Tag Archives: Bernera School News

Getting Along Swimmingly!

Here we are again in a new term!  Last term, we had the Lewis Mod, which went well and the children performed in various competitions, including the playlet, which went well and was exceedingly funny!  Sarah won her Literary competition, so well done to her!

We are back after to Easter holidays, starting the “summer” term; although right now we have  “Sneachd na h-uain bheaga” which is typical for us here. The April showers in Lewis seem to be more often or not, “the snow of the wee lambs”!

Firstly, as it is term 4, we have started swimming again on Thursday afternoons.  This means travelling to Stornoway by mini bus and then back again, just in time to go home on the school buses.  Because of this, we have both an early break time in the morning and an early lunch to enable us to leave the school at 1 o’ clock.  Despite these minor disruptions to the school day, the children seem to be enjoying their lessons, and there are one or two sleepy children on the way home!

Secondly, even though we are just back to school, we have the May holiday weekend coming up, so we will be off on Friday 29th April AND Monday 2nd May.  We hope you enjoy the long weekend, and that the weather warms up for May, which has been until recently, always thought of as one of the loveliest months in the Western Isles, but remember the old Scotttish saying “ne’er cast a clout, ’til May is oot”.  In other words, don’t take your coat off until after May!  Incidentally, as a bit of long forgotten folklore, it is thought the “May” in the said saying isn’t the actual month, but refers to  the shrub hawthorn, which is also known as “May Thorn” and when it flowers!

FEBRUARY 2016

Here we are in February and carrying on with daily school life!  In the past few months we have had some school closures due to the dreadful weather but otherwise school goes on as ever, bustling and busy.  Christmas was as usual, hectic, but we managed to put on yet another show with dancing elves and even the odd rock ‘n roll polar bear.

Various sports activities for the older ones have taken place, including Sportshall athletics and more recently Tchoukeball festival and visits from Jenna Stewart to us are always welcomed by the pupils!

A daily event is the “Daily Mile” where all the children walk, jog or run a mile every day. One the occasion of extremely bad weather, the Wii is used and instead of 15 minutes of fame, we have 15 minutes of Just Dance, which I can personally vouch make the “older” element of the school have “jelly” legs and arms by the end of it!  We continue to have healthy snacks, fruit and toast, and every lunchtime the children are exceptional in their consumption of the salad provided.

After lunch, the toothbrushing regime continues with visits from the Childsmile people who are very impressed at how diligent the children are.

All in all, I think that we must be a very healthy school.

Next up is the forthcoming Mod, this year in March, but more on that next time. 😉SDC17648 - HBK 27

Start of Session 2015 -16

Well, Bernera School has started its new year, and indeed are heading towards the end of the first term of 2015 – 16!

As always, it has been very busy, with a new Sgoil Araich pupil, new P1’s, classes moving up to the next levels, staff changes and all the different activities such as a storytelling session and a Sgoil Araich trip to the Iron Age house at Bosta as well as the school projects and lessons!

We are rapidly approaching the October holidays and thereafter, the inevitable lead up to ….Christmas preparations!

 

Time to get all this terms work finished off in the next week and a bit, and then we can look forward to our autumn break!

 

Primary 7 Transition Event at Breasclete School

In order to aid transition from Primary to Secondary school Primary 7 pupils from Bernera, Breasclete and Uig schools are coming together with teaching, Support for Learning and Active Schools staff at planned special events over the next three months. It is hoped that pupils from the three schools will benefit from the opportunity to meet with the other Primary 7 pupils before transition to secondary.

On Monday 23rd February the P7s from the three schools met up at Breasclete School with Jenna Stewart from Active Schools for some Tchoukball practice and play ahead of the Tchoukball Festival at the Sports Centre the following day.  It was a very enjoyable session for all and our P7s expressed the wish that they had more time and that they could do it again.

P7s with Jenna
P7s with Jenna

Primary 6 – 7 Tchoukball Festival

Bernuig Tchoukball Team
Bernuig Tchoukball Team!

Bernera Primary 6 and 7 pupils joined forces with Uig P6s and 7s to make up team Bernuig, playing together in a Tchoukball Festival at the Sports Centre on Tuesady 24th February.

Tchoukball?  For anyone who hasn’t heard of it, Tchoukball is a fast, indoor, non-contact team game using a soft ball and a mixture of handball and volleyball skills.  Our P6s and 7s have really enjoyed the Tchoukball ‘taster’ sessions they’ve had with Active Schools Co-ordinator Jenna Stewart and Uig and Breasclete pupils in recent months and this was their first opportunity to take part in an organised event with teams from other schools.

Around 24 teams from various Lewis schools took part, and so great was the interest that the organisers  had to schedule a second morning of play on Tuesday 3rd March.  Our pupils all agreed that it was really good fun and they would love to do it again with MORE games!  As ever, their behaviour both on and off the floor, was impeccable and they were complimented by the organisers as displaying the best teamwork skills out of all the teams taking part.  Well done Bernuig!

 

ANNELINE ON BURKINA FASO

After spending a month of the Summer holidays in Burkina Faso with her family on a short term missionary project, the children were delighted to hear our Nursery Key Worker Anneline share some of her stories and show us some of the things she had brought back from Africa at Assembly.

ANNELINE DRESSED AFRICAN STYLE

 Anneline was given a very special African outfit as a gift on her return to Lewis, which she wore to Assembly today. We thought she looked very cool in it.

THE TRAVELLING GALLERY

Each year it gives us great pleasure to welcome the Travelling Gallery to the school. This bus has been modified to serve as a travelling Art Gallery. Over the years we have enjoyed a variety of visits form the Travelling Gallery with a   number of exhibitions which feature artists who use a range of  media. This term, the exhibition was entitled “This Land” and presented a beautifully alternative view of the Scottish landscape featuring photographs, paintings, sculptures and video from different areas of Scotland. The children very much enjoyed the visit from the  Travelling Gallery and it was pleasing to read the comments they left in the Gallery’s Visitor’s Book.