Description:
After an overnight stop in sight of the famous Cuillin Mountains on the Isle of Skye, an early start saw us on the first ferry to the Isle of Raasay, just 20 minutes across the water. Raasay is a very scenic island with a permanent population of just 190 people. The school itself was delightfully situated overlooking the ferry terminal, and enjoys a school role of 9 pupils and two teaching staff. We always enjoy working at small schools because it gives us more opportunity to interact with the children and see more clearly how they react with the content we share with them. Despite having a wide range of ages, the children took part in all the activities, and given that there were some 6 year olds in the mix, they all coped admirably with some quite complex ideas.

We started the day with the Earth, Sun and Moon module, but soon had pupils creating their own planispheres during the Stars and Constellations session. After morning break we looked at the Nature of Light module, and explained how astronomers learn all we know from the light whizzing around the Universe. A brief look at modern telescopes took us up to lunchtime, which was kindly provided by the in-school cook. After lunch, we switched to gravity, which included a few fun demonstrations, including our gravity well. If nothing else, the pupils know a little more about Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. We ended the day with our Space Exploration module, which hopefully left pupils with the idea that there will be lots of space opportunities available to them as career options in the future. It was then time to pack the car and say our goodbyes.