Sciennes P7 Lagganlia 2014: 2014

What a wonderful week at Lagganlia with a top notch team of pupils and staff, in glorious sunshine! As well as being very determined to take on every challenge, our pupils were also exceptionally responsible and terrific company. It was great to watch friendships develop and grow between the children and we really feel our P7 team has been firmly established.

We are indebted to Ian Ross, Andy Toop and all the staff at Lagganlia who go out of their way to make our stay with them as comfortable as it can possibly be, always going the extra mile to accommodate our needs, and for the great skill, expertise and dedication of the instructors. Certificates with hand written comments from each instructor will be carefully stored at school for pupils' JASS folders. All pupils who took part this week will also receive the 'Adventure' certificate; one quarter of the way towards full Silver award accreditation.

The Sciennes staff sustained the 24/5 duty by working very closely as a team. With few spare moments to themselves, all have endeavoured to record magical moments and these will continue to be added to this blog on our return.

The P7 teachers are a strong and talented unit who prepared the pupils extremely well for their adventurous residential course. Mr Forrest Howie is an accomplished camp leader who inspired all the pupils to try their very best and managed to take a huge number of stunning photographs. Mrs Fiona Barker is also a highly experienced camp leader, well accustomed to making everything run smoothly and efficiently. We particularly struggled this year with very slow - frequently non-existent - connection speeds and extremely limited mobile signal yet Mrs Barker was particularly relentless in her efforts to post to our blog. Seasoned top camper, Ms Fiona Sellar, was also high profile with all nine groups day and night, ensuring everyone had a memorable experience. It was wonderful to have Ms Anstruther accompany the group and she made sure that any pupils missing home were reassured and happy, busily engaged in evening activities. It was particularly special for her to work with her former P1 class again. We were delighted to be accompanied by Pupil Support Assistant Miss Rachel Inglis (a former Outdoor Education Instructor herself) and Mrs Brenda Ellis (our Office Receptionist) who both thoroughly enjoyed supporting the pupils day and night. We were fortunate to have Mr Iain Kearton drop in to visit us on Wednesday evening and were pleased to hear how well he and his family have settled in their new home, not far from Lagganlia. Mr Jonathan Wallace, Active Sports Co-ordinator for JGHS Cluster, thoroughly enjoyed getting to know all the children better, which will benefit all those who continue to work with him next year at James Gillespie's High School. All staff gave exceptionally high levels of care and attention to the pupils.

Thank you also to Mrs Noble and Ms Christie who had an even busier week than usual! Also to Mrs Nowell who ensured that the pupils who remained at school also had an enjoyable and interesting week.

Thank you most sincerely to all the families who support us, not least of all financially, in providing what we believe to be an invaluable educational opportunity for our children.

We look forward to building on the success of this week throughout the final year at Sciennes. Well done, Primary Seven! All Lagganlia Champions! Ms Gallagher