Kirkcolm Primary School

PC Wilson visited P4-7 last week as part of their current Health and Wellbeing topic to raise awareness of drugs. Most pupils thought of drugs as all being bad for you, so she explained the different types of drugs that exist, including medicines. She showed pupils a box of replica drugs which led into a discussion about the differences between legal and illegal drugs. Pupils were amazed that some looked just like everyday pills you might take for hayfever, for example – hence it was emphasised that you should never take drugs if they aren’t from a safe and trusted person or place such as the doctor or pharmacy and always follow the instructions. Pupils had lots of questions for PC Wilson that they had prepared in advance of her visit and were keen to find out more.

Thanks to PC Wilson for taking the time to pop into school to tell pupils how to keep themselves safe and help them in becoming responsible citizens.

As part of our Digital Learning Week celebrations, P4-7 participated in a collaborative story. The class were given the opening, which told the story of Doctor Xenon who discovered a mysterious object and hoped to use it to prove the existence of life elsewhere in the solar system.  Pupils had to work together to continue the story – but not finish it, as this was the job of Portpatrick and Leswalt!!

Our responsible Digital Leaders also organised lunch time ICT clubs, teaching younger pupils to login and make Powerpoints, and older pupils about coding. Lots of pupils were keen to attend, even though the sun was shining!

Mrs Carol Moyes from the Raise team (Raising Aspirations in STEM Education) paid the school a visit to teach pupils how to use the Green Screen. She first worked with P1-4 then P4-7, showing them how to take a video against the green screen, upload it to the computer and use the chroma key to remove the green background and add in different effects. Pupils were amazed to see how we can make the video look as if we are in the Bahamas when we are actually in our classroom at Kirkcolm!!

We have had a great week developing our digital skills and thanks must go to our Digital Leaders for helping to organise events.

On Thursday the boys and girls at Kirkcolm Primary from p5, 6 and 7 went to Green Valley to compete in the Schools annual Cross Country Competition. All pupils were given the choice to run either the mile or Half mile. Well done to Robin McAuley who finished 1^st and Finlay Nelson who finished 3^rd in the boys 1 mile race. We also had girls, boys and mixed relay teams entered into the competition. Well done to everyone who took part, Super effort! I can only imagine there were some tired boys and girls last night.

Relay Teams

Girls – Izzy Keith, Michaela Lyon and Ivy Richardson

Boys – Robin McAuley, Finlay Nelson and Daniel Hall

Mixed – Ruth Turtle, Guy Butler and Innes Dench

Kirkcolm Primary enjoyed a fantastic trip to Logan Botanic Gardens where they got to go on their very own bear hunt and participate in a digital photography lesson.

Pupils in P1-4 were hunting for the Chief Teddy – Edward-  who had invited them along to teach them what their own teddy ( and other animals ) would need to survive in the woods. The expert team at the gardens taught the children all the secrets of SWAF. SWAF stands for Shelter, Water, Air and Food and without them the animals wouldn’t be able to survive.

Every Picture Tells a Story.

p4-7 were taken for a digital photography lesson. They explored what made a good photograph and discussed the variety of techniques which could be used. After the lesson, pupils set off and started to plan their own photograph with their very own view finders.

Thank you to everyone at Logan Gardens, we had a brilliant morning.

The whole school headed out on the last day of term, armed with litter pickers and bags to help keep the community tidy (and just as well, as our large metal paper recycling bin had blown over during the night with the high winds, so there was lots of paper to pick up in the playground alone!).

After clearing the playground, the boys and girls headed down to the beach to collect further litter that had been washed up on the shore.

Thank must go to Kerry Monteith from D&G Council, who provided us with the litter pickers and collected the bags of rubbish afterwards.

Kirkcolm Primary was delighted to have a visit from Wendy Cuff and her team who were out and about to promote the Skiffie World Championships that are due to take place in Stranraer from the 7-13^th of July 2019.

Our visitors explained to us a little bit about the history of the Skiff and how it was made. The children were fascinated to learn that the boat was only made by hand from glue and wood. Pupils were given a chance to sit inside the boat where they were given a quick lesson on how to row.

Huge thank you to our visitors, we can’t wait to come and join in on the fun during the festival.

On Thursday afternoon something egg-citing happened in Primary 1-4 at Kirkcolm Primary. The boys and girls had an Easter egg hunt.

Working in teams, the pupils could only collect one egg at a time and return it to their desks.

P1 were using egg-cellent phonic skills to help them read the signs and find the eggs. Some pupils had to complete challenges to obtain eggs. Mrs Jardine had a special egg worth two points, however the pupils had to correctly spell “Easter” to get it (well done Alfie).

Congratulations to the winning duo Amy and Alfie who went home with an Easter egg each. All pupils were given a cream egg each and of course we shared out the chocolate from the spare Easter egg.  Above are some pictures of the egg-tastic time we all had.

Kirkcolm pupils took to the stage on Tuesday for 2 superb performances of ‘Sleeping Beauty – The Ugly Truth.’ The show tells the story of Princess Tiffany, born into a palace of ‘Beautiful Ones’ only concerned with their appearance, who has a curse cast upon her by Wanda the Witch. The princess is not like everyone else and falls in love with the scruffy gardener’s son, Alfie Mulcher. When she pricks her finger on a rose thorn, it is not only she who falls into a deep sleep, but the whole of the kingdom. It is down to Alfie to wake the Princess and save all of Bella Vista. 

Pupils have worked extremely hard over the last 6 weeks to learn lines, lyrics and actions to entertain the audience and bring the show to life – and they certainly didn’t disappoint! 

They performed to a packed hall of families, friends and Leswalt and Portpatrick pupils, who were all throughly entertained and impressed with the singing and theatrics on display. 

A huge well done must go to the boys and girls for all their hard work. You have truly earned your Easter break!! 

Pupils are delighted to now have access to their wonderful new play equipment. After years of planning I’m sure you will all agree it looks brilliant and the pupils think it’s pretty great too. A huge thank you to Tesco- Bags of help community grant scheme, Kirkcolm Primary Parent Council, Grounds for Learning  and Dumfries and Galloway Council as well as everyone else who was involved in creating and funding the project.  What a fantastic space for the pupils.