P5/6 participated in the annual Rhins school cross country tournament held at Green Valley. Every pupil gave each race their all, competing against high numbers. Our boys and girls gave an excellent performance in determination and were ranked as high as 5th and 6th position for their year group.
Pirates versus Mermaids
Portpatrick Primary pupils had some swashbuckling escapades as they entertained audiences with their Easter production of Pirates vs Mermaids. They ‘heave-ho’d’ with sea shanties and mermaid invaded adventures on the ocean waves. The boys and girls presented two performances for family and friends of Portpatrick. It was a real community affair as local senior citizens were invited to enjoy the entertainment and refreshments provided. The actors swaggered and sparkled to everyone’s delight.
P1/2 girls enjoying a ‘Day of Dance’
On Thursday, some pupils from P1-4 were selected to take part in the ‘Day of Dance’. The dancers included Amelia, Sophia, Olivia, Rose and Isla in P1 and Ava-Lily and Maya in P2. Ruby in P2 was due to join is too but was unfortunately sick that morning! They thoroughly enjoyed it and particularly loved the Red Nose Jig! Look at the little movers below…
Red Nose Day 2017
On Friday for Red Nose Day, all the pupils donated money to come to school wearing ‘something silly’. P1-4 also took part in ‘Portpatrick’s Got Talent’ where they followed this year’s theme of ‘Making their laugh matter’ by telling jokes. Some hilarious jokes were told and Barbara and Larraine judged and placed the top 3 comedians.
1st place went to Finlay Schofield P4 for his tongue in cheek jokes about school teachers which included;
‘How many teachers work at this school?’ ……………… ‘About half of them!’
2nd place went to Isla Davidson P1; ‘Why are teddy bears never hungry?’………….. ‘Because they are always stuffed!’
3rd place went to Olivia Johnstone P1; ‘How do bees get to school?’…………….. ‘On the school buzzzzzz!’
The children also enjoyed some red nose day cupcakes provided by P1 parent Kim Stevenson. The staff enjoyed them too! Thanks 🙂
Pitch, Pulse & Magic
Class 2 were treated to a musical experience in a live session with Pitch, Pulse and Magic today. The musicians demonstrated a range of brass instruments; playing contemporary and classical pieces for the children’s entertainment. There was even a demonstration of playing a tune on a common garden hose!
Space Ambassador (Tim Peake) Live Link
Class 2 participated in a live link with the Tim Peake Primary Project today. There were about 40 schools selected from across Britain to take part. The children gained insight into life on the International Space Station (ISS). We carried out practical and learning activities covering aspects such as:
- Manual dexterity in space suits
- Reaction times
- The effects of zero gravity on the body
- Using a model to visualise the distance between the Moon & Earth
- The importance of maintaining physical fitness in space
- Observations of Earth from the surface and satellite
- Tim Peake – selection, training and missions
The children were all inspired and I think there may be a few future astronauts in the making!
Rainforest Animals visit Portpatrick Primary!
Zoolab visited the whole school today and brought along some real life rainforest animals for the children to learn about. There was a friendly lizard called Ziggy, a tarantula, Shelby the tiny tortoise, a scorpion, a frog, cockroaches and even a bull snake! The children were allowed to carefully handle and stroke some of the animals (the more friendly ones!) which they absolutely loved.
They also learned about which layers of the rainforest the animals would normally live on, whether it be on the forest floor, in the emergent layer or within the canopy. They were also told about the types of food which the animals eat. I think the most memorable fact was that cockroaches will literally eat anything… even your socks and shoes if they were hungry enough!
Following on from the session, P1-4 recapped on the main learning points from the visit as part of their rainforest topic. They will use some of this information to inform their powerpoints and facts files over the next few weeks. P5/6 also created reflections on their learning too!
Mrs Henry was very impressed with all the children’s bravery in handling lots of the animals (as she hid at the back of the hall!) 🙂
Portpatrick Primary press coverage
Further to the fantastic coverage in the Free Press yesterday of Rowan winning the national letter writing competition organised by Poppy Scotland, there are some great pictures and coverage on the Poppy Scotland website ;
http://learning.poppyscotland.org.uk/winners-runners-up-announced-in-letters-home-competition/
Click on the link above and have a look and see all the happy faces!
Later today, they are planning to publish Rowan’s letter online.
Shrove Tuesday
Today we learned about the custom of Shrove Tuesday for Christians. Traditionally, on this day, Christians used up the eggs and butter in their home before Lent began the following day. This is why we make and enjoy pancakes.
In maths we applied ratio to adjust the quantities in a pancake recipe for the number of people required. There were also opportunities to multiply by 2D, factors of 10 and decimals in our calculations. Once we had calculated the required quantities for our pancake recipe we began to make them.
During the practical task we remembered our HWB food preparation and hygiene practices by washing our hands, wearing protective clothing and covering our hair. We applied our soft skills of cooperation and sharing to create the batter mixture then cooked them in a pan. We shared them out amongst the whole school and enjoyed them with butter and jam; yum!
Poppy Scotland – National prize winner!
Portpatrick Primary had a special surprise assembly today. A visitor had travelled from Glasgow with a special announcement for all in school. In November pupils in Ms Whorlow’s class entered a letter writing competition, organised by Poppy Scotland. This competition was open to all schools in Scotland and was judged by a panel including TV presenter Kirsty Wark.
A video of Kirsty Wark announcing the winner was played to the school and parents – announcing Rowan Harbottle as the national winner! This announcement was a fantastic surprise to all the pupils and parents. Rowan was given a beautiful framed certificate and a mini I pad as his prize. His letter was read out to all – demonstrating why he was a worthy winner, before many photographs were taken to mark this achievement.
One visitor to the school remarked as they left ” I thought the surprise could have been George Clooney coming into school – but this was way much better!!”
This letter writing competition happened during the term in which p5/6 were studying World War Two as their project. So combined with this knowledge, and a fantastic vocabulary, Rowan put his literacy skills to very good effect.
Congratulations Rowan – we are all very proud of you!
