Author: Mrs Ferguson

Today was possibly the most perfect Friday EVER! Why? Because we all went to the beach!

When teachers were thinking about where to go for our summer school trip, they came up with the idea of all heading the short bus ride to Sandhead beach.

That sounded pretty amazing in itself but there was even more fun to be had as we met and fed farm animals and alpacas at Golden Sands Sandhead; had the pleasure of pony rides along the beach (thanks Isla’s mum Iona and her big sister Breagh for providing this); enjoyed ice creams from Alison McKeen’s van; munched our picnic lunch with our buddies in the sunshine; played in the park and then splashed in the sea!

“That was the best trip ever!” said one P5 and I am sure that everyone (pupils and staff) would absolutely agree!

Just take a look at these photo memories…

 

How lovely it was to welcome Jorgie, James, Cameron and Beathan into P1 this morning – and to say a cheery hello to our brand new P1-4 and P5-7 classes!

From measuring our own heights to team games outside; enjoying lunch with new friends to mini den building at the Wetlands – it was a day of cheery faces and smiles.

We can’t wait to have you all back again tomorrow…

Aren’t we the lucky ones? Renita Boyle – resident story-teller with Wigtown Book Festival offered to come along and share one of her wonderfully interactive story-telling sessions with us at lunchtime today!

After we’d eaten lunch, we excitedly found a spot on one of the picnic rugs and listened avidly as Renita shared her enthusiasm with a fun warm-up song of Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes (with a bit of a twist! We did this ‘Renita-style!) and then kept us all enthralled as she relayed the story of ‘The Strange Visitor’. We all took part in the actions as the story unfolded. Who was the ‘Strange Visitor’?!

This fabulous story comes from a book called ‘Strange Visitor’ by Renita and illustrated by Mike Abel. It takes an old Scottish tale and shares it in both English and Scots. We all LOVED it that’s for sure!

Thank you Renita. It’s always a joy to see you!

Robert McCrorie Community Safety Advocate with the local Fire Service, visited us P5-7 this morning to give a presentation all about keeping ourselves safe with regards to fire hazards.

Each group had a picture of a room in the home showing many potential dangers. Discussion ensued and the pupils were able to spot the issues – and think of ways in which they could avoid these. This got them thinking about their own homes and bedrooms; might there be any instances in which they could make sure they were doing things in a safer way. One thing Robert mentioned was charging mobile phones in your room overnight – something Mrs F is guilty of too! It’s always better to charge your phone when you’re around the house and awake. I’ll be doing that from now on!

Robert also talked about new fire alarms in the home and left contact details in case any family would like a free Home Fire Safety visit.

In addition, Robert told the pupils about the app What3words which is extremely if ever you do need help from the emergency services as it can pinpoint within a 3m radius your exact location! Did you know that Leswalt Primary’s 3 words are cooked.jogged.moves? You could check out the 3 words for your house and members of your family might want to check out the app too!

Keeping yourself safe is THE most important thing (even more important than x tables!) And now we know more about avoiding any fire hazards too.  A good learning session this morning!

We had looked out the eggs and spoons, the sacks and the beanbags. The pupils were kitted out in their shorts and tshirts… yes it sounds like we were ready for Leswalt’s annual sports day and, what’s even better was that we actually got some sunshine too! We were Ready, Steady, Go!

Trooping over to the park for a 1:15pm start, the children were excited and raring to get going. And what a fabulous afternoon we had! Lots of cheering, supporting one another and excellent sportsmanship on display. Exactly the ingredients needed for us all to have lots of fun!

Many thanks must go to the Agnew family who provided all with an Ice Cream treat at the end of Sports,  and also the parents of Aria Rose and Kaiden who ensured all went home with a wee sweetie mixture too!

Results list will follow, but for the meantime, enjoy the photos of our fabulous Leswalt pupils enjoying some fresh air fun!

 

HUGE thanks to Kaiden and Aria-Rose’s family for treating every pupil in the school to a delicious ice lolly as a welcome refreshment in the sunshine!

Such a kind gesture and very much appreciated!

Well, the forecast for rain was happily proved wrong and the sun did actually shine for us as we enjoyed out outdoor learning fun at Leswalt Primary!

From gathering materials at the Wetlands (to create our bird and bug habitats back at school) whilst enjoying the abundance of wild garlic and the scent of the bluebells- to all hands on deck to spruce up our playground and garden area! HUGE thanks must go to the Wetlands volunteers who very kindly gave up their own time to help us out. As you can imagine, having been off-site for 18 months and moving back home during Winter, our garden area had seen better days! Lots of clearing up and cutting back means that we’re well on the way to rebuilding our outdoor area again.

Whilst at the Wetlands we carried out some wildlife detecting.  We used our Spot It sheets to find signs of animals and insects around us.

Brushing, building, planting, weeding, painting, washing and foraging – it was a busy day! All activities were planned to ensure our school stays true to its eco ethos and has a bird and bug friendly environment in our playground.

Enjoy scrolling through the fabulous photos below (we do have a photogenic bunch!) and read all about our day’s adventures in Daisy and Cara’s (Eco committee members) blog report…

Outdoor Education Day 

At the start of the morning, P6 stayed back with Jane Sloan and all of her Aloudoran wetlands crew who helped us tidy up the garden. Meanwhile P1 to P5 headed to along to the wetlands to do some foraging! They also met the Gruffalo, the fox, the snake and the little brave white mouse! After 30 minutes or so everyone carried their sticks, leaves, moss and twigs back to school to be used in building the animal habitats in the playground.   

Back at school, the P6s had been super busy;  Hamish and Carys were tidying the toy box; Faye and Kaiden were helping the Aldouran volunteers with clearing the garden and Brandon, Mark and Cara were loading the branches that had been cut off the willow dome into the trailer. Then we served our adult helpers tea, coffee and a sweet treat! 

Once those jobs were done,  Mrs Mcknight and Mrs Ferguson put us into groups of three and gave an animal habitat to every group. We were kept busy making a bird bath, creating some earwig houses , designing a toad home, putting up our teacup bird feeders, building a log pile, finding areas for bumblebee houses to go, setting up a snail brick house – as well as weeding, gardening, brushing up and planting up some planters with some lovely red geraniums to hang on the  railings at the front door! After a long day of working, the boy and girls admired their efforts – the outside looks so fresh and clean!  

By Carys and Daisy (Eco Committee reps) 

And there’s always more to do! Our next steps will be … wall and tyre planter painting, path pressure-washing and seed planting. Watch this space…

Thanks to Megan Bark, Dental Health Officer for Child Smile, for visiting P5-7 to relaunch the toothbrushing programme.

As we are learning about microbes at the moment, it seemed perfect timing for us to focus on our dental hygiene too – bye bye bad bacteria…

The class learnt about the effects of bacteria on their tooth enamel and gums and the role of fluoride as well as getting their own toothbrush to use after lunch each day.

An extra toothbrushing stint each day can only be a good thing to ensure we all keep those million dollar smiles! Say CHEESE…!

Sunday dawned dry (yay!) as plans were put into action for Leswalt’s Parent Council’s fundraising Cream Tea! This annual event has been much missed as the last one was in 2019 and Covid-19 put paid to the next few years, but to the delight of the school and the community, it was back!

Bunting welcomed visitors into a busy school with stalls manned by parents and pupils. An array of raffle prizes enticed those to buy their tickets (thanks to all those who donated).

In the playground, the bbq was fired up and the aroma of delicious hot dogs and burgers tempted many to take a seat in the sunshine (yes it did make an appearance!)

In the P1-4 classroom, there was a well-stocked bottle stall, a delicious baking table, the chance to have some glittery hair extensions and superb face-painting on offer!

Pupils manned the stalls in the P5-7 classroom selling items made by the children as well as nail painting , temporary tattoos, a book stall and Guess the Bear’s Birthday!

Classes had been busy making things to sell with an Eco theme over the last two weeks. Bird feeder ‘Chirpios’, beautiful teacup and saucer bird seed holders, ready to grow seed pots, pretty painted pebbles and seed bombs in painted pots were hand-crafted and sold.

After browsing the stalls, visitors headed into the hall to enjoy the delicious Cream Tea – and what a spread! Huge thanks to all those who donated their baking to fill the over-flowing cake stands! Your kindness is much appreciated – and the visitors really appreciated and enjoyed the tasty treats.

All in all, it was a very successful afternoon! All made possible by the dedicated hard work of all parents who contributed in any way to the running of the day. Not to mention the pupils who made their crafts to sell and supported their school by manning stalls and coming along too!

A very big thank you to everyone involved. Your hard work is very much appreciated!

In preparation for the momentous day in which our country sees the crowning of a new monarch, Leswalt Primary pupils planned a day to remember!

As hard as it was for the children to believe, even the teachers aren’t old enough to have witnessed the last coronation! So, it was felt fitting, that the day should be marked so it should be one for the memory box…

Throughout the week, we had been making Royal bunting to decorate our school for the Coronation weekend (which coincided with our fundraising Cream Tea too). We had also been finding out more about the lineage of the monarchy, the role of a King and the key historical objects which were to be part of the service and their significance.

On Friday, staff and pupils joined together dressed in Union jack colours – we even had a few princesses join us AND, would you believe, ‘King Charles’ was also spotted waving his flag and singing (aka Colin!)

Designing commemorative flags, crowning our own King Tristan (eldest in our Leswalt Primary family!), creating be-jwelled, ‘ermine’ trimmed crowns fit for a King, joining with friends to enjoy a delicious buffet lunch all filled a jam-packed, fun-filled morning!

Our lunch fitted with this year’s One Planet Picnic event which is a fun picnic  that is good for you and good for the planet.   We avoided single use plastic and used reusable cups instead. We used recyclable paper plates to minimise waste too!

It is a fun way to make your food and drink choices environmentally friendly.  Look at the step by step guide below for inspiration and ideas.

In the afternoon, everyone headed outside to participate in a Royal Sports with Monarch Corners, the King’s Horses Relay and Don’t Drop the Crown just a few of the games enjoyed – thanks to Mrs McKnight who tweaked old favourites to give them that Coronation-themed feel!

To round the day off, proudly wearing their crowns and waving their flags, all came together in the playground to entertain waiting parents with a rousing rendition of ‘I Just Can’t Wait to be King’ from the Lion King – King Charles III would have loved it, of that i’m quite sure!

And, as an extra treat, Mrs Kyle had very kindly baked a Coronation cupcake for every pupil to take home 🙂

A day to remember…