Whalsay School

The  Revellers

On Saturday the 4^th of April the Whalsay School fundraising group held an all-ages Revellers gig to raise money for the Symbister Hall renovations. Our group spent their Friday afternoons during term 3 Wider Achievement planning and organising this event. The event was very well attended, and the night went really well!

We believe that this is a really important thing to support because the Hall is an important way to connect our community. It allows everybody to be included, and it’s really good to have the Hall to use for a variety of different events such as, weddings, Sunday Teas, bairns Halloween and Christmas parties.

We gained lots of skills during this short period of time such as organisation, teamwork, communication, customer service and working towards deadlines.

We have lots of people to thank for their help and support as you can see below.

We were successful in applying to the Youth Bank to cover some of our costs and we are also very grateful of the kind donations we received from Shoard and JWJ.

We would like to thank JWJ, Tetley and Anderson and Youth services for selling our tickets.  Thanks also to Ability Shetland for loaning us ear defenders for the event.

We would also like to thank all businesses and member of the public who kindly donated raffle prizes.

Huge thanks to the Revellers and Stallions of the Highway for playing at the gig. Thanks also to David Bisset for working with the sound.  A special thanks to Ann-Marie and Michael Anderson for sharing their experience to help us organising this gig.

Thanks to the Symbister Hall committee for their help and guidance at our initial stages.  The hall committee shared information on their plans to renovate the hall and the commitment required to achieve this which helped motivate us to pull off a successful event.  Thanks also to the hall committee for providing bar staff and running the bar on the night.

We are delighted to share that we have raised a grand total of just over £2500 after all expenses have been paid. This will be donated to the Symbister hall to help with their renovation project.  We wish the hall committee well with the remainder of their fundraising.

Whalsay School Fundraising Group – Josie Sandison, Morgan Pearson, Mollie Anderson, Annie Wilson, Ria Eunson and Isla Porter.

Dear parents/carers,

Please check out the offering below:

We are delighted to finally share we are now taking orders for a recipe book featuring recipes from our Canteen.  This includes recipes from the past 60 years of our school, including classics such as Battered Fish, Bacon & Egg Pie, Tiffin, Chocolate Cracknel and Sponge and Orange Sauce!

If you would like a copy, please complete the link below.

Whalsay School – Canteen Recipe Book – Fill out form

Payment can be made by scanning the QR code attached or by clicking this link: – https://ip.e-paycapita.com/AIP/itemSelectionPage.do?link=showItemSelectionPage&siteId=096&languageCode=EN&source=AIP&fc=99&sc=SVC00374&ic=ITM04239

The cost is £8.00 per book with all proceeds going to our school fund.

Please pay for your book when you order.

All orders must be received by WEDNESDAY 11^th FEBRUARY 2026.

Books will be delivered to Whalsay School and can be collected from there.

Over the last few months there have been quite a few sightings of Bats in Whalsay.  Several of the pupils have seen (and heard them).  Ms Irvine saw two bats at Hamister and even managed to get a smudgy photo of one as it flew past her.

Mrs Simpson’s S2 class were full of questions that she couldn’t answer so she decided to invite our local Bat expert, Mr Pete Gulliver, to visit the class.

Pete came into school on 3^rd December and gave a fascinating talk and slide show.   He has tracked and monitored bats for years and often cares for injured or exhausted bats.  He had amazing footage of a bat flying around his hallway at home.  He took in the equipment he uses to listen to bats and played audio clips, explaining how to distinguish between the different species.  In one sound clip there were 4 different species of bat identified at one time.  What shocked everybody was that this sound clip came from Skerries a couple of months ago!

Bella Jamieson, who only recently took up crocheting, had made a beautiful bat (without a pattern!) as a thank you gift.  Bella presented this to Pete on behalf of the whole class.

Pete messaged later to say “The pupils were wonderful and very attentive.  Please make a special point of thanking Bella for my beautiful gift, I am thrilled with it and am going to name it ‘Pip’ ”.

The feedback from the pupils was very good.  Several said they were now much more interested in seeing a bat and knew what to look out for and when.   One pupil stated they thought Mr Gulliver was very kind to be devoting so much time and effort into caring for bats and helping release injured ones back into the wild. Everybody left the talk much more informed and enthusiastic about bats so the whole class would like to say a HUGE thank you again to Pete.

Back in May the S4 Biologists set one tattie while studying plant propagation.    We put it in a bucket and set it outside to grow.  We have checked on it through the year and observed the plant going through all the stages, including flowering.

On the 9 October, on the eve of “Tattie Picking Week” we harvested our tatties.

“How many tatties do you get fuy a tattie” was the question and there was a prize for the nearest correct answer.

This year’s winner was Alice Irvine who guessed exactly right – 15 tatties.   Well done Alice.  She gets to take the tatties home and cook them with a little rosemary from the polytunnel.

A great opportunity for pupils and parents to work alongside each other; developing artistic talents!

Poster for Afternoon Tea Drawn Together

A quick tour of many of our Wider Achievement groups on Friday showcased our school values in action:

Belonging – Shetland has a proud tradition in showcasing the skills of knitting and crochet. Great conversations were had with the pupils who showed me their different designs and patterns. We talked about the influence of our parents and grandparents in learning the skills and the importance of keeping community traditions alive. We have also had a group connected with the Whalsay Heritage Centre; celebrating local dialect and intergenerational connections in the community.

Creativity – A quick visit to the art room showed our pupils’ creative skills being nurtured and developed in a fun and engaging way. Pupils talked me through the process of how they had created model sailing boats using different materials and explained to me about the importance of sailing in the community of Whalsay.

Health – Many of our Wider Achievement offerings have a sporting/ health and fitness focus. A visit to the pitch saw a great game of tag rugby on the go with Secondary pupils adapting certain rules in the game to include Primary pupils. We also had Secondary pupils supporting Ms. Cheyne in choreographing different forms of dance and playing fun games related to dance movements.

Enjoyment – Fun and enjoyment was everywhere to be seen including dance with P1/2, puzzles and games with P3/4, darts, computing and others. How lovely to see our pupils engaged and enjoying their various different activities.

Responsibility –  Many of our Secondary pupils have embraced taking on the responsibility of leading and organising activities. One such example was our S4 group who are planning their Christmas party. A theme, music, games, dances, posters and other logistics were being discussed with help and support from Ms.Wilson.

A pleasure to visit all groups. Thank you to all the staff who put on a wide range of activities for the pupils each term.

_Mootie’s Hoos poster

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.