Kirkcolm Primary School

It’s that time of year again…! 

Pupils have once again been hard at work fundraising for Children in Need for another year at Kirkcolm. For such a small school, the boys and girls make such an excellent effort at raising money for a good cause, the angels they are! 🫶🏼🙌🏼

The merchandise has been on sale all week and pupils have added to their yearly Pudsey ear collections as well as some new items such as the very popular – water bottle! The donations have continued to roll in today as each pupil volunteered £1 for the opportunity to be cosy in their jammies all day long! As well as £1 donations for pancakes at break and face painting throughout the day! 🤩😍

We participated in Newsround this morning and reflected on how this day links to the Children’s Rights and how all the donations today go towards helping boys and girls all across the UK. Then we got our heart rates up with some Joe Wicks in the morning! 💪🏼

Overall, a fab Friday indeed and with a whopping £256 raised – I think this little village can give itself a huge pat on the back! ✨

Meta Skills 

Collaborating Cora

Feeling Felix

Integrity Imani

Leading Li

Articles

Article 3: The Best Interests of the Child

Article 12: Right to be Heard

Article 13: Freedom of Expression

Article 19: Protection from violence, abuse, and neglect

Article 28: Right to education

Article 12: Respect for the views of the child

This Monday kicks off the start of Anti-Bullying Week in the school – This is a week to remember kindness and emphasise being a friend to each other and not standing by and allowing any unkind behaviour to go unnoticed or allowed. 🛑

Pupils began this by wearing odd socks to show that we support and encourage our differences and they are something to be celebrated! We then all came together to take part in the BBC Live Lesson which looked at ways we can ‘Power Up! to stop bullying! 💪🏼

Pupils came up with lots of great ideas and continued to prove themselves as the kind and empathetic bunch they are. ❤

Meta Skills 

Communicating cate 

Feeling Felix 

Integrity Imani 

Articles

Article 19: Protection from violence, abuse, and neglect

Article 28: Right to education

Article 12: Respect for the views of the child

Article 2: Non-discrimination

In preparation for Armistice Day tomorrow and following on from Memorial Sunday, pupils at Kirkcolm have been learning about the significance of this day and how we use the poppies to mark remembrance for all the people who have died at war. 

On Thursday, Mrs Adams lead an assembly on this. Pupils understood how different coloured poppies represent different things, where the symbol of the poppy comes from, read through the poem Flander’s Field and learned how the donations raised from the poppies go towards supporting War Veterans in the country. 

Pupils went on to make some Poppy art in pairs to create a large wreath to display at the War Memorial at Kirkcolm Primary. Pupils took a walk up to the Memorial today to show their respect.

As part of Scottish Careers week, Primary 7 were invited along to Stranraer College.

Kirkcolm and Leswalt Primary 7 pupils both went along together to learn more about the World of Work and options available at the local campus in town.

While at the college, our senior pupils took part in 4 different rotations;

1.  STEM – activities focussing on Science, technology, engineering and maths
2. Meta skills – what they are and what skills are required for different occupations
3. Shark Island – a problem solving activity in which pupils had to collaborate and communicate
4. A tour of the college, showing all the different courses available ( including catering, childcare, beauty, hairdressing, mechanical engineering and construction) 

All the activities really got everyone thinking about the wealth of possibilities for life after school – including the skills needed for these jobs.  As well as coming together with Primary 7 pupils from other schools we were re-untied with the teacher formally known as Mrs F, from Leswalt Primary.  She was on hand to lead one of the activities and have a chat with some of the familiar faces from our schools.

After a snack stop midway through the activities, all came together at the end for a quiz – with the grand prize of a £10 Greggs voucher.  Sadly , none of our crew were lucky enough to win this, but they did have all of the correct answers ( but their name was not pulled out the hat!)

All and all it was  a fun morning, focussing on what the future could bring.

🎓 Key UNCRC Rights Linked to a College Visit

• Article 28 – Right to Education
  • Every child has the right to education. Visiting a college supports this by helping children understand pathways to further education and inspiring them to pursue learning beyond school.
• Article 29 – Goals of Education
  • Education must develop a child’s personality, talents, and abilities to their fullest potential. A college visit exposes children to new environments, subjects, and aspirations, helping them envision their future and grow in confidence.
• Article 12 – Respect for the Views of the Child
  • Children have the right to express their views in all matters affecting them. A college visit can include discussions about future choices, encouraging children to voice their interests and ambitions.
• Article 13 – Freedom of Expression
  • Children have the right to seek, receive, and share information. Exploring a college campus allows them to ask questions, gather knowledge, and engage with new ideas.
• Article 17 – Access to Information
  • Children have the right to access information that is important for their well-being and development. College visits provide valuable insights into academic and career opportunities.

Today P1-4 welcomed Sheena Ramsay into their classroom, who was able to speak to the boys and girls about how she set up her own photography business! This linked with their enterprise topic this term in preparation to make their sales and big bucks at the Christmas Coffee Morning!🫰💰🤑

Sheena told the pupils how she set up her business, the skills she used to to help make it successful, who and what is involved in this, profit and loss and the value of advertising. Obviously she had to tell the pupils all about some of the amazing animals she captures photos of and interesting facts about them! 🫎🐰🐹🦌

This was all extremely valuable information for the pupils moving forward and I am sure they will take this on when they put on their own entrepreneur hats! 🎩

Meta Skills 

Sense-Making Samira 

Leading Li 

Initiative Ivy

Articles

Article 17 – Access to Information 

Article 24 – Health, Water, Food & Environment 

Article 29 – Aims of Education 

Today we had Robert in from the Scottish fire brigade to talk to the boys and girls from the older class about bonfire safety. The boys and girls learned about how to keep safe around fireworks and sparklers.Robert also talked about how dangerous it is to throw a firework and what to if you caught fire these are the three steps, STOP, DROP AND ROLL! He advised not to be in a big group of teenagers because you could end up getting a five thousand pound fine for throwing a firework and it injuring someone and then further into trouble, possibly could get a criminal conviction. Which means if you want a job such as a teacher even if you got good grades you can’t get the fob due to having a criminal conviction he said even the littlest things can get you in big trouble or worse. Next and lastly he mentioned about holding sparklers apparently a sparkler is fifteen times hotter than a kettle which normally can reach as hot as one hundred degrees.

By Ross & Paige – Digital leader Extraordinaires

In school we have been doing a lot of learning about sustainability. This term we have looked at the different forms of energy and what renewable energy sources we can use, as well as how to be more eco-friendly in our energy usage. After the holidays we will be focusing on learning for Sustainability and changes we can make now to ensure a greener future. 💚

A huge part of this is thinking of ways we can make our homes more sustainable and it just so happens that our lovely partnership village – Leswalt – is getting some lovely new sustainable houses built! 

McTaggart, the company in change of the site, were kind enough to invite us along to see all the ways they make the building of these homes more sustainable and WOW there are so many changes they have made to ensure this! 🏡

This ranged from the insulation used (not far away from polystyrene!) to the insulation fabric, to promoting biodiversity by building ponds to help water drainage… 🚿 The list goes on! It was remarkable for the pupils to see all the ways they site used recycled materials, in addition to the ways they made sure their own waste was properly recycled. ♻

Pupils then came back to Leswalt school to partake in some building of their own. Using make Do kits and recycled cardboard, some truly stunning home visions were created. There was quite the variety of interesting features… (missing roofs in some cases – great chances to allow natural light in!?) But overall, given the time constraints, the results were very impressive! 

This was a great opportunity to see their learning in a real life context, but also to bond with their peers at our partnership schools. A bit of social mixing before the upper primaries take on Edinburgh together! Here are some photos of the fun today… 

Meta Skills 

Curiosity carlos

Creativity Cassidy

Communicating cate

Collaborating Cora 

Focusing Fergus 

Articles

Article 6 – Life, Survival and Development

Article 17 – Access to Information 

Article 24 – Health, Water, Food & Environment 

Article 29 – Aims of Education