On Wednesday 3rd June Floortje and Eleanor from Skills Development Scotland came in to share an activity on renewable energy.
P3/4 identified renewable energy as the energy you can get form the sun, wind and sea. Floortje and Eleanor set the class a challenge to build wind turbines out of LEGO that could produce electricity.
The children were successful and created turbines that all produced electricity ranging form 2.4V – 5.5V. It was a very enjoyable morning that built on our current topic of electricity.
We have enjoyed reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl this term. We have explored the different characters and discussed the roles they play throughout the story. The class has taken part in a range of fun literacy activities, including writing book reviews and comparing and contrasting characters. A particular highlight was creating our own chocolate sweeties and imagining that we were the new owners of the chocolate factory. This creative activity encouraged lots of imaginative thinking and enthusiasm from the class!
A few weeks ago, Whalsay Primary warmly welcomed local author, Jane Cockayne, with her first story Wilder An Da Nyuggel and Bruce Eunson from education Scotland and Shetland Forwirds.
The story follows the adventures of a Scalloway boy called Wilder and his adventures meeting a water horse / Nyuggel. It is written in both English and Shetland, translated by Christine De Luca with a useful glossary in the middle to help with any familiar Shetland words.
Bruce and Jane shared parts of the story and enjoyed super discussions and questions from each class. It’s a shame they couldn’t stay longer, next time! We were delighted to receive from Shetland Forwirds a class set of Wilder an da Nyuggel beautifully written by Jane and illustrated by Lauren Bulter so classes can enjoy reading the whole story.
Miss Irvine has been studying about teaching Scots in schools and has loved how receptive the bairns have been to all of the Shetland lessons that have taken place this year, and it was lovely to see the bairns being so engaged with our visitors.
Wilder an da Nyuggel by Jane Cockayne is available to buy from The Shetland Times Bookshop or Amazon.
May 18, 2026
by gw19patersonelizabet@glow 0 comments
Further to the flyer sent home with your child today please find further information about the competition below.
We’re excited to announce that Whalsay School is taking part in a Language Angels challenge, the Glurbs Language Quest, where schools can win a school resources grant of £2000, and we need your help!
Our pupils are on a mission to boost our school’s ranking by completing fun, curriculum-aligned language lessons in the Glurbs app.
Designed by the team behind Language Angels, Glurbs features safe, structured, curriculum-aligned learning for children aged 4-12.
How to join the mission:
Download: Scan the QR code on the flyer that is provided or search for “Glurbs” in your app store (Apple or Google Play).
Register: Join the competition by pressing on the “Language Quest” button and enter our unique school code 8IY27PS.
Enjoy: Start learning and exploring! Completing planets and activities earns points for our school throughout the challenge and helps us move up the competition leaderboard!
The app is free to download and participation is completely optional.
Thank you for supporting Whalsay School and encouraging language learning beyond the classroom.
One of our core values was demonstrated in abundance through our last play session with the pupil’s expressing high levels of creativity in many forms. On show were pupils:
creating their costumes in preparation for World Book Day;
using the junk materials to make a ferry, an alien spaceship and a mini-Lucas;
creating an eco-house;
creating masks from craft materials;
building towers from KAPLA including the Eiffel Tower;
designing comic books with imaginative storylines;
continuing a project that has been on the go since the first week where a whole house is being created out of craft material.
Research shows that play is one of the most powerful tools for developing creativity in children. Through play, pupils are using their brains to support their critical thinking and problem-solving skills as children approach challenges from different angles and find their own solutions to problems. Play gives the children the opportunity to express their emotions which deepens their imagination and understanding as well as enhancing their communication skills through collaborating, negotiating and building on each other’s ideas. Play gives the children the permission to experiment through trying new ideas, making mistakes and trying again.
We, as staff, are observing and encouraging the pupils to take ownership of their learning and are seeing pupils actively engaging in their own projects. It is lovely to see the different age groups bounce their ideas off each other and working together to problem solve their ideas.
Whilst creativity is clearly on display, covering a multitude of curricular areas, it is rewarding to see our other core values of belonging, responsibility, enjoyment and health being demonstrated through our weekly play activities. Here are some photos showing our values in fine form:
Today we had our first play session with all pupils in Primary joining together across the different classrooms and corridor spaces to experience a range of play activities. As expected, the first 30 minutes involved the pupils flitting around as they explored what was all on offer. After that, the pupils fairly settled and we witnessed some lovely interactions taking place between the pupils. A range of skills were on show in this first play session including: creativity; problem-solving; perseverance; team work; communication; fine and gross motor and imagination to name a few! Some pieces of creative work have been put aside to continue next week.
We look forward to working together as a staff team, with the pupils, to develop these sessions over the next few weeks. Overall, a very positive introduction to play across the Primary with some heartening feedback from the pupils and encouraging observations from staff. Here are some photos to show you a snapshot of the play activities taking place:
P3/4 would like to thank everyone that donated, helped and visited our jumble sale on Wednesday 26th November.
We are delighted to announce that we raised £515.00 to buy new literacy and numeracy resources for our classroom!
The class have worked very hard; learning about how to organise and run an enterprise event, thinking about roles and responsibilities while taking into account their own strengths and things they find more challenging. As their teachers, Miss Nairn and I are very proud of how well the children did; taking the lead with organising the event, sorting out donations, deciding on pricing and running the stalls. It has been a valuable learning experience and has been great to put their learning into practise in a real life context.
We would like to thank the businesses that donated raffles and congratulate our winners!
High Level Music’s tambourine – Annie
Island Larder’s hamper – Archie
Sweeties from Tetley and Anderson – A Williamson
Advent Calendar from Tetley and Anderson – Finleigh
Game from The Shetland Bookshop – Elsa
Voucher from Outdoor Trek – Jackson
Fashion Design Game from JWJ Whalsay – Libby
Teddy from Harrys Department Store – Scott
Eggs kindly donated by our janitor Laurence – Magnie, Dean and Anne
Lindor Sweeties – Finleigh
Ceramic Kit – Ewan Shearer
Thank you again for all your support, it is greatly appreciated.
Check out the link above which outlines an opportunity for pupils and families to go along and see a mixed media exhibition that will be running in the Shetland museum from the 17th August – 12th October.
The gardening group have really enjoyed our trips to the Polytunnel this term for Friday fun!
We have done lots of planting, weeding and watering over the past few weeks! The bairns have been extremely busy.
We began with lots of weeding and raking to get the flower beds ready for new plants!
Thank you to Miss Holzheimer and Carrie for all of their help and planning this term in the polytunnel. It has been lots of fun!
June 20, 2025
by gw19patersonelizabet@glow 0 comments
Throughout this term for music the children have been learning about the Robert Burns Tale of Tam o Shanter. They have been learning operatic songs and dances to retell the tale.
This week the children headed to Brae to work with Scottish Opera and other Shetland schools to bring together a performance for parents.
It was a busy day, as the children quickly learned the stage direction and how to enhance their performance, coming together as a group. The children work really hard and it was amazing to see the show come together.
