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P5-7 are enjoying a block of fun rugby sessions with Neve the Rugby Development Officer!
Every Friday for 6 weeks, the pupils don their PE kit and head outside for an activity fuelled hour! Check out the photos below 😊

Leswalt Primary school welcomed some new pupils today.

Thea, Aria Rose, Keira, Hannah and Eilidh all started p1 today.  They will soon be joined by Noah and Emma.

Evan and Daisy also joined the upper class in p7 and p5.

The photographs below show our happy p1 girls today , and what they aspire to be in  later life.  We hope to help you achieve your dreams girls!

Starting off our new school year, we are pleased to announce we have been awarded our RSPB Wild Challenge Silver Award.  This is as a result of all the hard work of our pupils in promoting biodiversity in our school grounds.

Our children had to complete six challenges both to help nature and experience nature, all of which promotes Learning for Sustainability, Sustainable Development Goals and good health and wellbeing.

Leswalt Primary for Silver

Feedback from the RSPB is as follows: Congratulations on achieving your Silver Wild Challenge award! We were really impressed with your Biodiversity Action plan and all the hard work you have been doing! Thank you for your amazing efforts. Every action you take makes a real difference. We hope you thoroughly enjoyed learning through nature on your journey to your award.

Well done everyone!

# Effective Contributors & Responsible Citizens

So we did consider having a quiet last day of term but then we thought…..nah! It’s just not our style!

Mrs Baillie just happened to be going to the wedding of ex-pupil and Olympic Gold medallist Vicky Wright and Greg Drummond – and so she thought little Leswalt peeps turning up to do a star turn might be a nice touch! And it truly was a lovely moment…

In truth, had we been at Leswalt Primary, we would most definitely have taken the time to pop across the road and offer the bride and groom our congratulations. Us being at Kirkcolm meant there was a little more organising involved but it was more than worth it!

Mags Agnew came us with a top rate idea of having some pupils hold curling brushes aloft as a Guard of Honour for the bride and groom. She met us there and armed the P6/7 pupils with their brushes. They then  formed a fabulous archway for the happy couple to walk under. Three of our ‘guards’ (uber-fan Alexander and sports champions Rose and Murray) were wearing extra-special Wright Olympic tops kindly donated by Vicky to the school!

The whole school then entertained the bridal party and guests with a rousing rendition of This Little Light of Mine!

As a treat, the pupils then let off some steam at the park and were treated to an ice-cream (and staff too) from Alison McKeen’s ice-cream van, courtesy of the Parent Council.

What a fabulous way to start the holidays!

(Photos to follow -waiting on an increase in media space)

What a difference a day makes… Goodness me, that was a good call to postpone our trip to today rather than the torrential downpours that were Tuesday!

From start to finish, this was just the perfect school trip! The pupils were excited and the staff (Mrs Mcknight, Mrs Smith, Mrs Dinsmore, Miss Lammie and Mrs F) were all raring to go. Hopping aboard our McCulloch’s coach, we headed north to Ayr where the sun shone for us.

From bouncy pillows to slithery snakes; zip wires to inquisitive meerkats; gravity-defying slides to adorable donkeys – the day was action-packed and full of giggles with friends.

A quick pit-stop for a bite of lunch and it was go go go for more farm park fun. Just have a look at the cheery faces below. This was a school trip to remember for all the best reasons!

On Thursday afternoon we were delighted to welcome family and friends to our end of term celebrations and to say a fond farewell to our five P7 pupils.

Entertaining the audience with some fabulous singing of One More Step, This Little Light of Mine, The Leaver’s Song and How Far I’ll Go (from Moana but with Leswalt-fied lyrics!)- the pupils’ learning was then celebrated with lots of presentations being made.

Attendance over 95% – Ellie Bennewith, Ellie Burton, Rachael Drummond, Roman Haver, Cara Jamieson, Breagh Kirkpatrick, Isla Kirkpatrick, Colin McGregor, Hamish Mc Gregor, Malcom Mc Gregor, Brandon Millar, Tristan Millar, Bobby Shaw, Ben Thomson, Sean Paul Webb (15)

Accelerated reading star readers 

P3  Rachael Drummond 31 books and 16.5 points

P4   Amelia ( most books 27) and Hamish S (most points 29.6)

P5   Mark Drummond ( most books 40) and Cara most points 171

P6 Tristan Millar (most books 24) and Struan most points 121

P7  Breagh Kirkpatrick (most books 29) and Aidan most points

Word Millionaire – Cara Jamieson, Hamish Mc Gregor and Struan Scott

 Responsible citizen

P1/2 Bobby Shaw

Sports champions certificates

P1/ 2-  Bobby Shaw

P3-    Colin Mc Gregor

P4-    Holly Santangeli

P5 –    Mark Drummond

P6 –    Tristan Millar

 Sports Champions – Rose Santangeli and Murray Williams

 House points shield

Most merits in p1-4  = Ela Chang

Most merits in p5-7   = Faye Adams

Soleburn – 139 (sports) +   277 = 416

Lochnaw –  155(sports) +   377 =   532

Winning house captain – Malcolm Mc Gregor

Runner up house captain Breagh Kirkpatrick

 Who has passed Platinum rainbow tables this year?

Faye   Brandon     Fraser

Who has passed platinum rainbow spelling this year?

Murray Williams

Nina Agnew Creativity award – Hamish Mc Gregor

P5-7 Award for endeavour – Breagh Kirkpatrick

The afternoon culminated in a presentation of Photo Memory Book and Leaver’s hoodie for each of our P7s and a slideshow full of lots of memories over the years! This is forever saved on Youtube for their viewing delight – and for their 18th and 21st birthdays! Such wonderfully cute snaps of them from P1 upwards!

The P7s went on to enjoy a meal in Lando’s on Thursday night.

And, as Mrs Baillie said:

“thank you once again for sending your fabulous children to our schools.  They really do make us smile every day.  And your support in all we do truly makes the difference.”

Never a truer word! Thank you one and all 🙂

Photos to follow (awaiting an increase in media space!)

Our Primary 7 pupils had a blast at a Stranraer Watersports Association activity day at Loch Ryan today.

First order of the day was being kitted out with wet suits (which was a fun experience trying to squeeze into tight lycra).

The first challenges were a couple of team problem solving puzzles. Gripping a rope, the children had to get everyone inside the rope without crossing their arms. Next, they had to sort themselves from tallest to smallest whilst keeping one foot on a rope line. Through giggles,  discussion and teamwork,  both challenges were solved.

Everyone then waded out into the water to get acclimatised. Super resilient, all the children were soon dunked, with just a  few screams to be heard on that initial dip!

Once suitably used to the water temperature, the pupils came back out, split into two groups and had a quick land-based instruction with the equipment before having a go at paddle boarded and kayaking. Our ‘gung-ho’ water heroes were quickly performing like water sports pro’s. The paddleboards were ditched and everyone balanced on the kayaks in a cooperation challenge.

Paddleboards

Kayaking

A Bit Soggy

Soon, the rumbles from famished tums could be heard from some distance away. So, lunch was called and everyone tucked in with gusto.  Luke even managed to squeeze in a quick power nap, soaking up the glorious sunshine.

Lunch

The wind picked up a little in the afternoon  so we left the kayaks on the beach and created a giant paddleboard raft by linking the individual ones together. Everyone piled on-board as a balancing challenge.

There was enough time for a splash about to see how which team would be the first to get all their members on one paddleboard. The laws of physics caused a topple or two before one team was declared victorious with no less than 7 pupils making it out of the water balanced on one raft!

Rafts

There was even a wee treat at the end of the day courtesy of Mr White, who bough everyone a choc ice lolly to enjoy.  There was even enough for the adults to indulge. Thank you Mr White!

Our adventurous P7s were invigorated and highly motivated throughout the whole session. We couldn’t fault the enthusiasm and professionalism of our instructors Zack and Max, and also the volunteer helpers.  Our thanks go to the  watersports team for allowing us to experience such a thrilling and enjoyable day!

# Confident Individuals

As part of Primary 1 to 4’s topic in Social Studies this term, the children have been learning about life in castles long ago.

Today, Mrs McKnight’s class combined what they have been learning about castle features with a STEM challenge (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths).

After gathering up a wide range of recycled junk modelling material (thank you families!), each child planned their own unique castle design.

Design Challenge:

The boys and girls then came together in small groups to work collaboratively to amalgamate the best features of their designs into one improved design.  Once this has been agreed, they brought their plans to life by constructing their models.

Design Examples

Construction Phase

Everyone worked very hard and their was lots of focus and attention to detail during the construction phase.

The finished models incorporated features such as battlements, moats, bailies, arrow loops and even working drawbridges to name but a few!

This activity has supported the development of the skills for learning, life and work as an integral part of education, e.g.:

• Communication & Negotiation
• Problem Solving
• Creating & Evaluating

There was lots of thinking and discussion on how to best combine and join materials to create the model features.  The children were able to reflect on their work and identify areas of success and targets for improvement.

We are sure you will agree that any self-respecting knight would be happy to take up residence in these fabulous castles!

# Successful Learners

P1-4 were thrilled to welcome back Kathryn Purchase from History Alive to present a workshop all about Knights and Castles. We all love Kathryn’s visits and today’s was no exception. We loved hearing tales of castle building through the ages, and what life would be like living in one. It would have been very cold, dark and smelly we decided!

Colin was also knighted and shall now be forever known as ‘Sir Colin of Leswalt’, and Ewan and Holly were gifted great areas of land for being favourite nobles of the King.

Next week in class, we shall be building our own castles as part of a technology project. Today’s session has armed us all with some great ideas and we shall be making sure to include all of these key castle features in our models.

Thank you once again Kathryn and we look forward to seeing you again next year for an Ancient Egyptians workshop, and a WW2 input with the P5-7 class.

# Successful Learners