Portpatrick Primary

The whole school looked to all things Scots to celebrate our national language heritage.

The children were each given a Scottish poem to learn, with three categories of challenge to undertake:

• Presentation of handwriting (copying out their poem as neatly as possible)
• Creating a piece of art or model based on the theme of the model
• Reciting their poem with expression and feeling

It was very clear to see that all of the children have worked very hard to learn their poems and use expression and action to bring them alive in an entertaining performance.  The level of creativity in the children’s artwork was very high, with great imagination demonstrated by all.

It was quite a challenge for Mr and Mrs Ross to select winners from each primary as the standard was so high.  We are proud to say that each child achieved an award for their great effort. Mr Morrison officiated and Mrs Ross presented the certificates to the children.

The children held a showcase assembly to show off their achievements to a packed hall of friends and family. It was a very entertaining assembly for us all. We enjoyed P1 – 4 singing Ye Cannie Shove Yer Granny Aff The Bus and P5 – 7 doing a performance of Donald Where’s Yer Troosers? Confident winners from the different primary performed their poem to the delight of our audience. We ended with another round of the popular P5 – 7 song, this time with audience participation .

Our thanks to Mr & Mrs Ross for their continued help and support and our thanks to our families for supporting their children’s learning and achievement.

UNCRC Rights of the Child – Article 29: Aims of Education

The boys and girls were keen to get back to reading together as part of our assembly activities. Everyone enjoyed choosing their books and chatting about the stories to encourage reading for pleasure in their buddy reading groups.

Do you and your child find it hard to choose a book together? Why not try one of these recommendations of Best Books for 2024!

UNCRC Rights of the Child – Article 29: Aims of Education

Everyone had a fabulous time at our Christmas party today.  There were lots of delights for a buffet lunch with crackers and sweet treats too.

The children then enjoyed a party organised by our House Captains, Lewis and Atticus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Party Game Winners:

• Christmas Baubles – Max
• Pass the Present – Max & Layo
• Best Dancer – Layo
• Musical Statues – Stephen
• Christmas Corners – Harry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you to Park Kitchen and Senga for organising our lunch, to our house captains for their organisation.

Of-course, a big thank you must go to our very special visitor, Santa Claus, who came along to wish the boys and girls a very Merry Christmas and share gifts with the children.  We sung Jingle Bells to welcome Santa and wished him well for the big night.

The children were absolutely thrilled with their gifts!

 

 

 

 

 

UNCRC Rights of the Child – Article 31: Rest, Play, Culture & Arts

 

Primary 5 to 7 participated in a workshop to learn basic first aid skills today.

We practiced how to use DR – ABC to carry out a primary survey to quickly assess the situation and the casualty:

• Danger
• Responsiveness
• Airway
• Breathing
• CPR

We then watched a demonstration video (first aid for kids – Lesson 1-DR ABC & Recovery Position (youtube) – Ecosia – Web)  on how to place an unconscious, breathing casualty into the recovery postion. We practiced on each other to use this life saving skill.

Next up was learning what to do if someone faints. We learned the causes of fainting and the fainting treatment to direct blood flow into the core body.

We then looked at cuts. We found out there are two reasons to do so:

• To apply pressure to reduce blood loss
• To reduce the risk of infection getting into the wound.

The boys and girls practice bandaging a cut to the hand, arms and head in pairs. using a roller bandange.  It’s safe to say they enjoyed this activity very much!

 

We used a lot of resources from KS2 First Aid Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources | St John Ambulance | St John Ambulance (sja.org.uk) which can be used at home too.

UNCRC Rights of the Child – Article 6: Life, Survival & Development

The boys and girls of Portpatrick Primary have worked incredibly hard over the last month learning their lines and practising songs to enable them to put on a wonderful Christmas show for family, friends and residents of the village.

‘Christmas with the Krackers’ told the story of the Kracker family who were experiencing a Christmas crisis – they lost their ‘Ho! Ho! Ho!’!! The North Pole’s special elf agents, a pair of talking pets and a Christmas fairy race against the clock to help the family find their Christmas spirit again, just in time for Christmas Day.

It was lovely to see a packed out school hall to celebrate the pupils’ efforts. Their hard work definitely paid off and the audience were entertained from start to finish.

Take a look at our superstars in action below!

1. The village came together for the annual carol service was held on Sunday. There were hymns and readings to share the Christmas message. Lewis, Tilly and Lacey gave a reading of Before The Paling of the Stars by Christina Rosetti. Our families and pupils enjoyed the service with our community.

UNCRC Rights of the Child – Article 14: Freedom of thought and Religion

 

 

We had a wonderul array of styles of Christmas jumpers for our Xmas jumper day today!

It was an afternoon of fun with Elizabeth Breakey and Mrs Ross.  The ladies came in to make Christingles with the children.

Elizabeth shared the Christian meaning behind the Christingle.  Each element of a Christingle has a special meaning and helps to tell the Christian story:

• The orange represents the world
• The red ribbon (or tape) symbolises the love and blood of Christ
• The sweets and dried fruit represent all of God’s creations
• The lit candle represents Jesus’s light in the world, bringing hope to people living in darkness.

Next on the agenda was a role play of the nativity.  The boys and girls acted out the story as angles, shepherd, kings and Mary and Joseph to retell the Christmas story.

The children really enjoyed the hands-on activity which helped spread the Christmas spirit.  Thank you to Mrs Ross and Elizabeth for a great afternoon!

We sung Happy Birthday to Mrs Ross to celebrate her big birthday.  There was cake and treats to share too!

We were also joined by the RNLI crew who gave out Christmas goodie bags for the children to enjoy.  These were crammed full of treats!  Thank yoiu to our lovely community.  The boys and girls have been very lucky today!

 

 

 

 

 

 

UNCRC Rights of the Child – Article 14: Freedom of thought  and religion

P1-5 arrived bright and early at 8am on Tuesday morning for our eagerly awaited (and swiftly re-arranged) pantomime trip! Although, ask the children and they would tell you it was still the middle of the night!

Once on the bus we enjoyed spotting each others houses, local landmarks and trying to work out which village was next. Despite the rainy conditions we got some great views of Ailsa Craig on our way up the A77 to the Gaiety in Ayr.

Unfortunately,  we were nearly late to the ball due to road conditions and catching every red light in Ayr… However, the Gaiety staff were very understanding and  gave us a warm welcome as we made our way in to the theatre and up, and up, and up the stairs to our fabulous seats on the balcony. The boys and girls from Kirkcolm and Leswalt were seated and ready.  After a few waves and hellos we were ready just in time for BANG!!! The show started with POP and a FLASH as we met the fabulous, sparkly, Fairy Godmother who welcomed us all to the show.

The boys and girls thoroughly enjoyed the show and made full opportunity of being able to join in with pantomime phrases! The show had us laughing, jumping, singing along and feeling sorry for poor old Buttons!

As if the Panto wasn’t a big enough treat P1-5 also enjoyed a delicious tub of ice cream during the half time break and then a yummy Burger King for lunch! Feeling content, and extra Christmassy, we jumped back on the bus and headed for home.

We would like to offer a huge thank you to Mrs Henry for organising everything for the trip, and then re-organising everything when our plans got cancelled! We would also like to thank the Gaiety and the whole cast for a fantastic production, the Parent Council for their kind donation towards the trip and finally, Mrs Ross who kindly joined us to help out for the day.

The boys and girls were absolutely delighted with the entire experience and I can safely say it is something they will never forget.

UNCRC Rights of the Child – Article 31 Rest, Play, Culture and Arts.

The children tucked in with gusto for the annual Christmas lunch.  Senga carefully decorated the tables, served the food and even brought in her own Christmas tree to set the festive scene.

To Christmas tunes, the children tucked in to roast turkey, chipolatas and all the trimmings, followed by a delicious Christmas desert.  Lewis, Josh and Max celebrated all things sprout by digging in to a plate full.

Everyone enjoyed pulling their crackers and donning their paper hats to Christmas tunes.  The festivities don’t stop there as it’s Christmas party time on the 21st.

The excitement is building – Just 11 days to go until Santa visits.

Ho, Ho, Ho!

UNCRC Rights of the Child – Article 24: Health, Water, Food & Environment, Article 31: Rest, Play, Culture & Arts

 

As part of our work learning about the UNCRC and Rights of the Child, we  participated in a campaign to allow pupils to see that they can put their rights into action and make a difference in our local community. At our most recent Pupil Council meeting, we decided on 4 different campaigns that we’d like to run and then each school took a vote on their favourite. The campaign that had the most votes was the Police Scotland Youth Volunteer’s (PSYV) Christmas Shoebox Appeal. This campaign collects food and warm clothing for elderly residents in and around the Stranraer area.

We are asked our families if they could send in some donations to go towards the appeal. Items sent in included: tinned food , jars or jam,  sweets, biscuits , tea, coffee ,  gloves and hats .  Our families were very generous!

The photograph shows Erin Topping from the Police Young Scotland Volunteers uplifting boxes which had been collected by Kirkcolm, Leswalt and Portpatrick Primary schools.