A Right Blether!

Today we voted as part of 'A Right Blether'. Tam Baillie, the Children's commissioner came to our school and talked to us all about the process of gathering the opinions of children form all over the country. Next year he will tell the Scottish Parliament what we think and that will influence developemnts at local and national level. Its a bit like a very big pupil council vote!



Ready to vote!




Tam explains the process.

We are also celebrating the Convention on the Rights of the Child being 21 years old this month.

We made cartoons to show how children could be helped by 'Rights Superheroes'!

Tam has a look at our cartoons.

Paddling and pyjamas in the pool

This term we have been going to the pool after school to finish off some of the tasks for the Rookie Lifeguard Award. We have also been paddling kayaks and finding out about traditional Inuit kayaks which have been used in the Arctic for thousands of years for hunting. Some of the children in our link school in Igloolik go hunting after school and in the holidays.
Read our own imaginary expedition blog posts here.
Please leave your comments below!

Treading water and raising the alarm.

Junior lifeguards pool practice.



Trying to save energy and warmth.



Floating in the HELP position.



Practising with paddles, going forward.



Turning and stopping with a paddle.



Getting back to the finish position.




Going forward and stopping.



Practising turning on the spot.

Look where you are going.




Slowly and controlled...




Developing good control.



Getting to grips with the paddle.



International Education Week

This week we welcomed Richard Bates, a geophysicist who has worked extensively in the Arctic, to share his experiences of measuring how quickly the glacial ice is melting in Greenland. Richard showed us some amazing photographs of  the work he is involved with in the Arctic. We already know that Inuit commuities are well aware of the situation through our link school in Igloolik, Nunavut. Richard's visit supports our our work on the Arctic, global warming and sustainablity this term. BBC Radio Orkney will be broadcasting a piece about Richard's visit on BBC Radio Orkney on Friday 19th Nov.

We will put the recorded report on our wiki shortly.



Richard Bates, Mary Saunders (Orkney College) and Class 7.

Later in the year we hope to work with Orkney College geophysicist, Mary Saunders, as part of a local archaeology project. This work will be shared with our link school in Iceland and through the North Atlantic Biocultural Organisation.

John Rae

This week we finished our reports about the life of John Rae and went to St Magnus Cathedral churchyard to see where he was buried.

 Inside, as the organ played, we found the memorial sculpture which shows him in traditional furs and with his gun and a book. Could it represent the book in which he wrote notes about the traditional First Nations technology, with drawings of snow huts and snow shoes?



You will be able to read our reports about John Rae's life and expeditions on our wiki soon.

Canoeing and campcraft at Walliwall

This week we went to Walliwall to find out about campcraft skills and to paddle like Orkneymen working for the Hudson Bay Company.

We had challenging weather but, with John Rae as our role model, we were not deterred!

Two teams took on a challenge of making a shelter with tarps and upturned canoes.

They cooked bannock dough over the fire and paddled a raft of canoes as traders.