Author: Mrs McHarg

Pupils headed up to the village hall on Thursday afternoon to entertain the members of the Thursday Club. They recited their Scots poems and sang some Scots songs – the audience loved Leswalt’s version of ‘Ye Cannae Shove yer Grannie off a Bus,’ there was great laughter at the ‘slevery kisses’ and ‘cheeky wee gin’ verses!! They also enjoyed Daphne Cochrane and joined in with some of the actions describing her ‘reekin’ oxters’ and ‘badly heed’!!!

The Eco committee went on to explain what we have done to gain our first green flag, and our plans for hopefully achieving our next one. Finally, P4-7 took to the stage to perform 2 songs on the tin whistle that they have been learning with Feis Ros.

The Thursday Club thoroughly enjoyed our entertainment and commended the pupils and the school on their work.

Two of our Primary 7 pupils were selected to represent the school at the annual Rotary Lunch. Phoebe and Erin, accompanied by Mrs Gaw, headed to the North West Castle for a delicious lunch. They were entertained by speaker Mrs Isobel Milroy from RHET, who also held a group quiz for the pupils – the girls (along with Finlay from Portpatrick) competed against approximately 12 teams and won!! They returned to Leswalt triumphant after a great day out.

Owen from Scripture Union came into school on Monday afternoon to deliver a fun workshop called ‘Christmas Unwrapped’ to P4-7. The pupils explored the Christmas Story as it is detailed in the Bible, and challenged their assumptions. For example, did you know that the Bible does not state that there were 3 Kings/Wise men at the birth of Jesus?! Through assumptions/stories, we all think there were 3 of them, but this isn’t said.

Pupils participated in various activities, such as a Christmas quiz in the form of a corners games to help work out misconceptions that pupils have about the Christmas story; a video called ‘Christmas Unravelled’ which explains that it was definitely not a ‘Silent Night’ as the well-known songs says due to all the people and noisy animals (the boys and girls were in stitches at this!!!); and a craft activity where pupils were able to express what Christmas means to them. They also did a present experiment which led them to the conclusion that you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover – i.e. the biggest present isn’t always the best!

The pupils had a great afternoon learning about what Christmas means for Christians. Many thanks to Owen for spending the afternoon at Leswalt!

 

We celebrated the end of Book Week Scotland on Friday afternoon by working in small ‘Book Buddy’ groups for a bit of paired reading. P5-7 pupils had been practising their fluency and expression when reading aloud throughout the week in preparation for today, and were prepared with some reading prompts to try and engage the younger pupils in the story and encourage discussion about the book they chose to read.

P1-4 pupils were engrossed (with some even cuddling in to their older buddy!) while they listened to  some very entertaining stories (if you haven’t read “There’s a Bear on my Chair” – look it up!!).

Afterwards, we all watched the Author’s Live event on the Scottish Book Trust website, where we were entertained by James Robertson and Catriona Lexy Campbell who brought ‘The Gruffalo in Scots’ to life.

We had a fab afternoon (and week!) enjoying and sharing books, and developing our love of reading!

To launch the start of book Week Scotland (which runs from 18^th-24^th November), P1-3 parents were invited into school this afternoon as part of the Bookbug (P1) / Read, Write, Count (P2-3) initiatives. Parents spent time exploring the contents of the bags and discussing ways in which the resources could be used to develop pupils’ literacy and numeracy at home. We also had a look at the ‘Parent Club’ website which gives further examples of activities to do at home using the resources.

An excited bunch of P1-3 pupils then joined us and were gifted with their bags. Pupils were desperate to get into their bag and see what it contained! Having sat patiently, we then headed to the classroom where pupils explored the goodies they were given – some were reading books; others were playing games of rockets & meteors or top trumps; and some were using story cubes to create imaginative silly stories!

Later in the week to continue the Book Week Scotland celebrations, P4-7 pupils will be doing some paired reading with P1-3, as suggested by the Pupil Council. We are all looking forward to getting together to enjoy some stories and share in our love of reading!

Our P7s wrapped up warm and headed off to the ice-rink at the North West Castle this morning, to participate in a taster session of Curling’s Cool. They learned how to glide and sweep on the ice and participated in some fun games. At the end of the morning, all of the schools took part in a competition. Leswalt made it to the final, playing against a mixed team of Glenluce and Kirkcolm pupils – and they won!! All 4 pupils had a great morning learning to play curling. Thanks to Finlay’s mum for the photos of the curlers in action!

 

Tesco have kindly donated lots of stationery to the school, after having a clear out in their shop. All of those pencils, Pritt sticks, folders and pads of paper will certainly be put to good use! A huge thanks must go to Tesco for their generosity. Have a keek at the photo below to see some of the goodies we were given!

On Monday, we welcomed families and parents into school to join in on some Maths fun! The whole school was split into 6 mixed ability groups and worked their way around different stations, which incorporated a range of Maths skills. Each station was led by a P6/7 pupil who explained the task and helped the pupils.

The 6 different stations included: bingo where we practised addition/multiplication; Code ‘n’ Go Mouse, putting our coding skills to use to navigate the mouse to the block of cheese; ‘Shut the Box’ game which focused on addition; Sumdog where we got the chance to explore our new subscription; indoor games such as dominoes and Snakes & Ladders to practise counting; and Big Maths Learn-its to give parents a chance to compete against their child as well as the clock!

Thanks to everyone who came along and to the class teachers for setting this up. Everyone had a great afternoon joining in on some Maths fun – have a look at our pictures below!

 

Pupils have had a busy start to the year, applying for various jobs in the school and demonstrating they are keen to take on positions of responsibility. We received lots of applications for Pupil Council and monitor jobs; several pupils were keen to be interviewed for the Eco committee; lots of boys and girls in the senior class applied via the online application for Digital Leaders; and P7 pupils said their House Captain election speeches at assembly.

This year, we have decided that pupils will earn a ‘salary’ (in the form of merits – not cash!) for undertaking their job to give them further experience of the world of work.

After a difficult decision, we have selected our new committees for the year.

Our new Pupil Council members are:

Our new House Captains are:

Our new Eco Committee, hoping to work towards achieving our 2nd Green Flag in 2 years’ time are:

And finally, our new Digital Leaders who will help to develop ICT in classes and provide technical support in the school are:

Finlay, Chloe, Joshua and Erin (photo to follow)

We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded our first Eco-Schools Green Flag! Pupils in the Eco committee have been the driving force behind all of the environmentally friendly work that we have undertaken throughout the year, with all pupils in the school joining in on activities and taking responsibility for making the school and community a greener and more sustainable place.

Over the last year, pupils have participated in various Eco-friendly activities, organised and led by the Eco committee. They have carried out a local litter pick, inviting parents and the local community to join in; joined various recycling projects including crisp packets and batteries; worked with the local community group ‘Wetland Watchers’; and held litter assemblies to raise awareness of the impact to the whole school.

Our Eco-Schools assessor stated, “Congratulations on successfully achieving your Eco-Schools Green Flag award! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your application and am very excited about the work being done at Leswalt Primary School. I was very encouraged to read about the successes you’ve had and how you’ve gotten the whole school involved in the effort.” The assessor also stated that aspects of our work were noted as examples of good practice and may be used on the website/social media as case studies to support other schools with their Eco-Schools work.

Work is already underway to select our new Eco committee and continue the good work to ensure we are able to renew our Eco Schools green flag in 2 years’ time.

Have a keek below to see photos of the pupils with our Green Flag, which we will be displaying in the school corridor. The Eco Committee members were particularly proud as punch of their achievement – well done to you all!!