Page 70 - Herioter 2020

Snow lessons for P6 reduce fire risk in Holyrood

mountaineers gorse cutting

S4 pupils tested their winter
mountaineering skills in a weekend visit P6J went to Holyrood Park to help the park
rangers cut back and control the gorse bushes. We
to snowy Glencoe. The group practised started off at the education centre to meet the
rope and belay work, as well as digging rangers and receive our instructions and then we
snow holes to shelter in. headed across Arthur’s Seat to Whinny Hill (‘whin’
is Scots for gorse). When we got there the rangers
showed us how to use the equipment. We were
shown how to use loppers and bow saws safely.
After that, we headed off in our small groups to
different areas on the hill to start gorse cutting.
I started using the saw to chop down trees with
Eve, while Annabel and Georgia used the loppers
to cut down smaller bits of gorse. After a while we
had realised that we had actually cut down an awful lot of gorse. I really enjoyed it
even though the gorse prickled me a lot. I think I enjoyed it so much because I knew
that we were volunteering our time for a good cause. We were cutting down gorse
to stop any wild fires from spreading too far. At the end I was really sad to have to
down tools and leave. I would love to do it again some time.
Tess Bateman (P6)

Latin pupils P1 fired up in Harlaw outings

examine relics P1 classes visited Harlaw Reservoir to get a flavour of the outdoors. Classes made
campfires to toast marshmallows and had a go at following ropes while blindfolded.
S2 Latin classes had the amazing The trips dovetailed with the pupils reading of The Owl Who was not Afraid of the
opportunity to examine artefacts Dark and learning all about light and dark.
from ancient Athens and the Roman
Empire in artefact workshops held
in conjunction with the University of
Edinburgh’s Classics Society. Mikaela
Ferguson, President of the Classics
Society, brought precious objects from
the university’s teaching collection for
detective work and identification by
S2 pupils. Often stunned by the fact
that these objects are both real (i.e.
not modern copies) and thousands
of years old, pupils then assessed the
function and ‘status’ of the objects,
ranging from an Athenian wine cup
from the 5th century BC to an oil lamp
in the shape of a roast chicken (the
latter understandably unique in the
archaeological record!).
Mr Duncan Carnegie

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