Author: Mrs Baillie

Primary 5-7 and Miss Cambridge decided the best way to show off all the learning they had been doing this term on World War 2 would be to open a museum! So, on Friday the museum opened it’s doors to the rest of the school.  The senior pupils welcomed the younger class in and were soon acting as very informed museum guides as they educated their peers on subjects such as rationing, the blitz and weapons.  Both classes gained a huge amount from this exercise and such was the success of this venture, that the museum will once again be open for business – this time to welcome parents through the doors.

Leswalt Primary staff and pupils decided to take advantage of the glorious, long awaited Spring weather to take their “daily mile” walk to Aldouran Wetlands.  They all headed off in the sunshine to see what signs of spring they could spot in the community wetlands.  The children spotted some dew, daffodils – and even saw a caterpillar, frog and a mouse!  They all enjoyed examining nature on their own doorstep,  before skipping back to school happy after some time out and about in the fresh air.

The boys and girls of Leswalt Primary took some time to pause for thought, and remember the tragic incidents in Dunblane Primary 20 years ago.  Mrs Mary Buchanan was a teacher at Leswalt Primary that day, and she came to Leswalt Primary with a floral arrangement for the children to lay in remembrance.  Mrs Buchanan recalled how the pupils of Leswalt, 20 years ago, went on to create a build a cairn as a memorial to the events in Dunblane .  This memorial still stands in the grounds of Leswalt Primary.

The Rev Sheppard came into  school and all the children went out to pay their respects at the school memorial.  Maisie and Aidan (the youngest pupils at Leswalt) laid the flowers on top of the cairn in a very moving ceremony, before the minister read a poem and the children joined hands in a prayer.  The short service concluded with Kayleigh Williams singing “Flower of Scotland” , as the school united hand in hand and paid their respects

Primary 1 recently had lots of fun and some very messy play, with Miss Leek.  Miss Leek brought in some custard, spaghetti, jelly and gunge for Primary 1 to have fun with!  Hidden inside the tubs were numbers and ,letters for the children to have fun with.  Have a look at how messy they got!

Primary 5-7 recently had a fun filled 3 days away to Lockerbie, where they took part in a range of different physical activities.  The children were full of enthusiasm – and smiles!  Have a look at the photographs to see all the fun we got up to  – (this is only a small selection of the 1000 photographs we actually took!)

 

P5-7 have been learning more about life in World War Two, by being creative and having to design and make their own Anderson Shelter, to protect them in the Blitz.  After making their designs, the children had to source the relevant materials and construct the model.  Mrs Baillie was called in to judge  and asked everyone to talk about the design features and the process of creating their shelter.  After much thought it was agreed that Kerr Calderwood had the most authentic looking shelter, with Finlay Cowan in second place.  Special commendations went to Lauren/ Arden and Emily/ Ethan who worked in pairs and had been very creative with their designs.  They had incorporated features such has look out posts, air vents to breathe, lighting, and even a “happy” wall to cheer people up who were inside. 

Mr Val Plant visited Leswalt Primary to take on the role as judge for all the work which had taken place in the month of January as part of the focus on Scots Poetry.  Every class was provided with a poem for stimulus for artwork, poetry recitations and handwriting.  Mr Plant had a very difficult task as judge,  as the standard was very high.  He picked the following pupils as award winning;

Poetry recitations;

P1        1.  Aidan Adams        2. Malcolm Mc Gregor          3.  Murray Williams

P2        1.  Chloe Kennedy      2.  Luke Mc Hallum               3.  Gregor Reid

P3        1.  Phoebe Gaw          2. Erin Jamieson and Auryn   Kirkpatrick         3.Finlay Scott

P4        1.  Jenna Calderwood2. Charlotte Gaw                  3.  Euan Mc Creadie  and Iona Rickard

P5        1.  Kayleigh Williams            2. Megan Mc Intyre             3. Ethan Smith

P6        1.  Emily Cochran      2.  Jack Rickard and Arden Mc Intyre

P7        1.  Lauren Anderson 2. Kathryn Topping               3.  Finlay Cowan.

 

Artwork Winners;

P1 Murray Williams

P2 Chloe Kennedy

P3 Auryn Kirkpatrick

P4 Charlotte Gaw and Kirstie Mac Donald

P5 Kayleigh Williams

P6 Jack Rickard

P7 Kathryn Topping

 

Handwriting winners;

P1 Aidan Adams

P2 Robin Mc Lean

P3 Phoebe Gaw

P4 Jenna Calderwood

P5 Kayleigh Williams

P6 Jack Rickard

P7 Kathryn Topping

All this hard work was celebrated at a prize giving assembly in school.  Parents were invited along and were also entertained by some singing.  Primary 5-7 sang “Flower of Scotland” to open the proceedings, then followed this up later with “Caledonia”.  The afternoon concluded with P1-4 giving it their all by singing “Let it go” from the film “Frozen” – all in Scots.  This proved to be very entertaining, with the young pupils displaying real attitude and enthusiasm to ensure all the guests left school that day with a smile on their face.

 

As they are learning all about their body, P1-4 decided to test out their lung capacity by seeing how much air they could get into a balloon (in one big puff!).  Have a look at the photos – who was full of hot air?!

As part of their Social studies learning, Primary 5-7 had a go at following instructions to try and make their own gas masks in class.  Pupils were soon making suggestions as to how they would like to customise their masks!

Primary 7 went to The North West Castle hotel today to have a go at the sport of curling.  They children all enjoyed am orning on the ice, before having some lunch then returning back to the school.  The children were accompanied by Mrs Caron Cowan, who reported they all were very well behaved and mannerly!  Well done to all.