Portpatrick Primary

We are the new school blog team.  from Lachlan, Rhian and Myles!  Watch out for our updates.

 

 

The whole school recently enjoyed a day trip to Glasgow Science centre.  While at the science centre,  the children took part in various experiments as well as visiting the planetarium, taking part in a forces workshop, learning more about magnets and even launching rockets and standing on people on a bed of nails!

Have a look at our photographs which demonstrate some of the learning which took place!

Before the Easter holidays, the whole school put on a fantastic showcase of ‘The Last Monster in Scotland.’  The show was about a young journalist in Drumnadrochit, Katie Albright, trying to get a break through in her career with a fantastic news story… and she certainly got one!  She actually got to meet the Loch Ness Monster!  Despite the begrudged legend and myth buster Hamish McGarrigal trying to prove that Nessie didn’t exist!

The show also included American tourists hoping for a ride on Nessie’s back, wacky scientists trying to disprove Nessie’s existence and school children learning about the much loved legend of Nessie.

Children worked hard to learn all their lines, songs and actions which all came together on the show performances.  They added that extra sparkle to their parts and had the audience laughing along throughout.  A huge turnout was had for both performances and fantastic feedback was received from the parents and Portpatrick community.

Well done to the team from Portpatrick who were the winners at the recent Rotary Quiz .  This event is run annually and all Primary schools from the Stranraer area take place.  After many rounds of questions, Portpatrick were declared the winners.  They will go on to the area finals in Glasgow, in June.  The photograph shows Lara, Ruth, Connor and Magnus with the dictionaries they won.  Great work team!

A fantastic morning of Science learning was had by P3-P7 pupils at Portpatrick School.  Generation Science visited the school with their ‘Cosy Cosy’ workshop, which looked at teaching pupils about home insulation and how to save energy in the home.

Some very complex Science was being explored during the workshop and really had the mini scientists thinking about insulation, conductors, energy, conservation and a lot more!

The pupils had an exciting challenge to see who could insulate their model houses the best to conserve the most amount of energy and create the highest temperature.  The scientists leading the workshop reported that Portpatrick school had created the highest temperatures out of all the schools so this was a great achievement – they had obviously been listening well!

As part of their Eco-Friendly School duties, all pupils headed down to Portpatrick beach for a big clean up.  Loaded with protective gloves, waterproofs and bin bags, the pupils worked hard to collect in all the litter to leave their community beach sparkling clean.  We were pleasantly surprised at how little litter there was on the beach so it didn’t take long!  The school then headed to the local park and collected some more rubbish there… and had a quick play on the swings as a reward for their hard work in the cold weather!

The hard work didn’t stop there though!  On returning back to school, the children thought it would be a good idea to have a school clean!  So all children scoured the school grounds for any excess rubbish.

This was an important lesson in learning respect for their community and surroundings! 🙂

Portpatrick School made the most of an exciting hour of wonder during the first solar eclipse since 1999.  Pupils were issued with UV protective glasses to watch the solar eclipse happen and, in pairs, all took turns to see the amazing spectacle!

Pupils were told of the many dangers of looking at the sun directly.  All pupils behaved so well and I am sure the experience of the solar eclipse will remain a special memory to them all.. until the next one!

To help fundraise for Comic Relief On Friday 13^th March, pupils at Portpatrick Primary School took part in their very own ‘Portpatrick’s Got Talent’.  Pupils auditioned for a place in the final showcase and the very best acts were put through.  Talents included gymnastics, dancing, singing, magic, yoyo tricks and ball skills.  One act even had some cross dressing comedy and another showcased accurate recognition of approximately 45 different flags of countries around the world!

A judging panel consisting of Barbara Rogers (the school’s masterchef!) and Pat Mercer, a retired employee of the school, were invited along to judge performances on talent, skill, preparation and entertainment value.

Joint 1^st place was awarded to Rowan Harbottle, for memorising over 70 countries flags and Lara Cole for an excellent dance to Olly Murs Wrapped Up.

2^nd place went to Abbigale Henry for her performance of Ellie Goulding How Long Will I love You and  and joint 3^rd place was awarded to Abbi Johnstone for singing ‘Let it Go’ from Frozen and Ruth Belton for her fantastic trumpet skills.  A special prize was given to Olivia Cumming for her magic tricks as there was an extra special effort made in her performance.

A personal highlight to the show was the transformation of Finn, Callum and Magnus in to some snazzy dressed young ladies in heels and handbags.  This provided plenty of laughter for the audience!

Parents and friends of the community were also invited along to watch the performances and a great time was had by all. Parents were asked to bring along a donation towards Comic Relief and pupils purchased official Red Nose Day Noses to increase the fundraising total.

Well done to the combined Leswalt /Portpatrick team of Rhona, Freya, Kathryn and Ruth who were runners up in the inter-school primary curling bonspiel.  This competition was open to all Primary schools in Wigtownshire and Ballantrae.  The girls won 3 out of the 4 games, and were only beaten by the eventual winners, Rephad Primary.  They were supported and coached throughout the day by Mrs Beryl Niven.  Have a look at the photograph at how happy they all are with their prizes!  Watch out Eve Muirhead and team, these girls are good!

Well done to Finn, Lachlan, Mia and Abbigale who represented Portpatrick Primary at the Stranraer and District Burns club competition in the Ryan Centre.

Abbigale was placed third for her singing of a Scots song.

 

We are proud of them all for being confident individuals!