Author: Ms Whorlow

Our boys and girls at Portpatrick Primary used and applied a democratic process to elect our new House Captains today.  Fitting with our Social Studies topic of Democracy in Scotland, our candidates wrote their own manifesto speech to present to their audience.

Each applicant demonstrated a very high standard of professionalism and confidence as they outlined their personal skills and attributes.  Everyone spoke with clarity about the ideas and initiatives they had for the role of House Captain. We were all very impressed with the standard of each candidate’s talk.

The whole school then carried out the electorate voting process by selecting the candidate they felt would best represent them for the year ahead.  Everyone filled out a voting slip and posted it in our ballet box to be counted privately.

It was a VERY closely run campaign with the results as follows:

Dunskey: Lilly Weatherby

Portree: Alba White

 

We are sure both House Captains will represent their houses well in the coming year. Our thanks to all of our candidates who really did themselves proud. We can’t commend the quality of each candidate’s presentation highly enough! Each of them has earned a merit for their house team.

The activity helps support our learning as part of our curriculum and as part of a wider context; helping develop the Skills for Life, Learning and Work.  It also supports our drive towards our Rights Respecting Schools award and applies UNICEF’s Rights of The Child (articles 4, 12, 15, & 25)

# Effective Contributors/Responsible Citizens/Confident Individuals/Successful Learners

Politics and democracy were the topic for discussion this afternoon in P5 – 7.  Emma Currie, former MYSP kindly visited to give the children an insight to the democratic processes in Scotland and the UK.  This is in support of our Social Studies focus this term on Local and National Government.

 

 

 

 

 

Emma explained how there are three tiers of government: our regional council, the Scottish parliament and the UK parliament.  The children then discussed the roles and responsibilities of each and how the process works locally and nationally.

Emma talked about the rights and responsibilities we all have. She encouraged everyone to recognise the contributions we can make for the benefit of ourselves and our society through taking an active role in politics.  This links well with our learning about UNICEFs rights of the child; in particular, Article 12 (Respect for Children’s Views), Article 13 (Sharing Thoughts Freely) and Article 15 (Setting Up and Joining Groups).

Emma shared her experiences of working in politics from an early age. Her interest was first piqued when she became a pupil council member at primary school.  We are currently in the process of electing our own new pupil voice committee members. Perhaps one of our members will become a future politician too!

We took the opportunity to practice our literacy  skills during the session, using the 5 R’s of note taking: Record, Reduce, Recite, Reflect & Review.

 

 

 

 

 

The boys and girls asked a range of interesting questions and shared their views freely.  It was a very interesting session.  Thank you Emma!

# Responsible Citizens

 

We all had an absolute blast at Mabie Farm Park today.  There was just so much fun to be had!

Portpatrick Primary was joined by Leswalt and Kirkcolm Primaries on our annual summer school trip.  Everyone agreed that it was a very well deserved treat for the challenging year the children have had.  The weather was very kind to us, with the day brightening to match our smiles.

The photos of the day speak for themselves.  You only need to look at all the beaming faces to see how much everyone enjoyed their day.

A wee treat to take on our trip courtesy of Connor’s restaurant.

And we’re off!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pedal Power

‘Choo Choo’ Train

 

Hay Barn High Jinx

Alfresco Lunch

Petting Zoo 

 

Play Park Fun

And of course, there was a  wee trip to the gift shop to round the day off after an ice-cream.  What a way to end a fabulous day!

Portpatrick Primary held a One Planet Picnic in the sunshine today.  The theme is ‘Good For You, Good For The Planet‘. This year, we worked very hard on reducing our single use plastic waste and snacking in a more environmentally way.

The initiatives we undertook were:

• We used ‘compostable’ spoons for our yogurts instead of single use plastic
• We packaged our lunches in recyclable paper bags
• Our fruit delivery came wrapped in biodegradable bags to maintain hygiene and reduce waste
• Our milk was supplied with paper straws instead of plastic
• Our pizza trays were also made from compostable material.

The children sorted our waste into three recycling tubs: food, paper and plastic, making sure there was no litter left behind.

The first, smallest bag on the left is plastic waste to be recycled, the second smallest bag is food waste to compost and the third larger bag is paper waste which we can also recycle. You can see from the photographs how little plastic and food waste there was compared to recyclable paper material.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then placed the waste into the correct bins to be processed by Dumfries and Galloway Council.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

# Responsible Citizens

Friday was a day for celebration as Poppyscotland arrived to present our Pineapple Squad (Izzy White, Ava Lily Orr-Ewing and Maya McNeill) with their prize for winning the National Fundraising in Action category of Poppyscotland’s national competition.  The girls took the initiative to create and sell hand-made crafts to raise money in support of Poppyscotland and won in a national polling vote of entries.

 

 

 

 

 

Poppyscotland was created 100 years ago to raise funds to support the needs of veterans and their families living in Scotland. Our partnership schools always honour Remembrance Day; learning about the sacrifices of men and women, both in times of war and in their peacekeeping duties today.

By kind permission from Dumfries and Galloway Council, the children had the opportunity to visit Poppyscotland’s travelling Bud Bus at Lagwinnan.  This bus is a mobile exhibition truck that provides an interactive learning experience about the heritage and work of Poppyscotland.  Members of our community took great interest in the bus.  Laura and John, who facilitated the exhibition, remarked on how friendly and welcoming everyone has been to the during their visit.

Our ‘workforce‘ clocked-on ready to begin their visit to the Bud Bus:

The children were able to tour the bus, but unfortunately due to Covid restrictions, they were limited on what they were able to handle.  That didn’t stop them enjoyed the experience one bit though.

 

The boys and girls learned that five million poppies are made every year, enough for every person living in Scotland, should they wish to buy one.  We were able to look at the different styles of fundraising poppy that are produced around the world.  Lady Haig designed Scotland’s botanically correct poppy with four petals and no leaf.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The children were able to make their own poppy using the same equipment the veterans use in the Lady Haig poppy factory in Edinburgh.  The factory employs ex-service men and women to hand-assemble each and every poppy.

 

Gordon Mitchie, head of fundraising for Poppyscotland and an RAF veteran, presided over the prize giving ceremony. Our Pineapple squad have already received £500 in vouchers for our school.  They were also given a framed certificate to commemorate their achievement and a goodie bag each.

Friday was also the 100 year anniversary of the creation the Royal British Legion Scotland.  The children participated in a national commemoration of the event that was happening all around Scotland that day. They laid a wreath at our village war memorial with Gordon Mitchie, who gave an honorary salute to the fallen.

Our boys and girls participated in a photoshoot for Poppyscotland, with kind support from our local Free Press and photographer Jim Ryder. The photographs will be used to promote future fundraising activities for the charity.  As soon as these are available, we will share them here.

As a wee treat for everyone, the boys and girls enjoyed a wee ice-cream outdoors in the sunshine together to bring the day to a close.

 

 

 

 

 

Click to enlarge to see everyone enjoying their treat.

 

 

Many thanks to Poppyscotland for organising the event and travelling all this way to make the occasion so special for our children.  Thank you also to Dumfries and Galloway Council, the Free Press and Jim Ryder.

Well done Pineapple Squad!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

# Effective Contributors

# Responsible Citizens

As part of our Eco Schools Action Plan, P 4 to 7 got their green fingers working today.  The boys and girls cleared the raised beds and planted a range of vegetables in the beds and in recycled waste tubs.

• leeks
• carrots
• turnip
• kale
• radish
• runner beans
• potatoes

To promote an insect friendly area, we also planted flowers:

• Nigella
• Echium
• Cornflower
• Nicotiana

 

 

 

 

 

We re-homed the grubs we found in our planting areas to make sure our seedlings didn’t get munched.

 

 

 

 

 

Atticus built our first self-watering plant pot which we used to plant transferred coriander.  He threaded string through from the soil chamber through the lid to the inverted water reservoir.  As the soil dries out , the water will travel up the string through capillary action – a wee bit of science in action!  We will make more of these if we gather more drinks bottles to recycle.  Why not try this at home!

In addition, we recycled milk cartons to make into hanging herb planters – more to follow on that.

# Responsible Citizens and Effective Contributors

We had a fantastic turnout for this year’s Kirkcolm 51st annual fundraising mini walk on Saturday.

Pupils and families from all three schools were invited to participate to help support their schools. There were entrants from nursery age to adults walking the 7.37km route together; some competitively and some just for fun.

First, second and third places are awarded for the boys and girls completing the course in the quickest time.  The results are as follows:

Boys:

1. George Keith – Kirkcolm P6
2. Danny Dougan – Kirkcolm P4
3. Ivan Turtle – Kirkcolm P3

Girls:

1. Ruth Turtle – Kirkcolm P7
2. Olivia Turtle – Kirkcolm P6
3. Izzy White – Portpatrick P6

The route followed along the Corsewall Estate Coastal Path. A very well done to everyone who walked or ran the course!

There has been a fantastic response to the fundraising effort; with each school hitting their target! The money will be put to very good use for each school to give children enjoyable experiences after a difficult year.

Our grateful thanks go out to so many people who helped organise and support the event:

• Our parents and families who planned and organised the mini-walk
• The Carrick-Buchanan and Milroy family for their kind  permission to walk on their land
• The volunteer  marshals
• Lidl and Tesco for the donation of refreshments
• The Free Press who covered the event
• and to ALL the children and families who fund raised and participated to raise money for our three fantastic wee schools!  We applaud each and every one of you who took part.

Have a look at the fabulous photos courtesy of Jemima Johnstone.  See you next year! 🙂

 

Did you know that May is National Share a Story  month?

This is an annual celebration of the power and magic of storytelling. Organised by the Federation of Children’s Book Groups, it is a wonderful opportunity for families to share stories and books.

Spending just 10 minutes a day reading and sharing stories with children can make a crucial difference to their future plus it’s a lovely thing to do!

World Book Day are offering free Share A Story resources to help you join in including a Share A Story Reading Stars game, top tips for sharing stories, book review templates.

 

This year’s theme is Myths, Magic and Mayhem.

Here are some suggested reading titles for you:

• Mythical Book Suggestions
• Magic Book Suggestions 
• Mayhem Book Suggestions

Why not encourage your child to create their own mythical beast for this year’s competition! Click here for competition details.  The closing dates is the 1st of June, 2021.

Pupil Council Members thought it would be a good idea to share a digital library of books you might like to read together at home.

WBD-whole school digital-library

The Pupil Council members  planned an afternoon of sharing a story together in school to read for pleasure.

What a brilliant day out the North Rhins P7s enjoyed at Galloway Activity Centre on Friday! This was organised as a special treat as they had missed their last two residentials – and what a fabulous time they had together before they head off to S1 at Stranraer Academy.

Thankfully the high winds and rain of Thursday had abated and Friday dawned dry and reasonably bright. We met at Port Rodie and clambered upon the minibus to head down the road to Loch Ken.

Once there, we got kitted up with our laser guns and headsets for our first activity. Diving in and out of the wooden hides (and in Mrs F’s case headfirst over a tree trunk!) the teams worked to avoid being ‘killed’ by the opposition. Strategy meetings were held, tactics discussed and rounds of ‘ammo’ were fired… and yes the teachers were shot! All good fun. The teachers went from being quite cool and mature to being VERY into this game! Why had I never played this before? Highly recommended!

Next up, the children donned their wetsuits (many comedy moments were had with Mr Cloy!) and enjoyed a session of kayaking. They were naturals! Once they were kayaked-out, the suggested dare from Instructors Rob and Hannah to jump off the the end of the pontoon was met with great cheers all round. The phrase ‘drowned rats’ comes to mind as they all padded back up towards the centre to get changed into dry clothes.

A quick bite of lunch and it was time for the climbing wall and zipwire with instructors Rob and Ben. What a bunch of adrenaline seekers we have! Superb climbing and ‘zipping’! The offer was then there for those who wanted to have a 2nd,3rd and even 4th shot of the climbing wall.

We thanked Rob, Hannah and Ben for a great activity day and climbed aboard the bus to head to Castle Douglas for a bite to eat. Chip-shop dinners in hand, we stopped the bus by Carlingwark Loch and munched our tasty suppers, before heading back along the A75 towards home.

The kids were an absolute pleasure to be with, the activities were fantastic fun and the chip-shop tea rounded off a perfect day out! Just check out our pictures below to see for yourselves….Click on the images to enlarge 🙂

Mrs Ferguson & Miss McNicoll

 

For ‘I Love Nurses Day’ the pupils of Portpatrick were asked to create artwork to celebrate the wonderful contribution nurses make to our society, particularly this year!

The boys and girls drew  posters to show their appreciation for our nurses and, as a special reward, they were given some healthy fruit in return. The children really enjoyed munching on their fruity snacks.

Thank you to Julie Currie and Morrisons for their kind donation.