The pupils of Leswalt Primary have already achieved National recognition through their annual participation in The Big Pedal, virtual cycling race. Now they have been added another National award – by taking part and winning in Pigeon racing!
Mr Alec Wilson, a parent from the school, volunteered to enter 3 pigeons in the National One Loft Race, “Join our sport campaign”. This event was designed to promote pigeon racing among children, and the birds were entered under the name of Leswalt Primary. The pupils in school received photographs of their birds and a competition was held in school to name them.
A website was set up so that pupils could log in and check the progress of their pigeons www.scottishoneloftrace.co.uk/josc . Aiyanna Wilson in Primary 6 was the pigeon expert in school, and she also provided regular updates as to how the birds were getting on.
Everyone was delighted when the final race was won by a racing pigeon from Leswalt Primary – winning the school the fantastic sum of £350. The school has since asked Mr Wilson what he would like the prize money spent on and all he asks is that the school provides a “treat for the children”.
At Leswalt Primary the boys and girls had a non-uniform day at school. They donated money to Children in Need, not to have to wear school uniform. There was a cake sale at playtime and lunchtime and pupils also added copper coins to cover a giant Pudsey bear. The exact final total is still being counted – as there was a huge amount of coppers brought into school – £158.29 has been raised for the charity.
The whole school at Leswalt Primary recently had a full day of interactive Science activities, from Rowanbank environmental education. This science workshop was organised by PNE, a company who hope to build a wind farm at Larbrax, near Leswalt.
The pupils were all involved in practical and fun activities which aimed to raise their awareness of different forms of energy in their world. Outside in the playground, pupils looked at wind and solar power, and the conditions which can affect both. They took part in a practical experiment which involved the sun heating some water in the playground from 16 degrees to over 50 degrees, in just half an hour. In school, all pupils contributed their artwork to two large canvas murals which now hang in the gym hall. These murals demonstrate both eco friendly and destructive effects on the environment. Older pupils took part in “the chocolate game” , and were horrified when the remains of a huge bar of chocolate was thrown in the bin afterwards. This highlighted to them that energy can be wasted, as they were particularly shocked to see the creamy chocolate being wasted! It was a full day of interactive, eco-friendly fun for the pupils at Leswalt which enhanced the learning and teaching in classes on “Energy”.
Thirteen senior pupils at Leswalt Primary have successfully completed the Play Maker course led by Laura McClymont, the Active Schools Coordinator. This was a four week course created by Sports Leaders UK with the aim of teaching older children how to deliver a games programme to younger children. As part of the course they had to think about what makes a good leader, plan activities and evaluate their performance. They had the opportunity to carry out their activities as warm ups for PE lessons.
The children all passed their final assessment and achieved the following levels:
Gold – Emma Drennan and Craig Anderson, Silver- Freya Bathgate, Rhona Baillie, Abbie McQuillan, Mackenzie Keith, Tommy Kerslake, James Murray, Kieran Dodds, Gordon Johnstone and Kathryn Topping. Bronze- Finlay Cowan and Erin Topping.
Some of the pupils have already put their skills to good use by setting up lunchtime clubs for the younger members of the school.
As part of their RME topic of ‘Christianity in our Community’, Leswalt Primary School’s P5-7 visited St.Joseph’s Church in Stranraer and met with the Priest, Father Neil O’Donnell and Deacon Peter Marks.
The pupils came along with lots of questions about what the job of a priest entails, and about the churches role in the community.
They learnt about the clothing the priest wears for different services and at different times of the year. They found out about the artefacts in the church and what they were used for. They were able to compare St.Joseph’s to Leswalt Parish Church, which they visited earlier in the term.
It was both a very informative and enjoyable experience for the pupils. As Rhona Baillie in P6 said “ St Josephs is beautiful inside. I love all the marble. I learned a lot, as I had never been there before”
The Wigtown Book Festival is always looked forward to with anticipation. This year’s event was a huge hit with the Leswalt Primary pupils who were lucky enough to attend on both the Friday and Tuesday.There were already a number of Philip Ardagh fans in the P5-7 class, so they were delighted to go to Wigtown to meet the man himself. Before going, they looked up some information on ‘The Grunts’, the central characters in Philip Ardagh’s book ‘The Grunts in Trouble, and decided that they sounded like characters they would like to read about. The pupils dreamed up some new characters and invented some transport to rival the Grunt’s caravan made from an old ice-cream van and a motor bike sidecar pulled by Clip and Clop the donkeys. The class handed over their ideas to Philip Ardagh who was delighted to receive them and promised to let us know which ideas he liked.Stuart Reid had an equally appealing character called ‘Gorgeous George’ who is appearing in his third novel which was launched on the very day P5-7 were there, and was quite literally hot off the press.If the aim of the Book Festival is to inspire reading and writing in children, it certainly achieved its aim. Noses were firmly in new books all the way home to Leswalt.
Leswalt Primary School held an open afternoon on Friday 27th September and set about transforming their school. The hall became a music
performance venue, the P5-7 classroom a French café, and the P 1-4 classroom a cinema. Parents and friends were invited along to sample the delights on offer.
Mrs Parker had prepared a varied selection of harvest themed songs with the children and they were greatly enjoyed by the audience and choirs alike, as they performed to the guests in school.P 5-7 were very enterprising and arranged a café in aid of the Macmillan ‘World’s Biggest Coffee Morning’ event. Croissants, pain au chocolat, brioche and tarte au citron were washed down with tea, coffee, hot chocolate and Orangina. The class had prepared menus in French and practiced their conversational French on the customers. Approximately £150 was donated for the charity.The grand finale was the world premiere of Primary 1-4’s film ‘A Holiday Guide to Leswalt’. As part of their local study topic, the children had researched, scripted and starred in the production which was filmed on location at various tourist hot-spots in the village, including Leswalt park, Aldouran Wetland Gardens, Leswalt Stores, Kirkland Tearoom and farm shop and Drumlochart caravan site. Orders were taken for copies of the DVD which proved very popular, as the class plan to sell their mini movie from school.
Pupils from Leswalt Primary School today viewed construction works being undertaken for the 18-turbine wind farm on Carscreugh Fell, 3km north east of the village of Glenluce.The 40 pupils from the school’s primary 1 to 7 classes (ages 5-11) made the trip to look at the work being undertaken on the piling of the site and establishing the foundations for the turbines, including deliveries of concrete and steel. They also saw the works being undertaken on the control building for the wind farm.The 15.3 MW wind farm will have a maximum height to the blade tip of 70m and was approved by the Scottish Government in March 2012, with construction on the site commencing in August and anticipated to complete in spring 2014.The wind farm operator, Carscreugh Renewable Energy Park Ltd, was sold by Spanish firm, Gamesa, to specialist investor and asset manager, John Laingplc in June. Under the agreement Gamesa will carry out operations and maintenance services at the facility for 10 years.In addition to the wind turbines the proposed development will also include:·A control building housing switch gear, metering equipment and control equipment;·Access to the site via the A75;·On-site access tracks;·Underground cable routes, and·A meteorological mast.Around 40 people will be employed on site preparation and infrastructure works, rising to around 70 for the delivery of the Gamesa wind turbines.Sergio Pascual Garrido, Project Manager for Carscreugh Renewable Energy Park Ltd said:“We are delighted to have the children from Leswalt here to look at the process involved in the delivery of the wind farm. It is also very timely given that they have been putting a lot of effort into studying renewable energy in the classroom and they can now see the real thing. We are anticipated to complete the project in spring next year and would be delighted to have them back in the future they will be able to see the progress made.”Sheila Baillie, Head teacher of Leswalt Primary School, said:“It was great for the children to be able to see what is involved in putting up a wind farm and would like to thanks Gamesa and John Laing for this opportunity. The children have been building their own wind turbines in the classroom as part of a project looking at renewable energy and it is fantastic for them to have the opportunity to see the real thing being constructed. We will hopefully be able to come back in the future and they can see how things have progressed.”
Thirteen senior pupils at Leswalt Primary have successfully completed the Play Maker course led by Laura McClymont, the Active Schools Coordinator. This was a four week course created by Sports Leaders UK with the aim of teaching older children how to deliver a games programme to younger children. As part of the course they had to think about what makes a good leader, plan activities and evaluate their performance. They had the opportunity to carry out their activities as warm ups for PE lessons.
