Portpatrick Primary

Politics and democracy were the topic for discussion this afternoon in P5 – 7.  Emma Currie, former MYSP kindly visited to give the children an insight to the democratic processes in Scotland and the UK.  This is in support of our Social Studies focus this term on Local and National Government.

 

 

 

 

 

Emma explained how there are three tiers of government: our regional council, the Scottish parliament and the UK parliament.  The children then discussed the roles and responsibilities of each and how the process works locally and nationally.

Emma talked about the rights and responsibilities we all have. She encouraged everyone to recognise the contributions we can make for the benefit of ourselves and our society through taking an active role in politics.  This links well with our learning about UNICEFs rights of the child; in particular, Article 12 (Respect for Children’s Views), Article 13 (Sharing Thoughts Freely) and Article 15 (Setting Up and Joining Groups).

Emma shared her experiences of working in politics from an early age. Her interest was first piqued when she became a pupil council member at primary school.  We are currently in the process of electing our own new pupil voice committee members. Perhaps one of our members will become a future politician too!

We took the opportunity to practice our literacy  skills during the session, using the 5 R’s of note taking: Record, Reduce, Recite, Reflect & Review.

 

 

 

 

 

The boys and girls asked a range of interesting questions and shared their views freely.  It was a very interesting session.  Thank you Emma!

# Responsible Citizens

 

End of term awards Portpatrick June 2021

Unfortunately, yet again, we had a quiet leavers ceremony at Portpatrick Primary. However, we were delighted that we could still celebrate the wonderful achievements of the children over the past year. We are so proud of ALL the children for their continued commitment, resilience and perseverance which every student has shown throughout 2020/2021.

 

100% attendance awards ( up until 10 June 2021)

Rebecca Connor, Carter Henderson, Ruby Rankin, Louise Webb, Sean Paul Webb

 

Responsible citizen
P1	Arran Mc Quillan– Always makes sensible decisions and good choices in school. Shown commitment to his work and school life.
P2	Rebecca Connor – Always very helpful in class and outside. Shows respect for others and is developing a good sense of her environmental responsibilities.
P3	Erin Harbottle– always works well in school and follows school rules. Is an excellent role model for younger pupils.
P4	Scott Ritchie – for being so helpful to younger pupils, both in the classroom, playground and dinner hall Conor Ritchie – takes an interest in all school events and is motivated to participate in community events also.  He can be trusted to work sensibly on any task
P5	Jack Trafford – He completes lots of practical projects at home with Mum and Dad e.g.  building bird box prototypes to support our Eco Schools work, he also participates in activities such as helping with the Nature area
P6	Ruby Rankin – She is keen to participate in school events.   Ruby is an active Eco Council Member, and is always willing to volunteer to take on responsibility in any way she can.
P7	Lillie Baker – She is always helping others, offering to do jobs like sweeping up the stones outside.  Lillie has great initiative and is kind and thoughtful to others.

 

Sports

Mini walk medals (7)

Alba, Izzy, Arran, Lewis, Jack, Max, Ruby

 

P1-3 Sports Champion – Rebecca Connor

P4-7 Sports Champion – Robin Mc Lean

 

House Points     Portree 81 + 95 = 176          Dunskey 181 + 98 = 279

Accelerated reading star readers

P2 – Rebecca Connor

P3- Erin Harbottle

P4 – Lewis Mc Quillan (most books)  and Tilly Gordon (most points)

P5 – Jack Trafford

P6 – Ava Lily Orr Ewing (most points) and Alba White (most books)

P7 – Lillie Baker

 

Completed Platinum rainbow tables this year and last…

Robin (03/21) and Maya (11/20)

Lillie, Ava Lily, Ruby & Isabella passed 2019

 

Completed Platinum rainbow spelling this year and last…

Lillie Baker

Izzy White

Ava Lily – 12/20

Ruby – 12/20

Maya 12/20

 

 

	P1-4	P4-7
Literacy award	Max– Fantastic progress in reading. High levels of commitment to improving and developing a growth mindset.	Ava Lily – excels at creative writing.  Takes great care and attention to ensure she achieves success criteria.  Avid reader
Numeracy award	Adam– Outstanding progress in numeracy and shown resilience towards his learning.	Tilly – Has made great progress in her understanding of number and is enthusiastic in her maths work
HWB award	Harry– Harry is a good friend to all and has been a role model to others.	Lewis Always kind and interacts well with others. Great behaviour
REACH award (for resilience, effort or positive attitude during lockdown learning)	Carter – for commitment during lockdown and overall attitude towards his work and school. Always dependable and sensible.	Alba and Izzy White for such fab motivation and a positive attitude during remote learning

 

P7 leavers – tributes – hoodies

Robin and Lily
We wish you all the very best as you progress onwards to Stranraer Academy. You will be missed by all at Portpatrick Primary and we hope you enjoy your leavers hoodies and goodies.

 

For Fun
We finished with some lighthearted fun awards for all. If any predictions come true in the future please be sure to let us know. Stephen – We are counting on you for World Peace!

 

A special thanks to our wonderful parents – we could not have managed the past year without you.

Below are some photos from the event;

We all had an absolute blast at Mabie Farm Park today.  There was just so much fun to be had!

Portpatrick Primary was joined by Leswalt and Kirkcolm Primaries on our annual summer school trip.  Everyone agreed that it was a very well deserved treat for the challenging year the children have had.  The weather was very kind to us, with the day brightening to match our smiles.

The photos of the day speak for themselves.  You only need to look at all the beaming faces to see how much everyone enjoyed their day.

A wee treat to take on our trip courtesy of Connor’s restaurant.

And we’re off!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pedal Power

‘Choo Choo’ Train

 

Hay Barn High Jinx

Alfresco Lunch

Petting Zoo 

 

Play Park Fun

And of course, there was a  wee trip to the gift shop to round the day off after an ice-cream.  What a way to end a fabulous day!

Portpatrick Primary held a One Planet Picnic in the sunshine today.  The theme is ‘Good For You, Good For The Planet‘. This year, we worked very hard on reducing our single use plastic waste and snacking in a more environmentally way.

The initiatives we undertook were:

• We used ‘compostable’ spoons for our yogurts instead of single use plastic
• We packaged our lunches in recyclable paper bags
• Our fruit delivery came wrapped in biodegradable bags to maintain hygiene and reduce waste
• Our milk was supplied with paper straws instead of plastic
• Our pizza trays were also made from compostable material.

The children sorted our waste into three recycling tubs: food, paper and plastic, making sure there was no litter left behind.

The first, smallest bag on the left is plastic waste to be recycled, the second smallest bag is food waste to compost and the third larger bag is paper waste which we can also recycle. You can see from the photographs how little plastic and food waste there was compared to recyclable paper material.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then placed the waste into the correct bins to be processed by Dumfries and Galloway Council.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

# Responsible Citizens

Friday was a day for celebration as Poppyscotland arrived to present our Pineapple Squad (Izzy White, Ava Lily Orr-Ewing and Maya McNeill) with their prize for winning the National Fundraising in Action category of Poppyscotland’s national competition.  The girls took the initiative to create and sell hand-made crafts to raise money in support of Poppyscotland and won in a national polling vote of entries.

 

 

 

 

 

Poppyscotland was created 100 years ago to raise funds to support the needs of veterans and their families living in Scotland. Our partnership schools always honour Remembrance Day; learning about the sacrifices of men and women, both in times of war and in their peacekeeping duties today.

By kind permission from Dumfries and Galloway Council, the children had the opportunity to visit Poppyscotland’s travelling Bud Bus at Lagwinnan.  This bus is a mobile exhibition truck that provides an interactive learning experience about the heritage and work of Poppyscotland.  Members of our community took great interest in the bus.  Laura and John, who facilitated the exhibition, remarked on how friendly and welcoming everyone has been to the during their visit.

Our ‘workforce‘ clocked-on ready to begin their visit to the Bud Bus:

The children were able to tour the bus, but unfortunately due to Covid restrictions, they were limited on what they were able to handle.  That didn’t stop them enjoyed the experience one bit though.

 

The boys and girls learned that five million poppies are made every year, enough for every person living in Scotland, should they wish to buy one.  We were able to look at the different styles of fundraising poppy that are produced around the world.  Lady Haig designed Scotland’s botanically correct poppy with four petals and no leaf.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The children were able to make their own poppy using the same equipment the veterans use in the Lady Haig poppy factory in Edinburgh.  The factory employs ex-service men and women to hand-assemble each and every poppy.

 

Gordon Mitchie, head of fundraising for Poppyscotland and an RAF veteran, presided over the prize giving ceremony. Our Pineapple squad have already received £500 in vouchers for our school.  They were also given a framed certificate to commemorate their achievement and a goodie bag each.

Friday was also the 100 year anniversary of the creation the Royal British Legion Scotland.  The children participated in a national commemoration of the event that was happening all around Scotland that day. They laid a wreath at our village war memorial with Gordon Mitchie, who gave an honorary salute to the fallen.

Our boys and girls participated in a photoshoot for Poppyscotland, with kind support from our local Free Press and photographer Jim Ryder. The photographs will be used to promote future fundraising activities for the charity.  As soon as these are available, we will share them here.

As a wee treat for everyone, the boys and girls enjoyed a wee ice-cream outdoors in the sunshine together to bring the day to a close.

 

 

 

 

 

Click to enlarge to see everyone enjoying their treat.

 

 

Many thanks to Poppyscotland for organising the event and travelling all this way to make the occasion so special for our children.  Thank you also to Dumfries and Galloway Council, the Free Press and Jim Ryder.

Well done Pineapple Squad!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

# Effective Contributors

# Responsible Citizens

Portpatrick Primary Sports Day is BACK! While we missed having our usual spectators, we were delighted to hold the school sports day this year and celebrate all of our wonderful athletes once again. Despite the wind and fog we still enjoyed a fun-filled afternoon of classic races. We started with a sprint race, followed by skipping and sack races, a little bit of throwing before egg and spoon and finishing with long distance. Since we had a little bit of time left we had a quick obstacle course which didn’t disappoint. Below are some wonderful pictures and results of our afternoon.

 

Sports Results 10/06/21

SPRINT

P.1/2     1. Rebecca Connor   2. Adam Westby  3. Freya Currie

P.3        1. Carter Henderson   2. Sean Paul Webb   3. Erin Harbottle

P.4/5    1. Scott Ritchie   2. Cameron McNeill   3. Atticus Orr-Ewing

1. 6/7 1. Robin McLean 2. Ava-Lily Orr-Ewing   3. Alfie Baker

Skipping

P.1/2    1. Rebecca Connor   2. Stephen Ross   3. Adam Wesby

P.3        1. Erin Harbottle   2. Sean Paul Webb   3. Carter Henderson

P.4/5    1. Lewis McQuillan   2. Max Rankin   3. Jack Trafford

P.6/7    1. Alfie Baker   2. Robin McLean   3. Ava-Lily Orr-Ewing

Sack

P1/2      1. Rebecca  Connor   2. Adam Wesby   3. Harry McKie

P.3        1. Sean Paul Webb   2. Louise Webb   3. Erin Harbottle

P.4/5    1.Atticus Orr-Ewing   2. Cameron McNeill   3. Tilly Gordon

P.6/7    1. Robin McLean   2. Ruby Rankin   3. Izzy White

Egg & Spoon

P.1/2    1. Rebecca Connor   2. Arran McQuillan   3. Stephen Ross

P.3       1. Sean Paul Webb   2. Erin Harbottle   3. Carter Henderson

P.4/5   1. Cameron McNeill   2. Atticus Orr-Ewing   3. Lewis McQuillan

P.6/7 Girls   1. Izzy White   2. Maya McNeill   3. Ruby Rankin/Lilly Weatherby

P.6/7 Boys   1. Robin McLean   2. Alfie Baker

Throw

P.1/2    1. Arran McQuillan   2. Harry McKie   3. Rebecca Connor

P.3        1. Sean Paul Webb   2. Carter Henderson   3. Erin Harbottle

4/5 1. Jack Trafford 2. Max Rankin   3. Cameron McNeill

6/7 1. Alfie Baker 2. Robin McLean   3. Ruby Rankin

 

Obstacle

P.1/2    1.Harry McKie   2. Adam Westby   3. Freya Currie

P.3       1. Carter Henderson   2. Louise Webb   3. Erin Harbottle

P.4/5   1. Cameron McNeill   2. Atticus Orr-Ewing   3. Jack Trafford/Conor Ritchie

P6/7    1. Ruby Rankin   2. Ava-Lily Orr-Ewing   3. Robin McLean

Distance

P1/2    1. Rebecca Connor   2. Adam Westby   3.Freya Currie

P.3      1. Carter Henderson   2. Louise Webb   3. Sean Paul Webb

P.4/5  1. Atticus Orr-Ewing   2. Cameron McNeill   3. Scott Ritchie

P.6/7  1. Ava-Lily Orr-Ewing   2. Ruby Rankin   3. Alfie Baker

 

Sprint Race

Skipping

Sack Race

Egg and Spoon

Throwing

Distance Race

The Verdict…

As part of our Eco Schools Action Plan, P 4 to 7 got their green fingers working today.  The boys and girls cleared the raised beds and planted a range of vegetables in the beds and in recycled waste tubs.

• leeks
• carrots
• turnip
• kale
• radish
• runner beans
• potatoes

To promote an insect friendly area, we also planted flowers:

• Nigella
• Echium
• Cornflower
• Nicotiana

 

 

 

 

 

We re-homed the grubs we found in our planting areas to make sure our seedlings didn’t get munched.

 

 

 

 

 

Atticus built our first self-watering plant pot which we used to plant transferred coriander.  He threaded string through from the soil chamber through the lid to the inverted water reservoir.  As the soil dries out , the water will travel up the string through capillary action – a wee bit of science in action!  We will make more of these if we gather more drinks bottles to recycle.  Why not try this at home!

In addition, we recycled milk cartons to make into hanging herb planters – more to follow on that.

# Responsible Citizens and Effective Contributors

Portpatrick Primary School was absolutely delighted to welcome the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) into our grounds today. Some of you may have heard the beautiful music in and around the village as they created an amazing pop-up concert in the playground for the children. The concert was part of an initiative to help bring joy back to communities and help take a step forwards towards live performances. Thank you to RSNO for the wonderful concert and for coming to visit us all at Portpatrick Primary. Below are some photos of today. Further videos will be posted in the coming days.

The Fabulous Musicians

Some photos of the Concert

We had a fantastic turnout for this year’s Kirkcolm 51st annual fundraising mini walk on Saturday.

Pupils and families from all three schools were invited to participate to help support their schools. There were entrants from nursery age to adults walking the 7.37km route together; some competitively and some just for fun.

First, second and third places are awarded for the boys and girls completing the course in the quickest time.  The results are as follows:

Boys:

1. George Keith – Kirkcolm P6
2. Danny Dougan – Kirkcolm P4
3. Ivan Turtle – Kirkcolm P3

Girls:

1. Ruth Turtle – Kirkcolm P7
2. Olivia Turtle – Kirkcolm P6
3. Izzy White – Portpatrick P6

The route followed along the Corsewall Estate Coastal Path. A very well done to everyone who walked or ran the course!

There has been a fantastic response to the fundraising effort; with each school hitting their target! The money will be put to very good use for each school to give children enjoyable experiences after a difficult year.

Our grateful thanks go out to so many people who helped organise and support the event:

• Our parents and families who planned and organised the mini-walk
• The Carrick-Buchanan and Milroy family for their kind  permission to walk on their land
• The volunteer  marshals
• Lidl and Tesco for the donation of refreshments
• The Free Press who covered the event
• and to ALL the children and families who fund raised and participated to raise money for our three fantastic wee schools!  We applaud each and every one of you who took part.

Have a look at the fabulous photos courtesy of Jemima Johnstone.  See you next year! 🙂

 

Did you know that May is National Share a Story  month?

This is an annual celebration of the power and magic of storytelling. Organised by the Federation of Children’s Book Groups, it is a wonderful opportunity for families to share stories and books.

Spending just 10 minutes a day reading and sharing stories with children can make a crucial difference to their future plus it’s a lovely thing to do!

World Book Day are offering free Share A Story resources to help you join in including a Share A Story Reading Stars game, top tips for sharing stories, book review templates.

 

This year’s theme is Myths, Magic and Mayhem.

Here are some suggested reading titles for you:

• Mythical Book Suggestions
• Magic Book Suggestions 
• Mayhem Book Suggestions

Why not encourage your child to create their own mythical beast for this year’s competition! Click here for competition details.  The closing dates is the 1st of June, 2021.

Pupil Council Members thought it would be a good idea to share a digital library of books you might like to read together at home.

WBD-whole school digital-library

The Pupil Council members  planned an afternoon of sharing a story together in school to read for pleasure.