On the 10th of December, our school held a Christmas fair for the local community to attend. We had lots of merry raffle prizes for adults and children. The nursery and p1/2 had a stall, and p5/6/7 had 4 stalls for each of the tables in the class. The groups that were handling the stalls in p5/6/7 were called:
Santa’s Elves: Chloe, Teddy, Ayla, Evie, Freddy and Sani.
The Gonks: Iona, James, Jacob, Brody, Stephen and Ellie.
Da Boys on Da Shelf: Aiden, Thomas, William, Finlay, Archie and Alfie
Santa’s little helpers: Rachel, Duncan, Ella, Hugh and Dylan.
These groups made:
Santa’s Elves made Block Christmas Characters, Snowman Face Tree Decoration and Stone Bird Tree Decoration.
The Gonks made Clay Gonks, Scrunches and Block Calendars.
Da Boys on Da Shelf made phyrogrithy cooking spoons and ornaments, Christmas trees decorations made out of blocks and sock creatures.
Santa’s little helpers made keyrings made out of thin blocks, coasters and sock snowmen.
Lots of people came along and we raised loads of money for the school. There was Santa’s Grotto run by the parent council and also waffles to buy and eat. Ms Brown did face painting too. It was a wonderful Christmas Time!
As part of our Transport topic, P1/2/3 wanted to find out all about cars, how they worked and what made cars go faster. So they wrote to Dugald McKerral and went on a trip to the garage. They saw a car up on the hydraulic ramp and could see the wheel axels and the chassis that they had learned about in class. Lots of interesting questions were asked and we are going back to class to find out more about pistons. This learning ties in really well with the Rolls-Royce Science Prize.
Islay is a beautiful island off the west coast of Scotland, and one of the reasons it is so lovely is because farmers work hard to keep the land the way it has looked for generations, conserving the environment. But the land has also influenced how and what types of farming happen on Islay. As an Island the costs of transport are also an important consideration, as is the weather. All these factors contribute to the difficulties and successes of farming beef, sheep and barley on Islay.
Over the past year all the primary schools on Islay and Jura have been involved in an Island wide history project in conjunction with Islay Heritage and archaeologists from the University of Reading. 
The children have been learning about their history and heritage, as well as the many STEM skills required to be an archaeologist. The results of their learning are now on display in the Gaelic College, Ionad Chaluim Chille Ile, in the Islay and Jura School’s Heritage Exhibition.
The project started with a party from every primary school on Islay visiting the Giant’s Grave site, 90 children in all. This involved a lengthy walk from Nerabus up through the forestry to the site, where the archaeologists were excavating and surveying. The children were then able to experience the different fieldwork techniques, from geophysics to troweling to photography. They learned about life in the early Neolithic period, and discussed with the experts what the grave was for, how it might have looked and how the people at the time lived. They then returned to the classroom to continue the learning, carrying out many different tasks; timelines, brochures, reports, sways, story telling videos, den building, pot making, art and imaginative writing. Some of these can be seen on the 
Then in late March the archaeology team returned for phase 2 of the project, in which schools adopted their own local monument and carried out surveys. Children applied some of their previous learning on Geo-physics and photography, whilst also learning how to make scale drawings and documentaries. They then got to see the results of the survey transferred into 3D representations of the site. Bowmore surveyed Cill a’ Bhulig, the remains of an old chapel, Port Charlotte surveyed Carnduncan, a Bronze Age burial cairn, Port Ellen surveyed Kilbride Chapel and Small Isles and Keills surveyed a crannog at Loch nan Deala.
It has been a great learning experience for all involved and made us grasp just how much fascinating history we pass on Islay everyday without even realizing it. The process of revealing Islay’s past through the use of modern archaeological techniques has been a truly great experience, and the children have a far better understanding of their Island as a result. We would like to thank all those involved for providing us with the experience, including the Mactaggart fund for enabling the project to take place. We hope people will visit the exhibition over the next two weeks for a unique insight into Islay’s past.
