Kirkcolm Primary School

Well done to Jack and Rory who represented Kirkcolm Primary school yesterday and were confident individuals who did a reading at Kirkcolm Church Christmas service of carols and lessons.

As part of our work learning about the UNCRC and Rights of the Child, we  participated in a campaign to allow pupils to see that they can put their rights into action and make a difference in our local community. At our most recent Pupil Council meeting, we decided on 4 different campaigns that we’d like to run and then each school took a vote on their favourite. The campaign that had the most votes was the Police Scotland Youth Volunteer’s (PSYV) Christmas Shoebox Appeal. This campaign collects food and warm clothing for elderly residents in and around the Stranraer area.

We are asked our families if they could send in some donations to go towards the appeal. Items sent in included: tinned food , jars or jam,  sweets, biscuits , tea, coffee ,  gloves and hats .  Our families were very generous!

The photograph shows Erin Topping from the Police Young Scotland Volunteers uplifting boxes which had been collected by Kirkcolm, Leswalt and Portpatrick Primary schools.

The Parent Council held their annual Christmas Coffee Morning on Saturday. The boys and girls in both classes had been busy making Christmas crafts to sell as part of their enterprise projects, and practising some festive songs to entertain everyone with. Jack and Ivan (and his brother James!) very kindly made some wooden reindeer and a sleigh for a silent auction to help raise further funds.

A grand total of £1117.87 was raised – a huge well done to everyone who helped to organise and run the very successful Coffee Morning, and thank you to everyone who supported the event. We’re very grateful!

They kicked off with a little demonstration of how fuel was created and harnessed in the past and why now it is so important that we find renewable energy sources instead. To show us why it’s important that we make this change they showed us an experiment involving methanol and the fire triangle and why it required oxygen, heat and fuel to work. The boys are girls were amazed at how only a very, very small amount of methanol can make sure a loud bang and this demonstrated how dangerous and destructive these fuels can be for our environment! 

Next we took part in lots of different practical activities and had fun exploring and investigating different renewable energy sources called ☀️🌊♻️- 
The windmill Kit
Directional Drilling
Solar Array
Crank Power
50 Hz
3 Phase Generator
Hand Crank Generator
Hydrogen Launcher

which blew our minds, made us think and  opened our eyes to the world of renewables in the future! A big thank you to the team from Glasgow Science Centre – what a fab afternoon we had 🙂! 

UNCRC Rights of the Child – Article 29 Aims of Education

Global Goal 13 – Climate Action 

UNCRC Rights of the Child  – Article 17 Access To Information

Recently Kirkcolm eco committee have been very busy. Last week we made a compost bin made from recycled plastic so we could put are food waste from the kitchen in it. Uncooked vegetables can go in there and then can be used in the garden. To help with recycling the eco committee are going to label the bins so that the plastic and paper is recycled and is not mixed up.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     To help tackle the playground litter each week a new group will be assigned to do a litter pick to keep the playground nice and tidy. To encourage local wildlife we are planning to put up bird feeders to encourage little birds. We are going to label a bin so we can put are crisp packets in there so that they can be donated to keep people nice and warm.

Author – Archie Ashton (Digital Leader)

UNCRC Rights of the Child – Article 13: Sharing Thoughts Freely

While it looked like the bears had assembled for their annual picnic, instead the boys and girls arrived at school today wearing blue to support the Children in Need charity 🐻🍯 Throughout the week Alfie and Alistair have been going around the classes and nursery armed with Pudsey bear ears, badges, pens and wrist bands as well as quizzes and stickers. 

The boys and girls from the North Rhins Partnership had a visit to Skills Development Scotland today.

As part of Developing the Young Workforce, Lucy, Kathryn & Connor gave the pupils an overview of the careers services available at Stranraer Academy.

Our pupils learned that they will have a subject choice chat in S2, with follow up visits for each other year to help them plan career options more fully.  Lucy explained that Skills Development Scotland is available to everyone at any time in our community to help find jobs.

There was a mixer game where children played ‘Would You Rather?’ This was a game to help the children make careers decisions based on their preferences and interests.

They then played ‘Shark Island!’ In groups, the children had to decide which 3 of 5 people they would choose to help them escape from an island.  Their choices were based on the careers of the five individuals. There was a change of mind once more information was given on the people’s backgrounds. It was a very interesting discussion.

Hamish, Atticus and Cara volunteered to role play career characters. The children had to work out what jobs they might do based on their props and outfits.

Finally, we were shown the My World of Work careers advice website with industry sector information and job videos. It was very informative.

Our thanks to Skills Development Scotland team. Today was a great workshop for Developing the Young Workforce and for strengthening our pre-transition friendships.

UNCRC Rights of the Child – Article 29 Aims of Education