Portpatrick Primary

Well done to Callum and Finn who won the Bronze medal for Boys’ Doubles at the Rhins-Machars Badminton competition yesterday!

P1-4 had  ‘fun’ in Science on Tuesday making poop! They have been learning all about their bodies and what is inside! On Tuesday afternoon, they learned about the human digestive system!

The demonstration started off with making some yummy peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. We cut it with scissors to represent our front teeth. Then we used a masher as our back teeth. Then we used water as saliva! Nice! We repeated this action for a healthy banana and then added a drink of hot chocolate! The food went down the oesophagus and entered the stomach (zip lock bag). Here we added some acid (cola) and churned the bag with our hands. It then went into the small intestine (a leg of tights) where all the liquid (nutrients) left into the tray. Then the solid waste went into the large intestine which took the remaining liquid. After that we used a black bag to represent the rectum. Then the big finale – the food came out the anus (cut hole in the black bag!)

I don’t think they will now forget about the steps in the digestive system!

Lot of laughter and great fun was had by all!

The annual Burns club competition was held recently in the Ryan Centre in Stranraer.  It was a very difficult job for the judges, as the standard of recitations and singing was very high – from every school in the area.

However,  Portpatrick Primary pupils returned to school , triumphant!

Lachlan was 2nd in his poetry class, Mia was 3rd for her singing and Abbigale won her singing class!

As well as that, Abbigale went on to win the trophy for the best singer and Portpatrick Primary school won the trophy for best performing school.

Well done to Lachlan, Mia, Lara, and Abbigale – we are very proud of you all.

You have shown everyone what stars you are!

Primary 5-7 recently had a fun filled 3 days away to Lockerbie, where they took part in a range of different physical activities.  The children were full of enthusiasm – and smiles!  Have a look at the photographs to see all the fun we got up to  -(this is only a small selection of the 1000 photographs we actually took!)

This afternoon the school nurse, Debbie Brown, came to chat to P1-4. We talked about ways in which to keep our bodies healthy and good ‘fuel’ to put into our bodies too.

The pupils had fun organising the ‘Eat Well’ plate and putting food into the correct food group category. We thought about some types of food which might fit into two categories. The children had lots of ideas for healthy snacks which are good for our bodies and our teeth – nice to see they had been listening well yesterday during our Teeth lesson!

We also looked at the body and what we can do to make ourselves be the best we can be. Exercise and keeping clean were two important points; remembering to cut those nails and keeping a close look-out for any signs of head lice too.

A truly healthy couple of days for the pupils of P1-4. Now they know lots about squeaky clean, fit bodies and how to keep their dazzling smiles!

This afternoon Dental Health Officer Janine Maxwell popped by to observe the pupils brushing their teeth and have a chat with P1-4. They had lots of questions to ask and Janine gave them lots of great pieces of advice. Pupils got to brush the cuddly dinosaur’s teeth and look inside a model of a tooth. What an afternoon bursting with information!

Every pupil got a tube of toothpaste and a toothbrush to take home too.

World Book Day launch of the R.E.A.L. Club!

 

Today is World Book Day! What better time to launch our brand new R.E.A.L. (Reading Enjoyed at Lunchtime) club!

After we’d enjoyed one of Barbara’s delicious lunches and brushed our teeth, we had the option of popping along to the Quiet Room to enjoy some ‘me’ time with a good book.

The sun shone in the window, cosy blankets were scattered on the floor for extra comfort and we got the chance to lose ourselves in a story – bliss!

This will continue every Thursday lunchtime and is open to all pupils to pop along if they like the sound of it. Look forward to seeing you there!

 

What a busy day the boys and girls of Portpatrick had today!

They have been filmed all day as part of the BBC Sport Relief , Blue Peter wave runner challenge.  The film crew arrived at 9.30 am and left at 3pm.  The children were followed be a camera crew as they went up to Portpatrick Hotel to hold their snowdrop teas.  This event which was generously supported by the Portpatrick Hotel and Dunskey estate , raised £328 – of which a donation was made to Sport Relief.

Back at the school in the afternoon,  the children got the paintbrushes out and painted some banners to take with them to the harbour at night time – to welcome the “wave runner” to Portpatrick.

Have a look at all the fun we have had – being filmed as we make our way about Portpatrick.  The programme is due to air on Blue Peter on either the 3rd or 10th of March.

And to top it all , all the boys and girls were delighted to go home having being given a Blue Peter badge – a fabulous achievement in itself ! 

What an idyllic afternoon! In preparation for P5-7’s Daffodil Tea, Mrs Ferguson and a car-load of pupils headed up to Dunskey Estate to pick some daffodils and snowdrops.

Gaby, Jemima, Mr Orr-Ewing and a band of their helpers worked alongside Mia, Innes, Olivia and Emily and Mrs Ferguson picking snowdrops and chatting. In the words of Innes, ” I wish I could stay here all day!”

Over 160 bunches of snowdrops later (it’s still a bit on the early side for daffodils), Mrs Ferguson and the children headed back to school leaving the rest still picking.

Gaby is very kindly going to deliver these up to the Portpatrick Hotel. Aren’t we lucky to have our community working together in this way?

Many thanks to the Orr-Ewing family and to Gaby, Jemima and their team for helping us out. The pupils had a lovely afternoon!

Primary 5-7 recently had a series of science lesson which was conducted by use of the video conference facilities, and linked to Glasgow Science centre where Heather Reid MBE (formally “Heather from the weather”) was there to lead and teach the pupils all about forces.

The children listened to what Heather was telling them, in Glasgow and answered her questions.  They were able to test out various applications of forces – and had great fun making their own catapults!