Friday 26 June 2015

French overseas territories (by the S1 pupils)



This week, our S1 pupils worked on the French overseas territories and gave a little presentation on a "département d'Outre-Mer" or a "Collectivité d'Outre-Mer". Our pupils chose St.Pierre & Miquelon, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Polynésie française. You can have a look at their PowerPoint presentations below:






Tuesday 16 June 2015

Bikeability Course now complete!


The Bikeability Course is now complete for pupils in P5-S1. 
 
Classes as normal next Monday afternoon.

Thursday 11 June 2015

Baking with Marie! (Recipes included!)

 Last Friday, for her last visit to the Stronsay School, Marie, our French assistant had some entertaining activities in store... It was just as well as most of the secondary pupils (and some teachers...) were still trying to recover from the Edinburgh trip...
The S3s were going to attempt "Rochers a la Noix de Coco" (a favourite recipe of my own granny's!) and the S4s were going to have a go at making "Escargots Biscuits" (no snails were harmed during the making of this recipe!) Both recipes were a great success!

 











Wednesday 10 June 2015

Stronsay Fishing trip video

OTFA / AFYD Junior Competition – Round 1 ( 29th May2015)

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With a strong wind from the west, the young anglers spread along the Westquoy shore, James on the fly and Jack, Ieuan and Thomas on torpedo floats and flies or bubble and bait. The unusually high water level of the loch made it quite difficult to reach the fish holding areas but quite early Thomas had the first Kirbister trout in the bag, followed shortly by Ieuan and for a while, it looked as if last year’s battle between the two was going to repeat itself…
Further into the competition, Thomas managed to hook another fish and the prospects looked promising… Could this little brown trout seal his victory?
DSCF4143That was without counting on James’ tenacity and perseverance, and of course, technique with the fly-rod; in the second half, two trout fell for James’ Penells and came back level with Thomas.
Jim Erskine blew the final whistle and by just looking at the two potential winners’ baskets of two fish, there wasn’t much in it and accurate scales would definitely be required…
And it was James who was crowned Stronsay overall winner with the heaviest basket (1lb 3 1/4oz).
By that time, the second round involving the Kirkwall Grammar School pupils, had not taken place and the names of the overall section winners (Junior Bait / Junior Fly / Senior Bait / Senior Fly) couldn’t be announced yet.
The Stronsay youngsters and organisers are very grateful to the OTFA for their support in helping finance the trip and would like to thank WS Sinclair, Stockans and especially the Windwick family for their very generous donation towards the prizes.
Stronsay results 2015
Click on table to enlarge


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Stronsay School angling trip to Harray and Kirbister (24th & 25th May 2015)

 

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CAMERAAs you may have noticed, we’ve had a pretty poor spring… Actually, a couple of days ago, I read that the month of May had been as wet as the month of November, which is usually the wettest of the year… Seemingly the spring of 2015 has also been the wettest for at least 40 years! Needless to say that I was a bit anxious as the date of our annual angling trip was getting closer!
When the Stronsay ferry berthed at the Kirkwall pier, the weather was almost promising and the spirits were high on the minibus, heading for the Harray Loch!
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The plan was to only spend the afternoon fishing Harray, which is usually a bit more challenging than the Kirbister Loch, where we would spend the following two days.
The four Stronsay pupils, accompanied by Andy Rose, Jim Erskine, who kindly helped the youngsters for two days, and myself started along the Bochan shore and worked their way north toward the Broch.
James was on the fly while Jack, Ieuan and Thomas used either torpedo floats and flies or bubble-floats and worms. In spite of the bright and windy conditions, a dozen beautiful Harray trout were caught by the youngsters. There was a display of impressive skills with the fly rod and those on fixed-spool reels proficiently cast and retrieved, without tangles or hook-ups. The Stronsay boys were working like a well-oiled machine!
By 4:30, it was time to leave Harray and head north for the Birsay Hostel for something to eat and a good sleep… Before we reached the hostel, it had been briefly mentioned that the freshly caught Harray trout could make a nice starter but by the time we had unloaded fishing rods, night bags and food box in the pouring rain, the thought had pretty much escaped me. Someone remembered though, and as I walked into the kitchen, James was already in the process of gutting the fish over the sink! To keep him company, I grabbed the sharpest knife I could find in the drawer and started on the filleting! In no time, Andy was supervising the frying operation and the golden fillets were piling up nicely!
Once on the table, our fish fiend Ieuan made short work of his share and dived for more… And let me tell you: the fish starter was a big hit!
MayTrip10The following morning, the sun was shining over the West Mainland and with the prospects of shoals of hungry trout waiting for our baits, the young anglers decided it would be wiser to make a little detour through Stromness and get some extra worms, just in case…
Unfortunately, Kirbister proved just as dour as it’s been over the last couple of years and only Jack managed to grass two trout.