"Anchored in Excellence"
The boys and girls had a special treat today. Kim brought her puppies in for the children to see. There were lots of ‘ahhhs’ to be heard and more than enough cuddles to go round.
# Cuteness Overload
After a long delay due to Covid, the annual Primary 7 Rotary Lunch event recommenced today.
Ava Lily and Izzy represented Portpatrick at this year’s event where the guest speakers were Bejing Olympic Gold and Silver Curling Medallists Vicky Wright (Gold), Bobby Lammie (Silver) and Hammy McMillan (Silver).
The girls enjoyed a tasty lunch of Tomato soup or fruit juice, followed by fish and chips and a wee cup of tea. This was followed by a Q & A session with our Olympians. They talked about practicing for about 7 hours a day, five days a week and travelling a lot for competitions. The curling sports heroes said that they were first introduced to curling by attending the curling club at the North West Castle in Primary 7. So, now is about the time for anyone interested in curling as a sport to think about joining.
The girls represented our school well, chatting easily with a member of the Rotary Club, who joined us at our table throughout the event.
A Brief Recount By Ava Lily & Izzy
We first sat down with a club member and were served our starters. Through conversation, we learned about what the Rotary Club does and we talked about what we do at school. We asked the curlers about tips for curling and more!
We had a lovely lunch and participated in a raffle for a chance to win a curling T-shirt and a signed photo. We also got our menus signed by the Olympic medallists and got Team GB flags. The event was really enjoyable.
# Responsible Citizens
It was Schools’ Week at Logan Gardens on Friday.
Our whole school ventured to the botanical gardens for a wonderful outdoor experience:
P1-4 enjoyed a fun morning at Logan Gardens with ranger Kate. Our activity was called The Teddy Bear’s Picnic and we had to take along with us our favourite stuffed toys. We learned about something called S.W.A.F. This stood for Shelter, Water, Air and Food, all the things our bears needed for survival. We then enjoyed some fun activities using our senses including Musical Trees, a Rainbow Nature Search and building an island for our bears to live on.
Primary 5 – 7 learned about the different parts of a flower. Using some creative props, we learned all about how pollination works in plants and our best friends – the bees – who play such an essential role in this. We then used magnifying glasses and coloured overlay glasses (that were extremely reminiscent of the early 3D movie days!) to study different flowers in the gardens and see how they appealed to insects. We also had some practise being our own squirrels and storing away our nuts for the Winter.
Finally, everyone enjoyed our pack lunches, surrounded by the beauty of the gardens, before toddling back off on our bus to head back to school.
The activities Support learning for Sustainability and the UNCRC Rights of the Child; namely education and learning about life on land and our environment as well as taking part in social activities to support our Health & Wellbeing.
We cannot thank the Botanical Garden Team enough for the fabulous day we had. It was so informative and such fun for the pupils and adults!
# Successful Learners
Whilst our 5 – 7 pupils were away learning about managing risk at Kirkcolm today as part of their Health & Wellbeing topic, P1 – 4 got busy in the sunshine by deciding to spring clean our village. The children eagerly collected litter on our beach and in our playpark to help protect life on land and life at sea as part of our Eco Schools work.
# Responsible Citizens
The sun shone, the pupils listened and the presentations were informative and fun – safe to say the North Rhins Partnership Safety morning was the most resounding success!
This term’s Health and Well-Being focus for the upper primaries was centred on Risk-Taking Behaviour; in short, what to do if faced with an emergency situation. Having discussed this as a staff, it was felt there was no better plan than to get as many local emergency services as possible together to offer the pupils a first-hand experience directly from those who dealt with such situations. And what a response we got from the community! No less than seven presenters offered their time covering RNLI, Police, Ambulance, Fire Service, Coastguard, Scottish Power and Farming!
Working in small groups and armed with a clipboard for note-taking; the pupils moved round each station in 15 minute slots. Listening to the presentations, finding out about the kits carried by each service and asking their pre-prepared questions – the groups collected a wealth of information.
Summing up the morning, Mrs Baillie led the group in talking about these jobs based in their local community, considering the many employability skills required and discussing whether the jobs were paid careers or voluntary. It was interesting for the children to understand the value of volunteer work and giving back to their community.
All in all, it was an excellent morning of learning in the sunshine with friends. And, they are all a great deal more safety savvy now too!
A huge thank you must go to all of the services for giving up their time – one having come off their fourth night shift! Their input was most welcome by us all.
Enjoy flicking through the photos below to see for yourselves.
# Responsible Citizens
Today saw the return of the annual cluster cross country event for Primary 5 to 7 pupils at Green Valley.
Children from all our local schools came together to compete the following distance events:
Primary 5 Boys ½ mile approx.
Primary 5 Girls ½ mile approx.
Primary 6 Boys 1 mile approx.
Primary 6 Girls 1 mile approx.
Primary 7 Boys 1 mile approx.
Primary 7 Girls 1 mile approx.
Our Competitors – Oops, where’s Alba hiding? 😉
We are pleased to announce that everyone successfully completed the course. There was even some medals brought home:
P7 Girl’s Race 1st Place – Izzy White
P7 Girl’s Race 3rd Place – Ava Lily
Medal Winners
Race Time!
Mrs Dignan was very pleased with the fantastic sportsmanship and team spirit displayed by our pupils. There was much encouraging and support demonstrated by our responsible pupils. Well done to everyone!
OUr thanks to Alison Murray, Active Schools and Community Sports Coordinator and all the volunteers for organising a super event.
We Are All Winners
# Effective Contributors
Portpatrick Primary Pupils embraced the environment today as they participated in Earth Day 2022. This year’s theme is ‘Invest In Our Planet’. We learned about this day of action in our school assembly and by watching a special edition of Newsround.
Primary 1 – 4 decided to apply maths skills in a bug hunt to identify as many species of insect life they could find in our school environment. The younger children observed our bug hotel, peeked below pieces of wood and stones and looked in bushes and wall crevasses to find as many little critters as they could see. The found wood lice, ladybugs, ants and more! This demonstrates that all of our work to support biodiversity as part of our Eco Schools targets is proving successful.
P5 – 7 used technology and a printed leaf guide to help identify the species of trees around us. We used the Google Lens app to photograph snapshots of unknown kinds of tree leaves. The app then searched the internet and identified the tree type. We found Rowan, Ash, Birch, Hazel and Alder to name but a few. Of-course, we have also recently planted a range of trees courtesy of the Woodland Trust and the Incredible Edible project, so we have boosted our natural habitat diversity of species very well. All the new saplings are healthy and thriving. We gave them a wee water to keep them in tip-top condition.
Our creative Primary 7 pupils, Lilly and Ava Lily, who form our B.E.A. (Being Equal to All) action group, used their I.T. skills to independently design their own scavenger hunt challenge for the whole school to enjoy. The children had to find a range of natural objects to immerse themselves in their natural environment. Lilly and Ava Lily then organised a Golden Egg Hunt. The girls awarded hand crafted bookmarks, with an Earth Day theme, to the winning pair (one pupil from each class). Our happy winning pair were Jack and Stephen.
At the end of the day, every pupil received 3 potatoes to take home and grow. This is part of the national Dandelion project with 500 schools across Scotland participating in The Big Tattie Experiment. If you would like to read more about this initiative, click here.
# Responsible Citizens
Easter entertainment for the boys and girls was very much the order of the day at Portpatrick Primary on our last day of term
The children arrived with wonderful egg-tastic creations for our fun family STEM activity of decorating an egg themed model . The display of imagination and inventiveness was impressive!
Mrs Henry had a very hard time choosing a winner as the standard of entries was so high.
The winners were announced at the end of the day as follows:
Primary 1 – 4
Primary 5 – 7
Thank you to our families for supporting this activity.
Next on the agenda was egg decorating for everyone. Sleeves were rolled up and the paints, pens and glitter were in abundance as the children let their creativity flow. Once everyone’s eggs were ready, there was the traditional rolling the eggs down the hill.
The children enjoyed putting their aprons on to create Eater nest cakes. They considered the ‘changing state’ properties of chocolate to create these delicious treats.
A surprise emailed letter arrived for the pupils from Dumfries and Galloway Council: Click on the image to enlarge.
The children got busy with their scissors and rulers, cutting the grass to the required 5cm.
Noting the date, Mrs Baillie shared a very important message with the children announcing that due to low attendance as a result of Covid, the holidays have been cancelled.
There were gasps of disbelief until a collective sigh of relief was heard from the children when soon after they received this follow up message…
The children then quickly twigged that they had also been pranked earlier with the grass cutting escapade. Still, at least we linked the activity to outdoor maths and measure 😉
Watch the children’s reaction:
After break, the children were busy with rotation activities, learning about the Easter Story as part of RME. The children also enjoyed some crafty time, making Easter bonnets.
Next on the agenda for our Fresh Air Friday was an Easter Egg Hunt and egg roll. This required speed and teamwork as the children hunted the school grounds to find as many eggs of their team’s colour as possible in the time given. There was a wee prize for each team.
Everyone had a blast (and there was some sneaky learning too!)
Happy Easter Everyone!
The children in Primary 1 – 4 have been working hard on producing a radio show transmission with Dumfries and Galloway Youth Music Group as part of our Feis Rois traditional music programme.
This radio show is the culmination of a block of sessions which focussed on the development of early music and communication skills and health & wellbeing and promotes the enjoyment of music. Singing games, exploring musical instruments and games were included in each session.
We are pleased to introduce to you, the Port P Pupils Show
# Confident Individuals
We are taking part in the Incredible Edible Project. This project received funding from Dumfries and Galloway Council to support ‘food in the community’ projects.
Mrs Dapney of Stranraer Community Gardeners, came to our school today, accompanied by two gentlemen from the council to help us plant an orchard of fruit trees. We had different varieties of dessert and crab apple trees, plum and pear.
This project provides opportunities for interdisciplinary learning. As part of Social Studies, the boys and girls are exploring how we can live in more environmentally friendly ways, caring for the environment. Additionally, fitting in with our science experiences and outcomes, the children learned what these trees need in order to grow and survive. They children discovered how each sapling is actually grown from two trees. The fruit tree variety is grafted on to the root system of a quince tree as the quince has a stronger root base, making a healthier plant.
We talked about the importance of bees in pollinating the flowers on the fruit trees to allow fruit to grow. These trees will help support our bee polulation, supporting our Eco Schools biodiversity target.
Everyone got stuck in, planting the trees, taking care to cover the root system with soil. The children then turned the removed turf upside down and repositioned it so that the tree and the grass are not competing for moisture.
After a good watering from the council supplied bowser, the boys and girls stood back and admired the ‘fruits of their labours’. Hopefully, in one to two years, we should see some success and be able to enjoy a harvest of different fruits.
Thank you to the two council gentlemen who helped do the hard work of digging the holes. Thank you also to Mrs Dampney for organising this lovely project.
We are supporting biodiversity.
Have a look at the fun we had:
# Effective Contributors.
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