Portpatrick Primary

Taking a closer look at what we can do to save our planet

Today at school children learned about what Earth Day is and how it affects everyone. This years theme is plastic and we discussed about which steps we can take to cut down our carbon footprint. We looked at the detrimental effect that plastic and fossil fuels can have on the planet and the animals which inhabit the earth.

After our great dialogue, we then created our own stained glass window globes. Well done everyone on your fantastic work! Some of the children chose to have their planet in a magnifying glass to change the way world leaders ‘look’ at the earth.

UNCRC Rights of the Child

Article 12 – You have the right to be heard

Sustainable Development Goals –

12 – Responsible Consumption and Production, 13 – Climate Action, 14 – Life Below Water and 15 – Life on Land

SHANARRI – Nurtured and Responsible

Yesterday, our children were learning about the ABCDE of rights as part of our Rights Respecting Schools gold journey. Its purpose is to show how the concepts of rights are universal, inherent, inalienable, unconditional and indivisible.

Universal – All children have rights

Inherent – You have rights since Birth

Inalienable – Your rights Cannot be taken away

Unconditional – Rights Do not have to be earned

Indivisible – All rights are Equally important

Our children very philosophically came up with some great ideas for posters for our ABCDE of rights. The top poster had girls reflecting that even though everybody is different (as shown by the hands), every child’s rights are still the same! A group of boys worked on a galaxy poster which depicts no matter where you are in the milky way, our rights are universal!

Excellent work Portpatrick!

Rights of the Child –

Article 29 – Aims of Education

Article 17 – Access to Information

Sustainable Development Goals – 17 Partnerships for the goals

Portpatrick Primary School recently had a visit from staff on behalf of he Wigtownshire Foodbank. Children learned about how the foodbank works, what kind of food is most welcomed and who might use a foodbank. Our community were able to bring in a very generous donation to the school which was highly appreciated by staff from the foodbank (see email below!).

The staff couldn’t speak highly enough of the children who asked ‘some of the best questions’ they’d ever heard. Well done Portpatrick community for giving to those in need and supporting yet another local charity 👏

UNCRC Rights of the Child –

Article 6 – Life, Survival and Development

Article 24 – Health, Water, Food, Environment

Article 27 – Food, Clothing, a Safe Home.

Sustainable Development Goals 2 – Zero Hunger

SHANARRI – Healthy and Nurtured

Primary 5-7 were invited to attend the Ryan Centre this afternoon for a musical experience. This was presented by the Stranraer Music for All team.

We were able to listen and enjoy a range of of instruments from guitar to harps.

This afternoon we went to the Music for All workshop at the Ryan Centre. When we got off the bus, we went into the theatre and sat down. There were two people playing instruments: Ron playing the guitar and Rachael playing the clarsach (a small harp).

They started with a few tunes then Rachael told us about her clarsach – she told us that it was made of Canadian wood and that the strings were made from cows guts. Then Ron and Rachael played some traditional Scottish songs while we played air harps along with them!

They finished off with some questions from the audience then a final song. We had a great afternoon!

UNCRC Article 31 – Right to take part in cultural and creative activities.

As a class reward for earning 100 gems in Term 3, P1-4 enjoyed an adventure day where they shared knowledge they had learned about the Vikings and used their Position and Movement skills to navigate a treasure hunt!

We enjoyed a sunny afternoon exploring Portpatrick, using clues and our compass skills. Each time we found a Viking image we had to share some Viking facts to earn the next clue and direction. The treasure hunt lead us to the park were we enjoyed playing with our friends.

We returned to school to continue our Adventure day and discussed fire safety before creating a fire in the playground to cook like the Vikings! We toasted bread on the fire and added butter we had made in class by shaking cream in a jar until the fat and butter milk separated. The P5-7 joined us for our Viking fire and enjoyed hearing about how we made the butter and what kinds of food Vikings would cook over the fire. These activities allowed the boys and girls to use and develop some of their Meta Skills; focussing, communicating, collaborating and leading.

UNCRC Rights of the Child –

Article 6 – Life, Survival and Development  Article 24 – Health, Water, Food and Environment

Sustainable goals – Quality Education.

SHANARRI – Safe, Active, Responsible, Included

As part of a very busy last couple of weeks, Portpatrick pupils enjoyed some Easter celebrations.

First of all there was judging for ‘Paint the Egg’. The competition for this was very fierce and lots of hard work were put into all entries. The winners for this were Cameron and Layo.

After judging, the children went on an Easter Egg hunt. They were able to find some sneakily hidden eggs from the teachers and the children cooperated well to find all missing eggs!

Finally as the weather was nice, we went outside to roll Easter Eggs down the hill.

The children thoroughly enjoyed their day while learning about the importance of Easter as a tradition and how it stemmed from Christianity.

UNCRC Rights of the Child –

Article 30 – Minority Culture, Language and Religion, Article 14 – Freedom of Thought and Religion

Sustainable goals – Responsible consumption and production.

SHANARRI – Responsible and Included

Children from the upper school worked with Mrs. Dampney in preparing the Portpatrick school garden for the summer. This included ensuring the plants are progressing at a good pace and mulching. The children learned about how this increased the quality of the soil around the plants in our garden and helped keep weeds at bay.

This was spearheaded by our Eco group, who have a keen interest in keeping our environment well kept and looked after.

Sustainable goals – 15: Life on Land

UNCRC Rights of the Child

Article 24 – Health, Water, Food, Environment, Article 29 – Aims of Education

SHANARRI – Healthy + Responsible

Put on a fantastic show as Sorcerers!

P5-7 put in a huge amount of effort to learn the songs and actions for their Scottish Opera show. The show was held at the Ryan Centre and was performed alongside other local schools. Portpatrick showcased their talent in front of a big audience, singing three songs and demonstrating amazing choreography.

They worked very hard with further training with the leader of each group: The Sorcerers, Villagers and the Vikings. Their hard work meant the show ran very smoothly and looked very professional.

Well done Portpatrick!

UNCRC Rights of the Child –

Article 15 – Setting up or joining groups, Article 26 – Social and Economic Help, Article 31 – Rest, Play, Culture, Arts

Sustainable goals – Quality Education

SHANARRI – Nurtured, Responsible, Included.

We are pleased to receive this letter from Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland.

She is delighted with our work in celebrating our Scots Language.

Have a read for yourself.

Well done everyone!

UNCRC Rights of the Child: Article 7 – Nationality

Sustainable Development Goal 4 – Quality Education

SHANARRI – Included

Our environmentally conscious pupils rolled up their sleeves to look after our coastal habitats today. We were marking the occasion of World Water Day and we were participating in The Litter League Spring Clean 2024 – Keep Scotland Beautiful Campaign too. Our pupils happily marched down to the village beach, just catching the sunshine between showers.  The responsible children gave the area a good spring clean to help contribute positively to our communities. We were joined by Brenda from ONUS (Our Oceans Need Us) too.

There was lots of plastic to be found and the children had much discussion on being responsible with our litter and waste as we know it can harm marine and land wildlife, as well as being unsightly.

We worked in partnership with our local Community Safety Officers who arranged for the loan of litter picking equipment and organised the collection of the rubbish we found.

The activity fits in well with our Eco Schools Target for Litter and Waste. 

UNCRC Rights of the Child: Article 24 Health, Water, Food & the Environment

Sustainable Development Goal: 13 – Life on Land, 14: Life below Water

SHANARRI – Responsible