Gryffe High School · Alison Hedley. 2nd place was ‘Hold on to our world’ by Eleanor Ward 4Wa...

www.gryffehigh.renfrewshire.sch.uk

Gryffe High School

Old Bridge of Weir Road, Houston, PA6 7EB Tel: 01505 690633 Fax: 01505 690888 e-mail: [email protected]

web address: www.gryffehigh.renfrewshire.sch.uk Head Teacher: Mr Colin H Johnson BSc

Date: 7/11/12 Dear Parents/Carers/Relatives/Pupils I hope you enjoy reading about our school and the significant achievements of our pupils in this edition of our monthly newsletter.

Index Page

1 Susie is in Space School (Texas)

2 PTA Christmas Fayre

3 October was Global Diversity Month

4 Book Sale for Mary’s Meals 5 Henna Hand Art 6 National Dress Day 7 Rainbow Turtle Stall 8 ‘The World about Us’ Geography

Competition 9 Eco-Committee News 10,11 S1 - ALL KITTED OUT FOR PE 12 S6 PSE Event – ‘Bite the Ballot’ 13 Fireworks Talk – S1 and S2 14 PTA Ladies’ and Daughters’ Pamper Night 15 Angus Taylor S2 plays ‘Friedrich’ Memorial Unveiling in Paisley 16 Newcastle v Manchester United Trip 17 Macmillan Coffee Morning

Upcoming priorities/events

Susie is in Space School (Texas) Susie Little, our head girl, is currently thoroughly enjoying her trip to Houston in Texas! Susie has kindly agreed to provide pictures and a full mission report on her return and this should appear in next month’s newsletter. If you want a sneak preview of what Susie has been up to at Space School, check out the following link where you will find Mission blogs and pictures. http://www.scottishspaceschool.org.uk/Houston2012/Pages/TheWeekInPictures.aspx Our photograph is courtesy of the PAISLEY EXPRESS.

MAD EVENT - FREE

Thursday 8 November

Doors Open at 7:00 pm

Performance at 8:00 pm

Exciting event showcasing music,

art, photography, film making,

fashion, jewellery, gymnastics

and environmental art

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.scottishspaceschool.org.uk/Houston2012/Pages/TheWeekInPictures.aspx

http://www.scottishspaceschool.org.uk/Houston2012/Pages/TheWeekInPictures.aspx


Please remember and support:

Thursday 22 November 6:30 – 9:00 pm


October has been a busy month with many events and activities both in class and out of class to raise awareness of Fairtrade and celebrate Global Diversity. Our photographs and articles on the following pages highlight a few of the whole school events –

Book Sale for Mary’s Meals

Henna Hand Art

Rainbow Turtle Stall

National Dress Day and

‘The World about Us’ Geography Competition Many departments ensured a Global Diversity theme and the following is only a FLAVOUR of what was happening throughout the month. English – Researched authors from different countries Geography – Global Farming Systems History – Mining around the World Art & Design – Mexican, Chinese and African activities Music – Latin American ,Scottish and Indonesian music RME – Islamic beliefs Health, Food & Technology – Foods of the World project for Senior pupils as well as a cross

curricular project with Modern Languages on ‘Crepes’ Business & Computing – International city brochure Modern Studies – SCIAF and diversity in USA Mathematics – ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ and Egyptian Maths Science – Scientists around the World Project Modern Languages – La Francophonie and European Project PE – Swedish football, African Hockey and Dance SfL – Morocco and Marrakech focus S1 Integrated Social Subjects – Group work on Asylum Seekers Drama – News Mimes Technical – Global Bridge Design PSE – Citizenship Committee Presentations The canteen joined in by providing Themed Food to go with some international music in the last week of October. Many thanks to ALL who supported this month.


Global Diversity - Book Sale in Aid of Mary’s Meals

After weeks of collecting donated books from S1 English classes, it was time for our book sale to go ahead. 50p for a book and a handful of gums was the deal, and pupils weren’t slow in taking up the offer! Books were bought for themselves, and for friends and family. A total of £62 was raised for Mary’s Meals, who provide food for school children in Malawi. Well done to all the S1 pupils for donating the books and thanks to all who came along on the day and made it such a great success. Photographs – John Runcie S1, Jasmine Galvin S1,

Ian Malcolm S2 Article - Mrs C. Kerr, Librarian


Global Diversity – Henna Hand Art

On Friday 5 October and Friday 12 October, the S6s, along with Mrs Smith, did Henna hand tattoos in the school library to raise money for the Save The Children charity. Lots of students brought along a pound and a consent form and they got their hand tattoo done. There were many beautiful designs that you could have temporarily tattooed onto your hand or arm. An S2 student said, “At first, it felt a bit weird, but after a while I got used to the paste on my skin. I am very pleased with my beautiful design on my arm.” Article – Jasmine Galvin S1 Photographs – Jasmine Galvin S1 John Runcie S1 Shona Ferguson S1 Jennifer Lowson S5


Global Diversity – National Dress Day On Friday 12 October pupils were encouraged to dress in National Costume celebrating and recognising various cultures and countries from all around the world. As you can see from our pictures, many pupils took part and the variety of costume was amazing. Many staff also dressed in National Costume and our picture shows the FULL science staff going completely international with a splendid array of National Dress. Photographs – Jennifer Lowson S5 and Adeel Rasul, Andrew Grant and Shona Ferguson (all S1)


Global Diversity – Rainbow Turtle Stall

On Friday 26 October, pupils swarmed around the many and varied goods on sale when the Rainbow Turtle shop (based in Paisley) set up a stall in the school library. Rainbow Turtle was set up in Paisley in 2002 by a group concerned with the promotion and development of Fairtrade. The objective was to raise public awareness of fair trade and encourage more people to buy fairly traded products. The shop stocks a diverse range of goods including foodstuffs, clothing, jewellery, crafts, cards, stationery, toys, gifts and leisure items and pupils enjoyed shopping from a vast range of goods that had been brought along. Many thanks go to Liz Cotton who always helps support Fairtrade within the school and who set up the stall with help from the Fairtrade Committee. Moira Stark (Science Technician in the school) is the Rainbow Turtle Co-ordinator on the Committee and is also a huge support helping the pupils. Article – Media Team Photographs – Jennifer Lowson S5 and Adeel Rasul, Andrew Grant and Shona Ferguson (all S1)


‘The World Around Us’ Photo Competition

During Global Diversity month pupils in Geography were given the opportunity to enter a photo competition entitled ‘The world around us’. The theme was open to individual interpretation with a requirement that entries had a sense of Geography at their heart and that all entries were the pupils own work. There were lots of fantastic photographs entered by pupils ranging from S1 – 4 each showing how diverse the world is. The winning entry chosen by our Higher Geography pupils was ‘Loch Lubnaig’ by Alison Hedley. 2nd place was ‘Hold on to our world’ by Eleanor Ward 4Wa and Gwen Gillham 4W. In addition to our in school competition all of the photographs were also entered into a national photograph competition run by the Scottish Association of Geography Teachers. John Runcie 1W was successful in reaching the final 12 of the competition. His photograph ‘Ginger’ will appear in the SAGT calendar 2013 under the month of April.

‘Loch Lubnaig’ Alison Hedley 2W

John Runcie S1 with his entry ‘Ginger’ receiving his certificate & 2013 calendar

‘Hold on to our world’ Eleanor Ward 4Wa and

Gwen Gillham 4W

Article – Ms Iafrate


Eco-Committee News The Eco committee were very pleased to have a visit from Emily Platt a countryside ranger from Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park. Emily took a tour of the school grounds with some members of the committee and talked to the group about choosing the best location for the proposed Gryffe High School Biodiversity Garden. Emily provided information on managing the wild areas of the school grounds with the overall aim of increasing biodiversity by encouraging plants and animals into the area. When complete, the garden would be an invaluable resource for the Science department as well as enhancing our school and local environment A lot of excellent ideas were discussed including the best locations for bat and bird boxes, seeding a wildflower garden and building an insect hotel. All of the Eco-Committee activities and new developments are posted on the Eco-committee bulletin board in the School Concourse. Photographs – Mr Gibb Article – Mrs McAleavy


S1 - ALL KITTED OUT FOR PE

What some S1 Pupils have to say about PE When I went to my first P.E. class I was really scared. Then I met my P.E. teacher and they made me feel a lot better. S1 P.E. is a lot of fun and is good and healthy for you. We play lots of games like lacrosse, rugby, netball and for the 3k fun run we trained by doing a lot of running. This year, the P.E. department has a great new P.E. kit. The S1’s have only been offered the kit to see how well it goes. The new kit is comfortable and easy to move in and looks very smart. I really like wearing it and taking part in all of the exercise. Article by Erika-Jane Martin S1 P.E. at Gryffe High School is great this year. The new S1’s have a new P.E. kit which is a white t-shirt with the school logo on the chest. It looks great when everybody is wearing the same uniform and as of Monday the 1st of October the uniform has become mandatory for all S1’s. The P.E. department is currently doing Lacrosse and netball. The S1’s have also done basketball and had a go on the machines in the fitness suite. The fitness suite has exercise bikes, running machines and a few weight machines. The weight machines are only really used by the S3’s and above, although as part of Activ8 this year, S1’s have had a go on some of the weight machines. S1 pupil Jasmine Galvin hopes that the P.E department will do more Lacrosse after the October break because she really enjoyed it. Another S1 girl really enjoyed doing basketball and is now enjoying rugby! Article - Shona Ferguson S1


After consultation with pupils and parents over the last year, this session sees the introduction of a new PE kit for all S1 pupils. As you can see from the pictures, the kit consists of a newly designed white top with school badge and pupils have some choice in the style of bottoms they wear in a black or navy blue colour. Now produced, the S1 P.E. kit is fully enforced from Monday 1 October. There will be further consultation during this session to decide how best to eventually implement this across the whole school. Article - Mr O’Hare, Faculty Head Health and Wellbeing Photographs – Jennifer Lowson S5


S6 PSE Event – ‘Bite the Ballot’

On Friday 26 October "Bite the Ballot" came to Gryffe to speak to the sixth year pupils. "Bite the Ballot" is an organisation set up to encourage youth to vote and their speakers travel around schools all over the country to speak to teenagers. They are sponsored by the UK Cabinet Office and they were assisted by staff from Renfrewshire Council's Joint Valuation Board. Their aim is to make politics more accessible to youth, and as such their motto is "Be the Difference". The speakers started debates on Scottish Independence and the Death Penalty, sparking up people's interests before encouraging the sixth years to register to vote. Around 60% of the youth population do not vote, amounting to 4,000,000 people so the "Bite the Ballot" movement aims to encourage young people to have their say and vote. The session finished with the S6 signing up for registration Article – Nina Macdonald S6 Photographs – Ian Malcolm S2


Fireworks Talk – S1 and S2

On Tuesday 30 of October 2 firemen and a policeman came to Gryffe High School to talk about being safe with fireworks. This assembly was delivered to both S1 and S2. At the beginning a short video clip was shown called “Wee Shaun” about a boy who sadly died because his “friends” put a lit banger (small bomb) in a drawer. It exploded in Shaun’s face. This clip was played by actors but was based on a true story. The clip contained some disturbing images but was there to prove a very big point. The policeman talked about the types of fireworks you can get and the dangers that fireworks can cause. He showed some pictures of scars that people have had because of fireworks and then passed back over to the firemen. One fireman talked about a personal experience which was very sad. After that pupils were show some more images of injuries that fireworks and sparklers have caused. They played a short clip of the news showing a man who survived a firework exploding in his face. Although he could hardly talk, the man was determined to announce that he was never going near a firework again. To finish the talk the firemen showed a picture of a girls arm after being very badly burnt after using a sparkler incorrectly to show that sparklers should never be regarded as harmless. Information was also given about what would happen if you were under 16 and caught with fireworks. Although some of the images were quite scary, I am pretty certain on the 5th of November EVERYONE will be VERY careful with fireworks. Article - Shona Ferguson S1 Photographs – Jasmine Galvin S1


Gryffe High School PTA Ladies’ and Daughters’ Pamper Night

On Friday 5 October, Gryffe High School’s PTA held a ladies’ and daughters’ pamper night. With nearly one hundred tickets sold, it was a fantastic and very successful night. A few different stalls were set up for the evening including shellac nails, jewellery, nail painting, glitter tattoo’s, makeovers, cupcakes and lots more... all at great prices ! PTA member Evelyn Quigg said she was very pleased with the turnout at the evening, commenting it was great that many teachers showed up to support the school. One of the mothers that attended the pamper night said “I really enjoyed the pamper night, it was great to have my nails done for once and everything was at a great price!” The pamper night was overall a great night and everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves. Sheila McHarg told the school Media team ‘The PTA would like to thank all the ladies & younger ladies who came along to our recent Pamper Night and made it such a success. The evening was buzzing with atmosphere and raised a fantastic sum of £900 profit for school fund! Thanks to the hardworking team of PTA members who organised the evening and thanks also to the local business folks who took a table at the event and generously donated the fantastic prizes for our raffle . Looking forward to the Christmas Fayre on Thursday 22 November – a date for your diaries!!’ Mr Holsgrove added ‘Although I was only involved in the organisation of the PTA Pamper Evening (and the clearing up), I have been assured it was a thoroughly enjoyable night. On behalf of the school, I would once again like to convey our thanks to all who organised and all who supported the event. Our next big event is the Christmas Fayre which takes place in the school at 6.30pm on Thursday 22 November. We will have a huge variety of stalls selling all sorts of products. A great chance to get along and purchase some Christmas presents which are maybe just a bit different to what you might find in the shops.’ £2/£1 for adult/child tickets (and a free mince pie and coffee). Sounds like the bargain of the year! Tickets on sale from the school now. Article - Samantha Dunlop and Sophie Rotherforth S4 Photographs - Sophie Rotherforth S4


Angus Taylor S2 plays ‘Friedrich’ in the Pantheon’s production of ‘The Sound of Music’ at the King’s Theatre, Glasgow

Angus is currently starring in this fantastic production which is playing from Tuesday 30 October to Saturday 3 November. Angus burst on to the musical theatre scene when, in 2011 at age 11, he wowed audiences at Bridge of Weir Primary with his portrayal of KoKo in their production of The Mikado. He then joined the local theatre group PACE. His first performance for them was as a female character in a spoof of Take Me Out and followed this with Baby’s father in Dirty Dancing. Here at Gryffe High School, he played Scrooge in last year’s Christmas production and in summer, he played a bouncer in Boogie Nights. At PACE, Angus had roles in the Lion King, playing a hilarious hyena and a constable in a fantastic production of Les Miserables. He has just completed a ‘positive choices’ show which he performed at Glasgow City Chambers with PACE. Angus has thoroughly enjoyed playing the role of Friedrich in The Sound of Music and loved being part of the team. Look out for Angus in Jack and the Beanstalk at the Paisley Arts Centre this Christmas.

Memorial Unveiling in Paisley

Ian Doig and Susie Little, Head Boy and Head Girl, recently attended a Memorial Unveiling in Paisley to commemorate all those soldiers who have fallen in war since the end of World War 11. In representing Gryffe High School, they helped to lay wreaths at the Memorial and joined many veterans and local councils to mark the unveiling of the new memorial, outside Renfrewshire House.

Article – Ian Doig


Newcastle v Manchester United Trip On Sunday 7 October over 40 pupils and staff made a visit to Newcastle and St James’ Park to watch the Premier League tie between Newcastle FC and Manchester United. During the coach journey down everyone took part in a quiz. The winner was Josh Telfer 5W, 2nd place falling one mark short was Mr Morris. Josh’s prize was a Newcastle United home top which he got on arrival at the club shop. For the remainder of the journey to Newcastle some of the bus decided to make up a song to sing and sang it over and over and over again when walking to the stadium, during the match and on the bus on the way home – it has now stuck in all of our memories. It went like this... “Na na na na na na na na na na na Demba Demba ba Demba ba Demba Demba ba aaa...”. Unfortunately Demba ba didn’t manage to score in the game. Nor did anyone else from Newcastle FC, they had a small number of chances with Manchester United being the dominant team. In the end the result was 3 – 0 with Evans, Evra and Cleverley scoring. The trip was a great success and we hope to visit another stadium next year. Article and Photographs - Ms Iafrate

Article and photographs – Ms Iafrate


Communication Please feel free to contact us, via phone or email, and suggest any ways in which we can make improvements to our communication with parents. We would welcome helpful advice/opinion. I would also request, since we hope to show pictures of pupil activities on our website, that should you prefer your child not to be filmed or photographed then please contact the school office. In a similar vein, we are trying to build a record of our pupil’s achievements out of school. We have a wealth of talented pupils and would like to give them appropriate recognition wherever possible. Please feel free to contact me (by phone, letter or email), in order that I can be aware of any events or competitions coming up – it gives me an opportunity to talk to pupils as I take great pleasure in hearing of their successes. Mr Colin H Johnson Head Teacher

Upcoming priorities/events: NOVEMBER Thurs 8 MAD Event 7:00pm Fri 9 S4 Reports given to pupils Mon 12 National Anti-Bullying Week Parent Council Meeting; 7:00 pm Tue 13 S1 Interim Reports given to pupils Thurs 15 S1 Parents’ Meeting Thurs 22 PTA Christmas Fayre Mon 26 Start of S4 Prelims Thurs 29 S6 Big Questions Conference Fri 30 HOLIDAY DECEMBER Mon 3 Parent Council Meeting; 7:00 pm Fri 7 S5/6 Main Report given to pupils

Macmillan Coffee Morning

On Friday 28 September, the Gryffe High staff took part in the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. This annual event is a great way to raise money and raise awareness for this fantastic charity. Some of Mrs Webster’s S2 and S3 H,F&T pupils baked delicious cakes for the event, including carrot cake and caramel shortcake, as well as donating money.

Staff helped by bringing in their own home baking which was thoroughly enjoyed and there were some fantastic prizes to be won in the raffle. All of our raffle prizes were generously donated by staff. Our S6 pupils helped to sell some of the remaining cakes at lunchtime which went down a treat! We raised a fantastic total of £515 for Macmillan and we know that all the money raised will make a difference to cancer patients and their families. Thanks to everyone for your support! Photographs – Media Team Article – Mrs S. Smith

Gryffe High School · Alison Hedley. 2nd place was ‘Hold on to our world’ by Eleanor Ward 4Wa...

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