Whalsay School

Good afternoon,

I want to pass on a message that I shared with those in attendance at yesterday evening’s Parent Council meeting. It is a simple but heartfelt ‘Thank you’ for the warm welcome which I have received since joining the Whalsay School community. As I often share with students, starting out in any new role or entering a new environment brings a natural mix of emotions; excitement, nervousness etc.

What often provides a level of reassurance is meeting supportive and helpful people and that has certainly been my experience since taking up my post. It has been a pleasure to teach P.E. and Wider Achievement lessons as well as observing many other lessons in different phases of the school. I thoroughly enjoyed a quick trip to visit our students in the Nursery this lunchtime; our youngest learners were having great discussion about the food that was being served and the different types of fish that they know – how appropriate for where we are in the world! I was also lucky enough to observe and hear about the process of cooking garlic bread in an S4 lesson.

Seeing our students so well engaged in their learning and listening to their lovely manners has made me a very proud Head Teacher over the past few weeks. I look forward to continuing to work closely with our teachers, students and support staff as the Academic Year progresses.

Best wishes,

Niall Healy

Learning about the heart from a textbook is fine but seeing it in real life can make all the difference.

Last week the S3 Biology class dissected sheep’s hearts to see for themselves the heart chambers and main blood vessels.  Everybody was amazed at how flimsy the heart valves seem, given the important role they play in the body.

It was a fun activity with some pupils (possibly future surgeons?) doing the full dissection while others chose to watch from a distance.  All agreed it was worthwhile to do this and would like to thank the Science Technicians for organising the hearts.

A huge well done to Hannah Wishart who was awarded the Inspirational Cadet Award at this years Army Cadet Force Warcop Training Camp in Cumbria.  She attended the annual camp along with 479 other cadets and took part in activities like abseiling, rock climbing, archery and shooting.  She also did field craft and first aid.

On Wednesday afternoon we held our end of school year assembly. Primary 1 to S4 pupils and staff gathered in the afternoon to celebrate their achievements over the year and say goodbye to a few members of staff.

Mrs Moss welcomed everyone before Mrs Irvine and Miss Irvine presented a number of certificates and awards. Maalie won the house merit trophy and will receive their treat after the summer holidays. Primary 67 provided the musical entertainment with their Peat n Diesel song for which they received a Gold award at the music festival in March. Ms Simpson and Mrs Moss were then presented with flowers as a thank you for this year.

Mrs Moss presented flowers to Mrs Hughson who is retiring at the end of the school year after 37 years teaching at Whalsay School. Everyone enjoyed hearing about life in 1987 and seeing a video montage made by Edwin Irvine featuring photos and videos from the past celebrating Mrs Hughson’s time at Whalsay School.

Following the assembly Primary pupils received their certificates in class and over in the secondary staff and pupils were hosting a community cafe for people to come in and say goodbye to Mrs Hughson.

This afternoon P7 ran the corridor just before 2:00 as a farewell to primary, now a long standing tradition!

We would like to say a huge thank you to Mrs Moss, Mrs Hughson and Ms Simpson and for being great educators and colleagues and wish them all the very best for the future. We hope to see them back in Whalsay School soon.

Finally well done to pupils and staff for their hard work this year, thank you to parents for the support and we look forward to seeing you in August.

Have a lovely summer.

On Wednesday 26th June, Matt Willmott and Ali Robertson of the RSPB came up to Whalsay School to visit our S4 Biology class. We watched a fascinating presentation on Whimbrels and then headed out to a breeding site to see the birds for ourselves.
Whimbrels or Peerie Whaaps are very similar to a Curlew (Whaap) to look at, although they are smaller, have a straighter beak and have a very different call. Whimbrels fly all the way from the West Coast of Africa every summer to breed here. Most British breeding pairs are in Scotland (mostly Shetland). Recently there are have been some interesting shifts in distribution of these birds. Their populations appear to have moved from Unst and Fetlar which has led to a big increase of Whimbrels in Whalsay. In fact 10% of the British Breeding Population is in Whalsay!
We headed off towards Isbister and visited a site where Whimbrels are breeding. There were larks singing and a threatening looking Scooty Alan was circling. We were told that Scooty Alans predate on the eggs and young chicks of various species but actually help defend the Whimbrel by not taking their eggs. This is because Whimbrel eggs look exactly like their own and they can’t tell the difference.
Matt showed us an old peat bank and explained why these can be quite dangerous for baby Whimbrels, especially if they are trying to escape predators. They can easily fall to their death over a peat bank. RSPB are planning to improve this environment for Whimbrels by filling in some of these old peat banks to make a slope rather than a straight drop. It is all about restoring some of the old, obsolete peak banks, not stopping people cutting peat. They also plan to make some more watery pools for the waders to use.
We really enjoyed learning about the Whimbrels and were amazed that Whalsay plays such an important role in their lives. It is a nationally important site! We feel it is important that everybody knows about this and we are planning to help the RSPB raise awareness. We also hope to play a part in helping to improve the environment for our feathery summer visitors.
The weather stayed nice for us so we finished off our trip with a picnic at the play park and a few cheeky homebakes were washed down with a cup of tea from our flasks 
Thanks goes to Lohn Lowrie Irvine for the use of his lovely photos of the Whimbral and chick.