Kirkcolm Primary School

Sergeants Wilson and Donnan visited us this morning to tell us a little more about joining the local Army Cadet Force!

They shared with us the history of the ACF and the Values and Standards they live by – looking after themselves and each other. You can join when you start S1 and work your way up from cadet to higher ranks.

Did you know there are 48000 cadets in the UK?! That’s double the size of the British Army!
Sergeants Wilson and Donnan told us all about the Fieldcraft expeditions, First Aid training, drills, community engagement and military knowledge activities that Cadets learn about – and that’s just a few exciting things they could be part of! All while meeting new people and making new friends 😊

Some pupils who expressed interest have a leaflet with time/place for Stranraer Cadets if this is something they might be interested in when they start S1…

Check out the website for more details…

Fun, Friendship, Action And Adventure | Army Cadets UK

Meta Skills 

Integrity Imani

Initiative Ivy

Collaborating Cora 

Leading Li 

Kirkcolm Primary is delighted to announce they have just received an Eco Schools Scotland Green flag award!  This is in recognition of all the hard work and efforts of the school to protect the environment,

This is the 4th Green flag the school has achieved.  Previous awards were in 2019, 2021 and 2023 – demonstrating our ongoing commitment to this.

Please click here to see the feedback we received.

The photograph below shows our Eco committee under their Eco flag and proud of another award

UNRC

12 – Respect for Children’s views

14 – Health food and environment

Today, as is the yearly custom, our P6 across both schools dotted off to Operation Safety at Stair Park today for some safety input! This linked in really well with our Risk Taking behaviour focus in class for these pupils so they had a fair idea of how to manage some of these situations! ⛑🆘

Pupils moved around 8 stations, each with their own focus:

1. A CPR and emergency response input which taught them the basics of emergency response first aid! How to tell if your casualty is breathing or not and how to perform chest compressions… 🚑
2. Fire safety – can they spot the fire hazards in a home and how to manage these! 🧯🔥🚒
3. The Coastguard! (very important for this time of year in this area…) what to do if they spot somebody drowning and how to keep themselves safe in water. 🥽🚣‍♀️
4. Electricity with Scottish Power – spotting electrical hazards in the home and how to prevent these ⚡💡🔌
5. Youth Work came and did an input on Internet Safety – teaching pupils how to stay safe online and what they should or shouldn’t share online. 👍
6. Drugs and Alcohol – what are the harmful effects of drugs and alcohol 👎
7. Community, Council & Criminal – looking at certain acts and who is responsible for preventing and managing these! Is it a criminal problem for the police? A problem for the community to manage themselves? Or something we should turn to the council to help prevent? 🧐🤔
8. Finally – looking at vandalism in the community! Pupils built giant Jenga Towers (with a promise of a prize for the tallest?!) Before ex-pupil Zack stormed in and destroyed them all! (He was supposed to – promise!) This taught pupils how it feels to have something of value that others can take upon themselves to deface! 🖌🎨

After a whopping 8 inputs over the course of the day – safe to say our P6 pupils are pretty clued up now! Thank you to all the organisations in the community for making this happen every year and to Mrs Chang for accompanying pupils today! 

Meta Skills 

Integrity Imani

Initiative Ivy

Communicating Cate 

Collaborating Cora 

Articles

Article 6 – Right to Life and Survival 

Article 12 – Respect for Children’s Views 

Article 19 – Right to Protection From Harm 

Article 24 – Health, Food, Water & Environment 

We were thrilled to welcome back Kathryn from History Alive into P1-4 to help make their Viking topic come to life this term! Kathryn, as you probably all know, is a history expert with all the props that helps to really get the pupils to understand what life was like for Vikings in that time! 

Kathryn told the boys and girls all about how life was like when the Viking’s were about and they learned about long houses and their diet and the pillaging activities they got up to… Before then getting stuck right into the props on hand! The children learned about the helmets and (thankfully fake) weapons as they got to grips and they really enjoy this session of roleplay! Putting their new found mindsets to use, they went outside and engaged in a little Viking war cry! ⚔🪓🗡🏹🛡

Thanks for coming Kathryn, we always enjoy having you and until next time… 

Meta Skills 

Focusing Fergus

Feeling Felix

Curiosity Carlos 

Sense-Making Samira 

Articles

Article 12 – Respect for Children’s Views 

Article 28 – Access to Education 

Article 29 – Aims of Education

Article 30 – Right to Culture and Heritage 

Today we had our sharing event with the lovely folk from Children’s Parliament. This was the upper classes opportunity across both schools to demonstrate all the hard work and fantastic ideas they have been coming up with over the course of the school year. 

We have done many sessions with Jack, Linnea and Jill which focuses on our community, campus, learning and the people wo help us with it and how this impacts maintaining and promoting dignity in pupils! 

The pupils have worked wonderfully during this time, watching from the side lines, we have often been amazed at the ideas they have come out with and the amazing insight they have. We adults could certainly learn a lot from them! 

For anyone who attended the event – we hope you enjoyed it and here are some photos of them showcasing their hard work… 

Meta Skills 

Integrity Imani

Critical Thinking Chris 

Curiosity Carlos

Sense-Making Samira 

Communicating Cate 

Collaborating Cora 

Articles

Article 12 – Respect for Children’s Views 

Article 24 – Health, Food, Water & Environment 

Article 29 – Aims of Education 

This morning we had a proper pond dipping session (in an actual pond!) at the Wetlands with Richard! Richard kindly put on this extra session for Kirkcolm boys and girls so we could have a chance to see all the actual wildlife present in the pond environment. It was a great way to spend the sunny morning and you can see from the photos: we managed to find a lot of interesting pond dwelling creatures! 🐟🦟🦗

Thank you so much for taking the extra time to do this for us Richard, it was a fantastic experience for the pupils and we are very grateful 🤗🤩😀

Meta Skills 

Initiative Ivy 

Curiosity Carlos

Sense-Making Samira 

Communicating Cate 

Articles

Article 6 – Life, Survival & Development 

Article 17 – Access to Information 

Article 24 – Health, Food, Water & Environment 

This week we went outside for some Rope work with Richard for our Forest Schools input!

We looked at how we could make use of the trees around us and create tension between ropes to create a swing and a tightrope! We took it in turns to delegate the job of swinging to the friends we trust the most! (very telling) And then we all had a turn on the tightrope… Some more successfully that others! 👏🚶‍♂️🚶‍♀️

Another great in put! We look forward to getting stuck into an Outdoor Games Day next week 🏀🥎🥍

Meta Skills 

Initiative Ivy 

Curiosity Carlos

Sense-Making Samira 

Communicating Cate 

Articles

Article 6 – Life, Survival & Development 

Article 17 – Access to Information 

Article 24 – Health, Food, Water & Environment 

Today we spent our Friday in the wonderful Logan Botanical Gardens! This is an annual trip for the pupils which allows them to explore the rich environment for learning that the gardens have to offer and they always have a wonderful time! 

P1-4 went on a Teddy Bear’s Picnic so they got to bring their cuddly toys with them and embark on a walk around the gardens following a bear and discussing what animals (and humans!) need to survive. They discussed SWAF! 

• Shelter 
• Water 
• Air
• Food

P5-7 explored aspects of photography by walking around the gardens and looking at how we can correctly frame a photo and capture the beauty of the nature around us! This ended in them taking some photos with some digital cameras! (which many pupils did not know how to use which made Mrs Morrison feel very old indeed…) 

It was a lovely day which ended with a picnic on the grass and a wee wander around the garden for the pupils. many thanks to the Botanical Gardens trust for inviting us along every year for this rich experience! 

Meta Skills 

Initiative Ivy 

Curiosity Carlos

Creativity Cassie 

Sense-Making Samira 

Communicating Cate 

Articles

Article 6 – Life, Survival & Development 

Article 17 – Access to Information 

Article 24 – Health, Food, Water & Environment 

Today P1-4, with the expert help and leadership from Miss Douglas and Miss Bennewith, tackled some viking recipes today! Pupils made viking bread and Viking cookies with some very authentic recipes sourced by Miss D, with perhaps a few fun tweaks! (who can say no to some chocolate chips!?) 🍪🍞

Looks like pupils had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed sampling the efforts of their labour! 😋

Meta Skills 

Initiative Ivy 

Curiosity Carlos

Leading Li

Communicating Cate 

Articles

Article 24 – Health, Food, Water & Environment