Kirkcolm Primary School

At our most recent Pupil Council meeting, it was highlighted that we don’t have many non-fiction books in the school library. So our responsible pupils wrote to the Community Reuse Shop to enquire about donations of books. They very kindly invited us to pop into the shop to look through the books and pick a selection for our school.

Olivia from Kirkcolm, Alexander from Leswalt and Jack from Portpatrick all went on Wednesday morning to browse the huge range of books available. After an hour of hunting (some were hunting more than others – there were times where pupils were lounging on the floor engrossed in a book they found!!), they each left with a bag of books for their school.

Thank-you to the Community Reuse Shop for your generosity. We are looking forward to getting our new books into our school library for pupils to enjoy.

As you know, this year we decided to do our school trip closer to home than we usually go.. Why not make the most of the area we live in and what it has to offer! 

So, we hopped on a bus on a glorious Thursday with the sun splitting the sky! (after many days/weeks of worrying about what exactly then weather was going to do…) We arrived at Sands of Luce, Sandhead to start our alpaca trekking with Golden Sands Trekking Centre where pupils got up close and personal feeding some goats, sheep and horses and taking the Alpacas a little jaunt around a pen! 

After this, we headed down to the playpark at Sandhead front to get our hands washed and get ready for our Picnic. A big thanks to Alison for bringing out her ice cream van so we could cool off in the sun with a cone! When the wee ones arrived on the bus – we busted out a picnic for the kings and set to work demolishing the goodies. We had pizzas, sausage rolls, wraps, brownies, sweets and chocolates to get stuck into as well as other bits!

After this, the swimming costumes came out and we headed straight down to the beach and there was no stopping them as they all ploughed straight into the water! What a great time was had, pupils were splashing about with their goggles on, zooming about of bougie boards and just enjoying the sunshine and the sea. 

We had a few minor incidents as the tide caught up with some of our bags (oops!) and a certain someone’s crutches (!!!) were left on an island that disappeared rapidly… But this just added to the smiles of the day! 

Finally we got towelled off and boarded back onto our bus, sandy and happy and ready for home. 

Here are some photos of the day… 10/10 – would do again! 

‘Best trip yet!’ – a direct quote from some pupils on the day!

This week we have been lucky to welcome our New P1’s to the school and get a sense for what the classes are going to look like next year! Orla, Harlow and Parker joined us for 3 whole days (!!!) from Tuesday to Thursday! They got stuck in to their new routines straight away and enjoyed meeting their new teacher – the lovely Miss Douglas! 

We had a lovely morning spent down the beach with the whole school and they’ve had a chance to do some literacy and numeracy in class already and learn some new things with Miss Douglas! P4 have had 3 days being P5 and being in the upper class all day while P7 have been enjoying their time at the Academy! 

P5-7 also got to meet their new teacher on Thursday – Miss McMorran! They’re looking forward to kick starting the new school year with her! 🙂 

The sun was shining, the ice lollies were chilling in the freezer and the lines were (somewhat faintly) painted on the freshly cut grass. It can only mean one thing – Sports Day is here! 

We do love any opportunity to go outside in the sunshine, so this was very welcomed this bright Friday afternoon. P6/7 and Mr MacGregor worked their socks off to get all the equipment outside and set up, then we had an early lunch today to enable us to get started at 1:15 sharp! 

We had our usual races; 

• Running
• Skipping 
• Sack
• Egg & Spoon 
• Throwing 

We had an additional race of a fun obstacle course arrange and designed by House Captains! 

Then we finished off with our long distance race and the House relay race. 

To add an extra bit of fun this year, we had an additional House Challenge in the form of a Tug of War (suggested by James Turtle!) Mrs McHarg managed to source an (extremely heavy) rope for the pupils to use (a big thank you to the Young Farmers for lending it to us!)

This was a great wee watch as young pupils got somewhat swept of their feet while the older ones had the grit and determination painted on their faces in their efforts to win!

Finally the classic tiny people race and then the ladies and gents races to invite all parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles etc. who spectated to come join in the fun! We also said another wee goodbye to Vladislav, who will be leaving us today to go back to Ukraine. 

Here are some photos of the day! 

Today was both a happy and sad day for the pupils in Miss Douglas’s class. After having young Valdislav join us this year in P1 all the way from Ukraine, the time has come to bid him farewell… 

Vladislav has really seemed to enjoy him time at Kirkcolm Primary and I know the boys and girls in his class have loved having him here as a friend, his presence has taught them patience and understanding and he has enjoyed school and playtimes and making new friends! 

It is with a heavy heart we bid him goodbye as he heads back to Ukraine. While we are happy for him to get to see all his family and friends still there, it doesn’t make it any easier! P1-4 threw a special party for him arranged by the lovely Miss Douglas and Mrs MacPherson, complete with treats and little presents to help him remember us here in Scotland. Mr McGregor even gave Vlad a wee Scotland Rugby strip to see him off!

We wish him all the best and we hope he knows – he will be missed. 

On Thursday we got to see the return of Operation Safety after it’s Covid hiatus! This has been an ongoing event in this area for many years now and is a great opportunity for pupils to get information about the different risks out there! 

Pupils got moved around different inputs and learned about; 

• CPR and resuscitation 
• The harmful effects of drugs and alcohol 
• Electrical hazards in a Scottish Power workshop 
• Working with the coastguard to look at water safety 
• Fire Brigade for fire safety 
• With the police looking at cyber safety and anti-social behaviour 

Overall – pupils learned a lot and they all came back absolutely buzzing from their day! 

Today the whole school participated with Climate Ready Classrooms as part of our ongoing commitment to being an eco-friendly school and promoting eco awareness within the school! This whole day event allowed pupils to take part in numerous online live lessons with accompany activities while learning about Climate Change and the effects this is having on the planet. 

The first part of the morning taught us what Climate Change is and how it is caused by different factors in the environment. Pupils went on a hunt around the school looking for causes of emissions and how these emissions can be caused in numerous ways. 

The second half of the morning looked at the effects of Climate Change on biodiversity – we saw real time example of the Great Tit – happening in our own eco systems as a result of the negative impact of climate change. Pupils then went outside on a scavenger hunt looking for a different items in the playground that could ’cause emissions’ or ‘produce waste’. 

Finally the afternoon focused on drawing up our eco plan to solve the effects of climate change on the environment. This will be streamlined into a whole school approach and sent to the Climate Ready Classrooms team as Kirkcolm Primary’s actions! 

Overall – this was such a fun day in which pupils were able to gain an awareness and knowledge of issues surrounding sustainability! 

We are proud to announce that Kirkcolm Primary has achieved it’s third Eco Schools flag, represented another two years of fantastic eco-friendly action from our highly motivated pupils.  This achievement recognises all the hard work, dedication and drive from our pupils, our staff and our wider community.  Our action targets for 2021 – 2023 focussed on:

• Litter and Waste
• Healthy Living
• Biodiversity

Many congratulations to everyone!

The The Education and Learning Team from Keep Scotland Beautiful have written to us with this message:

Congratulations to everyone at Kirkcolm Primary School for achieving an amazing 3rd Eco-Schools Scotland Green Flag Award!

We have very much enjoyed reading through your journey. You have worked really hard on your
wide-ranging actions to make your school a more environmentally friendly place to be.

Well done!

Why not read the full report to see the excellent feedback we have received from Eco Schools Scotland!

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We won’t stop there as we’re already thinking ahead to our next action plan for 2023 – 2025!

UNCRC Rights of the Child: Article 24 – Health, Water, Food & The Environment.

Sustainable Development Goal: 3 – Good Health and Wellbeing, 15 – Life on Land