On Thursday 22nd August we set off to Scatness for our very first John Muir day of the year. Pete, John and Jill took us on a rocky adventure.
Joanna said “It was fabulous!”
Robert B said “It was fantastic.”
Emma especially enjoyed jumping across the blowhole… and she got a little bit wet!
We had a fantastic day at Kergord, for our second John Muir Day. The weather was perfect, even though it is still just February. The P7s were brilliant. The John Muir Award is about exploring the wild, but its also about challenging yourself, and our intrepid P7s certainly did that today. They were climbing the trees like monkeys by the end of the afternoon  Well done everyone, I was very proud of you all😁😊
On Friday 1st February, Glen Tyler came to school to help us with our RSPB birdwatch. He took everyone out in small groups and we used the binoculars that Hugh Harrop and Ness Engineering have bought us.
We saw lots of starlings, house sparrows, a hooded crow, 2 herring gulls and a blackbird. The birds have enjoyed the seeds that we’ve been putting outside in all this cold weather.
On Monday 4th February our P6s (expert birdwatchers!) paired up with the Nursery bairns to help them complete their birdwatch.
Isaac “It was good fun and the nursery listened well.”
Cole “We helped the nursery go through all the bushes, so that they didn’t get hurt and it was good fun.”
Robert “It was really fun and they were so cute.”
Mirrin “It was really good and I was surprised at how well they listened and how many birds they knew.”
While the Primary 6s have been doing their Playleader training, the P7s have been carrying out an Eco-Schools audit of everything that we do in our school and have been thinking of some actions that we need to do next.
On Friday the 5 October the primary 7s went on our first John Muir trip to Fladdabister. Pete Richerson came and met us at school , he gave us waterproofs , helments and backpacks. We got the equipment and went out to the mini bus, when we got to Fladdabister, we have got our waterproofs, and backpacks on.
We set off heading North with partners and arrived at a square of stones, John came to meet us. Next Pete told us to get a different partner and follow him around the loch with a bit of distance between each pair. After a long walk we made it to the Fladdabister mills and sat down to have our snack,it was very nice and peaceful.
After snack we walk down the stream on our own with a bit of distance between us, we had to listen to the sound of the stream. When we got to Pete we got our helmets out our bags and put them on Pete made sure that they fitted. John did the rock climbing and stream jumping with us, we started easy and then got harder.we got down to a pebble bit at the bottom of the stream we had our lunch and left our backpacks behind when we went rock climbing. We climbed over lots of rocks and ended up in a massive cave where water was dripping off the edge and it looked incredible! We stayed at the cave for a little while and listened to all the lovely noises around us. After that we went back, collected our bags and started walking back. We walked up a massive hill but after a little while we had a rest and there was a rainbow, Pete told us a story about a rainbow and after he told us the story we kept walking and got back to the mini bus and went back to school.
We all loved the day, it was fantastic thanks to Pete for taking us and we are all really looking forwards to the next John Muir Day!
By Ruby and Katie
We had a super time helping to plant new trees and cuttings in and around the school.
The weather was brilliant and we even had Sid, the cat, helping us in our work.
We were split into two groups, with one group planting willow cuttings in a wet corner of the nature garden. Luckily, because of the wet soil, it was quite easy to push the willows down into the ground, although we did have a spade and fork if needed.
The other group worked with John to plant a variety of trees outside the Primary 1/2 classroom and Music Room.
As this was a much drier area we had to use a hose to soak the ground and give the newly planted trees a drink.
We will have to put in temporary shelter fencing to protect the new trees over the autumn and winter.
We really hope the new trees and cuttings take hold and grow as well as those we planted in previous years.
A fun time was had by all. We even had time, later on, to sketch some of the established trees and enjoy reading our books surrounded by our growing ‘forest’.
On Thursday 26th of April our school did the Voar Redd Up. Our school was nominated by a few people in the community to do the clean up. We also had to collect certain stuff that was on a sheet sent to us such as plastic bottles, mussel pegs, plastic rope and more. It was really nice that lots of the parents got involved. And we were very lucky as it was a really nice day outside. We found lots of interesting things. There were a lot of big pieces of cod boxes that had been broken up and washed up. Ruby and Tryphena were also collecting mermaid purses if anyone had found any. Someone also found a gas pump from Total.
You could definitely tell a big difference to the beach after it had been cleaned up, and I think everyone had done a really good job and helped out a lot.
By Cerys P7
The beach before we arrived to clean it:
Hard at work
We were surprised just how quickly the skip for plastic filled up!
On our way back to school after a job well done.
The results of our labour- a much cleaner beach- but there is still more to be done.
We have been so lucky today to have such beautiful weather for our outdoor day. We sat outside for reading again and had a lot fun doing a drawing scavenger hunt and pond dipping. We made clay models in the afternoon and then went for our whole school walk 😃
We had the most amazing last day out with Pete Richardson and his colleague Matty today. We set off to Garth’s Ness and as we approached the end of the road, Pete spotted the fins and we all got to see a pod of orcas, it was really exciting. We watched from the cliff edge and then decided to go across to Scatness, to have a day of scrambling and climbing on the rocks there, and maybe seeing the whales again. Sure enough, as soon as we arrived at Scatness we saw them again and then later on too as they came back past us. Ms Scanlan had taken our new binoculars, so we all had a chance to see them clearly. P7 have been so lucky this year, on the first trip w e swam with porpoises, on the second trip we watched an otter swimming and catching fish and now killer whales! John Muir would have been very impressed with that!
Here’s what P7 said about our three John Muir days:
Logan – I really enjoyed when we were jumping off ledges in Cunningsburgh and swimming in the sea.
Ben – I really enjoyed jumping off a small cliff in Cunningsburgh, because of the thrill of jumping down.
Kyle- I really enjoyed Cunningsburgh swimming. It was great to be in a lot of space and to use that space for swimming.
Victoria – I really enjoyed watching all the wildlife, especially the killer whales and the baby seals. I have also been adventurous with all the challenges. But most of all, I have loved all of it!!
Shaina – I really enjoyed todays John Muir trip. We were rock climbing at Scatness. My favourite part was when I climbed up a really tall rock, I didn’t think that I could do it, but I did!
Layla – I have really enjoyed the John Muir trips because I saw killer whales, an otter and three baby seals. I also really enjoyed jumping off the really high rocks.
Lauren – My favourite part of the John Muir days are that you get to enjoy and appreciate the outdoors. My favourite bit was when I jumped off a rock into the sea.
Ella – I really enjoyed this John Muir trip, mainly because there were killer whales and baby seals. All of the John Muir trips have been really good.
John Magnus – I really enjoyed the John Muir days. I liked the coasteering at Cunningsburgh and seeing the baby seals and killer whales at Scatness.
Following on from the Terrific Scientific project, Primary 6/7 made the most of the good weather, to go and make identification sketches of the trees. The trees that we planted a few years ago are growing well. There were lots of birds feeding in the area and bumblebees flying around. We also caught a big ground beetle.
Terrific
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