Tag Archives: Glenkens Cluster

P5 Glenkens Cluster Pupils at Carlingwark

February 28, 2017 Mr Gray Leave a comment

Last Thursday 13, P5 children from all three Primary Schools in the Glenkens Cluster took part in the annual Residential Trip to Carlingwalk. Although it was for only one night, some children appeared to have packed enough clothes for a week!

Once we had arrived at Carlingwalk, we had a tour of our accommodation for the night and got ourselves ready for our outdoor activities.

We spent the rest of the day in Dalbeattie Forest; enjoying Orienteering and Mountain Biking activities! All the children rose to the challenge of reading their maps in order to find the markers, hidden in the different parts of the forest and there was a lot of excellent team work so that the pairs worked well together, to try to be the first back each time.

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The boys and girls grew in confidence, handling and manoeuvring their bikes, to tackle the uneven surfaces of the forest tracks. They all enjoyed the exhilarating ride along the trails.

After all that exercise we were more than ready for a lovely meal at The Scottish Pantry, followed by a moonlit walk back to the Carlingwalk Centre. Back at the centre the children enjoyed playing a number of games before getting showered and ready for bed.

After a good night’s sleep (for most!) our next day of adventure began with a filling breakfast. We then put our outdoor clothing on once more and set off for the day’s challenge; to climb Screel Hill! It was great to see everyone trying hard to both climb up and scramble down the hill. Not everyone found it easy, but everyone overcame their fears and told themselves that they could do it. By the time we’d got back to the car park to get on the mini bus to take us back to Carlingwalk, the children who had found the walk the hardest were saying it was the best thing they had done during their two day adventure!

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Both Mr Gray and Mrs Turner agree that the children behaved very well and showed excellent team building skills during the trip, as well as being friendly and supportive of each other. Talking to the children on the way back to school on Friday evening, the children all agreed that they had a fantastic time!

Well Done P5s!

Visit to Scottish Dark Skies Observatory

February 28, 2017 Mr Gray Leave a comment

On Tuesday 31st January, after school, pupils in P5/6/7 went on an adventure with Carsphairn Primary, deep into the Galloway Forest near Dalmellington. Their mission was to learn about how they could see more, in the night sky, using the telescopes at the Observatory.

In P5/6/7, as part of our Interdisciplinary, Topic work, we have been learning about planets in our Solar System so, living so near to the UK’s first Dark Park meant that a trip was the ideal opportunity to learn more through a truly interactive experience.

In class we have watched films about the different planets, stars and moons in our Solar System, as well as carrying out investigations; to find out the role gravity plays in keeping planets, including Earth, orbiting around the sun. We’ve even used scaled models, to calculate and try to understand more clearly, the massive distances between planets and their distances from the Sun.

However, the joy of seeing some of these things, such as the planet Venus, in the sky above us, really impressed us and helped us with our understanding of our Solar System. We all agreed the experience of seeing how an observatory works and using a real telescope was well worth the visit.

Sportshall Athletics 2016

December 12, 2016 Mr Gray Leave a comment

This year the team consisted of Jessica, Izzy, Preston and William from Dalry and Danny and Ruby H from Kells.

The Stewartry Sportshall Athletics event took place at Castle Douglas High School on Thursday 8^th December.

The results were as follows –

1^st Kirkcudbright Primary 372 points

2^nd Gelston Primary 302 points

3^rd Gatehouse Primary 282 points

Well done to the Glenkens team who tried their very best in all the events and finished with a respectable 200 points.

Author Visit

October 4, 2016 Mr Gray Leave a comment

As part of the annual Wigtown Book Festival is was a great pleasure to welcome another children’s author to the Glenkens. This year, Mark A. Smith came to talk to the P5/6/7 children in the cluster at Dalry. It was great to see our fellow pupils from Dalry and Carsphairn primaries.

Mark entertained the girls and boys by describing, with the help of some photographs, how he was inspired to write his newly published, Kelpie Book Award winning, debut novel ‘Slugboy’! Mark told us that his love as a child and even now of reading Superhero comic books helped him come up with a character. He went on to read the first chapter of his book and explain why he wanted to create a superhero, with a Scottish background and set the adventures he had in different Scottish towns.

Both the chapters, read from the book and the Slugboy song that we were all encouraged to sing, helped to show how funny the book was and many children agreed that they hoped to get a copy, when it is available to buy in the shops and online, later this month.

For those of you cannot wait though, you will be pleased to hear that a special signed copy of the book is available to borrow from the Primary Library!

Glenkens P6 K’Nex Challenge

April 19, 2016 Mr Gray Leave a comment

On the 19th April the P6 K’Nex Cluster Challenge was held at Dalry School. The task this year was to design and make a go-kart for the staff at the Glasgow Science Festival to use. Their go-kart had to have the following –

At least 4 wheels
Be between 10-20cm tall and 10-20cm wide
A steering mechanism you can turn by hand to allow the vehicle to turn left and right
Include at least one seat for the driver

Mr Harvie and Mrs Stewart from Dalry School were the guest judges.

The top designers were –

1st Adele & Jessica (Dalry)

2nd Codie & Vinnie (Dalry)

Adele and Jessica will now go forward to represent the Glenkens Cluster at the regional finals in Dumfries in May.

Well done to all the P6 pupils involved!

Cluster Residential to Edinburgh

March 24, 2016 Mr Gray Leave a comment

Primary six and seven pupils from the Glenkens visited Edinburgh for a residential trip.

On the first day the pupils from Carsphairn, Dalry and Kells visited Edinburgh Castle and the Camera Obscura.

After dinner, they went on an organised ghost walk and were told a number of stories about life in the city hundreds of years ago.

Day two began with walk around Arthur’s Seat. We picked a good clear day for the walk. It was quite cold, but the views across the city were fantastic. The group then walked to the Scottish Parliament to meet Alex Fergusson MSP for a guided tour. After lunch in one of the committee rooms, we visited the National Museum of Scotland in Chambers Street.

On the last day we visited Dynamic Earth before returning home. The pupils really enjoyed all the interactive displays as well as learning how the planet was created. The visit ended by watching a film on stars in the 360 degree show dome at Dynamic Earth.

Stewartry Sportshall Athletics

December 17, 2015 Mr Gray Leave a comment

This year the team consisted of Jessica and Preston from Dalry, Grace from Carsphairn and Brooke, Henry and Ben from Kells.

The Stewartry Sportshall Athletics event took place at Castle Douglas High School on Thursday 10^th December.

The results were as follows –

1^st Kirkcudbright Primary 298 points

2^nd Hardgate Primary 286 points

3^rd Glenkens Cluster 278 points

The Glenkens Team qualified for three finals. The girls finished third in the hurdles final. The boys finished second in the running race and also the hurdles race. Well done!

Professor Glen Chilton visits Kells and Dalry

November 26, 2015 Mr Gray Leave a comment

On 12^th November Professor Glen Chilton from James Cook University in Australia visited the pupils at Kells Primary and also the primary pupils at Dalry School. The presentation was titled ‘Adventures with Creatures that were Thought to be Extinct.’ Professor Glen told the pupils about his adventures all over the world looking for and studying animals like the black footed ferret in the western states of America and the iguana in Jamaica. The pupils especially enjoyed looking at his photographs of these creatures. He also took time to answer a range of questions from the pupils on the creatures that featured in his presentation. The visit to the schools was kindly organised by the Stewartry Ornithologists Club who hold their monthly meeting at Kells Primary School.

Glenkens Carlingwark Residential

October 22, 2015 Mr Gray Leave a comment

Pupils from the P5 classes of Dalry and Kells visited Carlingwark Outdoor Centre in Castle Douglas for an overnight residential on 14th and 15th of September.

On the first day the pupils walked up Screel Hill, near Palnackie. The pupils found the walk challenging in sections, but rewarding with a great view of Auchencairn Bay before the mist descended.

On the second day the pupils were split into two groups for canoeing and sailing on Carlingwark Loch.

The trip was a great opportunity for the pupils from the Glenkens cluster to be involved in new experiences, work together on challenging tasks and make new friends.

Here are some photographs of the residential.

Operation Safety 2015

June 30, 2015 Mr Gray Leave a comment

Primary 6 pupils from the Glenkens Cluster attended Operation Safety at Stair Park in Stranraer on the 2nd June. Workshops were delivered to the pupils by the Police, Ambulance Service, NHS, Fire Service, Coastguard and also different departments within the council who tackle anti-social behaviour. The pupils really enjoyed the experience plus learned a lot of important life skills. Here are some photographs of some of the workshops they attended.

The Kells Chronicle