On Sunday 21st February, Angus, Innes, Tomas  and I went to Eastwood High School  for a judo event. All of  us  were very successful at the competition. Here is how we medalled:

Euan – Bronze medal in the 11-13 year old category

Angus – Bronze medal in the 12 year old category

Tomas – Bronze medal in the Band AA category

Innes – Gold medal in the 9-10 year old category

  Recently in class, Primary 6c created fantastic self portraits as a practice for the upcoming John Byrne Art Competition. Earlier on in the week, we had our photos taken, that were then printed out, cut in half and stuck on pieces of card. We then redrew the half that was cut off, following the steps on the board. Finally, we added tone by smudging the pencil in darker places of the face. The competition is a nationwide contest for kids to encourage the next generation to take up art. The winning entries will be displayed in a gallery, as well as receiving lots of art vouchers. In the real art pieces we will enter, we will draw the entire face. Everyone really enjoyed the exercise.

“Luckily, it was fairly easy because we only had to draw half of the face”- Angus Birnie

“I enjoyed drawing this portrait, although I found it hard to keep it symmetrical”- Amy Watson

Bloggers – Eve McKay and Tomas Overton

Over the winter holidays, we decided to raise money for the SSPCA because they help lots of animals. Originally, we gave out Hama Bead creations in return for a reasonable donation. Unfortunately, we realised not many people were interested. We thought we would try home baking, and we made chocolate chip cookies, and vanilla cupcakes to sell round our neighbourhood. We sold each cookie at 50p each, and each cupcake at £1 each. We raised a grand total of £25 in one afternoon! Once we counted up our money, we sent it off to the SSPCA along with a letter from us. Sharon Meiklejohn, a Senior Community Fundraiser, replied to it, and sent us each certificates too.

By Rachel and Holly, P6a

Yesterday, P6a played the Chocolate Trade Game.  The point was to teach us how Fairtrade ensures that everyone involved gets their fair share. We were all given a pack for each of the different jobs. This included independent cocoa farmers, Fairtrade cocoa farmers, the Big Chocolate Company, and Fairtrade Chocolate Company. There were also shoppers and supermarkets. The cocoa farmers had to draw and cut out Fairtrade cocoa beans and non-Fairtrade cocoa beans. They were then sold to the chocolate companies so they could make chocolate to sell to supermarkets, which would then be bought by shoppers (consumers). But there were new rules as we advanced through the 4 seasons. Things were good for certain companies, and bad for others. At one point all the farmers were affected by a black pod disease and they lost half of their crops! Us journalists got a few quotes from different groups. “I feel devastated and emotional that we can’t feed our families well!” –Alice, (independent cocoa farmer) “I’m extremely agitated!” –Beth, (Fairtrade farmer) At the end, the Fairtrade farmers and the Fairtrade Chocolate Company made a profit about five times the amount of the non-Fairtrade! This was a really fun activity, a great way to learn about Fairtrade!

The Big Chocolate Company (non-Fair Trade) negotiating some deals.

The Fair Trade Chocolate Company busy producing their chocolate.

The Supermarkets calculating their profits. 

Shoppers buying chocolate from one of the supermarkets.

Fair Trade farmers busy preparing Cocoa Beans and being interviewed by a journalist.

Report by Holly Johnson and Lee Miller