Kirkcolm Primary School

On Monday the 10th of March, our own little Rory headed down to the Galloway Music Festival to compete in the competition following his fantastic results in Kirkcolm’s own Burns competition in January. Those who know Rory will know that he is no stranger to the stage and although feeling a little nervous to be competing against so many other boys and girls from across the region he certainly didn’t let this stop him! 🤩🎤

Although many of us by now have probably forgotten some of the poems that we worked so hard to recite by memory in January, Rory has been working hard to keep the words to his poem “The Magic Pizza” fresh in his mind. His actions, clear voice and expression won him first place in the recital competition – an absolutely “magic” achievement; and he came home with a glass trophy for his efforts, a muckle, cheesy grin of his own and earned himself a take-away dinner.  (sadly this was not a pizza haha!) 👏🍕

Rory has also been working hard out with school to learn the piano and also went on to compete in the in another competition where he placed 2nd – what a successful day for Rory!! He also enjoyed listening to the other boys and girls recite their poems and listen to their songs and is already looking forward to finding out what Scots poem Mrs Baillie has instore for him next year! 🎹🎤⭐

For Rory’s superfans his next gig will be on Friday at the Comic Relief Talent Show, along with lots of other talented superstars –  please come along and be entertained! 🔴

UNCRC Article 31 – I have a right to rest, relax and play
Meta Skills – Collaborating Cora 

Today P5-7 were very lucky to be invited along with the other schools in the area to attend the Music for All input at the Ryan Centre! The workshop was led by Andrea and Georgie of ‘Ad Libitum’ – an accordion and violin duo who delighted the pupils with live music for the entire afternoon. 

Pupils enjoyed hearing some professionals serenade them with works from Vivaldi and Bach over the course of the afternoon before getting to ask them lots of question at the end! 

Meta Skills:

Curiosity Carlos 

Focusing Fergus 

Articles:

Article 31 – Rest, Play, Culture & Arts 

With this week being Science Week – we decided to hold an open afternoon to invite in parents and friends of the pupils to celebrate all the wonders of science with us! 🧪🔎🔬

We had 4 stations for everyone to work around. These included; 

• Our Rapid Freeze Ice Cream Experiment – a look into how with a little science and a LOT of shaking, we could make our very own ice cream in school in just 15 minutes! 
• Home Made Lava lamps – a fun little experiment that allowed us to explore the wonders of chemical reactions! 
• Spheros – We had our Spheros charged up ready to go and our assault course made up to challenge everyone! (with some added K’Nex and Kapla construction challenges) 
• Egg Drop Challenge – can they design something to cushion and save an egg from a 2 metre drop!?

We had a wonderful afternoon altogether, getting stuck in and working together. We are very grateful for everyone who took the time out of their busy afternoons to come spend some time with us and we hope to welcome you all back in soon! 😊

Meta Skills:

Curiosity Carlos

Collaborating Cora 

Communicating Cate 

Articles:

Article 28 – Access to Education

Article 29 – Aims of Education

Here are some photos of todays fun: 

As part of their RME topic learning about the Hindu festival of Holi, P5-7 pupils donned some very old clothing and headed outside on Tuesday afternoon to take part in paint throwing! Pupils learned all about the origins of the festival and how Hindus celebrate this by lighting bonfires and throwing colourful paint powder at each other, so we thought we’d have a go ourselves! Have a keek below at the fun in action! Apologies if any children still have bright red or blue faces and hands today!!

Today we sent away a few of our math’y brained individuals to represent the school at the ‘Enterprising Maths Challenge’ held at Stranraer Academy. Ivan, Arran and Alistair went away to represent the school (and a huge shout out to Arran who stepped up to the challenge last minute this morning!) and take part in a day centred around all things maths.

Pupils had to create a posted themed around Codes & Ciphers, partake in problem solving challenges and play Head-to-Head – a game based around math logic and strategy. Our pupils worked hard to try and do the preparation beforehand with a tough task for the poster ahead of them! 

The boys gave it their best shot and had a smashing time putting their brains to the test! 🧠

Meta Skills:

Curiosity Carlos

Collaborating Cora 

Communicating cate 

Focusing Fergus 

Articles:

Article 28 – Access to Education

Article 29 – Aims of Education

Today we welcomed PC McGregor into the school to have a chat with the boy and girls about issues surrounding road safety. It has come to light that there have been some reports of speeding in the village of Kirkcolm! 🚗🚓

In a bid to ensure everyone’s safety, she introduced some pop up ‘Road Bairns’ to help to deter speeding and remind people that this is a wee village with a school right on it’s edge! The boys and girls would be in charge of putting these out everyday to help keep our our roads nice and safe!🚸

We were very grateful for PC McGregor for coming out to speak to us and giving us this chat! 👮‍♀️

Since today was World Book Day, we here at Kirkcolm could not miss an opportunity to celebrate all things book and reading related! Pupil council worked hard with the library monitors to organise a book sale to take place in the morning slot. Pupils across the school kindly donated fantastic books in fab condition that they had perhaps outgrown and other pupils (and staff!) were able to snap these up to give them a new home! 😁

P1-4 also engaged in a book quiz in the morning and a Wigtown Book Festival live streamed lesson all about the ‘Museum Mystery Squad’ 😎🤔 by MIke Nicholson! The upper class took part in the designing book tokens competition (with some juice and crisps) and enjoyed their Wigtown Book Festival live stream in the afternoon, also by Mike Nicholson, and his novel Catscape. 😺😼

What a fabulous day filled with reading! A huge thank you to all the families who donated to the book sale and our hard working librarians for organising everything! 📚

Meta Skills:

Communicating Cate

Creativity Cassidy

Articles:

Article 31 – Rest, Play & Culture

Article 28 – Access to Education

A huge well done to Fallon and Lyle, who last night, took tot he stage at the Ryan Centre to represent Kirkcolm in the annual Rhins Burns Federation Event. This event showcases the best of the Burns winners at each school across our wee area! 

The bravery these pupils displayed at this event was fantastic, Fallon did an excellent rendition of ‘We Frenly Dug’ on the stage with excellent expression and actions in the P3-5 category. Lyle went on to dazzle with a fantastically dramatic performance of ‘A Dug, A Dug’ in the P6-7  category. 🐶

Despite both pupils getting a resounding round of applause for their efforts at school, they did not manage to secure any placing on the night but that doesn’t stop us being incredibly proud of them and all their achievements! 

Well done Fallon & Lyle! 😊

Today we welcomed Jack and Linnea back into the classroom! …but not for long…

As part of their work with the pupils exploring the campus and the setting of the school, we all got bundled up and ventured down to the beach (first in a long time) to discuss ways pupils engage with learning about the environment and what they do know about climate change. 🌊🏝️

It was great to be able to soak up some of the cold sunshine today and show off what our school and community has to offer! ☀️

We look forward to welcoming them back next week to continue our work together…

Gillian from Lighthouse Musicians visited P1-4 today for another wonderful session. Today she was accompanied by John the Bagpiper, who showed pupils his bagpipes and played a demo for them. They had great fun learning about the different parts of the bagpipes and how they work, getting to try the chanter and getting to try on some typical bagpiper attire! Orla even treated the class to some Highland Dancing alongside the bagpipes! We had a great morning!