The children in Primary 1 – 4 have been working hard on producing a radio show transmission with Dumfries and Galloway Youth Music Group as part of our Feis Rois traditional music programme.
This radio show is the culmination of a block of sessions which focussed on the development of early music and communication skills and health & wellbeing and promotes the enjoyment of music. Singing games, exploring musical instruments and games were included in each session.
We are taking part in the Incredible Edible Project. This project received funding from Dumfries and Galloway Council to support ‘food in the community’ projects.
Mrs Dapney of Stranraer Community Gardeners, came to our school today, accompanied by two gentlemen from the council to help us plant an orchard of fruit trees. We had different varieties of dessert and crab apple trees, plum and pear.
This project provides opportunities for interdisciplinary learning. As part of Social Studies, the boys and girls are exploring how we can live in more environmentally friendly ways, caring for the environment. Additionally, fitting in with our science experiences and outcomes, the children learned what these trees need in order to grow and survive. They children discovered how each sapling is actually grown from two trees. The fruit tree variety is grafted on to the root system of a quince tree as the quince has a stronger root base, making a healthier plant.
We talked about the importance of bees in pollinating the flowers on the fruit trees to allow fruit to grow. These trees will help support our bee polulation, supporting our Eco Schools biodiversity target.
Everyone got stuck in, planting the trees, taking care to cover the root system with soil. The children then turned the removed turf upside down and repositioned it so that the tree and the grass are not competing for moisture.
After a good watering from the council supplied bowser, the boys and girls stood back and admired the ‘fruits of their labours’. Hopefully, in one to two years, we should see some success and be able to enjoy a harvest of different fruits.
Thank you to the two council gentlemen who helped do the hard work of digging the holes. Thank you also to Mrs Dampney for organising this lovely project.
Not only did she achieve 2nd place in yesterday’s Badminton Cluster Tournament at the Academy, but her North Rhins Football team were also ranked third place in the cluster schools football tournament on Friday.
Here is Ruby with her well-earned medal, presented by Alison of Active Schools.
Go Ruby!
Thank you to Mrs Ross for providing after-school badminton coaching for Ruby and her classmates.
Our North Rhins Football Team:
Left to Right:
Back Row – Ruby, Rose, Oliver, Aidan, Luke, Murray
Middle Row – Brandon, Alfie, George, Fraser
Front – Alexander
Well done to all our team players.
Our thanks go to Rose’s dad for stepping into the role of coach and guiding and encouraging our football stars. Thank you also, to Jamie Adams for providing football coaching at school and to all parents for transporting and supporting the players.
Primary 5 -7 had a blast at their fun night tonight. This was to make up to those who missed out on Lockerbie Manor.
There was many an activity to enjoy including bouncy castle time, twister, buckaroo and connect four. The movie of the day was Clifford The Big Red Dog, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. Mrs Baillie popped along to join in the movie fun too.
The children were treated to some snacks kindly provided by Morrisons. A take-away tea was delivered to our venue too!
It was a great night with lots of energy and fun.
P1-4 will enjoy their own trip experience quite soon.
Our thanks to Morrisons, Shaun Smith and Istanbul for looking after us so well. Thank you to to Mrs Henry and Kim for helping organise the night and volunteering their time.
There was red as far as the eye could see today as our pupils bedecked themselves in this bright, bold colour to show their support for Red Nose Day.
Our house captains quickly sold out of this year’s stylish red noses.
Everyone enjoyed outdoor maths with a silly theme as part of Fresh Air Friday. There was a grand welly toss tournament in each class. The children had to apply their measuring skills, appropriate to their age, to calculate who had thrown the welly the farthest. The younger class used wooden sticks cut to 1 metre and 2 metres by Mr Harbottle, to provide a handy guide for estimating and measuring. The upper class used a combination of a trundle wheel and a measuring reel to measure accurately. The winners were as follows:
P1 – 4 Winner: Jenna McKinnon (11m throw)
P5 – 7 Winner: Ruby Rankin (15m throw)
There was a wee treat at lunchtime from Kim in our kitchen – Red Nose Day themed cupcakes, yum!
Next up was our Port’s Got Talent show. Our house captains introduced the event and explained the running order for the show.
The audience was entertained with a a dance performance by a large group entry from Alba, Ava Lily, Izzy, Lilly, Ruby & Maya. Lacey told jokes to entertain everyone. We popped outdoors for our next three acts. Harry demonstrated his golfing skills, Adam showed us his flair for scoring goals and Stephen hit some cracking tennis shots. It was a tough decision as to who would win, but the dance troop was given 1st prize for their X-Factor worthy dance rendition. Well done to all those confident individuals that entered.
And last, but by no means least, we give you Mrs Henry!
Thank you to everyone who contributed and helped make our Red Nose Day so special!
The boys and girls of Portpatrick Primary rolled up their sleeves and got stuck in to some planting on Friday. We applied to the Woodland Trust to receive a grant of 20 different tree saplings and 20 shrubs for our school grounds. The aim of the project is to support biodiversity and to create natural habitats for wildlife in our area. We have been gifted species such as rowan, birch, hawthorn and dog rose to name but a few.
As part of our British Science Week activities, the children were given the opportunity to find out about what plants need in order to grow and survive. They will have the opportunity to observe and record their findings and use what they have learned to grow healthy plants in school.
It is hoped that the plants will flourish and give pleasure for years to come.
# Responsible Citizens and Effective Contributors.
Celebrating ‘all-things-science’ this week saw the Primary 5 to 7 pupils explore coding using Micro:bits using an “if … then … else… “ statement to control what was happening with our LEDs and speakers when we pushed certain buttons.
The children really enjoyed applying their computational thinking skills to bring block programming to life using these great bits of hardware!
Algorithms-Creating step by step instructions or rules to solve a problem
Abstraction –Identifying key information & removing unnecessary details
Logic-To analyse and make predictions
Decomposition-Breaking a problem down into smaller manageable parts
Pattern Recognition-Observe patterns, trends and spot similarities
Evaluation-Assessing the solution and making judgements
If you would like to have a go at programming at home, why not visit https://microbit.org/projects/make-it-code-it/?filters=makecode
Select a project and open in ‘make code editor’. This has a Micro:bit simulator – no Micro:bit needed!
As part of our Rights Respecting Schools Silver Award, our P6’s and House Captains from across our partnership took on some responsible training today. The Diana Trust delivered a workshop on developing our older pupils as Anti-Bullying Ambassadors.
This is supported by HRH The Duke of Cambridge, The Diana Award Anti-Bullying Campaign engages schools to change the attitudes, behaviour and culture of bullying by building skills and confidence to identify and deal with different situations.
The aims of the session were:
I know what bullying behaviour is and how to identify it
I understand how bullying behaviour can make someone feel
I can support students in school who are experiencing bullying behaviour
We defined what is meant by bullying behaviour as:
Repeated negative behaviour that is intended to make others feel upset, uncomfortable and unsafe.
The children had lots of rich discussion around this topic with our online trainer, Clio. We talked about situations to determine whether they were bullying or not. Pupils were shown that there are three steps to support a peer who might approach us with a problem – S.A.D.:
Say – Thank you (for trusting us)
Ask – Tell me what’s been going on?
Do – What do you want to do?
Everyone was reminded that all school staff are always here to manage and deal with any situation that might arise. Our ambassadors are there to help anyone experiencing bullying access support from an adult. There is scope for our ambassadors to work together to achieve 4 different challenge badges.
Childline is available for any child to call 24/7, 365 days a year on 08001111. The Diana Award Crisis Messaging service provides a free text support service for children, also available at any time. Simply text DA to 85258!
This morning, Primary 5 – 7 were lucky enough to enjoy a hands-on session with the marvellous Kathryn Purchase of History Alive!
The children covered the Scottish Wars of Independence as their Social Studies topic for this term – and Kathryn was the very person to help bring this historical period to life for them with her fact-busting whizz through the years in question, answering any queries pupils had about the events of the time (clue – lots of unfortunate deaths, power struggles, scheming nobles and some ghastly treatment from both sides of their enemies!
The pupils were enthralled. Kathryn has a wonderful knack of really bringing the history to life for them. Needless to say, her huge collection of artefacts (some bought and some made by herself) helped too. Everyone listened to her retelling of the life and times of King Alexander III, William Wallace, Robert the Bruce and those momentous battles of Stirling Bridge and Bannockburn and , after a quick break, Kathryn let them explore the helmets, shields and swords (safe replicas!) and ask questions. Such fun – just take a look at the fabulous photos Mrs Dignan took below! (click to see full image)
A Fierce Bunch Indeed!
This was a wonderful way to bring the children’s learning to a conclusion. It was a morning to remember – thank you Kathryn.
Keen to invent and apply their creativity skills as part of developing the skills for life, learning and work, the children designed, tested and modified their very own ‘Rube Goldberg’ marble runs for best efficiency. Through rich discussion and application, they explored physics!
Gravity pulls the marble down the first slope. At the top of the slope, the marble has potential energy (energy that’s stored up and ready to be released). As the marble rolls down the hills the potential energy turns into kinetic energy (energy of motion).
If you would like to find out more about a Rube Goldberg machine, and perhaps create one of your own at home as a family, why not watch here!
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