Developing the Young Workforce | Whalsay Secondary Blog

The final topic covered in HE for S2/the new S3 was fishing and agriculture. In class they learned the different species around Shetland and about the seafood sector as well as looking at wool and the Shetland dairy for agriculture. They looked at the huge range of jobs available in each sector and the personal qualities required to be successful in these careers.

On Monday they had a visit to the fish market, Pelagia and the Wool broker in Lerwick organised with support from our work experience organiser Emily Von Tonder who also arranged funding for the transport. It was a great opportunity for the pupils to see the importance of fishing and wool to the local economy and learn about their recognition and impact worldwide.

Our first stop was the fish market, Norma Anderson explained the dutch auction to us and how the fish was auctioned around the world. The bairns could watch the auction take place through the window and on a screen. Norma also spoke through the timeline of fish being caught and brought to market. Miranda took the bairns through to the market to see how fish was landed and with plenty of landings in, they saw a range o species including monkfish, haddock, cod, lemon sole, halibut as well as different sizes.

It was interesting to hear about the different jobs in the market, the competition between boats and buyers and the importance of working hard and having pride in your work to build up a good reputation for your boat.

Next was a whistle stop tour of Pelagia, with herring and mackerel being out of season it was a good chance to have a look around the empty factory and machinery used to process fish. Three of the four adults accompanying the trip were former fish factory workers and were surprised at the changes inside factories and the increase of machinery and technology over the years.

We had a quick look in the -20 cold store before going outside to see where the fish is pumped ashore, see and hear about the factory in Bressay as well as future expansion works.

We had time to walk around the piers and look at the different boats berthed at the piers before having lunch back at the fish market in the auction room. Norma kindly provided the bairns crisps and a twix and pupils enjoyed having their own mock auctions, you never know, some might end up back working in the fish market in some capacity in a few years time!

After lunch we headed up to the wool brokers and had a fascinating insight into the history of Jamieson and Smith’s. Oliver Henry spoke to the bairns and showed off various fleece colours and grades before going through a timeline of wool products, each with a story to tell.

It’s been a really interesting day and certainly makes you feel proud of our world famous produce and appreciate even more the fish on your plate and the wool in our jumpers.

Some comments from the bairns.

It was cool to see inside Pelagia.

I enjoyed looking at the fish in the fish market.

It was good going for a walk around the pier to see the boats.

I thought the way they did the fish auction was interesting.

Hearing about the history of the wool broker was interesting.

On Thursday 19^th September, S3 took part in an event organised by Developing the Young Workforce – Shetland. The ‘Young People in Aviation’ event took place in Brae Community Hall, where pupils were split into groups mixing with pupils from Brae High School and Aith Junior High School.

The groups rotated around 8 stations based on different companies who work at the airport. Pupils were involved in taking part in fun activities and challenges at each station while listening to the advice from experts in their fields. Stations included Coastguard Search & Rescue, Air traffic control, Fire service, Security, and the MT department.

Pupils were introduced to the reality behind the scenes within an airport, including all the different roles and responsibilities of the wide members of staff working together for our safety and security. Pupils reported that it was interesting learning about all the different jobs, routes into these posts and learning transferrable skills into different posts. They particularly enjoyed learning about the circuit work in electrical engineering and listening to stories about the physically demanding and high-pressured role as a coastguard.

Thank you to Julie Anderson for accompanying the class, DYW – Shetland for arranging the event and providing transport, and to the airport staff contributing to the different stations.

Pupils quotes from the event:

“Really fun, interesting, cool, and entertaining, really enjoyed learning the phonetic alphabet.”

“Good, useful and interesting learning how many different jobs there are at Sumburgh Airport.”

“It was fun trying on the dry suit and fire suit and realising how heavy it was.”

“I liked learning how to open up an airway and what to do to become a paramedic at the coastguard station.”

“I liked scanning for security – surprising which items could go through in hold luggage and enjoyed searching scans for items in hand luggage.”

“It was surprising learning what airport firemen do as it was a lot different to normal firemen.”