Raasay Primary School

We celebrated World Book Day on Thursday 5th March. We all enjoyed coming to school dressed as our favourite characters or themes from a book. We were joined on the day by our Pets as Therapy dog, Freya and her owner Catherine. We particularly enjoyed reading the book they brought in – all about Bernese Mountain Dogs. We enjoyed sharing our books and stories between the Nursery and Primary School. The theme of World Book Day was ‘Go all in!’ so we explored our hobbies and interests and passions as part of this by creating an infographics poster. It turns out in Raasay Primary School that we are into our football, biking, engineering and cooking! We also explored how our interests can be developed through reading more about our hobbies and we are looking into buying books and stories relating to them. Our P6 pupil even suggested that we could create our own imaginative stories based on our interests and hobbies.

This term we have been really enjoying Murdo visiting for YMI. We have been progressing really well with learning lots of tunes an each week Murdo has been giving us a new tune to learn as he says we are picking up the tunes so fast that by the end of the block we should be able to have a set of Gaelic tunes that we can continue to practise. We have enjoyed creating a wee group and that our talents are recognised in different areas. One of our pupils has been really keen to continue developing his skills on piano so we asked Murdo about this and he supported in providing that opportunity. We are looking forward to thinking of a name that we can call our Group and we are also looking forward to sharing our learning through various performance opportunities. Watch this space!

As part of ‘Seachdainn na Gaidhlig’ (World Gaelic Week)  we (P4-6) took part in a collaborative ‘Day of Culture’ with Staffin and Kilmuir Primary Schools on Thursday 26^th February. The theme this year is ‘Use it or lose it’ (Cleachd i no caill i). Seachdainn na Gaidhlig was established in 2022 by the Scottish Culture and Music Organisation ‘HANDS UP for TRAD’ and it draws inspiration from other minority language movements in Ireland and in Nova Scotia. It advocates to honour and promote the language locally and globally fostering greater national awareness and recognition. The initiative offers opportunities for Gaelic speakers and those without the language to get involved in ways that suits them. This links with Article 30 of the UNCRC Rights Respecting Schools (minority languages).

We really enjoyed meeting with the other pupils and sharing our experiences of Gaelic. Before leaving for home we sung ‘Tobhta Fearna’ – our Gaelic song composed and written using words inspired by our Fearns topic a few years ago.

We were delighted to have recently been successful in our application for our fifth Eco-Schools Scotland Green Flag Award! The feedback below shows how much the hard work and efforts of the pupils were appreciated and we thank the community for supporting us on Eco journey.

‘Congratulations to everyone at Raasay Primary School for gaining your 5th Eco-Schools Scotland Green Flag Award! This is a great achievement and I have very much enjoyed reading through your journey. It is obvious that you have all worked really hard on your actions to make your school and your community a more environmentally friendly place to be. Well done!

Your Action Plan was well thought out and contained lots of interesting actions. I loved hearing about your composting scheme and involving the nursery in this will definitely help to establish long term habits.  I also really liked your helping hands chart for your light monitor duties and congratulations on your award for the Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel – achieving 100% for all journeys is an incredible result

It was great that you identified a need in the community for more health and wellbeing events and that you then came up with lots of different ideas for all sorts of ways to include every member of the community.  They also sound like a lot of fun! Your CPR training, kayaking and visits by Freya are a really good way to learn new skills but also to help improve your own mental health and more congratulations for gaining a Sport Scotland Gold Award – well done again!

Your Heritage topic actions were also very interesting.  Your Gaelic language must be very good to win gold and silver medals and the Oban Rose Bowl and again you have used your own learning and taken it out to family, friends and neighbours.  Having recently been to your island and cycled along Callum’s Road, I was very interested to read about your Christmas Show – what a great idea and again, a celebratory community event which brought people together and explored your common heritage.

For a tiny school you really do seem to have had a huge impact on your wider community and you should all be very proud that you have achieved so much and you have truly shown that even small schools can make a big difference.’

As part of their STEM topic ‘Designing a School of the Future’ pupils were tasked with finding out which sources of renewable energy would generate the most electricity. They had to experiment using solar panels and wind turbines (using a hairdryer as the wind source!). The object of the lesson was also to work together showing collaboration, communication and co-operation.

The Nursery pupils were learning all about feelings and emotions. They also very much enjoyed their visit to Macdiarmid Nursery where they enjoyed sharing stories, outdoor play and the opportunity to make friendships.

On Friday 20th February, Raasay pupils took part in the Seall Arts Ceilidh which supports Alzheimer Scotland. An afternoon of music and light refreshments was enjoyed by the community. The pupils performed their version of ‘Calum’s Road’ which was much appreciated by all.

Pupils in Raasay Nursery were learning about Chinese New Year. They learnt about 2026 being the Year of the Horse, Chinese Zodiak and traditional way of celebration. They also enjoyed a Chinese themed snack of noodles, hoisin sauce and a lucky fortune cookie. The boys also enjoyed sharing their learning with the older boys.

On Monday 23rd February pupils undertook a workshop provided by the National Library of Scotland in collaboration with Seachdainn na Gaidhlig (Gaelic Week). The pupils were tasked with producing an artwork inspired by the many, and varied, words and phrases in the Gaelic language for ‘rain’. The work they produced will be on display at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh – once we have dates for the exhibition, we will let you know.

Pupils in Raasay Primary School celebrated Pancake Day by making their own pancakes. They had to follow the recipe, weigh ingredients and cook the pancakes. They did a fantastic job with all agreeing that they were delicious!