Cross country success

At the recent Rhins Cross country event at Lochinch Castle, Leswalt Primary experienced great success;

In the P5 girls race Merryn Walker was first, Rhona Baillie was second and Freya Bathgate was third.

In the p5  boys race Finlay Keenan was 2nd.

In p6 Emma Drennan won the girls race.

And in P7, Cameron Walker won the boys race.

  Leswalt was also 3rd in the inter-school relay race. Well done to all of our runners!

Trip to Burns Birthplace Museum

Burns Birthplace Museum – Emma Drennan

On Monday the 18th of March 2013, the pupils of Leswalt Primary School jumped on a James King bus and the first question was; “I wonder what it will be like at the museum?”

They were going to the Burns Birthplace Museum because their topic was Scotland and they had learned wonderful Scottish poems in January.

As all 37 pupils arrived at the museum, they split into two groups.  They were primary 5-7 and primary 1-4.  The 5 to 7 group headed off down Poets’ Lane, which was a long path which took you to the museum.

At the museum they went to the Whispering Gallery, that was where they saw Robert Burns’s actual writing desk (where he wrote most of his poems).  They moved into the next room where there were interactive games and sounds to do with Robert Burns.

From there they moved onto the gift shop with lots of different items to buy.  After the gift shop we walked to the Burns Monument and it was huge.  They went up it in groups of 6.  It was very steep, from the top they could see the Brig ‘O’ Doon

They headed off to the ‘Auld Kirk’ (that was where Tam ‘O’ Shanter shouted “weel done cutty sark!”).  It was all in ruins.

They walked to the Education Pavilion to eat their lunch.  After a while they went into a room where they tried on costumes and headed out to Robert Burns’s cottage.  There were four different rooms, they were; the kitchen /living-room / dining room / bedroom, the Spence, the byre and the barn.  The kitchen was one of their favourite rooms because they could not believe that seven people had to sleep in one tiny bed.

 While in the education pavilion the Primary 1-4 class were learning about how times have changed since Robert Burns was alive.  The younger pupils even made some butter, using different utensils.  Mrs Baillie had to taste all of the different butters blindfolded, to see which one she thought was the best!

 All of the children enjoyed the trip, especially the cottage.  They learned more about the tale of Tam ‘O’ Shanter. 

Red Nose Day 2013

The boys and girls at Leswalt Primary had a fun day on Friday 15th March when they all arrived at school in their pyjamas to help raise money for Comic Relief.

As well as paying for the privilege of wearing their nightwear to school the pupils also had the “Great Leswalt Bake off” and sold off delicious home baking.  And, all week the school had been selling the official red noses to pupils.

Primary1-4 had been working very hard on their enterprise business this term.  “Smarty Pants” was the company formed by Mrs Wither and the younger class.  They created and sold fridge magnets, book marks and ornaments, with a Scottish theme.   After calculating their costs the pupils are donating all profits to Comic Relief.

Primary 5-7 designed and sold their Scottish quiz sheets – with the eventual winners being the Anderson family.

In the afternoon of 15th March the whole school came together with parents and family to watch “Leswalt’s got talent”.  Pupils signed up to audition for Mrs Baillie and the finalists performed in front of the judging panel which consisted of Harold Mc Cracken, Nina Agnew, Claire Agnew and Mrs Mc Knight.   There was a wide variety of talent on display from saxophone and piano playing to singing, dancing and cheerleading. After all 12 acts had performed the judges had the difficult job of selecting the winners. Millie and Ethan Smith did a wonderfully choreographed dance routine together, and were rewarded for their efforts with chocolate Easter eggs.

After all the fun the boys and girls of Leswalt raised £250 for Comic relief.                         

Leswalt Shop Maths

The boys and girls at Leswalt Primary are using the village shop to help develop their maths.  This week they were across looking for 3d shapes and doing some estimation and rounding in the calculations.  Staff at school have developed a programme of work, in line with the experiences and outcomes of Curriculum for Excellence, entitled “Leswalt Store maths”.  They would like to thanks Mrs Gillian Murdoch, owner of Leswalt Stores for her co-operation and support in developing Numeracy in this manner.

Fabulous finds for p5-7!

On Thursday 14th February, P5-7 from Leswalt Primary had a treat  when they were invited to come and meet Andy Nicholson, who is an archaeologist based in Dumfries. His special area of expertise is swords and swordsmanship. As they found out, Andy is passionate about his subject and enjoys taking part in battle re-enactments in his spare time. (He has even had TV and film parts)

He impressed the cildren with tales the injuries he has sustained as part of his hobby!  The children went to Stranraer Musuem as part of their topic on “The Scottish wars of Independence.”

The first exhibit at the Musuem was the Lockerbie sword. It is 3000 years old and from the middle bronze age. It was ploughed up by a farmer and remained under his son’s bed for 50 years before it was handed over to a museum! It is one of the earliest swords in the region.

Swords from this era looked like daggers. They were wide and sharp and heavy for slashing.

Another find was at Barnhills Farm near Corsewall. This sword was found in three pieces by a spring. It was deliberately broken and given as an offering at this holy site.

 After the talk, some good questions were asked. Tommy Kerslake asked about gridstones and honestones. The children then all had the chance to try lifting all the swords. Kerr Renwick in p7 was the only one who could lift the claymore with one hand!

Careers in our community

At Leswalt Primary pupils are keen to learn more about skills for learning, life and work.  We have started a new initiative “Careers in our community” which sees different employment prospects being in the spotlight as people volunteer to come in and be in the hot seat.  Careers under focus this term include vet, police, Minister, British Telecom, Beauty therapy, engineering, nursing, Citizens advice and the Army.

Scots poetry winners 2013

On Friday 25th January 2013 Mrs Jane Sloan had the very difficult task of judging all the Scots poetry handwriting, artwork and recitations at Leswalt Primary.

The pupils had been working very hard on the challenges throughout the month of January as part of the whole school focus on “Scotland” has an inter-disciplinary topic. 

At a special assembly, parents and friends of the school came along to see and hear all the talented individuals.  Pupils were awarded certificates for their effort.  And, all pupils entertained by singing some Scots songs.  The afternoon concluded with the whole school singing “Caledonia”, accompanied by Kyle Anderson on the guitar.

The winners at Leswalt were –

CLASS POEM RECITATION WINNERS ILLUSTRATION

WINNER

HANDWRITING

WINNER

P1 Castle Douglas Bull sale 1.  Charlotte Gaw

2.  Iona Rickard

3  Millie Smith

Iona Rickard Jenna Calderwood
P2 Nessie 1.  Kayleigh Williams

2.  Ethan Smith

3  Megan Mc Intyre

Megan Mc Intyre Megan Mc Intyre
P3 The Piper 1.  Jack Rickard

2.  Arden Mc Intyre

3  Jamie Drennan

Jack Rickard Arden Mc Intyre
P4 Wee freenly dug 1. Kathryn  Topping

=1.  MacKenzie

3  Kerr Calderwood

MacKenzie Keith Lauren Anderson
P5 The tinkler’s cuddie 1.  Aiyanna Wilson

2.  Rhona Baillie

=2.  Freya Bathgate

Aiyanna Wilson Merryn Walker
P6 Wauken up 1.  Emma Drennan

=1.  Abbie Mc Q

3  Craig Anderson

Abbie Mc Quillan Abbie Mc Quillan
P7 Address to the haggis 1.  Ben Cowan

2. Cameron Walker

3  Kerr Renwick

Kerr Renwick Kerr Renwick
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