Portpatrick Primary

Yesterday we participated in The BBC Authors Live Event in partnership with Book Week Scotland where pupils were able to listen to James Robertson and Catriona Lexy Campbell read out renditions of The Gruffalo in both Scots and Gaelic.

There were lots of giggles as we discussed our favourite Scots words and we even learnt some new Gaelic words.

We were lucky enough to be watching Live and even Tweeted BBC Scotland Learning to let them know we were watching and we even got a little retweet.  If anyone who uses twitter would like to follow Miss McGeoch’s professional account the handle is @MissMcGeoch.

As part of our Book Week Scotland celebrations (which runs from 18^th-24^th November), P1-3 parents were invited into school this afternoon as part of the Bookbug (P1) / Read, Write, Count (P2-3) initiatives. Parents spent time exploring the contents of the bags and discussing ways in which the resources could be used to develop pupils’ literacy and numeracy at home. We also had a look at the ‘Parent Club’ website which gives further examples of activities to do at home using the resources.

An excited bunch of P1-3 pupils then joined us and were gifted with their bags. Pupils were desperate to get into their bags and see what it contained! Having sat patiently, we then headed to the classroom where pupils explored the goodies they were given – some were reading books; others were playing games of rockets & meteors or top trumps; and some were using story cubes to create imaginative silly stories!

Later in the week to continue the Book Week Scotland celebrations, P4-7 pupils will be doing some paired reading with P1-3, as suggested by the Pupil Council, and some pupils will be watching the Authors Live event which tells the story of the Gruffalo in Scots. We are all looking forward to getting together to enjoy some stories and share in our love of reading!

On Friday the 15^th November the boys and girls at Portpatrick Primary helped to raise money for BBC Children In Need. Our theme this year was “Pudsey goes to

work”. Pupils came to school dressed up as what they wanted to be when they grow up. There were some magnificent costumes, from YouTube sensations to Artists and Vets. Pupils brought in cakes for the cake sale, participated in the colouring competition and even tried to guess the name of the bear.

At 10:30am the whole school invited in Mums, Dads, Grannies and Grandads to join in with our “Pan

cakes for Pudsey” event. Pupils made pancakes in t

he morning and then decorated th

em with some delicious toppings.

Well done to Primary 1-4 who organised the fundraising as part of their topic this term.  A special thank you to Alba, Izzy and Lewis who brought in cakes for the cake sale and everyone who came along to support the event.

The total amount raised was … £ 222.42

Phenomenal amount for such a small school !

Winners ;

Colouring Competition- Tilly

Guess the name of the bear – Ros

e

Best Dressed p1-4 – Stephen (P1) Doctor

Best dressed p4-7 – Findlay (P7) YouTuber

 

Photos

to follow…

Portpatrick Team Photo

The BIG event , Pancakes with Pudsey

 

Our Prize Winners….

Well done to Isabella White for being ranked 9th in the top ten student Sumdog players in this week’s regional Sumdog’s online maths challenge!

1530 pupils participated with 401,864 maths questions answered. So this is no small feat by Izzy!

P4-7 also achieved a high ranking; 14th on the class leader board from 112 class entries (70 qualifying).  Keep on calculating!

#Successful learners

 

 

 

 

P4-7 have been having a great time exploring new software to support their learning in literacy.

The children have been researching Christmas traditions in France as part of our Modern Languages topic for this term.  We have used Book Creator to publish an information book on their findings.

We selected a template design, imported appropriate images, recorded pronunciations and used the ‘read to me’ function to dictate auto text entry.

We have created a library of our books.  Your child will be sending you an email with an invitation link in it to allow you to view their personal creation. Why not scan the QR below to have a read of some examples for yourself!  There may even be a song to entertain you from Ruby and Maya.

#Successful Learners

 

 

Today marks the day WWI ended, at 11 a.m. on the 11th day of the 11th month, in 1918.

The whole school came together to remember the members of our armed forces who have served, and still do serve us around the world today.

We talked about what the poppies we wear represent.  We also discussed why we raise money by selling poppies to help and support those who have made sacrifices.

We shared how we observed the two minute silences held around the country yesterday for Remembrance Sunday.  Some children were at church, some were in the supermarkets and some marked the occasion in their own homes.

We all stood together today and held a one minute silence to show our respect and thanks.

#Responsible Citizens

As part of Outdoor Learning Day, P4-7 visited our local Post Office shop today.  Margaret, the manager of the shop, kindly gave permission for our pupils to carry out a budget challenge working with money on the premises, working with real stock.  We made use of what is is our local environment to engage with real-life learning.

The children were given a choice of budget with which to select and plan party food and drink for our imagined class party.  They had to choose and cost items on the shelves, decide how many of each item was needed for our group and, thus, give a total unit cost.  They then had to find a final cost for all their selected the party items to determine whether they had kept to their budget.  If they were over budget, they were required to make decisions as to what items to keep or swap for alternatives.

The session was very productive; providing a real life context for using money.  Margaret was keen to lend a hand and help the children make decisions on their ‘purchases’.

Our thanks go to the staff at our local Post Office – community participation!  Morning shoppers were happy to see a productive team in action.

# Successful Learners

 

 

Portpatrick Primary have had a great learning boost as a result of our links with local Industry employer, Lactalis McLelland.

Mr Nick Dietz, HR Manager, very kindly donated 5 Ipad minis to our school to help support our digital literacy development.

The children are thrilled to be able to now access a wider range of technology to enhance our learning across the curriculum.

Mr Dietz gave his time to talk to the children about the skills for work that a company such as our local creamery look for in an employee. He also chatted about how science, technology, engineering and maths are used to run an efficient organisation;  making the cheeses we all know and love.

We are keen to expand the quantities of Ipads we hold to allow greater engagement.  To this aim, the school is pursuing funding options to allow us to do so.  Watch this space…

A very big thank you is given to Mr Dietz and Lactalis McLelland for their generosity.

Lactalis McLelland#Effective Contributor

P7 had a grand time this morning as they were given the chance to layer up and head out to the North West Castle for a morning of curling. They got an opportunity to glide around, sweep the ice and slide the stones along and then got straight down to business for a mini session of games!

Finally all the boys and girls mixed up for a final game and although our Portpatrick pair gave a noble performance, it was Leswalt that took the title.

The P7’s had a great time – many thanks must go to Mrs Thorburn for transporting them and supervising them this morning.