Better Behaviour, Better Learning
Anti-Bullying Questionnaire
Awards 28.2.20
Well done to all our award winners today. Lots of hard work in all areas of the curriculum.
Our winning Rotary Quiz team were also given awards today for their effort and team work.
Well done to Eve on reaching 2million words in your Accelerated Reader challenge.
Start of Fairtrade Fortnight 2020
Today, in school, we marked the start of Fairtrade Fortnight with our ‘Fairtrade Morning Snack.’ This was helped greatly by donations from local businesses Co-op, Tesco and Kinnairds. The main snack on offer was a choice of Fairtrade bananas or our own crafted shortbread biscuits topped with chocolate and jelly beans. At the time of writing, we are not sure what amount of money we have raised from this but any proceeds will go to the Fairtrade Foundation. Later in the day, Primary 5 together with the school’s Eco Committee listened to a very informative presentation by Mary Van Zwanenberg which included a very interesting film ‘Guardians of the Rainforest.’ Many of our classes also took part in class learning. Primary 1/2 had lots of Fairtarde themed activities in the open area. The end of Fairtrade Fortnight will be marked at assembly on 6th March with a small play by the Eco Committee.
Scots Poetry Assembly 14.2.20
Today in assembly, we celebrated our Scots Poetry Competition work with certificates being presented to first, second and third place finalists. The first place winners then entertained the whole school with a recitation of their chosen poems. Today, also saw the visit of our guests from Dalbeattie Burns Club who judged not only the Primary 7 pupils who recited an excerpt from Robert Burns’ Tam O’ Shanter but also the art work, which depicted a scene from the same poem.
The results were: Primary 1: First – Corey Canochan; Second- Henry Hicks; Third- Sophie Geddes ; Primary 1/2: First- Mollie Watson; Second- Finlay Bell; Third Equal: Lexie Anderson and Evie McGougan; Primary 2/3: First Equal- Jack Little and Amalie Wykes; Second- Aidan Galbraith; Third Equal- Elise Wixon and Reuben Benson; Primary 3: First- Lucy Johnstone; Second- Katie Dickie; Third Equal- Rebecca Hird and Oliver Bonnar; Primary 3/4: First- Anaya Nerestan; Second- Isla Smith; Third Equal- Rory McCormick and Lucy Bell; Primary 4/5: First- Ava Drummond; Second Equal- Fern Lundy and Sam Donnelly; Third Equal- Ailsa Ferguson and Owen O’Dornan; Primary 5: First- Chloe Campbell; Second- Struan Caldow; Third Equal- Hayden Berry and Elsie Gibbs-Brown; Primary 6: First- Fabio Murray-Sanchez; Second Jack Johnstone; Third- Owen Bryson; Primary 6/7 (photo to follow) : First- Eve McCall; Second Equal- Liam Bourhill and Laith Atkinson Deacon; Primary 7 Poetry Recitation of Tam O’ Shanter: First- Maddison McMurtrie; Second- Thomas Jardine; Third- Jessica Davidson; Primary 7 Poetry Art Work of Tam O’ Shanter: First- Rhys Gaffney; Second- Carrie Davidson; Third- Amber Latimer.
Also in our assembly, Primary 4/5 drew the raffle for the completed Titanic Quizzes. The winner, receiving £10 was Lucy Simpson. Our Primary 5 class was awarded with the Wow tracker Active travel to School Award. Finally, Roman Bond and Chloe Campbell reminded us all that the first day back after the February holiday (Monday 24th) will be Fairtrade Snack day with biscuits (shortbread with chocolate and jelly bean) costing 60p and bananas 40p. Pupils can buy two items each. All products used carry the Fairtrade logo. Proceeds from the snack will go to the Fairtrade foundation, in keeping with our targets to retain our ‘Fair Achiever School’ status.
P5 Lego WeDo
Primary 5 have continued to develop their coding skills this term. Pupils have worked collaboratively to build Lego models and then animate them by adding code using the Lego WeDo program. Pupils programmed Lego snails that flashed in many different colours, spy robots which detected motion and sounded an alarm, turbo fans which could change speed and Science Rovers which could travel in different directions. Mrs Dyson has been pleased to see pupils using their creativity to add their own ideas and codes to the animated models. Well done Primary 5!
P1 Winter Fun
P1 have been taking part in a variety of activities about ‘Winter’ lately from ice investigations to an outside winter hunt, creating frozen Elsa hands, printing winter scenes, loose part snowflakes, drawing snowmen using Paint and some great abstract art. Here are just a few of our activities….
Head Teacher’s Awards 7.2.20
Lots of deserving pupils were again awarded their certificates and prizes for their hard work, effort and positive attitude to their learning. Our photos show several successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens.
Also pictured are all our young people who took part in the recent schools gymnastics competition.
Head Teacher’s Awards Assembly 31.1.20
Today in awards, we had many successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens who were awarded with their certificates. We also had a visit from Mr and Mrs Wilbur from Dalbeattie Chamber of Trade who came to receive a cheque for £57 from the Rotakids Club for the Christmas lights appeal. The Rotakids Club, had, under the guidance of Mr and Mrs Cathro, raised the money with ‘Guess the Sweets in the Jar’ before the Christmas holidays. Rotakids is a junior Rotary Club which aims to undertake good work for the community, school and the wider global environment. Certificates were also awarded for good performance in Accelerated Reader quizzes. Also at the assembly, were senior High School pupils who informed us about the new recycling bins in the dinner hall so that waste can be better segregated.
P5 visit ‘Jas P Wilson’ STEM in action!
A huge thank you to staff at ‘Jas P Wilson’ in Dalbeattie for organising fantastic workshops for our Primary 5 pupils. We had been learning about hydraulic systems in class and were delighted when ‘Jas P Wilson’ invited us to see hydraulics in action and to learn more about how they use this system in their business. Pupils thoroughly enjoyed participating in all four workshops:
- Clear communication was essential in the first challenge. Using a two way radio, pupils had to give clear instructions from the viewing gallery to the operator of the crane who was in the showroom area below. This loading exercise showed the potential of hydraulics. The winning team had the fastest time and the clearest communication with the operator.
- The SIMLOG Simulator challenge was next. Each competitor was timed as they used the joystick controls to pick up the log onscreen and transport it safely. Mrs Dyson and Mrs Hall were amazed at the skills shown.
- The next challenge was to manufacture and test a wooden grabber using a hydraulic system. Pupils worked as a team to identify components, build and test the model. This was a great way to apply our skills as we had already built our own Burger Box Buddies and Pop Up Puppets in class using hydraulics.
- Our final challenge was the remote-control excavator challenge. After a practice run, each competitor had a timed run through the course. Maisy was the champion at this, having completed the course in 21 seconds, with Jasmine in second place with 22 seconds.
Thank you to all staff at ‘Jas P Wilson’ for welcoming us into their business and especially to Drew, Sean, Cameron, Bradley and Hamish who ran all our workshops and made our time there so memorable!
Day of Scottish Dance
Primary 5 pupils danced the morning away at the Children’s Day of Scottish Dance. They joined many other Stewartry Schools who had come to Dalbeattie Learning Campus for the event. Pupils had worked with Amy and Louise from Active Schools to learn four new jigs and reels. On the day, they performed a total of seven Scottish dances. Mrs Dyson was amazed at their stamina and how enthusiastically they danced each time. Well done Primary Five! Mrs Dyson would like to say a big thank you to Amy and Louise for organising the event, Jayne Riddet for calling the dances, Mrs Ross for being her dancing partner in the staff Virginia Reel, Mrs Fortnum for helping organise the tartan outfits and to Mrs Houston, a member of our local community who kindly donated the tartan sashes. What a fantastic morning!
