Late Autumn Term News 2006/07
For the late autumn diary click here.
Concert DVD
A DVD of the school concert will be made available in the New Year. For more on the concert, including lots of photos, scroll down the page.
Donation for Shelter Box
Earlier in the year, the School Council, which is set up to give pupils a voice in the running of the school, decided to raise some money for a charity. It was decided to support the Rotary Club's Shelter Box appeal (hence their visit earlier in the term - see the story Gimmee Shelter below).
Money raised from the school's internal Christmas card delivery was donated to the appeal. In addition, donations were sought as entrance for the Christmas concert. To raise the final few pounds, as each box costs £490, a raffle was organised for a big cuddly tiger.
The photo shows School Council members with a huge cheque which will be presented to the Rotary Club.
For more on the Shelter Box click here. This external link will take you away from the BJHS site. BJHS is not responsible for the content of external links.
50th Anniversary School Dance
In 1956, when the late Sam Polson was in his second year as headmaster, he decided that there should be a Christmas dance in the evening for the Secondary pupils. Fifty years on and the tradition is still maintained.
Organised each year by Secondary 4, everyone from Primary 7 upwards is invited (even the teachers), music is provided by local musicians, the canteen come in and provide a buffet and almost every pupil spends the whole night on the dance floor reeling, jigging, waltzing, dashing and dancing.
It is so popular that when it was cancelled due to bad weather one year it was rearranged for January and was just as successful. This year's dance was on Wednesday 20th December. And to commemorate the occasion, Secondary 4 baked a cake.
Primary Party
On Wednesday 20th December it was time for the Primary party in the school hall, and we were joined by the bairns from Fetlar Primary School this year. Primary 7 had to work, as they get to go to the Secondary party, but they helped to organise the games. For some photos click here.
Christmas Dinner
Tuesday 19th December was the day for the special Christmas dinner cooked by the canteen - turkey and all the trimmings. Yum, yum. As always Secondary 4 set the hall out for the occasion and handed out crackers and juice. When they finished they got to sit on the table of honour on the stage. Then it was back to preparation for the school dance.
Santa Visits Nursery
Nursery and the creche held their Christmas party on Tuesday 19th December and guess who turned up? It was Santa Claus. For some photos click here.
School Concert
Well, we did it! It's completed. The school concert is over for another year and it was another great success. A packed school hall assembled on the evening of Monday 18th December to watch performances of the nativity The Bossy King performed by Nursery to P7 and the pantomime Cinderella performed by S1 to S5, along with two short musical pieces, and the audience voted it a hit.
The evening began with The Bossy King, about a bossy king who was always telling his servants and everyone else what to do. An angel came to him in a dream on night and told about a king greater than all kings, so he set off to Bethlehem to see if this king was bossier than him. When he arrived he found that the king was a baby, the baby Jesus, but he was so impressed he gave his crown as a gift of gold and determined never to be bossy again. There were songs throughout with Away in a Manger for the finale, with P7 pupils accompanying on flute, accordion and fiddle.
For photos of the performance of The Bossy King click here.
For photos of the rehearsals click here.
The two musical items were next. First the school choir performed Bianco Natale, which translates as white Christmas but is actually Silent Night in Italian. They were taught the words by Miss Bates, who was also on stage, and accompanied by Miss Bonner. Then Bethany Scott performed a solo piece on the piano.
To finish the evening came the performance of Cinderella, a traditional pantomime directed by Mr Thomson. There were fine performances from all the cast, including Cinders, Buttons and Prince Charming (who rose from her sick bed to join us), although it has to be said that the ugly sisters stole the show - we'll never be able to look at some of the S4 boys in the same light ever again!
Musical items were provided by S2, dressed as Cinders' animal friends - have you ever seen a cat play guitar? Pyrotechnics accompanied the appearance of the pumpkin carriage and the obligatory pantomime horse and there was, of course, a happy ending. Prince Charming tracked down Cinders thanks to the Muness gold on her golden wellies - well you can't go out in Shetland without wellies can you?.
Huge congratulations to everyone involved, to Miss Bonner and Mr Thomson for organising it all, but most of all to the performers from Nursery to Secondary 5, for making it such a success.
For photos of the performance click here.
For photos of the rehearsals click here for page 1 ...... page 2 ...... page 3
New Blog
Secondary 1 and 2 have been blogging in French classes (and in French) for some time now. The Upper Primary pupils have now got in on the act and they have their own blog here. Both the blogs have permanent links from the school homepage.
Minutes
Minutes for the latest Ecocommittee meeting have been added on the Ecoschool pages and minute for the School Pupil Council meeting have also been added to the School Council page.
Care Commission Report
The report following the Care Commission visit to the Nursery on 1st November has now been published. Following on from the integrated HMIe report in January this year, when the facility was described as 'outstanding' this is another very good report with plenty of strengths highlighted. It is available for parents to read outside the Nursery.
Second in Basketball Competition
Congratulations to the Secondary basketball team. On Monday 11th December they finished as runners-up in a competition involving 14 teams from throughout Shetland, another excellent achievement considering the size of the school.
Peerie Knitters
The Unst Peerie Knitters, also known as the Knitting Club, are now meeting on Thursday after school. For some photos click here.
The Further Adventures of Odysseus
Just over a year ago we had a visit from the Chroma, a chamber ensemble who were starting an opera production of Odysseus. They worked with various groups in the school and the work that was begun then became last year's Secondary school concert. On Thursday 30th November we had a return visit from the company and they worked with groups from the Primary and Secondary Departments, as well as pupils from Uyeasound and Fetlar. For some photos click here.
For more on Chroma click here. For more on the work on Odysseus with Shetland schools click here. For some photos from a previous visit by Chroma click here. These external links will take you away from the BJHS site. BJHS is not responsible for the content of external links.
Gimmee Shelter
On Tuesday 28th November we were visited by three members of the Rotary Club. They came in to show us one of the Shelter Boxes which are bought to send to disaster areas around the world. Each one contains emergency accommodation for up to 10 people including a tent, sleeping bags, blankets, a stove, cooking utensils, tools - even some crayons and colouring books for the children.
Each one costs £490 to put together and so far the Rotary Club has distributed 35,000 of them following disasters such as the tsunami and the Pakistan earthquake. The School Council recently discussed making a donation from the school to buy one of the boxes. As each box is numbered, once we bought a box we know where it was being used. For some photos click here.
For more on the Shelter Box click here. This external link will take you away from the BJHS site. BJHS is not responsible for the content of external links.
School Boards
A meeting was held in Baltasound School on Monday 27th November to discuss the Scottish School (Parental Involvement) Act 2006 which will see school boards replaced by a new body. Parents from Uyeasound and Baltasound Schools attended. Parents from both schools agreed a way forward and drew up a draft constitution.
PURE Magic
S1 have been doing a project on Energy in Science so on Monday 27th November they headed up to Hagdale Industrial Estate in Baltasound to visit the offices of PURE (Promoting Unst's Renewable Energy). PURE have two windmills which are used to heat some of the offices at the estate as well as make hydrogen gas which can also used to produce electricity, even on calm days - there is even a hydrogen-powered car. For some photos click here.
For more on PURE click here. This external link will take you away from the BJHS site. BJHS is not responsible for the content of external links.
Second Place for Challenge Team
Congratulations to the team who headed south to Edinburgh last week for the Scottish national final of the Make Your Mark Challenge. The team finished second with their business plan and presentation about turning the RAF camp on Unst into an activity centre under the title of Reenkie Adventures.
While this means they just miss out on a trip to London for the UK final it is a tremendous achievement for such a small school and congratulations are due to everyone involved.
The team comprising Faye Richardson, Jenny Richardson, Elizabeth Peterson, Bethany Scott, David Thomson and Liam Spence travelled down on the afternoon of Thursday 23rd November, accompanied by Business Studies teacher Ms Lyon and Mr McLeish. After taking the Edinburgh ghost tour on Thursday evening they made their presentation on the Friday morning before heading back later the same day.
French Blogs
Secondary 1 and 2 now have their own blog site which they have been writing in French. They have written about their experiences in the class, including S2 teaching P5 during Enterprise Week, as well as introducing themselves in French. You can see some pupils busy blogging in the photo.
To have a look at the blog click here.
Make Your Mark Challenge Latest News
The winning presentation from the school competition on Monday 13th November was put forward for the regional competition and the Reenkie Adventures idea won. A team drawn from those involved will now proceed to the next round - in Edinburgh on Friday.
Children in Need
Over £200 was raised with a staff draw for a Christmas hamper (well, four hampers actually) on Friday 17th.
Careers Fayre
Enterprise Week ended on Friday 17th November with a highly successful Careers Fayre in the afternoon. About a dozen different people came in to give advice on jobs and training, including the local doctor, a physiotherapist, a veterinary nurse, the police, and people to talk about Sullom Voe, fish-farming, hospitality, building, the leisure centre, Train Shetland, North Atlantic Fisheries College, childcare, active schools, outdoor education - even teaching! We made sure that some of the teachers who actually remember being at college were in charge of that! It was a great afternoon and many thanks to all those people who gave up their time to come in. For some photos click here.
Enterprise Week
Monday 13th November to Friday 17th November is Enterprise Week here at BJHS. Enterprise Week is a national UK wide week of activities inspiring people in their teens and twenties to be enterprising and it is now in its third year. At the school, we have involved all ages in enterprise activities, although with an emphasis on the older Secondary pupils.
Enterprise is all about providing a service, not just making money, so activities planned for the week include Sports Leadership as part of PE Standard Grade, S2 teaching P5 French, P7 teaching the rest of their class about Powerpoint, primary classes updating their webpages and preparations for the school concert in December. It will be be rounded off with a Careers Fayre on Friday afternoon. For some photos of these activities click here.
For more on Enterprise Week nationally click here. This external link will take you away from the BJHS site. BJHS is not responsible for the content of external links.
Make Your Mark Challenge
One of the biggest activity of Enterprise Week was participation in the Make Your Mark Challenge on Monday 13th. This is a national competition with details only released at 09:00 on the Monday morning.
Ms Lyon, the Business Studies teacher, organised S3 and S4 pupils to take part, while there was also help from the two S5 pupils who acted as consultants, especially as they both have experience of presentations. In the afternoon the two groups had to present their ideas, with costings, to a panel, which included three members of the school management team and visiting Enterprise specialists from Lerwick, Beryl Smith and Louise Speedie. The winners, Reenkie Adventures, will now go forward to the regional competition. For photos and more details click here.
For more on Make Your Mark Challenge nationally click here. This external link will take you away from the BJHS site. BJHS is not responsible for the content of external links.
One-week old and in School already ...
Here's Corinne who came in to visit everyone on Monday 13th November, at the grand old age of seven days. Mum Lynette and Dad Richard came with her.
Creative Dance
Upper Primary have just completed a block on creative dance using a Chinese theme, so there were plenty of dragons and martial arts moves. For photos of the three groups at work click here.
Award-winning site
You are now viewing an award-winning website as Baltasound Junior High School won first prize in the schools website competition run by the ICT department of the Shetland Islands Council. Along with the first prize came a voucher for £500 of computer software and hardware. Congratulations also to Burravoe, who came second, and Whiteness who came third.
You can see some of the other schools sites by clicking on these links: Burravoe on Yell, Whiteness in central Mainland, our partner school Fetlar These external links will take you away from the BJHS site. BJHS is not responsible for the content of external links.
Ecoschool News
In an attempt to be green and save paper, minutes of the BJHS Ecoschool Committee meetings will appear on the committee webpage from now on. Note that there is one change to the minutes and the next meeting will now be on Wednesday 29th November and not on the 28th.
The latest Scottish Ecoschools newsletter is available online here. This external link will take you away from the BJHS site. BJHS is not responsible for the content of external links.
Botanic Gardens placement
Mrs O'Neill spent the first week of term on an EEBL placement (Excellence in Education through Business Links), a key element of Determined to Succeed, the Scottish Executive’s long-term strategy for enterprise in education.
She was at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh learning about horticulture, the growing of flowers, fruit and vegetables. These skills that will be useful for our Growing Together project, which will use our poly tunnels together with our cluster partners Uyeasound Primary and Fetlar Primary.
To find out more about the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh click here. To learn more about EEBL click here. To see more photos like the one to the right click here and select the galleries. These external links will take you away from the BJHS site. BJHS is not responsible for the content of external links.
Welcome to Corinne
Congratulations to Lynette Spence, our clerical assistant, and dad Richard, on the arrival of their daughter, Corinne Isla Spence Pottinger on Monday 6th November.
Hallowe'en
Many pupils were out guising for Hallowe'en on Tuesday 31st October, despite the terrible weather (so bad that the Fetlar ferry was cancelled so we didn't have our visitors from Fetlar school).
A traditional Shetland guiser wears a mask as part of their disguise (see where the word comes from?). They visit houses but shouldn't speak or reveal their identity unless the householder can guess who they are. Upper primary also made a traditional neepy lantern.
S1 and the Chocolate Factory
A great way for S1 to start the new term on Monday 30th October, as they took a visit to the chocolate factory on Unst. They have been doing a geography topic on chocolate, which is produced in poor countries in the third world but largely consumed in the rich countries of Europe and America, so it is also an excellent way of looking at world trade and fair trade. But you can't study the subject without a bit of hands-on experience, so a visit to Foords Chocolates at Quoys on Unst was essential.
To find out more about Foords Chocolates click here. This external link will take you away from the BJHS site. BJHS is not responsible for the content of external links.