Author: Mrs Davidson

We would like to introduce this year’s House Captains and Vice Captains.  We are  sure they are going to do a great job and will be super role models for our younger children.  They are looking forward to representing our school and  helping organise events throughout the year.

Primary 1 have settled in well to life at St Andrew’s.  This week, amongst other things,  we have been learning new sounds, working on number and pattern and today we had a visit from Mr Sharp to do PE with us.  Here are a few photos from today’s activities:

 

This morning we had a visit from the Queen of the South Elect and her key attendants as they get set for the Guid Nychburris celebrations this weekend.  The Cornet wanted to check we were all in good voice for Saturday so we had to shout very loudly.  As you will see from the photos there was also a horse race with a twist!

Several of our pupils did very well in the Guid Nychburris handwriting competition and the awards were presented to the children during this visit.

Our school attendant Lauren looked beautiful in her blue dress and we can’t wait to cheer her on Saturday (fingers crossed for some sun!)

We were very lucky to have our Sports this morning in the lovely sunshine.  There were lots of spectators cheering us on.  It was a great morning with races including; running, skipping, sack race, egg and spoon, jack and jill, relay and long distance.  There was also a race for our nursery children and another for toddlers (no parents and teachers seemed keen to have a race though!).

The scoring was close but overall winners were our blue team – Congratulations St Catherine!

This week is National Digital Literacy Week and today P1 celebrated this by contributing to a digital story writing session with two other schools in our region.  Cargenbridge Primary and Nursery both started our story off all about Braw the Loch Ness Monster and his family.  Next it was the turn of Minigaff Primary to add to the middle of the story.  Finally today Primary 1 at St Andrew’s logged on to glow and used their amazing imagination to end the story.  Please read the whole story below we hope you enjoy it!

 

Loch Ness had become too dangerous. As well as tourists and photographers, there was now a hunter who wanted to capture the whole Nessie family and lock them in a dungeon. So the youngest monster was on the run, with the codename Braw, hoping the young people of Scotland would help the family find somewhere new and safe to live. One day, Braw was being chased along a foggy lane, when suddenly something grabbed Braw’s tail…

Cargenbridge P1/2

It was a little girl from Dumfries and Galloway called Isla. She wanted to help the monster. She asked him, “What is wrong? How can I help you?” “Someone is hunting me down and my family need a better home,” Braw replied sobbing. Isla told Braw not to worry. “I will take you to a new home. To a loch far, far away where the hunter will never be able to find you and your family. It is called ‘Castle Loch’ and it is in a beautiful place in Dumfries and Galloway called Lochmaben. There are lots of other monsters in the loch there and you will meet lots of new friends.” Braw felt so happy and excited. He took Isla’s hand and off they went.

Cargenbridge Nursery

Isla and Braw arrived at Castle Loch. They went to find the big castle. It was like a big tower. There was a King and a Queen. They found another dragon. Braw said “Hello” to the dragon. Suddenly, a rocket landed next to the loch. They got in and flew to the moon and back. When they arrived back at Castle Loch, they had a walk around the loch. They saw lots of fish. Suddenly, Braw saw the hunter and he was a bad guy! Braw started to run…

Minnigaff Primary School

Braw sprinted away and Isla shouted, “Wait for me!” She caught up and they zoomed towards the castle to find help. When they arrived at the castle the drawbridge was up. “Help, Help!” they yelled. The King and Queen appeared at the window, “What are you doing here?” roared the King. “Please lower the drawbridge,” cried Braw. “What’s going on down there?” asked the Queen. Isla screamed at the top of her voice “We are being hunted and we need protection”. The drawbridge was lowered. Braw and Isla ran as fast as lightening towards the gatehouse. Finally, they made it into the castle. The King started to raise the wooden drawbridge when the hunter appeared………….

St Andrew’s Primary 1

Quick as a flash the hunter tried to leap on to the drawbridge but fortunately he didn’t quite make it – SPLASH, he landed in the water! The King, Queen and Braw shouted, “YEAH!”

They decided to have a huge party to celebrate. First they played on a massive bouncy castle then they played lots of party games. Next it was time for delicious party food including cakes, sausages, jelly and ice-cream. Finally, it was time for Braw and his family to head home but the King and Queen said, “Why don’t you stay in our Loch and we will keep you safe?” Braw said, “Oh that would be amazing we would love to, thank you very much.”

So Braw and his family are now living in Castle Loch near Lochmaben. Next time you visit that way keep your eyes peeled and you might spot them!

This week along with our cluster schools, St Teresa’s and St Joseph’s, we are celebrating Active Girls Week.  The girls in each class are being offered an activity to take part in during their lunch time.  After each activity fruit and water are available and everyone who participates receives a certificate.  The girls who have taken part so far  agreed it was a great way to be active during break and it gave them some ideas for playground fun in the future.

This week in Primary 1 we have been practising our positional language including words like under, beneath, next to, inside and between.  Yesterday we took toy animals out to the playground and gave each other instructions as to where to put them.  Today we designed our own obstacle courses in PE and used the language of position to describe our movements.  Here are some photos of both activities:

 

This week Primary 1 and Nursery worked together on some Easter activities.  We also had a visit from two children from St Andrew’s Nursery Brooke Street.  The children iced Easter themed biscuits which all agreed were yummy! The children also got creative designing their own Easter Cards.

It was great fun and we look forward to more activities together next term.

Today 10 of our P6 and P7 pupils competed in Nithsdale Primary Schools Championships. Each category had around 70 competitors and our children all performed brilliantly and we even had smiles at the end of the races.  A special congratulations goes to Leah of P7 who came in 2nd out of  the 78 runners competing in the P7 Girls category.  Well done to all involved (and we also agreed it was slightly warmer than last year!)

Several of our pupils have been competing in Nithsdale Active Schools cross country events over recent months.  We would like to congratulate them all on their efforts, special congratulations go to Euan who finished in 1st place in the P5 boys competition and Leah who finished 1st in the P7 girls section.  Well done to all involved.