Buckets o’ fun! How Oor Wullie is helping a Perthshire school learn about their heritage

OOR WULLIE has helped a Perthshire school learn all about their heritage.

Many pupils at Oakbank Primary had gone on the Oor Wullie Bucket Trail… where 70 giant sculptures were dotted around Dundee to celebrate Oor Wullie’s 80th anniversary, as part of the Year of Innovation, Architecture & Design.

So they were excited at the prospect of learning more about the cheeky national treasure.

Sara Barr, who teaches a P3/4 composite class, joined forces with teacher Alison Downie who oversees the P4s to set out a plan for the project,

Not only did they teach the children about Oor Wullie, but incorporated him into lessons about their country’s cultures.

The kids started to study the comic strips published every week in The Sunday Post, learning how to read, speak and write Scots language. They used Scottish dictionaries to work out what the characters were saying.

Sara and Alison both agree that it’s proving a great way to teach the technology-dependent kids how their parents and grandparents would have spent their free time in the days before mobile phones, games consoles and tablets.

They helped the kids create Oor Wullie costumes, making yellow spikey headbands in art time, and sourced buckets so they could dress up like the cheeky scamp.

And PE teacher Liz Heggie taught them some creative Scottish dance moves, which the pupils choreographed into – what they affectionately named – an “Oor Wullie Bucket Dance”.

They showcased their fancy footwork at Perth Concert Hall’s Day of Creative Dance in front of a 600-strong audience.

The event, organised by the local council, saw pupils from 17 local schools perform their own dance routine – and was a hit.

The children had so much fun that they staged a second show at the school for parents last week.

Although the Scots project was only meant to last six weeks, the kids are enjoying it so much that Sara and Alison have decided to expand their lesson in Scottish life.

They’re going to go on to teach the kids about newspapers and journalism – and the history of DC Thomson publisher.