Raasay Primary School

Raasay pupils enjoyed a visit from a very special person this morning when Santa made an appearance at their Christmas party! As you can see – when Santa comes to Raasay he has a very special mode of transport!

The annual Community Christmas Lunch will be taking place at Sligachan Hotel today and this beautiful hamper is awaiting the winner of the free prize draw! The hamper has lots of lovely Christmas treats to the value of £50 bought from Raasay Community Stores. This has been donated by Raasay Primary School as a thank you to the community for their support throughout the year.

Good luck and Merry Christmas to you all!

Thank you to everyone who came along to our Christmas Show on Friday 14^th December. The school decided to base their Christmas performance this year on their World War 1 topic with the story being set on Raasay and in France in 1914. The night was dedicated to all those who lay down their lives for the freedom of future generations.

The story starts set in Umachan on the Isle of Raasay and follows the story of a local family and how the outbreak of war impacts on them and the lives of those around them. The Raasay story was specifically written for the children and used local place names. The songs were written and adapted especially for the play and the theme was of hope, love and peace and mankind’s ability to face fear and adversity to safeguard these three things for future generations.

Wilma Duncan Head Teacher said “We are all so proud of our pupils and what they achieved on the night. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house and they performed to a packed audience and rave reviews! For a school of only 8 pupils, some of whom are very young, the level of skill, ability and dedication shown by them all was incredible but most pleasing of all was to see the enjoyment and ownership they had of the story.

Thanks to all parents, staff, community members and community groups for supporting the production and ensuring a fantastic night of entertainment for all.”

Here are some photographs of the night for you to enjoy – thank you to David Carslaw for the photographs.

Thank you to everyone who supported our fundraising event for the Social Bite charity – helping to end homelessness in Scotland. Pupils in Raasay Primary School, with the support of the Parent Council, parents and staff, ran a pop up cafe and slept out in the school on Friday 9th November. Pupils ate a simple meal of pasta and tinned fruit from a box of donations which the Raasay community kindly contributed to.

Tabby P7 said “We are doing Social Bites as part of the ‘Year of Young People’ to end homelessness. We are all giving up our beds tonight. We want to help people who are homeless in Scotland. Because of tonight 830 people that are homeless will be in safe and secure accommodation. It is going to help almost 1000 people. We don’t think it is acceptable to be homeless.”

The total amount raised for the charity so far, including Gift Aid, is £1136.54 – you can still donate online at https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RaasayPrimary until 24th Dec.

The Highland Council have put a press release out on their website publicising the ‘Wee Sleep Out’ event on Friday 9th November. Remember that you can still donate online – see link below or donations can be handed in to the school or the local shop.

https://www.highland.gov.uk/news/article/11418/island_pupils_raise_awareness_of_homelessness_in_scotland

As in previous years, pupils undertook a door to door collection for Poppy Scotland. The total raised this year was £200.56. The pupils are studying World War 1 this term and have written their own poems on the subject. Below is a poem by Tabitha in P7 who has written an extremely poignant and thought-provoking piece.

My Fight

There he lies, cold as ice,

Deafening bombs sound,

Taking the lives of his fellow troops,

Shells pierce their skin,

They cry out in pain.

‘BANG!’ I hear,

As I watch his lifeless body drop like a bowling ball,

Lonely, emotional is how we all feel,

“Could I be next?” I wonder,

“Is it my turn to say goodbye?”

“Only time will tell”, I cry!

The stench of death lingers,

All I hear is shots firing,

Hurting my ears,

My clothes riddled with fleas,

The taste of chocolate reminds me of home.

Wounds are scars upon our hearts,

Bombs hit us like lightening bolts,

Streams run red through the trenches,

Quickly I duck as a bullet skims my ear,

Soldiers don’t even blink,

I do my best not to shriek in pain.

Each day I pray I’m not next,

Soldiers write their wills,

Hoping their time won’t come soon,

Our watches ticking down the seconds,

Every tick feels like an hour.

I spot a poster reading,

‘Your Country Needs You’,

It reminds me why I am here,

Why I need to be here!

Families fighting fear,

Sons, husbands, brothers drop like flies,

Poppies are gravestones to many,

Their stories left untold.

“When will this tragedy end?”

“Days, Weeks, Years!”

Only time will tell …..

Raasay Primary children will be sleeping in the school on Friday 9th November in an effort to highlight homelessness in Scotland.

The school will be taking part in the Social Bite Wee Sleep Out, a junior version of the Sleep In The Park event.

To raise money for the event, the pupils will be running a Pop Up Wee Bite Cafe in Raasay Community Hall on Friday 9 November from 2pm until 4 pm. They will be serving refreshments and cakes, as well as explaining what their night at the school will involve.   People in the community can donate food down at the Raasay Community Shop.

Head Teacher Wilma Duncan said “In the evening, at the school, pupils will watch a video on Social Bite, the charity.

“They will then cook tea using just the small portable school cooker to replicate the facilities that may be available to someone in temporary accommodation. The meal will be cooked from the typical contents of a food parcel. A box will be put in the shop with a note explaining that members of the community can donate – based on dried and tinned low cost foods. Although there will be some extra food on standby to make sure no one goes hungry!

“They will also bring along some cardboard boxes so they can see how cold and uncomfortable it would be if that’s all they had for shelter/between them and the ground.

“They will also, weather permitting, light a fire in the garden for warmth, and at that point have a bit of a warm up with hot drinks, marshmallows and bread on a stick.

“There will also be a good story for the bedtime story too.”

We have also set up a donation page where you can donate online if you wish at https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RaasayPrimary

We were delighted to be invited to the Raasay Gallery on Tuesday 9th October to see the wonderful exhibition of work by Judy Evans. The pupils were also able to participate in a screen printing workshop organised by Judy where they learnt the skills of producing their own screen print artwork based on the theme of birds. Pupils in P5-7 then used these pieces of art to inspire a short poem. We are hoping to work with Judy again for some more screen printing workshops in term 3.  Gordon, very kindly, showed the pupils his lovely art studio and some of his work.

The pupils then performed some of the songs that they have been working on for the Christmas Show and also some from their own repertoire! Thank you to Gordon, Christa and Judy for a lovely morning – we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

Pupils, staff  and parents would like to extend their thanks to the Raasay and Skye community and beyond following the recent school Coffee Day. The record breaking total raised this year was a staggering £4641.16!

The day was thoroughly enjoyed by all and the school look forward to using some of the funds on developing ICT within the school and working with pupils, parents and partners in allocating the funds to specific projects.

Moran Taing!

Just a reminder – we hope to see you all tomorrow from 11am until 3pm for our Annual Coffee Day.  Lots of amazing prizes on offer and the Parent Council providing lots of yummy food!

See you all tomorrow!  Don’t miss out – the forecast is for sunshine. 🙂