Author: Ms Whorlow

Keep Scotland Beautiful awards Green Flag Award for environmental action

Portpatrick Primary has yet again been awarded the prestigious Eco-Schools Green Flag Award, by environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful. Eco-Schools Scotland aims to make environmental awareness and action an intrinsic part of the life and ethos of all schools, for both pupils and for staff. It also provides a framework to engage the wider school community in action and support aligned with the purposes of Curriculum for Excellence and Learning for Sustainability. Eco-Schools Scotland offers schools a choice of ten topics to engage with, from food and the environment, to litter, to energy. Portpatrick Primary chose to focus on Litter, Biodiversity and Health on its Green Flag Award journey.

Derek Robertson, Chief Executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: “Congratulations to the Eco Committee, and all other pupils and staff at Portpatrick Primary who worked so hard to achieve and maintain their Green Flag Award Status.” “Keep Scotland Beautiful is committed to supporting all our children and young people to develop the capacities, skills and attributes required for learning, living and working in a changing environment and world.

The pupils’ community and environmental action was commended by Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland Region.  She personally wrote to the boys and girls, to congratulate them on their commitment and endeavours ‘to make our region a pleasant place to live and visit.’

Mrs Baille, Head Teacher commented that, “This award recognises another two years of continued environmental achievement by our responsible pupils.  The whole school has engaged with our local community to bring about positive action.  Our special thanks go to the Community Safety Wardens and Portpatrick Community Council for their support”.

The Scottish Eco-Schools programme is regarded as world-leading; with almost every young person in Scotland playing a part in driving environmental excellence forward. Now the pupils and educators of Portpatrick Primary can proudly say they are engaged in a real movement, across over 60 countries in five continents, striving to improve our environment through learning for sustainability.

# Responsible Citizens

As part of learning how to be Responsible Citizens and Effective Contributors, Class 2 are receiving a block of workshop lessons to become Playmakers.  Here, they are taught skills to allow more effective interaction with their peers.  Soft skills such as cooperation, negotiation, sharing and listening are developed through collaborative play activities.  Today, Class 2 were using effective communication and organisational skills to instruct Class 1 on a range of independently designed play activities.

#Responsible Citizens  & Effective Contributors

 

P6 pupil Lola has been selected to play for the Wigtownshire netball team!  Lola is making her mark with this great achievement, having just joined us from over the pond.  We will all be cheering Lola on.

# Effective Contributor

Our new P1 pupils are settling in well at Portpatrick.  They have been very busy learning in all sorts of contexts.  The class went on an active learning 2D shape hunt using our outdoor areas.  To help with writing recounts, the children went on a Teddy Bears picnic.  They applied healthy eating to create their own sandwich snacks.  They enjoyed story time with ‘We Are Going On A Bear Hunt’.  The children played games with their bears to learn social skills.  All this was used as a stimulus to write about their adventures with their favourite teddy bears.

# Successful Learners

 

The Portpatrick Primary End of Year awards ceremony of 2018 was held amidst smiles and tears.  The great achievements of our pupils were recognised today in front of a packed hall of family and friends.  The children performed lively songs to entertain the audience between certificates and awards being presented.  There were many adults to thank for their continuing help and support throughout the year. We said a tearful goodbye to our wonderful Primary 7 pupils and to Miss Kerrr, who is leaving to take up a teaching post in Edinburgh.

The children took full advantage of the sun on the final afternoon by visiting the lifeboat station for a guided tour. Thank you to Alli and Robert for being our genial hosts.  The boys and girls then had a game of putting and enjoyed an ice cream before returning to school for the countdown bell for our holidays.

Goodbye and good luck to Innes, Jenna, Katie, Lachlan, Mia & Olivia!

______________________________________________________

Primary school is over now with the Academy coming fast.

We have to tell you that the last 7 years have simply been a blast.

Shortly you’ll be moving on to somewhere fresh and new,

This school will be so different when we do not have you.

We’ve watched you grow and turn into the person that you are,

To read and write and count with ease, you simply are a star!

We want you to remember, a message from us all,

Live your life and chase your dreams, whether big or small.

You are unique and wonderful and sadly, will be missed.

So, grab life and forever hold it tightly in your fist.

Goodbye from  us and thank you, as it has been so much fun.

Remember you are special and you’re simply number one!

 

As part of our ongoing work on dog fouling for our Eco Targets, Class 2 went into the village today with Community safety warden officers and Mr. Telford, chair of the community council.  Jenna and Ruby produced the two winning posters for our anti-dog fouling campaign.  These have been made into A3 public display boards.  The group assessed the best locations to mount the posters in the village for maximum impact e.g. the play park. 10 were located throughout the area to encourage responsible dog ownership.  We are all hopeful that they will have a positive impact.  A display banner is also being produced for our school gate and should be positioned in the Summer holidays.  Watch this space.

#Responsible Citizens & Effective Contributors

 

As part of Portpatrick Primary’s ongoing Eco Schools Litter campaign, we received a visit from Andy Love, Logistics Manager, and his Colleague, Leanne, both of Enterprise D & G.  They travelled especially from Dumfries to meet with us after Class 2 wrote persuasive letters appealing for a change in practice in using single use plastic straws on school milk cartons.  Enterprise D & G were so impressed with the quality of the letters and the suggested alternative strategies the children offered that they have invited the children to have a profile entry on their Facebook page.

Andy and Leanne were keen to share the initiatives that Enterprise D & G are now trying out to help combat the issue of plastic waste in our region.  They brought ‘soft cans’ for the children to sample that make straws redundant. The children agreed that the sip style cartoons were practical.  We also learned about how Enterprise D & G are testing a range of vegetable based catering products in two of the region’s secondary schools at present.  They have promised to keep us informed.

We appreciated their visit in response to the range of Eco actions we have been undertaking as a school this year.  Indeed, we are the only school that has received such a visit.  It was an informative and encouraging session for all.

# Responsible Citizens

P4-7 received a training session from qualified paramedic, Tanya Elllis, today.  Tanya works both from the ambulance and fire services.  The children learned about first aid techniques that could potentially save a life. They were given instruction in a range of areas such as C.P.R and emergency situations.  The pupils were taught the importance of assessing danger when approaching a casualty as well as checking for responsivity.  They then practiced the A.B.C. of revival using resuscitation models.  The boys and girls learned how to modify the method for young children and babies.  The class then moved on to placing their breathing casualty in the recovery position.  The group were given scenarios on how to deal with burns, breaks, cuts and seizures.  The children were mature and sensible throughout the session, asking relevant questions to gain more knowledge.

# Responsible Citizens / Successful Learners

The incoming P1 pupils have joined us this week for transition days.  The children have enjoyed getting to know their classmates, teachers and staff.  All of the older pupils have loved making a fuss of the ‘cute’ wee ones.  Hollie and Carter joined Class 1 today for lunch and agreed that Barbara’s dinners are delicious. 🙂

# New Successful Learners

Portpatrick Primary received a special invitation to visit Lactalis today to learn about the process of cheese making in our local creamery.  We believe we have had the singular honour of being the first ever school trip on their premises.

We were greeted by Hayley, from Training and Development, and Kenny, a Shift Manager.  The whole school watched videos to learn about the history of Lactalis and the wide range of dairy products they make to distribute around the world.  We learned about how the process of cheese making has changed over time from the earlier days of manual production to the automated systems that are in place today.  There was an impressive array of brands produced on site; many of which the children were familiar with.  We were surprised at the length of time it takes the different cheese varieties to mature.

The school split into two rotation groups.  One activity went to the viewing gallery to observe the cheese packing production in operation.  It was fascinating looking at the complex automated machinery move, slice and package the different cheeses.  We could clearly see the food hygiene practices that were used in the factory to maintain cleanliness.  Kenny was very patient, answering all our questions in detail.

The second activity was a cheese tasting session with Hayley.  Just like the official cheese graders, we had to use the senses of sight, touch, taste and smell to assess cheeses.  We enjoyed the tasting part in particular!  We had to decide whether cheese A and cheese B were of a medium or extra mature strength.  Using the knowledge we had gained in our earlier session, we were able to classify the samples correctly.

The children found the experience fascinating and now have a greater understanding of how technology is used in industry to make our everyday household food products.

#Successful Learners