Portpatrick Primary

Primary 1-4 have recently had a 6 week block of African drumming in school.  The children learned some traditional chants, beats and dances from Ghana.  The learning culminated in a performance to the whole school – in which they told the story of some animals in Africa and showed off their chanting and dancing skills.  P5-7 responded by chanting back and learning an African dance along side their little friends.  It was a confident, fun performance which was enjoyed by all.

Have a look at the fun they had drumming!

On Friday 20^th November, Portpatrick Primary held a family open afternoon. Despite the inclement weather, this was well attended by parents, siblings and grandparents. In preparation for Christmas, families participated in craft based activities with the boys and girls.

As part of our Eco School’s Waste targets, the pupils organised a Bring and Buy sale to recycle unwanted tots and books. We also made Christmas craft decorations to sell to fund raise for Children in Need. In total we raised £150.06   . The children were then given an opportunity to select a toy from the items to promote our  ‘re-use’ initiative before the remaining items were taken to a local charity shop to further help others. A fun afternoon was had by all.

 

 

Today we celebrated Children in Need day here at school. The theme was Sporting Champions – Be a Hero so we could come to school dressed as a gymnast to a footballer or Serena Williams or Aguero! We got together and worked as buddies for some writing thinking about what Children in Need is all about and enjoyed a fun aerobics sesison with Mrs Ferguson to get us all moving! We raised over £76 with our donations and by selling Pudsey wristbands which is great. Thanks to everyone for your efforts.

Report by Lachlan

Primary 5-7 took their Outdoor maths to a new level today when they headed up to Low Auchenree farm, by kind permission of the Ross family, to do some real life maths.  While at the farm they;

* estimated and measure distances in metric units – including the circumference of the base of the wind turbines.

* used trigonometry and angles to calculate the height of a wind turbine.

* measured the r.p.m, of the wind turbine blades, using a stopwatch timer.

* Used formulae and pi to calculate the speed of a wind turbine blade

* estimated quantity and visualised 3d models to count bales

* calculated costs and VAT using multiplication and percentages

* used formulae to calculate areas and perimeter of a poly tunnel.

 

It was a whole lot of maths in one morning at the farm!  Many thanks to Miss Whorlow and Mr Ross for organising this very worthwhile exercise.

 

Today we were lucky enough to welcome Tracy from the Scottish SPCA. She spoke initially with P5-7 and then popped through to P1-4 for a chat. Tracy told us all about the work of this invaluable charity and the animals she works with on a weekly basis. She spoke about looking after wildlife and domestic animals and things which we can do as the public to help. It was really interesting and great to get to talk to someone about their job.

The P7 pupils planned and organised the school Halloween party as part of their STAR award work.

Everyone had a fang-tastic time!

Well done to all the P7 pupils – party planners of the future?

Following on from Mr Ross kindly helping tidy up the school grounds, we have had staff and volunteers from Apex at school to help out . 

The Apex team have done a fantastic job.  They  have power washed and cleaned all the concrete, they have sanded and varnished benches, they have totally replaced rotting wood one on one picnic bench and they have even put up bird boxes and made a bug hotel for the school grounds, using leftover wood from the bench.

The school is now looking a far tidier place outside thanks to all the help from these volunteers. 

The photograph shows some of the Apex team with the bench they have restored.

All the staff and pupils would like to say a huge thank you to all at Apex for their help!

On the first day back after the October Maths, Ms Whorlow tooke her p5-7 class outside to investigate angles and compass points.  Armed with Ms Whorlow’s phone to provide compass points the children soon plotted out the points on the football pitch and took part in a variety of activities;

1. Investigate how to estimate, create and measure angles
2. Explore how right angles can be measured in degrees and how this links to fractions and compass points

1. I can use my knowledge of right angles to estimate the size of an angle
2. Know that that a right angle is the same as a turn of 90°
3. Demonstrate knowledge that an angle of 180° is the same as a straight line
4. Demonstrate knowledge that a whole turn is the same as 360°
5. Recognise angles which are 270°
6. Relate 90°, 180°, 270° and 360° angles to quarter, half, three quarter and one whole turns

There was a whole lot of learning taking place, with just one mobile phone and several children in an open space!

What a great time P1-4 had visiting Wigtown Book Festival! Mrs Ferguson and Mrs Henry were lucky enough to go too. We all met and listened to the authors Emily Dodd and Shoo Rayner. It was a lovely trip.

First of all, Renita Boyle led us in a sing-along session to warm us up! Then Emily Dodd told us about her book ‘Can’t Dance Cameron’ . This is all about a sad capercaillie called Cameron who believes he is a rubbish dancer. We talked about lots of types of Scottish wildlife when reading the story – a pine-marten, a red squirrel and a wildcat. By the end of a story, Cameron shows he is a great dancer. Some of us bought this story and Emily signed it.

Shoo Rayner is an author and illustrator. His latest book is called Dragon Gold and is about Harri who is set the challenge of ‘making’ a dragon for school! Shoo also has two YouTube channels about drawing. Why not Google these and try out one of his tutorials?

Our very own Abbi was chosen from the audience to try drawing with Shoo. What an excellent job she did! Check out the photos to see for yourself!

Quite a few of us bought Shoo’s book which he signed too.

We had such a lovely day and the children were so well behaved. Smiles all round!

 

Portpatrick Primary pupils have recently made some new friends from across the water in N Ireland.

Mr Gary Blair from the Ulster Scots agency, got in touch with the school and asked if they would like to be part of this innovative twinning project.  Mrs Baillie (head teacher) jumped at the chance to develop literacy skills and forge a bond with a school,  which could almost be seen across the water from Portpatrick.

Once it was established the project would go ahead, both sets of pupils exchange a mini cv, which told each other a little more about themselves.  Pupils in Portpatrick p5-7 were matched, by their class teacher Ms Whorlow, to a buddy  from Ireland who had similar interests.

On Thursday 24th September 2015, 13 pupils from Kirkistown Primary arrived at Portpatrick Primary.  the had an early start, having left school at 5.30am to get the 7.30am boat to Cairnryan.  On arrival at Portpatrick Primary they were give a tour of the school and grounds, by their buddy.

Soon, both sets of pupils were off on a bus for a fun filled afternoon of chocolate and socialisation at The Cocoa Bean factory at Twynolm.  The children got to know each other and enjoyed a workshop making chocolate goodies and playing outside in the adventure playground.

The Irish visitors spent the night at the Mount Stewart Hotel in Portpatrick, before getting up early again to head off with Portpatrick pupils to Wigtown Book festival.  Both schools heard from authors Phil Earl and Cathy Mc Phail, before a final farewell ceremony was held in a marquee at Wigtown.

Mr Gary Blair from the Ulster Scots agency presented both sets of pupils with a certificate for their participation in this twinning project.  Mrs Baillie from Portpatrick Primary asked the Portpatrick pupils to hand over a goodie bag  of souvenirs, to their new found buddies.  The bag contained pencils, sharpeners and a rubber from the RNLI shed at Portpatrick, as well as a pen from the school.

All staff and pupils voted the experience a massive success.  It was thoroughly enjoyable and enabled children to link up socially through a literacy project.  It is hoped that the links will continue as pupils from Portpatrick have already written thank you letters to their new friends and will aim to keep in touch in the future.

The school would like to express thanks to Mr Blair from the Ulster Scots agency for making this all possible.  Have a look at the photographs our Irish friends posted online-  http://www.kirkistownps.com/primary-7.html