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We were delighted to welcome Kathryn from History Alive to join us for some fun at Leswalt Primary this morning!

The children are enjoying lots of activities for Scottish Week. This kicked off with their Scottish poetry recitation, handwriting and artwork judging on Friday, followed by a very successful Burns Lunch – complete with Mr Gaw piping and Mr McClure offering the Immortal Memory. This week has included art and design inspired by the Kelpies and the McCoo family, traditional music-making with Feis Rois and the tin whistle, writing in Scots, a whistle-stop tour of Scottish geography and, the highlight, today’s visit from Kathryn to fill us in on Scottish history from Mary Queen of Scots to the Jacobite Rebellion and everything in between! The grand finale will be our Scots Showcase Assembly this Friday – hope to see you there!

It’s been great fun and a tremendous way for the children to learn more about Scottish traditions, culture and history. Just take a look at our photos below…

What a busy day we’ve had with Scots handwriting, artwork and poetry judging in the morning and a delicious feast of haggis, neeps and tatties for lunch!

Mrs Gillian Murdoch had the unenviable task of selecting winners for every primary in the handwriting, artwork and recitation categories. A very tough call as all pupils were fantastic! The winners will be celebrated in next week’s showcase afternoon which is open to family and friends!

And then it was time for our Burns Lunch! Many thanks to Jodie and Carole in the kitchen, Mr Gaw for piping, Mr McClure for the Immortal Memory and the P7 pupils for their organisation and participation in Leswalt Primary’s Annual Burns Lunch.

We all had a richt guid time!

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.

Every Thursday morning we are going to be enjoying some singing, movement, rhythm and tin whistle fun with Dickie and Wendy from Feis Rois. Today we learnt how to count in 4 beats in Gaelic, create rhythms using syllables and our bodies as percussion, enjoy an Irish action song called ‘ Rattlin Bog’, explore non-pitched percussion from all over the world as an accompaniment to Dickie playing and singing ‘Stand By Me’ and ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ and finally starting our tin whistle playing with ‘Hot Cross Buns’ – phew! A very busy and productive morning!

We had a fabulous session – roll on next week!

Welcome back and a very Happy New Year to you all! 2020 started with great enthusiasm today for all the fun this year has to offer.

P4-7 raised their glasses of fizz (flavoured water!) to toast a welcome to one another and, after much soul-searching, decided upon their own New Year Resolutions. Hopefully they will find them easy to stick to!

Just look at these happy wee faces!

 

Paaaarty Time!

Today we put on our party togs for Leswalt Primary Christmas Party!

To kick off proceedings we all tucked in to a delicious buffet, with party poppers popping, crackers cracking and festive tunes on to sing along to! Then the House Captains (Phoebe and Auryn) led the party with fun games and lots of dancing! From Pass the Parcel to Musical Statues, Christmas Corners to Strip the Willow, the Gay Gordons to Let’s Build a Snowman – it was a high-energy afternoon! There was lots of laughter and excitement; especially as we sang Jingle Bells to welcome a very special visitor. And this very jolly man in red brought fabulous gifts for each and every lucky pupil! What a brilliant Christmas party!

This morning, Leswalt Primary pupils donned their wellies  and headed over to Aldouran Wetlands to meet up with members of Stranraer Rotary Club.

The challenge: to plant 4000 purple crocus bulbs as part of the Purple4Polio campaign. Every year, Rotary Clubs across Great Britain and Ireland help to plant millions of purple crocuses to raise awareness for efforts to end polio. Leswalt Primary pupils were delighted to be able to lend a hand and are looking forward to seeing the results of their gardening efforts in the Spring when the bulbs flower!

So you thought Strictly had finished for this year? Not so as the pupils of Leswalt Primary staged a fabulous Strictly-themed show entitled’ Lights, Camel, Action!’ for parents, friends and the wider community!

It had everything you might wish for; glamorous hosts, entertaining judges, fabulous voice-overs and a stellar cast! Oh and the dances; from ballet to line dance, funk to tango, Morris dancing to the disco-floor – the show was packed with fun, laughter, catchy songs and some very nifty movers, all whilst retelling the story of the Nativity. The village hall was packed with an extremely appreciative audience who enjoyed the show immensely!

Just take a look at the Leswalt super stars below…

 

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!

 

This morning, Leanne from Compass (Brain Injury Specialists Ltd) visited both classes to lead the pupils in a presentation and discussion about the importance of wearing a helmet (on bikes, quads, dirt bikes etc) and the consequences linked to brain injuries.

The children discussed why sometimes people don’t wear helmets and Leanne reinforced the important job the helmet does in protecting our brain. She had a ‘jelly’ brain to pass around so that the children could envisage what was inside their skull! She also shared some fun brain facts: an adult brain weighs about a bag and a half of sugar, a jelly fish has NO brain and a brain cell is called a neuron! We actually have 100 billion neurons in our brain – if we started counting all the neurons in our brain it would take a staggering 3176 years! Our brains are like our very own super computer, and that’s what makes us really smart!

Leanne talked to the pupils through what each part of the brain does; and the pivotal role played by the frontal lobe in making us the individuals we are.

She highlighted the need to drink plenty of water, sleep well, eat healthily and get plenty of fresh air to help look after our brains. Brightly coloured fruit and vegetables are fantastic for helping to ‘feed’ our brain!

Compass visits schools to raise awareness of helmet safety and do, in fact, provide free helmets to those who need them. The short video which concluded the  P4-7 presentation told the story of a little boy who hadn’t worn his helmet and was left with an acquired brain injury which changed his life.

It’s not cool to be the fool: wear your helmet!