CALDERVALE NEWSLETTER
Transcript of CALDERVALE NEWSLETTER
CALDERVALE
NEWSLETTER Christmas 2015 Edition
Name Class
Foreword
Welcome to the Christmas edition of Caldervale High School’s newsletter. As you read this newsletter you
will see some of the activities our pupils have enjoyed so far this session and have an opportunity to find
out about the successes of some individuals.
I would like to thank parents for your on-going support of the school and in particular for your generosity
in donating to the Christmas Fayre and coming along to support us on the evening. The money raised will
all go to School Fund which is used to subsidise a variety of activities for our pupils.
I would like to acknowledge the on-going efforts of young people in the school, who make a difference to
the lives of others through the charity activities which they support in school. So far this year we have
raised money for St Andrew’s Hospice, Readathon, Children in Need, MacMillan Cancer Care, Cancer
Research and Yorkhill Children’s Charity. Pupils and staff also donated items to Airdrie Food Bank, a local
charity, which was very much appreciated.
As we approach the holiday I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a Happy Christmas and
New Year.
Karen Kubica
Pupil Safety
All parents are asked to
remind pupils to take care on
the road and behave
responsibly when making their
way to and from school.
Despite regular reminders at
assembly we still receive
telephone calls from local
residents who are concerned
that pupils are not paying due
attention when crossing the
road. Your support in
discussing this with your
children at home and
reminding them to behave
responsibly would be greatly
appreciated.
Responsible Behaviour in the
Local Community
All parents are asked to encourage
pupils to remain in school at lunchtimes
where there is adult supervision. If you
do allow your children to leave school
at lunchtime could you please
encourage them to behave responsibly
and show consideration for residents in
the local community. In particular
pupils should take care not to drop litter
or to congregate in large groups outside
houses. While the vast majority of
pupils are very positive ambassadors
for the school it is important that all
pupils show respect and consideration
for our neighbours.
Building Community Bridges
The social enterprise group from Caldervale High School’s S5
Enterprise Co-operative have linked with Hillend Care Home to take
forward the Playlist for Life project for a group of residents. The aim of
the social enterprise group is to Build Bridges with the local
community through an intergenerational project. “We wanted to do
something for the community which would also give a good image of
young people as well as building intergenerational bonds between
different people in society.”
Following a visit from a Hillend representative, the group arranged a
getting to know you event for a small number of residents. After a
sandwich brunch and an “about you” questionnaire, the young people
and the residents enjoyed a chat and a games session with their visitors
opting for 4 in a row, scrabble, card games and chess.
The next step of the venture, happening in the new year, will be to
work with the group of residents to help them find the songs, theme
tunes and significant sounds that rekindle memories and put these
together to produce a personalised Playlist for Life.
Fund Raising
Each year we use money
from the school fund to
benefit all young people in
the school. One easy way
that all parents/friends of the
school could help raise
money for the school fund is
by using the website
www.easyfundraising.org
and selecting Caldervale
High School to receive
donations. When shopping
online, please continue to
support the school through
use of this website.
Debating Success
It has been a busy term for the Debate Club, which meets every
Tuesday lunch time in Social Subjects with Miss Sullivan and Mrs
McKean. Our Senior debaters have represented the school in several
competitions, congratulations go to Emma Dunn and Ronan
Alexander who travelled to Craigholm School in Glasgow for the
first round of the English Speaking Union's Senior Mace, and
Colette Wilkie who joined Emma for the first round of Scullion
Law's Lanarkshire Schools Debating Cup. Both teams held their
own amongst teams of a very high standard and were a credit to the
school.
On the 25th of November the school hosted Heat T in the first round
of the Donald Dewar Memorial Debate Competition, organised by
the Law Society of Scotland in association with Hodder Gibson.
Caldervale was represented by Colette Wilkie and Rachel McLellan,
with support from many of our young debaters. We welcomed
teams from Holy Cross (Hamilton), Our Lady's (Motherwell) and
Lanark Grammar for what was an excellent night of top debate! In
the end, Holy Cross and Our Lady's progressed to the next round,
however, congratulations go to Louise Sneddon for her award of
'Best Floor Speaker' during the floor debate.
On St Andrew's Day, a group of our debaters travelled to the
Scottish Parliament to participate in the ESU's St Andrew's Day
Debate. Emma Dunn represented the school in three parliamentary
style debates, and achieved a 3rd, 1st and 2nd place, a fantastic
achievement for our first year competing in this competition. Well
done, Emma! Louise Sneddon and Sam Rintoul also gained
experience as pupil judges for the day. Rachel McLellan and Lauren
Buchanan joined the others to participate in the final floor debate in
the Parliament Debating Chamber.
In the coming weeks the club will be preparing for the first round of
the ESU Junior competition and the Inter-House debate.
Charity Giving
As part of our Harvest celebration this
session the school’s generous pupils
and staff have donated a huge amount
of foodstuffs to Airdrie Foodbank.
The school also took part in Children
in Need by selling Children in Need
merchandise and sweets. In Home
Economics they made Pudsey cakes.
Pupils and staff teamed up for a
Strictly School Dancing show where
they showed off their moves in a Rock
'n' Roll Dance, a Charleston, a Jive and
a Tango. All of the activities raised
over £500 for the charity telethon. Our
Christmas focus will be on the
Aquabox charity, during the month of
December we are asking pupils to
bring in cash donations to buy an
Aquabox Gold. This box includes
humanitarian aid items and a water
filter.
Christmas Fayre
The school’s second annual Christmas Fayre took place on
Thursday 3rd December. The combined efforts of the staff, pupils
and parents ensured that the event was a huge success, raising
£2,291.57 for the School Fund. Christmas games, raffles and
even an opportunity for a Christmas makeover were the order of
the day. Santa’s Grotto was extremely popular, as were the variety
of stalls selling crafts and Christmas gifts. Santa will be visiting
lots of Airdrie homes if the sales of magical reindeer food are
anything to go by!
Santa Dash
24 pupils and 2 staff braved the
weather on Sunday 6th
December to participate in this
year’s annual Santa Dash. A
flash of red Caldervale santa
suits set off from George Square
at 9.30am in the hope of beating
last year’s total donations of
£1500.
S4 Health and Well Being Project
It is now a tradition that for the Senior Phase transition, the S4 Personal
Development Award class organise a project for the S3 Challenge class.
This year the S4 transition project was a Health and Wellbeing event. There
was a Relaxation Room to promote positive mental wellbeing, this involved
transforming a classroom with calming music, projected images, comfy
seating, soft lighting and massage if desired. At the other end of the scale, the
Mini Olympics gave the class the chance for a bit of fun taking part in a range
of physical activities. The scientific side covered blood pressure, heart rate
and lung capacity checks before and after exercise. A research questionnaire
asking about the lifestyles of healthy young people’s was also completed. To help the group understand the
body better, one of the groups arranged a trip to the Science Centre where the pupils witnessed a heart being
dissected. Well done to the S4 class and thank you to the S3 class who took part and gave great feedback.
Thanks also to the PE department for the use of space and equipment.
House Charities
Our kindhearted and generous pupils raised
a phenomenal amount of funds for their
chosen house charities again this year.
Taking the Gordon Austin Charity Cup,
were Scobbie House after raising £2287.57
for Yorkhill Hospital Trust. Erskine House
raised £1432.38 for Macmillan Cancer
Support and Morton House collected
£1305.21 for The Dogs’ Trust.
Battlefields
S4 Social Subject
students recently took
part in the annual trip
to the Battlefields of
Belgium and France.
The group visited
many key landmarks
which featured in the
conflict of the Great
War as well as visiting
and honouring the graves of the fallen.
Cinema Trip
S4 History pupils attended a showing of Suffragette at the
Showcase Cinema in Coatbridge. The group have been
studying the topic of women’s suffrage and the movie allowed
them to consolidate this learning in a visual manner.
Short Story Star
S3 pupil, Lewis McGown was awarded the
runner-up spot in the secondary student section
of the Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser’s
Short Story Stars competition. Lewis’ story of
a fighter pilot’s mission over the Channel
impressed the panel of distinguished judges, led
by writer, Rebecca Forster. Lewis was invited
to a ceremony where he and the other
prizewinners were presented with their trophies
by Councillor Jim Logue, Convener of
Learning and Leisure Services and local author,
Teresa Watson.
Open Night
Many parents of P7 pupils
attended Caldervale High
School’s Open Night in October.
Throughout the evening parents,
guided by senior pupils, were
able to experience and observe a
variety of classroom activities.
These included hands on exhibits
and pupil led demonstrations in
departmental areas. Feedback
from parents was very positive.
Geography Field Trip
S4-S6 Geography classes were given the opportunity to complete field work for
their National and Higher Added Value Units this year.
In June, S4 classes spent a glorious day at Strathclyde Park conducting traffic/
pedestrian counts as well as interviewing people. They have been using the
information they gathered in class to produce their National 4/5 assignments.
S5/6 pupils spent a day in September investigating land use changes along their
chosen urban transect. Pupils visited Airdrie Town Centre, Shettleston Road and
Glasgow City Centre to compare environmental quality, land use and traffic. They
have since been writing up their findings in class for their Higher Geography
assignment. Pupils thoroughly enjoyed both outings and have been afforded first-
hand information to use in their assignments. The pupils were a credit to the
school - Well done everyone!
Dramatic Incidents
Caldervale High School Drama students have had a busy start to the
session with several curricular visits to the theatre. At the beginning of
the autumn term students, from S3 to S6, were given the opportunity to
visit the King's Theatre in Glasgow to see an outstanding performance
of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time' by Simon
Stephens. A play based on the novel by Mark Haddon. This show was
a magnificent piece of theatre about a fifteen year old boy, with autism,
who discovers his neighbour's dog dead in the garden and sets out to
solve the mystery of who killed it. This spellbinding play was
enthralling for all to watch and it gave us an insight as to how someone
with autism copes in everyday situations. The acting from all the characters was very convincing and the set
in the theatre was very imaginatively created. A wonderful performance and a very uplifting trip to the
theatre was experienced by all from Caldervale.
This trip was followed by attendance at a Production Skills workshop and a
performance of “The Lovers”, hosted by Cumbernauld Theatre. As well as visits to
Eastwood Theatre and the East Kilbride Arts Centre for productions of “Bold Girls”
and “The Crucible”.
Meanwhile, the Theatre Group for senior pupils run by Drama teacher, Mrs
McSeveney, had an evening trip to see the modern fairytale “Zanna, Don’t!”
Performed by the students of New College Lanarkshire at the Townhouse,
Hamilton.
The final event planned for 2015 was the annual trip for S1 pupils to attend the
pantomime, “Snow White” at the King’s Theatre in Glasgow.
Musical Talent
A group of musical students from Caldervale
High School recently competed in the Rotary
Club of Coatbridge, Airdrie and Monklands,
Young Musician of the Year and Festival of
Youth Music 2015/16 in Airdrie Town Hall.
Muriel Anderson, Rowan Cook, Jayne
Crawford, Euan Dolan, Callum Stephens and
Crae Stevenson all performed well in their
individual sections and were a credit to the
school. S5 pupils, Jayne Crawford and Euan
Dolan took first place in their respective
categories. Jayne won the brass section with a
cornet solo and Euan won the piano class.
We Will Rock You Planning for the school’s 2016
summer show is well under way.
Auditions have been held to select
the main cast members for the mu-
sical showcasing the music of the
rock group, Queen. S5 School
Show fundraisers put on Halloween
activities including, dooking for
apples, a doughnut challenge and
face painting. The event was well
attended. A BIG thank you to the
team and everyone who donated.
John Muir Award
Eighteen pupils from the current and previous S4 Personal Development Award class gained a John Muir
Discovery Award for a garden project to beautify an unused area of the school ground.
This is the Environmental themed transition project devised by the
previous S4 class who, as part of the award criteria, planned and
organised a trip to explore the local flora and fauna in Drumpellier Park.
The rest of the project involved creating a sustainable wildlife garden
with an insect hotel, bird bath and Scottish wildlife flowers and bulbs.
These will continue to attract insects and animals to the area for years to
come as the plants establish themselves. The pupils had to spend time
researching and planning the construction of zones to attract wildlife to
the area and, where possible, used recycled materials, the ground was
prepared plants and planters established in the area. The garden can be
seen from the walkway bridge that links the admin block to the main
Edinburgh International Book Festival
A group of 38 senior pupils, from the English Department, visited the
Edinburgh International Book Festival, where they attended two author sessions.
In the first session, author Keith Gray spoke about the challenges involved in
the adaptation of his award winning novel, Ostrich Boys, into a play script along
with playwright Carl Miller. The pupils then listened to an inspiring talk by
Patrick Ness, on the subject of his latest book, Not the Chosen One, an inspiring
novel about all those who are not destined to be the hero of the story. Everyone
enjoyed the event and patiently queued afterwards to have copies of their books
signed.
Kids’ Lit
Congratulations to the Caldervale Kids' Lit Quiz Team for their
performance at this year’s West of Scotland heat. Eight pupils
from S1 and S2 travelled to Kilsyth Academy to compete in the
2015 Kids’ Lit Quiz. They did a great job in a very competitive
contest and had a few high scoring rounds, although not enough to
win them a top place. The pupils also had the opportunity to
purchase books written by the team of authors in attendance and
have them personally autographed. All of the pupils were a credit
to the school. The team were Hannah Cockburn 1E2, Dylan
Fleming 1M1, Ben McCarroll 1E2 and Ellie Turpin 1E1.
Supported by Abigail Lumley 1E2, Rebecca Lang 2E2, Ming Lee
2E2 and Jacqueline Martin 2E2.
Prince’s Trust
The present S3 Challenge class ventured to the stunning venue
of 101 Park Street at Coatbridge College as part of the new
look Princes Trust awards. Pupils took part in this year’s Kick-
start event and engaged in two tutorials “Bonkers Artwork”,
where the pupils created wacky clay creatures and “Reel Time
Music” which tuned more into the pupils musical talents. Pu-
pils will select one of the workshops from those which were on
show at the Kickstart event which will form the basis for their
project which they will work on as part of their course in the
New Year.
Blast from the past
The Tie Dye T-Shirt group have been busy
experimenting with designs and have been
promoting some of these in posters around
the school and at the
Christmas Fayre.
Information on how to
order the creations will
be available soon.
SCHOOL CAPTAINS
Boys’ Captain Marcus Bailey
Girls’ Captain Sophie McConnell
Boys’ Vice-Captain Kyle Lawson
Girls’ Vice-Captain Dayna Clark
ERSKINE HOUSE
House Captain Jordyn Murray
House Captain Lucy McAteer
S6 Prefects Zilke Bleyl, Vary Condie,
Alistair Donald, Matthew Gill,
Chloe McNaught, Lauren Tough
S5 Prefects Rowan Cook, Reiss Harrison,
Honor Nicol,
Panashe Samushonga
MORTON HOUSE
House Captain Emma Millar
House Captain Christie Smith
S6 Prefects Melissa Condie, Daryl Gardner,
Jordan Shanks, Emma Dunbar,
Jennifer Rankin, Ronan Alexander
S5 Prefects Andrew Haxton, Raniya Robb,
Carly Stoddart,
Emma Jayne Troup
SCOBBIE HOUSE
House Captain Sophie Reid
House Captain Hannah Watson
S6 Prefects Carla Walker, Scott McIlwraith,
Rachel McLellan, Emma Goldie
S5 Prefects Kamryn Bailey, Jessica-Jo Moore,
Ewan McDonald, Ewan Speirs
LCSC
S6 Prefects Nathan Rodger, Jack Woodlock
S5 Prefects Connor McCann, Dylan Morrissey
Cosy Café
As a trial run at catering for the public, the
Intergenerational Group organised the Cosy
Cottage Café for staff in the school. This was a
great success and the group developed both
skills and confidence. They created an ambient
space in one of the classrooms where they
served tea, coffee, hot chocolate, a selection of
cakes, scones and biscuits. The group enjoyed
providing the service and are hoping to have
the Café open for a day in mid-December with
a festive theme for the menu and décor.
The group thanks staff for their custom and for
the generous donations that were given. The
money will go towards providing something
for the residents in Hillend Care home where
the young people hope to be working with care
staff and residents to produce playlist for life
cds for individuals (story on page 2).
S5 Enterprise class
The S5 Enterprise class have been busy with several
different businesses on the go. As well as the Tie Dye T-
Shirt Group, the Face Painters sent out promotional
information offering their services to local primary
schools. They have had 2 bookings so far. For Hallowe’en
they visited Dunrobin to scare up some faces for the P1-4
party, they supported fund raising for Children in Need in
Chapelhall Primary School on Friday 13th November. The
group were kept busy and have painted around 200 little
faces. The girls also had a popular stall at the Christmas
Fair with their paint and glitter tattoos.
Sports News
Basketball Success
On Monday 7th December, the school’s
basketball teams represented the Airdrie
and Coatbridge area in the North
Lanarkshire School Sports basketball
finals held at the Ravenscraig Sports
Facility.
The S3/4 Boys’ team, consisting of: Scott
Waddington, Cameron Waugh, Jack
Mullholland, William Caddell, Keatan
Kane, Lewis Cowan, Joshua Ferguson and
Euan McKenzie, won their title defeating
both Cumbernauld Academy and
Braidhurst High School. The boys
received Gold medals along with a school
trophy.
The S3/4 Girls’ team: Cerys Kelly, Molly
Guy, Chelsey McLean, Emily McIntyre,
Emma Boyd, Kay McKenna and Chloe
Fraser, were runners up in the final losing
out in an exciting match against St.
Maurice’s High School. The girls received
Silver medals.
The S1/2 team: Adam Woods, Darren
McGhee, Lee Shanks, Elias Bleyl, Marc
Faulds, Christopher Stangoe and Josh
Lang, were also runners up in their section.
The boys won against Cardinal Newman
but were narrowly defeated by Our Lady’s
High School, Cumbernauld to take the
Silver medal place.
Gymnastics
Abbie Nichol from 1M2 performed
skillfully at the North Lanarkshire
Schools’ Gymnastics Competition held at
Ravenscraig Sports Facility on Friday 4th
December. Abbie led the field to take the
gold medal in the Level 3 competition.
The Caldervale pupil has now qualified
for the Scottish Schools’ Gymnastics
Competition in March.
Lunch After School
Monday Malawi Club(S1-6),
Art(S1-3), Science(S1),
Mobility(S1-6),
Athletics(S1-2), Tennis(S1)
Girls’ Fitness(S3-5),
Badminton(S1-6)
Tuesday Debate Club(S1-6),
Table Tennis(S1-6),
Scripture Union(S1-2),
Choir(S1-6), Rugby(S1-6)
Volleyball(S1-6),
Girls’ Football(S1-4)
Wednesday Netball(S1-3),
Fitness(S1-6),
Football(S1-2)
Thursday Film Club(S1-2),
Catalyst(S3-4),
Metafit(S1-3),
Basketball(S1-6),
Drama(S1-3),
Homework (S1-6)
Hockey(S1-6)
Friday BOOKies(S1-2),
Dodgeball(S1-2),
Gymnastics(S1-3),
Dance(S1-2)
Extra-curricular Activities Several lunchtime and after school clubs are up and running.
Any interested pupils will be made most welcome.
Interhouse Results
Erskine Morton Scobbie
P7 Olympics 100 300 200
Badminton 300 100 200
Football 300 200 100
Netball 100 200 300
Total 800 800 800
Netball
The school’s S1-S6 teams continue to
compete with varying degrees of success
in the North Lanarkshire Schools’ League
and in the Scottish Cup. There will be
more news in future newsletters.