November 10, 2023
by Miss Douglas
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Kirkcolm Primary Remember

This morning Danny, Robert and Mr MacGregor, armed with willow, a hot glue gun and string banded together to create a wreath for Kirkcolm’s memorial. Despite their lack of prior experience I personally think they did a very impressive job! Even Mr MacGregor was stunned with his new talent and has plans to trim his own willow dome at home for more wreaths! Primary 5 – 7 coloured in some nice, bright poppies to add to our wreath too.

We took a walk up to the monument after breaktime to pay our respects and lay our wreath. We did a minute’s silence then we spoke about why it’s important to remember this date each year and how thankful we are to all of the servicemen/ women who have fought in every war around the world, even the one’s of today.

We also spoke about the symbol on the purple poppy and the boys are girls were able to explain that this represents the thanks we pay to the animals who die in war as well as men and women.

November 10, 2023
by Mrs Baillie
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Eco committee build new compost bin

This week our Eco committee took delivery of a new compost bin for the school.

Together, with Mrs Richardson, Steven, Ivan and Ruby built this and put it in the play ground for the school to use.

This compost bin was purchased with funding from Killgallioch wind farm – in conjunction with the Parent council and community council.

Thank you to Mrs Richardson for leading on this and well done team for your construction skills!

# responsible citizens

November 7, 2023
by Ms Whorlow
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Gardening Club Receives Well Deserved Recognition

Our Wonderful Mrs Richardson and the Kirkcolm Primary Gardening Crew have received just recognition from Connect for all their sterling work in our school community. Read all about it below!

Connect – Supporting Partnerships in Education

To mark our 75th anniversary, we are celebrating parent groups! This week, let’s raise a cheer for Kirkcolm Parent Council, School and Community for their fantastic garden and grounds project:

‘We have a successful garden project that started last year. The idea came from one of our Learning Assistants, who was keen to start an after school Garden Club. This included revitalising the garden (it’s a BIG space and was rather sad and neglected), planting vegetables, fruit, trees and flowers. Also, the hope was to set up a weather station that linked with the classroom to record and monitor data (STEM). The plan was to have chickens, new composting facilities, water butts to preserve our rainfall and to create new play areas.

The Parent Council was super excited about this and got fully onboard with helping planning, supporting funding applications and practical assistance. We were determined this would be a community project and it has encouraged us to engage with the wider community in new ways. We now have volunteers who have shared various skills with us, such as bird box and hedgehog home making. An ex-pupil brought his digger and cleared space for us to redevelop. A member of the school community did some free tree surgery for us. Another volunteer is going to wire up our IT connections, hopefully getting the kids involved to learn new skills. A local housing association assisted us with clearing weeds and rubbish. The local garden centre donated seeds and plants. These things all tie with the curriculum and current projects on employment skills and job opportunities. The response we’ve had to our requests for assistance is fantastic.’

We applied for a grant from windfarm money to our Community Council to cover the costs. They were extremely generous, allowing the project to move forwards. We now run a weekly garden club, the children are fully involved and we encourage them to bring their own ideas and take responsibility. This club is well-attended and we welcome parent and community volunteers; it’s a fantastic joined-up, inter-generational project.’

Just this week, the boys and girls have been busy constructing our new compost bin that has kindly been funded by

Kirkcolm community council with Wind Farm contribution. This will be used to recycle garden and suitable food waste from our dining hall and kitchen. Our Eco Committee are already on the case organising food collection bins and educating their classmates on what waste can recycled, thanks to advice from our wonderful Mrs Richardson.

Well done Team Kirkcolm!

UNCRC Rights of the Child:

Article 15 (Setting Up & Joining Groups), Article 24 (Health, Water, Food & Environment), 29 (Aims of Education)

November 3, 2023
by Miss Douglas
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P5-7 Visit the Stranraer College

Connecting with our community partners, DG STEM and DG College, our boys and girls along with P5-7 from Portpatrick and Leswalt primaries went along to our local college to participate in a carousel of workshops to develop their skills and experiences.

The children used their computational thinking skills through coding robotic Sphero balls. With its advanced sensors, programmable LED matrix, and innovative technology, our students were able to to explore their creativity, coding skills, and inventiveness. We practiced controlling our Spheros using speed and direction. We also adjusted variable settings for led arrays. We extended our learning to explore coding blocks to control our Sphero direction using angle, speed and time too! 💻👩‍💻⌨

Next on the agenda was a session on Using Tools For Construction. There was lots of enthusiasm to wield the hammers. We learned how to safely use different saws and hammers to construct a marble run. Working cooperatively, there was lots of evidence of planning, measuring, sawing and gluing to make our board puzzles. Everyone demonstrated collaboration, negotiation and cooperation skills throughout.
🔨📐🔧

Finally, the boys and girls visited the Childcare department. Here we explored a range of activities to develop social, mental, motor and artistic skills through a range of games and crafts. 🎨🖍🎭

Our thanks to DG College childcare staff and students for planning a great session, to the catering team for accommodating us and to Mrs Heron college manager for inviting us to visit. Thank you also to Miss Creighton and Mrs Hall from DG STEM for a great day!

UNCRC Rights of the Child – Article 29 Aims of Education

November 1, 2023
by Miss Douglas
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Kirkcolm’s Spooktacular Halloween

Today the boys and girls arrived at school in their scariest costumes ready for a fun-filled day ahead. The older pupils enjoyed some Halloween themed maths followed by some spooky reading comprehension. The younger ones had good fun with their Halloween maths then got their brains into gear with a Halloween scavenger hunt which went down a treat (pun intended!) The clues are below if the older ones fancy a wee shot too..

After lunch we kick started our Halloween party, organized by house captains – Sally, Danny, Lydia and Jack with a costume parade, and I must say I was very impressed with the efforts that everyone went to – well done! The contest was judged by our house captains who had the very difficult task of choosing a favourite from each primary! Winners were:
🎃😈🐺🧛‍♀️👻🦇

P1 – Parker Clive
P2 – Sally Warwick

P3 – Ross Warwick (winner) and Rory Calvert (runner up)

P4 – Callum Dougan
P5 – Lyle McCulloch

P6 – Ivan Turtle (who dressed as a turtle – I liked this idea a lot!! 🐢)

P7 – Steven Gillon

We then had fun playing musical chairs, spooky corners and pumpkin relays, where the boys and girls had to roll a tangerine back and forth across the hall using their noses (and yes, this was a funny to watch as it was to play!🍑) We then ‘dooked’ for apples (we apologies for any face paint that was ruined in the playing of this game haha!) and finished the afternoon with ‘best dancer’ who the house captains chose as Phoebe Manson and Robert McCubbin – great moves guys! 🕺💃

Ansley McClure from Kirkcolm Hub very kindly donated some left over cakes and sweet treats from their Halloween party last night for the boys and girls to enjoy to end our fabulous day, thank you so much for this – we are very grateful 🙂 🍰

Halloween Quiz:

Now you see me, now you don’t. Notice me hiding? Oh no you won’t! For I am invisible and like to hide too, only to come out at Halloween to say BOO! What am I?
Inside us all this red liquid keeps us alive, without it in our bodies we wouldn’t survive. What am I?
A bed for a vampire, not very comfy but it’ll do. No pillow, no mattress, more of a wooden box with no window and no view. What am I?
A figure made of bones, with a skull and all – we all have one inside of us and it grows as we get tall. No eyes balls left in my head; t hey’ve fallen out now I’m dead. What am I?
During full moons we appear, from the forests very near. We howl and we howl while continuing to prowl. Looking to kill with our sharp claws and ferocious jaws. What am I?
Great at taking flight, up high through the night, when the sun rises during the day, you won’t see me come out to play. What am I?
All wrapped in white, I would give you a fright. My bandages they hide the unknown inside. Buried in my tomb a thousand years ago, but sometimes you’ll notice that my eyes still glow. What am I?
Not used for sweeping or to brush, the witches all use me when in a rush. Up high in the sky the witches all fly, but that’s thanks to me, I think they’ll agree. What am I?
All orange and round I sit with my crooked smile, carve me any way you like, with your favourite style. What am I?
Up the waterspout I climb, one of my 8 legs at a time. Busy catching insects for tea and making webs in a tree. What am I?

October 14, 2023
by Ms Whorlow
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Our Eco Code and Eco Mascot Competition Winners

We are proud to share the winning entries for our Eco-Code and Eco-Mascot competitions.

The boys and girls had to create their own characters and mission pledges in support of our Eco Schools Action plan for 2003 – 2025.

The standard of entries was very high and everyone’s efforts received high praise.

Eco Mascot Winner – Rory

Eco Code Winner – Paige

Well done Rory and Paige!

UNCRC Rights of the Child – Article 29: Aims of Education

October 6, 2023
by Ms Whorlow
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Bonfire Safety Talk

Primary 5 – 7 from Kirkcolm and Portpatrick came together to take part in a Bonfire safety talk with Robert McCrorie from our local fire station.

Robert advised on how to behave responsibly with fireworks such as sparklers. Did you know that they can burn 15 times hotter than a kettle. Robert told us to wear gloves, and safety glasses if we have them, tie hair back and don’t pick a sparkler up. He said to put used sparklers in a bucket of sand or water.

We talked about what we can and can’t put on a bonfire. We know not to put aerosol cans on as they can explode. Although we can use newspapers, we can’t burn magazines as they give off damaging gases. We also can’t use straw bales as the lit stems can blow away and start a fire elsewhere. Robert told us what to do if our clothing catches fire. Ivan ably demonstrated how to Stop – Drop – Roll.

We are creating entries for the Firework Safety Competition to raise awareness of how to keep ourselves safe during the Bonfire celebrations.

Our thanks to Robert for taking the time to help us stay safe. 🙂

: Informative Talk

: Ivan Demonstrates Stop-Drop-Roll

: Our Competition Entries

We learned about how to be safe, be kind and be smart with fireworks and bonfires.

UNCRC Rights of the Child – Article 29 Aims of Education

October 5, 2023
by Ms Whorlow
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Barsolus Trip

What a great trip we had to Barsolus today! Primary 7 were kindly invited to visit Gillian and the crew to learn how plants benefit humans and how farming practices work from field to fork.

Gillian explained about the seasonality of different crops and how Barsolus need to time planting of vegetables such as Brussel Sprouts perfectly so they are ready to harvest for our Christmas dinners!

Our pupils also found out how different varieties of vegetables impacts on soil health over time. As a result farmers are required to rotate crop growing on field every three years or so. We also talked about taking care not to release too much carbon from soil through the use of NPK fertilisers.

We learned about cooperative arrangements with Girvan Early Growers who rent fields from Barsolus for carrot growing. They don’t have enough land around Girvan, so hire fields to grow and harvest their own crops.

Barsolus talked about working in more environmentally sustainable ways through the Government’s ‘greening policy’. Barsolus have chosen to interpret their green action by leaving areas to grow and develop naturally. Farmers have options on what solution they choose. Gillian also chatted about reducing the chemicals added to soil through the need to change to using less damaging types of fertiliser.

We had a game of ‘identify the veg’. The children were very knowledgeable. We then had a carrot pulling competition to see who could pick the biggest carrot. Scott chose three category winners:

Biggest carrot – Cara
Fattest carrot – Atticus
Longest carrot – Stephen

Cara was declared the supreme carrot champion.

Gillian very generously let the children fill a bag of veggie goodness to take home. There’ll be a few pots of soup on the go tonight. 🙂

Our thanks go to Wilma Benson for very ably escorting Leswalt and helping out our group.

We can’t thank Barsolus enough for a fabulous learning experience right on our doorstep!

UNCRC Rights of the Child – Article 24 Health, Food & The Environment

September 29, 2023
by Miss Douglas
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A Big Welcome to Portpatrick!

After storm Agnew left Portpatrick school looking and feeling very soggy they have decided to come to Kirkcolm until it dries out!

Kirkcolm boys and girls were absolutely delighted with this news and had lots of fun making new friends and reconnecting with old ones. It was so lovely to see the two schools getting on together. With the nice weather this afternoon (quite literally the calm after the storm) we decided to head outside and make the most of it while we can, playing a mixed game of rounders :🎾 I must say, there might not be many of them but Port Patrick certainly can hold their own 👏

We are all looking forward to having them stick around as long as they need to until their wee school is back up and running!

We also welcomed back another familiar face today as Vladislav re-joined the P1-4 class. Miss Douglas and the class were very happy to have his smiley little face back with us and it looks like he feels the same 🙂!