Mini League Inter House up and running

While the P6 and P7 classes have their "official" Inter House Football and Netball competitions at the end of term 4 the Games Parliament decided it would be a good to use the lunch time break to hold Mini League Inter House competitions in for all P4-P7 classes in a variety of team games chosen by the classes. These  included football, netball, kick rounders, dodgeball, mini tag and basketball.
The competitions started at the beginning of this term and are proving popular with the classes who seem very keen to compete for the honour of their class and house. While the games can be very competitive all end with both teams lining up to shake hands with their opponents to encourage a sporting attitude win, lose or draw.

The calm before the storm as the two P6 classes come together before the dodgeball game begins! 

Over £3000 raised for charities

The enterprise projects recently completed by our P4 classes have pushed the total we have raised in support of charitable causes for the past year to over £3000! This total does not include the £840 raised by the sale of Red Noses which was also sent to Comic Relief.

We recognise that the parents and extended family of our children are the main target for most of the fundraising events/ collections in school so a big thank you to everyone who has contributed to this impressive total. The money raised has been distributed to the following charities which were chosen by the children.

£256.63

£1952.40

£222.16

   

       £222.16

               

              £131.42

£229.45

Bag the Bruck Week

This week has been the Eco Clubs Bag the Bruck Week with every class at Papdale, Pre school to P7, out and about trying to do their bit to keep the public areas around the school and beyond as clean as possible.

The "Eco Warriors" of P5 head out to battle against litter at the Bignold Park!

Book Fair Bonanza

As Mrs Bruce, our Head teacher will tell you, while modern technology is an excellent aid to learning it is still important for children to have the hands on experience of leafing through a good book.
Thanks to the incredible support of parents at the Book Fairs we hold twice annually we have been able to make valuable additions to our library of reading materials within the school using the commission received on sales. One of the latest additions has been 2 class sets of 30 Dictionaries worth over £500 which will be a very valuable reference tool for children throughout the school.

A Clean Sweep for Papdale in this years Primary Netball Leagues

Once again Papdale Netball Teams did the school proud with some excellent performances in this years Primary Netball Leagues. The Papdale Whirlwinds finished as Hoxa League Champions with the Papdale Twisters right behind them in second place. In the Herston League Papdale Twisters also finished as champions meaning that Papdale had won both leagues this year. 

The two P6 teams, Cyclones and Hurricanes, also played very well suggesting that next year will once again be a very good one for Papdale.

A special thanks must go to our two coaches Karen Burns (P7) and Amy Smith (P6) and to all the parents who stepped in to give them a hand. The consistently high standard of teamwork and sportsmanship shown by the Papdale girls is testament to just what an excellent job they have done. 

Papdale Tornadoes - Winners of the Herston League

Papdale Tornadoes - Winners of the Herston League

Papdale Twisters - Runners up in the Hoxa League

Papdale Cyclones 

Papdale Hurricaines

The girls show off their Netball Orkney certificates

St Magnus Day Celebrated

Over the past few years we have established the tradition of celebrating St Magnus Day by getting all the children at Papdale who share the great Saints name to raise the Orkney flag outside the School in his memory. This year we had two children who performed the flag raising ceremony with some help from Mr Mackinnon, our Janitor. 

As Magnus and Mansie  are currently in Pre school and P4 this should ensure that this tradition is secure for at least the next 7 years!

Mansie and Magnus proudly display the Orkney flag to onlookers

Its hard work but they get they eventually get the  flag to the top of the pole!

Eco Club Earth Hour and Bunting Bonanza

The Eco Club once again co-ordinated Papdales contribution to Earth Hour with the class representatives doing a presentation in front of the whole school at the Business meeting encouraging everyone in school to take part in two special initiatives:

Hour without Power

All electricity throughout the school was switched off for one hour between 11.15-12.15 on Friday 27th March. This was in support of "Earth Hour" which is now an annual event all over the world. 

Bunting Crazy!

Each child in school designed an A4 paper triangle to hang on a line of bunting stretching for over 100 metres through the school corridors. To highlight The Re-use and Re- Cycle message A4 paper where one side had already been used was selected with children putting their message or drawing on the other side. Everyone took part and had great fun creating their eco message. Then the janitors had great fun hanging up the huge length of bunting!  

Welcome to the Whomping Willows!

No longer called "the Quiet Zone" or "the bit with trees at the front of the school" 

Some pupils from P7E carry out a very informal opening ceremony!

We held our very own election in the last week of term before the Easter holidays when a new name was chosen for the area of the Playground at the front of the school previously known as the "Quiet Area".

Since the big playground development project carried out by the Parent Council there have been several new attractions added to this area  including the outdoor stage with dressing up clothes, tubular chimes, tom tom drums as well as the trees to climb.

This prompted the Games Parliament to question whether the "Quiet Area" really was the best name with all this new activities so they decided to organise an election to find a new name. Everyone was asked to put forward their suggestions and the Games Partliament Class Representatives chose the final six to go forward for the vote.
The election came up with a clear winner with the "Whomping Willows" beating "Dreamland" and the "Chillout Zone" into second and third place respectively. The Games Parliament Chairman doubled as Returning Officer to announce the result to the whole school at the first Business Meeting of the new term.

Primary Schools Indoor Football

This years Primary Schools indoor football drew to a close on Saturday 7th March with the final matches in the knockout competition. Papdale had five teams playing in the league which ran right through the winter months with three additional teams , including an all girl team, entering in the knockout competition which was played in the last three weeks.

These competitions are the highlight of the school year for many who play in them and a great chance to mix with children from all the other primary schools across Orkney.

Special thanks must go to all the parents who gave up two nights a week for the whole winter to coach and look after the league teams. Also Ewan and Simon Loudon from Active Schools and staff members Mr Linklater, Mrs Poke, Mr Hill and Mrs Berry who looked after the three additional teams in the knockout competition.

Papdale Flyers - Finished 3rd in the league and were semi-finalists in the TSB Trophy 

Papdale Kings - Finished 8th in the league and quarter finalists in the TSB Trophy 

Papdale Vikings - Finished 12th in the league and quarter finalists in the Reid Crescent Shield

Papdale Dales - finished 14th in the league and semi finalists in the Reid Crescent Shield

Papdale Mighty Marvels - finished 16th in the league and lost a close game in the first round of the Reid Crescent Shield 

Papdale Giants - Lost in a penalty shoot out in the first round of the Reid Crescent Shield

Papdale Knights (in casual mode!) - got to the last 16 of the Reid Crescent Shield

Papdale Pumas - got to the last 16 of the Reid Crescent Shield