We did fun activities for Children in Need, and invited people in the community to donate their loose change. We also wore pyjamas to school.
We made a really long change snake (133m!) and when we counted it up we had raised £323.41! What an amazing total!
In the Autumn Term of 2024 the Primary Class topic was “Our Community”. We looked at what makes Shapinsay a great place to live, and what a community needs.
We went on lots of visits, and had a lot of visitors in school. Here is just some of what we did!
We went to the Smithy and learned about jobs there.
We went to the Shapinsay shop and found out how it works.
Liam McArthur MSP came to talk to us about the Scottish Parliament.
We visited the Shapinsay kirk.
We visited the Heritage Centre.
We visited the Fire Station.
We donated some things to Cast Affs.
We learned about the role of the First responders
Alistair Carmichael MP came to visit.
We were lucky enough to have several visits as part of the OISF. We really enjoyed all the activities!
Dr Anne-Marie Weijmans from St Andrews University came in to work with us about space. We identified stars using their co-ordinates and made our own constellations.
We learned a lot about forensics using the Science of Superheroes with the University of Central Lancashire.
We learned about Artificial Intelligence with Claire Griffiths.
Eve Armstrong from the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh came to work with us about rainforests.
The younger class are learning about Vikings this term, and learned about the Viking fire festival of Up Helly Aa that is taking place in Shetland today. Barry was in the Jarl’s squad last year and came in to show us his costume and talk to us all about it.
P6 and P7 read the Address to the Haggis before the Burns Lunch with Lunch Club.
Shapinsay Primary School Gold Sports Award
Shapinsay School has been reaccredited with the Sports Scotland Gold Award, thanks to the hard work of Mrs Bews and the Sports Committee. Well done!
You can read more about our award here:
https://www.orkney.gov.uk/News?postid=8745
Christmas Dinner
On Wednesday 13th December we had Christmas Dinner with the Lunch Club and the Shapinsay Music Group. It was really yummy!
Christmas Assembly
On Tuesday 19th December we held our Christmas Assembly. Lots of folk showed up. The children sang, performed Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and We three kings on the tone chimes, Good King Wenceslas on the recorder, Jingle Bells on piano. We sang lots of carols, Rev Julia did a talk called “What’s that sound?” about the Nativity. We also said goodbye and thank you to Laura who is leaving us at the end of term.
We have been learning about Black History as part of Black History Month. On the last day of term we all wore red to Show Racism the Red Card,
The P7 children entered the Orkney Sun2 competition which was part of the Science Festival. They had to compare the effectiveness of single and double-sided solar panels by collecting data and analysing it. They worked out that the E-W panels are better early and late, and the South facing panel is better at or around noon. The judges praised their ‘thorough investigation of the effect of the white reflector’ and awarded them second prize.
We took part in several workshops during the 2023 OISF. We did workshops on marine superstars, stars on a plate, fossils, the Sun, Circular Economy and Dementia.
Thanks to everyone who came in, we had a great time!
