S1 have used thinking and sketching skills to create keytabs that are designed to be easy to recognise and suitable for their chosen user. They have learned about safety in the workshop and tools for working with plastic, and have used this knowledge and practical skills to make their keytabs. We have also been working on listening and decision making skills alongside working with determination and paying attention to detail.

The Whalsay Secondary School maakers joined in with the Wool Week Celebrations in the Symbister Hall last Friday.  Knitters from all over the world attended the hall to see the beautiful display of local knitwear and quite a few stopped for a chat with the girls.   We were treated to cups of tea with brilliant homebakes and a great time was had by all.

European Day of Languages

To celebrate European Day of Languages last week, S2 and S3 spent some time in class to research a few of the more than 225 languages that are spoken on our continent. Some of these languages are spoken by millions of people, others are used only by a handful and are sadly close to dying out.

Everybody in Secondary 2 and 3 got to choose a language and then found out facts about it, for example how many native speakers there are, in what countries the language is spoken and they also learnt how to say a few things like “Hello/How are you?/Thank you” in their language. The pupils created a poster about their language to display and share what they had found out with the rest of the school. Some pupils chose languages like Georgian and Greek and were shocked when they realised that those languages don’t use our Latin alphabet, so making their poster was surprisingly hard. Others noticed that some languages like Spanish and Italian are closely related to French, which we learn in class, so they could understand a lot more than they thought.

Here are a few photos and a video of a few S2 pupils saying “Hello. How are you?” in the languages they researched. Can you guess the languages they’re using? Thank you to Brooke in S3 for putting the video together.

On Wednesday 18^th September S1 visited the Croft House and Shetland Museums. This gave them a brilliant opportunity to see what Shetland life would have been like in the Nineteenth Century.

We started our day by visiting the croft house museum; where the bairns got a chance to see inside the house, hear about the history of the building, find out more about Shetland history in general and to ask the curator their questions. Due to the super weather, we also got a chance to walk down to the mill.

Following our visit to Dunrossness we then travelled up to Lerwick to visit the Shetland Museum. Ailsih Goodlad gave a very interesting talk to the class and the bairns got the chance to handle the items from the resource boxes. This proved very popular, as they were able to try out a kishie, try on a Skekler’s hat etc.

We then had a look at the Croft House reconstruction, the crofting and fishing displays and the sixareen in the boat hall. On the way back out to the bus we also had a quick look at the sixareens in Hays dock.

We all had a fantastic day and the bairns were a credit to the school. Well done S1 J

Sumdog is a games-based adaptive-learning app that tailors curriculum-aligned questions to each child’s unique level and is widely used by learners in different phases of Whalsay School.

Students from P4 through to S2 have been taking on their counterparts across different schools in Scotland and have achieved some very impressive feats. Of the 4,279 classes who took part, our classes finished in the following positions:

P4/5/6 – 285th place (278 points)

P6/7 – 58th place (468 points)

S1 – 51st place (493 points)

S2 – 48th place (500 points)

My thanks to the supporting teachers and congratulations to the students for working so hard to develop their mental mathematics skills

S2 students had a really great trip to Cunningsburgh last week in glorious September Shetland sunshine! Students worked in pairs and in teams as they learned some hugely important techniques and strategies on how to enter the water safely. Activities for the day included a mixture of hiking, climbing, swimming and entries to the water from different heights and angles. The students were hugely supportive of one another and helped each other out at various points across the course. Each student pushed themselves out of their comfort zone and fully embraced the experience. The behaviour and resilience of Whalsay School students was commended by the activity leaders and we look forward to embracing further opportunities for learning with the Outdoor Education team.

A quick snapshot of the various learning activities that are set out as part of the Wider Achievement Program this term. A pleasure to observe and speak to pupils who were developing skills in Gardening, Enterprise, Sports, Music and Party Planning amongst others. Great to see the levels of engagement and interaction amongst the students.

Whalsay school were recently treated to a visit by researchers from Moredun Institute, who brought their scientifically equipped Biobus to deliver highly engaging and immersive lessons to S2 and S3 pupils.

Learners, acting as Disease Detectives, were fortunate to use powerful microscopes and laboratory equipment to learn the process of how to identify and treat liver fluke and round worms in sheep samples.

The researchers also opened their Biobus to the public, offering local farmers the opportunity to have their samples analysed in their mobile laboratory. Primary pupils were also intrigued by the Biobus, and spent their lunch break hearing interesting stories from the researchers.

Pupils and staff thoroughly enjoyed the workshops and knowledge shared by the visiting researchers, with learners reporting they wished they had longer sessions and that they hope they visit again soon!

This visit was jointly organised by Shetland Animal Health Team and Developing the Young Workforce – Shetland team. Placement opportunities available in Edinburgh at the Moredun Research Institute for anyone who is interested (pupils in S4 and up), please get in touch with the school if interested.

Pupil quotes from the Disease Detectives workshop:

“We found it interesting and surprising that there is so many different parasites.”

“The bugs in bottles was cool.”

“We found the DNA station interesting.”

“We enjoyed the blood sample and the microscopes and using the pipette.”

“We found the parasites & dung beetles very interesting and learning how to get rid of them.”

“It was nice to do something different and it was very informative.”

“We’d love to come on a school trip to the Pentlands and see your science centre.”

“We enjoyed your visit so much, it was a blast, everyone had fun.”