Portpatrick Primary – Page 28 – "Anchored in Excellence"

Supporting Biodiversity in our Nature Area

The boys and girls have been busy this last wee while creating creature comforts for our nature area to encourage birds and insects.

After all the fabulous work community helpers have previously done donating their efforts and equipment to tidy up our nature area, it was time to tempt more of our local bug and bird life to take up residence.

Bug Mansion

First, we began by collecting natural materials from our local woodland. Next, our families and friends organised donations of repurposed materials such as pallets and bricks from local businesses. Finally, we constructed our fabulous Bug Mansion in our nature area. We are sure you will agree that it is fit for any king critter!

Bird Boxes

Not content with just that, we decided to make bird boxes to support our feathered friends. Again, our wonderful school community rolled up their sleeves and got stuck in. They sourced repurposed wood & materials and machined the template sections to help the children construct our bird boxes. The children were able to apply their STEM skills to interpret the schematic instructions and then construct the boxes. The results are fabulous.

Next weekend, now that Covid restrictions are lifting, our willing helpers plan on returning to our nature area to continue the good work. They will be laying paths with chippings made from the bushes and plants that were taken out from the garden. Recycling and Eco is at the forefront of our activities.

Many thanks again to everyone involved including Robert McQueen for providing his time and digger, Jewsons for donating materials, William Halliday of Galloway Tree Care & Gardening for his time and machinery , Mr Henry of Henry’s restaurant for sectioning the bird box pieces, Kim for her organisational skills AND, of course to our ever fabulous volunteer helpers!

# Responsible Citizens

# Effective Contributors

Pupil Voice at Portpatrick

To help develop the skills for life, learning and work and as part of Developing our Young Workforce, our boys and girls applied to join our Pupil Council, our Eco Council and to become Digital Leaders. The children had to detail their skills and attributes that would match the role they were applying for. They also offered ideas and suggestions as to ways we could take our Pupil Voice forward for the benefit of all.

The standard of entries was high and much deliberation was needed to elect this year’s representatives. Have a look at our Responsible Citizens who have been appointed as pupil representatives for 2021- 2022.

Pupil Council:

Eco Council

Digital Leaders

In addition to this, many of our children applied to take on school monitor roles to help contribute to the effective running of our school:

Library Monitors – Alba and Tilly
Dinner Hall – Izzy
Playground Buddies – Ruby, Katie & Carter
Outdoor Area – Rebecca & Cameron
Cloakroom Area – Atticus

As well has having whole school responsibilities, all of our pupils have been keen to take on roles in each of their classrooms. Everyone will be given the opportunity to contribute and participate.

It is important that our children are given opportunities to use their ‘voice’ as part of our commitment to being a Rights Respecting School. Having achieved bronze, we are now working on achieving our silver status. The enthusiasm of our pupils is great to see. We are looking forward to a successful year with our Effective Contributors!

Tracy Serves Her Last Meal

The boys and girls of Portpatrick Primary bid farewell to Tracy on Friday. Mrs Rankin is leaving us to begin her exciting new job as a Learning Assistant at Sheuchan Primary.

All of the children agree that Tracy has worked very hard to make sure the children enjoyed their meals during her time with us.

The boys and girls presented Tracy with a beautiful handmade card, flowers and a bottle of fizz for her to enjoy. The children gave three cheers as she served her very last meal to Louise.

We wish her well in her new venture.

Democracy In Action At Portpatrick

Our boys and girls at Portpatrick Primary used and applied a democratic process to elect our new House Captains today. Fitting with our Social Studies topic of Democracy in Scotland, our candidates wrote their own manifesto speech to present to their audience.

Each applicant demonstrated a very high standard of professionalism and confidence as they outlined their personal skills and attributes. Everyone spoke with clarity about the ideas and initiatives they had for the role of House Captain. We were all very impressed with the standard of each candidate’s talk.

The whole school then carried out the electorate voting process by selecting the candidate they felt would best represent them for the year ahead. Everyone filled out a voting slip and posted it in our ballet box to be counted privately.

It was a VERY closely run campaign with the results as follows:

Dunskey: Lilly Weatherby

Portree: Alba White

We are sure both House Captains will represent their houses well in the coming year. Our thanks to all of our candidates who really did themselves proud. We can’t commend the quality of each candidate’s presentation highly enough! Each of them has earned a merit for their house team.

The activity helps support our learning as part of our curriculum and as part of a wider context; helping develop the Skills for Life, Learning and Work. It also supports our drive towards our Rights Respecting Schools award and applies UNICEF’s Rights of The Child (articles 4, 12, 15, & 25)

# Effective Contributors/Responsible Citizens/Confident Individuals/Successful Learners

P5 – 7 Talk Politics

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

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;

REACH award (for resilience, effort or positive attitude during lockdown learning)

Mabie Farm Park Summer Trip

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!

One Planet Picnic

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

Poppyscotland Prizegiving

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.

Laura shows Robin, Lillie and Ruby what to do

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 Sports Day Action 2021

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