Raasay Primary School

Pupils in the upper school have been working with Sarah Ross, Active Schools Co-ordinator over several sessions to develop their Young Leadership skills. The boys had to learn how to teach the Nursery pupils to use balance bikes and help them develop their skills in this area. On Tuesday 29th October, Sarah led an all day workshop at the hall with the Young Leadership skills in the morning and a variety of indoor games for the older pupils in the afternoon. The older boys showed fantastic skills in leading the session where they helped the Nursery pupils with their sense of balance. They started with the Nursery pupils sitting and shuffling along the beam and leaning to each side then moving on to holding the bike as they pushed it along before sitting on the bike and gradually balancing. The boys then developed the session by showing techniques of stopping safely and cornering.

After the balance bike training the older boys showed initiative in improvising a fun games session using some of the sports equipment. They kept the Nursery pupils engaged and involved at all times. Well done boys!

In the afternoon, Sarah took the opportunity to introduce some alternative indoor games which are suitable for small groups like ours such as: indoor curling, indoor golf and Boccia (this is a type of bowls game which is often used in para sports as it is inclusive and can be played sitting down).

Pupils in Nursery and School joined together to celebrate their successes over Term 1. Our Nursery pupils received their first certificate from Nursery recognising and celebrating how well they have all settled in to Nursery routines. Our Nursery pupils are always smiling and, as you can see from the photo, they were delighted with the award. A big well done to them! Pupils in our Primary class have had a very busy term with lots of learning and achievement discussed and recognised at Assembly. All the boys received a certificate for their individual achievements within specific areas of the curriculum in which they had excelled over this term. We hope they all have a lovely October break and we look forward to welcoming all our pupils back on Monday 28th October as we start another very busy term.

Before we went on our October break, we decided to harvest what was left of our grapes in the polytunnel to make grape juice using a heather press. Hannah very kindly offered to come in with her press to show the children how to use the equipment and it was tough work! The boys had to work as a team and co-ordinate their efforts in order to get the most juice possible out of the muslin that was held in the press. This involved continuing to screw the press tighter and tighter onto the block beneath. Thirsty work! but all very worth it as the grape juice was delicious – very sweet and with a hint of the honey that had been through the press before. The boys are excited to develop this idea further as part of their ACORNS enterprise next year and harvest the grapes throughout the season to make grape juice to sell.

Continuing our Eco Ethos of Eat Local, Grow Local, Make a Global Difference, we are very lucky in that we get weekly veg box deliveries from Raasay Walled Garden which our school cook then uses to make our delicious lunches. Everything is fresh, nutritious and locally grown and reduces food miles. In addition to having all this local produce from the Walled Garden, we have also been getting fish from our local fisherman Simon Letzer. On the menu this week was: rock salmon with chips, Walled Garden brussel sprouts and broccoli, followed by muffins made with Walled Garden beetroot. As you can see, we all love our fresh, locally grown and caught produce. Healthy and sustainable lunches are at the heart of our school day. The boys were delighted to learn that they were eating fish from the shark family!

On Wednesday 9th October, Neill Prentice, Fundraising Manager for Blythswood Care visited the school to talk to the pupils about the work that they do. He detailed some of the items that are useful to include in boxes such as: teddies, toys, toiletries, sweets, toothbrushes, hats and scarves. Neill also detailed that two of the most useful items to include are hand-powered torches and metal cups. He shared with the pupils details of the countries the boxes are distributed to – these include: Romania, Moldova, Kosovo, Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Ukraine. As we know, many of these places are affected by wars. Neill was very impressed by the effort from the community to make up so many boxes from our small island. The school has informed the community via the Residents’ Face Book Page and on the Shop Notice Board how they can help with this school charity focus by donating items to the box in the shop. We are very lucky that Raasay Community Stores provides a space for our donation box. We will be collecting in the items on Monday 28th October and will be holding an after school session to fill the boxes that we decorate before sending them over to Skye for collection.

On Friday 4th October, as part of their ACORNS Enterprise work, pupils ran an apple stall selling this year’s crop of apples from the school garden. The stall was to run from 2pm to 3pm but there was such a rush of customers that they were all sold out by 2.30pm! Thank you to all who came along – we hope you enjoyed using the delicious apples. Pupils then had to count up the takings to be recorded in their ACORNS accounts – the total raised was £83! Pupils will discuss at their Pupil Council how they wish the funds to be used.

Once again, Alexander organised another fun Science Club – the boys enjoyed digging for ‘treasure’ in the form of crystals, shells and jewels. They had to dissolve the hard clay compound that surrounded the gems and this showed the process of a solid becoming a liquid. Alexander hopes to run another two after school club Science sessions in week one and two next term. These will take place on Wednesday afternoons.

We were busy towards the end of term, clearing out the raised beds in the polytunnel and composting all the excess garden waste. We also havested the last of the grapes and, as you can see, our vine has flourished year on year!

Our weekly compost collections have resumed. Every Wednesday morning, pupils collect the compost caddies from local houses to deposit in our compost unit. We are delighted that we have the Nursery pupils joining us on some of these days.

On Wednesday 2nd October, Sarah Ross our Active School Coordinator started the first of her sessions with Leadership Sessions with the Primary Class. We recently bought new balance bikes for our Nursery pupils and we identified that our Primary boys could learn the skills of teaching the younger children in the Nursery how to use the balance bikes safely. The session took place in the Community Hall and further sessions will take place in Term 2.