Kirkcolm Primary School

Dumfries and Galloway Council have just published their COP26 DG School Report on Learning for Sustainability which showcases learning activities that took place during COP26 across the region.  Our North Rhins Partnership is featured.  Why not have a read and see how our environmentally responsible children engaged with this event.

D&G COP26 Report Final

P1 – ‘Bull Sale’  

Recitation winners : 1. Rory Calvert (KKM); 2. Ross Warwick (KKM); 3. Bobby Shaw (LES) 

Illustration winners ; 1. Ellie Burton  (LES); 2. Ross Warwick (KKM); 3. Rory Calvert (KKM) 

Handwriting winners; 1. Rory Calvert (KKM); 2. Ross Warwick (KKM); 3. Freddie Adams (KKM)  

P2 – ‘The Elephant’  

Recitation winners : 1. Rebecca Manson (KKM); 2. Lily Bennewith (LES); 3. Cameron Clarke (KKM) 

Illustration winners : 1. Cameron Clarke (KKM); 2. Rebecca Manson (KKM); 3. Callum Dougan (KKM) 

Handwriting winners : 1. Rebecca Manson (KKM); 2. Paige Neill (KKM); 3. Lily Bennewith (LES) 

P3 – ‘Tae a Thistle’ 

Recitation winners : 1. Colin McGregor (LES); 2 .Arran Farquhar (KKM);  3. Ben Thomson (LES) 

Illustration winners; 1. Roman Haver (LES); 2. Ruby McMillan (KKM); 3. Rachael Drummond (LES)  

Handwriting winners; 1. Rachael Drummond (LES); 2. Colin McGregor (LES); 3. Murray Reid (LES) 

P4 – ‘Beasties’ 

Recitation winners : 1. Ewan Clark (LES); 2. Ela Chang (LES); 3. Ivan Turtle (KKM) 

Illustration winners : 1. Phoebe Manson (KKM); 2. Ewan Clark (LES); 3. Archie Ashton (KKM) 

Handwriting winners : 1. Ela Chang (LES); 2. Phoebe Manson (KKM); 3. Ellie Bennewith (LES) 

P5 – ‘The Auld Troot 

Recitation winners : 1. Jack Howie (KKM); 2. Hamish McGregor (LES); 3. Havana Diyani (KKM) 

Illustration winners: 1. Lydia Adams (KKM); 2. Carys McHallum (LES); 3. Danny Dougan (KKM) 

Handwriting winners : 1. Faye Adams (LES); 2. Danny Dougan (KKM); 3. Sally Drummond (KKM) 

P6 – ‘The Moosie’s Prayer’ 

Recitation winners : 1. Alexander Clark (LES); 2. Thomas Agnew (LES); 3. Rose Santangeli (LES) 

Illustration winners : 1. Thomas Agnew (LES); 2. Fraser Reid (LES); 3. Noah McGrory-Thompson (KKM) 

Handwriting winners : 1. Rose Santangeli (LES); 2. Thomas Agnew (LES); 3. Olivia Johnstone (KKM) 

P7 – Anything by Burns 

Recitation winners : 1. Luke Butler (KKM); 2. Aidan Adams (LES); 3. Murray Williams (LES) 

Illustration winners : 1. Olivia Turtle (KKM); 2. Breagh Kirkpatrick (LES); 3. Malcolm McGregor (LES) 

Handwriting winners : 1. Emma Drummond (KKM); 2. Miley Adams (KKM); 3. Calder Farquhar (KKM) 

Today , 25th January was the birthday of the bard.  And, all the pupils of Leswalt and Kirkcolm Primary schools came together to celebrate.  Pupils had been working hard at home  – writing out their poems, creating artwork and learning recitations.

We welcomed Mrs Mc Harg back into the building today to judge the efforts of all. 

Mrs Mc Harg had a very difficult job!  Just look some of the wonderful artwork.

Once the judging was complete, the children came together in the hall to enjoy the speeches and toasts as part of a Burn Supper.  All the speeches were shared between pupils from Leswalt  and Kirkcolm Primary school –

Chairperson – Lexi Greenhill

Carrying in the haggis – Miley Adams and Alfie Baker

Addressing the Haggis – Aidan Adams and Luke Butler

Toast to Lassies – Oliver Brown and George Keith

Reply to Lads – Olivia Turtle and Emma Drummond

Toast to the school – Breagh Kirkpatrick and Malcolm Mc Gregor

Vote of Thanks – Murray Williams

Tylor Alexander then said the Selkirk Grace before all enjoyed tucking into their lunch –

After a play outside all pupils went back to their seats in the dinner hall to hear the results of the judging.  As well as celebrating all the wonderful artwork, handwriting and poetry recitations we also enjoyed some singing, with all classes performing for each other.

It was a truly wonderful day with lots of talent on display and all pupils achieving in a whole range of activities. 

Watch this space for the full results being uploaded soon!

What a way to start Term 3 – a brisk walk in the winter sun! 

In line with our Eco School plans and the Bird School Birdwatch promoted by the RSPB, we couldn’t not join in! (considering the vast amount of wildlife we have surrounding us in our little corner of Scotland)

Both classes partnered together for a walk down to the beach, keeping very, very quiet and observing and noting down (using our data handling skills) all the different birds we came across and how many of each. 

After a somewhat slow start to begin with, the further we went into the forest area and down to the beach we spotted many different varieties of birds and even a deer! 

Showcasing the wonderful range of wild life we have here at Kirkcolm Primary and its surrounding areas. 

Here are some photos of our outing… 

What a fabulous end to the term! 

The troops at Kirkcolm Primary had a fantastic day to see out the school term today and get us all into the Christmas spirit of things for the festivities that will be upon us in a matter of days now! (Well that one really snuck up on us….) 

In the morning we handed out Christmas cards tot he community that both classes made yesterday. We hope if you got a card through your door and even if you didn’t – please know that we all here at Kirkcolm wish you a very merry Christmas! 

Following that (and a wee play park stop, understandably…) we then enjoyed our Christmas Parties – filled with lots of games and prizes and a right good dancing session; we all had lots of fun! The House Captains were dearly missed during these sessions as the poor pupils had to suffer the ruthless judging of their teachers during games! 

Finally at the end of the day, both classes snuggled up as best we could with some comfy pillows and blankets/snacks and sweeties for a movie afternoon. Miss Douglas’s class were in the spirit of things watching Nativity! Miss McNicoll’s class followed up their class novel this term with watching its film adaption; Wonder. 

Finally! We have some huge, whopping thank yous to give to BOTH Leswalt and Kirkcolm community councils who have very kindly gifted both schools with some extra additional Christmas treats, a selection box AND a £20 Argos Voucher for each pupil to spend at Argos. The pupils were absolutely over the moon with these gifts and the rest of us are so pleased to see them happy and healthy and grateful at the end of another busy term! 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

The boys and girls of Kirkcolm and Leswalt arrived in school today full of Christmas cheer.  Some donned those ‘oh so lovely’ Christmas jumpers to celebrate the day, some wore a bauble or two and some came with a festive smile.  We started off having class assemblies to learn about the importance of Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper day and the good work that the charity does around the world.

We were then all treated to a delicious Christmas lunch served by Anne Marie and Tricia.  The children enjoyed turkey with all the trimmings and sprouts galore followed by chocolate brownies and ice cream for dessert – yum!

Have a look at all the happy faces tucking in.

We are delighted to inform you that our wonderfully eco-friendly pupils have achieved the requirements for the RSPB School’s Wild Challenge Bronze Award.

We have now completed 6 wild activities to  become a Wild Challenge bronze award holder.   There are two categories of challenge: Helping Nature and Experiencing Nature.  Our activities range from Planting for Wildlife to Sensing the World. We care about our wildlife and our environment.

Kirkcolm Primary for Bronze

Our very motivated Eco Council have organised this blog post to request your support for their environmental initiatives.  If you are able, they would very much appreciate your help.

Click on the links to access the documents they have created.

Thank you!

Be wild

Hedgehog homes and bug hotels eco group

Here is a hedgehog home that James Turtle has made at home. It is already in position waiting on a prickly critter taking up residence in a secluded part of our grounds –  fingers cross!

James chooses a location carefully

Des Res

Thank you!

We are celebrating World Children’s Day as part of our Rights Respecting Schools award journey. This is UNICEF’s annual day of action for children, by children.  The theme this year is ” Investing in our future means investing in our children”. 

Primary 1 to 4 were, as always, super keen to be involved.  The focus we took was to think about the role children play in caring for our environment now, and in the future.

The class listened to and watched Michael Foreman’s book called Dinosaurs and All that Rubbish which has an environmental theme.

You can watch and listen here too:

Dinosaurs and All That Rubbish. Children’s Environmental Book. – YouTube

Next, the children decided to take action and write a free-flow letter to our planet earth.  They told our planet all the things that they will do to take care of our home now and in the future.  They are powerful advocates for change.

Letters to the Earth are being written by people from all over the world. Children as young as 3, parents, teachers, scientists, journalists, musicians, indigenous leaders, activists, nurses, business leaders, priests, politicians, TV presenters, artists such as Yoko Ono, authors such as Ben Okri, fashion designers such as Vivienne Westwood, and more.  These are being shared on this website, if you would like to find out more:

Home | Letters to the Earth

We hope you enjoy our letters:

# Responsible Citizens

Couldn’t quite believe my eyes when I opened the door to welcome all these top class athletes into the school this morning! The boys and girls made a super effort today of dressing up in their sportiest clothing and we saw a range of different sports represented from the ever popular rugby and football to horse riders!

Over the week you may of noticed the odd Pudsey ear or wrist band floating about, that is because our House Captains have been ultra dedicated to selling merchandise to help raise funds! In addition to this, pupils have ran a ‘Guess The Name of the Bear’ competition for the chance to win a cuddly wee companion.

A huge thank you to all the kind donations towards the Bring n’ Buy afternoon – we are all astounded at the generosity from everyone in bringing in bits and pieces to sell on for others – this also fed in well to our Eco Plan where we are promoting the reuse and recycling of everything – toys included! Another successfully ran enterprise by our astounding team of House Captains across both Leswalt and Kirkcolm – thank you Miley, Taylor & co who all lent a hand!

Finally, each pupils contribution for putting their all into completing a whopping 5 round of Joe Wicks 5 minute exercise videos (I think we can all remember the intensity of these from the lockdown days….!) The whole school absolutely smashed it, with the upper class going that extra mile fitting in an additional 20 minute live workout this morning! 

Altogether we managed a grand total of £197.63 which is absolutely astounding for such a wee school out in the countryside! It means so much to a school that promotes the Rights of the Child and Global Goals as part of their ethos to be able to take part so enthusiastically on a day like today and even more to absolutely smash it out the park with our generosity!

Here are some photos of todays fun…