Our school was successful in being selected to participate in a Positive Post Box kindness initiative by both the Diana Trust Anti-Bullying organisation and the Nationwide Trust.
The whole school wrote letters that were sent off to another school in the UK just before Christmas. Today, we received wonderful letters from St. George’s School in Langton Matravers, Dorset. We were delighted to read them and learn about the pupils there.
Why not have a look at the Google Maps street view to have a peek at their lovely school!
Update – We have received a response from Head Teacher, Mrs Katy Astle, to say that her pupils would love to continue writing to our boys and girls. Here are photos of their pupils receiving our letters. 🙂
We are looking forward to building positive relationship with our new friends.
Today saw the start of our block of workshops on composing music using a software program called Soundtrap. Mr John Dinning. We have used Soundtrap in the past to create story telling with sound effects.
John demonstrated the vast range of instruments that are available on the software. He also introduced musical terminology of bars based on the x4 times table. The children explored layering tracks of instruments based on timings on 4 beats per bar.
Have a listen to Katie & Louise’s first composition:
Our children can access this software at home to tinker to their hearts contents. Once we start composing, why not have them share their work with you, and perhaps have a wee try yourselves!
Our Reflective Comments:
Katie – It’s creative and I get to vibe.
Max – It lets me create my own thing and design work.
Lacey – We get told how to make music, but not what to do. We have had freedom and choice
Jack – I get to create my own music
Tilly – I learned how to put the different instruments in the best order
The children naturally took on the role of ‘friendly critic’, listening to each other’s creations and giving feedback on their response to each pair’s work. We are looking forward to using our all of our Higher Order Thinking Skills to create our own musical masterpieces over the coming weeks. Watch this space…
Today, Our North Rhins Pupils became movie makers courtesy of the Scottish Youth Film Foundation (SYFF). Scott Mackay & Belle Doyle travelled down from West Lothian to deliver an outreach workshop for our Primary 6 and 7 pupils.
The outreach project target young people who would not normally have the opportunity and resources to make a film. Scott and Belle helped the children to analyse films and learn how films work. We then moved on to develop a story through teaching them the roles required to produce a film. With a script written, our group was cast and acted and recorded the film themselves to create the end film product.
Linking across the primary curriculum, the workshop unlocks the literacy of films and teaching the children to be able to ‘read’ and ‘write’ films using the resources we have available in our classrooms.
Scott and Belle informed us that every film must have the following 3C’s and 3’S:
Colour, character & camera
Story, setting & sound
We analysed a scene from Star Wars and came up with our own observations:
We moved on to consider the character of Darth Vader. We were able to recognise his physical features and his personality. We also identified that, although he may, at first appear evil, he has redeeming features too e.g. his love for his son, Luke in the film. We selected a character of our own and repeated this character analysis, sharing our work.
Next up was spotting shots breaks in films to help us structure our film sequence:
Establishing shot e.g. outside school
Wide shot
Inside shot – long shot – full length
Mid shot – e.g. conversation
Close up – to show some emotions on faces
Extreme close up – at a height looking down on a character to make them look smaller
Eye level –
Low angle – will make the character look bigger
Worms eye view – very low down
Finding our visual point
We split into groups to identify what kind of shot example images on the screen were.
Working together in teams to build the skills for life, learning and work, the teams created a story board to depict an emotion word in 5 mixed shots. We then split into the roles of Director, Camera person & Actors to film our scenes in different takes.
Ready to film our scene
Next up, we learned the skills of editing our scenes together to create our short films. Some moved on to add music and credits too! Unfortunately, we ran out of time and didn’t get to put that final polish onto our creations, but you can certainly see clearly the skills the children demostrated. There is so much scope for future projects with the digital skills we learned today.
Thanks the kindness of our local community hub, the boys and girls had a cinema experience today. The children were invited down to the hub to watch Elf to add the finishing touches to end this term’s Christmas festivities.
Lynsey prepared fresh popcorn to enjoy with the film. There were drinks and crisps too. Everyone received a Cadbury’s selection box to take home.
In the afternoon, the children moved on to use their Higher Order Thinking Skills in a Christmas themed challenge. Each team was given different materials with which to construct Santa’s sleigh or Santa’s Grott. The children cooperated beautifully and were so focussed on their team mission.
Connor’s restaurant arrived with even more treats for the children. Half way through our challenge, the boys and girls had a snack break to enjoy the hand-made tasty treats with a hot chocolate.
The boys and girls got into party mode today and enjoyed lots of festive fun. They were looking fine in their Christmas party outfits.
Ready For FunFunny Face Time
There were treats galore to eat at our Christmas buffet kindly organised by Park Primary kitchens. Katie and her mum had been busy last night preparing lots of tasty delights to add to the spread. There were gingerbread Christmas trees, cheesy star puffs, Grinch fruit coctails and more! Thank you Katie and Mum!
There was a gate crasher at the party. Jack’s elf had snuck into his packed lunch box, not wanting to miss out on the fun.
Kym very kindly gave each child a gift. For looking after us so well and being so kind, she received three VERY LOUD cheers!
Next up were party games organised and hosted by our house captains Katie and Atticus.
Mid-way through the fun, Santa arrived, much to everyone’s delight. He told the boys and girls what a busy night he has ahead on Christmas Eve. He then handed out a present for each child – a lovely personalised, cosy hat and a chocolate Santa treat. The children sang Jingle Bells as Santa made his way back to his workshop to prepare for the big event.
Katie had even more treats in store for us. She and her mum had hand knitted Santa hat tree ornaments that were presented to everyone with a mini chocolate Santa. What a lovely and thoughtful gift for everyone!
And, to top it all off, we are pleased to announce that Katie won our reader raffle draw for December. Keep reading those books everyone. Next month it could be you!
As a wee treat for all the children’s hard work on their school play, we went on a Christmas scavenger hunt around the village. The boys and girls spotted an object for each letter of the word CHRISTMAS. There was some creative spotting to allow us to use an interesting word for each letter. We had aerial, buoy and even an igloo decoration found with eagle eyes!
We combined our wee word wander with a visit to the park for this term’s winning house team. Portree kindly invited Dunskey to join in the fun.
When we arrived back to school, Miss McGeoch was waiting for us! The boys and girls were so excited to see her. After lots of hugs and a catch up, she told the children about her new life in London. Allowing the children to learn about the world of work, she explained all about her new job in finance. She also told us about enjoying the recent snow in the big city, which was a first in about 16 years apparently. It was just so lovely to see Miss McGeoch. We hope she visits us again!
Next on the agenda was another visit; this time from Mrs Ross and our new minister Elizabeth Brakey. The children enjoyed making Christingles whilst learning of the significance of this Christian tradition through telling a story. Thank you ladies for a very enjoyable and educational afternoon!
Portpatrick pupils took to the stage for the first time in 3 years, not once but twice today, to perform their Christmas show ‘Who Took all the Loo Roll?’ The show tells the story of 3 aliens who have been watching us humans from a distant planet and are intrigued by our Christmas traditions, so they decide to visit to learn more.
They are baffled by: the gifting of loo roll (having panic-bought it during covid!), mistletoe (a feeling that is only enhanced when great-granny tries to land a smackeroonie on everyone, but luckily there is enough spare toilet roll to wipe it off!) and the most hated vegetable – brussel sprouts! The story culminates in the aliens finding out about why humans celebrate Christmas, with everyone learning that the real hero is actually the donkey – how else would Mary have got to Bethlehem?!
Pupils have been working really hard this term to learn their lines and lyrics and I think anyone who came to watch the show can agree, it definitely paid off! It was lovely to see everyone back in the building again sharing in the children’s achievements!
Alison Graham from the Wigtownshire Food Bank visited school this morning, to speak to the pupils about the crucial role that the Food Bank plays in our community. She explained how parcels are made up, what goes into them and talked about her job as a support worker.
In the true spirit of Christmas giving, the pupils were delighted to know that their donations would be helping families in need.
We had a surprise visitor today. Alan Jenkins arrived this morning representing the Stranraer Community Council, Stranraer Development Trust and the Millennium Centre.
Alan came bearing gifts, just like the wise men. He brought a great big Santa sack of chocolate treats for everyone. The children were delighted to receive these gifts.
We are so lucky to have such a wonderful community who are very kind to us.
