Author: Miss Douglas

Today P4-7 welcomed back Niamh, the school’s Rugby Development Coach back to start a block of lessons to develop our Rugby skills. We started off with a game of ‘Capture the Flag’ which aimed to support our tactical thinking and ‘Switch’ to practise changing positions and avoiding opponents. 😄

Afterwards, we headed away from the comfort of the concrete to grass to practise some ‘contact’ activities on a soft surface. Pupils paired up to have a go at 4 different safe tackles. Niamh explained that being able to tackle and be tackled safely and effectively is an important priority in rugby and it’s important we can do this before we try a real game situation. 🏉

It was certainly lots of laughs and the mud only gave us a soft place to practise our new moves!😅

Meta-Skills 

Adapting Alexander

Initiative Ivy

Leading Li

Collaborating Cate

UNCRC Articles 

Article 31- Right to Play, Arts and Culture

Article 29 – Right to Education

Article 12 – Respect for Children’s Views

Today, P1-3 were very excited to welcome Ailsa Buchanan into school to talk us about her job as a Vet, especially given the number of aspiring vets we have in the school!🐾

Ailsa told us all about the skills and qualities she needed to become a vet. She explained that in order to be a vet,  you must have a kind and  caring personality and love animals! Which was great to hear for all our little animal lovers!😻

She brought with her some of her special vet equipment; stethoscope, thermometer etc. and explained how vets use them to help animals to feel better. Then, it was over to us to become vets, Ailsa brought with her some X-Rays from some attention needing animals and we had to work out what was wrong with the animals and why they needed help from the vet. We saw the X-Ray of a poorly pup who had swallowed a stone, some broken paws and a pregnant dog too!🐶🐱

A huge thank you to Ailsa from Academy Vets for taking the time to visit Primary 1-3. We absolutely loved hearing all about her job and the work she does to look after our furry friends! 🐮🐶🐱🐹🐰

Meta-Skills 

Collaborating Cora – Vets often work alongside other vets/farmers, to work out what is wrong with animals. Being able to work as part of a team is crucial. there is absolutely no way Ailsa could do what she does alone, it’s all about teamwork! 😀

Focussing Fergus – Concentrating is a big part of veterinary work. We want our animals to have the best care to get better so being able to give pets our full attention and get the job done right is so important for Ailsa and other vets🐩

Communicating Cate –Ailsa explained that one of the toughest parts about being a vet is not being able to speak the animal’s language. What people don’t always realise is that despite this, animals do often try to tell their owners and vets what is wrong through different communications. Vet’s have the challenging job of trying to work out what is wrong with the animal. Vets also need to be great at asking pet owners the right questions to get to the bottom of things too!😀

Critical Thinking Chris – Often vets have  big problems that they may not always know the answers or solutions to straight away!🤔

RRS Articles 

Article 13 – Freedom of expression

Yesterday, P1-3 welcomed some special visitors into school to get VERY hands on exploring their health and well-being topic – People Who Help Us!

Part of this was looking at people who can help us when we find ourselves in danger and need urgent assistance and thus… Emergency Services Afternoon was made! Big thank you to Mrs Warwick for her excellent work in co-coordinating all these kind volunteers to come to the school.

Pupils had inputs from;

Coastguard – Learning how in a seaside town like Stranraer they have an active role is making sure that people stay safe out on the Loch and further afield!🚣🏼‍♂️🚤

RNLI – Just like the Coastguard, they are another essential service to have this close to the water. They experience many call outs all across the area from people struggling in boats. 🏊🏼‍♀️⛵

Police – We learned about how our local police help us daily by keeping the place we live safe for us and are always quick to respond in an emergency should we ever need their help! 👮🏼‍♀️🚓

It’s always fantastic for the pupils to get hands on during these open afternoons and it really helps bring the topic to life for them! A huge thank you to the kind volunteers who gave up their time for this. I know when P1-3 were buzzing with chat from their afternoon.

Meta-Skills

Sense Making Samira

Curiosity Carlos

Focussing Fergus

Integrity Ivy

UNCRC Articles

Article 3 – Best interest of the child

Article 6 – Life, survival and development

Article 24 – Health, Water, Environment

This afternoon we had a lovely visit from a lovely lady, Jane from Creative Stranraer. Jane is involved in a project which adds some fun to the Southern Upland Way. Along the walking trail, they are hoping to add some kists filled with colourful ‘treasure’ stones for walkers to collect along the way. 🚶‍♂️

Jane brought along lots of stones and pens and tasked us with drawing a colourful picture on the stone. We had lots of minions, trees, patterns and animals, which Jane seemed super impressed with.🌳🐱🐶

Afterwards, in our groups, we were given a long sheet of paper to design a ‘Leswalk Mural’. We had a quick chat about the fanulous things we love most and special parts of Leswalt before starting to draw some pictures on our mural. These looked absolutely fantastic. Jane hopes to include 1 part from the murals in a collective primary school mural in Stranraer, which will be displayed along the beach. We can’t wait to see the finished project.🖌

We had a super fun afternoon, showing off our creativity and capturing all the fantastic parts of our wee community! 👨‍🎨👩‍🎨

Meta-Skills

Creative Cassidy

Collaborating Cora

Critical Thinking Chris

Focussing Fergus

UNCRC Articles 

Article 13 – Sharing Thoughts Freely

Article 28 – Access to Education

Article 12 – Respect for Children’s Views

Article 31 – Rest, Play Culture and Arts

Continue reading “P1-3’s Perfect Patterns in the Playground 🖼️”

It’s a busy week in School this week! Today, P4-7 ventured to Loch Inch, Castle Kennedy for a workshop all about Food and Farming. This was organised by the Royal Highland Education Trust. Once we were arrived, we were split up into groups to explore 5 different farming workshops and meet some local farmers and farm industry workers.

1 – Gamekeeping with Connor🦃

Connor, the fifth generation Loch Inch Game Keeper had brought with him a range of different animals including pheasants and deer horns for us to have a little look at. He explained that his job is much more than just shooting animals, he maintains the landscape.

2- Sheep Farming and Red Meat with Alison Clark🐏

Alison had brought with her 4 fluffy friends; 2 sheep and 2 lambs. She told us about the everyday uses of wool and the special markings her sheep had on them.

3 – Gordon’s Agricultural Machinery with Graham Knox 🚜

We were very impressed by the CLAAS chopper that Graham had parked at Loch Inch. He took us a little tour around the chopper, explaining the parts and the silage process and then we all got a little seat inside.

4. Dairy Farming with Lactalis🐄🥛🧀

We were surprised to learn that a sheep can produce 20 bottles of a milk a day! The volunteers had brought with them some machinery from a milking parlour to demonstrate that process of cows being milked. Afterwards, we learned little bit about the processes at Lactalis and how our milk and cheese is made and ready for us to eat and drink.

5. Meat Health with Abbey  🐄🥩

Abbey spoke to us about the different types of red meat; lamb, beef and pork. She challenged us to sort some foods into meat type and explained that as part of her job, she encourages people to eat more red meat. She explained that we should be eating 70g of red meat every day! Afterwards, she gifted us a little sticky cow, sheep or pig to take home – always a crowd pleaser 🙂.

We had a super morning at Loch Inch, learning more about Food and Farming and showing off what we know too!🙂

UNCRC Articles 

Article 24 – Right to the best possible health
Article 28 – Right to education
Article 29 – Goals of education
Article 31 – Right to relax, play and take part in cultural life

Meta Skills 

Communicating Cate

Sense Making Samira

Critical-Thinking Chris

Curiosity Carlos