Work Experience
S3 had the chance to go out on work experience within our local area on the middle of May. The week started with everyone following a one day Health and Safety course on the Monday as a preparation for going out on placement. All who took part passed with flying colours (including the two guidance teachers who also followed the course!) The initiative proved a great success with glowing reports from employers being returned. Many thanks to those locally who provided this valuable opportunity to experience the world of work.
The Swan
Thanks to the sponsorship of Saga Seafoods the school was again able to charter the Swan for a day. This year a group of boys had the chance to sail half way round Shetland from Lerwick to Brae, a distance of 65 nautical miles. Not quite up to the exploits of Swan skipper Andrew Halcrow who sailed around the world a few years ago in the Elsi Arrub but an impressive voyage nevertheless. Sails were hoisted, set and trimmed and the ship tacked into the wind all by hand at speeds up to 9 knots.
Staffing
Miss Irvine leaves us from Primary 5/6 after being with us for 6 months. This will leave the Primary Department with only 5 classes as a result of a reduction in intake this year. Ms Sheena Telford has joined the staff as teacher of Maths and Physics from Peterhead Academy and Mr Alistair Scott transferred from the Anderson High School to the Technical Department here in Scalloway.
Mrs Sheila Cowie has retired after many years as head cook in the canteen not only serving school lunches but preparing meals on wheels. Mrs Judith Hothersall also retires this summer from her post as Principal Teacher of Guidance and Teacher of French a post she has held since 1984.
Millennium Arts Fair
The Millennium Schools Arts Fair took place over three days in the Clickimin Centre in June. Schools from all over Shetland presented drama, music, dance and visual arts in specially constructed booths in both the Main Hall and the Bowls Hall.
Scalloway's booth, draped in green and yellow fabric, contained many pictures of Scalloway Castle and photographs taken in and around the village. The centrepiece was a large model of the castle, built by Mr Davies and Scalloway's space was fronted by a magnificent banner, designed and painted by secondary pupils, with guidance from Mr Henderson.
On Friday 16 June the pupils of P6 and P7 performed "A Fanfare for Scalloway" five times to many visitors to the fair. The play deals with the threat posed to Scalloway Castle when an American tourist decides he wants to transport it, in its entirety, back to the States. The local population meets to discuss the castle's future.
Scalloway was also featured musically when Mrs Groat and Mrs Inkster took a group of fiddlers to the fair also on Friday. The school's efforts were well received by all their audiences.
In September Laura Sandison, Anne Stewart, Sean McCaffrey and Davy Henry of P7 will be travelling to London to take part in Shetland's "Our Town" performance in the Millennium Dome. This show, "Postcards from the North", was performed as an open rehearsal on Saturday as the finale to the fair. Anyone who saw the rehearsal will be eager to see the polished performance, which will be previewed in Shetland before the trip to London.
Bobby's Prize
In May Mrs Pottinger accompanied Bobby Gear to the annual prizegiving ceremony, or Annual Collogue as it is known, of the Scots Language Society's Leiterarie Competition. Bobby had entered two pieces of dialect writing for the competition, a poem, "Oot Me Windoo" and a story, "Da Last Tune". With these he won first equal (with himself) prize.
At the prizegiving, Bobby impressed everybody by his confident reading of his own work, and also helped out by reading "Britain's Warst Storm" by Scott Jeromson of Gott Primary School. Scott won first prize in the primary schools section of the competition, but was unable to travel to the prizegiving.
As well as Bobby's individual prize, Scalloway School was awarded the Best School prize for a group of dialect pieces by Bobby, Joanna Christie, Greta Dargie, Alexander Goodlad, Marie Goodlad and Gina Jamieson.
New Standard Grade
Next term will see the start of standard grade Modern Studies at Scalloway. This increases the choice that pupils have in the Social Subjects mode to three. Modern Studies looks at topics such as living in a democracy, the elderly, unemployment, ideologies and international relations.
School Trip Reports
York
The Primary trip to York was a big success as usual. We were very lucky with the weather. There had been torrential rain before we arrived and for the first few days we were there the River Ouse was several metres above its usual level, but we had sunshine for almost the whole week.
We visited many of the places we had been to before and also added a few more. One that proved very popular was Murton Farm, a large site where people of all ages can study history through hands-on experience. Primary 5 and 6 got to be Roman soldiers for an afternoon and looked splendid in their tunics and helmets. Itıs possible that Mr Henderson and Mrs Goodlad looked a little less splendid. P7, who had been doing a project on World War II, got an idea of what it was like to be evacuees.
A trip to Scarborough was very popular too, and the morning visit to the excellent Sea Life Centre was paid for by the Safeways tokens that we collected earlier in the year. Many thanks to all those who contributed.
The success of the trip was mainly due to the positive attitude shown by all of the children everywhere we went.
Chester and Alton Towers
On Sunday 11th June a group left from Scalloway School on a trip to Chester and Alton Towers. With some lovely weather in Chester, we did some sightseeing before visiting the famous Chester Zoo. We then moved on to Stoke and spent the next two days in Alton Towers where everyone enjoyed the thrills and spills of the scary rides: even the dreaded ' Oblivion'. In the evenings, the cinema and ten-pin bowling proved very popular, with everyone returning for another go! The trip was rounded off nicely with a short time for shopping in Aberdeen before heading back home on the St Clair. Many thanks to all those who took part for making it such an enjoyable time for all.
London
Monday 12th: Set Off On St Sunniva, rough trip;
Tuesday 13th: Travelled down to Stoke. Everybody happy. Stayed in a 4 star hotel, went to cinema, ten-pin bowling and laser quest. Had a fun night.
Wednesday 14th: Travelled from Stoke to London, everybody excited but tired. Half day guided tour of London, everyone was fed up of the bus, but enjoyed the sights. Saw the play Blood Brothersı, a very entertaining and funny play. We stayed at the Generator (not a 4 star hotel, but the beds are comfy!)
Thursday 15th: Boat trip down the Thames. Millennium Dome was fun and massive! it took hours to see everything. Back down the Thames to the Millennium Wheel / London Eye. It's the fourth tallest building in London and the sights were incredible.
Friday 16th: Went to Natural History Museum, the exhibits were spectacular and worth a long walk and trip on the underground. In the afternoon we went shopping down Oxford Street, 1 mile of shops! Went to the IMAX cinema and saw a 3-D cartoon, it was unbelievable, but scary when it felt like things were jumping out at you.
Saturday 17th: Madame Tussauds waxworks was a fun experience. A good place to take photos and see famous people. The best bit was when we went on a taxi ride seeing London through the ages, including the Plague. BBC experience was very entertaining. We made a radio play and tried to present the weather, directing Eastenders and commentating on a football match. Saturday night spent unwinding and watching England beat Germany with a lot of Germans.
Sunday 18th: Up at 6am, travelled to Edinburgh, spent the afternoon lounging around in a lovely hotel and playing football in a nearby park. In the evening we went for a drive and saw Edinburgh castle. And walked to the top of Arthurıs Seat, the view was incredible, you could see the whole of Edinburgh.
Monday 19th: Up early! Drove to Aberdeen. Went shopping in the afternoon, then met up to go home on the St. Clair.
Tuesday 20th: Arrived home after a very calm trip on the boat, everyone in need of a good nightıs sleep.
Laurie Goodlad and Amber Smith
Music
As usual, the music department has been very busy with activities, concerts and exams this term. One of the highlights was the Music Live concert in Clickimin where a number of our pupils participated in various items.
Danah Johnson in S4 was given an audition for a school near Inverness, specialising in traditional music. This was a result of much hard work by Danah and her fiddle instructor, Eunice Groat.
Finally, congratulations to Eunice, who made it to the finals of the Scottish Schools Music Instructor of the Year. Well done, Eunice and thanks for all your hard work.
School Board
The School Board intend to provide information for parents through the school newsletter. The first contribution is featured below.
Alcohol Education
The school is keen to play its part in alcohol education. It has been decided that, because of concerns about the misuse of alcohol, information should be distributed to parents, upper primary pupils and secondary pupils to raise awareness of the issue. The leaflet for parents is enclosed with this copy of the newsletter. Please contact the school if you require any information about our alcohol education programmes.
Cash Boost for School Initiated Project.
The school is to receive £1600 from the Amenity Trust towards the costs of a local history website project initiated by the history department.
The idea for a website stemmed from the work the SI year group did in researching the Shetland Bus Operation from WWII. This research was part of a European funded project the school is developing. The pupils suggested using the internet to share their findings with our partner schools in France and Norway.
This idea has now been further developed to the stage where it is intended to create a website to carry information about the local history studies being pursued in all Shetland's schools. Schools will be able to log on to the website and download a variety of teaching materials for use in the study of local history. The site will contain a gallery where pupils' research will be exhibited. There will also be a section on the site to promote the work of local history groups and museums. A key aim of the website project will be to encourage closer collaboration between the schools, local history groups and museums in Shetland in order to enhance the delivery of local history studies in Shetland's schools.
Visit by Norwegian Teachers.
The head teacher, Jan Brevik, and languages teacher, Ida Lindoe from Sund Ungdomskkule visited Scalloway School at the end of May. Their visit was connected with the European project the school is involved in. They met the S1 pupils who have been working on the project and gave out letters from pupils at Sund as part of a pen pal arrangement which is developing alongside the main project. It is hoped that an exchange of pupils between the schools might happen in 2001/2002.
The Autumn term will start for pupils on Wednesday 23 August and end on Thursday 12 October.
We wish you all a very pleasant summer holiday.
|
