User:Mrsgallagher/sandbox

Introduction
Kirn Primary School is located in Kirn which is a small village on the outskirts of Dunoon. Kirn Primary School has approximately 200 pupils. It is a feeder primary for Dunoon Grammar School. There are currently 8 classes and a pre5-unit. The school follows Curriculum for Excellence. It is part of Argyll and Bute Council. The school is part of the Eco Schools programme. Kirn has a friendly environment with supportive staff. The school’s mission statement is ''Richer through learning. Working in partnership with parents, those in the wider community and outside agencies, we aim to continually improve standards and to strive to provide a variety of educational experiences that will create a first class educational structure through enrichment, enterprise and fun which will in turn build foundations for life-long learning.''

Aims of the school
•	To strive continuously to provide a differentiated, varied and stimulating learning environment and experience at Kirn Primary School.

•	To strive to ensure that all children achieve their full potential.

•	To strive to ensure that additional support needs are met.

•	To strive to ensure that all children acquire skills for lifelong learning.

•	To strive to ensure that all children acquire the life skills to become socially responsible and respectable citizens in an ever changing and diverse society.

•	To strive to ensure that Kirn Primary School maintains strong links with it’s parent body and the wider community and capitalises on skills and resources in the surrounding area.

School Rules
Kirn Primary School follow The Golden Rules

•	Do be gentle; Do not hurt anybody.

•	Do be kind and helpful; Do not hurt people’s feelings.

•	Do work hard; Do not waste yours or others time.

•	Do look after property; Do not waste or damage things

•	Do listen to people; Do not interrupt.

•	Do be honest; Do not cover up the truth.

History
Kirn primary built in 1881. It originally had a separate entrance for girls and boys. Kirn Primary School was an evacuation centre in World War 2. On 29th September 1939, 66 evacuee children were enrolled in Kirn Primary School. Such was the demand for a safe haven that the numbers rose so high that the teachers and pupils had to work shifts because the building was unable to house the sheer number of pupils. From 1961-1992 there was a large US Navy base at the Holy Loch which meant that there were a lot of American pupils in the school. At its peak the school had over 500 pupils on it’s roll and had additional buildings.

There have been many headmasters: Mr Connell, Mr More, Mr Macdonald and Mr Gilbertson are still remembered through the school’s house system.

Early years dept
The early years department at Kirn Primary School has four classes: Pre 5 morning class and an afternoon class, P1a and P1b. The Pre 5 unit was renovated in 2008 and has it’s own kitchen and garden. The primary 1 classrooms are named “The Dinosaur Room” and “The Lighthouse Room” which has a giant lighthouse and treehouse in it.

Infant dept
The infants department is made up of P2, P3 and P4 and are based in the far wing of the school.

Pupil responsibilities
In Kirn Primary school has a variety of responsibilities such as:

•	Pupil Council •	Tuck Shop

•	Eco Committee

•	Head girl and Head boy

•	P7 budding

•	Monitoring

•	Paper recycling

•	Litter picking

•	Composting

•	Looking after the birds

•	Technical help team (The Techy Heads)

All of the classes have responsibilities but P7 have the most as they are the oldest. Each class also has an area of the school garden that they are responsible for looking after. The P7 buddies play with the younger ones when they have nobody to play with in the playground at break. P7 Monitors help look after other classes at wet breaks. Head boy and Head girl are the head of the pupil council and have to go to meeting with the head teacher. The Eco Committee has a pupil from representing each class to go to eco meetings. Each week a different class does litter picking to keep the playground clean. The “Techy Heads” technical team help keep the school website up to date.

Outdoor learning
Outdoor learning is an experience which every pupil has the opportunity to do. Outdoor learning activities can include:

• going to Benmore gardens

• trip to the Camels Hump

• visit to Castle Toward

• survival skills

• shelter building

• games and exploring

• pioneering skills

• work in the school garden

When the pupils do outdoor learning, they use waterproofs and are told to wear warm clothes, incase it is cold and wet.

The Building
Kirn primary school was built in 1881. In 1955 more classrooms were added. There are currently ten classrooms, six pupil toilets and two disabled toilets. It also has a library, a bike shed, a store room, an office, a lunch hall and a gym hall. The office door used to be the boys entrance and the girls entrance used to be at the front of the school. The grounds have a garden which is used for plants and has seating areas.

Playground and Garden
In the Kirn school garden a bird hide has been built so the pupils can look at all of the birds. In a block of Outdoor Learning the bird hide was fixed after it almost got wrecked by a storm. The garden also has a bird feeder which a variety of birds visit. While the birds are eating, pupils can watch from the bird hide. The garden has reused old tyres in the garden and the children have put plants in some of them. People aren't allowed to jump on the tyres with plants in them. There is also have an obstacle course made of tyres and pieces of wood to jump across. In the play ground there are games painted onto the tarmac like hopscotch and duck, duck, goose although there are lots more.

Tuck Shop
The Tuck Shop is run by P7 and P6. There are a variety of snacks for under £1.

The Upper Department
Primary 5, 6 and 7 don’t stay in the one class they move around different classes. Each subject has it’s own classroom. Each class has a pastoral teacher who is their main point of contact. There aren't many schools that do this; this system helps prepare pupils for high school.

Uniform
The school uniform for Kirn Primary School is a forest green sweatshirt with the yellow school logo on it, black/grey skirt or trousers (girls), black/greyshorts or trousers (boys), either a green or white polo t-shirt. There is also a P.E kit which consists of a plain t-shirt (any colour) shorts, tracksuit trousers (boys and girls), if girls prefer they can wear leggings and gym shoes e.g. trainers. The logo is a Viking ship.

Future of Kirn Primary
There are plans to merge Kirn and two other local schools together. The schools are Kirn Primary, Dunoon Primary and St Muns RC Primary. The plans are currently under consultation.