Portpatrick Primary

P4 – 7 went on an outdoor literacy lesson as part of our poetry learning. We went to the woods to seek out spooky ingredients to create our Witch’s Brew poetry. The children used their imaginations to give natural woodland materials a sinister twist e.g. pretending black seed pods were blackened wings of bats or lungs of slugs.

The children gathered their ingredients and brought them back to school to use to write their own poetry. These were added to the cauldron to create our foul spells.

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Two members of the Fire Brigade service came along today to give all the children a safety talk for Bonfire Night.  They discussed the fun that can be had with bonfires and fireworks.  The children were given advice on the law relating to fireworks i.e. only those 18 and over can purchase them.  The pupils were told what to do if clothing catches fire and how to handle & dispose of fireworks such sparklers etc.  The officers recommended attending an organised event to enjoy displays without risk.  Everyone listened carefully and contributed to a sensible discussion on keeping ourselves safe.

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P4-7 put on their scientific ‘Xplorers’ heads to design and experiment with energy.  The children discussed forms and conservation of energy.  Even though some forms of energy are not visible to the naked eye, we used a specialist thermal imaging camera to see sources of heat energy in the classroom.  Lee is all aglow, as you can see and Alba’s glasses are insulators that don’t generate heat.

The children then moved on to a construction task to follow schematic diagrams to build a dynamo to generate electricity to light a bulb.  They used a multimeter to measure the voltage generated when they turned the wheel.  The highest consistent reading was 6V by Rhian.

Next, the boys and girls worked with gears and pulleys to enhance their dynamos and increase their turning speed.  There were many designs that were modified in light of experience.  Rhian came up with a simple, 2 cog design that proved very effective.  Isabella and Ruby used this design to generate 17.9V when they turned the larger wheel cog handle.  Some used batteries and toothed gears to turn their cogs automatically.

The lesson moved on to the children undertaking a complex construction challenge of assembling either a wind or water turbine.  They had to work hard using their soft skills of sharing, cooperation, discussion and review to complete the model.  Once the working models were completed the pupils tested them to see how much electricity they would generate.  A hairdryer was used to turn the wind turbine sails and a running tap was used to spin the water buckets on the water turbine.  The water turbines generated more electricity because of the stronger force of the running water; approx 7V whilst the wind turbines generated approximately 3V.

The final challenge of the day was to build a solar powered vehicle.  Everyone worked together to follow the instructions. We held solar car races to see which vehicle travelled the fastest with a light source.

The children had a fantastic learning day exploring renewable sources of energy through engineering challenges.

Computer Xplorers sessions recognise the four capacities identified in the Curriculum for Excellence and aims to help children become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors.  Our thanks to John for delivering a wonderfully educational workshop.

 

 

All the pupils of Portpatrick Primary school were invited down to the village harbour to meet the father and son team of Rory and Robert Campbell, owner of the local “Campbells” restaurant.

Rory Campbell has recently taken on a new role in representing Scottish food and drink as an ambassador for 2018.  Rory approached the school and offered a session, down at the harbour in Portpatrick ,in order to provide the pupils with an insight as to the harvest available from the local waters.

Robert and Rory showed the children a variety of different local catches – including lobster, crab, dogfish and octopus.  The children were able to see a pregnant lobster as well as a dogfish about to lay it’s young.  The children even got to see the teeth of the lobster up close!  Robert Campbell demonstrated to the school, with the help of a real life lobster, how his creels work. 

As part of the discussion , Robert was able to highlight all the plastic which he had harvested along with the seafood.   Children were shocked to see crisp packets, yogurt pots , coke cans and sweetie wrappers all were caught in the sea this morning too. The dangers of plastic in our waters was clear for the boys and girls of Portpatrick to see.

The session ended with everyone heading round to the slipway to watch Rory and Robert Campbell release the animals back into the sea.  All the adults and pupils agreed it was a very interesting an informative visit in their local community.

 

 

 

Today P4-7 had a visit from Lisa who works for the NHS ‘Quit Your Way’ service (formerly known as Smoking Matters) as part of their Health and Wellbeing topic. She shared with pupils the government’s target of having less than 5% of the population classed as smokers by 2034, so we all need to spread the message: ‘Let’s be smoke free!’

Pupils participated in a true or false game, where they found out that nicotine is as addictive as heroin and cocaine. Our 2 forensic scientists Alba and Rowan (all suited up with lab coats and rubber gloves!) then poured some of the different chemicals contained in a cigarette into a mixing jug. The result was disgusting!! Pupils were shocked to find out that a cigarette actually contains over 4000 chemicals!

Rhian and Finlay volunteered to demonstrate the effects of smoking on your skin (with a little help from some technology) – they were unrecognisable in the pictures and Finlay thought that he looked as old as his Gran!! Everyone then had a go at the fitness test – we jogged on the spot for 20 seconds, then repeated this but with a straw in our mouth to breathe through and our noses pinched. The boys and girls couldn’t believe how tricky this was!!

Considering the effects on your health, your bank balance and your appearance, everyone agreed that smoking is definitely not for them!

 

Portpatrick Primary was selected to participate in a workshop from Professor Lockheart, Director: Institute of Biomedical & Environmental Health Research (IBEHR)of the University of West Scotland on the theme of ‘Breath’.

He is part of a team of scientists in Scotland and Ireland that have EU funding to establish training and school links for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is particularly prevalent in our area.

All of the children enjoyed participating in an interactive workshop of activities to raise their understanding of factors that can impact on our lung health.  They used models of lungs to observe the damage smoking and vaping can have on our bodies.  There was lots of ‘goo’ and tar in jars!  The children tested their lung capacity by puffing into measuring tubes.  I’m pleased to report lots of healthy readings.

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A huge well done to Rhian, Lewis, Liam, Max and Ruby who completed the Maths Week collage challenge at home. What a colourful and creative ways to show that maths really is everywhere!

Portpatrick Primary have been busy celebrating Maths Week Scotland which ran from 10^th – 16^th September. The aim of the week was to raise the profile of maths and awareness of how maths is everywhere. Each day was given a different theme for pupils to explore.

The week kicked off with pupils getting creative and exploring ‘Maths in Art.’ The younger classes studied artist Paul Klee’s work which uses various 2D shapes and then designed their own ‘Castle and Sun.’ The older pupils created some parabolic curve line designs, creating curved shapes from the intersection of straight lines. Some beautiful artwork was produced by pupils!

Pupils then explored ‘Maths in ICT’ and participated in the D&G RAiSE team’s Beebot challenge. The younger pupils programmed a Beebot to draw specific letters and spell out a given word, and the older pupils used Lego We Do to develop their skills in computational sequencing.

In the middle of the week parents and family members were invited into school to bake some tasty treats alongside pupils. The younger pupils practised counting out ingredients to make Rugby Slice, and the older pupils were practising weighing and reading scales to make Rocky Road.

Later in the week, pupils participated various active games exploring how Maths is in PE, exercising both our bodies and our minds! The older pupils calculated the distance, speed and time of some running races.

We had planned for ‘Maths Outside’ to finish off the week, but unfortunately the weather was against us! So instead we participated in some practical maths challenges around the school building, involving estimating and measuring.

Over the course of the week, some families were busy taking part in our ‘Maths is Everywhere’ homework challenge, finding examples of Maths in and around the home. Pupils brought in some fantastic and very creative collages.

Pupils had a great week of fun exploring Maths and we can truly say that Maths is everywhere!

(P1-3 photos to follow!)

The whole school was treated to a musical experience today when we were visited by two members of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.  The two gents peformed musical pieces on the cello and the violin.  The session was predominately aimed at our P4 pupils who are being offered the opportunity to enrol in a block of 16 teaching sessions from November until June both at Stranraer academy and online.  The RCS Stranraer Music Centre Programme is funded by the Youth Music Initiative and tuition will be free. This is a fantastic opportunity for pupils to begin to learn how to play a musical instrument.

The children enjoyed listening to the classical performance and asked many probing questions about music and learning to play an instrument.

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Keep Scotland Beautiful awards Green Flag Award for environmental action

Portpatrick Primary has yet again been awarded the prestigious Eco-Schools Green Flag Award, by environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful. Eco-Schools Scotland aims to make environmental awareness and action an intrinsic part of the life and ethos of all schools, for both pupils and for staff. It also provides a framework to engage the wider school community in action and support aligned with the purposes of Curriculum for Excellence and Learning for Sustainability. Eco-Schools Scotland offers schools a choice of ten topics to engage with, from food and the environment, to litter, to energy. Portpatrick Primary chose to focus on Litter, Biodiversity and Health on its Green Flag Award journey.

Derek Robertson, Chief Executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: “Congratulations to the Eco Committee, and all other pupils and staff at Portpatrick Primary who worked so hard to achieve and maintain their Green Flag Award Status.” “Keep Scotland Beautiful is committed to supporting all our children and young people to develop the capacities, skills and attributes required for learning, living and working in a changing environment and world.

The pupils’ community and environmental action was commended by Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland Region.  She personally wrote to the boys and girls, to congratulate them on their commitment and endeavours ‘to make our region a pleasant place to live and visit.’

Mrs Baille, Head Teacher commented that, “This award recognises another two years of continued environmental achievement by our responsible pupils.  The whole school has engaged with our local community to bring about positive action.  Our special thanks go to the Community Safety Wardens and Portpatrick Community Council for their support”.

The Scottish Eco-Schools programme is regarded as world-leading; with almost every young person in Scotland playing a part in driving environmental excellence forward. Now the pupils and educators of Portpatrick Primary can proudly say they are engaged in a real movement, across over 60 countries in five continents, striving to improve our environment through learning for sustainability.

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