Portpatrick Primary

Our Digital Leaders from St. Joseph’s and Portpatrick met today at Portpatrick Primary. They participated in a Digital Leader training day to help them drive forward as Leaders of Learning.

After a tour of the school led by Adam and Arran, there was a lot to work through on the agenda from developing our digital literacy skills to working together to help our classmates keep safe online. Have a read of the minutes of the meeting to see what Effective Contributors and Responsible Citizens they are in planning.

Watch this space for a report written by our Digital Leaders on their training day experience.

There was time for socialising and making new friends during morning break. It was a great day of collaboration, leading and friendship.

UNCRC Rights of the Child – Article 15: Setting up and Joining Groups

SHANARRI – Achieving, Responsible & Included

The Portpatrick Community Development Trust kindly organised a fantastic Halloween party for our pupils from both Portpatrick and St. Joseph’s.

The hall looked amazing with creepy decorations galore. The refreshments were a frightful delight with vampire blood and ghost spirit drinks along with Halloween themed sweet and savoury treats.

The event was very well attended, particularly for such a wet and windy night – it all added to the mood.

The children looked fabulous in their costumes. They had a blast together with lots spooky Halloween games and activities organised to entertain. There were dangling sticky doughnuts to try to snare, bobbing for apples, disco moves and spooky corners to name but a few. The boys and girls didn’t stop from the moment they arrived till it was time to go home.

Our grateful thanks to the PCDT for generously organising this event for our partnership children.

UNCRC – Article 31: Play, Article 15: Joining in Groups

SHANARRI – Active, Included

Our learners took part in Maths Week participating in a range of different number experiences including a Sumdog contest, making shape monsters, counting our laps in the daily mile and making 3D buildings as part of our shape city! Additionally, the children organised our Macmillan Coffee Morning where the pupils used budgeting, finance and counting the number of raffle tickets sold!

Well done Portpatrick!

Portpatrick Primary came together in partnership with Portpatrick Hotel to hold a McMillan Cancer Big Coffee Morning on Friday 2th of September. The hotel kindly hosted the event for our local village school.

There was an impressive array of delicious home baking donated by the community. Supporters came out in force to attend the charity event. It was great to see everyone enjoying the atmosphere and the sweet treats on offer. The boys and girls gained valuable experience of working in the hospitality industry by meeting and greeting, waiting tables and taking on the role of hosts. This helps develop those important Metaskills which are the skills we need for learning, life and work. The raffle proved very popular with tickets sold right up to the last minute. The children are very proud to have raised £470 for this worthy cause.

Our grateful thanks go to all of the Portpatrick Hotel staff who helped the event run so smoothly. We are also very grateful for all the kind donations and support we received to make the coffee morning such a successful community occasion.

UNCRC – Article 15 Setting up and Joining Groups, Article 26 – Social & Economic Help

SHANARRI – Achieving, Responsible & Included

Pupils from Portpatrick primary rolled up their environmental sleeves to take part in the Great British Beach Clean 2024.  This is a week-long citizen science event, where hundreds of beach cleans take place up and down the UK.

Portpatrick pupils went down to our local harbour and cleaned along the shoreline removing lots of plastic which can be a danger to wildlife.  The children removed lots of discarded and washed up rubbish, making the beach a cleaner and safer place. They also chose to clean up around Ewan’s Space playground and village areas. They were supported by community volunteers Sian & Heather and Brenda from ONUS (Our Oceans Need Us). 

Our children are responsible citizens who always like to do their bit to protect our environment and help our communities.

UNCRC Rights of the Child: Article 24 – Looking After the Environment

SHANARRI – Responsible

The responsibilities for our learners have been chosen

Our learners submitted applications for the school’s Pupil Voice groups. They worked very hard on putting forward their skills, attributes and qualities for the various positions (as they would do in a real job scenario).

The house captains did especially well as they had to do a presentation for their roles.

The following pupils were selected for the following groups:

Lacey: House Captain of Portree and Carter: House captain of Dunskey

Eco Committee members: Callie-Jo, George, Zak, Freya, Harry, Arran and Lacey

Pupil Council: Esme, Kaicie, Layo, Josh, Ella, Adam, Louise and Carter

Digital Leaders: Arran and Adam

STEM leader: Louise

Library Monitors: Louise and Lacey

Dinner Hall monitors: Freya, Louise and Josh

Playground monitors: Carter and Lacey

Cloakroom monitors: Harry and Freya

Pupils at the North Rhins and West Rhins Schools are delighted to share that they have been awarded the Gold Rights Respecting School Award from UNICEF. Having already achieved their Bronze and Silver awards, Leswalt, Kirkcolm and Portpatrick Primaries have been working hard over the last 18 months to achieve their Gold award, with our Pupil Council reps leading on this. Although the 3 schools are no longer partnered together (with Portpatrick now being part of the West Rhins Schools), we started our journey towards the Gold award together, so it seemed fitting that we finished it together!

The award is split into 3 strands – it aims to teach children about their rights; they learn through their rights by demonstrating positive relationships and attitudes, and respecting others’ rights; and finally they learn to take action through their rights to become responsible global citizens.

The UNICEF Rights Respecting School assessor visited all 3 schools at the end of May and pupils were able to share with her the many activities that we’ve worked on in our journey towards gold, including: Children’s Right’s Tuesday; learning about rights at assemblies; our class charters; linking rights to our school events such as House Captain elections, Children’s Mental Health Week and Children in Need; our worry boxes in class; learning about Child Line; our climate change protest; and all of our various pupil voice groups, such as our Eco Schools work.

The schools were provided with a report, sharing strengths and some next steps for when we work towards the Sustaining Gold award. The report stated that, “It was evident that children’s rights are embedded across the school and underpin every facet of school life.” The assessor felt that we have, “Very articulate children who knew a wide range of articles and were confident in the concept of rights.” She was impressed with the extent to which rights are embedded in the day-to-day life of all three schools and the strong commitment of passionate staff as champions of children’s rights. Finally, the assessor highlighted that pupil voice is valued highly across the schools with visible actions arising from pupil suggestions and an understanding from children that they can influence positive change.

We are thrilled that our hard work has been recognised and we have been awarded this accolade. We are looking forward to continuing our Rights journey as we work towards the Sustaining Gold award.

UNCRC Rights of the Child – Article 4: Making Rights Real

SHANARRI – Achieving, Nurtured & Responsible

This week, we had a fantastic start to a new series of workshops for our Primary 5-7 pupils! We were delighted to welcome Matthew from Youth Work to our school, where he will be working with our children throughout the school year on various important topics. The focus for the first three weeks is: online safety!

In today’s digital age, understanding how to stay safe online is more crucial than ever, especially for our young learners. From social media to gaming, our children are exposed to a wide range of online environments, and knowing how to navigate these spaces safely is vital. That’s why we’re thrilled to be working with local community agencies like Youth Work to provide these valuable workshops.

The first workshop was a huge success! The children were fully engaged, participated enthusiastically, and had lots of fun while learning important rules about staying safe online. Matthew did a brilliant job of making the topic interesting and accessible, helping the pupils understand key concepts such as protecting personal information, recognising suspicious behaviour, and knowing what to do if they feel uncomfortable online.

We’re so pleased to see our school fostering strong partnerships with community organisations to bring these essential lessons to our pupils. As we continue with this series, we’re excited to see our students grow more confident and knowledgeable about online safety.

Keep an eye out for more updates on our workshops with Matthew and Youth Work throughout the year!!

• UNCRC Children’s Rights:
  • Article 13: Freedom of expression
  • Article 16: Right to privacy
  • Article 17: Access to reliable information
• SDG Goals:
  • Goal 4: Quality Education
  • Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities
  • Goal 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions (protecting children from exploitation and harm)
• SHANARRI Indicators:
  • Safe: Ensuring children are protected from harm online
  • Healthy: Promoting emotional well-being by teaching safe online practices
  • Achieving: Supporting children in developing digital literacy
  • Nurtured: Encouraging a supportive environment for discussing online challenges
  • Respected: Recognising children’s rights to privacy and protection
  • Responsible: Encouraging responsible behaviour in online environments
• Meta-Skills Used:
  • Focusing: Concentrating on understanding and applying online safety rules
  • Critical Thinking: Evaluating online content and situations for safety
  • Sense-Making: Understanding the importance of safe online behaviour
  • Communicating: Sharing concerns and seeking help when needed
  • Integrity: Making ethical choices online
  • Curiosity: Exploring the digital world safely and responsibly

We are thrilled to announce that our 3 Primary 7 pupils have started their journey to become Playmakers, a program led by Alison Murray from Active Schools to help them develop as sports leaders! Today marked the first session, and the six pupils who were in attendance got stuck right in, showing great enthusiasm and energy. They loved every moment of it!

Over the next weeks, our Primary 7s will be taking part in the Playmakers program, which is designed to build their confidence, leadership, and communication skills by planning and organising fun sports activities for their peers. Each of the pupils has been given a booklet to fill in as they progress through the sessions, reflecting on what they have learned and how they can become great role models in promoting physical activity.

We’re so proud to see our young leaders already engaging so actively in their first week! Keep posted on more updates of our Primary 7s in action as they continue their journey to becoming Playmakers and sports leaders! For now, check out the photos below of our Primary 7s excited to embark on this fantastic new project.

• UNCRC Children’s Rights Covered:
  • Article 12: Right to be heard and have a say in matters affecting them
  • Article 29: Education must develop a child’s personality, talents, and abilities to the fullest
  • Article 31: Right to rest, leisure, play, and participate in cultural and recreational activities
• SDG Goals Covered:
  • Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being (Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all ages)
  • Goal 4: Quality Education (Inclusive and equitable quality education for all)
• SHANARRI Indicators Covered:
• Active: Encouraging physical activity and engagement in sports
• Included: Ensuring every child has an opportunity to participate and feel involved
• Achieving: Developing leadership and organisational skills
• Meta-Skills Used:
  • Collaborating: Working together to lead and organise activities
  • Leading: Taking initiative and guiding peers in sports activities
  • Communicating: Sharing ideas and instructions clearly with others
  • Feeling: Building empathy, understanding emotions, and supporting peers
  • Adapting: Adjusting to new roles, challenges, and situations in the leadership journey
  • Initiative: Taking proactive steps to plan and deliver fun and engaging activities
  • Integrity: Demonstrating fairness, honesty, and respect while leading and participating

It was great to be back at Portpatrick school seeing all the pupils’ faces as well as meeting three new children! We had great fun settling back into school.

Our younger pupils had some time playing in their new classroom as well as completing some art tasks and showing us how well they know the alphabet!

 Our older pupils logged onto our new education platform – Purple Mash. This can used at home for extra support on various aspects of learning. Parents can also access the platform through a Parent code which will be sent out with homework diaries next week!

Our children played some board games with Barbara and Mrs. Henry. This will be available for children to participate in more this year as the school looks to further our childrens ‘meta-skills’. These skills include developing abilities such as self-management – focusing, integrity, adapting, initiative and Social intelligence – communicating, feeling, collaborating, leading.

Keep your eyes on the blog for all the updates of the fun activities we will be getting stuck in to! 

Here’s some photos of our Portpatrick pupils from our first day back…