Kirkcolm Primary School

Many moons ago, in the midst of online lessons, the upper school class here participated in an online Orchestral event which has us examine the music by The Royal Scottish National Orchestra and their production of Gaspard’s Foxtrot!

Then everything came full circle when we, along with a few other Primary Schools, ventured to Stranraer Academy to see the performance in real time! Pupils engaged in little games to test their reaction to music and then got to sit back and watch the story unfold and see the ways the orchestra could come together to create different emotions based on how they play the music and what a wonderful time it was! 

All pupils were entranced (as were staff) at this amazing performance and we are so grateful to the RNSO and Stranraer Academy for hosting us!

Small blip at the end where the bus was a tad late but thankfully the sun was shining so we made the most of it! 

Today, in light of the exciting events that are about to unfold over the course of this long weekend off school, we decided to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee ‘Kirkcolm Primary style’ in school! As you are all well aware, this weekend marks the Queens reign of 70 years on the Royal Throne.

Pupils have spent the week researching and learning about Queen Elizabeth the Second life and all her accomplishments along the way so today had to culminate in a day of utter fun!

Both classes did some singing and dancing with Mrs Ramsay in the morning to show off at the end of the day, made some Queen based art and we decorated some cupcakes in true red, white and blue fashion.

All pupils came to school in either red, white or blue or dressed as royalty and wow – did the pupils put their best foots forward. There were some amazing efforts from pupils across the schools!

What a day we have had, we even had a lovely picnic lunch outside in the sunshine! We combined our lunch with an annual One Planet Picnic, minimising our use of single use plastic for our take-away lunch.  Michelle provided compostable spoons for our yogurts.  We recycled our pots in our new council plastic collection bins.  We also used paper bags instead of plastic.  Those that brought in their own lunches used re-usable snack pots and water bottles.

Check out the photos below for the fun and we hope everyone has a lovely relaxing long weekend in the sunshine! We will see you all again come Monday! 🙂

Not to mention the special visit from Liz herself taking a tour of the playground!

Friday marked a very sad day for us all at Kirkcolm. We had to bid goodbye to our dear Mrs Jamieson from the office! Mrs Jamieson has been with us for 3 years now and she has been the back bone of this school in many ways! From phoning home for those of us having off days, booking our trips away ( making sure everything rums smoothly)  and keeping our staff right and our classrooms well stocked!

Not entirely sure how we will manage without her yet but we wish her all the best on her new adventure – The Academy are so blessed to have you helping them out now Mrs J!

We simply couldn’t let her leave with nothing so Mrs Baillie saw to it that she left here with her arms bursting with flowers, wine, chocolates and a gigantic (and extremely delicious) carrot cake courtesy of our amazing cook and baker; Michelle!

Thank you for everything Mrs Jamieson. You will be a friendly face for our pupils moving up now!

Our boys and girls have been enjoying the outdoor life today, planting all the kind donations of plants we have received from Home and Gardens & Tesco.  The children have written thank you letters to Tesco and Lidl today

Ever creative, Mrs Richardson has been repurposing tubs and containers to help make our grounds look blooming good.

We even found a larve.  We are not sure if it’s a moth or a butterfly.  We put it back carefully to keep it safe.

In addition, Aiden (P7) had recently written to the RSPB asking for a donation of literature.  They have replied today by kindly sending us a pack for each school.  It contains ‘best for bee’s’ annual flower seeds along with  bird identification guides and gardening with wildlife in mind helpsheets.

# Effective Contributors

This afternoon we were delighted to receive a donation of a huge selection of plants, from Homes and Gardens.  There were peas, strawberries, rhubarb, flowers, chives and many other herbs.  Miley and Olivia helped the ladies carry in all the plants and we look forward to them all being planted and enjoying the crops and flowers over the coming weeks.

Many thanks to Homes and Gardens!

We are delighted to announce that the North Rhins Trio Partnership has been awarded our Anti-Bullying Ambassador Respect Badge!

Our Primary 6 pupils along with our house captains underwent anti-bullying ambassador training as part of the Diana Award.  As a results, and in combination with our Rights Respecting Schools Silver Award, our pupils have completed an action plan of 6 activities to gain this award.

• Educating students on children’s rights through a year long, whole school assembly programme focussed on UNCRC Rights of the Child, Rights Respecting Schools and Global Goals 
• The creation of Rights As We See It Video showcasing children’s views on their rights and their importance
• Whole school awareness events such as anti-bullying week and a week of kindness etc.
•  Diversifying our school library through digital book readings
• The creation of a new monthly Respect award, as defined by our pupils
• The creation a whole school diversity and inclusion pledge by our pupils

We have been highly praised for our work in key areas that demonstrate and support a culture of respect. Have a read at our award feedback to find out how well all of our pupils have worked in key areas:

Respect Badge Letter

The Diana Trust wrote this lovely comment:

Thanks so much for sending over your evidence form for the Respect Badge. We’ve reviewed your evidence and we were overwhelmed with how much thought and effort you’ve put into your anti-bullying initiatives. It seems like all of the activities have had a great impact on the students in your school and we really like that you use such creative ideas to support your campaign. The video is amazing and the diversity and inclusion pledge is a fantastic action which I am sure will be a long term feature in your school.

Congratulations, we are awarding you the Respect Badge! This is a fantastic achievement and the team should be very proud.’

Here is a link to a Sway explaining more about our new respect award:

North Rhins Respect Award Blog

As part of our work with the Diana Trust, we have created a new RESPECT award certificate.

Go to this Sway

Here is the inclusion pledge created by our pupils.  Special thanks go to Miley & George for all their work on producing our pledge.

Well done to our anti-bullying ambassadors AND all of our pupils who have been involved as whole school communities to promote RESPECT FOR ALL!

# Responsible Citizens

# Effective Contributors

All three school communities came together on Saturday for our annual Kirkcolm Mini Walk to raise funds for our schools and to enjoy a social fitness activity together.

Despite the threat of rain, the weather stayed dry enough to allow our walkers to enjoy a run or a stroll around the beautiful scenery of our Kirkcolm coastal area.

First, second and third places are awarded for the boys and girls completing the course in the quickest time.  The first boy and girl tied, crossing the line together. The results are as follows:

Boys:

1. George Keith – Kirkcolm P6
2. Danny Dougan – Kirkcolm P5
3. James Turtle – Kirkcolm P6

Girls:

1. Olivia Turtle – Kirkcolm P7
2. Izzy White – Portpatrick P7
3. Miley Adams – Kirkcolm P7

Our Winners: Olivia & George

The route followed along the Corsewall Estate Coastal Path. A very well done to everyone who walked or ran the course.  There was great camaraderie and high spirits as everyone progressed around the route.

We are very grateful to those who were sponsored to take part in the event.  Each school has raised their own total, which will be announced shorty.   The money will be put to very good use for the children.

Our schools would like to thank:

• Our parents and families who planned and organised the mini-walk
• The Carrick-Buchanan and Milroy family for their kind  permission to walk on their land
• The volunteer  marshals
• Lidl and Tesco  for the donation of refreshment
• and to ALL the children and families who fundraised and participated to raise money for our three fantastic wee schools!  We applaud each and every one of you who took part.

Enjoy these photographs from the event:

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As part of younger pupils learning all about caring for babies, our younger pupils enjoyed the company of Miss Maeva Mc Harg.  Mrs Mc Harg brought in her baby daughter, who has just turned one, to allow all to appreciate all the more, what caring for a baby involves.  This is part of the health and well being teaching planned for p1-4 this term.

There was lots of questions for Mummy Mc Harg and lots of happy little faces enthralled by the cute Miss Maeva who enjoyed crawling about the gym hall.

Many thanks to Mrs Mc Harg and Maeva for coming in – the cute little visitor brightened up the day for all in school!

After a long delay due to Covid, the annual Primary 7 Rotary Lunch event recommenced today.

Olivia and Luke represented Kirkcolm Primary  at this year’s event where the guest speakers were Bejing Olympic Gold and Silver Curling Medallists Vicky Wright (Gold), Bobby Lammie (Silver) and Hammy McMillan (Silver).

They enjoyed a tasty lunch of Tomato soup or fruit juice, followed by fish and chips.  This was followed by a Q & A session with our Olympians.  They talked about practicing for about 7 hours a day, five days a week and travelling a lot for competitions. The curling sports heroes said that they were first introduced to curling by attending the curling club at the North West Castle in Primary 7. So, now is about the time for anyone interested in curling as a sport to think about joining.

Our Leswalt and Kirkcolm  team rocked up at the North West Castle wearing Scotland tops that once belonged to Vicky Wright, who also went to Leswalt school.

 Both represented our school well, chatting easily with a member of the Rotary Club, who joined us at our table throughout the event.

#confident individuals

Today Kirkcolm Primary got to venture outside the school grounds for a trip to Logan gardens! Many of the pupils remembered going on these trips before and we were delighted to be welcomed into the gardens once more!

The little class went off to enjoy a Teddy Bear’s Picnic. They packed up their night time buddies and brought them along for the fun. In this they learned all about SWAF – what bears need to survive in the wild; Shelter, Water, Air and Food! They played some games around this and made their own islands for their bears to live on – ensuring the bears had everything they needed! 

The big class toddled off to learn about the different parts of a flower. Using some creative props, we learned all about how pollination works in plants and our best friends – the bees – who play such an essential role in this. We then used magnifying glasses and coloured overlay glasses (that were extremely reminiscent of the early 3D movie days!) to study different flowers in the gardens and see how they appealed to insects. We also had some practise being our own squirrels and storing away our nuts for the Winter. 

Finally, we enjoyed our pack lunches, surrounded by the beauty of the gardens, before toddling back off on our bus to head back to school. 

We cannot thank the Botanical Garden Team enough for this day, it has been so informative and such fun for the pupils and adults!