Raasay Primary School was recently awarded the Sportscotland Gold School Sport Award for 2024 – 2026. The school community is delighted to have received this award which recognises the school’s achievements in putting sport at the heart of school planning practice and ethos. The award recognised that Raasay Primary School had shown excellent practice across the core areas of the award and demonstrated an ongoing commitment to increase young people’s opportunities and engagement in physical education, school sport and leadership and provide clear pathways to lifelong participation in sport.

Graham Lindsay, Partnership Manager Sportscotland, congratulated the school on its award saying, “It has been excellent to see how engaged the school is in sport and physical activity, particularly with such a small school roll. The school is a real example of how the award can positively support and engage young people through sport and activity”.

Wilma Duncan, Head Teacher said, “We were all delighted to receive this award from Sportscotland – the Pupil/Sport Council were able to identify and articulate why they thought that they met the criteria for Gold through the application process. Pupil voice has been very much at the heart of our P.E. planning. The school has always been committed to developing sporting opportunities within the curriculum; making use of the school’s unique island setting. In recent years, as the pupil roll decreased, we have endeavoured to adapt the sporting provision in our school to reflect this. We have had to be creative in how we enable pupils to achieve their P.E. outcomes given the small roll and the wide range of age and ability.”

The school was celebrated for engaging in a wide range of school sport activities at school level, across the Associated School Group and with third sector partnerships including Highlife Highland, Raasay House, Whitewave Activity Centre, Cuillin Ridge Climbing and Bord na Gaidhlig with the continued support of the Parent Council.

Wilma Duncan, Head Teacher said, “The Sport Award recognises the sporting achievements of the school to date, and we will continue to develop our Action Plan targets going forward. This term, we have added kayaking to our curriculum, thanks to the support and generosity of our island community, with pupils successfully fundraising for buoyancy aids and safety equipment. Pupils are now undertaking weekly kayak sessions as part of their P.E. with class teacher, Ms Duffus, who is a qualified Kayak instructor. Our boys are delighted, and it is wonderful to be able to offer this as an island school, where knowledge and skills in kayaking can be useful and relevant within skills for learning, life and work, with the boys working toward two accredited qualifications before the summer.”

On receiving their award the boys said the following:

“We are very lucky to have kayaking on our school curriculum. It is fun, educational (because we develop lots of new skills) and it is healthy”.

“I loved doing the racing and going backwards – it is great fun learning all about it”.

“I am excited to learn about capsizing”.

“To get the flag is such a big achievement and we are looking forward to flying it on our flagpole in the school grounds”.

Pictured are the pupils, Head Teacher Mrs Duncan and class teacher, Ms Duffus, displaying their Gold Award flag and certificate.