Unique Learning Community
On Tuesday 26th June 2018 we held our end of year graduation and prize giving ceremony at Fetlar. We gave out certificates to all the children to reflect their overall success this year,. Importantly we also said ‘Farewell’ (not goodbye) to Imogen who is leaving to go to Anderson High School in August.
Imogen wore a graduation cap and gown made by Mrs Leaper and Mrs Kavanagh then sat through a film of her best bits made by Mrs Hay. Mr Gill sent his best wishes on this special day.
Fetlar children have been taking part in a research project with a team led by Professor Stephen Scoffham, Canterbury Christchurch University alongside other children in the UK producing maps from their memory of their local area.
They learned what a key was and had to include one in their own map but choice of symbol or colour was left to them. The aim of the project is to involve children from diverse backgrounds and geographical settings to find out what places matter to them.
Evaluation and summary of the data analysis will be made available for all the schools participating at a later date.
On Friday, Darcy and Kaitlyn went into the garden and talked about what they could see, hear, touch, taste and smell. They then planted out some marigolds and potatoes. They measured the height of the largest potato plant shoots using a string. They are going to keep an eye on how much it grows in the next month. Then they watered the plants which are very thirsty because of the hot weather.
Afterwards Kaitlyn practised her throwing by holding the ball above her head and pushing it towards Darcy very hard. Well done Kaitlyn and Darcy. It was hot work!
On Tuesday 29th May 2018 Fetlar Primary School visited the Mareel to view their work in the Unexpected Sites exhibition. The exhibition was part of a collaborative project to bring children to art and vice versa. We made large maps and used our sketch books to create viewing frames and pictures from our environment. Our pieces des resistance were the papier mache boulders which were based on the boulders slung over the wall at the big house in Houbie. Everyone asked what the boulders are for since they look really old and its unusual to see them hung over the wall but they are weights to keep the ivy on the other side of the wall from falling down!
We met the children from Skeld Primary School there and then went on a bus to Bressay lighthouse with them to meet the resident artist Amanda Welch who lives in London but loves Shetland so much she keeps on visiting and drawing. She has drawn and made sculptures of the Shetland Islands. One was made from dress material.
Aaron said the best thing he enjoyed was to see the rocks he had made at school with Amy. Darcy said the best thing she enjoyed was making new friends and going over to Bressay.
We went for our May beach clean on 16th May to Tresta beach on Fetlar and filled up 3 bags of rubbish. We had been in April and filled up 5 bags.
When we finished we met up with Martha from the RSPB and she gave us a scavenger hunt to complete with pictures of items (natural and man made) which we might find on the beach. We had to find the item and note the location to put on a map afterwards. When we brought everything back we discussed what each one was and the impact on the environment. Some was good (mainly natural) and some not so good (marine litter). We have been linking the impact of marine litter to Global Goal #14 Life Below the Water at school.
Afterwards we marked the items on the map we had made. 
We have been putting our potatoes out now and watering them so they can grow. We’ve been very lucky with the weather as the heat has helped the flowers to bloom and the stems and leaves to sprout up even more! Photos to follow.
We will be continuing our own artwork from learning how to section off a painting and tackle it in quarters to a large scale whole school collage. Watch this space!
Fetlar primary school was involved in the preparation for the arrival of the cruise ship Ocean Bravo which had sailed from Baltasound earlier in the day.
The children did some maths to find out what money could be made from the sale of items they decided to make for the school. They took advice from the Interpretive Centre about the sort of things that visitors to the Isle might want to buy based on their experience at the centre. They designed and planned the creation of decoupaged stonework with old maps of Fetlar.
The visitors loved talking to the children about where they lived and went to school as well as what they were selling. To top it all the sun shone throughout! Well done everyone.
