Tag Archives: Local Community

Showcase Event

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This morning, six of our P4/5 pupils went to share their views, and the views of their peers, with SIC representatives at a Showcase Event.  This followed on from our work with the ‘A Place In Childhood’ team last week.

Our representatives were excited to share their views and ideas!

The morning started with each South Mainland school, sharing what they had done on their tour day and talking through their priority lists.  We were interested to hear that there were many similarities between the different areas.

Then it was time to talk to the SIC representatives!  We spoke to people from the areas of Sport & Leisure, Roads, Waste Management, Environmental Health, Town Planning, Youth Services, the Sandwick Community Council and a Youth Worker.  We were interested to hear what their jobs involved and many aspects of their remits, fitted into our priorities so we were able to pass our concerns to the right people, face-to-face.

We explained our priorities to Suzanne from Town Planning and talked about the paths we use to keep us safe but also how the busy main road prevents us having a little more freedom.
We talked to Neil from Sport & Leisure about the Boddam Play Park and our multi court.  He also shared with us some future plans for the Boddam Park which look great and will make it more inclusive.  This was on our priority list!

Our morning finished off with us talking to Ross from Radio Shetland.  We were included in the show which aired on Friday 16th May so please have a listen!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002c2p9

This has been a fabulous project to be part of with a lot of learning opportunities and experiences arising from it.  We feel very lucky to have been involved and to have had input into how we can improve our local area for everyone, especially children.

Our poster and priorities will be displayed ready for the Learner Led Event on Tuesday 27th so please pop in and have a look!
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A Place In Childhood

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Today Anna from the ‘A Place In Childhood’ organisation came to visit along with Ana Arnett, Community Involvement & Development Officer, to work with our class.  We were thinking about our local area and places of importance.  We collected quite a list!

Gathering ideas about our local area.

After that, we went on a walk to help us think more about the areas around our school, what we like about them, how we use them and how they might be improved.  Our walk ended up at the Boddam Play Park so we had our snacks outside and had a play!  This was actually useful for our discussions later!

We then worked in groups on an island task.  We pretended we were separated from the rest of Shetland from Levenwick and South.  We noted down what we would miss not being connected to other areas and added them to the ‘island’.  When Anna collated all our ideas, we were able to think more realistically about what we would like to see in our area and this helped us create our priority list.

Tomorrow, we will all complete a Play Sufficiency Assessment where we will select areas we like to play and pinpoint others that we feel could be improved.  The results will be used to support the SIC in their decision making plans for the future.  We will then use our expertise to help others in the school complete this same survey.

Our final task will be to select a few willing pupils to share our thoughts and ideas at a Showcase Event at Sandwick JH School next Friday.  We will meet with children from our Cluster Schools and share our priorities with local decision makers, including representatives from the Shetland Islands Council.  It’s a great opportunity for us to effect change and see that our views are valued.

Grateful thanks to Anna, Ana and our parent volunteers!
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SMUHA

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We have been preparing for SMUHA over the past couple of weeks.  We started by creating our pictures for the hall.  We drew Vikings on polystyrene, then used ink and rollers to add colour.  They looked great!

This week we prepared our torches and helmets ready for the procession!

We are so lucky to have two beautiful galleys!

Two pupils were lucky enough to have their shield design chosen for our school galley and another pupil had her one on the main SMUHA galley!  Congratulations!

The sun was shining today for our procession and burning.  Well done to our P7 Squad who did us proud again!  Everyone was in fine voice at the hall too!  It’s been a  g-r-e-a-t  day!

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Voar Redd Up

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It was a beautiful day today for our ‘Redd Up’.  We went as far as the Croft House and worked hard to collect as much rubbish as we could.  The roadsides were actually really quite clean which is a good thing!  Thank you to our adult helpers.

How many children are lucky enough to have a field of ponies right next to their school?

Not too many unusual finds this year but we did find an empty cookie packet!
We saw some lovely stones along the way!

Well done everyone! Every little bit helps!
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3 Cheers for SMUHA!

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Recycled Viking by Lucille

It’s been a busy week for all classes this week as we prepared for SMUHA!  We all made torches and helmets ready for today’s procession and galley burning.  Over the past few weeks, we’ve been creating a piece of artwork to decorate the hall.  We used recycled cardboard and paper to create a picture with a 3D look as we layered up the card.  These looked great in the Boddam Hall!

More great examples…

We got our picture taken beside the school galley.

Some P4/5 pupils had their shields chosen to go on the school galley.  Congratulations too, to Sophia and Lauren who had shields displayed on the main galley as well.  (Sadly, no photos were managed.)

Today we celebrated along with Leah, our Jarl, and the P7 Squad.  A great day was had by all!  Only a few photos were taken but we hope they give you a feel for the afternoon!

Until 2025….

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Research Projects

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This afternoon we got the chance to share our learning with each other and the P6/7 class.  For the past few weeks, P4/5/6 have been busy researching and learning new things about Shetland in the past.

Each pupil got the chance to choose an area of local history that interested them and they could decide how they wanted to present their information.  Everyone was encouraged to think creatively about the different ways information can be shared.

In our classroom, we displayed posters, leaflets,  models, and stop motion animations.

Pupils chose to find out about The Braer disaster, Jarshoff, Shipwrecks, Historical landmarks in Shetland, World War 2 in Shetland, The Quendale Mill, Sumburgh Lighthouse, The Shetland Bus, Sumburgh Airport,  Mousa Broch and Whaling.

We also got the chance to see what P6/7 had chosen to research.  It was a lovely afternoon of sharing and learning new things.   How lovely it was to hear so many wonderful compliments being given by everyone!

Magical History Tour

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What a week it has been in P4/5/6!

On Monday, P4/5/6 and P6/7 spent the whole day in Virkie, learning about what went on there throughout history.

First we took a little walk to see the remains of the Braer oil tanker, which ran aground 30 years ago.   Some pupils have chosen this topic to research further and we look forward to seeing what they have to share with us later in the term.

 

We could see one of the funnels stuck between some rocks.
I wonder if it will still be there in 30 years time?

Next it was time to visit Old Scatness and the iron age village.  Archaeologists from The Amenity Trust took us around the site and gave us a little insight into what life was like and how archaeologists can learn more about how people lived in the past.

Looking fierce!
It was great fun dressing up!
We made a timeline jigsaw together. We could see just how long ago Old Scatness was built!
We dissected some “poo” to see if we could find out what had been eaten. (Thankfully, it wasn’t real!)
Was it easy to make flour using this method?
Getting a tour of Old Scatness.
We enjoyed sitting in the reconstructed round house. I wonder what it would have been like to live there?

After some lunch in Betty Mouat’s Bod, we set off to Mrs Leslie’s farmland to find out about what was going on there during World War 2.  We were amazed to find out that around 5000 men were stationed there at that time!  There are still some remains of buildings and roads that were built for them.  We had fun trying to guess what some of the different structures were used for.

The remains of an old house that had to be knocked down to create a clear view of the runway during the war.

On Wednesday we walked to the Crofthouse Museum to find out about life in Shetland over 100 years ago.  It has been so well looked after, one of the pupils asked if it was a reconstructed house.   We are grateful that it continues to be cared for and enjoyed by so many visitors.

We learned about the crofting way of life and all of the different things people used.  Everyone listened really well to the information and there were some super questions being asked too.

We passed around some items inside the crofthouse. These are some “rivlins” that were made from seal skin.
We did a scavenger hunt around the garden area and tried to answer questions on what we had just learned.

Thank you again to all of our parent helpers who accompanied us on our trips this term.   Your support is greatly appreciated and has given the children the opportunity to safely explore all of the wonderful things on offer in their local  community.

Swan and Museum Trip 15th May 2023

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What a day!  The pupils in P4/5  had an exciting day in  Lerwick today, learning about life in Shetland in the past.

On our way to set sail with The Swan, some pupils were unsure and feeling a bit nervous.  It wasn’t long before these feelings disappeared as we got busy on deck with the skipper and his 2 crew mates.  We got some hands on learning to see what it takes to sail a traditional vessel, the history of the Swan – and our maritime heritage.

It was good fun, working as a team to raise the sail and have a go at steering the boat!  Some future skippers at Dunrossness perhaps…?  One of the highlights was definitely exploring the bunks downstairs.  Most folk thought it would be quite a comfortable sleep in there, apart from when you would have to put in the extra plank of wood across the bunk opening, to keep you from falling out on a rough night out at sea!  On Wednesday, P6 will have a whole day on board The Swan, learning “the ropes” and working as  a team.  We know they’ll have great fun!

As well as our sailing experience, we spent time at the Shetland Museum, hopping through the ages and discovering the different people who have settled in Shetland over thousands of years.

We learned about crofting and fishing life in Shetland and the different jobs men and women were responsible for.  After our tour, we got a chance to do some “carding” with sheep’s fleece, to make it soft enough to then spin into yarn.  We can certainly see how hard life must’ve been in the past!