(Photograph) - A week in the life of Rosehearty School, Aberdeenshire
With history on their doorsteps, the children of Rosehearty School spend time out and about studying local heritage. Perched on the north-east coast of Scotland, this former fishing village is at the heart of a burgh founded in the 16th century by Lord Pitsligo. The laird’s descendants were Jacobites at the Battle of Culloden and fill the graveyard at Peathill kirk, where even the headstones have angels wearing kilts. The local museum is housed on the top floor of the primary school so headteacher Janet McLeman, a trustee of the museum, welcomes visitors from Canada and the Netherlands, who come searching for clues about ancestors who sailed away across the North Sea. They can hear the language of their ancestors in the playground - children still speak a rural dialect called Doric which Mrs McLeman (the “hiedie”) likens to Chaucerian English with Norwegian and Germanic influences.
* On the rocks: top juniors study the herring industry, observing former fishing cottages (see photo below)
* Churning butter: Joanne and Lorraine in the school’s museum.
* Peak Practice: Joe prepares for Burn’s night.
* Fish Street, renamed North Street, backing on to the North Sea.
* Full Focus: five and six-year olds study ‘the sea and water’.
* Susan in Peathill kirkyard.
* In for a jig: Jazmin and Rebecca.