Tag Archives: Shetland

PRIMARY 1/2 DAY OUT TO BURRA

June 26, 2019 Mrs Moffat 5 Comments

The sun might not have been shining, but the weather did not hamper excitement from the pupils in primary 1 and 2 today, as they set off on their day out to Burra.

Our brilliant bus driver George, assisted by some very knowledgeable navigators in the front seat, drove us to Burra and firstly dropped us off at ‘The Hen Hoose’ where Wendy runs her Burra Bears business from. She showed us inside her workshop, all the knitwear and fabrics she uses to make the bears and also the processes required for the finished product. We saw the 3 different sizes of bears she makes and we collected Mrs Moffat’s bear she had had made.

Next, we walked over to ‘The Outpost’ where Margaret met us and we got to see emus, tortoises, goats, rabbits, pigs and wallabies. We got to feed the animals and the bairns were highly amused at how the goats and pigs fought over the food.

We then followed Margaret to the Bridge End Hall where we enjoyed our packed lunches and had time for games and free play.

George then drove us to Bannamin beach where we spent a lovely afternoon paddling in the sea (brrrr!), finding interesting objects, climbing up among the big stones and playing on the beach. After a fair amount of “de-sanding” our feet, we got packed up and headed back to the bus.

We had a super day in Burra and would like to say special thanks to George, Margaret Inskster and our helpers Julie, Caroline, Jacqui, Catherine and Carla.

Something fishy going on!

March 16, 2018 Shona Marianne 1 Comment

Today Mrs Moffat came in with lots of different types of fish because her husband works on a whitefish boat. She came in with lots of fish such as brides groom (dragonet), plaice, lump sucker , monkfish and many more.

Brides groom is a poisonous type of fish that has a fin on its back which has a few big poisonous spikes. We learned lots about fish around Shetland. By Shona and Catherine P7

Kenzie’s special ‘Show & Tell’

May 30, 2017 User deactivated 1 Comment

On Friday, Kenzie brought in his caddy lamb for his show and tell. After Kenzie told us all about his lamb, everyone in P2/3 had a chance to play with it in the courtyard. We all thought it was very cute and everyone had a great time playing in the sun!

Learning in the sunshine!

May 8, 2017 User deactivated 2 Comments

Last week we had great weather, so P2/3 tried to get outside as much as possible. We did maths in the multi-court, learning how to count in 2s and 3s while playing duck, duck, goose! We also chose to do our spelling practice outside using chalk to write on the walls and ground.

P2/3 Topic work with P7

March 16, 2017 User deactivated 2 Comments

Today P7 came through to our classroom to help the P2/3s do some topic work. Our class split into 9 groups, and with the help of a P7, each group researched a different Viking God. We spent 20 minutes looking for interesting facts, and for the second 20 minutes, P7 showed P2/3 how to make a PowerPoint. By the end of topic time we managed to get all 9 PowerPoints saved for the P2/3s to present in class next week. It was great to see everyone working so well together. Thanks a lot to the very helpful Primary 7s!

The 150th anniversary of the voyage of ‘The Diana’

March 9, 2017 Mrs Smith Leave a comment

Primary 4 – 7 visited the Museum and archives to find out more about what happened to the Victorian whaling ship ‘Diana’. Kirsty Clark led a hands-on workshop on what it was like at the Whaling in Victorian times and Mark and Brian Smith shared interesting information stored in the archives. We had a really interesting and informative visit, thank you all!

The Diana left for the Arctic in May 1866. At first the crew did well and they caught a small number of whales, but on the journey back the weather began to get worse and the ship was locked in a sea of frozen ice. It was trapped for over six months. Food was rationed, and fuel was in short supply; the sailors were driven to use anything they could get their hands on for food, even the wood from the ship’s masts and seal clubs.

By the time the ice had thawed and the Diana had finally landed in the Shetland Isles, 13 men were dead including Captain Gravill, the captain of the ship. A detailed log was written by the ship’s surgeon, Dr Charles Edward Smith, after the death of Captain Gravill.

We have entered a play in the Drama Festival which tells the story of the crew, many of which were Shetlanders. Some of the crew are our ancestors.

The play was written and directed by Marsali Taylor, based on the information in Dr Smith’s log entries. Dr Smith’s brother, Frederick Smith was mayor of West Ham and after hearing the tragic story of the Diana’s crew, he paid for a red marble drinking fountain to be erected on Victoria Pier in Lerwick.The memorial reads “The Providential Return of the S Whaler ‘Diana’ of Hull 1866-7”.

Lerwick fishmarket and electronic auction by Finn and Shona

March 23, 2016 Mrs Smith Leave a comment

Primary 3,4,5 have been on trip to LHD fishmarket and electronic auction. We were interested in finding out why the sea/fishing industry is so important to Shetland as well as experiencing different types of jobs involved in running a business. We also used a lot of the information gathered in our ‘real life’ maths back in school.

Here is Shona and Finn’s account of the day..

We walked towards this massive building. We went up steep stairs and were in a corridor, we could see the live electronic fish auction happening inside.

There was a big clock that had a light that went round. There were two big rectangles. One was the fish that was about to be sold and the other was what was sold.

The live fish auction – each person in the room might be bidding for about 100-200 companies. The seafood industry is really important and it is the biggest industry in Shetland.

Martin was our guide. He told us that this is the second biggest fishmarket in the country.

Different species – how many can you name?

They are loads of fish. They are all graded into different sizes

Monkfish have very sharp looking teeth!

The temperature of this room is kept at 2 degrees. This room had all the fish sorted, boxed and labelled.

Ready for delivery

The Shetland Fisherman’s Association where Ruth told us all about So Much To Sea – and we got goodie bags!

Now it is time for us to try fish buying!

Who is going to get the best price?

As a buyer you have to watch the clock. It shows the price going down. Someone could go for the fish any time before you so you have to be ready to bid.

..Ready to press the blue button..

Andrew the auctioneer answering all our questions about the electronic auction, we had lots!

Best trip ever!

Dogs against Drugs – Axles visit

March 16, 2016 Mrs Smith Leave a comment

Anya’s dad is a policeman. He came in to tell us all about his job. He brought in Axle, an adorable Labrador pup training to be a police dog able to sniff out illegal drugs. We learned how Axle and the other dogs are trained to do their job and we also saw some equipment the police use to help them. We really enjoyed their visit.

http://www.dogsagainstdrugs.co.uk/assets/images/enlargeable/DAD-Schools-A4-Poster.jpg

All kinds of bears in Primary 1

March 8, 2016 Mrs Moffat Leave a comment

This week in Primary 1, we are thinking about all kinds of bears. We have lots of teddy bears in our toy shop, busy dressing bears in all sorts of clothes, making polar and teddy bears in craft activities, polar bears in our icy water and lots of other bear related activities.

On Tuesday, we were really lucky to have a visit from Wendy Inkster who makes Burra Bears. She told us what she uses to make the bears, how she makes them and brought a lot of different Burra Bears to show us.

There was lots of discussion and questions and we loved Wendy’s visit to Primary 1.