Being fully part of our local community

We are fortunate in being part of a cohesive community and we want to play a full and positive part in it, giving as well as receiving.

Valuing the linguistic heritage

The Gaelic language is an important and integral part of life at Sgoil nan Loch. The majority of staff speak Gaelic and those who do not either have some conversational Gaelic or are trying to learn. The Head Teacher comes into the latter category! Gaelic is taught from P1-S2. A number of our pupils come from homes where Gaelic is spoken and most children have some awareness of conversational Gaelic. S1 and S2 pupils receive lessons during the week. Fluent speakers and learners have different teachers for Gaelic and those who have Gaelic in the home join with the fluent speakers for conversation and discussion classes. We do not at present have a Gaelic Medium class in the school, although this always remains a possibility, and we do not teach subjects through the medium of Gaelic. The school regularly enters competitions at the Local Mod and our choir has achieved success at the National Mod (see Picture E).

School Board, Parent-Teacher Association and Community Council

For the year prior to the new school opening, an Interim School Board was in place. It was established from interested members of two other existing school boards. It worked very hard, taking important decisions vital to the successful start of the 2001-02 session. Their commitment augured well for the new school. The Sgoil nan Loch School Board was established in 2001 and has worked tirelessly for the benefit of the school community. The connections that they enjoy with the parents of our pupils as well as their connections with the wider community have meant that we have been able to become positively engaged in our community. The School Board was also instrumental in organising a Gala Day last May which facilitated a boost to the school fund.

An early attempt to start a PTA was over-ambitious. However, a later attempt took off and we now have a flourishing PTA which, for instance, organised our most recent innovation - a Burns' Supper in the school attended by over 230 people (see Picture F). The purpose of this was to invite pupils, parents and friends of the school to attend a community social occasion. Feedback suggests that our very many guests certainly enjoyed the evening!

We are very keen to develop further our involvement with the community council. At the moment we are involved in developing a project with them that we hope will bring the community into our school (see later in Environment section).

Multi-agency evening and involvement of local businesses

In February 2003, the school hosted a multi-agency evening. This allowed different agencies (Parentwise, New Community Schools Project, the local Medical Practice, Northern Constabulary, School Board/PTA, Education Dept., Community Education and a local group advising on the financial implications of Higher/Further Education) to engage with pupils, parents and the local community and to offer help and advice. We wanted the school to be used as a hub for information, where information could be sought and exchanged. The evening was very well received and we intend to hold these evenings on a biannual basis.

We have been very fortunate in the interest and support from local businesses. A number of local companies have sponsored different items of benefit to school life, e.g., our school diaries and Royal Highland Trust Resources Box, a collection of ecology-related resources.

Using and caring for the environment and caring for our own well-being

Living as we do in quite an isolated and strangely beautiful area, we are very conscious of our environment - it features strongly in our school lives.

Environmental and ecological developments

When the school opened our surrounding land was full of potential but not much else. We now have well-designed and stocked beds of plants close to the school, and a football pitch (see Picture G).

The football pitch is good - I like scoring goals.
(P3 pupil)

We also had a large amount of ground further away from the school waiting for development. One of the first ideas we had was to plant trees. We planted a tree for each member of our school community with their name attached to it (see Picture I). We also thought that it would be a nice touch to log the trees on a CAD programme so that in future generations, pupils of the school may be able to locate the trees that their parents or grandparents planted! This has since become a major part of our school grounds development programme in which the Stornoway Trust Ranger is involved and, hopefully, the Forestry Commission.

The Ranger was also asked for advice about setting up a bird watch box. We applied to the Scottish Natural Heritage and received a grant. We now have a nesting box, which houses a small video camera, situated in the school grounds. This transmits pictures to a television in our indoor social area and it is hoped that pupils will be able to watch birds nesting this year (see Pictures J).

Our involvement with the New Community Schools Project and the Community Council will enable us to take our environmental and community ambitions a step further with the proposed purchase of a poly tunnel to raise plants. Our own 'Greenfingers' horticultural club will work with volunteers from the community to develop their knowledge and understanding of plants, trees and vegetables.

We are also situated very close to a small loch: at present our secondary pupils are able to canoe on this loch in their P.E. lessons. We hope to negotiate with the community council to develop with them an outdoor changing facility and a launch area for the canoes. The PTA would also like to develop an area close to a small river near the school into an outdoor classroom.

Looking after ourselves

The weather on the Isle of Lewis is sometimes extreme, and quite often is either very windy or wet. We have two social areas for our pupils to use in inclement weather.

In the morning when it's freezing, you can go into the social area and it's warm.
(S1 pupil)

The secondary pupils have a smaller area than the primary pupils due to the difference in numbers and activities. The primary pupils have a number of indoor games, purchased after consultation with them, used regularly when they cannot play outside.

The sports hall is good, especially the climbing frame and if it is raining we can play games.
(P1 pupil)

The secondary pupils have a pool table and are responsible for rotas for its use, also for organising inter-house competitions.

Promoting healthy lifestyles is of paramount importance at Sgoil nan Loch. Our partnership with the New Community Schools Project enables us to provide fruit for our pupils at some break-times and also water bottles that can be topped up from the water cooler. We are just about to start a reward scheme for pupils at lunchtimes that will enable pupils to claim 'merchandise' as a reward for choosing healthy meals.

Our cafeteria has really good food.
(P2 pupil)

Review and Conclusions

At one of our first staff meetings we had considered what needed to be in our first School Development Plan. We had not initially considered it necessary to identify ethos separately, presuming that it would 'just happen' in such a community. One member of staff, however, felt that it would be essential to include ethos building as a priority. When we discussed this as a staff we all agreed that we should make it a priority. The target for our ethos-building was:

to create a welcoming, pleasant environment, in which pupils and staff feel valued, safe and able to achieve their full potential.

The criteria for success were:

	that pupils and staff should feel involved in the life of the school and be committed to its success,
	evident commitment to the pastoral care of pupils and staff,
	there should be a clear understanding and positive expectations in relation to behaviour, attitudes and effort, and
	staff and pupils would work together harmoniously in and out of class.

We believe that we are now meeting these criteria but we know that we cannot ever 'relax on the job'.

Attendance and Attainment

Attendance levels at the school are very high and the message from a recent survey of parents was that our pupils enjoy coming to school and some even look forward to it! We have introduced new Language and Mathematics programmes throughout the school and monitoring to date indicates a rise in attainment particularly at the Early Stages. We recognise and celebrate all kinds of achievements.

As a staff we feel that every person and all of our experiences have contributed to the ethos of our school. One of the most important contributions is the quality of the relationships among all the members of the school's community. We are all also individually and collectively committed to learning. A new, beautiful, well-equipped school could induce euphoria but we know that the job of education is never done and that we still have plenty to do.