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P.C. Pellett popped in to speak to P5-7 this afternoon about staying safe online. The internet is a marvel – but it is something which us teachers didn’t grow up with as the young of today are!

Just like any new thing though, it is important to be aware of what is ok and what is not ok.

We looked at the ThinkUKnow website. This is a tile on every pupils’ GLOW homepage. It is packed full of fun educational games to help children be more internet aware. There is even an information page for parents to access too.

Certain social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat (to name just a few) have age restrictions on them. They are there to guide parents and carers. It is essential to remember that people who you accept as ‘friends’ on these sites MUST be people you already know. People who you would chat to if you met them in the street.

If at any time you are unsure about the privacy settings on one of these sites, ask an adult to check them for you. They should be set so that only the people who you want to see your posts, are the ones who can see them!

Why not check out the ThinkUKnow website to learn out more. Enjoy the internet – it has so much to offer but just be aware of what to do if you are ever unsure. Whether it be internet safety, road safety or drug safety – they all have looking after ourselves and each other as their main goal. Stay safe online!

 

 

Today Lesley and Rhona from NSPCC came to speak to us all about Childline and the Speak Out – Stay Safe campaign as part of our Health and Well-being curriculum.

P1-4 listened to and chatted about the importance of sharing their worries with a trusted person and met Buddy the Childline mascot who is there to remind us all that it is good to talk. Don’t keep those worries to yourself.

P5-7 then watched an animated video clip which was designed to get the pupils thinking about…

• Lightening their Sack of Worries by talking about their worries and problems.
• being aware of and understanding what’s right and what’s not.
• the 5 types of abuse: neglect, physical, sexual, emotional and bullying.
• Abuse is NEVER okay and is NOT the child’s fault.
• Speak to someone you can trust. Childline is ALWAYS there – no problem is too big/small.
• Keep speaking out until something changes.

The pupils learnt a way of remembering the Childline number 0800 11 11 and were encouraged to chat about what they had heard and watched.

Remember:

Speak Out – Stay Safe!

 

 

Thanks to Kirstie, Charlotte, Megan and Finlay for planting the winter pansies in our front door tubs. They are looking much prettier now!

Today, Wednesday 1st November, we all got to work planting crocus bulbs at the Wetlands. Why I hear you ask?

Well, this was in collaboration with the Rotary Club who are working hard to raise awareness about the continued fight against polio. Neville Wright, chairman of Stranraer Rotary, came to speak to us all about the latest drive to ensure polio is eradicated throughout the world. Huge strides ahead have been made over the last 23 years with polio cases falling from 300,000 in 1985 to just 37 in 2016! But without continued understanding and immunisation programmes, this devastating disease threatens to multiply once again. The ‘purple for polio’ crocuses are to remind people to give what they can to help the continued fight – just 20p is enough to immunise a child. That’s nothing!

The boys and girls were all up for the challenge so, donning their wellies and waterproofs, they headed for the Wetlands and met up with other Rotary members to plant the 4000 bulbs (yes – 4000!) Surprisingly quickly, these purple crocus bulbs were planted quickly by the children in the soil trenches prepared by the Rotary members. With grubby hands, very mucky boots but much bigger smiles, the children headed back to school. We are all looking forward to seeing the crocuses bloom next Spring – and don’t forget the importance of supporting polio immunisation around the world!

What a day of witches, ghouls and zombies we have had today!

P5-7 spent their morning making Spooky Spider doughnuts and measuring and drawing the net of a square based pyramid as a box to store it in for their Maths session.

Eerie poetry, Halloween creative writing and the P7s busily party planning meant that the morning passed by in a flash!

P1-4 chatted about the tradition of guising and telling a joke, singing a song or some other entertainment in exchange for a small treat.

The afternoon kicked off with a Frightening Fancy Dress Parade and then Patricia took on the unenviable job of judging the costumes – what a hard task that was! There followed an afternoon of team games; Musical Gravestones, Freaky Corners, Dooking for apples, Pin the stalk on the pumpkin/scar on Harry Potter and a Beastly Beetle Drive. To round off a fun afternoon, the boys and girls enjoyed a quick boogie to Michael Jackson’s classic Thriller and then enjoyed a tasty treat before they headed home…to do some guising all over again!

Thanks to the P7s for organising the party.

 

 

 

To conclude their topic looking at Local and National Government, P5-7 held their very own election today and handed the final decision over to the constituents of their school!

The pupils have worked very hard over the course of the term finding out about the impact of politics, some familiar faces on today’s political scene, welcoming some visitors into class for politic based question and answer sessions, the importance of living in a democracy and the ins and outs of an election campaign.

Working in small groups of 4 or 5, the children created their own political parties; party name, logo, rosette colours, manifesto pledges, campaign posters and videoing political party broadcasts. This was all done with great enthusiasm and the children had so many great ideas!

The Political Party manifestos included ideas to help improve the school for all and today saw the culmination of all of this hard work as the campaigns came to an end with a whole school vote at the Polling Station (hall!).

The winning party was…. the HTS Party! Party Leader Jenna Calderwood, Organisational Officer Phoebe Gaw, Media Officer Euan McCredie and Public Speaking Advisor Kayleigh Williams. Well done to all of you – we look forward to seeing you put your manifesto into action!

Check out the four political parties, some of their original campaign material, some snaps of the constituents heading to the polls and watch the political party broadcasts!  

Well done to all of the boys and girls involved! What a great way to end a very busy term!

Big-hearted Erin Jamieson had her hairdresser visit her at school this afternoon – but this was no ordinary hair-cut!

She had decided to have her lovely long locks cut, donating her hair to The Little Princess Trust which makes real hair wigs for children who have sadly lost their hair through cancer or other illnesses. Erin and her family had researched this very worthwhile charity and she offered to do her bit to help. In addition to giving up many inches of her own hair, Erin’s Just Giving page and donation sheets have brought in over £1000 of fund-raising to date for the charity too! Check out the before and after pictures above!

Well done Erin! What a selfless thing to do – we are all very proud of you.

 

This morning, the pupils of P5-7 had the pleasure of a visit from former MSP and Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson. The boys and girls have been thinking about democracy and parliament within their Social Studies topic and so this visit gave them a very real and interesting insight into politics and we really appreciate Mr Fergusson taking the time to talk to our class.

The children had many questions for Mr Fergusson; why he chose to become involved in politics, some of the experiences he had, the highs and the lows etc – it really was very interesting! As Charlotte said “That was really good!” Had the lunchtime bell not rung, I don’t doubt that he might well have been sat here still!

The anecdotes he told were light-hearted but gave the pupils (and teacher!) an idea of what it’s like being involved in the Scottish Parliament from its birth, the reality of the debating chamber, how bills become law and the issues which are devolved to Scotland and ones which are still governed by Westminster.

Next week, the pupils are planning to form their own ‘political’ parties, write manifestos and campaign within a ‘mock’ election. The visits from Andrew Giusti, Alex Fergusson and the Outreach Scottish Parliament Service have paved the way well for this. I wonder how the voting will go?

So P5-7 ventured to Scotland’s Book Town today for a morning packed full of Literary delights! We’ve been rather on-the-go recently (as you might have noticed from our blogging!) and today meant that we have now enjoyed an experience in the first four weeks of term 1 from almost every curricular area – wow!

The sun was shining as we arrived in Wigtown. We enjoyed Renita Boyle’s now legendary warm-up act for the authors – Boogaloo is a favourite with us all! She then introduced the Edinburgh-based author Lari Don. Lari has written nine novels and many picture books too. She writes for teens, 8-12 year olds and a younger audience and has just completed a trilogy entitled ‘Spellchasers!’. She read an excerpt from the latest novel and then got the 260+ children in the Festival Marquee thinking about their own creative writing ideas. As Lari said, to write the best stories you can you need to always ask questions, be imaginative and live a little! Many of the boys and girls enjoyed hearing about her stories so much, that they bought a copy of one of her novels. Some children were on chapter 2 by the time they got on the bus for home!

Rab Wilson, a Scottish poet, entertained us next. He read from a range of Scottish texts; some his own poetry work and some books written by others for children of all ages. He encouraged the boys and girls to explore their knowledge of Scots language – and taught us a few words we hadn’t heard of too.

We had a great morning – it was really interesting! We are looking forward to hearing about the P1-4’s experiences tomorrow!

We may be tucked away in our beautiful little corner of South-West Scotland, but we still manage to enjoy lots of experiences! The Scottish Parliament Outreach Officer for the West of Scotland visited us last week to give the pupils an insight into what is involved in politics and how this affects us all; in essence the importance of using our voices and, when of age, our vote to make our country be the best it can be.

The boys and girls from Portpatrick Primary joined us for a powerpoint session which included using voting consoles too. All very exciting. The children also had the chance to create a party, read through and justify their manifesto, select a party leader who spoke to the assembled group and take part in a vote – all real-life experiences. We are going to be doing much the same thing in class between now and the October holidays so this was a great introduction to it!