Portpatrick Primary

On  Wednesday 1st of June, Portpatrick Primary school set out in the glorious sunshine to help tidy our village.  The boys and girls, accompanied by parents, grandparents and siblings, went down to the beach to collect litter along the shoreline.  We were warmly greeted and encouraged by holiday visitors and their families.  After making the beach spick and span for everyone to enjoy, the school progressed to the play park and the public areas at the heart of the village.  We dutifully bagged and binned 12kg of litter, helping to make our village shine.    This was a great learning opportunity for the children as the task supports the requirements of Eco Schools Scotland.  Such whole-school activities help to cultivate the children’s social skills, developing their capacities for learning i.e. responsible citizens and effective contributors and aligns with the learning experiences and outcomes of the Health and Wellbeing curriculum.  

Take a look at our happy snaps to see our little workers in action!

 

E & O’s relevant from Early – Second level

Representing my class, school and/or wider community encourages my self worth and confidence and allows me to contribute to and participate in society. HWB 2-12a

Through contributing my views, time and talents, I play a part in bringing about positive change in my school and wider community.

HWB 2-13a

I value the opportunities I am given to make friends and be part of a group in a range of situations. HWB 2-14a

On Tuesday we had the pleasure of a visit from Wayne Dixon and his dog, Koda, who are on a major litter-busting mission!

Together Wayne and Koda are walking around the coast of Britain and litter-picking as they go. He explained to us about how important it is to keep the world around us looking as beautiful as it really is. Some of the boys and girls in P1-4 wrote about his visit.

Maya P1

We asked Wayne lots of questions about what he is doing. He’s going to walk around the whole country with litter pickers and clean everywhere up! If people keep on dropping litter then he will be doing this job forever! He had a lovely big dog called Koda who is walking with him so he is not lonely.

 

Liam P2

Wayne told us about his dog. He is called Koda and likes to go for long walks too. They like to walk together. Koda was quite a big dog and he was mostly white. They’ve found lots of litter. People need to put their litter in a bin.

 

Rhian P4

Wayne told us about some of the strange litter they have found like take-away boxes, phone cases and hats! He wants to keep Britain tody. He likes walking because he used to go on walks with his dad. His dad died a few years ago but Wayne likes to walk in memory of him. Wayne and Koda have a tent to sleep in if they need to but he uses his Facebook page too and sometimes pubs and hotels let him stay there instead. He asked us to help out by putting out litter in the bin and telling everyone we know to do the same! We promised that we would.

This afternoon Isla, Lara and Kelsey travelled to Stranraer Academy with Mrs Mercer to represent Portpatrick Primary in the local heat of the “ice cream challenge” competition.  This team was selected as the winning entry from the school and they went on to compete against other local primary schools in Stranraer.  After an intense afternoon of ice cream making and judging,  our trio from Portpatrick were delighted to be crowned winners!

The girls will now go on to represent the Stranraer schools at the Dumfries final next month.  Well done girls

!

All of P1-4 recently went along to Leswalt Wetlands to learn a bit more about caring for the local environment.  They were met by the team of excellent volunteers there who guided the pupils though various activities such as pond dipping and a scavenger hunt.   The boys and girls learned a lot about the natural environment and the habitats which are home to a variety of different plants and animals.

All the boys and girls had an excellent afternoon, and learned a lot more about the lovely local environment of Aldouran Wetlands –  as well as being able to have lunch and a play with their friends in Leswalt Primary.

 

Prior to taking part in a Stranraer cluster ice cream making competition, P5-7 at Portpatrick had their own competition in class.    Children came into school with all the ingredients and were awarded points on creativity, taste, health promoting and fair trade/food miles.

Pupils were all given the opportunity to taste all of the creations – and staff enjoyed this as well!  There was a wonderful variety of flavours; including berry based, bannofee, marshamallow and fudge.  The most unusual was the cheese ice cream and the entran who added salt instead of sugar!

After much deliberation Isla was voted the school winner- as the tastiest.  Kesley and Abbigale were judged to have met the most criteria for the competition.  Lara was commended for use of superfruits and locally source ingredients.

Isla, Kelsey and Abbigale will go forward to represent Portpatrick Primary in the next stage of this competition.

Good luck to the girls – and watch out Cream of Galloway!

 

The whole school recently enjoyed a trip down to the bowling green in the village.  Accompanied by Barbara and Alison Murray from Active Schools the school enjoyed a taster session, prior to a weekly Saturday morning club being offered to all.

The whole school enjoyed a day trip to the South Rhins.  First the bus took pupils to Logan Botanic Gardens.  At the gardens the school was split into 2 groups with pupils taking part in different workshops .  They all earned a lot more about pollination, plant structures and the eco systems in the Botanic gardens through participating in active outdoor learning.

Following a picnic lunch at Logan, the pupils hopped aboard the bus to travel to The Mull of Galloway.  At the most Southerly point in Scotland the school learned more about the operation and history of the lighthouse and visited the RSPB bird reserve centre to learn more about the birds who nest nearby.  They also climbed all the way to the top of the lighthouse to take in the stunning views!

It was a very busy – but very worthwhile day,  filled with lots of different new learning experiences. 

Have a look at the photographs to see all the fun  things they got up to!

The boys and girls of Portpatrick Primary are continuing to get out and about doing their daily mile walk around the community.  Last week real community spirit was demonstrated when Mr Schofield from the Crown Hotel spotted the children out in the sunshine and invited them all to stop for a drink.  The boys and girls had a seat on the picnic tables by the harbour and enjoyed a drink of juice in the sunshine.  Thank you to the Crown Hotel!

 

Primary 5-7 have been busy learning about how to make Ice cream, using resources from “science on the menu” .  The children were provided with a variety of fresh fruits and yogurts/milk by Ms Whorlow.  They had to select the ingredients that they thought would combine well, before mixing them and turning them into ice cream – all without the use of a freezer!

This learning and teaching was in preparation for a competition which 2 of the Primary 7 pupils will be entering.  They will have to design and market their own ice cream flavour, utilising locally sourced ingredients.

Have a look at the photographs to see the ice cream making in progress – Mrs Baillie did taste some of the finished products and was pleasantly surprised!

 

What a delicious birthday buffet we enjoyed in school today to celebrate the 90th birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II! Union Jack bunting was hung around the dining hall and Barbara iced some colourful buns to keep in with the red, white and blue theme. Staff sat with the pupils to enjoy their lunch too. We sang Happy Birthday in honour of Her Royal Highness and raised a toast to her with our juice. We had a lovely lunch – I wonder what she had for her birthday lunch?!