Glasgow Schools Cross-Country took place on Friday 24th February at Pollok Park. There were many S1-S4 pupils competing from schools across Glasgow. We raced in a muddy part of Pollok park and at the end we were all covered in mud! I fell before I even started running, so I walked about with mud on my trousers all day! After I finished the race I was really glad that I took part and represented my school. Our best result came from Ryan Rae in S1 who was 21st out of more than 100 in his race. Our School of Sport pupils also entered and got first place for best overall team. Well Done! By Rabia Ali – S2

Congratulations to Miss Logan in PE who passed her Duke of Edinburgh Leaders Award on Sunday 25th March! She endured weekends of camping, walking and navigating in the rain… and she even brought back some creepy crawly friends… Well Done Miss Logan!

Issue 1 – April 2012

S1 and S2 go Swimming for core PE…Classes in S1 and S2 have visited Govan High School and Bellahouston Sports Centre to use the swimming pool for core PE. Pupils have enjoyed opportunities to develop their competence in this valuable life skill: “I hated swimming at first but now I like it because I can swim. When we arrived we got changed, had a shower, then we would go straight into the pool. When I started swimming I had to use the floats to help me. We had a double-period of swimming so when we finished ourlesson we went on the rapids and theslide and it was amazing. By the end of the block,I didn’t need any floats and I could swim myself.IT WAS GREAT!” By Yusuf Bamba – S1 (Mr Thomson)

“The greater the obstacle, the more

glory in overcoming it”- Moliere

Bellahouston Academy’s U16s Football Team played a match at Toryglen Football Complex on 15th March against Eastbank Academy. Bellahouston took the lead 3-1 with goals from Jordan Stewart, Robert-Lee Craig and Jamie Cameron. Then Eastbank made a come back with two further goals. The game finished 3-3. The next match is a semi final in the RSMcColl Cup on Thursday 19th of April against St Peter the Apostle High School.By Jordan Collie – S4STAFF

VOLLEYBALL… Congratulations to the Bellahouston Staff Volleyball team on winning the Glasgow Schools Staff competition on Friday 23rd March @ Bannerman High School. They conquered Hillpark Secondary School in a Sudden Death Final, winning by two points! Well Done!Four pupils from Bellahouston Academy took part in a Scottish Ballet workshop alongside pupils from All Saints Secondary, Springburn Academy, Kings Park Secondary and Hillhead High School. Amy Prentice, Emma Mathieson, Stephanie Campbell & Shawnie Wright started the workshop in January.

“We learned Ballet for four weeks and four weeks of creative dance with three different teachers and we had a pianist who played live music.

Taking part in this was an opportunity to improve our technique and mix with pupils from different schools. We got a free t-shirt, a bus pass and a pencil. After 7 weeks of training, we performed for our teachers on our last week, letting them see what we had learned in ballet and creative dance. We really enjoyed taking part in this workshop.”

By Amy Prentice (S4) and Emma Mathieson (S3)

Come dine with us is a course which allows pupils to pick up new culinary skills and learn to cook a wide range of sweet and savoury dishes such as halloween cakes, brownies, lentil soup and quiche. I participated in the course this year and found it to be an enjoyable experience. My highlight of the course was making and decorating cup cakes. It was fun and helped me to gain more skills. During the course there were two competitions where people in the class got into groups of three and had to plan and make a three course meal. Different teachers had to taste them and decide which team were the winners. On both occasions my team won - which for me was a great result. Overall, I believe this is a worthwhile course which people should think about taking in the future.By Nicole Kilday - S5Thank you to our Parent Helpers who have generously given up their time to help supervise pupils who have been going out of school to various events such as Swimming and Cross Country. Without their help and continued support our pupils could not engage in these wonderful opportunities! Thank You Parent Helpers!

Miss Mitchell and Miss McWaters from

Physical Education have been visiting our feeder Primary Schools to teach Primary 6/7 skills in dance and public performance.

Pupils have used these skills to perform at the Pensioners Treat and the Bella Burns Evening at Bellahouston Academy. This has been a fantastic experience for all pupils and staff involved.

Pupils from our feeder schools will be invited to attend a Health and Wellbeing Festival in the coming months at Bellahouston Academy where they can once again share their skills in dance performance!

Pupils from Bellahouston Academy have been participating in Racketball taster sessions with a professional coach during core PE. This was organised by our Active Schools Co-ordinator Miss Logan! Pupils enjoyed this opportunity to try something new!

TAE KWON DO - SELF DEFENCE

On Thursday 23rd February, girls from S1 – S4 took part in Self Defence practical workshops. This was a valuable and fun opportunity to learn how to keep safe in the community. The workshops were organised by our Active Schools Co-ordinator - Miss Logan – and were delivered by the Ultimate Tae Kwon Do Federation.

RUGBY TASTER SESSIONS

For 6 weeks S2, S3 and S4 took part in rugby taster sessions with Scottish Rugby League coaches during core PE classes. “We learned skills such as throwing and kicking the ball and participated in games where we could use these skills competing against other pupils.”Jordan Collie – S4

MISS LOGAN

* * ICE SKATING * *Congratulations to Shazia Mirza, Wiktoria Busko, Maimoonah Yasuf, Arubah Khan, Aisha Abdul Rehman, Elise Berry, Khyra Lee Gray,Noor-Ul-Muheen, Naomi Morrison, Jordyn Phillips and Millard Aboig of S1 who passed their Skate UK Certificate Level 1 in Ice Skating.

These pupils had to succeed in accomplishing a range of challenging ice skating tasks before they could pass their exam at this level. Well done to all involved and a particular congratulations goes to Elise who passed with an “excellent plus” status!

- Miss Logan - PE

The Desi Vibe took place on the evening of Monday 19th of March 2012 at Bellahouston Academy. Money was raised at this event to support Yorkhill Children’s Hospital. It was organised by some of our fabulous 5th year girls - Rubina, Madiha, Amarah, Aqsa and many others.This was an all girls event for 1st to 6th yearwhich included dancing with professionalbreak dancers ‘# 1 Blud’. We also had anamazing DJ to help bring the atmospherealive. The event included Asian foods suchas chicken/vegetable pakora, mince/vegetablesamosas, spring rolls, chicken wings, anchari(spicy) potatoes, Asian sauces and much more.This helped the girls to enjoy themselves andas there were NO BOYS ALLOWED the girlscould dance and feel free to take off their hijabs.We all learned from this event that you can raisemoney for kids and help others while having lots of fun. By Bushrah Ali and Sabah Sattar – S2

S2 pupils in Bellahouston Academy were delighted to meet Shirley Webb, former

Olympic Hammer thrower and current Gladiator ‘Battleaxe’ in February this year. Shirley

was visiting Bellahouston Academy as part of the Aspiring Minds team who focus on inspiring and motivating young people aged 13-14 years to be the best that they can be.

Pupils were engaged in a variety of fun and exciting workshops throughout

the day and enjoyed listening to Shirley, who spoke of her experiences as an Olympian and TV star on

Gladiators. They learned a great deal on a variety of topics ranging from teamwork and communication to personal target setting and overcoming barriers. It was an extremely worthwhile event and the school would like to thank the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust for affording us this opportunity.  

ASPIRING MINDS… 

To further enhance pupils’ PE experiences we have recently purchased two trampolines to be used in the curriculum next term. There may be an opportunity for pupils to attend an after school club in this activity. Look out for this in the After School Club programme.

Dance-A-thon - Monday 12th March 2012

Sport Your Trainers day took place on March 12th 2012. Many people across Glasgow took part in this event and so did we at Bellahouston Academy. We did this to support the upcoming Glasgow Commonwealth Games which we will host in 2014. We made a donation to wear trainers to school for the day. Pupils in S1-S4 had a Dance-a-thon which took place for one whole period each. We got to dance along to our favourite music and party dances like the Macarena and YMCA. Bellahouston Academy pupils and staff really enjoyed this. By Rashid Mazhar – S2

* * Breakfast Clubs * *

At Bellahouston Academy we encourage a flying start to the day through fun activities and a healthy breakfast. There are a range of Breakfast Clubs which operate throughout the week:

Football Club Monday, Wednesday, Friday 8.00 – 8.50am

(Mr Thomson) S1 - S6

Skipping Club Thursday 8.15 - 8.50am

(Miss Mitchell) S1 – S6

Seniors Coffee Thursday and Friday 8.15 – 8.50am

(Library) S5 and S6

ICT Tuesday 8.15 – 8.50am

(Miss McLaughlin) S1-S6

MUSIKA Wednesday 8.15 – 8.50am

(Mr Menzies) S1-S6

“In August, my Glasgow District Netball Association attended an International Team camp which helped to build sporting relationships and links with Sweden - a developing netball country. As a result, I am one of two coaches who have been selected to travel to Stockholm in May to work with Swedish Netball coaches and deliver coaching sessions to a variety of teams in the capital.”

Miss McWaters of our PE department receives some very exciting news…

This is a fantastic achievement Miss McWaters. Well done and good luck!

Our Senior Sports Leaders have been

coaching Football and Basketball to Primary 3 and Primary 4 pupils at Mosspark Primary School. Many of our Coaches hope to go on to study Sports Coaching at College next year. Congratulations to Rory Crawford who already has an unconditional offer.

Extra-Curricular - Coming Soon:

Watch out for the new Extra Curricular timetable to see what’s on during the summer term. We hope to offer a range of activities such as cricket, dodgeball, weight-training, athletics, basketball and softball!Glasgow Secondary Youth Games takes place on Friday 18th May 2012… A group of pupils will be selected to attend and represent Bellahouston Academy in the following activities: Football, Table Tennis, Athletics, Basketball and Badminton.

**Attention all Females!**We will be running in the Race for Life 5K at Glasgow Green on June 3rd 2012 in a bid to raise money for Cancer Research UK!

It's all of us versus cancer. Every two minutes someone in the UK is told they have cancer. Join the fight – enter your local Race for Life event today and walk, jog or run with us to help more people survive.

Do it for you, for a loved one and for everyone affected by cancer!

To sign up or to find out more see Miss Mitchell

in PE by Thursday 3rd May 2012!

Or visit http://raceforlife.cancerresearchuk.org/index.html

Comenius Trip to Germany…Recently a group of pupils experienced a week in Germany as part of the Comenius project. The main focus of this project was the “knowledge exchange” element and finding out how the German and Italian schools operate in terms of health. We were comparing the differences between our schools. We alsolearned a lot about another culture andlearned to speak a little German. We went tomany different places including Strasbourgand took part in a variety of differentactivities. We visited the European Parliamentand got a tour round the building. This tripwas an unforgettable experience that we allthoroughly enjoyed and learned a lot from.

By Aminah Din, Paul Black and Sean Marshall

Extending Our Curriculum…

The PE Department hopes to offer new

activities in the certificated curriculum

next session to make the course more inclusive for a range of different interests. New activities may involve the study of

Dance, Rugby, Trampolining, Netball,

Gymnastics and Swimming.

Sports Leader Award - First Aid TrainingOur Sports Leaders are currently receiving First Aid and Resuscitation

training. Pupils have learned how to assess if a person is unconscious,

how to perform CPR on an adult and how to perform CPR on a child.

Extra Curricular Clubs

There are many extra-curricular opportunities for pupils at Bellahouston Academy. In recent months pupils have participated in Gymnastics, Dodgeball, Football, Basketball, Netball, Weight-Training, Ice Skating, Swimming and much more!

“After school on a Wednesday we went along to the Netball Club with Miss McWaters and Miss Kirkbride. We learned the ways of the game and how it can be similar to other activities. We played games against each other and we had good fun. We enjoyed it and would definitely go again! Netball Rocks!”

By Tagen, Emma, Rawan and Ayah - S1

Glasgow School of Sport and Bellahouston Academy’s

Michael Jamieson achieves Entry to London’s 2012 Olympics

Our former Glasgow School of Sport pupil has made it to the 2012 Olympics in our home country with magnificent qualifying times. At the age of 23, he achieved a new personal best of 2mins 09.84secs which got him to silver in the 200m, his favourite event. The Performance Director at Scottish Swimming, Ally Whike, was very impressed with Michael Jamieson’s performance: “Many have commented on Michael's fighting spirit. He was openly disappointed after the 100m final but at the same time, showed real character and was ready for the challenge of the 200m. He came out fighting and earned his spot, and is clearly a role model for anyone needing the inspiration to come back from a setback.“By Fraser Ward and Morgan McKinnon – S3

Interview with Michael Jamieson Olympic Swimmer – London 2012

Age: 23 From: Glasgow Weight: 81kg Height: 186cm Motto: perseverance, self-belief and a work ethic are the only tools you need.

Medals: Commonwealth silver 2010, European short-course bronze 2011 in the 200m breaststroke. British record holder for the 200m breaststroke short-course. Training: We're based at the University of Bath and train for around 30 hours a week, 20 hours in the pool, 10 on land made up of three weights sessions, two circuit sessions and two or three core sessions.

Diet and food: I'm lucky: I eat as much as I like ... But I always have my five a day.

Treats? Strawberry liquorice, foam shrimps and chocolate-covered raisins.

Beauty: Not fussed.

Hair: It's looking almost ginger at the moment – we've just been training in Australia.

Bad habits: Nail-biting

Any other sport: I've started to play golf

Passion: Almost all sports and house music

- Taken from “London Evening Standard – 27th February 2012”

Study Advice to Parents for Your Child…

“In order to succeed, your desire for successshould be greater than your fear of failure.” Bill Cosby

Success is a collective activity; it requires commitment from pupils, parents and teachers. The following is offered as advice to parents on encouraging and supporting their child to achieve success in their forthcoming examinations.

• Encourage good eating habits and regular exercise

• Provide a quiet environment with a desk/table where your child can study.

• Remove interruptions: This might involve keeping younger members of the family away from the study area and/or discussing with your child removing TV/computer games from the study area until the exams are over.

• Limit household chores: This demonstrates to your child that you appreciate the importance of this time in their schooling.

• Pupils in part-time employment: Time for studying must be made a priority.

• Host study groups: Be prepared to take your turn to host friendship study groups if these work for your child.

• Offer support: Offer support but avoid conflict and pressure. Your child will welcome your support and encouragement whilst studying. Praise them for their hard work. “The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.”

• Help your child to study: It may be helpful, in some instances, for you to work with your child in their studying. This does not mean that you require a working knowledge of all subjects; you can ask questions, listen to responses or read over work.

• Encourage short regular breaks: Most pupils study more effectively if they take short 5-10 minute breaks every 40-50 minutes. Lunch and dinner breaks must be taken.

• Check your child’s study plan: Ask to see your child’s weekly study plan. Discuss this plan with them, help to review and monitor its progress. Is your child meeting their targets?

• Display examination timetable: Ask your child for a copy of their exam timetable (this is also available on the homepage of our website). Have it displayed clearly in the house so that you know which exams your child will be taking and when.

• Preparation immediately before the exam: The night before the exam, encourage your child to relax and go to bed early. Make sure that they are up in good time in the morning. It is very stressful for pupils if they arrive late for an exam. Encourage your child to eat a good breakfast.

• Remind your child of their goal: To achieve the best exam results that they can!

*For PUPIL STUDY ADVICE see pages 12 and 13 of your Homework Diary Planner!*