Kirkcolm Primary School

We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded our first Eco-Schools Green Flag! Pupils in the Eco committee have been the driving force behind all of the environmentally friendly work that we have undertaken throughout the year, with all pupils in the school joining in on activities and taking responsibility for making the school and community a greener and more sustainable place.

Over the last year, pupils have participated in various Eco-friendly activities, organised and led by the Eco committee. They have carried out a local beach clean, inviting parents and the local community to join in; joined various recycling projects including crisp packets, batteries and pens; worked with the local community group ‘Keep Kirkcolm Tidy’; and held litter assemblies to raise awareness of the impact to the whole school. Two Primary 6 pupils, Danny and Jak, were selected as our Junior Road Safety Officers (JRSOs) and helped to promote active travel and staying safe when travelling during the darker winter nights.

Our Eco-Schools assessor stated, “Congratulations on successfully achieving your Eco-Schools Green Flag award! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your application and am very excited about the work being done at Kirkcolm Primary School. I was very encouraged to read about your efforts and successes in involving the whole school and local community in your Eco-school activities.” The assessor also stated that aspects of our work were noted as examples of good practice and may be used on the website/social media as case studies to support other schools with their Eco-Schools work.

Work is already underway to select our new Eco committee and continue the good work to ensure we are able to renew our Eco Schools green flag in 2 years’ time.

Have a keek below to see photos of the pupils with our Green Flag, which we will be displaying in the school foyer. The Eco Committee members were particularly proud as punch of their achievement – well done to you all!!

Tuesday saw all 3 of our North Rhins partnership schools come together for a morning of exploration and an afternoon of inter-school sports fun. Pupils from Portpatrick and Kirkcolm travelled to Leswalt, who hosted the event for the first time. After arriving, the boys and girls made their way up to the Aldouran Wetlands for some fun in the gardens.

They then made their way back to school for a picnic lunch outside, and enjoyed getting to know and play with pupils from the other schools. Just as we were ready to head to the village park to begin our sports, the rain started – but it didn’t damped our spirits! Thankfully, the shower passed and it was a lovely warm afternoon for the boys and girls to cheer on their own schools – they were all getting very competitive and were keen for their school to be the overall winner of the afternoon!

There were various races for pupils to participate in, including sprint, skipping, sack, egg & spoon, distance and a relay. After counting up the points and working out the scores proportionately given the differing numbers of pupils in the 3 school, Portpatrick were the overall winners of the afternoon, with Leswalt in 2^nd place and Kirkcolm in 3^rd.

A huge thank-you must go to Lidl who supported the event for the 2^nd year running, by providing water and fruit for the pupils to enjoy – they were well in need of this after the distance race! Also to the Brown family, who transported the equipment from the school to the park for us. The pupils had a wonderful afternoon mixing with other boys and girls in their year group across the 3 schools and are looking forward to our next get together already!

It was a successful weekend for both the football and netball team this weekend.

On Saturday the netball team won the tournament at their own Kirkcolm Gala day.  Well done to them, they have played really well all season.  And, many thanks to Jemima Johnstone for helping coach them and supervise them.

Today, the football team were in action at Sandhead fun day.  And, after a nil-nil draw in the final, it went onto penalties to decide the winner.  And, Kirkcolm were victorious!  Great work by the team, and thanks also to Robert Agnew with his time and help with the boys.

It was a successful end to the season for both teams.

On Tuesday 11^th June parents, friends and relatives gathered at Kirkcolm Primary for our annual Sports day event. Luckily the weather was on our side and it stayed dry. Everyone was in great spirits as they cheered each other on during the races.

We started with a Sprint race, followed by the skipped and then the sack. Next up was the fiercely contested egg and spoon race, which thanks to some finish line technology allowed us to determine the winners (with a few laughs along the way). The beanbag throwing competition is always good fun, with everyone keeping their eyes peeled for the odd stray throw into the crowds, or backwards in some cases.  After the hilarity we were onto the distance and then the obstacle race. Mums and dads even had a go too! (some funny photos below). Finally, the relay and the traditional overhead races took place with Loch Connell winning both. After all the races were complete the children had some water (Kindly donated by Leswalt Village Shop) and watched on as the Pre-schoolers had a little try. Just when we all thought it was over the children cheered for a Teachers race. Well Done to our super fit Head, Miss Baillie who won 1^st place ahead of the 30 and under !

Below are the results and some photos. Thanks to everyone who came along and to those who helped out. Extra thank you goes to our wonderful Parent Council who provided ice creams for all the children at the end of the day. A splendid day had by all.

Results

SPRINT P1 1st Ivan 2nd Alistair 3rd Jane

SPRINT P2/3 girls 1st Sally 2nd Olivia 3rd Peyton

SPRINT P2/3 boys 1st Jack 2nd James 3rd Noah

SPRINT P4/5 girls 1st Arla 2nd Miley 3rd Grace

SPRINT P4/5 boys 1st Daniel 2nd Tylor 3rd George

SPRINT P6/7 girls 1st Michaela 2nd Izzy 3rd Ivy

SPRINT P6/7 boys 1st Finlay 2nd Robin 3rd Cody
SKIPPING P1 1st Ivan 2nd Phoebe 3rd Alistair

SKIPPING P2/3 girls 1st Sally 2nd Peyton 3rd Olivia

SKIPPING P2/3 boys 1st James 2nd Jack 3rd Danny

SKIPPING P4/5 girls 1st Ruth 2nd Miley 3rd Olivia

SKIPPING P4/5 boys 1st Luke 2nd George 3rd Alexander

SKIPPING P6/7 girls 1st Ivy 2nd Michaela 3rd Izzy

SKIPPING P6/7 boys 1st Cody 2nd Jak 3rd Robin
SACK P1 1st Ivan 2nd Phoebe 3rd Jane

SACK P2/3 girls 1st Sally 2nd Olivia 3rd Peyton

SACK P2/3 boys 1st Danny 2nd James 3rd Alfie

SACK P4/5 girls 1st Miley 2nd Emma 3rd Ruth

SACK P4/5 boys 1st George 2nd Tylor 3rd Oliver

SACK P6/7 girls 1st Izzy 2nd Michaela 3rd Ivy

SACK P6/7 boys 1st Robin 2nd Finlay 3rd Danny
EGG & SPOON P1 1st Phoebe 2nd Jane 3rd Alistair

EGG & SPOON P2/3 girls 1st Olivia 2nd Sally 3rd Lydia

EGG & SPOON P2/3 boys 1st Noah 2nd Alfie 3rd Jack

EGG & SPOON P4/5 girls 1st Olivia 2nd Ruth 3rd Miley

EGG & SPOON P4/5 boys 1st Tylor 2nd Luke 3rd George

EGG & SPOON P6/7 girls 1st Izzy 2nd Michaela 3rd Abby

EGG & SPOON P6/7 boys 1st Robin 2nd Finlay 3rd Jak
THROWING P1 1st Ivan 2nd Phoebe 3rd Jane

THROWING P2/3 girls 1st Peyton 2nd Sally 3rd Lydia

THROWING P2/3 boys 1st Jack 2nd Noah 3rd Alfie

THROWING P4/5 girls 1st Arla 2nd Ruth 3rd Amy

THROWING P4/5 boys 1st Daniel 2nd George 3rd Luke

THROWING P6/7 girls 1st Michaela 2nd Izzy 3rd Ivy

THROWING P6/7 boys 1st Cody 2nd Jak 3rd Guy
DISTANCE P1 1st Ivan 2nd Alistair 3rd Phoebe

DISTANCE P2/3 girls 1st Peyton 2nd Sally 3rd Olivia

DISTANCE P2/3 boys 1st James 2nd Jack 3rd Noah

DISTANCE P4/5 girls 1st Arla 2nd Grace 3rd Miley

DISTANCE P4/5 boys 1st Tylor 2nd Daniel 3rd George

DISTANCE P6/7 girls 1st Michaela 2nd Izzy 3rd Ivy

DISTANCE P6/7 boys 1st Robin 2nd Finlay 3rd Cody

OBSTACLE P1 1st Ivan 2nd Alistair 3rd Jane

OBSTACLE P2/3 girls 1st Peyton 2nd Olivia 3rd Sally

OBSTACLE P2/3 boys 1st Noah 2nd James 3rd Danny

OBSTACLE P4/5 girls 1st Ruth 2nd Grace 3rd Emma

OBSTACLE P4/5 boys 1st Luke 2nd George 3rd Alexander

OBSTACLE P6/7 girls 1st Michaela 2nd Abbi 3rd Ivy

OBSTACLE P6/7 boys 1st Robin 2nd Finlay 3rd Jak
MUM’S OBSTACLE RACE 1st Alison McAuley 2nd Iona McFarlane 3rd Lynsey MacPherson

DAD’S OBSTACLE RACE 1st Brian McCulloch 2nd Angus Carrick-Buchanan 3rd Gordon Keith

PRE-SCHOOL RACE 1st Lyle McCulloch 2nd Jack Ferguson 3rd Callum Dougan

TEACHERS 1st Mrs Baillie 2nd Miss McGeoch 3rd Mrs McHarg

OVERHEAD House Teams 1st Loch Connell 2nd Corsewall

RELAY House Teams 1st Loch Connell 2nd Corsewall
House Teams 1st Corsewall 2nd Loch Connell

HOUSE POINTS LOCH CONNELL 162 CORSEWALL 132

Pupils in P1-4 were off on another adventure last week, this time to West Galdenoch to visit dairy farmer Mr Gary Mitchell, who was assisted by Isabel Milroy from RHET. Pupils learned all about how a dairy farm works, from calf to parlour. Gary explained each stage in depth and showed the pupils the different diets of the cattle and calves. His farm tries to consider sustainable farming methods with respect to feed and production. Pupils were able to take a trip into the parlour itself and watch the huge rotary parlour in action. At the end pupils even got to watch the cows being fed some fresh grass before it was back to West Galdenoch Classroom for a quick quiz. What a lovely afternoon we all had ! Below are some photos.

It’s not every day that you see tractors, sheep, a mini Auction Mart, ducks being herded by dogs and sheep shearing and it certainly isn’t normal to see it all in a school playground either! However, we’re no ordinary trio partnership, and with the hard work of Mrs McKnight (and her band of willing volunteers!) the children enjoyed a fantastic afternoon as they watched their farming topic come alive!

We truly are spoilt here at Kirkcolm Primary with yet another wonderful opportunity to embrace and learn about farming, our local area and careers within the community. Below are some photos from our afternoon. Thanks to our parent helpers who came along to assist!

Primary 1-4 were fortune enough to have a lovely visit from Judith Armstrong of The Fresh Milk Company to do a Dairy class talk. Judith was accompanied by Anna Christie, a DEHS pupil on work experience at the creamery. Together they explained everything from breeds of cows, the milking process, to turning the milk into cheese at the creamery in Stranraer. It was then onto some butter making which required some hard work and effort. As you can tell from the photos the children really gave it their all. Before long the butter had been made and we enjoyed tasting it along with some cheese and crackers. Thank you to RHET ( Royal Highland Education Trust ) for organising this great experience and thanks to Judith and Anna for coming along to the school.

The sun was shining for the annual Nursery Grand Prix on Tuesday morning. The pupils came to Nursery with their bikes and scooters, ready to race round the track to help raise some funds for the Nursery. The whole school came out to cheer them on too. After a little pit stop half way through where they got juice and crisps, the boys and girls were ready to go again! Have a look at the photos – there were some little red faces by the end as they had worked their socks off!!

Even with poor weather the views were great !

The finishing line … ( sorry if I’ve missed anyone )

Snacks / Prizes