Category: Uncategorized

Take Two – and the rain steered clear, the midges behaved and Leswalt’s Sports Day was game on! We were delighted to welcome back family and friends to cheer all pupils on as they donned their running shoes and gave each event their all. So good to see such sportsmanship on display – we really do have a great wee team!

All staff were assigned to their positions and the afternoon flew by. From skipping races to jumping sacks; egg and spoon to flat races; beanbag throw to the obstacle race – it wasn’t long until everyone was smiling and hoarse from cheering!

Huge thanks to Kaiden’s mum Natasha for very kindly supplying tasty refreshments! Those ice lollies were most welcome!

Full results to follow but, in the meantime, enjoy the happy snaps below of our sporting superstars. From those embracing their first primary sports day to those relishing their last; it was smiles all round!

Well done to each and every one of you!

This afternoon, Leswalt Primary ventured into Stranraer Academy; joining several other primary schools at the fabulous Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s production of Gaspard’s Foxtrot. This performance was having its Scottish school tour debut today – they will also be visiting Langholm, Aviemore, Inverness and Kirkwall over the coming weeks.

The orchestra delivered an afternoon of story-telling through music. The book had been written by Zeb Soanes and illustrated by James Mayhew, with an orchestral score by Jonathan Dove and an accompanying film directed by Dougie Irvine and produced by Laura Penny.

Lucy, a member of the RSNO, led the pupils through a fun warm-up using the body to create music and introduced them to the different sections of the orchestra and the conductor. We all then settled back for 35 minutes of escapism – following Gaspard the Fox on his adventures through the city of London.

Here are some of the highlights from the pupils:

“The fact that the music really described the thoughts and feelings was great!”

“Lucy’s warm-up was great fun!”

“Lucy’s story-telling went really well with the music and film!”

“I enjoyed doing Lucy’s music-making exercises. They were great fun!”

“I loved being able to see the instruments and what they were doing!”

“It was a cool story and the music went really well with it!”

All in all, it was a lovely afternoon out!

 

 

 

 

Today we we dedicated our learning to all things regal in honour of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations for our Queen, Elizabeth II!

Would you believe she even popped in for a visit?! She met some of our pupils to say hello and joined in some lunchtime fun and class activities!

After watching an information video which covered every decade the Queen has been on the throne, we challenged one another to a Royal-themed quiz. Some of the questions really got us thinking!

Leswalt village has lots of Jubilee activities planned; from a concert on Friday night to a street party on Sunday so we decided to design some red, white and blue themed bunting which could be used to decorate the streets! We also made some paper chains to add to the party look too.

We got our thinking caps on for an activity which asked  what we might do if we were King/Queen for a day as well as some Royal research questions. Did you know the youngest ever reigning monarch became King of Oyo of Uganda  at the age of just 3 years old! And the longest ever reigning monarch was Louis XIV of France who reigned from May 14th 1643 until September 1st 1715- a whopping 72 years and 110 days!

Lunchtime had a celebration vibe with a picnic enjoyed by all in the sunshine.  We combined our lunch with an annual One Planet Picnic, minimising our use of single use plastic for our take-away lunch.  Michelle provided compostable spoons for our yogurts.  We recycled our pots in our new council plastic collection bins.  We also used paper bags instead of plastic.  Those that brought in their own lunches used re-usable snack pots and water bottles. (see photos below)

After a delicious feed, we designed some fantastic artwork combining the Union Jack; the Queen’s love of Corgis and the Royal Crown Jewels! We took home our masterpieces to display in our own homes this Jubilee weekend. We think the Queen would most definitely approve of them!

To round off our Royal-themed day, we learnt the words to the National Anthem; God Save the Queen and our very own adapted lyrics to join in a whole school Grand Old Duke of York. We sang these with gusto to bring our school day to a regal end!

The lyrics went something like this:

“Oh, Queen Elizabeth the 2nd

She rules well over us all

She’s sat on the throne for 70 years

Lets’ celebrate and have a ball!”

Happy Platinum Jubilee Queen Elizabeth II – the longest reigning monarch of Great Britain ever.

Enjoy your Jubilee Holiday everyone!

On Friday, P1-4 enjoyed a fun filled day at Dumfries House, enjoying 2 interesting workshops, then a play in the Woodland Adventure Playground.

The first workshop was all about weather and we had the chance to show off our knowledge picked up in last term’s weather topic. The focus was Wind and we used bubbles and compasses to measure wind direction, and also give it a value on the Beaufort Scale. Our final challenge was to ‘outrun’ the wind at various stages on the Beaufort scale using a measuring tape and stopwatch. We struggled to get past a moderate breeze! J

The second workshop was called Energy Engineering and we had great fun exploring energy generation using wind turbines, a hydro system and solar panels. We also had to search in the play area for natural sources of energy and made our own wind socks.

A stop off at the adventure playground was enjoyed before setting off home on the bus. A super trip in beautiful surroundings and we would all happily make a return trip to explore the grounds more!

Our boys and girls have been enjoying the outdoor life today, planting all the kind donations of plants we have received from Home and Gardens & Tesco.  The children have written thank you letters to Tesco and Lidl today

Ever creative, Mrs Richardson has been repurposing tubs and containers to help make our grounds look blooming good.

 

We even found a larve.  We are not sure if it’s a moth or a butterfly.  We put it back carefully to keep it safe.

 

 

 

 

 

In addition, Aiden (P7) had recently written to the RSPB asking for a donation of literature.  They have replied today by kindly sending us a pack for each school.  It contains ‘best for bee’s’ annual flower seeds along with  bird identification guides and gardening with wildlife in mind helpsheets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, everyone joined in with a Big Bug Hunt

# Effective Contributors

 

We are delighted to announce that the North Rhins Trio Partnership has been awarded our Anti-Bullying Ambassador Respect Badge!

Our Primary 6 pupils along with our house captains underwent anti-bullying ambassador training as part of the Diana Award.  As a results, and in combination with our Rights Respecting Schools Silver Award, our pupils have completed an action plan of 6 activities to gain this award.

• Educating students on children’s rights through a year long, whole school assembly programme focussed on UNCRC Rights of the Child, Rights Respecting Schools and Global Goals 
• The creation of Rights As We See It Video showcasing children’s views on their rights and their importance
• Whole school awareness events such as anti-bullying week and a week of kindness etc.
•  Diversifying our school library through digital book readings
• The creation of a new monthly Respect award, as defined by our pupils
• The creation a whole school diversity and inclusion pledge by our pupils

We have been highly praised for our work in key areas that demonstrate and support a culture of respect. Have a read at our award feedback to find out how well all of our pupils have worked in key areas:

Respect Badge Letter

The Diana Trust wrote this lovely comment:

Thanks so much for sending over your evidence form for the Respect Badge. We’ve reviewed your evidence and we were overwhelmed with how much thought and effort you’ve put into your anti-bullying initiatives. It seems like all of the activities have had a great impact on the students in your school and we really like that you use such creative ideas to support your campaign. The video is amazing and the diversity and inclusion pledge is a fantastic action which I am sure will be a long term feature in your school.

Congratulations, we are awarding you the Respect Badge! This is a fantastic achievement and the team should be very proud.’

Here is a link to a Sway explaining more about our new respect award:

North Rhins Respect Award Blog

As part of our work with the Diana Trust, we have created a new RESPECT award certificate.

Go to this Sway

Our senior pupils created a collection of inclusion pledges. These were shared with the whole school community and everyone voted for the one they would like us to adopt.  Here is our winning pledge from Rose, Struan, Faye and Tristan.:

 

 

 

 

 

Well done to our anti-bullying ambassadors AND all of our pupils who have been involved as whole school communities to promote RESPECT FOR ALL!

# Responsible Citizens

# Effective Contributors

All three school communities came together on Saturday for our annual Kirkcolm Mini Walk to raise funds for our schools and to enjoy a social fitness activity together.

Despite the threat of rain, the weather stayed dry enough to allow our walkers to enjoy a run or a stroll around the beautiful scenery of our Kirkcolm coastal area.

First, second and third places are awarded for the boys and girls completing the course in the quickest time.  The first boy and girl tied, crossing the line together. The results are as follows:

Boys:

1. George Keith – Kirkcolm P6
2. Danny Dougan – Kirkcolm P5
3. James Turtle – Kirkcolm P6

Girls:

1. Olivia Turtle – Kirkcolm P7
2. Izzy White – Portpatrick P7
3. Miley Adams – Kirkcolm P7

Our Winners: Olivia & George

 

 

 

 

 

 

The route followed along the Corsewall Estate Coastal Path. A very well done to everyone who walked or ran the course.  There was great camaraderie and high spirits as everyone progressed around the route.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are very grateful to those who were sponsored to take part in the event.  Each school has raised their own total, which will be announced shorty.   The money will be put to very good use for the children.

Our schools would like to thank:

• Our parents and families who planned and organised the mini-walk
• The Carrick-Buchanan and Milroy family for their kind  permission to walk on their land
• The volunteer  marshals & photographers
• Lidl and Tesco  for the donation of refreshment
• and to ALL the children and families who fundraised and participated to raise money for our three fantastic wee schools!  We applaud each and every one of you who took part.

Enjoy these photographs from the event:

Having received 20 fantastic free Microbits for our school, Mrs McKnight’s P1-4 and Mrs Ferguson’s P5-6 decided to join a Code Along Live Lesson today hosted by Education Scotland! What better way to learn than by working together, learning by doing and being guided step-by-step?!

As the P7 pupils were enjoying their S1 Stranraer Academy transition day, P1-6 decided to buddy up and find out more together.

The Digital Leaders , Rose and Thomas (along with their helpers Breagh and Hamish) got busy setting up the microbits so that we were ready to go at 11am! This involved inserting battery packs, connecting them to the laptops and logging on to the makecode website.

Microsoft MakeCode for micro:bit (microbit.org)

Joining up in the P1-4 classroom, the eager coders followed the live lesson by programming their Microbit to guide them through calming breathing exercises – all very cool stuff!

Following this, our intrepid teams explored the coding tools and created a range of different programmes: from their microbit displaying their names to playing music and all sorts in between! Some pupils were able to share their tips with their classmates too!

Hands-on learning together and lots of fun!

As part of younger pupils learning all about caring for babies, our younger pupils enjoyed the company of Miss Maeva Mc Harg.  Mrs Mc Harg brought in her baby daughter, who has just turned one, to allow all to appreciate all the more, what caring for a baby involves.  This is part of the health and well being teaching planned for p1-4 this term.

There was lots of questions for Mummy Mc Harg and lots of happy little faces enthralled by the cute Miss Maeva who enjoyed crawling about the gym hall.

Many thanks to Mrs Mc Harg and Maeva for coming in – the cute little visitor brightened up the day for all in school!

After a long delay due to Covid, the annual Primary 7 Rotary Lunch event recommenced today.

Breagh and Aidan represented Leswalt Primary  at this year’s event where the guest speakers were Bejing Olympic Gold and Silver Curling Medallists Vicky Wright (Gold), Bobby Lammie (Silver) and Hammy McMillan (Silver).

They enjoyed a tasty lunch of Tomato soup or fruit juice, followed by fish and chips.  This was followed by a Q & A session with our Olympians.  They talked about practicing for about 7 hours a day, five days a week and travelling a lot for competitions. The curling sports heroes said that they were first introduced to curling by attending the curling club at the North West Castle in Primary 7. So, now is about the time for anyone interested in curling as a sport to think about joining.

Our Leswalt team rocked up at the North West Castle wearing Scotland tops that once belonged to Vicky Wright, who also went to our school.

 Both represented our school well, chatting easily with a member of the Rotary Club, who joined us at our table throughout the event.

#confident individuals