Bower pupils soar to the top in eagle competition
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CHILDREN at Bower primary soared to top place in a sculpture competition celebrating the golden eagle.
The village school's P5-7 pupils put their artistic skills to good use to win the Highland-wide art contest by impressing judges with "a very creative and unique entry".
The competition followed on from a project run throughout last year in which High Life Highland countryside rangers visited schools in the north to teach the pupils all about golden eagles. Schools were given a presentation on the life cycle of eagles along with a story for the younger children.
Pupils tried their hand at building a life-size nest and learned all they could about eagles and their place in the world. The rangers also organised many public golden eagle treasure hunts and eagle-watching events throughout the Highlands, and were rewarded with some fantastic eagle sightings.
The participating schools were then given the chance to enter the art competition for which they had to sculpt something related to a golden eagle.
There were some impressive entries but the judges were most taken by the entry received by the Bower pupils, who won binoculars for the class.
East Caithness countryside ranger Marina Swanson said: “Bower Primary School children worked very hard on this project and completed a range of activities such as building a life-sized golden eagle's nest, making golden eagle masks, writing creative poems and producing some fantastic artwork.
"They seemed to enjoy learning about these fascinating birds and the children did very well to remember factual information about eagles' life cycles. Their entry to the sculpture competition was very creative and unique and I think this impressed the judges.
"Well done to Bower primary who very much deserved to take first prize.”
Class teacher Claire Henderson said: “All the children loved learning all about golden eagles with Marina. They were keen to create art to represent the life cycle of the golden eagle. The class are delighted to have won first prize and they can’t wait to use their binoculars.”
Bower's winning entry will be on display at Inverness Museum alongside runners-up displays from St Columba's nursery (Fort William) and St Bride's primary (Ballachulish).
