Following last year’s successful Science and Technology Week all the classes took part in a Health Week. Every class showcased one aspect of health and welfare which they have been studying in class. Topics included oral health, alcohol awareness, the dangers of smoking, drugs awareness, eating healthily, Fair Trade, child protection, staying safe, healthy packed lunches and giving compliments. Pupils from PGHS and Kilmacolm PS brought their own displays to add to the event.

A large number of parents attended and were most impressed with the displays and with the knowledgeable pupils manning them.

Primary 5 enjoyed a morning of rehearsals to produce a ‘Play in a Day’. In the afternoon they performed their play about the Scottish wars of independence to an admiring audience of parents. P5 have been studying this topic in class. The day was hard work but great fun was had by all.

The children of primary one, two and three put on two fantastic performances of ‘It’s a Party’ to packed houses. This rather unusual nativity play had Joseph fainting away at the news of the approaching birth and an Angel Gabriel with more than a touch of the rock star!

The show was opened by our talented brass group led by Mr. Digger. The speaking and acting roles were taken by Primary One with Primary Two and Three singing their hearts out in the chorus.

Putting on a show like this takes a huge amount of effort. Congratulations to the teachers and support staff for producing this amazing show.

Click on a picture below to watch as a slide show.

Ravenscraig Sports Centre

Our Athletics team took part in the first of our competitions last week and they did very well.

We were in a group with Kilmalcolm Primary, St Ninian’s, St Joseph’s and St Mary’s Primaries.

Our boys’ team came first and our girls’ team came first which meant we won overall.

We took part in lots of different events and had lots of success in them.

In the boys’ event we won the following events, Vertical Jump where Alan Roxburgh had the best jump of the day. Scott Marshall also had the best jump in the Standing Long Jump and Lewis Gillan had the fastest time in the Hi-Stepper.

In the girls event we won the following events, Over & Under Obstacle race, 1+1 Relay race, 2+2 Relay race, Hi-Stepper, Standing Long Jump, Standing Triple Jump and Vertical Jump. Morgan Bailey had the best throw in the Javelin and Claire Steele had the best time in the Hi-Stepper and the best Vertical Jump.

We also won the Reserves race.

Final points table:

1^st Newark Primary 190 points

2^nd Kilmalcolm Primary 166 points

3^rd St Ninian’s Primary 128 points

4^th = St Joseph’s Primary 120 points

        St Mary’s Primary 120 points

Really well done to all who took part. Next competition is Tuesday 4^th December.

On Wednesday 14^th November 19 children from P5,6,7 took part in the Cross Country Championships at Birkmyre Park, Kilmalcolm. They all did their best to representthe school.

It was a very difficult course due to the recent very wet weather. The following children took part, Claire Steele, Morgan Bailey, Lucy Stone, Sophie Brown, Ailie Campbell, Krisiti McCann, Beth Roxburgh, Erin Coyle and Abigail Allison. Also Scott Marshall, Lewis Gillan, Adam Greene, Lee Richardson, Dylan Potter, Ryan King, Scott Hendry, Alan Roxburgh and Lee Findlay.

Special mention for Lee Finlay who finished 7^th in a race with P6, 7’s.

Really well done to everyone who took part.

Parents of P7 were invited to observe and participate in a gymnastics lesson.

Pupils have developed their gymnastic skills during the first term and were able to demonstrate their learning at 6 different stations.

Demonstrating safe jumps and flips from the large horse, rolls and jumps on the low horse, freedom of expression and movement across the wall bars, various ways of balancing along the beam, 5 point sequences on the floor mats (incorporating starting/ending positions rolls, balances, jumps…etc) and an observation and reflection station where pupils responded to their peers ideas and performances.

The afternoon proved very successful with pupils keen to show off their skills, and some brave parents participating!

In October, 24 children from Primary 6 took part in a rugby tournament at Fort Matilda Park in Greenock. The children had been taught the rules of the game over a 4 week period before the tournament. This was their chance to show off their skills on the rugby pitch. The children were a credit to the school with their excellent behaviour and their good sportsmanship.

Primary 1 gathered together in the hall to have a costume parade and play some Hallowe’en games.

Afterwards they went back to their classrooms for party snacks, juice and some spooky songs and stories.

Last year our Eco Committee led by Mrs. Crawford took part in an initiative run by Promethean the people who make our interactive whiteboards. The aim was to collect enough old mobile phones to win a Promethean Active Expression2 voting system.

The pupils and parents collected a massive 250 phones which will be sent away for recyling so saving them from ending up as toxic waste in rubbish dumps. The BBC reckons that 85 million mobile phones have been thrown away are or are just lying about peoples’ houses instead of being recycled.

 The voting system which we received provides each pupil with a handset with which they can respond to questions put up on the whiteboard. This allows all the children in the class to take an active part in the lesson.

To find out more about the voting sytem click here.

Here is the Eco Committee with the voting system handsets and the phones packed and ready to go.