Leswalt Primary School

Leswalt Primary are delighted to have won “The Big Pedal 2012”.

This achievement in a National competition was done to the effort of pupils, parents, staff – and indeed the whole community – in cycling to Leswalt Primary School.

The final results were announced on Monday 26th March.  That afternoon the whole school had taken part in a sponsored pedal to raise funds for playground development in school.  A huge cheer went up as the results were posted on the website www.thebigpedal.org.uk .

Many, many thanks to all in team Leswalt for their dedication and effort! We are so proud of all of you.

Leswalt Primary recently concluded a highly successful and engaging whole school topic on “The Rainforest” with an open afternoon.

 All parents, friends and relatives of the school were invited in to come and see the learning that had taken place, to take part in some interactive activities and listen to the children entertain by singing some rainforest songs.

 

Leswalt Primary pupils, parents and staff have all been arriving at school on 2 wheels, instead of 4.  As part of the National “Big Pedal” competition, we have been aiming to increase the ratio of cyclists and scooters arriving at school.  Check out www.thebigpedal.org.uk for details, and you will see on Thursday 8th March 2012, Leswalt Primary had the highest ratio of cyclists in the whole of the UK!

Pupils at Leswalt Primary school have all recently been learning about “The Rainforest”.  As part of this topic, the children all went to their local forest, Aldouran Glen, to compare with the habitat of the rainforest.

 As the school is currently competing in “The Big Pedal”, pupils and staff travelled to the Aldouran wetlands on their bikes or scooters.  PC Kevin Wyllie came out to ensure the traffic was aware of the whole school cycling through the village of Leswalt. 

 Once at the woods, the school all met in the bird hide and the different types of trees apparent were discussed.  Pupils were then divided up into pairs who had to complete a scavenger hunt.  There were 15 items on the list for pupils to try and find.  Amongst the items were a couple of red herrings, including a pineapple.

 Eilidh and Emma were the first pair to find all of the items, with an imaginative interpretation of many of the trickier clues.

 Pupils all enjoyed their outdoor learning afternoon, and pedalled back to school energised by the fresh air and excited by what they had found.

Primary 1-4 at Leswalt Primary have been learning all about Baptism, as part of their Religious and Moral education

.  In order to further develop understanding of the ceremony, all the children took part in a mock christening at Leswalt Parish Church.

 

The pupils took their baby (doll), who they had named baby Annabel Jane to the church to be baptised.  Prior to this they had decided on the parents and responsible godparents, as well as making a birth certificate for the infant.

 

The children were met the Church by the Rev Mike Sheppard.  Mr Sheppard discussed the significance of a christening ceremony before leading the pupils through it.   All the pupils said a prayer for their baby before the parents, Rhona and Robert came forward with baby Annabel.  The Godparents, Jack and Lauren agreed to help support and guide the baby through life.  Baby Annabel was very good and did not cry when the minister put the water on her forehead. 

 

The Rev Mike Sheppard signed the back of the birth certificate to state the Christening had taken place before the children returned back to school having learned more by taking part in this religious ceremony.                       

 

As part of “Health and Wellbeing” learning and teaching the whole school has been learning about the dangers of smoking.  This learning was amplified when P5,6 and 7 took part in a Drama workshop “Smoke Free Me”, with Pace theatre group.  Following a workshop session the senior pupils then presnted their play to the younger pupils of p1,2,3 and 4.

The boys and girls of Leswalt were delighted to recently receive a Nintendo Wii from the Parents fundraising group.  This additional resource will be used for games based learning, after school clubs and wet weather playtimes at school.

The pupils at Leswalt pride themselves by arriving at school on bicycles and scooters.  Last year they were the Scottish champions for pedal power in “The Big Pedal”, a National competition to encourage pupils to cycle more.

However, they were all shocked and saddened at recent events.  Ola, a Primary 1 pupil had been coming to school on her scooter which she was given by Santa.  One night she forgot to take it home, and left it round the back of the building.  Unfortunately there were intruders in the school grounds at night that not only wrecked the little pink scooter; they threw it into the nearby burn. 

The scooter was beyond repair.  Ola was upset.  All the pupils in the school were upset.  The school put a poster up in the Leswalt Stores to explain what had happened and ask for any witnesses.                          

 The police were informed and PC Kevin Wyllie came out to the school to speak to the children.  He has since ensured there have been regular patrols of the school grounds at night.

The children decided they would like to show Ola that the community of Leswalt is really kind.  They decided to each bring in money so that they could buy Ola a brand new scooter.  The generous response was amazing; children brought in their pocket money, all the staff contributed, people handed in money to the village shop, people with no connections to the school contributed after hearing the story – even PC Wyllie the policeman gave some money into the scooter fund!

At a special assembly in front of the whole school, staff and parents Ola was presented with a brand new Disney Princess scooter.  Ola was delighted, and let out a scream of joy!  The rest of the pupils were happy. 

This sad tale of needless vandalism had a happy ending.  The children of Leswalt have shown their caring considerate nature as “Responsible citizens”. 

Mrs Baillie had one final surprise for everyone.  Such was the generosity of the collection, there was money left after buying the scooter.  So Mrs. Baillie decided that as the pupils had all supported this they too should be treated.  Mrs Baillie handed over A Nintendo Wii game to the school, bought with the change.  However, it was pointed out that there is nothing in school to use it on.  At that point Mrs Baillie called upon members of the school fundraising group to present the children of Leswalt Primary school with a brand new Nintendo Wii, which can now be used for games based learning, wet weather playtimes and after school clubs.  A huge cheer went up and suffice to say the boys and girls were ecstatic, everyone went home with smiles on their faces!

 

  During the month of January Pupils at Leswalt Primary have had a focus on the life and work of Robert Burns.  As part of that work all pupils participated in the annual recitations of Scots poetry.  This was also accompanied by artwork and handwriting competitions.  All of these were judged on Tuesday 24^th January by Mr Alec Ross.  Mr Ross had a very difficult job in deciding who the eventual winner in each category was.

On the afternoon of Friday 27^th January parents and grandparents were invited into school to a special Burns Showcase assembly.  At this assembly all winners showed off their talents and received a certificate for their efforts.