A big thank you to TOTAL for the delivery of reflective armbands to help keep us safe during these darker months.
Assembly – led by Early Years
Parents and grandparents were invited to join in with our whole school assembly this morning.
Numeracy and literacy in the Early Years class was celebrated, with “1,2,3,4,5…once I caught a fish alive” and “5 little speckled frogs” highlighting forward and backwards counting. “Baby shark” has been a favourite during the term – alongside child-led learning about pirates, princesses and our bodies.
Our vision – Inspire Our Individual Stars to Shine Brightly – was shared and celebrated, with a whole school rendition of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”.
Thanks to all who joined us.
Language Development Through Play
Our first “Literacy Development Through Play” session for Under 5 parents was well received and enjoyed by those parents who attended. Parents and Early Years staff were able to share a Bookbug session (action songs and stories), discuss the importance of early literacy skills development and discuss how the school could support Under 5 groups (and parents at home) in promoting literacy.
On the last Wednesday of each month (during term time), from 9.30-10.30am, we will host a Singalong/ Story/ “Sport” session for Under 5s, with input from Early Years staff.
Literacy bags – one to support North Roe U5 session and another to support Ollaberry U5 session – will be available soon. We plan that these will include CDs, a CD player, finger puppets, stretchy material, books and more…
Parents are welcome to borrow books from our Early Years library at any time, as well as accessing “book bags”.
Impromptu School Trip, involving a Pilot Whale?
A phone call from one of our grandparents led to an impromptu visit to the local Boat Shed near Stonecouple. A whale had been washed up, dead, onto the shore…
Jan and Pete from Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary had been to visit and were able to confirm it was an older pilot whale. The reason it died is not yet known.
CLAN Fundraising
We “Went Purple for CLAN” on Friday 21st September (which also happens to be Mrs Missenden’s birthday, so a great excuse for cake)…and raised an amazing £385.90! Thank you everyone for your support.
STEM event at Mareel, Thursday 20th September
Mrs O’Neill has been running our science club since we started back after summer. The work done in class and at the club formed a display which the bairns were able to speak about to judges and visitors.
Anderson High School senior pupils led some chemistry, physics and biology activities and My World of Work let us try programming robots!
Our 2 teams took part in a series of 6 STEM challenges which included
- designing a plane which would hit the target
- building a buggy which would scoot across the floor
- designing and building a bridge across a gap
- problem solving to unlock a box using a magnet to get the (unnecessary for a diesel engine) sparkplug
- identifying renewable and harness-able energy
- following instructions to create a jumping frog
We may not have won any trophies but we had a fantastic day!
AfRIS – astronomy for remote island schools
We had a day full of “ooh”, “wow” and “gosh” on Wednesday when Chris and Scott paid a visit from AfRIS and ran a selection of workshops for P1-3 and P4-7. From “The sun and the earth”, to “Asteroids” and “Space Exploration”, a fascinating and enjoyable day was had by all.
Staff Meeting
We had a meeting where staff were briefly introduced to GLOW.
Science Club
Mrs O’Neill is hosting a Science Club for interested P4-7 pupils. We will keep you posted on their discoveries.
STV Children’s Appeal “Cake and a Cuppa” with Sean Batty
Lights! Camera! Action!
Well, not quite….but we did have a visit from Ian (the camera man), Mari (the coordinator), a lass from Logan Air bearing gifts of Tunnock’s Teacakes and Caramel Wafers, and Sean Batty (the STV weatherman!)….all supporting our fundraising efforts for the STV Children’s Appeal.
Cat Duncan saw the advert on Facebook, asking about community groups etc who might be interested in a visit… and given that Disability Shetland are supported by STV Children’s appeal… and that the school hosts a joint Youth Club with them every month…and that some people have a bit of a “thing” for Sean…and it would be a great experience for our pupils… I got in touch with Mari and managed to book us a visit.
Sean was a great sport and did a mock weather report “live to camera” which was posted on STV Appeal’s Facebook page, along with photos from the afternoon.
Thanks as always go to everyone who helped make the event a success…from making the yummy fancies to the clearing up after…we couldn’t have raised the £112 without you!
