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!
Church Readers #confident individuals
Walking in a winter wonderland
All of Leswalt Primary headed off to Leswalt wetlands today to look for the signs of winter all around us in the local community. Holly bushes, robins, icicles, frost and even a frozen pond were all around us on this crisp wintery walk. It was a good way to blow away the cobwebs on a December afternoon and walk a wee daily mile.
Yum Yum Christmas Lunch!
Pupils all enjoyed a delicious Christmas Lunch at school today. P7s helped to set up and serve lunch to their classmates, before sitting down to enjoy a plate piled high with turkey, chipolatas, potatoes and brussel sprouts with their Christmas hats on! Christmas music in the background helped to set the festive scene. Lunch was absolutely delicious and the children munched up every bit before heading outside to enjoy the last of the sprinkling of snow before it melted in the early afternoon sunshine.
This week, all the p5/6/7’s took part in a Christmas Numeracy and Maths Challenge based on the 12 Days of Christmas. They had to work out how many gifts were received altogether in the song and try to look for creative ways to work this out. Some pupils used visual methods, written calculations, tables etc.
They then had to work out how many ‘legs’ were in the song… things got a little tricky at Day 8 when there were maids milking cows with milking stools (which all have their own legs!).
Megan, Charlotte, Ethan and Euan were chosen as the final 4 who will go to Stranraer Academy on Thursday 14th December to represent the school in another transition Xmas challenge with the S1’s and the maths department.
Badminton Brilliance!
This week saw the return of the annual Rhins Primary Badminton Competition. Monday was girls’ day and Tuesday the turn of the boys!
We were super proud of the young ladies and gentlemen from P5-7 who put themselves forward for this event held at Stranraer Academy. Alistair, Ethan, Millie, Megan, Erin, Kayleigh and Jenna are great ambassadors for the school.
As if that wasn’t impressive enough, Kayleigh went on to win silver in the singles competition and she and Jenna won silver in the doubles competition too! Just fabulous!
The future is bright for local badminton. Well done all!
The girls’ singles and doubles winners are pictured below.
P1-4 head to the Police and Fire Station
As part of our ‘People who help us’ topic, P1-4 enjoyed a fun filled trip to Stranraer Police and Fire Stations. At the Police Station, we got to try on the uniform, book in some criminals and spent some time behind bars in an actual police cell! At the Fire Station we had a tour of the fire engine and found out what all of the equipment is used for. We also got to try on the firefighting uniform and even got to use the fire hose!
“I loved getting to use the fire hose. It was really funny!” Jack P4
“The siren was so loud and I loved the colours it made.” Maisie P3
“I really liked getting to hold the police equipment like the shields and batons. It is all really heavy!” Robin P4
“Getting locked in a police cell was fun but it really stank!” Alexander P2
Tremendous Tin Whistle Performance
Many thanks to Anne and Susan from Feis Rois for their 12 week input on Gaelic music-making, singing and the tin whistle. This was brought to a fabulous conclusion this morning with a concert to P1-4 and parents!
The children learnt many songs in English and Gaelic, counted in French and Gaelic, as well as playing the tin whistle in three musical parts, in descant, using drums to add to the rhythmic pattern of the tune and memorising simple tunes to be able to play their whistle by heart, copying complex clapping patterns and a very fun Penguin song which involved audience participation!
The pupils all responded so positively to this experience and gained so much musical awareness and confidence from this. I hope everyone who came along to their mini-concert enjoyed this as much as the children enjoyed performing it!
P1-3 Read Write Count Gift Bags ready and raring to go! :)
This morning, all pupils gathered together in the hall for the launch of 2017’s Read Write Count gift bags for all pupils in P1, P2 and P3.
Fantastic gifts were inside including books, magnetic boards, number games, card games, dice and lots more! There is also a guide for all parent and carers with lots more exciting ways to use the materials. Each child gets a drawstring bag to keep all their new gifts in and can take with them in the car, for long journeys, when visiting family etc.
We welcome any photos of these gift nags being used at home 
Pudsey Fund-Raising Fun!
The boys and girls enjoyed a super Pudsey Spotacular day to raise money for Children in Need. The pupils rocked up in the morning wearing non-uniform with a donation to pop in the Pudsey bucket. Some children had gone to lots of effort to create their wacky and very creative ‘spotty’ outfits. Spotty sweeties (AKA Smarties!) went to the winners of each year group with several family groups really demonstrating their artistic talents.
Yummy cakes and pancakes were on the menu for interval when the pupils bought some home-baking for the Friday playpiece. Unsurprisingly, there was nothing but crumbs left!
Throughout the week, the boys and girls had been buying Pudsey and Blush ears and wristbands too.
All of their donations will be counted up and a final total will be announced next week. Well done to all! It was a Pudsey-tastic, spotacular day all round!
Stay Safe Online
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!
