Author: Mrs Ferguson

After a break of quite sometime, during which we were ‘living’ at Kirkcolm whilst refurbishments took place, we have returned to school!

We took the opportunity to get out and about in the community as we headed up to Leswalt’s war memorial today to observe the 11am silence.

The last couple of days have involved in pupils learning about the significance of the poppy, how it came to be the Remembrance symbol, how charity money is used to help veterans and their families and the importance of showing respect to those who have served their countries.

The children enjoyed finding out more by watching and discussing a short animation from Poppyscotland, making their own poppy wreaths and designing posters, leaflets, PowerPoints to explain more about the story behind the poppy. Some pupils even made iMovies.

It is great to be back in our wee village and to be able to observe Remembrance Day in our community.

Shape Hunts, scavenger trails and  some STEMazing kicked off our celebration of Maths Week Scotland!

P1-4 held their very own shape hunt in school with Mrs Warwick. They went on a 2D shape hunt around the school, armed with an ipad and a tally mark sheet.  Lots of circles and squares, the odd rectangle and 1 hexagon! They also joined in with the Cuthbert Sees Double interactive story and activity.  They listened to a story about Cuthbert the Crocodile finding he couldn’t double his numbers and was sad that he couldn’t join in with his friends game.  His friends helped him learn ways to double so he could join in.  The pupils then had a shot at playing our own doubling game using dice.  They even tried to make it harder by using more dice!

STEMazing involved the whole school getting together for a live lesson which was led by Anne Okafor from Cruden Construction. She is a construction planner and talked about the maths involved in her job. From the three Cs: being curious, creative and courageous to designing prototypes and carrying out Tests to Destruction! Working in groups; using 8 sheets of scrap paper, some tape and books as a weight – the pupils investigated which shape could bear more weight; building triangular prisms  or cylinders to be used supports. It was agreed that the cylinders worked better as they have no  corners (weak points) and the circular face of the cylinder is equal the whole way round so allows for equal weight distribution.

P5-7 headed off to DGC Stranraer Campus for a fabulous morning of maths/careers and further education awareness with their North Rhins friends. See the blog post especially dedicated to this for more details and some fabulous photos!

Back in class, pupils explored maths through science through maths with their data analyst hats on and the P5/6 team created an indoor maths trail for P1-4 to solve with a P7 buddy (Mrs F created a maths trail for P5/6 so they didn’t feel left out!)

This Friday afternoon fun maths activity rounded off a week of Maths Week Scotland!

 

By-passing secondary altogether, out intrepid team of maths superstars headed into the DGC Stranraer Campus today! On offer was an interactive morning of maths fun! And my oh my, it was a very a busy time with pupils involved in everything from (are you ready for quite a list…!)?

• following a recipe to make play dough
• reading instructions and measuring amounts to make up baby bottles
• using logic to solve jigsaws and games
• using directional language to play Twister
• number knowledge for a game of bingo
• measuring liquids to create fruit drink concoctions
• thinking about fractions when slicing fruit to add to a healthy fruit salad!
• Then, top all of that off with, some STEM construction work involving 3d shapes and straws and K’nex and you have what was summed up as “the best day of school…ever!”

Phew! What an action-packed session. Huge thanks to the lecturers and students for being so accommodating and to Ms Whorlow for organising the whole event! It was absolutely fabulous!

We successfully applied for funding from the Edinburgh Mathematical Society (EMS) School Enrichment Fund to pay for transportation costs for all three schools from our trio to attend this great event. Thank you also to this organisation for making today’s learning experience possible.

 

In preparation for Maths Week Scotland next week, we all got to participate in a hands-on, fun maths workshop today led by Mrs Hall from the D&G STEM team and created by the Liverpool Mathematical Society. And it certainly lived up to its name – it was indeed MEGA!

The P1-4 crew enjoyed their maths fun first thing; whilst the older bunch got their thinking caps on after breaktime.

The pupils kicked off their session with some triangle problem solving – they talked about the different skills they were using to find the solution: trial and error, logical thinking, guess and check, look for a pattern and work backwards.

Pairing up with their Talk Partners, they then chose from the many challenges on offer…and my oh my were those brain cogs whirring!

Such a fun morning of maths challenges using oodles of skills!

Just look at the happy maths faces below!

 

The children were excited to become App designers  today!

Francis Wallace, Principal Engineer of the Make It Happen Club joined us this morning to offer us the opportunity to take part in an exciting App Design challenge.  The children have the chance to enter their own app design creations into a competition just for the North Rhins Partnership. The winning design from across our three schools will be made into reality for everyone to enjoy and use!

The children really enjoyed listening to Frances and looking at some previous winners. They ranged from number apps to help people with their times tables, flags of the world questions, apps to help people with day-to-day routines etc. Lots and lots of brilliant ideas.

We took some time to think about all of our ideas and then we put pencil to paper and created our own app design. They all designed individual  apps – ones we would certainly love to install and use!

App designs  completed and entries submitted to Frances. We’ll await the results! Good luck all!

 

As a celebration of our tattie planting and harvest, today we planned to enjoy a day of tattie-related activities in conjunction with the Dandelion Growing Project!

Our plans did alter slightly on hearing the sad news of the passing of our Queen yesterday. We felt it right that some time should be used this morning to talk about her life, death and lasting legacy. All pupils showed their respect by watching the CBBC Newsround clip and joining in our group chat with their thoughts and feelings.

Following this, we then got on with our day’s events.

Lots of us planted the tatties we got last term at home and some have even shared photos of their crops. The plan for today was to be an all-out Dandelion Project celebration back at our shiny new Leswalt Primary but, as we’re not there yet, this has been postponed. Still, it seemed a shame not to celebrate our gardening efforts in some way!

Starting off with some potato based cooking, we worked in teams to create traditional Scottish macaroons using a recipe with a tattie base! We confess to being a little dubious at first, but after adding the icing sugar and mixing all together to create a fondant and then rolling these into balls, we had to admit the plan seemed to be working out!

Michelle popped these in her fridge to set and we then dipped them in melted chocolate and coated them in coconut.

Whilst they set for the second time, we headed outdoors for an afternoon of Tattie-athlon activities. From a Tattie Toss to a Tattie Tip-toe; Tattie on a Teaspoon to the Tattie Tumble and the Tattie Target to the Tattie Trot – each team put forward a team member to take part in an afternoon of good fun, teamwork and sport!

Popping our sweet tattie creations into our tupperware boxes, Mrs F and Mrs McKnight totted up the scores… which team would be crowned Top Tatties?! Would it be the Choppy Chips or the Tattie Planters? Perhaps it would be the Tattie Heroes or the Tanging Tatties? Or maybe the Tattie Tossers or the Tattie Demolishers?

The points were checked and verified and the Tattie Tossers were declared the Top Tatties! The team proudly posed for a photo with their ‘no expense spared’ Tattie Trophy and prize of three tatties each to take home!

Fun Friday indeed!

 

P5-7 are enjoying a block of fun rugby sessions with Neve the Rugby Development Officer!
Every Friday for 6 weeks, the pupils don their PE kit and head outside for an activity fuelled hour! Check out the photos below 😊

So we did consider having a quiet last day of term but then we thought…..nah! It’s just not our style!

Mrs Baillie just happened to be going to the wedding of ex-pupil and Olympic Gold medallist Vicky Wright and Greg Drummond – and so she thought little Leswalt peeps turning up to do a star turn might be a nice touch! And it truly was a lovely moment…

In truth, had we been at Leswalt Primary, we would most definitely have taken the time to pop across the road and offer the bride and groom our congratulations. Us being at Kirkcolm meant there was a little more organising involved but it was more than worth it!

Mags Agnew came us with a top rate idea of having some pupils hold curling brushes aloft as a Guard of Honour for the bride and groom. She met us there and armed the P6/7 pupils with their brushes. They then  formed a fabulous archway for the happy couple to walk under. Three of our ‘guards’ (uber-fan Alexander and sports champions Rose and Murray) were wearing extra-special Wright Olympic tops kindly donated by Vicky to the school!

The whole school then entertained the bridal party and guests with a rousing rendition of This Little Light of Mine!

As a treat, the pupils then let off some steam at the park and were treated to an ice-cream (and staff too) from Alison McKeen’s ice-cream van, courtesy of the Parent Council.

What a fabulous way to start the holidays!

(Photos to follow -waiting on an increase in media space)

What a difference a day makes… Goodness me, that was a good call to postpone our trip to today rather than the torrential downpours that were Tuesday!

From start to finish, this was just the perfect school trip! The pupils were excited and the staff (Mrs Mcknight, Mrs Smith, Mrs Dinsmore, Miss Lammie and Mrs F) were all raring to go. Hopping aboard our McCulloch’s coach, we headed north to Ayr where the sun shone for us.

From bouncy pillows to slithery snakes; zip wires to inquisitive meerkats; gravity-defying slides to adorable donkeys – the day was action-packed and full of giggles with friends.

A quick pit-stop for a bite of lunch and it was go go go for more farm park fun. Just have a look at the cheery faces below. This was a school trip to remember for all the best reasons!

 

 

On Thursday afternoon we were delighted to welcome family and friends to our end of term celebrations and to say a fond farewell to our five P7 pupils.

Entertaining the audience with some fabulous singing of One More Step, This Little Light of Mine, The Leaver’s Song and How Far I’ll Go (from Moana but with Leswalt-fied lyrics!)- the pupils’ learning was then celebrated with lots of presentations being made.

Attendance over 95% – Ellie Bennewith, Ellie Burton, Rachael Drummond, Roman Haver, Cara Jamieson, Breagh Kirkpatrick, Isla Kirkpatrick, Colin McGregor, Hamish Mc Gregor, Malcom Mc Gregor, Brandon Millar, Tristan Millar, Bobby Shaw, Ben Thomson, Sean Paul Webb (15)

Accelerated reading star readers 

P3  Rachael Drummond 31 books and 16.5 points

P4   Amelia ( most books 27) and Hamish S (most points 29.6)

P5   Mark Drummond ( most books 40) and Cara most points 171

P6 Tristan Millar (most books 24) and Struan most points 121

P7  Breagh Kirkpatrick (most books 29) and Aidan most points

Word Millionaire – Cara Jamieson, Hamish Mc Gregor and Struan Scott

 Responsible citizen

P1/2 Bobby Shaw

P3 Murray Reid

P4 Holly Santangeli

P5 Kaiden Giblin

P6 Rose Santangeli

P7 Alfie Baker

Sports champions certificates

P1/ 2-  Bobby Shaw

P3-    Colin Mc Gregor

P4-    Holly Santangeli

P5 –    Mark Drummond

P6 –    Tristan Millar

 Sports Champions – Rose Santangeli and Murray Williams

 House points shield

Most merits in p1-4  = Ela Chang

Most merits in p5-7   = Faye Adams

Soleburn – 139 (sports) +   277 = 416

Lochnaw –  155(sports) +   377 =   532

Winning house captain – Malcolm Mc Gregor

Runner up house captain Breagh Kirkpatrick

 Who has passed Platinum rainbow tables this year?

Faye   Brandon     Fraser

Who has passed platinum rainbow spelling this year?

Murray Williams

	P1-4	P5-7
Literacy award	Hamish Scott	Aidan Adams
Numeracy award	Ewan Clark	Malcolm
HWB award	Amelia Mc Hallum	Murray Williams
REACH award  – resilience, effort or positive attitude?	Sean Mc Credie	Alexander Clark

Nina Agnew Creativity award – Hamish Mc Gregor

P5-7 Award for endeavour – Breagh Kirkpatrick

The afternoon culminated in a presentation of Photo Memory Book and Leaver’s hoodie for each of our P7s and a slideshow full of lots of memories over the years! This is forever saved on Youtube for their viewing delight – and for their 18th and 21st birthdays! Such wonderfully cute snaps of them from P1 upwards!

The P7s went on to enjoy a meal in Lando’s on Thursday night.

And, as Mrs Baillie said:

“thank you once again for sending your fabulous children to our schools.  They really do make us smile every day.  And your support in all we do truly makes the difference.”

Never a truer word! Thank you one and all 🙂

 

Photos to follow (awaiting an increase in media space!)