Pupils in Raasay Primary and Nursery enjoyed their first Community Lunch of this session on Thursday 25th September. The boys enjoy sharing the lunch and also helping out with serving and clearing. Once again, thank you to all involved for a delicious lunch and lovely community get-together.
As part of our Reading Schools Silver Award pupils and staff were challenged to photograph themselves reading in an unusual setting!
As you can see, we were all up for the challenge and have the photographs to prove it! Maybe this will inspire some of you to find yourself reading for pleasure somewhere different…
The boys are delighted to get back into their Kayaking sessions for this term. This forms part of the P.E. curriculum and the boys are enjoying developing their skills. The weather was very favourable with a nice breeze to keep the midgies at bay!
At the end of last term our annual Local Sports Day had to be postponed due to external circumstances. Therefore we decided that we’d plan it for the first day back of the new school session. Fortunately, the weather played its part and we had a fabulous, sunny day. The boys had planned the activities together and the theme was sportsmanship and fair play. They all demonstrated this very well as the older ones helped to engage the Nursery pupils and support them through some of the activities. There were lots of fun events such as ‘Beat the Goalie’, ‘Grab a Grown up’ and obstacle race.
Thank you to all who came along to support and cheer us on – it was agreed by all that it was a lovely way to start the term.
We held our annual Prizegiving event on Wednesday 2nd July with our special guest this year being David Carslaw, Manager Raasay Community Stores. We wanted to invite David as our special guest because of all the support he gives the school throughout the year. We know he is always at hand to help whether it is lighting for the Christmas Show, photography at various events or selling our calendars through the shop and it is very much appreciated. A lot of what he does for the schools is in the background and we wanted to show our appreciation by inviting him to the Prizegiving as our special guest. David is also the lead Fire Fighter in our local service and always provides detailed, informative and fun learning sessions with the pupils of Raasay Primary School.
We always enjoy welcoming the community to our event to help us to celebrate pupils’ successes over the year and to share in some music, song and poetry. Pupils were piped in to the ceremony by Angus MacPhee, our school chanter tutor to our own school tune ‘Damsels and Dragonflies’. During the event pupils sang ‘Calum’s Road’, their own Raasay Eco song and shared their Gaelic poetry before being presented with the Oban Rose Bowl which they won at the local Mod for being the English Medium school with the most Gaelic points. David then presented the children with their awards, trophies, books and certificates. We also had a lovely celebration cake – made for us especially by Catherine Travis Timms.
Thank you to all (including Freya, our Pet Therapy dog!) who joined us for a lovely afternoon of celebration – and the sun even shone for us!
We all enjoyed an overnight camp out in the school grounds on Monday despite the weather! We find that we are getting better at putting up our tents quickly and identifying the right bits of kit required to do so. We were particularly slick this year – given we had midgies and rain to deal with! Once we had set up camp we made our way down to Raasay House for our dinner of fish and chips followed by ice cream and sauce – thanks to Raasay House for providing us with such a delicious meal which we all enjoyed and for opening up especially for us as Monday is normally their closed day. After our meal we enjoyed our time in Raasay House Library with some games – we especially enjoyed many rounds of connect four which got quite competitive!
When we returned to school we continued with some more games and enjoyed playing ‘Articulate’ and ‘Rapid Rumble’. Then we got ourselves changed for bed and brushed our teeth before tucking down for the night in our tents. The following morning we woke to beautiful sunshine, got ourselves organised and then walked down to Raasay House for breakfast – we were joined by the Nursery pupils and Staff and had a delicious full breakfast which set us up nicely for the activities planned that day. We went with Dave Croy, Raasay House Instructor to the crating area in the Raasay house grounds and had great fun working together as a team building crate towers to support our weight and reach the top of the rope. It was great fun. We also took part in some team games before returning to school for lunch ahead of our Sports Day event which was a kayaking challenge which Ms Duffus set up for us at Home Loch. The challenge was about applying the skills we had been taught over the term, focusing on accuracy. We had a sprint section and slalom section within the challenge with penalties being given if we touched any of the markers. It was a timed event and we were tasked to challenge ourselves rather than each other by completing the route twice with a focus being on improving our time and reducing penalties. It was a brilliant day but we were ready for our own beds that night!
We had a visit from Diane Connolly Phillip, Project Officer from Highland Council’s Climate Change and Energy Department – who presented our school with a Talking Tub educational resource box in Energy and Construction. The box was supplied by Union Technical who are the contractors who have been carrying out energy efficiency measures to homes on Raasay. The children were delighted with the early years construction box which included: wooden construction vehicle toy set, lego education tech machine set, housebuilding bricks, hard hats, books and a range of puzzles and games. It didn’t take long for the children to have these out of the box and they have been well played with already! Pictured are the children on receiving their Talking Tub from the team.
Pupils at Raasay Primary and Nursery enjoyed their annual school lunch ‘Summer Picnic’. Thanks to Ann, our school cook, for a wonderful spread with football themed lunch boxes. Unfortunately, the weather meant that it was an indoor picnic but the weather didn’t spoil our enjoyment!
Pupils at Raasay Primary School undertook a ‘Week of Work’ whereby they had the opportunity to learn about and experience different jobs and what skills would be required in each. Thanks to Raasay Distillery, Norman Gillies (Torr), Iona Gillies (Fitness session), Raasay Stores, Walled Garden, Hector Nicolson (Dry Stone Walling), Raasay Ferry Crew, John Gillies (Finlaggan), Raasay Fire Service, Raasay House and Sound of Raasay craft shop – the boys had amazing experiences from learning how to make a bed to hotel standard to driving a digger, crewing a ferry, learning how to make whisky and everything in between!
The pupils have written reports below which show the impact these experiences had on them.
Raasay Distillery – “On Monday we went to the Distillery and made whisky. Firstly, we looked at all the rooms and some of them were a bit dirty, so we cleaned them up. I stripped the bed first and put some new pillow cases, duvet dover and sheet on. We went on a tour of all the whisky making equipment and learnt what they did. Some of the machines were over three hundred degrees Celsius. Afterwards we put five kilograms of yeast into water that was at exactly thirty-six degrees Celsius and then we mixed it up with a large electric stirrer. We went up to the warehouse and signed a barrel with our names on it. After that, we were able to fill it with two hundred litres of whisky, but we had to be careful not to put too much in it. We practise measuring at school so this helped us to weigh all the yeast. When I am older I would like to work at the Distillery. I would like to say a big thank you to all the people who helped make this visit amazing.”
The Building Site – “On Monday 9th June the entire school of Raasay Primary went to a building site to see how everything worked. At the building site we were taught about all the trades, there were: architects, glazers, tilers, engineers, bricklayers, electricians, plumbers, roofers, surveyors and vehicle drivers. We were shown all the blueprints and drawings and where the wires and pipes would be placed because we needed to know how the huts were built to understand the technique. After that, we went outside to drive an excavator. The excavator was equipped with a rotatable bucket which could turn three hundred and sixty degrees which allowed you to dig sideways. I loved moving gravel and digging holes. I leant the skills needed to drive a digger such as: being focussed, teamwork and being observant. I can see myself driving large excavators in mines and building sites in the future. At the end we said thank you for such an exciting experience, and then we went back to school. Thank you to Norman and the builders for giving us such a fun day!”
MV Hallaig – “On Thursday 12th June we visited the Hallaig where we learnt all about the machinery. On the ferry we learnt about how all the engines work. We saw all the tools used to fix the engines as well as a touchscreen to control the engines. We also met both of the engineers, along with the Skipper. Furthermore, we saw how to get the cars off and on as well as seeing the lifeboat and liferafts. They even showed us what controls the anchor and what holds it up. We learnt about the hydraulics for the ramps. It was very interesting to see the hydraulics in action. To work on a Calmac ferry you have to be focussed, organised, have good teamwork and be calm and friendly. Excitingly, we went to the wheelhouse where we learnt how to use the radar and binoculars. We learnt how to spot other boats in the area. When I am older I would like to work on a Calmac ferry until I am fifty-five years old. Thank you for letting us do this. The best crew and best ferry ever!”
As part of our ongoing Eco work, pupils were delighted to have a visit from ‘Team Otter’ Broadford on Wednesday 4th June.
The Otter team gave a presentation on plastics in our oceans and the harm that they are causing to wildlife and our sea environment. The team then joined us for a beach clean in front of the play park. As you can see, they collected a lot of rubbish and waste so it is good to know that this can be disposed of safely and will help to make our environment cleaner. A big thank you to Ben and the team – the boys thoroughly enjoyed your visit and help with the clean up.
Raasay Primary School 