All posts by Mrs Howie

citizenship, Local Community

Eco Schools

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On Thursday 31st August, the Eco Group went on a trip to Tongland Power Station and The Dee Hatchery. At Tongland, the group was learning about renewable energy using hydro power. We found out about the dam system on ‘The Dee’ and visited the turbine hall to find out more about how electricity is generated. We got to walk along the actual dam at Tongland and saw the gate being opened to see the force of the water rushing through. We also saw the fish ladder where the salmon move up river when they return from the Atlantic, back to their spawning ground.  Later in the day, the group moved onto the Dee Hatchery at Shirmers Burn where we watched the Galloway Fisheries Rangers undertake some electro fishing. The fish were put into buckets for us to look at more closely and handle. Some of the group members were even brave enough to handle the baby North American Signal Cray Fish. The salmon and trout were returned to the burn afterwards but not the cray fish as they are not native to the Dee River system! The group is very grateful to Tim and especially to Rowan who has worked so closely with the group over recent years.

  

  

  

  

  

Class Learning, creativity

Just Like Yesterday

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Primary 7 put on a terrific leavers show, ‘Just Like Yesterday.’ The children had gathered their memories of their journey  from nursery through to Primary 7. There were some sad stories  but mostly they were happy and funny ones.  Some highlights included re-enacting a bus trip and the  stresses of sports day. Miss Clenndinning was delighted with the performance, especially as the children had had so little time to learn a set of new songs so soon after they had worked with Scottish Opera.

   

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

Local Community, Partnership Working

Past and Present Staff Afternoon Tea

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As part of our events to mark the history of the school,  as we prepare to make our move to a new learning campus in October, an afternoon tea was held in school recently. In attendance was a great number of past and present staff who enjoyed reminiscing and sharing their memories. Mr Kennedy also had the opportunity to ring the old school bell one last time. In one of our photos, Mrs Duncan is pictured alongside two former Head teachers, Mr Kennedy and Mrs Ingham. In another picture we find Mrs Thirlwell who as the infant mistress between 1958 and 1960 but she was then known as Miss Thomas. Many thanks go to Dalbeattie High School and to Mrs Houston for preparing all the wonderful refreshments with some of our older school children.

  

  

  

  

  

   

  

  

  

citizenship, Class Learning, creativity, Partnership Working, performing, Whole School

Scottish Opera Tale O Tam

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Dalbeattie Primary has just staged a terrific performance of Scottish Opera’s  ‘Tale O Tam.’

Primary 6 and 7 pupils made up the chorus groups of ‘The Tavern Crew,’ ‘The Witches Crew’ and the ‘Stormy Crew.’

The opera told the familiar story of Tam O Shanter drinking late in the tavern before making his way home on his old grey mare Meg before stopping to look through the window of the auld Kirk by Alloway where he sees the witches and warlocks dancing with the devil. He shouts out ‘Well done Cutty Sark’ and the witches take chase after him. He reaches the keystone of the brig but only after the witch pulls off Meg’s tail.

The whole show was fantastic: the singing was tremendous and the costumes were brilliant. The school is very grateful to Scottish Opera for coming to school to deliver a day’s workshops and rehearsals in the morning before the actual show in the afternoon. The school is also very grateful to class teachers and especially to Kate Picken who helped the children to learn and prepare the songs and music in the weeks ahead of the actual day. The whole school enjoyed watching the dress rehearsal before parents came to watch the final show before the end of the school day. This year’s Scottish Opera was funded through the Creative Scotland’s YMI (Youth Music Initiative.)

  

  

  

  

  

  

After School Activities, citizenship, Local Community, Partnership Working, Whole School

Open Day May 20th

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Remember Saturday May 20th is fast approaching… Between 10am and 3pm on this date it will be our Open Day. To mark the final months in our current building we are hosting this event to mark and recognise the history of Dalbeattie Primary school on its current site.

On Saturday  20th May,  there will be one final doors open day which will take place in both the upper and lower school buildings. Visitors are welcome to visit Dalbeattie Primary School to reminisce, share memories and view the school as it is today. Doors will open at 10a.m and close at 3p.m . At 12 mid-day, we would like as many people as possible who have been pupils and staff at Dalbeattie Primary School (or indeed, the High School pre 1958) to join us in front of the bell tower for a large group photograph to mark the event.  It may even get us into the Record books for the most former pupils and staff in a picture SO KEEP THE DATE! The photo will be taken from the air by a licensed drone. Please note, however, all friends, members of the school and wider local community are welcome to visit the buildings at any point during the day. We are very happy to announce that Dalbeattie Lions Club is providing eco friendly balloons to be released on the day too, as part of the mid-day photo. These balloons which have been sourced from a company which avoids any issues for the environment, have a competition tag attached for the balloon which travels the furthest

citizenship, Local Community, Partnership Working

Salmon In The Classroom

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Our school Eco Group enjoyed a trip to Shirmers Burn to release our alevins today. Mrs Dyson’s Primary 5 and the Eco group have been involved in looking after salmon eggs in school. Rowan Armstrong from Galloway Fisheries brought us a tray of 100 eggs together with a water cooler, just over two weeks ago. They hatched a week later and so were ready to be released, today, into the water so that they can continue feeding once their yolk sacs are all used up. We will revisit the burn in June to take part in some electro fishing when we will be able to see how much our salmon have grown. By then, they will be ‘fry’ before becoming ‘parr’ when they are one year old.  We were also very interested to see frogspawn in one pond and toads in another. Afterwards we enjoyed eating our snacks while enjoying the pleasant weather and the lovely views of the Loch Ken countryside.

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

Class Learning, creativity, Partnership Working, Whole School

World Book Day 2017

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We have had a fantastic day in school celebrating World Book Day. A great number of our pupils came dressed as a character from a favourite book and brought along a copy to share with their classmates. The costumes were terrific, as you will see from the pictures. We are also very grateful, this year, to Dalbeattie Book Shop whose donation of many books has meant that we could allow each pupil to select a free book from previous years of World Book Day publications. The children have also been given their World Book Day 2017 tokens which can be exchanged either  for a free 2017 World Book Day or can be used as £1 towards any book or audio book over £2.99.

  

  

   

  

      

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

citizenship, Local Community, Partnership Working, School Information, Whole School

Consultation on Existing Primary School

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Recently, pupils have been taking part in a consultation about possible future uses of our current school site. School Pupil Councillors collated the information from written questionnaire sheets, which were filled in by children of all ages though-out the school. The School Pupil Council then met with Michelle McRobert of Dalbeattie Community Initiative to discuss some of the issues in more detail. Lots of ideas were taken aware from the meeting…… pupilsworking-on-questionnaires-for-curent-school-use-jan-2017 pupil-council-and-dci-25-1-17

citizenship, Local Community, Partnership Working, Whole School

Eco Schools Fifth Green Flag!

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Dalbeattie Primary is delighted to have been awarded its fifth green flag as part of the two year Eco Schools Scotland renewal scheme. The school eco group has been working closely with teacher Mrs Dyson, over the last two years , on topics such as litter, energy and school grounds. The school received a letter congratulating the pupils on their outstanding work; work on calculating the school’s carbon footprint and links with local community groups and organisations, such as Galloway Fisheries and Fairtrade, were specifically highlighted.  The school is looking forward to continuing its eco work as it moves to  a new school site In October 2017 when we will finally have  a flag pole to display our fifth flag! We will also be able to compare the carbon foot print of the new building with the old one and investigate ways to encourage wildlife habitats as well as growing more of our own produce in new raised beds! Our photo shows current Schools Eco Committee together with the two committees of the previous two years  who worked so hard towards the fifth flag.

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