Welcome
Thank you for visiting our school website. My name is Mr Ross and I’m the Head Teacher here at Papay School. Because we are a peedie school (peedie means small in Orcadian) I am the class teacher for three days and a half days a week. Other teachers come to join us for the other two days. On a Monday, Mrs Groat comes over on a boat from Westray. Mrs Groat has been coming from Westray for several years and knows Papay and the School really well. On Wednesdays, things are a little different because we have three Expressive Arts teachers who come to teach a whole day of either PE, Music or Art. Those days tend to be a lot of fun!
One area of the website to visit might be the news (or blog) page. It has information about exciting things that we have done in school. The pictures give a great insight into what each day is like.
If you are reading this page because you come to Papay School, why not write about something you’ve learnt for the news page and draw a picture or choose a photo? If you and your family are thinking about coming to Papay and starting at the school you will be most welcome. You can expect to enjoy school and have fun learning because that is one of our most important aims.
Papay Thing
The ‘Papay Thing’ or ‘Papay Þing’ is our name for our school pupil council. In the past, ‘Things’ were found throughout Northern Europe and were used by the Vikings as a way of ensuring fair representation, supporting to settle disputes in a fair way, and assisting in directing positive change.
Our Thing meets each Friday afternoon and we use the time to discuss matters which affect us all at school, including: break times, future topic learning, school trips and anything else that our pupils would like to discuss.
Over the months ahead we’ll add information about all of the following.
- A typical day at Papay School.
- Things that we love about our school
- What we learn about
- How we learn — visiting teachers — outings — outdoors —
- Pupil Council
- Key words to know at Papay School
For the time being, here are some photos of what we have been up to recently.
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- We regularly link up with North Ronaldsay School. Sometimes this is online but we aim to meet in person each term too. Here we are in the Cathedral recently.
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- The children’s room in the library is always a hit!
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- In 2021 we presented this piece of artwork to Orkney Library and enjoy visiting it when in Kirkwall.
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- We regularly go on local outings to explore Papay.
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- Planting the apple trees a few months ago
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- Reenacting the Queen’s Jubilee for our most recent School Film
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- Welcoming out School Robot, Max, to the island.
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- We had an introduction to Max in the classroom one weekend
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- Each year we lay a wreath at the War Memorial on the 11th of November.
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- Helping out with the Papay Market Garden carrot harvesting
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- We have school ducks that we feed every morning.
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- The Market Garden helped us out by providing three new raised planters
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- Curly Kale is one of our vegetables
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- We’ve been orienteering in PE.
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- We’ve been orienteering in PE.
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- We’ve been orienteering in PE.
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- Mrs Groat with one of the ducklings
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- Artistic maths on a Friday morning.
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- Our lettuce and spinach
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- Lettuce and spinach
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- Giving the boat in the playground a revamp.
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- Papay Pirate Day 2020
