At Barr Primary School and Early Years Centre we are very proud of our links to our community and the support they provide us. Here are just some of the ways we work with our community partners.
Our Church
Photo by Molly
In Barr we are very fortunate to have a beautiful church which we can visit. The church is open all year, and we often visit it during our learning about religious buildings and places in our community. We enjoy celebrating Christmas and Easter at the church, through special services. Our services are open to our whole community and we celebrate through, songs, dramatisations, readings and an input from our minister.
Campus Police Officer
PC Johnston is our campus police officer based at Girvan Academy. His role is to visit the schools and support them, with issues that are pertinent to the school or community. He is happy to do school talks on bullying, internet safety, general keeping safe/stranger danger and any other topic we may want him to talk to the children about. PC Johnston helps to keep our community safe and his inputs help pupils make positive decisions in their lives.
Gala Day
The village gala is an important annual event in Barr’s social calendar. It is a day in which village organisations participate in a wide range of activities from the Fell Race at the start of the day to the dance in the evening. The main focus of the day is the parade, which follows a different theme each year.
The Gala King and Queen, both of whom are pupils from Barr Primary, lead the parade in a vintage car.
The school itself enters a float into the parade to try and win the Barr Community Association Gala Day Best In Parade prize. We have been lucky enough to do this on several occasions and always look forward to this time of year!
Burns
Barr PS is proud of its strong links with the village Burns Club, which have been built up over many years. When we honour Robert Burns, the children take part in individual recitations of his poetry. This competition is judged by two members of the Burns Club who join us in our mini Burns supper. We enjoy a traditional feast of haggis , neeps and tatties with shortbread and a glass of Irn-Bru! The lucky winners receive a book token and a certificate.
The Senior Class was also lucky enough to be invited to the South Ayrshire Day of Dance this session. They prepared for this day by learning a selection of Scottish dances and then on the day they participated in a group dance event. They were then able to cascade their knowledge to the younger children and parents at our Burns Afternoon.
Barr Community SCIO
Barr Primary and Early Years Centre have been supported by the Barr Community SCIO in enhancing our learning experiences and helping to develop the community environment. Our most recent project with them has been restoring the village sundial using mosaic and creating a fairy village at the bottom of the famous Fairy Knowe Trail. The children had a fabulous experience with David and Diana who led the sessions and felt a real sense of pride and ownership of their village when they went to visit the areas.
