Portpatrick Primary

Well we’ve kept to our New Year Resolution!

The pupils and staff of Portpatrick Primary have headed out for  a daily walk, every day so far this term. The pupils have been down School Brae , past the Harbour House and round by the putting green  for the last few days .  Tomorrow they are going to head in the opposite direction,  up past the Beachcomber.

It’s a chance to exercise those legs, get the heart pumping, enjoy a sociable chat and let the local villagers see lots of wee, smiling faces! We then come back to school invigorated and ready to crack on with our  work.

Give us a wave if you see us out and about!

All the children from Portpatrick Primary enjoyed a fantastic party buffet lunch before getting into the party spirit and enjoying some traditional party games and social dancing.  The afternoon concluded with the arrival of Santa, who was kind enough to bring every child in the school a gift.

Friends and family of the pupils of Portpatrick Primary were treated to a fabulous Christmas show on Wednesday 16^th December. The hall was packed for the afternoon and evening performances. The children (and staff!) had been working really hard on their play ‘Aspects of Christmas’ with plenty of songs, laughter and some truly wonderful acting were packed into their entertaining show.

The show told the stories of families at Christmas time with many of the scenarios being reminiscent of the typically fun, but hectic, time we have at this time of year. The children had a fabulous time, with quotes such as “it was excellent!” and “I had the best time ever doing the show!” The audience were equally impressed.

The P.T.A. held a raffle after each performance too with some fabulous prizes – thanks to Mrs Henry’s mum for the beautifully decorated cakes.

A great time was had by all! Well done to everyone involved.

Thank you to Barbara and her delicious lunches for a wonderful Christmas meal on Thursday 10^th December. Everyone got into the festive spirit and tucked into a beautifully served meal – thanks to Barbara’s serving partner Mrs Henry too.

 

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?