Portpatrick Primary

As part of our outdoor learning day, Primary 4-7 spent the afternoon combining Language and technologies skills on the beach.  The pupils were tasked to apply ‘computational thinking’ without the use of computers, which is known as being unplugged.  They had to write an algorithm (set of instructions) for the processes required to make a sand castle.  The children had to apply ‘logic’ and ‘decomposition’ to break the task down into its component steps.  They then had to use ‘abstraction’ to remove any unnecessary information. Once they had ‘debugged’ any errors through practicing their instructions, they challenged another group to carry out their instructions verbatim to see if they worked for others.  We had a discussion on what information was needed/not needed in our instructions to see if we had written a functional algorithm.

Just for fun, we used our Craft, Design and Technologies skills to create sand sculptures, thinking about how we used the material of sand to form stable structures using pressure and moisture.  The winning group was Jenna, Mia, Katie and Olivia for their raft model.  Everyone cooperated well; sharing ideas and tasks effectively.

#Successful Learners

As part of national Outdoor Learning Day, Primary 4-7  have been very busy in the sunshine.  Following on for our Eco targets focussing on litter, we carried out a community litter survey and village clean under the guidance of our Community Safety Officers Caroline, Colin and Alistair.  The children used the criteria cited in the standards for Codes of Practice Litter and Refuse (Scotland 2006) to rate our community under a number of inspection areas.  Our consensus was that, after closer inspection, our village was rated between B – C.   This information will be shared with the Community Safety Management team and with our local community council.

We were joined in our endeavours by Quentin, our local public works and maintenance worker, who was on his very last day ever keeping Portpatrick streets clean and tidy with his cart. He retires tomorrow and we are grateful for all of his help in keeping everything spick and span.

The children enjoyed participating in our community event.  Myles said he felt proud helping to keep our village clean.  Mia said it was good helping Quentin do his important job.

#Effective Contributors and Responsible Citizens

 

This term Primary 4-7 are learning about how to manage risk more safely as part of our H.W.B. topic.   Class 2 received a visit from PC Wilson and PC Logie today to educate us on online resilience and cyber bullying. We discussed a range of risks that we might experience when we go online. We shared ideas and strategies on how to manage risks online sensibly. The children talked maturely about the potential dangers from unknown contacts, privacy invasion and oversharing of information. The issue of cyber bullying was also raised. We talked about our views on what is acceptable behavior and what is not and what to do if we experience this. Hopefully, as part of our ongoing education on this issue, the pupils will be better equipped to keep themselves and others safe and conduct themselves appropriately online.

# Responsible Citizens

Mia and Innes were selected to be Portpatrick’s Primary 7 Responsible Citizens for 2018.  They achieved this through their consistently kind and considerate attitude towards others.  They are always willing to lend a hand to whoever needs it and can be relied upon to be sensible and mature.  We are proud of them both!

# Responsible Citizens

Miss Amelia Stapleton is a charity superstar!

She has had an impressive 10 inches cut from her hair and is donating this to the charity, Wigs For Kids.  Amelia’s mum has said that this donation is long enough to allow a full wig to be made from Amelia’s hair.  For thirty years, this charity has been making hair replacements and offering support for children who have lost their hair due to chemotherapy, radiation therapy, alopecia, trichotillomaina, burns and other medical issues at no cost to children or their families.  Well done for your very kind act Amelia!

# Effective Contributor

It was a milestone day today for our new Primary 1 pupils: Carter, Erin, Holly and Ollie, who joined us for a morning of learning activities.  All the shiny, new pupils were happy and keen to learn, readily mixing with their new classmates.

Our upcoming P4 pupils: Alfie, Ava Lily, Maya and Ruby, came through for a familiarisation session in Class 2 for maths at the same.  They proved themselves busy beevers, working away on their Big Maths skills.

#Successful Learners

As part of our ongoing Eco work, we were visited today by 2 members of the Coastwise Project.  The team delivered a workshop to both classes separately to help educate us about the problems plastic pollution is causing to our coastlines, seas and wildlife.  They shared information about recycling plastics and the alternatives we can use to avoid single use plastics.

The children had the opportunity to study aquatic life skulls and objects up close.  Our boys and girls are very aware of our responsibility to help sustain our world.

#Responsible Citizens

As part of our Litter Eco Targets, Primary 4-7 have taken positive action on the issue of dog fouling in our community.  We have used our technologies skills to email both the Chair of Portpatrick Community Council and our local Community Safety Wardens with the results of our dog fouling survey in the village.  We highlighted the problem and asked for support.

As a result, two Community Safety Officers, Andy and Caroline, attended our school for an action planning meeting today.  The officers were pleased with the standard of the dog fouling posters which were created by the whole school. They will laminate and mount these for us ready for display in our area to encourage responsible dog ownership.  Andy will judge and announce the winners of our poster competition.

We have agreed to conduct another combined litter and dog fouling survey using the Dumfries and Galloway council recommended rating scale that the community team use.  This will then be used to feed into the regional database.

The class agreed that it would be a great idea to invite a mechanical road sweeper to visit our village to help clear up the worst affected areas that we find.  It is planned that two pupils will attend a meeting to present our work to the Portpatrick Community Council.

Not content with all this positive Eco action, the class have also written persuasive letters to Dumfries and Galloway council asking them to encourage their supplier of individual milk cartons to stop using plastic straws which do not biodegrade.

#Responsible Citizens & Effective Contributors

 

P1-4 had the opportunity to learn about Scottish animals and their habitats on the ‘Wild About Scotland’ bus from Edinburgh Zoo. We met a badger, beaver and a wild cat, as well as getting to hold various antlers and feel animal pelts.

Our two hosts showed and taught us about the effect of plastic on our native wildlife and how we can best protect them by recycling and reducing our plastic usage. The boys and girls were all shocked by how many animals get caught in plastic and are keen to find out more ways we can help stop this at school and at home.

A big thank you to Edinburgh Zoo for letting us enjoy this experience.

#Responsible Citizens

The boys and girls got their Eco Warrior hats on today as we conducted a dog fouling survey of our village.  The pupils produced tally charts and bar graphs of the volume of dog fouling in our village in four zoned areas.  The results were surprising with 13 doggie parcels being found in the grassy path leading up to Military Road alone!  Thankfully, the harbour front area was completely clear.

The children have taken action by applying their persuasive writing skills to try to enlist the support of our local Community Council.  They used technology to send emails to the Chair with suggestions of possible strategies that might be applied, such as requesting that our local dog wardens carry out more spot inspections in our area.  They highlighted the economic impact on tourism if our village is not appealing to visitors as a result of dog mess.

We have also contacted the Community Safety Team and requested they visit us to help us combat this problem.

All the pupils are busy creating dog fouling posters that we hope to display in key locations in the village to encourage responsible dog ownership.

Watch this space!

# Responsible Citizens