Primary 5-7 were invited to attend the Ryan Centre this afternoon for a musical experience. This was presented by the Stranraer Music for All team.
We were able to listen and enjoy a range of of instruments from guitar to harps.
This afternoon we went to the Music for All workshop at the Ryan Centre. When we got off the bus, we went into the theatre and sat down. There were two people playing instruments: Ron playing the guitar and Rachael playing the clarsach (a small harp).
They started with a few tunes then Rachael told us about her clarsach – she told us that it was made of Canadian wood and that the strings were made from cows guts. Then Ron and Rachael played some traditional Scottish songs while we played air harps along with them!
They finished off with some questions from the audience then a final song. We had a great afternoon!
UNCRC Article 31 – Right to take part in cultural and creative activities.
As a class reward for earning 100 gems in Term 3, P1-4 enjoyed an adventure day where they shared knowledge they had learned about the Vikings and used their Position and Movement skills to navigate a treasure hunt!
We enjoyed a sunny afternoon exploring Portpatrick, using clues and our compass skills. Each time we found a Viking image we had to share some Viking facts to earn the next clue and direction. The treasure hunt lead us to the park were we enjoyed playing with our friends.
We returned to school to continue our Adventure day and discussed fire safety before creating a fire in the playground to cook like the Vikings! We toasted bread on the fire and added butter we had made in class by shaking cream in a jar until the fat and butter milk separated. The P5-7 joined us for our Viking fire and enjoyed hearing about how we made the butter and what kinds of food Vikings would cook over the fire. These activities allowed the boys and girls to use and develop some of their Meta Skills; focussing, communicating, collaborating and leading.
UNCRC Rights of the Child –
Article 6 – Life, Survival and Development Article 24 – Health, Water, Food and Environment
As part of a very busy last couple of weeks, Portpatrick pupils enjoyed some Easter celebrations.
First of all there was judging for ‘Paint the Egg’. The competition for this was very fierce and lots of hard work were put into all entries. The winners for this were Cameron and Layo.
After judging, the children went on an Easter Egg hunt. They were able to find some sneakily hidden eggs from the teachers and the children cooperated well to find all missing eggs!
Finally as the weather was nice, we went outside to roll Easter Eggs down the hill.
The children thoroughly enjoyed their day while learning about the importance of Easter as a tradition and how it stemmed from Christianity.
UNCRC Rights of the Child –
Article 30 – Minority Culture, Language and Religion, Article 14 – Freedom of Thought and Religion
Sustainable goals – Responsible consumption and production.
Children from the upper school worked with Mrs. Dampney in preparing the Portpatrick school garden for the summer. This included ensuring the plants are progressing at a good pace and mulching. The children learned about how this increased the quality of the soil around the plants in our garden and helped keep weeds at bay.
This was spearheaded by our Eco group, who have a keen interest in keeping our environment well kept and looked after.
P5-7 put in a huge amount of effort to learn the songs and actions for their Scottish Opera show. The show was held at the Ryan Centre and was performed alongside other local schools. Portpatrick showcased their talent in front of a big audience, singing three songs and demonstrating amazing choreography.
They worked very hard with further training with the leader of each group: The Sorcerers, Villagers and the Vikings. Their hard work meant the show ran very smoothly and looked very professional.
Well done Portpatrick!
UNCRC Rights of the Child –
Article 15 – Setting up or joining groups, Article 26 – Social and Economic Help, Article 31 – Rest, Play, Culture, Arts
Our environmentally conscious pupils rolled up their sleeves to look after our coastal habitats today. We were marking the occasion of World Water Day and we were participating in The Litter League Spring Clean 2024 – Keep Scotland Beautiful Campaign too. Our pupils happily marched down to the village beach, just catching the sunshine between showers. The responsible children gave the area a good spring clean to help contribute positively to our communities. We were joined by Brenda from ONUS (Our Oceans Need Us) too.
There was lots of plastic to be found and the children had much discussion on being responsible with our litter and waste as we know it can harm marine and land wildlife, as well as being unsightly.
We worked in partnership with our local Community Safety Officers who arranged for the loan of litter picking equipment and organised the collection of the rubbish we found.
The activity fits in well with our Eco Schools Target for Litter and Waste.
UNCRC Rights of the Child: Article 24 Health, Water, Food & the Environment
Sustainable Development Goal: 13 – Life on Land, 14: Life below Water
What a day of fun and activities we had today! The whole school community came together to raise money for a very worthwhile local cause – Our Local Blood Bikes.
We started off events with a very well attended coffee morning. We were able to offer a cornucopia of delicious home baking donated by our village community. Our parents kindly gave their time to man the kettle and dish out sweet treats to everyone who came along. Whilst this was happening, Jenny who leads Envy Street Dance, gave the children a dance workshop. The children later performed their routine to entertain our audience.
Next on the agenda was Beat the Goalie with Mr Morrison. Lewis managed to get three goals in and was crowned the winner! Cameron was the winner of the sock challenge, pairing the most in a one minute dash. There was name the teddy, who is now crowned ‘Cookie’ and has gone to his new home with Barbara. There were lots of raffle prizes kindly donated by our community for our fundraising draw.
There was much excitement and hilarity as the children eagerly lined up to ‘soak the teacher’ in a sponge throwing challenge. Miss Shelley and Mrs Copeland were both great sports and had their waterproof mascara in place.
In the afternoon, the children were delighted to have Dave Hook, chairman and Garry Lansin, trustee, arrive on their brand new blood bikes named Heather and Natalie which were purchased through charitable donations in memory of loved ones.
The boys and girls asked lots of interesting questions to find out more about the voluntary service the Blood Bike team offer to help save lives in our rural community. They were thrilled to get to sit on the bikes.
Our house captains, Lewis and Atticus, and Ella proudly presented a cheque for an impressive £450.
To finish off the day, the children lined up to give lots of cheers to wave the gents off.
Our very grateful thanks to EVERYONE who made today possible.
UNCRC Rights of the Child – Article 26: Social & Economic Help
Sustainable Development Goal – 3: Good health & Wellbeing, 10: Reduced Inequalities
What a fantastic week of science we have had at Portpatrick primary school! On Monday, P5-7 were learning about inheritance and used ‘Reebops’ to explore different genetic information.
On Wednesday, Mrs. Hall from the STEM team taught the P1-4 class about construction. They were able to build different objects from cardboard, fitting pieces together with screws, joins and using screwdrivers and other tools. This provided some of the younger class with key skills for life.
Later on that day, Mrs. Hall enabled the children to learn about aerodynamics and drag! She used images and videos on the Promethean smartboard to demonstrate lift and drag, The children loved learning about which paper aeroplanes flew through the air quickest and adapted their planes to see if they could engineer a plane that flew through the air faster. They had a competition to see which parachutes could fall to the floor the slowest. This enabled the children to self evaluate their creations to see if they could design parachutes that achieved their learning goals. They considered various materials, size and strength / elasticity of parachutes to create designs with as much drag as possible.
Finally for Science Week, on Thursday we had a science afternoon where parents came in to participate in learning activities with the children. It was fantastic to see so many adults get involved. We had several stations where children could experiments with various scientific concepts. This included working with different properties of substance, friction, magnetism, building and identifying where vital organs are in the human body. Our younger pupils particularly enjoyed using the Code ‘n’ Go mouse to program instructions for the mouse to navigate a maze to get the cheese.
Our family visitors were able to scan a QR code at each station using the IPads. This accessed animated videos and information so we could all learn about the scientific principals behind that activity.
It was a great week, in which the children learned a variety of new concepts and had fun. Thank you to everyone who was involved!
UNCRC Rights of the Child –
Article 5 – Family guidance as children develop, Article 29 – Aims of Education.
On Monday 11th March, P1-4 joined a group of P7s to go to the North West Castle for the curling Bonspiel. We watched the older pupils from the cluster participate in the bonspiel. We have just completed a block of indoor curling for our PE and the class were very excited to see a curling rink and the equipment used on the ice. We had lots of discussions about what was happening and the differences between our indoor Kurling skates and the curling stones used on the ice. It was also interesting to find out how the targets and colours are made on the rink.
After watching some of the curling we took a short break to get a snack and explore the Garden of Friendship before jumping back on the bus and heading to the Ryan Centre for a play in Ryan’s Den!
The boys and girl had a fabulous time in the soft play area and enjoyed a little crisp buffet before returning to school for a classroom picnic!
All in all we had a fabulous morning at the North West Castle and the Ryan Centre. Many thanks to Mrs Henry for organising everything, Mrs Ross for accompanying us and to Wigtownshire Community Transport for getting us where we needed to be!
UNCRC Rights of the Child – Article 31 Rest, Play, Culture and Arts.
Glow Blogs uses cookies to enhance your experience on our service. By using this service or
closing this message you consent to our use of those cookies. Please read our Cookie Policy.
