schools & clubs

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Learning in Lockdown: On Monday 16th February, our Primary one to three children returned to school following a period of lockdown and remote learning. Our boys and girls demonstrated great resilience and independence as they engaged in all of the exciting home learning tasks that their teachers had set for them. They participated well in their live interactions and enjoyed taking part in Mental Health Week. We are super proud of their efforts and their ability to follow our school values and aims from the comfort of their own homes! We were so excited about their return to school that we decorated the school gates with banners and balloons. It was so lovely to see their smiley faces and we hope to welcome our bigger boys and girls back to school in the same style later on this month. Golden Ticket Tea Party: Every month, the Head Teacher, Mrs Mackenzie hosts a ‘Golden Ticket Tea Party.’ Two guests are selected from each class to join the Head Teacher for a hot chocolate and snack as a reward for their achievement in living by our school values and going ‘Above and Beyond.’ On Friday 12th February, every child in the school received a golden envelope with their invitation to attend an online ‘Golden Ticket Tea Party.’ The children even received a sachet of hot chocolate, some marshmallows, a sweetie and a certifi cate to make the online interaction even more special and enjoyable. We believe that every child has been a star during this unprecedented time and they have all gone ‘Above and Beyond’ to cope with the challenges of the pandemic. A great time was had by all! Men’s Shed Logo Competition: Our boys and girls were invited to take part in an art competition whilst learning from home. The competition was organised in partnership with Houston & Killellan Kirk who were looking for a logo design to be created as a symbol for their ‘Men’s Shed’ initiative. We were delighted to hear that one of the children in our Primary 5/4 class, Lucy Dempster was successful in the submission of her design. Her simplistic, yet effective design was colourful, eye catching and depicted a rainbow. Rainbows are a sign of hope for us at this time.

Pupils Return On Monday 22nd February we welcomed back our EL&CC and P1-3 pupils following the recent lockdown. It was just wonderful to see so many excited faces. Unfortunately our P4-7 pupils have to stay at home for a bit longer and engage in their lessons via Google Classroom. We look forward to them returning on 15th March. B&Q Support Outdoor Learning Lily’s mum organised resources to support outdoor learning for our pupils who attend the Hub during lockdown. We are very grateful to B&Q for their generosity. Renfrewshire’s Sumdog Competition A big congratulations to Primary 4B for coming 15th in the recent Renfrewshire SumDog competition. Fantastic effort from Jack Crerar who was 7th and Kyle Moulton who was 18th overall out of 2246 pupils who took part.

e: info@advertizer.co.uk | www.advertizer.co.uk | SPRING April 2021 | www.advertizer.co.uk | SPRING April 2021 35 Fairtrade Fortnight at Gryffe

Every year at Gryffe High School we support Fairtrade, most notably during Fairtrade Fortnight - and despite not being able to do our usual run of events, we still encouraged everyone in our school community to think about and get involved with Fairtrade. Our S1 and S2 pupils undertook a number of remote learning tasks to engage with the Fairtrade Fortnight 2021 theme of climate change. They thought about what climate change is; the impact of it; and the likely scenarios of what our world will look like in the future if we do not act now. Pupils were encouraged to ‘Share Their Vision’ of the world they want to see - from climate change reversal to rewilding of natural spaces. The Fairtrade Foundation had excellent resources available through their ‘Choose the World You Want’ online festival, encouraging us all to think about how actions, no matter how small, have an impact. Pupils also learned that by spending a bit more and purchasing Fairtrade products, the farmers and producers are guaranteed a living income to ensure that they can afford to send their children to school, have safe working conditions and do what they can on the frontline to protect the environment (when the very tough choice about survival can often mean selling their land to loggers and miners resulting in devastating deforestation). Our main activity this year was encouraging all pupils to bake using Fairtrade ingredients and create a design feast for the eye (since we can’t taste anything...!), and pupils and staff took the brief and made some wonderful creations. Prizes will be winging their way to entrants to enjoy some well-earned Fairtrade treats! Mrs J. Davey on behalf of the Citizenship Committee

After providing a key worker service for the start of the year it has been wonderful to welcome all the children back to Duchal again, they have all grown both physically and in confi dence since we last saw them and we are delighted to hear all their chatter and excitement fi lling the nursery! We’ve made the most of the recent lovely settled weather, allowing us to make the most of the garden for activities, including making geometric bubbles of all shapes and sizes and splat painting to demonstrate the effects of gravity; this did result in some enthusiastic use of paint. We’ve built a wormery in nursery so the children can see the amazing job these creatures do in keeping our soil in a state which supports the growth of our food. We are now offering places for August 2021 and delighted that we now provide free funded places, please do get in touch to fi nd out more, if your child will be of nursery age after the summer and you are looking at your pre school options, for August or in the future. We are now open daily from 8.15am – 6pm during term time. Duchal Nursery has been established in Kilmacolm for over 50 years and is a fantastic place to begin your child’s pre-school education. As an independent nursery our children move on to various schools in Renfrewshire, Inverclyde and Glasgow. Please visit our website for more information – www.duchal.com and fi nd us on Facebook. If you would like to come and visit the Nursery please get in 01505 874358 or email: info@duchal.com

Lockdown Learning It’s hard to believe we’re looking back on another period of lockdown, when the pupils of Bridge of Weir Primary once again had to learn at home. The online learning platforms Seesaw and Google Classroom swung back into action, as pupils checked their devices daily for their lessons. They completed some maths, literacy, health and wellbeing, and one other curricular area every day. Every week we had face to face interactions using Google Meet. It was great to see our teachers and classmates, even if only on a screen. The teachers at Bridge of Weir Primary were delighted with the level of online engagement, and the amount of work pupils submitted. School also remained open for children of key workers and became known as ‘The Hub’. Pupil Anya said “Hub schooling is very different to normal school. Usually in school you work all day, but for hub school the teacher sets tasks to do over the duration of the day everyone gets a Chromebook to work on. Once everyone in the class is fi nished we get to play outside! There are lots of activities to choose from like tig, hide-and-seek, and sometimes drawing on the concrete with jumbo chalk! It is great fun, and it gives everyone the chance to make new friends”. She continued “While having lunch at the hub school, all the pupils love to watch movies and if one wasn’t enough, every Friday the P5 – 7 have a movie club where they can enjoy a drink and a sweet treat.” At the point of writing, we are all looking forward to seeing everyone back in school, and we are looking forward to better times. local community, local life ............... 36 St Columba’s Thrives in Lockdown

Since 2020, the closure and partial reopening of schools has been an inescapable part of school life. While it is undeniable that there is no substitute for face-to-face teaching and learning, virtual school and everything our community has achieved in the last year has been nothing short of extraordinary. On March 23rd, 2020, St Columba’s School moved the entire curriculum online, with immediate effect. Since then, teachers’ faces have been projected into the homes of their pupils and our children and young people have been able to continue learning, both independently and by working collaboratively with staff and peers. In building our virtual school, we have continually sought the views of our parents, adapting the school day and our expectations of our pupils, to ensure the learning experience is as enjoyable and as effective as possible. School events, from the Summer Fete to the Infant Christmas show have taken place online; assemblies - pupil led, of course - have been broadcast every week; and drama, public speaking, music and sport have continued unabated wherever possible. Inevitably, some pupils initially struggled with this new way of learning, but others did not just cope, they excelled. Those with specifi c learning needs, such as dyscalculia or dyslexia, have benefi tted from being able to work at their own pace, revisiting recorded lessons and PowerPoints after the ‘school day’ is fi nished. Some pupils who would sit silently in the physical classroom have found security in learning from behind a screen, and contributed readily in online forums and discussions. Remote learning has given students greater autonomy to work at their own pace, in their own way, choosing whether to have their camera on or off, to contribute orally or via text; to listen passively or engage actively. Given this fl exibility and control, many pupils have thrived. When pupils returned to school in late 2020, webcams allowed for teaching and learning to continue seamlessly, despite frequent absences of both staff and pupils due to self-isolation or illness. We cannot go back to the model of teaching and learning of 2019. Instead we must look to the future, based on an understanding that now, more than ever, we are living in a digital world and we have a responsibility, as a school, to ensure that we are equipping pupils with the skills they need not simply to participate in that world, but to shape it. Visit us online by registering for one of our virtual open events – we look forward to meeting you! st-columbas.org Follow us on social media for details of an exciting community art trail round Kilmacolm. We will be hosting this event over the Easter weekend, in partnership with local families, organisations and businesses.

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Lochwinnoch Primary School Parent Council has secured a share of funding made available through the Scottish Government’s Community Climate Asset Fund (CCAF) contributing to a green and just recovery from COVID-19. The CCAF is providing capital funding for a variety of items which will help community-based organisations to tackle climate change as Scotland accelerates it’s just transition to a net zero society. The CCAF is a Scottish Government fund, administered by Keep Scotland Beautiful, and 279 community-based organisations from across Scotland have been awarded more than £3.2 million of funding to tackle climate change. Building on the invaluable contribution that community-based organisations are making to Scotland’s COVID-19 response, the CCAF will help them to play a prominent role in the green recovery. LPS Parent Council have been awarded a grant of £4,061 for a community growing hub to help the community of Lochwinnoch reduce local carbon emissions through growing fruit and vegetables for residents in the village. The parent council has formed a partnership with Lochwinnoch Community Garden and outwith school hours part of the site will be open for the wider community to use. Learn more https://www.facebook.com/LochwinnochPSParentCouncil Alison Ramsey, vice-chair of Lochwinnoch Primary School Parent Council said: “We are delighted to have received this funding to improve our school garden. “We plan to use the money to buy raised beds, tools, a shed, seeds and plants. This will transform the garden space and help to educate all the children in the school in food growing. We are also looking forward to opening up the space to the wider community and forming strong links with Lochwinnoch Community Garden for the benefit of everyone in the village.” Anne Menzies, Principal Teacher at Lochwinnoch Primary said “We are delighted to be able to expand our school garden and are looking forward to learning more about how to grow our own fruit and vegetables. We would like to say a big thank you to the Parent Council for sourcing the funding and we look forward to working with them and the local community to bring the project to life.” The CCAF is designed to support communities to reduce usage of petrol and diesel cars, cut waste, grow local food, and reduce emissions from community buildings. Community-based organisations have secured funding for items including electric vehicles and bikes, energy efficiency measures in community buildings, and equipment to grow food and tackle waste. Further information at www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/ccaf