The Eco group recently went to Colliston Park to plant red, white and blue flowers to create a special bed to commemorate the Armed Forces in the year we mark the 100 year anniversary of the end of WW1. Thanks to Margaret Copp for organising the plants. We do hope the design comes into flower according to the design!
We are delighted to announce that Gregor Davidson and Aaron Bryson have been chosen as our Police Citizenship prize winners. They were chosen for the their commitment to extra duties such as litter picking and for the part they play in supporting groups and organisations in the local community. Well done! their prize will be to join other winners form across the region for a trip to Cream o Galloway on Monday 4th June.
On Friday 11th May, the school councillors launched their fundraising campaign for the local lifeboat station at Kippford . We had a visit from Mr Keith Armstrong Clark who gave us a wonderful presentation about the work of the RNLI. He showed us the kit which a RNLI crew member would wear in addition to lots of interesting video clips to see the range of boats in the RNLI fleet and the types of rescues which the RNLI can get involved in. We also found out how much the kit and boats cost in addition to being reminded about being safe near water. Mr Armstrong Clark also brought us some super leaflets to remind us of this. We also welcomed volunteers from Kippford Lifeboat station.
The school councillors have now distributed small jam jars (one per family) to fill with 5p coins. When full, a jar will hold between £2.50 and £2.65. We have had 12 full jars in already…well done! We would like all jars to be returned as soon as they are filled and we would like them all back in by the end of September 2018.
Very soon, Primary 4 will also be visiting the lifeboat station at Kippford as part of their learning about the Galloway Coast.
On Monday P6s from Dalbeattie and Castle Douglas Primary schools came together to visit the Glasgow Science Centre as part of their Space topic.
We had a great time watching the 3D movie all about life on the International Space Station. Next we visited the planetarium and went star gazing in our amazing reclining chairs !
We also had a great time visiting the science stalls and doing some of the hand on experiments . Last stop was the gift shop for some souvenirs (coffee for the grown ups!)
A great day was had by all!
Today we had a visit from Jack Wootton from Galloway Fisheries Trust with some real live Sparling! Our Primary 5 Class and Eco Group were very pleased to see the fish first hand. Jack was able to bring the pupils out in small groups to look at the fish close up in a bucket and he also lifted them out of the water briefly to see them from a side view. It was interesting to se how they were camouflaged from the top and that the female fish was bigger than the male due to the huge number of eggs which she carries. We heard more about the project being undertaken by Jack and he told us about the numbers of Sparling he had just recently found in the Cree River. We also got more of an understanding about how important this project is for Scotland. Today, a camera man came to film Jack talking to us. The footage will be used in a documentary highlighting the importance of the project and will be shared amongst wildlife experts at conferences and for use in further research work as a reference tool. Jack was very impressed with the amount of information Mrs Dyson’s Primary 5 class had retained from his last visit and with the sheer number of relevant questions the pupils were coming up with. Lots of hands kept going up, eager to know more!
Today, Primary 5 together with our Eco Group were delighted to welcome Jack Wootton into school to talk about a special project which he is working on behalf of Galloway Fisheries Trust. Our young learners were very interested to hear about how the Sparling are endangered, having once been in 15 Scottish rivers, they now survive in only three. One of these rivers is The Cree. Mr Wootton explained how sensitive the fish are to any conditions which might change the environment of the river they are living in. We heard about water dams, pollution and intense fishing all being issues affecting the species. We also learned about the life cycle of Sparling including where they spawn, how they are washed down to estuaries and then their movement back up rivers when conditions are best. Mr Wootton is working to safeguard the Sparlings’ existence in the Cree and is also looking to introduce the fish back into other suitable rivers. The children learned about how important it is not to make detrimental changes to our eco system. It was interesting to hear that, historically, that the River Urr once had Sparling too. The children were also intrigued to learn that the fish smells like cucumber, that its body is transparent when looked at from the underside and that some eggs are so small, they are less than 1mm in diameter. The children were asked for suggestions about how we can safeguard this species in Scottish rivers for the future and there were many good ideas put forward. Our Eco Group and Primary 5 are very keen to been involved in this project as it continues over the next few months and to track its progress. The children were also excited to hear there was possibility that Mr Wootton might be able to bring in some real live Sparling for us to look at! We are very grateful to Mr Wootton for his interesting talk: many of our young people found his enthusiasm for his work very motivational and he may even have inspired some of them to pursue careers in safeguarding wildlife in the years to come!
Thank you to everyone who braved the weather conditions to come into school early today for our Fairtrade Breakfast. We had 82 people attending which is a super turn-out in our bid to share awareness of Fairtrade food items. Activities such as these help us to retain our Fair Achiever status for our school. We are very grateful to assistance from Mrs Houston from Dalbeattie’s Hospitality department and the school kitchen and also to Mr Parker, Mrs Dyson, Mrs Cox, Mrs McMinn, and Mrs Robison for all their help. And of course we are so grateful to Kinnairds, Dalbeattie Co-op and Tesco Castle Douglas and to Mary Van Zwanenberg from the Kirkcudbright Traidcraft Group for supporting our event with donations of Fairtrade food items. Here are just a few of the pictures from the event. Any profits raised is going towards purchasing Fairtrade footballs to help to continue to spread awareness.
We are all ready for the Fairtrade Breakfast-now running on Friday 2nd March 8.30am-9.00am for people who already have tickets or who have sent money in. We look forward to seeing you tomorrow.
Today, we were delighted to have two representatives from Dalbeattie High School, along with our own Eco Group at a special presentation given by Mrs Dyson, our Primary 5 teacher. Mrs Dyson has been very busy, over the last few years, planning a range of Fairtrade activities with her Primary 5 class and eco group as part of our ‘Fairtrade Journey.’ Mrs Dyson first outlined the activities, comprising mainly of an audit of staff and pupils about Fairtrade products, which were undertaken to achieve the ‘Fair Aware’ award. She then explained the activities which followed before we were awarded the ‘Fair Active School’ award in 2015: presentation to local community and Fairtrade snacks at an afternoon tea amongst many others. Then in 2017, the school was awarded the ‘Fair Achiever’ award following still more activities which included a Fairtrade Breakfast and whole school assembly with a Fairtrade representative. Since then , the Primary 5 class has also organised a Fairtrade games afternoon and a Fairtrade morning break time staggered over two days and met with a company who supply Fairtrade school sweatshirts so that these can be offered also to parents to buy complete with school logo. This week finds us in DGlife as we prepare for our next Fairtrade Breakfast next week on Thursday 1st March. Thank you to all who have already shown support for this event by buying tickets and to the local businesses (Kinnairds, Co-op and Tesco) who are supporting us with donations of Fairtrade food items.
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