Author: Mrs McHarg

Portpatrick pupils took to the stage for the first time in 3 years, not once but twice today, to perform their Christmas show ‘Who Took all the Loo Roll?’ The show tells the story of 3 aliens who have been watching us humans from a distant planet and are intrigued by our Christmas traditions, so they decide to visit to learn more.

They are baffled by: the gifting of loo roll (having panic-bought it during covid!), mistletoe (a feeling that is only enhanced when great-granny tries to land a smackeroonie on everyone, but luckily there is enough spare toilet roll to wipe it off!) and the most hated vegetable – brussel sprouts! The story culminates in the aliens finding out about why humans celebrate Christmas, with everyone learning that the real hero is actually the donkey – how else would Mary have got to Bethlehem?!

Pupils have been working really hard this term to learn their lines and lyrics and I think anyone who came to watch the show can agree, it definitely paid off! It was lovely to see everyone back in the building again sharing in the children’s achievements!

Alison Graham from the Wigtownshire Food Bank visited school this morning, to speak to the pupils about the crucial role that the Food Bank plays in our community. She explained how parcels are made up, what goes into them and talked about her job as a support worker.

In the true spirit of Christmas giving, the pupils were delighted to know that their donations would be helping families in need.

Mary McIntosh, of Mary’s Mini Bakes, stopped in this afternoon to talk to the pupils about starting up and running her own business.

She spoke about why she started the business, having a keen interest in baking, and how she went about building the business up from scratch – from getting her food hygiene certificate, to designing a logo and advertising. She shared the skills she needs to be able to run the company and what her hopes are for the future of the business.

Mary also very kindly brought in some yummy cupcakes for the boys and girls to take home at the end of the day to enjoy – they picked from Nutella, red velvet and Malteser.

A huge thank-you to Mary for taking time out of her busy schedule to come and speak to the children, and for the delicious treats! You are welcome back any time!!

Santa paid a flying visit to Portpatrick Primary this morning to say hello to the pupils and very kindly brought them all a chocolate advent calendar!

Pupils were thrilled and were telling Santa about the letters they have written to him. He reminded everyone that they have to be good to get their presents though! We then joined Santa in a chorus of Jingle Bells and When Santa got Stuck up the Chimney, before waving him off.

Everyone is now excited for the breakfast of chocolate they are planning for tomorrow morning – having 16 advent calendar windows to open at once!!!

Thank-you to Santa for taking the time to stop by – we know you are very busy at this time of year 🙂

This week saw us celebrate all things books as part of Book Week Scotland. The week was kicked off last Friday with our visit from author Renita Boyle. We then had P1-3 parents into school on Tuesday as part of the gifting of our Bookbug/Read, Write, Count bags.

Our Pupil Council then planned a book swap, after which everyone curled up in class with a hot chocolate and marshmallows to enjoy their new books.

We held a competition to design a book cover for our favourite books.  The standard of artwork was very high.  Portpatrick Community council kindly donated book tokens for prizes to keep our avid readers devouring those books.  Our winners are as follows:

P5 – 7: Conor                                        P1 – 4: Adam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To round off the week, pupils were able to come into school dressed as their favourite book character on Children in Need day, in return for a small donation to the charity.

Pupils rolled out of bed and straight into school today wearing their PJs for Pudsey day. Some creative pupils also came dressed as their favourite book character, since this was also Book Week Scotland – we had Horrid Henry, Willy Wonka, Charlie Bucket and Hermione Granger to name a few.

To help raise further funds, Jenny Ribchester very kindly gave up her time to come in and do some face painting. By the end of break, we had unicorns, Pudsey and Blush bears, and Spiderman running around the school!! We sold Pudsey ears and pin badges in the hall, and pupils also got to decorate biscuits for a small donation to the very worthwhile charity.

We raised £75 in total – a fabulous amount for a small school! Thank you to everyone who contributed.

As part of our Book Week Scotland celebrations, parents were invited into school today to see P1-3 pupils being presented with their Bookbug (P1) and Read, Write, Count (P2-3) bags.

This initiative, ran by the Scottish Book Trust and Scottish Government, sees every P1-3 child receive a free bag which contains beautiful books, educational games and writing materials. The bags are designed to help build parents’ confidence and encourage families to include easy and fun reading, writing and counting activities into their everyday lives.

After being gifted with their bags, pupils then spent some time in class exploring the contents – P1s curled up to listen to some stories; there was lots of laughter from the group who were running around trying to find items that matched the adjective cards; and the boys enjoyed using their measuring tapes to find items that were longer/shorter than a given length.

We hope you all enjoy exploring the contents of the bag with your child at home!

Well-known author and storyteller Renita Boyle visited the pupils at Portpatrick this afternoon, as part of the ‘Big DoG Schools Tour’, organised by Wigtown Book Festival. And what an afternoon it was – they were thoroughly entertained!!

Renita instantly captured the pupils’ attention with her interactive songs and stories. Her enthusiasm was contagious and pupils were on their feet and joining in throughout.

They sang ‘The Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly’; joined in with an alternative version of the Three Little Pigs; learned Makaton to accompany the story of the hare; and participated in the retelling of Renita’s own book ‘Honk! Honk! Rattle! Rattle!’

Renita very kindly gave each pupil a signed copy of her book to take home and enjoy.

We had a fantastic afternoon – many thanks to Renita and to Wigtown Book Festival for funding this. We are looking forward to some more fun activities next week as part of our Book Week Scotland celebrations.

Pupils and staff gathered together at 11am today to pay their respects in a 2-minute silence.

We discussed why we have a 2-minute silence on 11th of November, the significance of the poppy and how it came to be a symbol of remembrance, and how the money raised from the sale of poppies helps veterans. Pupils enjoyed watching a Newsround special explaining all about the importance of Remembrance Day.

Lest we forget.

Kiela from Delta Airlines popped into school this afternoon to chat to the pupils about her job as a flight attendant. She got married at Dunskey last year and loved it so much that her and her husband are back visiting on holiday – and she kindly gave up some of her afternoon to spend it at Portpatrick Primary!

The boys and girls were prepared with plenty of questions to help them learn about the world of work onboard an aircraft. Pupils learned that Kiela was inspired by her Aunt who was also a flight attendant and used to show her pictures of her travelling all over the world.

Kiela shared lots of interesting facts about the training that she had to undertake to become a flight attendant – working for 12-14 hours a days, 6 days a week to graduate training. This involved learning how to deal with medical emergencies including CPR, how to fight fires, how to evacuate the plane, and how to provide excellent customer service. Team working is also a key aspect of being a flight attendant since you work as part of a crew.

Pupils enjoyed hearing about Kiela’s stories as life as a flight attendant – her favourite part of the job is getting to see the world and her least favourite is when something goes wrong/mean passengers. She even did the safety demonstration that happens before take-off for the boys and girls!

She shared with pupils that she earns approximately £60,000 a year! At which point the staff decided that we’re all re-training to become flight attendants!!! Only kidding – you’re stuck with us! 🙂

A huge thank-you to Kiela for giving up her afternoon to share her experiences with the pupils – we thoroughly enjoyed it!