Author: Ms Whorlow

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

What a day of fun and activities we had today! The whole school community came together to raise money for a very worthwhile local cause – Our Local Blood Bikes.

We started off events with a very well attended coffee morning. We were able to offer a cornucopia of delicious home baking donated by our village community. Our parents kindly gave their time to man the kettle and dish out sweet treats to everyone who came along. Whilst this was happening, Jenny who leads Envy Street Dance, gave the children a dance workshop. The children later performed their routine to entertain our audience.

Next on the agenda was Beat the Goalie with Mr Morrison. Lewis managed to get three goals in and was crowned the winner! Cameron was the winner of the sock challenge, pairing the most in a one minute dash. There was name the teddy, who is now crowned ‘Cookie’ and has gone to his new home with Barbara. There were lots of raffle prizes kindly donated by our community for our fundraising draw.

There was much excitement and hilarity as the children eagerly lined up to ‘soak the teacher’ in a sponge throwing challenge. Miss Shelley and Mrs Copeland were both great sports and had their waterproof mascara in place.

In the afternoon, the children were delighted to have Dave Hook, chairman and Garry Lansin, trustee, arrive on their brand new blood bikes named Heather and Natalie which were purchased through charitable donations in memory of loved ones.

The boys and girls asked lots of interesting questions to find out more about the voluntary service the Blood Bike team offer to help save lives in our rural community. They were thrilled to get to sit on the bikes.

Our house captains, Lewis and Atticus, and Ella proudly presented a cheque for an impressive £450.

To finish off the day, the children lined up to give lots of cheers to wave the gents off.

Our very grateful thanks to EVERYONE who made today possible.

UNCRC Rights of the Child – Article 26: Social & Economic Help

Sustainable Development Goal – 3: Good health & Wellbeing, 10: Reduced Inequalities

SHANARRI – Responsible

Photo dump…

P7 pupils, Lewis, Scott, Max and Tilly, went along to the North West Castle Hotel for a inter-school end of season bonspiel today. The event was well attended by primary schools from across the cluster.

There was a great chance for meeting up for our P7 friends from across the partnership and to mingle with pupils from across the area.

The children first played Park 1. The result was

They did very well with a score of 1-6 against still competition. They won 2 – 1. They then played Drummore.

There was time for more mingling at lunch when we were seated with our opponents from round one to enjoy sandwiches, crisps, juice and a wee chocolate treat.

Portpatrick performed so well that they made it through the next stage and were paired against Leswalt. We are pleased to say that Team Port came 5th in the overall bonspeil results.

Our thanks to the staff at the North West Castle for a great day and to Mrs Ross for escorting our team to the event.

UNCRC Rights of the Child- Article 15: Setting up and Joining Groups

SHANARRI – Included

We are happy to share our refreshed Vision, Values and Aims now that our partnership school community surveys are completed. These are shaped by the good work of Mrs McHarg previously.

Our pupils, staff and parents have told us what is important to you for your child’s experiences and learning at school.

Please click here, or on the link below, and press play take a look at the results.

West Rhins Partnership

We have sought the views of our parents, staff and pupils to refresh our Vision, Values and Aims.

Go to this Sway

UNCRC Rights of the Child – Article 12 Respect for Children’s Views

SHANARRI – Included

Primary 7 pupils from Portpatrick and St. Joseph’s R.C. schools travelled together to the Academy for a transition event today.

The pupils had the opportunity to make new friendships to support them as they prepare for the next stage of their education. They were able to meet Academy staff, become more familiar with the new setting and chat about what to expect as they move on after the summer.

There will be more transition events to look forward to.

UNCRC Rights of the Child – Article 29 Aims of Education, Article 15 – Joining Groups

SHANARRI – Included

Our responsible senior pupils are busy preparing and organising activitiesfor upcoming events.

Pupil Council & House Captains

Tilly and Freya (Libary Monitors) and Lewis and Atticus (House Captains) are working together to plan for World Book Day which is on Thursday 7th of March. The children have decided to offer pupils the opportunity to either come dressed as a book character or non-uniform for the day. They decided that pupils should have a choice so no-one felt they had to spend money to have an outfit if they didn’t want to. Our responsible leaders are also organising a mystery book activity to promote reading for pleasure. Watch this space!

STEM Leaders

We will be celebrating British Science Week on the 11th of March. Conor and Louise are organising resources and activties for our planned open afternoon. They are setting up for different experiment stations. Families will be invited in to join us for an afternoon of STEM activities on Tuesday 12th of March at 2pm.

Digital Leaders

Cameron and Scott are planning to hold a pupil training session to help pupils become more confident in logging on to the computer with secure passwords. They will also be helping their classmates log in to their Glow account and send an email. They are busy writing instructions that can be used to help us.

Eco Committee

Lacey and Rebecca are gathering cardboard ready for Mrs Dampney’s visit soon. She has asked that we recycle cardboard that we will soak and place around the roots of our fruit orchard to help keep a store of moisture to keep our fruit trees healthy and well hydrated.

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

SHANARRI – Achieving, Responsible & Included

Primary 5 – 7 pupils are busy preparing for a fabulous Scottish Opera peformance of The Vikings: A Quest for the Dragon’s Treasure on Thursday 21st of March. They have begun practicing songs and actions for their role as the sorcerers.

We will be using the online resources Scottish Opera provides to prepare the boys and girls for a day long rehearsal leading to a fully staged performance which will be guided by a team of Teaching Artists from Scottish Opera. They will provide a complete costume for each child taking part in the project.

The lyrics, music and action videos are available online for home practice. Why not have some fun learning along with your child!

Teaching Resources | Vikings! The Quest for The Dragon’s Treasure | Scottish Opera

Our families are invited to come along to the Ryan Centre to watch the wonderful show. Please note that we have an update on the time of the family show as 1:45pm to 2:15pm.

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

SHANARRI: Achieving & Included

We hope you can join us.

It was a day for Learning for Sustainability for P5 – 7 as we received a visit from the Galloway and South Ayrshire Biosphere team for a marine workshop.

The children learned about the delicate balance in our ocean eco-systems and the creature that live in the ocean habitat. We explored a hands-on experience to identify different native species.

We also learned more about the impact humans are having on the marine environment and what we can all do to play our part. We are developing as responsible citizens.

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

Our senior pupils went on an adventure to Glasgow for their overnight residential experience. We joined up with our friends from the North Rhins Partnership. It was an adventure just getting there with cars, buses and trains transporting us up to the Big Smoke.

The children quickly checked in to the very comfortable youth hostel before setting off to the Kings Theatre to enjoy a fabulous performance of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

It was then time to take a short trip on the ‘Clockwork Orange’ underground to arrive at Ten Pin Bowling before dinner at the great world buffet that is Cosmo. The chocolate fountain, in particular, proved a great hit with many a visit.

The next day, the children visited Kelvingrove Museum. Our class really enjoyed visiting the Egyptian artefact exhibits which fits with the social studies theme they have selected to study this term. After that it was back to the youth hostel to collect our luggage. There was just enough time for a lunch treat at McDonalds before we all travelled home, tired but happy.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this great experience possible – Mrs Baillie, Mrs Henry, all the staff who gave up their personal time, and of-course to the children who were praised by members of the public for their excellent behaviour and manners as responsible citizens.

We are learning independence skills for life.

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

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