Author: Mrs McIntyre

P7 really enjoyed making these beautiful origami Mother’s Day Cards on Friday.  They worked so carefully and patiently on them and the results were lovely.  We hope that all the mums and grandmas had a really nice day of being pampered and appreciated.

                                                 

Today we held the semi-final for the St Joseph’s Science Fair in our P7 classroom.  Due to unforeseen circumstances the Science department were not able to come across and judge today, however, Professors Valentine and Davidson did a fantastic job!  It was certainly no easy task.  This year I have been so impressed with the enthusiasm, the effort and the standard of the work the children have produced.  We have had such a range of investigations from which solution cleans coins the best, to what makes food mould or which type of mint will make the best geyser when added to coca cola?  The children took the time to think carefully about all the criteria for their presentation.  It was great to hear them speak so confidently and knowledgeably about scientific terms like variables, osmosis, density and PH levels!  They proved that they can work hard and achieve great things.  It has been really enjoyable for them to do and they had a chance to show the P6 class their work.  Some of them went away with ideas in their head for next year I believe!  We plan to keep the children’s work here so that they can share it with you at the Celebration of Learning as it really is work to be proud of.  The final will be held tomorrow night at St Joseph’s College at 6.30pm.  Anyone is more than welcome to come for a look around.  Our lucky finalists are Murron and Nicole with their Lava lamp experiment, which tests which oil makes the best lava lamp – groundnut oil it seems, Luca and Josh with their investigation into the PH of soil and Shannon, Lauren and Caitlin showing what happens to a jelly baby when left in different solutions.  It is sure to be an interesting evening.  I wish our scientists the best of luck!

On Friday 12th January P7 went to Mabie Forest and completed various orienteering courses with our outdoor education instructors, Robbie, Ian and David.  They really enjoyed the competitive element as they each competed to see how quickly they could complete the courses.  They have developed some great map reading skills and are looking forward to the next session in a few weeks time.

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After many weeks of hard work P7 loaded 82 shoeboxes into the vans to be taken to the Carlisle collection depot ready to be posted out to Eastern Europe.  There was a great article in the Standard publicising the hard work of all the school, parents and parishioners and thanking everyone for their efforts.  P7 did a great job of this enterprise and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  We could barely get all the boxes in the van!

    

As primary 7 have been reading War Horse and learning about WW1 we decided to go on a trip to The Devil’s Porridge Museum in Eastriggs on Wednesday.  The children enjoyed the opportunity to learn about the munitions factory, the life of the Gretna Girls and conditions in the trenches from the excellent volunteer speakers.

  

They also had an interesting time handling artefacts such as the Brodie helmet, the shell and bullet cases, a bayonet and many more objects.  There was time to dress up in uniform and take a look around the museum too before heading back to school.  It was a super day learning about our local history and we must thank all the parent helpers who came along too.

  

 

        

It was a very busy, spooky week for P7 preparing Halloween discos for the whole school.  They have been baking, making games up, preparing music, dressing up and creating fun for their peers all in the effort to raise lots of money for their Pope Francis project, Operation Christmas Child (shoebox appeal.)

     

I am so proud of their efforts and teamwork.  It’s been hard work but also a lot of fun for everyone! Thank you very much to everyone for your donations!

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A  group of 11 boys and girls in P7 have been working hard over the past weeks to compete in this festival.  It was a great experience which included a group warm up, a professional Jive dance workshop, a Flash mob dance with 8 other schools and the final dance competition in the afternoon.  Luckily for us, two sixth year pupils, Nathan and Nicole have choreographed and helped teach a fantastic group dance.  Everyone was brilliant on the day, we came back with medals and very happy faces.  Here are just a few photos of our day.

On Wednesday 20th September budding K-Nex experts in P7 launched a K-Nex Club.  Luca and Toby came first in their school competition last year in P6 and in the regional competition they made an impressive fourth place.  Inspired by this competition and thinking ahead to the event for next year, they have used their own initiative to establish a club for P5-7 to practise their skills.  Along with Mikey, they organised resources and set a challenge this week for the pupils to design a car with steering.  An amazing 33 pupils attended the first round and had a great time.  Well done to Tomas and George in P6 who were named engineer champions of the first session!  Good luck to the 18 who have gone through to next Wednesdays challenge!

On Tuesday the 20th June P7 joined with St Ninian’s Primary School to perform with the Scottish Opera.  Mrs Duff and the class teachers of P5, 6 and 7 at St Andrew’s have been preparing for this amazing day by learning songs in advance.  The Scottish Opera team are amazingly talented and work extremely hard to put together the show in one morning.  The children found the experience great fun and very rewarding.  They looked superb in the costumes for the final performance.  Here is just a little taster of how well they all did!

On Tuesday the 23rd May P7 took on the end of year challenge to climb Criffel.  They decided we would do this to raise money for our P7 leavers trip but also to support a charity of their own choosing, which is Cancer Research. We were led up the route by our very capable outdoor leaders, David and Alex.  The weather was kind to us and the view across to Annan and the Lake District was well worth the effort.  I was amazed at the stamina, resilience and teamwork that the children showed.  They were striding up at the start, (perhaps a bit too fast!) but they kept at it all the way with no moans or groans, lots of chat and giggles, then a few wet bottoms and feet at the end when we had the chance for a play in the stream!  There was great team spirit, some boys and girls really helped one another, for example carrying someone’s backpack when he got blisters and encouraging one another on the steep slopes or on a good, safe route through the muddier parts.  I am sure P7 will have a lot to talk about as it was a really fun day and quite an achievement.  We will all sleep well tonight! Thank you in advance to all those who have sponsored the boys and girls in P7!