Raasay Primary School

Wee Schools Beach Day

On Wednesday 9th June P7 pupils from Raasay, Struan, Knockbreck, Elgol and Carbost Primaries came together for a ‘Beach Day’ at Raasay as part of their Transition to High School. Pupils engaged in ‘Getting to Know You’ and warm up activities, as well as a beach scavenger hunt and a seaweed search; where they found and learnt about various types of seaweed around our shores. The group enjoyed the opportunity to ‘gel’ and form friendships before going up to High School. There was a lovely visit to the Walled Garden where they took their lunch, had some chill out time and then played a game of hide and seek. The afternoon was spent on the beach, rounded off with a bonfire and toasted marshmallows! The pupils all thoroughly enjoyed the day and are now looking forward to meeting up again on their High School Transition Day on Friday 18th June.

On Tuesday 1st June pupils were invited to visit Raasay Walled Garden to plant flower seeds and flower bombs. Pupils were given a tour of the garden including the polytunnels and orchard area. They were also shown all the produce which is being grown for the community. They then had the opportunity to sow the flower seeds in one of the garden beds and hope to come back to see the results later in the summer. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed their visit – the highlight was getting to taste the beautiful strawberries and freshly picked carrots – delicious!

Thank you to all at the Walled Garden for creating such an amazing, productive and stunningly beautiful place for us all to enjoy. 

Over two sessions this term, pupils will be undertaking Bikeability training. The first session was delivered by Sarah Ross, Active Schools’ Coordinator who took the pupils through some aspects of the Level One and Level Two training. Pupils learnt how to store their bike safely, mount and dismount the bike and do some basic checks which included: checking the tyres, handlebars, brakes, chains and saddle. The lessons also focus on road safety, emergency braking, balance and control and changing gears. Level two takes the pupils through: road safety and positioning, road signs and Highway Code for cycling. Next Friday, Emma Garden from Bikeability Scotland will present the second session and will take the older pupils out on the roads to practise their skills.

On Thursday 27th May pupils took part in a 5K URWAY Charity run for Blythswood Charity. We were especially lucky to have our Police Liaison Officers – PC Nicola Grant and Aileen Logan, who provided a police escort and helped to support the safety aspects of the event. Pupils had been training for the event for the last few weeks and put in an amazing performance on the day. Thank you to all who very generously donated to this very good cause. The total raised was a fantastic £216.23! A very big thank you to Malcolm Beharrel, who very kindly donated our official running numbers – and some lovely medals which were presented to the pupils by the Police Officers at the end of the run.

You may have heard Police sirens on Raasay yesterday – don’t worry, it wasn’t a major emergency – just a visit from our friendly Police Liaison Officers! We were delighted to welcome PC Nicola Grant, Police Liaison Officer and PC Aileen Logan. The children had the opportunity to ask questions about the life of a Police Officer, find out about their kit and also try out some of the equipment. As you can see, some pupils were breathalysed – but fortunately, all were negative! The officers hope to return before the end of term – and this time, they will be bringing the speed gun! We were especially pleased that the officers stayed on for the afternoon to support us with our Blythswood Charity Walk. They provided a Police escort for the runners and helped to support the safety aspects of the event. The children were especially delighted to received their medals from the PC’s at the end of the race.

Raasay Primary School and Nursery Pupils will be undertaking a 5K UR Way event on Thursday 27^th May. We will be leaving from the Fire Station at 1.30pm and running/walking to Suisnish pier and back. Pupils will be raising money for the Blythswood Charity which does fantastic work at home and abroad through education and community action. Unfortunately, due to the current restrictions, we cannot encourage people to gather, but if you are out and about in the area and want to give us a cheer as we go past, that would be much appreciated. If you would like to donate, we will have some collecting boxes with us and there will also be a box available in Raasay stores for a few days prior to and after the event.

As part of the transition to High School, P7’s from across Skye and Raasay came together at Bun Sgoil Ghaildhig Phortrigh for a half day of outdoors activities. This was an opportunity for the pupils to reconnect through a shared experience as they look to the next step in their learning journey. The focus of the day was around values, leadership, problem-solving and creative thinking skills which the World Economic Forum place in their top 10 of workplace skills for the future. Our P7 pupils thoroughly enjoyed the experience and, as you can see from the photos, threw themselves into all the challenges asked of them!

As part of their ‘Virtual’ P7 trip – pupils in P7 had to design a cycling course and a water slide activity. Noah and Thomas laid out a very comprehensive cycling course with lots of obstacles and slaloms to challenge the other pupils. The most popular activity, however, was by far the water slide! As you can see from the photos the chilly air didn’t put them off and they all ‘threw’ themselves into the challenge! It looks like this will becone a much requested end of term activity!

Pupils from schools in Skye and Raasay would normally be gathering at Raasay House for their Skye Schools’ P7 trip which has a strong focus on transition and forming new friendships with a view to moving on to the High School. In order for pupils not to miss out on this experience, a ‘virtual’ trip has been organised with P7 pupils from across the Skye Schools getting together online for a week of activities. Our two P7 pupils have been engaging in the virtual trip – they have daily Google Meets in the morning, lunchtime and evening and have set tasks and activities to undertake both at school and at home. One of the tasks involved creating a treasure hunt for their fellow pupils. Noah created one for the younger pupils and Thomas created one for the older ones. The aim was to follow the clues and pick up a letter at each station which then spelled out the name of the final location.

As part of their Forest Schools Work, pupils were learning the principles of how to construct teepee shelters. They made mini shelters – just the right size for their felt ‘desk pets’ – the next step was to up-scale to fit themselves. We think you will agree that they all did a fantastic job!