Category: Uncategorized

An afternoon of outdoor learning

Here at Ulva Primary School we know how lucky we are to be based in such beautiful surroundings, and we make the most of this whenever we can.

Yesterday afternoon, we took a walk down to our local beach in the glorious sunshine.

The children had some time to play and explore, finding treasures including sparkly rocks and rocks with faces 🙂

They also found some giant feathers and together decided these were most likely from a big Gull or a Heron.  We admired a Buzzard soaring up above in the blue sky, spotted by our P7 Issy and identified by our P6 Kate.

While we were at the beach, we collected any big bits of rubbish we found too, to continue in our beach cleaning work.  We took these back to the school to dispose of.

 

We sat together to share in our current class book – Roald Dahl’s ‘The Twits’ and then practiced our Gaelic singing in preparation for next year’s MOD competition.

  

 

 

Related articles from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child:

  • Article 29 – Goals of education: Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full.  It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures and the environment.
  • Article 31 – Leisure, Play & Culture: Every child has the right to relax, play and take part in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities
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Ulva Primary School’s Celebration of Achievement

We had a lovely afternoon yesterday at our Celebration of Achievement!  It was great to see everyone who could make it.

The children gave a great musical performance as a whole class, with some performing duets and solos as well.

 

 

It has been such a busy year, with so much to celebrate!  The children have worked so hard, and earned a multitude of certificates!

At the Celebration event, we wished Good Luck to Issy, as she is now at the end of P7 and off to Tobermory High School soon.  We will all miss her very much, but know she will continue to grow and achieve wonderful things at High School.

The children also got to thank the Munro family for their hardwork in sourcing and erecting the Polytunnel that now stands proudly in our school garden, and is an important feature of school life here.

Believe it or not, preparations are already underway for the next academic year, with Mod practice taking place each week – it will be August before we know it!

What a fantastic school year 2018 – 19 has been. Thank you from all of us here for all your support and involvement during the year. Have a wonderful summer everyone.

 

Related articles from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child:

  • Article 29 – Goals of education: Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full.  It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures, and the environment.
  • Article 31 – Leisure, play and culture: Every child has the right to relax, play and take part in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities.

Sports Day 2019

We all had a great time at Sports Day on Friday 21st June!  Thank you to Babs and to all the staff and volunteers who organised the event.

 

The children took part in so many different activities, including 100m and 200m races, long jump and fun events like the sack race and egg and spoon race!  They all did so well!

 

We are particularly impressed with the children’s determination and overall attitude.  The children got involved in their various events and had lots of fun, giving amazing support to each other as always!

Sports Day is a great opportunity for them to get together with children from other schools across Mull and Iona.  Well done everyone! 🙂

 

Related articles from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child:

  • Article 24 – Health and health services: Every child has the right to the best possible health.  Governments must provide good quality health care, clean water, nutritious food, and a clean environment and education on health and well-being so that children can stay healthy.  Richer countries must help poorer countries achieve this.
  • Article 31 – Leisure, play and culture: Every child has the right to relax, play and take part in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities.

CAMAS 2019

On the 17th & 18th June, the children from Ulva and Lochdonhead Primary School’s went off to CAMAS, along with Mrs Nicolson and Mrs Grierson.

After travelling down in the bus and car, the group took part in a host of fun and challenging activities.  This began with a hike across rough moorland, negotiating boggy patches and heading to Market Bay.

When they arrived at Market Bay, their hardwork was rewarded with some time to play on the beach, making dams and having hot chocolate or peppermint tea.

This was followed by forest games, including ‘sniper’ and ‘capture the flag, with lots of hiding in bushes, tactics, strategy and team spirit!

Later, they had the oppotunity to kit up in wet suits, swim and have lots of fun together in the water.

 

     

There was a focus on being together, sharing dorms, helping with meals and completing chores.  The chores included doing the dishes, jobs in the garden like watering the plants, tidying the common room and – the favourite chore – feeding the cat!

For some of the children, this was a first overnight trip away from home, and they were so supportive and caring towards each other.  A great time was had by all!

Related articles from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child:

  • Article 29 – Goals of education: Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other  cultures, and the environment.
  • Article 31 – Leisure, play and culture: Every child has the right to relax, play and take part in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities.

 

Visit from Sunnyside Primary!

On friday last week (14th June) we had a visit from pupils and staff at Sunnyside Primary School, Glasgow.  We were lucky to also be joined by 4 pupils from Dervaig Primary aswell.

Sunnyside Primary are a school of conservation, with conservation and the environment being high on their agenda and set as part of their everyday curriculum.  Pupils at Sunnyside have initiated, and been involved in, many projects about conservation, and have been featured on BBC News and in parliamentary debates in relation to some of these projects.  One of the most well known is their ‘Nae Straw At Aw’ campaign – where they worked to reduce unnecessary plastic use and wastage – including the notorious plastic straw! http://www.naestrawataw.org/

The pupils from Sunnyside gave a presentation to the pupils and staff here at Ulva, and followed this with some activities which included information about beach cleans, risks of pollution to marine animals and ideas for reducing plastic waste – including things like glitter (which they reminded us is in fact plastic!).

We hope to continue links with Sunnyside, and be involved with some of their projects as well as continuing our own – including involvement in the pilot scheme to recycle toothbrushes within Argyll & Bute and our regular beach cleans.  We are lucky to have pupils here at Ulva who are so passionate and caring about their home and natural environment and this means we can continue to make a real difference.

“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.”

Related articles from the Un Convention on the Rights of the Child:

  • Article 29 – Goals of education: Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full.  It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures, and the environment.

 

Xpressions App for school messages

Dear Parents,

Please see below information about the free Groupcall Xpressions app, used by schools for communicating information to parents.

We would like to use this app as a free way of sending messages and notifications to you, alongside emails, phone calls and blog.

Please could you download the app, and let us know once you have done so.  We will then do a ‘test’ message to check everything works!

__________

Groupcall Xpressions App

View your child’s information on your mobile phone!

An exciting new service is now available for parents to ensure communication between the school and yourselves is easier and more effective. Groupcall Xpressions is a service created by the award-winning school communication company Groupcall Limited.

 

The app is completely free of charge to you and can be installed on your mobile phone or tablet. It currently supports both Apple iOS and Android devices and you’ll be able to see information for your children. You can also login on a web browser at https://xpressions.groupcall.com

 

If you have children in different schools and those schools also use Groupcall Xpressions, you will be able to view information on multiple children within the same app.

 

What do I need to do now?

Please ensure we have your correct mobile number and email address on our school database to ensure you can use the new app as soon as it is available. Forms are available from the school office to check and update your details or simply email them to the school. You’ll need to make sure you keep these details up to date in future to maintain access to the service.

What happens next?

Groupcall have to set up the system in school. Once that is complete you can install the app and login in order to get access to your child’s information.

 

Once installed and set up you will be able to see some or all of the following information depending on the school’s system:

 

  • Free messages sent by the school delivered directly to the app
  • Updates regarding selected partner systems, used by the school such as homework, lunch topups and survey systems
  • Attendance records and absences*
  • Marks and grades*
  • Achievement records*
  • Behaviour events*
  • Timetable*
  • School calendar*
  • Exams Timetable*

*Enhanced Service

Groupcall provide a dedicated support website for parents to also help you get up and running with Xpressions, or answer any common questions parents have on using the app: http://parents.groupcall.com