winners : 1. Hamish McGregor;2. Faye Adams; 3. Carys McHallum

Handwriting winners : 1. Faye Adams; 2. Hamish McGregor; 3. Carys McHallum

P7 – Anything by Burns

Recitation winners : 1. Thomas Agnew; 2. Alexander Clark; 3. Rose Santangeli

Illustration winners : 1. Rose Santangeli; 2. Thomas Agnew; 3. Alexander Clark

Handwriting winners : 1. Thomas Agnew; 2. Rose Santageli; 3. Evan Stevely

Singing

1. Daisy Doyle (P5); 2. Hamish McGregor (P6); 3. Faye Adams (P6)

Take a look at the pictures below of the talented pupils we have here at our wee school.

Well done to you all – whether winners or not. We are very proud of your efforts and you should be too.

The Literacy and Expressive Arts focus since the turn of the year has been all things Scots at Leswalt Primary – from song lyrics to poetry; presentation to artwork; traditional dance to music artists past and present; significant Scottish individuals to research to designing own tartans; the learning has been centred around our homeland.

What better day to celebrate the culmination of this learning than today – 25th January the birthday of Rabbie Burns himself!

Mr McCracken had the tricky task of judging the artwork, handwriting and recitations of all pupils – as well as some very talented singers too.

Following this, the school gathered together in the hall for our annual mini Burns Supper complete with a P7 top table, Hannah in P1 carrying in the haggis, the Selkirk Grace, Address to the Haggis, Toasts tae the Lads, Lassies and School, a busy compere, recitations from pupils from P1 through to P7, singing from both classes and the fabulous trio of Faye, Hamish and Daisy, dancing from Faye and of course a plate of delicious haggis, neeps and tatties!

Our Scots Showcase Assembly will be held this Friday 27th January at 2pm when the pupils will find out who the winners are! Come along and enjoy an afternoon of Scottish entertainment Leswalt Style at 2pm. It’ll be a treat indeed!