Raasay Primary School

Rev Rosemary Bungard very kindly visited the school on the Fridays during the Advent period. Rosemary took short assemblies where children read passages relating to the Christmas story and lit candles representing: Love, Hope, Peace and Joy.

On Friday 25th November, Raasay Primary School welcomed the community into the school for an Afternoon Tea from 1-3pm – a Community Enterprise event. All were delighted to be back in the school for an event for the first time since 2019. Visitors were treated to delicious baking and food provided by the Parent Council Cafe and were able to buy some Christmas crafts, handmade by the pupils. Some amazing prizes were also available to win on our 100 square and Christmas tree tombola. All funds raised will go towards school funds to provide oppportunites in Health and Wellbeing for our pupils – they have already identified Climbing Wall sessions in Portree among other things.

Thank you to all who turned out on the day to make it such a success and to the Parent Council, Community Hall Committee, Raasay Stores and to all behind the scenes who helped out during the day and in the run up to the event.

Raasay Primary School pupils were delighted to present their Christmas Show Production – Seumas and the Dragon to a packed audience on Friday 16th December. They were delighted to welcome the island community back to the local hall for their first ‘live’ show since 2019. The play was written by the pupils as part of a focus on fairytale writing in the previous term.

The story was set in the castle of King Eachann on the Island of Balaroy where we were introduced to Knight Seumas MacKenzie – the King’s right hand man and most trusted servant.

Unfortunately, Seumas had one downfall – his desire for eternal youth. After an encounter with Grimmil the Goblin he embarked on an epic quest to gain eternal youth and to save the love of his life, Princess Blossom.

There are only five pupils in the school (all boys) and they took to the stage with confidence and fantastic stage presence – they captured their audience with an incredible performance.

Thank you to all who attended – there was an audience of about 80 who all seemed to thoroughly enjoy the whole experience. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

A huge thank you to all who contributed to our Blythswood Boxes donation box. We had a fantastic response with lots of beautiful knitted items, toiletries, notebooks, pens etc which all helped to fill our shoeboxes. Pupils chose very carefully and made boxes suitable for children, babies, teenagers, men and women with 16 boxes being filled in total!

Pupils in Raasay Primary School recently undertook indoor climbing sessions at the ‘Third Ridge’ indoor climbing centre in Portree as part of their P.E. All pupils excelled at the activity and carefully listened to and took on board the instructions and safety guidance. We hope to build on our skills by undertaking some outdoor climbing later in the school year.

On Tuesday 27th September, in conjunction with Climavore, the pupils undertook a Citizen Science Workshop with Marine Biologist Hayley.

Hayley gave an introduction to the study in the class before leaving for Clachan Beach to do a field study on the shoreline.

Pupils were able to identify various seaweeds, molluscs and crabs using the guides provided and were thoroughly engaged in their investigative work.

To finish off, and to help warm us up, Hayley provided some delicious ‘seaweed’ hot chocolate! Thank you to all involved for a fantastic day.

During a recent Pupil Council meeting pupils at Raasay Primary School identified a trip in the Glass Bottomed Boat the Seaprobe Atlantis as an end of term reward. They had also been studying ‘Kings, Queens and Castles’ as topic work this term and therefore on Wednesday 5th October, pupils travelled to Kyle for a trip on the Seaprobe Atlantis, followed by a visit to Eilean Donan Castle.

The trip on the boat was thoroughly enjoyed by all and provided a chance to observe the underwater marine life and kelp forests – as well as some seals!

Pupils then travelled to Eilean Donan where they had a fantastic tour of the castle with one of the guides. They even performed their Gaelic Song ‘Tobhta Fearna’ from the piper’s stage above the main hall. Their performance was thoroughly appreciated by the guide and some visitors who gathered to watch the performance!

On Wednesday 7 September staff and pupils at the Isle of Raasay Primary enjoyed the chance to host a special guest when HRH The Princess Royal visited their school.

Her arrival was heralded by the school’s piping tutor Mr Eddie Seaman who performed a selection of tunes as Head Teacher Mrs Wilma Duncan extended a warm welcome and presented School Clerical, Mrs Rhona Gillies, Classroom Assistant Mrs Catherine MacLeod, School Cook and Cleaner, Mrs Ann McGowan and Parent Council Representative, Mr Iain Hill.

Once inside, before meeting the 5 pupils currently attending the school, HRH had the chance to chat with former Head Teacher Mrs Sandra Smith, as well as the Highland Council’s Area Education and Learning Manager Mrs Mhairi MacDonald and recently retired Deputy Lord Lieutenant Mr John Laing.

Class Teacher Miss Donna Mackenzie then introduced the pupils Hamish Blair P7, Calum Duncan P6, Alexander Hill P3, Harrison Downie P2 and Eachann Hill P1. HRH then had the opportunity to look over a display of classwork and find out more about the recent projects pupils have been working on.

She was then entertained by pupils performing `Make Your Way to Stornoway’ and reciting Gaelic poetry before Gaelic Singer Ms Anne Martin introduced their Treoir Project which relates to the cleared village of Fearns. HRH enjoyed listening to Mrs Martin and the pupils perform ‘Tobhta Fearna’, a song composed by the children for the project.

After hearing some background to the story of Calum’s Road, The Princess Royal was presented with a gift of Calum’s Road book by Hamish Blair. Calum Duncan then presented a copy of a poem created by the children for the Treoir Project and on behalf of all the staff and pupils, Alexander Hill presented a scarf of Raasay tartan design woven by local weaver Miss Lillian MacLeod.

The visit drew to a close with Her Royal Highness being invited to sign the visitor book before being given a rousing send off by pupils, staff and guests and the playing of the pipes.

Speaking after the visit, Head Teacher Wilma Duncan said: “We all really enjoyed the chance to showcase some of the excellent work pupils are doing at our small school. Her Royal Highness showed a lot of interest and asked lots of questions. I want to thank the pupils, staff and the wider school community for all their efforts to ensure the visit was such a success.

Pupils enjoyed a visit from local artist and video maker, Calum Gillies, who shared with the pupils his passion for the history of Castles – and Brochel Castle in particular – and his techniques of line drawing. The pupils then produced their own interpretation of Brochel Castle.

This term the pupils are learning all about ‘The Human Body’ and were thoroughly engaged during the ‘Bodyworks’ workshop by Glasgow Science Centre with lots of hands-on, interactive activities.