Gryffe at the Gold Coast 2018 · Photos of Callan Low (Left) and Chris Cleary (Right) used with...

Caring • Learning • Achieving www.gryffehigh.com

Date: 2/05/18 Dear Parents/Carers/Relatives/Pupils I hope you enjoy this month’s newsletter.

Gryffe at the Gold Coast 2018 We are extremely proud that we had 3 former pupils (that we know of!) all achieving outstanding performances at the Commonwealth Games 2018. Callan was the youngest basketball player (at 17) on the team. Chris and Callan were part of Basketball Team Scotland who won game after game to reach the Semi-Finals and ended up 4th! An amazing achievement. Callum had an absolutely brilliant performance and showed the whole world that he was Gold Standard in the Marathon as he was Leader for a good part of the race.

Photos of Callan Low (Left) and Chris Cleary (Right) used with kind permission of Basketball Scotland Photo of Callum Hawkins used with kind permission of Team Scotland (Credit Jeff Holmes)

Index Page

1 Gryffe at the Gold Coast 2018

2 Parent Council; School Uniform

3 PTA News

4 Awards Ceremony

5 ROAR – A time to reflect

6 Digital Schools Award; Eco Update

7 Fairtrade Fortnight

8 Keep Safe Ambassador Training

9 Scottish Space School; Edinburgh Festival Fringe Poster Competition Success

10 YPI (Youth and Philanthropy Initiative) Finals

11 Young Enterprise – Pets at Gryffe Success

12 BBC News School Report 2018

13 Gryffe’s Linguists Debate; Nat 5 Hospitality Final Practical Dishes

14 Gryffe Science welcomes visitors from Singapore

15 S1/2 Author Visit – Philip Caveney

16 Spring Has Sprung at Gryffe

17 Sunshine for our Easter Service; A Shout Out from SfL….. Raising ASD Awareness

18 ABC Pupils of the Month; Stars of Science; Health & Wellbeing Pupil of the Month

19 Modern Languages Pupils of the Month; Etihad Football Trip

20 Gryffe pupils in Badminton success for 1st Houston Boys Brigade; Cross Country Championship Success

21 Our DofE Journey………..

22 Gryffe to the Gold Coast; Step Challenge; Wizard of Oz

23 World Challenge Expedition 2019…… Bolivia!!!!!

24 A first for Fleming House

Upcoming priorities/events

Old Bridge of Weir Road, Houston, PA6 7EB Tel: 01505 690633 Fax: 01505 690888 e-mail: [email protected] web address: www.gryffehigh.com Head Teacher: Mr Colin H Johnson BSc

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Parent Council The meeting started with a presentation from S6 pupil Seonaid Murray on ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ This was followed by Career Education presentations from: Ann Marie Skillen: Depute Head Teacher Gill Brand: Principal Teacher Pupil Support:

Guidance Erika Paterson: Project Leader for Employability Fiona Anderson: Career Coach – Skills

Development Scotland

The presentation had a focus on: WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR US? Focus within our Improvement Plan: Raising awareness of career education with

all year groups (including P7 transition) Work towards embedding career education

within curricular areas Develop employability partnerships to

support the above Work in partnership with Skills Development

Scotland Aim for all pupils to have a positive sustained

destination Mrs Sharp, Faculty Head of Humanities, then gave a Homework update: Introducing ‘Show my homework’ Review whole school procedures regarding

homework Writing new homework policy Further raise the profile of HW with a focus

on ‘time’, the different types of ongoing HW and opportunities for support with HW

Continue to share effective practice Finally Mr Johnson discussed: Awards Ceremony SQA Examinations

o Additional support times Uniform/Blazers Communication

The full presentation can be found on our school website under the ‘Parent Council’ tab.

School Uniform

Over the past year we have been considering the introduction of Blazers. As part of this process we have canvassed opinion at Parent Council Meetings, Pupil Management Group Meetings and Pupil Focus Groups. We also included a question in all of our Parents/Carers Meeting Surveys seeking views on this subject. It is clear that there is a significant majority in favour of uniform and as such we would suggest two ways forward: Introduce Blazers, without braiding to the

new S5 pupils starting August 2018, whilst the new S6 pupils have the usual Blazers with red braiding

Have a focus to ensure all other S1 – S4

pupils wear full uniform consisting of: White Shirt (allows the school tie to

be worn properly) School Tie (above the second top

button – always be visible) Black/Navy Trousers or Skirt

(modest length) Black/Navy Jumper or Cardigan Plain Black Shoes

We appreciate the possible cost implications of having Blazers and as such we have an available stock of new shirts, trousers, skirts and blazers and will support families as appropriate with these if requested. We would like to ask for your support in this renewed uniform drive. We firmly believe this will enable us to take another step forward in regard to pupil attainment and their achievements.


PTA News

At the last meeting, the PTA received bids from various school departments and I am delighted to report that PTA funds were available to be distributed as follows:-

Online Homework App - £2000

School Show ‘Wizard of Oz’ - £200

Science Dept - £420

Maths Dept – Calculators - £230 All these contributions would not be possible without the generous support of the parent body of Gryffe High School. So, thank you very much to all those who have supported the PTA and taken time to attend PTA fundraising events. As you can see, these funds are put to good use for the benefit of all the pupils. Please be mindful of this and provide support to the PTA at future events and fundraising drives. The PTA are now selling raffle tickets for the Annual PTA Raffle. Each ticket costs £2 each (or £10 for a book). There’s a fantastic prize of Cirque du Soleil tickets up for grabs, so please visit the school office (or send your money in an envelope) and get yourself in the draw. The winner will be drawn on 14th June. Finally, the PTA are always looking for new members, even if you can’t spare a lot of time, any time you can spare, would be much appreciated. The date of the next PTA meeting is Monday, 14th May 2018 at 6:30pm in the Conference Room at the school. If you are interested in joining the PTA, or just helping out, as and when you can, please come along to this meeting. Alternatively, you can contact the PTA via Mr Kevin Christie (DHT) at the school, or you can visit the PTA/Parent Council website at:- www.gryffehighschoolcouncil.org/events/ Or visit the PTA facebook page at: www.facebook.com/groups/182401165463963

http://www.gryffehighschoolcouncil.org/events/

http://www.facebook.com/groups/182401165463963


Awards Ceremony 2018 What a night! Such pride in our pupils when you see so many hundreds of smiling faces as they received their awards at the Annual Award Ceremony. Awards celebrate effort in a wide range of categories including Sport, Music, Community, Wider Achievement as well as Attainment. A packed hall was entertained by guest speakers, former DHT Mr Peter Holsgrove and BBC Shetland star, former pupil Erin Armstrong. Erin passed on a wealth of reassuring advice. School Captains Alex Evans and Abbie Mitchell gave the vote of thanks and spoke of their 6 years at Gryffe. Special Category prizes were awarded by Assistant Director of Education, Mr Steven Quinn. A big thank you to all of our guests. Thank you to all staff who helped, especially to Mrs Willbond for pulling the full evening together.


ROAR – A Time to Reflect At our Award Ceremony in April, we heard our School Captains talk about their own experiences at Gryffe and how they have achieved things they would never have anticipated. They spoke to a room filled with young people who demonstrated excellent effort and determination in a range of subjects or extra-curricular fields as well as their peers who will be graduating with them. Our S6 may not remember every lesson or technical term but if considered, they will be able to attribute parts of their current achievements, skills, abilities and even characters to the wide range of subjects studied through the years. As our young people move onto the next stage (whether in school or out in the world of higher education) we encourage reflection on what has been learned, achieved and even what has not gone well to be used as a springboard for another chapter that will be even greater than the one before with hard work and determination. RoA NEWS: In the month of March, Gryffe joined the world in celebrating Global Money Week – Money Matters Matter. From the 12-18th March, our S2 pupils were given a wide range of opportunities to embrace and utilise their Numeracy Skills through calculating percentages and VAT, graph formations, exchange rates, licensing and much more!

For more information visit globalmoneyweek.org.

LEARNING DIARY LOOK OUT! S1-3: RoA Week pages – May brings with it our Responsibility of All week which we will see highlights of in next month’s issue. In the Learning Diaries, there are pages dedicated to this week for our pupils to track and reflect on their development of Literacy, Numeracy, Health and Wellbeing and Skills for Learning, Life and Work across all subjects. Senior Phase: Remember the diary has study tips and question guides to utilise in exam revision!


It is official! Mr. Deans was presented with our Digital Schools Award on Tuesday 1 May, at a ceremony in Tulliallan Primary School in Fife, attended by the Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science, Shirley-Anne Somerville. Gryffe High was one of only 3 Secondary schools in Scotland to achieve the award, which recognises Digital Excellence in areas such as Acceptable Usage Policy, Digital Technology Plan, the school website and recent effective use of any tools, practices or initiatives.

As study leave approaches, the Eco Committee waved goodbye to their S6 members with the now traditional pizza party (at least we recycle the boxes!). The S6 pupils have made a huge contribution to the Eco provision in Gryffe and have put together an excellent recycling programme and improved the social media part of the committee immensely. Their organisation and enthusiasm has been an example for the younger members – S1 are also pictured doing a Community Clearup. We are currently compiling our application for our next Green Flag application and with the wealth of activities taking place, we are confident that we will be celebrating our second Green Flag come the end of June. We have also seen an increase in members in recent months so we are well placed to continue the good work carried out this session. Get Involved! Mr J Clark – on behalf of the Eco Committee


Fairtrade Fortnight As promised in last month’s newsletter, here is a fuller report on all of the Fairtrade work that is going on in the school. The theme of this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight was ‘Come on In’. The purpose was to encourage more people to choose Fairtrade so that producers get a better deal and are able to achieve an improved standard of living. Our surprise snow days impacted some events, which resulted in 3 weeks of Fairtrade activities overall! Highlights included our Ben and Jerry’s Stall, Rich Person/ Poor Person Breakfast and our Annual Bake Off. Bake Off Cakes were judged using 3 criteria: appearance, taste and number of Fairtrade ingredients included. Mrs Stark was delighted to be crowned star baker in the staff bake off with Mr and Mrs Brown receiving runner up. Every year we are blown away with the standard of cakes produced by our pupils and this year was no different! After a long and hard judging process the winners were declared as Miscellanous Bake – Ella Brawley, Eimear Macgee and Orla Small (S2) with their Fairtrade vegetable patch Cupcakes - Rebecca Graham (S2) Traybake – Keira McGarvey (S1) with some fabulous brownies. Thanks to Lorna Kinloch from Houston and Killellan Kirk for coming in to judge for the 3rd year running! Rich Person/ Poor Person Event Pupils were encouraged to buy tickets for a Fairtrade interval. 80% of the tickets were for a rich snack and 20% for a poor snack. This reflects the division of wealth in the world with 80% of the world’s population living on less than £10 a day. The tickets pupils received were down to luck just like the circumstances you are born into. Rich people received a breakfast of waffles and Fairtrade chocolate and bananas. Poor people received a Fairtrade Hot Chocolate. The event was very well attended and raised awareness of the importance of Fairtrade. Thanks to all pupils and staff for their efforts and involvement during Fairtrade Fornight. A special thanks to heads of Citizenship Kirsty Donnachie, Keira Florence and Sarah Fogarty for their commitment throughout the year. Article - Miss H Rowan on behalf of The Citizenship Committee


Keep Safe Ambassador Training We recently attended the Ambassador training for the charity ‘I am me Scotland’ – an organisation focussed on tackling disability hate crime across Scotland. One of the charity initiatives is the ‘Keep Safe’ programme, creating safe spaces that are inclusive environments for disabled and vulnerable people who feel scared, lost or are a victim of crime in the community. The Keep Safe Ambassador programme trains young people aged 14-18 to recognise and report disability hate crime when in schools and their wider community. We attended Paisley Grammar School for our day’s training, along with other selected pupils from various schools in Renfrewshire. At the training, we were put into teams to complete a series of tasks, which related to disability hate crime. We had the opportunity to share our current knowledge and were then taught more about each of the topics and how to recognise and identify when an incident has taken place. We then watched ‘I am Me’, an educational movie to raise awareness of disability hate crime, which told the story of Charlie, a young male with Autism and his experience of living independently. At the end of our training, we all came away having a lot more knowledge that we once had and developed many skills such as teamwork, communication and evaluation. Moving forward, we plan to promote ‘I am Me’ and its initiatives, as well as train fellow pupils in how to recognise incidences of disability hate crime. One of our Keep Safe Ambassadors, Mirren Murray, was also invited to be Lead Ambassador for Renfrewshire as a result of her dedication to support the charity and has already attended further training workshops, supporting the development of fellow ambassadors within the authority. We recommend that all pupils download the Keep safe App – it contains a link to Police Scotland for reporting disability hate crime and a map of the nearest keep safe places and other useful information to keep themselves and others safe. In addition to this, we would also encourage fellow pupils to sign up for a free Keep Safe Card, which allows a person to fill in important contact information and carry it on them in case of emergency. It would contain details of their disability and who to contact should they require assistance.

Article – Mirren Murray (4W), Shannon Howard (4W), Emily Wilson (4W) and Craig Brennan (5F)


Jenny is looking forward to Scottish Space School

Very well done to S5 pupil Jenny Hall who has secured a much coveted place at Scottish Space School 2018. This will take place at University of Strathclyde from 10th to 14th June.

There were 549 applications across the country for 100 places!!! 'Every summer 100 successful S5 Scottish school pupils attend a week-long residential summer school with us. The programme for the week is made up of a mix of lectures, labs and workshops on a space theme and it is delivered by academics and researchers from the Faculty, as well as visiting NASA representatives.’ Enjoy the experience Jenny! Article - Mrs P McGeough Scottish Space School Link Teacher

Edinburgh Festival Fringe Poster Competition Success

Well done to Erika-Jane Martin in S6 for being short listed for the Fringe poster schools competition. Her work will be exhibited in Dynamic Earth, in Edinburgh from the 22 May-27 Aug 2018. This is a wonderful achievement as there were over 4600 entries received from schools throughout Scotland. Well done also to Catriona Christie in S1 who submitted an entry for this prestigious competition. Article - Mrs M Wilson Faculty Head Art and Design Technology


YPI (Youth and Philanthropy Initiative) Finals Starting in November, all S4 were introduced to The Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI). YPI is an initiative that tries to raise awareness about philanthropy and social issues in our local community. As time goes on throughout the year, the pupils work hard on their presentations alongside their chosen charities, which lots of them felt passionate about. The most discerning teams compete to win £3000 on behalf of their charity. On 16th March, the whole school YPI finals took place in the theatre and after some excellent presentations and close judging, the winning group was from 4B – Molly, Brad, Oliver and Kate and their chosen charity was ‘Creative Therapies’. When talking to the group members they said it was a “great experience” and “very beneficial” and as a result of them winning, their charity will now be bringing in a therapist to the school. Article by Craig Ross (S4) Photographs by Sasha Kaloheris (S2)


Young Enterprise – Pets at Gryffe Success The Media team recently interviewed Mrs Connor in ABC, who looked after the Young Enterprise group this year. Young Enterprise aims to educate young people by giving them the opportunity to work as a team and actually run a business. The group won the runner up prizes for Best Business Report and for Best Interview in the YE Finals. Q. How many are in the group? A. 9 in the group – all in S6 Q. What was their product? A. Pet hampers with an assortment of pet stuff - toys, treats, shampoo etc Q. It looked like they were a wee bit under pressure meeting Christmas orders - a sure sign that they had a good product to market? A. Yes, they were busy. It seemed to be a popular product. They had completed some market research in advance through their own friends and families, and some staff. They were mostly pet owners themselves and their own feedback was valuable. Q. What was their involvement with Braehead Clan? A. Our contact was with the Finance Director of Braehead Clan. He was very helpful and competitive. He was keen for the group to do well. He supplied the initial £100 set up fee required by Young Enterprise. He also managed to get sponsorship from Krispy Kreme (doughnuts to sell to bring in funds for stock) and Nairnbrook (banner for stall and tshirts). Braehead Clan were really supportive, even allowing the group to sell their product at matches. Q. How successful was the business? A. The business was very successful and owes a lot of it's success to the support of teachers and parents that purchased hampers from them. They ended up with a reasonable profit and this money will be given to a charity (still to be chosen). On behalf of the group Mrs Connor would like to thank all who supported Pets at Gryffe. Here's hoping for another great product or service next term ... and your continued support!


The Media Team had an extremely busy day reporting for BBC News School Report Day. They organised themselves into reporting teams complete with Editors who had the final say on their work. Pupils got a real taster of working to a schedule. Librarian Miss Dunn helped to upload their work onto the BBC Map. Their reports included Brett Wild at the Paralympics, Plastic Bottles, Memories of Stephen Hawking and an in-depth interview with Mr. Johnson. As well as experience with journalism, cameras and audio, the pupils proved their editing skills were also amazing. Very well done to all involved! Mrs P McGeough on behalf of the Media Team

BBC News School Report 2018


Gryffe’s Linguists Debate

In March, some of S4’s Modern Languages pupils were lucky enough to partake in a Multilingual Debate at Heriot Watt University, outside of Edinburgh. Debating a motion about the threat which social media presents to young people’s health and safety, the debate was a fantastic experience. Native speakers of Spanish, French, German, Chinese and British Sign Language, truly allowed for this to be an eye opener to the challenges which the University’s Under Graduate Translators have to face while under pressure and how they rise to the challenge. Following the debate, pupils visited the Chinese Institute, where they sampled an authentic Chinese lunch. Here, the students also got involved in learning how to make Chinese knots and they also got their names written in Chinese. All in all, this experience was muy bien / fantastique for all of the pupils that took part! Article by Aaron Mills (S4)

Nat 5 Hospitality Final Practical Dishes Excellent effort from S4 HFT pupils in their final Nat 5 Hospitality practical exam. Smoked Fish Potato Nests, Cajun Chicken with Boiled Rice and Toffee and Pear Meringue Roulade......These look absolutely delicious - well done!


Gryffe Science welcomes visitors from Singapore

Gryffe High were pleased to welcome guests into their Science department. These visitors came from both the University of Glasgow (Mrs Pat Duffy) and the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore (Dr TAN Geok Chin Ivy and Ms LIM Seok Lai). The aim of the visit was to observe the partnership model between the University of Glasgow and Gryffe High. They observed Student Teacher Miss Hazel Meney working with an S3 Biology class. S3 enjoyed learning about energy transfer in food webs through an active learning game. Feedback from our visitors was exceptionally positive with particular note on the motivation and enthusiasm of both students and teachers alike. It is the intention of these higher educational institutes to work in partnership for many years to come as they discuss the potential of creating an exchange programme. For 5 weeks, students from the University of Glasgow and the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University would switch positions and get the unique and exciting opportunity to teach in a different country. At Gryffe, we were more than happy to be involved in this innovative undertaking and we wish both institutes well with their further endeavours.


S1/2 Author Visit – Philip Caveney Philip Caveney is best known for his children’s books under the pen name Danny Weston. Some of his works include: The Haunting of Jessop Rise, Mr. Sparks, The Piper and Scarecrow is a previous winner of the Scottish Children’s Book Award. His books are perfect for children who enjoy a bit of a scare. Philip Caveney previously wrote adult thrillers, his pen name Danny Weston was actually a character from one of his adult thrillers. Gryffe High School had the pleasure of inviting Philip Caveney to speak to the S1s and S2s. The atmosphere in the theatre was ecstatic whilst waiting for Philip to start speaking. The buzz immediately died down and the excited buzz was replaced with awe. There was silence when Philip was speaking, as everyone was captivated. Philip started with small anecdotes from his school days, talking about his strict and somewhat evil teachers. However his unpleasant school days came with some up sides, because he had the time to weave stories together. When he and his classmates were supposed to sleeping, he shared his stories, making all of the schoolboys’ days- and nights - a little more bearable. Philip then went on to tell his pupils about his books, explaining that when he first started, he began by writing adult thrillers. However, after his daughter asked to read a piece of his work, he had to think of a children’s story to write, as an adult thriller is not the most ideal reading material for a child! After thinking hard about a story to write for his daughter an idea came, a boy jester; and so the Sebastian Darke series was born. The Sebastian Darke series has done very well and has even been translated into several languages. Philip then proceeded to talk about The Haunting of Jessop Rise and read an exciting and gripping extract from it. It’s fair to say that S1s and S2s were enthralled and inspired by Philip Caveney’s talk! At the end of the session, I was lucky enough to have the chance to talk to Philip Caveney. It was really quite extraordinary to meet an author, a person who has the ability to create an entire world with just a pen. He even gave advice to me and other budding writers and journalists, who had waited behind for the chance to speak to a real-life published author! Philip Caveney and his books will inspire children to read and write. All of Philip Caveney’s books should have a place on your bookshelf! Article - Elisa Terra 1F Photographs – Ellie Shaw 1W


Spring Has Sprung at Gryffe Just before the school stopped for Easter, Spring officially began at Gryffe High School. Attendees of Gryffe’s Annual Spring Concert were treated to a collection of some of the best musicians we have to showcase. Not forgetting a sneak preview of the upcoming Wizard of Oz show, this will be held in the school on 20th and 21st June. This year’s concert included a cornucopia of music, including the pipe band, the senior guitar ensemble, the jazz band, the concert band, the choir, as well as the debut performance from Gryffe’s newest rock band - ‘The Lines’. The winners of this year’s Young Musician of the Year (Junior, Senior and Intermediate) also performed. The event gave the audience a chance to try some Yellow-Brick Cupcakes made by pupils. Overall, this year’s Spring Concert was most enjoyable and a huge well done is in order to the many pupils who took part as well as the Music Department and everybody else who was involved. Article by Aaron Mills (S4)


A Shout Out from SfL….. Raising ASD Awareness Before the Easter break, the SfL Ambassadors worked very hard in raising awareness for ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) in the school. Some of our S6 SfL ambassadors were involved in delivering assemblies to S1, S2 and S3, providing excellent information on the key facts about the condition, as well as highlighting many famous individuals with ASD. Overall, the assemblies were a huge success and our ambassadors received positive feedback from our learners. Since the start of the academic session, our ambassadors have also been involved in fundraising to support the various awareness weeks we have had (ADHD and Dyslexia). As a result, the funds raised will contribute towards resources for our learners with additional support needs to use in class - for example coloured overlays, coloured jotters and pencil grips. On behalf of SfL, many thanks for all the fundraising contributions that have taken place during the awareness weeks and parents’ evenings.

Sunshine for our Easter Service Mrs Brown ordered sunshine for our Annual Easter Service and it arrived! An ideal morning for S1 and S2 to walk down to St. Machar's church in Bridge of Weir. Thank you to Rev. Hanneke Marshall for conducting the service, our Jazz Band for providing the music and our pupils who participated in the Service.


ABC Pupils of the Month

This is to celebrate a range of achievements and hard work within the Faculty.

Class Name Class Name

1.1 Amy McGowan 2.1 Jack Nelson

1.2 Elisa Terra 2.2 Keir Gaffney

1.3 Kieron Morrison 2.3 Ryan Shepherd

1.4 Connie Leonard 2.4 Cailean Simpson

1.5 Charlotte Jeffrey 2.5 Euan Johnson

1.6 Lucy James 2.6 Calum Jamieson

1.7 Kayden McMillan 2.7 Adam Graham

1.8 Archie Sinclair 2.8 Roma Crichton

1.9 Alasdair Campbell 2.9 Daniel Robertson

Girl’s Winner Abby McNish – 4W Abby has absolutely excelled in her effort this month, and all year, both in practical and theory lessons. Abby’s written work in National 5 has been of an exceptional standard. This is due to Abby’s level of commitment to her work to ensure she achieves the grade she deserves. And above all this, Abby always has a smile on her face and is a perfect pupil in the class. A very well deserved winner!

STAR OF SCIENCE The science department continue to celebrate success through the star of science award. Each teacher nominates one pupil out of all the pupils they teach who has demonstrated extra efforts in science. Below is the list of winners for March.

Mrs Costello – Alexander McCaw 4Bn Mrs McGeough – Tom McDermott 1.3 Miss Robinson – Abigail Evans 3Wa Mrs Henry – Calum Carswell 5Bn Mrs Smith – Roma Crichton 2.8 Miss Turnock – Jenna Telford 1.9 Miss Ballantyne – Evie Livingstone 1M Mrs Jamison – Rachael Bell 3F Jennifer Boyd 3Wa Mrs Taylor – Harry Montgomery 3F Abbey Wighton 6W Mr Christie – Louise Gordon 4M Mr Whyte – Kaylynn McKinnon 1.5 Miss Badger – Jordan Madden 6Bn Miss Tipping – Orla Small 2.1

Boy’s Winner Matthew McCaw – 5W Matthew has demonstrated an outstanding attitude and maturity within the physical education department. This has seen Matthew excel within the Higher course and showcase unwavering commitment to his role as a Young Ambassador. He has led transition sport challenges, reintroduced the Sport Star of the Month award and opened an S1 HWB event. Throughout these initiatives, Matthew has impressed by showing great patience, care and enthusiasm when working with young people. This combined makes Matthew a worthy winner of March’s Pupil of the Month award.


Etihad Football Trip On Tuesday 10 April, 43 pupils and 5 members of staff attended the Manchester City vs Liverpool fixture at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, for the Champions League Quarter Final. After leaving Gryffe at around 12pm, the group arrived in plenty of time to enjoy the pre-match buildup and activities which were on offer. One of the lucky pupils even managed to get himself interviewed by BT Sports! The match itself was exciting and finished 2-1 to Liverpool (a surprising result indeed!) The tired bunch arrived back at Gryffe at approx 3:00 am after a thoroughly enjoyable trip! Article - Mr C McBlain, Design Technology Department


Gryffe pupils in Badminton success for 1st Houston Boys Brigade Very well done to Ewan Harvie (S6), Justin Langan (S5), Christopher Torrance (S5) and Jonathan Paris (S6) who represented the 1st Houston Boys Brigade in various regional rounds of the Badminton Championships and went on to win the Scottish Boys Brigade Badminton Championships 2018. This is the first time 1st Houston Boys Brigade have had this level of success in Badminton and it is an absolutely fantastic achievement. Not satisfied with this, the boys represented Scotland in the British Boys Brigade Badminton Championships 2018 on 21st April in Largs……and they WON!

Renfrewshire Schools Cross Country Championship Success

Gryffe High School were well represented in the recent Renfrewshire Schools Cross Country event. The run was moved to King George the Fifth playing fields due to the heavy snow the week before. Although flatter and faster, the course was still testing and all the pupils running worked incredibly hard and did the school proud. In the S1 Boys race, five pupils competed with John-Mark Kenneth and Tyler Pollok placing just outside the top 10 in the region. The team took 5th place overall. In the S3 boys event Jack Mitchell won individual bronze, with a brilliant run as the temperatures dropped and the skies threatened to open. Other standout performances saw the S3 girls come home with the trophy in the team event, with Mhairi Reid placing 4th closely followed by Hannah Adams in 6th place. Not to be outdone the S1 girls team also claimed first place in their event with four runners in the top six places. Evie Livingstone taking individual gold, Kassi Gribben claiming silver followed closely by Amy McVicker and Charlotte Jeffrey. Kassi Gribben, S1 Renfrewshire Girls Silver Medallist and Team Gold Medallist said: ‘It was a hard race as the conditions weren’t very good, it was very muddy and hard to run in. I was pleased to come in 2nd individually and with my team mates coming first overall in the team event.’ Well done to all the runners who took part. Article - Mr K Taylor, Geography Department


Our DofE Journey……….. Many pupils have been busy working towards their Duke of Edinburgh Awards with the school. 21 pupils have been out on GOLD expeditions. These have included Auchengillan. 22 pupils are working on SILVER. 90 S3 pupils have been out with staff during their Easter holiday, including overnight camping. They are working on their BRONZE award. Mr Taylor coordinates the groups, with the help of Duke of Edinburgh Instructors, other school staff and also some parents. Young Leaders are also being trained. Well done to all of the pupils who are really experiencing ALL weathers!


Gryffe to the Gold Coast Step Challenge

Following a fun filled morning taking part in their Health & Wellbeing Event, S1 pupils volunteered to take part in our 'Gryffe to the Gold Coast Step Challenge' in support of Sports Relief. They eagerly ran, jumped, moonwalked and sprinted their way around our outdoor course. We managed over 5000km, almost a third of the way to our destination! Well done to all involved who collected house points for participation, with Wallace house managing the most steps combined. Special Mention to Ryan Watson who came 1st overall and 2nd placed Deacon Stirrat!

WWiizzaarrdd ooff OOzz

Our Ozians are "A-ha-ha-ha-ing" the day away as we zoom into the final weeks of rehearsals. Thank you to the many parents and guardians who have continued to facilitate their child's participation in the show, we really appreciate it. In the weeks ahead, we will be gathering donations from local business owners in exchange for an advert in our programme. If you would like to purchase an advert for your local business please get in touch with Mrs Carter through the school office. (All monies raised are put back into the costs of the school show). Tickets will be on sale soon so watch this space! Remember to keep your diary free – 20th and 21st June… Article - Mrs B. Carter, English and Drama


World Challenge Expedition 2019…………. Bolivia!!!!!

There is a variety of fundraising going on at the moment. Pupils will then build up to their fitness test in June and expedition training in September. Here are just some of the fundraising events -

Ewan’s Craft Fayre S5 pupil Ewan Robertson organised a Craft Fayre in Kilbarchan to raise funds for his World Challenge expedition. The craft fayre was a great success with Ewan raising over £500. This was a tremendous sum and Ewan is very grateful for all the support. Eilidh’s Fundraising S5 pupil Eilidh Falconer has come up with a different idea…. ‘As part of my fundraising I have decided to shave my head! I have put a sheet in the staffroom and I would be very grateful if you would be willing to sponsor me. I have set the date to shave my head on the 3rd of June and will let you know the location once organised.’ Eilidh is also selling handmade brooches on an Instagram site called Friday Folk. (@Friday_folk) Contact Eilidh at [email protected] for more info on how to donate.

Cakebake (by Shaun Sweeney) In the lead up to the Easter holidays, I prepared an Easter-themed bake sale to raise money for the World Challenge expedition to Bolivia in June 2019. The stall, which was held on the 28th and 29th March included a variety of tasty treats including macaroon, tablet and homemade carrot and chocolate cake! Staff and pupils both entered the “Guess how many sweets in the jar” and “Guess the Easter Bunny’s Name” competitions which were extremely popular. Overall, the event was a great success and raised over £350 which was great.

Abseil (by Aaron Mills) On the 21st of April, ahead of next year’s World Challenge Expedition to Bolivia, 8 pupils participated in a daring abseil of the Falkirk Wheel. The 35 metre abseil, instigated by World Challenge, provided challengers with a great opportunity to gain sponsor money from family, friends, and teachers. The location of the abseil was changed from the Titan Crane, in Clydebank, to the Falkirk Wheel very last minute, but amongst everyone who took part, there was a consensus of opinion that this abseil was an amazing experience. Pictured L to R - Aaron Mills, Phoebe O'Neill, Lauren Lindsay, Elin Paton, Kayla Fraser and Scott Blair. Craig Newlands and Ewan Robertson were still doing their abseil when the picture was taken.


Upcoming priorities/events MAY Wed 2 Newsletter uploaded on to website Fri 4 In-Service Day Mon 7 Holiday Tue 8 Pupils Return, prompt 8:50 am start MyMerit Week 4 Start of S3 Pastoral Interviews Thurs 10 S3 Profiling – MyMerit update Fri 11 World Fairtrade Day Thurs 17 S1,S2,S3 Reports issued to pupils Tue 22 Activities Week Wed 23 Activities Week Thurs 24 Activities Week Fri 25 Holiday Mon 28 Holiday Tue 29 New Timetable begins for new S2,S3,S4 S2/S3 Scottish Studies work begins Thurs 31 New S5 Induction Day JUNE Fri 1 New S5 start timetable New S6 Induction Day Mon 4 New S6 start timetable Parent Council AGM, 7:00 pm start Wed 7 Newsletter uploaded on to website Class of 2018 - S6 Prom

Mr Colin Johnson Head Teacher

A First for Fleming House! This month saw the culmination of the House Competition for Session 2017/2018. It was a fierce contest from the outset with all houses out for the win. Across the year the lead has changed, with a number of pupils receiving recognition for their various achievements through individual tokens, contribution to whole school events and wider achievements certificates out with school. It was pleasing to see pupils across all year groups becoming involved in the competition and in turn inspiring others. In the end, it was Fleming house that claimed their first win of the house competition and they are now busy planning their day out for June to celebrate their successes. However, the end of one competition marks the start of the next - who will be our winners for 2018-2019? Will Burns claim their first victory or will one of the others houses be crowned victorious? It's up to you as pupils to get involved! Reminder - parents/carers/coaches can nominate for achievements certificates through the whole school website. A nomination form can be found under the 'pupil zone tab' and brief detail completed and submitted. Thank you to all pupils, staff and parents for making this year’s competition such a success and here's to an even closer competition next year!

Gryffe at the Gold Coast 2018 · Photos of Callan Low (Left) and Chris Cleary (Right) used with...

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Transcript of Gryffe at the Gold Coast 2018 · Photos of Callan Low (Left) and Chris Cleary (Right) used with...