On Wednesday 13 November 2024, we held our annual “Batten Down The Hatches” event.  During this event.  During this event, pupils, staff and parents worked together to prepare the school ground for winter.

House teams were given different responsibilities:

Lumbister House was allocated the Yard Area.  Their tasks included harvesting, clearing, tidying up, and adding ground cover.

Reafirth House was allocated the Top Primary and Peerie House Area.  Their tasks included tidying and stacking loose resources, clearing the sides of the playground, tidying out the primary sheds, securing around the playhouse, and tidying and securing the mud kitchen.

Breckon House was allocated the Planting Polycrub and Middle Playground.  Their tasks included harvesting and clearing beds, tidying tools, stacking tyres, clearing mud from steps and the playground, and pressure-washing under the climbing frame.

Arisdale House was allocated the Secondary Area and Wider School Grounds.  Their tasks included clearing leaves, moving the goal post to a secure location, tidying the dean area, securing it, tidying the wooded area, cleaning behind the polycrubs, and conducting a litter sweep.

The event was a great success! All pupils, from Primary 1 to Secondary 4, did an excellent job supporting one another to complete the tasks. Thankfully, everything was sorted just in time for today’s wind!

A big thank-you goes out to our parent helpers!

UNCRC #1  Everyone under 18 has rights

UNCRC #6  Children have the right to live and grow as a person

MYJHS Vision:  Inclusive, Supportive and Developing our young learners skills.

As part of our Developing the Young Workforce program our S4 pupils have been experiencing mock interviews this week (11-14 November 2024).

During their Lifeskills lessons, S4 pupils explored a wide range of local employers and job opportunities. After selecting a specific employer and job role, they reviewed and tailored their CVs to align with their chosen position.

This week, all pupils attended interviews, held either online or face-to-face. Each pupil gained valuable experience, showcasing their ability to engage professionally in an interview setting. They also identified next steps, such as pursuing volunteer opportunities to build experience and strengthen their CVs.

#UNCRC 12 – Right to express views

#UNCRC 29 – Right to an education to develop personalities, talents, and abilities.

Last week (4–8 November 2024), we delightedly welcomed the return of work experience into our S4 curriculum.

Work experience gives pupils a glimpse into the world of employment, helping them build practical skills, understand workplace dynamics, and gain confidence. Furthermore, it allows them to explore possible career paths, supporting more informed decisions about their future learning and career goals.

Here’s what some of our students had to say about their experiences:

• “I enjoyed learning about marketing and getting involved in a variety of tasks, such as writing social media posts, recording adverts for SIBC, helping with a poster campaign, and attending meetings.”
• “I enjoyed meeting patients and nurses and learning about the different equipment and how to hold confidential discussions.”
• “I learned about safety on the ferries, how to operate the visor, collect fares, test the anchor and rescue boat, shadow the engineer, and help change an oil filter. I enjoyed working in a team and being responsible.”
• “I helped survey buildings, draw rough sketches, start CAD drawings, and create 3D images of house plans. I enjoyed the variety of jobs and places I visited.”

A big thank you goes out to the DYW Coordinators for supporting WorkIt, as well as all the employers — Shetland Island Council Ferries, CASE Shetland Ltd, Shetland Arts, NHS Gilbert Bain, Mid Yell Leisure Centre, Peerie Foxes and Dowry — for providing our pupils with these valuable experiences.

Read about   Hannah & Shetland Arts

Read about   Lisa & CASE Shetland

Our primary classes have prepared posters to invite our local community to prepare our school grounds for the winter months.

On Monday, 4th November, we held a school assembly to share key messages for this term and celebrate the achievements within our school community.

This year, one of our primary goals is to improve reading across the school. To support this, we’re encouraging both staff and pupils to read more widely and more frequently.

Introducing our Reading Ambassadors

Our librarian introduced our volunteer Reading Ambassadors: from P7 – Leah, Marianne, Connor, Alexander, and Izzy, and from S2 – Evie, Tilly, Daisy, Aaliyah, and Lily. These Reading Ambassadors will work together on various projects to promote a love of reading throughout the year, and they are our go-to students for book recommendations!

Reading Diverse

Our school secretary, Julia, was congratulated on achieving her Read Diverse Certificate.   Julia is a member of staff who can offer great advice on a good book to read.

European Day of Languages

On 26 September 2024, we celebrated the European Day of Languages with staff and pupils exploring new languages and making connections with people and cultures worldwide. Participants created a quiz using recordings of themselves speaking various languages, including: Polish, German, Spanish, Navajo, Russian, Finnish, Norwegian, Arabic, Croatian, French, Dutch, Italian, Mandarin, Turkish, and Welsh.

A huge congratulations to all the pupils who took part! Special recognition goes to Ava, who finished as the overall winner by identifying the most speakers and languages—bravo, Ava! Your listening skills are outstanding!

Well done also to Adam, who made the closest guess to the number of languages in the world: 7,139, as noted in the “Ethnologue” guide.

Thank you to Ms. Boulay for organising this activity!

Finally, we gave rounds of applause to our pupils who took part in various sporting events over the weekend, including our primary netballers, Shetland Rugby Squad members, and badminton players. Mr Lawson expressed on behalf our school the pride in how well they represent us in these events and highlighted their impressive achievements.

School Vision:  Inclusive, Supportive, Learning, Aspirational, Nurturing, Developing

UNCRC Articles:  #12 Respect Views,  #13 freedom of expression, #15 freedom of association, #28 right to education, #29 goals of education – develop talents & abilities

Inspection report Sept 2024

Shoe Box Appeal 2024

The shoe boxes are due for collection late next week.

It would be great if you could send in completed boxes or any items to go in them to reception early next week.

Anchor for Families Shetland | Facebook

Anchor is here for you and your family, whenever you need it.

All families can find themselves fighting to stay afloat; whether pulled under by rising living costs, health concerns or isolation. Anchor will help you back onto dry land.

What does Anchor for Families do?

The Anchor Team is always ready to listen to whatever pressures your family are under.

Working with you, we will help you get all the support you need to thrive, and will continue to do so as long as you need it.

This might be making sure your family is receiving all the financial support and benefits you are entitled to; speaking with housing or other services on your behalf; helping you communicate with the school or talking through relationship issues.

We provide practical help, like food parcels and clothing, as well as a friendly ear, ready to listen and chat about anything that is bothering you.

Visit our Facebook page

On Monday, 26 August 2024, our S2/3 Science pupils enjoyed a great morning developing their scientific research skills with Moredun Institute’s outreach mobile laboratory.  

Staff from the Moredun Institute provide engaging lessons on various sheep diseases, such as liver fluke and scab.  They also demonstrated how to test for these diseases, use DNA testing techniques, and assess the effectiveness of medicines in treating them.

The visit aimed to educate school pupils about the latest developments in animal, to promote higher livestock standards and importance of STEM subjects and careers.

Thanks to DYW Shetland for organising this event.

Last week we had our first primary pupil council meeting.  At this meeting we chose what roles we wanted to do, I chose to be the Communications Officer.  Luckily everyone got their first choices.

We also spoke about the new swing.  We decided we need to buy hooks so that it doesn’t get damaged in the wind.

Reported by Anna Williamson, P5