There was something new in the playground, awaiting the boys and girls on their first day back today! Back in September we were successful in receiving some funding from Maths Week Scotland. The only condition was that we had to use this to promote Maths, so we decided to purchase a new wall-mounted Snakes & Ladders board game with fancy magnetic counters. This will enable pupils to work with numbers to 100 in a fun way both at break times and during lessons if they go outdoors.
Have a keek below to see some smiling faces giving our new game the thumbs up!
Lockdown 2021 meant that we could not have our usual in school Scots poetry focus as all learning was taking part at home. But, this did not stop us! Our in inaugural North Rhins inter school Scots poetry competition took place on Friday 29th January and was judged by local Burns enthusiast, Mr Alec Ross.
This event took place on Microsoft Teams, where everyone could see the beautiful handwriting and creative artwork. Pupils recited their poems with gusto, over the internet.
Portpatrick Primary School has been exceptionally busy celebrating Scottish history and culture over the past few weeks. To celebrate the birthday of Robert Burns, pupils have embraced learning about Scots language and explored both Scottish Saints as well as Robern Burns own life and legacy. Children have, as always, marked the occasion with the traditional competitions; Handwriting, Arts and Crafts and A Poem Recital. Despite restrictions, the children have fully embraced the Burns/Scots activities and have sent in photographs of the wonderful work they have been doing at home. Judging will commence on Friday with our special guest Alec Ross (former pupil at Portpatrick) and children will be invited to recite their poems live on Microsft Teams to celebrate the event. It is Alec’s own Birthday on Friday and so we hope to be able to give him something to smile about by providing him with an excellent exhibit of live entertainment.
Good luck to everyone who is taking part and I hope to see you all there. If you have not already done so could you please respond to the e-mail invitation to help with planning and organisation.
Below are some examples of the excellent work that has been produced by the boys and girls at our fabulous little school.
To celebrate the last day of term and to give those Christmas jumpers another outing, the boys and girls came to school today in their festive knits.
As a final festive treat, we spent the morning down at the community hub, watching an online pantomime – “The National Elf Service.” There were lots of giggles and shouts of “it’s behind you!” throughout the performance from the pupils (and staff!) as we helped the main character, Sam, to ensure that Santa and his elves stay healthy for Christmas, so they’re able to make and deliver all of our presents!
Half way through the panto, we stopped for a snack, kindly provided by Connors restaurant. We tucked into an amazing spread of marshmallow snowmen, strawberry Santas, chocolate orange segments, Christmas pudding crispies, and Christmas tree biscuits. A huge thanks to Connors – it was absolutely delicious!
As if we hadn’t had enough treats, we arrived back at school in plenty of time for our Christmas buffet lunch – the best type of lunch there is! Some people went up for seconds (and even thirds!) – I’m surprised we weren’t all in need of a nap come the afternoon!
To finish the day off, we each received a goodie bag (thank-you to the RNLI for some of our treats!) to take home and enjoy over the holidays.
Our Christmas celebrations may have been slightly different this year, but they’ve certainly been memorable nonetheless. Happy holidays everyone!
As part of our Eco Schools work learning about food and being responsible citizens, this Christmas we decided to run a ‘Reverse advent calendar’ – rather than the boys and girls getting a chocolate each day (they weren’t too impressed with this idea initially, I think many wanted the chocolate!!), they were asked to bring in a donation for the local food bank.
We spoke all about why it’s good to help charities, particularly people in need our local area, and learned about the work of the food bank. By the end, we were overwhelmed with our families’ generosity – we had pupils bringing in bags of donations as they realised how important it is to support the charity (despite only 1 item being requested per family!).
We are delighted to be able to deliver such a huge donation from our little school to the Wigtownshire food bank this Christmas – and we hope that it manages to help lots of families in the area.
After a busy morning engaged in active learning building Gingerbread houses and making Christingles, it was party time!
Our House Captains, Robin and Izzy, organised a fabulous party for the boys and girls in P4-7.
The running order of fun and games was as follows:
Musical Statues: Winner – Maya
Christmas Corners: Winner – Conor
Pin The Nose On The Reindeer: Winning Team: Lillie, Ava Lily, Conor & Alba
Pass The Present: Winner – Alba
Reindeer Relay: Winning Team – Lillie, Ava Lily, Conor & Alba
Musical Chairs: Winners – Conor and Ruby
Best Disco Dancer: Winner – Tilly
Everyone got a treat, a snack and a drink to enjoy. When we returned to our classroom, we were surprised to see that we had had a visitor. Santa had popped in to leave presents for the boys and girls.
Today the boys and girls used their STEM skills in the context of constructing a Gingerbread house. Teamwork, co-operation and communication were all required……as was a sense of humour!
The boys and girls in P1-4 at Portpatrick primary had a wonderful afternoon at the Junior Christmas Party. After an eventful morning with a power cut, the pupils persevered and stayed optimistic. Luckily the power came back on at midday which was welcomed with applause and cheers. The children were dressed in fantastic festive attire with sparkles, Christmas jumpers and even a little hint of tartan. The boys and girls would like to say an enormous big thank you to our fabulous House Captains, Robin McLean and Izzy White, who organised and planned the event.
Just when the boys and girls thought their day couldn’t get any better, there was a special surprise to be found in the classroom. It seems that the magic of Christmas is well and truly in the air as Santa made a special delivery for all the boys and girls at Portpatrick Primary. The gifts were absolutely beautiful. The pictures below show the sheer joy on all of their little faces as they opened up the wonderful gifts that had been left. Thank you Santa and the elves – You’re the best !
Winners from today include;
Musical Statues : Louise
Christmas corner : Arran
Pin the nose on Rudolf: Max, Harry, Stephen
Pass the present: Scott
Reindeer relay: Sean Paul, Adam, Cameron, Stephen
Musical chairs: Scott
Best dancer: Freya
Portree received their reward for achieving the most termly merits for their house team today. The children elected to have a Christmas themed movie session. The boys and girls picked Nativity Rocks. They cozied in and relaxed to view a modern twist on the classic story.
Dunskey joined in with their own Christmas themed activity for the afternoon. The children worked collaboratively to design and build a sleigh for Santa to deliver his presents. They had to select a range of materials that would fit the construction task, then plan and build their model.
There was great evidence of applying the skills for work and life (employability skills). Everyone was able to use teamwork to problem solve, organise and adapt as a group. The results were impressive. The children even considered aerodynamics, capacity storage and accessibility for the jolly man himself. Well done to all for successfully achieving the desired outcome. Mrs Baillie judged the winning entry – Robin Alfie, Rebecca and Carter!
After they had completed their challenge, Dunskey was invited to join Portree to enjoy a bit of the movie too.
The boys and girls had a VERY special visitor arrive this afternoon…
Santa appeared in our playground in his motorised sleigh, complete with antlers, no less!
Everyone was surprised and delighted to see him. He said a socially distanced, “Ho, Ho, Ho!” to all the children. Santa chatted to the boys and girls and told us all that he was getting ready for the big day. He said that we have to be tucked up in our beds, sleeping, on Christmas Eve so he and his elves can work their magic.
We sung some Christmas songs out in the fresh air to entertain Santa. He very kindly gave the children a big sack of goodies as an early Christmas treat. It was then time for Santa to leave to carry on with his preparations in his workshop.
Thank you to Santa and his Elf for their kindness. We all appreciate it very much.
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