247 April 2015 - Gryffe Advertizer

58 the advertizer t: 01505 613340 e: info@advertizer.co.uk
Craigmarloch School
Houston Primary School
Welcome to The Advertizer! For readers who don’t know us, we are a
specialist school for children with Additional Support Needs (ASN) from
all over Inverclyde. We have 145 pupils aged between 5 and 18 and are
housed in a state of the art dedicated building as part of the Port Glasgow
Community Campus. Our ambitions are high for all our pupils and this year
we have been participating in the Inverclyde Festival and a Joint Dance
Project with Reach Autism in Greenock. We have just elected our first
head girl and boy who are already representing our school in Inverclyde
events. We have recently been successful in gaining funding which will
enable 2 year groups to participate in watersports at Castle Semple Loch.
S1 pupils will be offered canoeing and our S4 pupils sailing. This will mean
all pupils will have had 2 opportunities to develop water skills before they
leave school. Our basketball team are playing in the Inverclyde Basketball
Festival in March so we have everything crossed for them. If you would
like more information about us or would
like to support the work of our school
then please call the Head Teacher, Mrs
Stewart, on 01475 715345.
Howwood Primary School
P6/5 recently had a fabulous morning at the RSPB reserve at Lochwinnoch.
The guides Jamie and Liam ensured we knew what we were looking for. We
had to keep our eyes and ears peeled for the birds that were returning after
migration. We visited the tower to get a better view of the reserve and got
the chance to put our ‘bins’ to good use. Watching the birds from the feeding
station got us
even closer. We
got the chance
to make our own
food balls which
we placed around
the reserve.
Luckily the birds
were keen to
impress and didn’t
disappoint us with
their calls and
many fly pasts.
P7 and 3 have
recently been
involved in a Food For Thought Topic. For the past six weeks the children
have visited Johnstone High Economics Department and learned to cook a
starter, main course and dessert researched by the P7 children. The children
were taught a variety of skills and worked co-operatively with each other to
produce some
tasty dishes!
The children
also visited
Bowfield
Country Club
for five weeks
where they
helped the chef
make some
tasty soup and
got to taste
some of the
chef’s creations.
The chef also
took the time to
answer many questions on his profession to encourage any future budding
chefs!
Fantasy became a reality in Houston Primary for World Book Day when
author Ross McKenzie popped in to tell the children about … nowhere?
Ross gave our excited pupils a sneak peek at new book The Nowhere
Emporium – released on March 19 – about a shop where dream rooms
become reality. For his March 4 visit, the children had designed their fantasy
rooms and Ross was so delighted he stayed behind to sign their advance
copies.
Ross won
the Scottish
Children’s
Book Award
2011 for his
debut Zac and
the Dream
Pirates. And
dreams were
the order of
World Book
Day, March 5,
when staff and
pupils came
to school in
their pyjamas
ready to share
their favourite
bedtime book.
It was so
relaxing! Some P2s even read their books to a rapt audience in the nursery.
Great work boys and girls.
Pupils have been going quackers for Fairtrade at Houston Primary. Duck
callers were a top purchase at a special pop-up stall to mark this year’s
Fairtrade Fortnight. The wooden toy was just one of the goods on offer
from Miss Farrelly’s Enterprise.
Sales of chocolate, jewellery and
decorated pens also helped to
raise an amazing £586. We now
also have a Fairtrade wall made
from ‘bricks’ decorated by every
child in the school. Each brick
shows one way Fairtrade supports
farmers and producers around the
world.
Success lay in the date for
Houston’s brainiacs this month.
P7’s Rotary Quiz team battled to
a fantastic 2nd place on March
2nd, while P6’s Euro Quiz team
took a great 3rd place on March
3rd. Both events saw the children
compete against pupils from other
primaries in Renfrewshire. P7s
Innes Craig, Lewis McGeachin,
Mhairi Reid and Leah Feely put in a
great show answering some really
tricky general knowledge. P6s
Euan Johnson, Cate Meiklejohn,
Louise Steele and Harry Manley
had learned all about Europe.
Congratulations also go to our P4-7 poets and pipers who took part in the
Burns Federation Schools competition in Paisley on March 10. Winners
were Seamus Mowberry, Harrison Ewing and Sarah Smillie.
It was safety first when P6 visited St Mirren Park on the dreaded Friday
the 13th for a Safe Kids event. Police and fire officers gave the children
emergency advice while council staff led fun-filled personal safety
scenarios.
Mums and dads were agog at the sights in our Ancient Egyptian museum
on March 11th. They were amazed to see their children’s fantastic art,
technology and written work. The children learned how to exhibit it all after
visiting Kelvingrove Museum the previous week.
P7s finally got to take home their amazing motorized, light-up mobiles from
the Technology Challenge this month. Winners Kayleigh Shaw, Rachel
Hopkins, Carla Dinnie, Marcus Hewitson, Ewan Nuttall and Scott McNamara
had wowed the judges last term with their Dine and Dance bus.