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Rabbie would have been delighted! Leswalt Primary pupils, staff, parents and guests have been treated to a Scots-fest celebration over the last few days.

Pupils have been working extremely hard throughout the course of this month on a trio of homework tasks; handwriting, artwork and poetry recitation of their set poem. And what a power of work the children put in – just amazing!

Wednesday

Wednesday saw the dawning of judgement day. Mr McCracken was invited in for the unenviable task of judging each class stage – a he had quite a job! The high standards of creativity within artwork, beautifully presented handwriting and the expression and gusto with which the poems were recited meant that Mr McCracken found he had very tricky decisions to make. But make them he did – and the very worthy winners within each category are listed below!  Well done to ALL pupils for their effort – we are all very proud of you!

P1 – ‘Ode tae a spider’ – Recitation winners : 1. Hamish McGregor; 2. Cara Jamieson, Carys McHallum &

Faye Adams; 3. Brandon Millar:

Illustration winner – Hamish McGregor : Handwriting winner – Faye Adams

P2 – ‘Social dancin’ – Recitation winners : 1.Alexander Clark; 2.Noah Gaw; 3. Struan Scott :

Illustration winner –Fraser Reid : Handwriting winner – Noah Gaw

P3 – ‘Jock and Jean’ – Recitation winners : 1.Malcolm McGregor; 2.Breagh Kirkpatrick; 3.Aidan Adams, Murray Williams & Maisie Sloan:

 Illustration winner –Maisie Sloan: Handwriting winner – Malcolm McGregor

P4 – ‘Last nicht’ – Recitation winners : 1. Robin McLean; 2. Luke McHallum, Gregor Reid, Chloe Kennedy &

Jack Cloy; 3. Andrew Brown :

Illustration winner – Robin McLean : Handwriting winner – Chloe Kennedy

P5 – ‘Nae accontin for folk’ – Recitation winners : 1. Phoebe Gaw; 2. Auryn Kirkpatrick; 3. Finlay Scott &

Erin Jamieson :

Illustration winner – Auryn Kirkpatrick : Handwriting winner – Phoebe Gaw

P6 – ‘King o the midden’ – Recitation winners : 1.Jenna Calderwood; 2. Eva Ferguson; 3. Boyd Sloan & Charlotte Gaw:

 Illustration winner –Boyd Sloan: Handwriting winner – Charlotte Gaw

P7 – ‘Address to the haggis / Tae a moose’ – Recitation winners : 1.Kayleigh Williams; 2.Megan McIntyre; 3. Alistair Brown & Ethan Smith :

Illustration winner – Alistair Brown : Handwriting winner – Megan McIntyre.

Thursday brings the Burns Lunch… yum yum!

 

P1-4 got their inventing hats on this week to design and create a kite as part of a Technology challenge linked to their Weather topic. They had a range of materials to choose from and were encouraged to think about the best shape to make their kite too. Enthusiastically, the pupils got busy in the morning, working individually, to plan and make their creation. The P1 pupils buddied up with an older classmate to make theirs. Then, in the afternoon the whole class headed outside clutching their kites to test them out. The challenge wasn’t particularly to see whose kite flew furthest, but to reflect on the materials used and their properties; why did some fly further than others? why did the shape make a difference?

The results were fascinating! It’s fair to say that some pupils may have more hope as a kite inventor in the future than others (!), but everyone worked really hard and all learnt lots about their use of materials and how to reflect and improve on their initial plans from this task. What the material is made of, rather than the colour, will have more impact on how successful the end result is! Aidan and Robin really thought about the task and reflected maturely on the outcome. Well done!

Check out some of our photos below!

 

Kayleigh and Finlay’s names were selected from the hat to represent the P7s of Leswalt Primary at the annual Rotary Lunch in the North West Castle hotel today. They met Greg Drummond, a curler who won a silver medal at the Winter Olympics! They really enjoyed listening to him. Mrs Baillie was so proud that Kayleigh and Finlay were such a delight to take along to the meal. Their behaviour represented the school perfectly.

 

Our report on our trip to the North West Castle.

Yesterday me (Kayleigh) and me (Finlay) went to the North West Castle to represent the school for The Rotary lunch. We were delighted to be going – it was really nice and the food tasted lush! We heard from an Olympic curler Greg Drummond about his experience at the Winter Olympics 2012. We got a picture taken with him and his silver medal which was surprisingly heavy and thick but really cool. We really enjoyed our trip to the Rotary lunch and we are very grateful that we could get the opportunity to go!!

Wow! What a show Leswalt Primary put on! Entitled ‘It’s Chriistmas!’, it told the Christmas Story through the guise of a chart show presented by some very glamorous hosts, produced by a bossy director and assistant director and featuring all the Nativity favourites. The songs were strangely recognisable, all being based on a well-known tune, and the children acted their hearts out. From heavenly angels to grumpy landlords, rocking shepherds to hippy animals, boyband ‘Wise Guys’ to Herod the baddie and his suave backing singers all topped off by cheery hosts, bossy producers, dancing camels and that extra pizzazz the children always add to their stage productions! The singing was uplifting and the roof of the village hall was well and truly raised! Well done to all involved – we’re very proud of you all!

 

The P7 pupils enjoyed a delicious meal at Papa Rab’s as part of their Christmas celebrations last Thursday. The five of them looked fabulous as they headed out for a spot of socialising. Judging by their chat last Friday morning, they all had a brilliant time and lots of giggles! Many thanks to the Parent Council for paying towards the bill and to the mums (Gillian, Linda, Kim and Mary) who headed along to enjoy the banter! Good times!

The whole school enjoyed an afternoon of festive party fun starting with a wonderful buffet in P1-4 classroom.  Everyone enjoyed a variety of savoury snacks provided by the school lunches and the Parent Council –  then lots of tasty sweet treats provided by the parents of the school.

Party games then began in the hall including Musical Arms, Build a Snowman (hilarious!), some social dancing, Christmas Corners and Pass the Parcel.

At 2.30pm, a very special visitor arrived….. SANTA!!! He came bearing lots of gifts for the children too, as they had been all very good boys and girls 🙂

What a fantastic afternoon.  Thank you to all the parents for helping out too and making it run so smoothly.

Well done to the four pupils from Leswalt school who went to the Academy last week to represent their school at a fun Maths Transition challenge. The team consisted of Charlotte Gaw, Euan McCredie, Ethan Smith and Megan McIntyre. The challenge began with an Activity Pack full of Christmas themed maths puzzles and problem solving, as well as a complex cube building challenge and a ‘Tarsia’ hexagon challenge.

Following this, the teams were given a pack of spaghetti, tape and one sheet of paper and tasked with creating the tallest tower. This was very entertaining! Unfortunately, Leswalt’s tower collapsed near the end of the time but this did not knock their confidence… the bounced back and had another attempt – that’s what we like to see! 🙂
The event was a great success and we look forward to participating in the challenge again next Christmas. Kirkcolm and Portpatrick School joined in the fun as well.

The boys, girls and staff wore their festive knits to school on Friday 15th December for the annual Save the Children ‘Christmas Jumper Day’. Everyone brought along a donation for this very worthwhile charity. Look at all those Christmassy tops! Doesn’t everyone look fabulous?

This team of super bag packers and their adult helpers raised £628.66 in Morrisons on Saturday! I bet the festive food shoppers were delighted to be helped by these cheery faces.

What fabulous teamwork!

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Erin and Kayleigh offered to read at a Christmas Church service.  The girls read their pieces with fluency and confidence, giving up their own time for their community. Well done!