Larbert Link (MAY 2014)

Issue 30 May 2014

LARBERTlink

Welcome to another packed edition of the Larbert Link.I hope this finds you all well and trust that you had agood Easter break.As usual things kept on moving at a pace in school in the runup to the holidays and indeed over the holidays themselves.The Young Americans gave a rousing set of workshops andperformances with our pupils (and we're looking forward tothem returning next year), a visit from our partner school inGermany, a superb Expressive Arts showcase event, our firstever Film Festival at the Town Hall (with all films made by ourpupils), and we had very successful trips to Stratford, TheBattlefields and our second Gold Duke of Edinburgh expeditionto The Gambia. Coupled with all of that was a very successfulEaster School which provided valuable support to those makingthe final preparations for their SQA examinations and our ownTryst Community Sports Club also ran a hugely successful EasterMulti-Sports Camp with several of our Senior pupils providingsome of the coaching sessions. My thanks go out to all of thestaff and pupils who made this happen, it really is quiteimpressive and does make the difference!

We've also had our young people heavily involved in therecruitment of our staff for next Session. Prior to the holidayswe recruited for a new Principal Teacher of Science as well asteachers in History, Food & Consumer Technology, ModernLanguages, English, Computing and Maths and following thebreak we will have more interviews for Art, Biology andModern Languages. I am delighted to say that both thenumber and quality of applicants have both been very highensuring our pupils receive the very best both within and outwith the classroom. Our pupils have played very importantroles in providing us with feedback on the observed lessonsdelivered by the candidates and as part of the interview panels,which also gives them a real insight in to the world of workand what lies ahead. At the same time we also said good byeto Mr Daly in English and Mrs Roxburgh in Integrated PupilSupport, who between them gave 62 years of service to theschool. We wish them all the very best for a long, happy andhealthy retirement.

I would like to thank all parents and pupils who took the timeto support our planning application for our Larbert LegacyCycle Track. I am delighted to say that planning permission hasbeen approved and construction of our new 270,000 facilitywill soon get under way. This will provide a second-to-nonefacility for our young people and the local community and willbecome an integral part of our curriculum to further improvethe Health & Wellbeing experience. And as you may haveheard, in connection with cycling, we were very fortunate topay host to Sir Chris Hoy during the first week back who spentsome time with those involved in our Captains' Challenge thisyear. The Captains' Challenge started with a visit from thehome grown talent of Lachie Stewart (1970 Gold

Commonwealth Champion in Edinburgh) and there can be nobetter person to mark the culmination of the event than SirChris himself. The Captains' Challenge, and indeed all that thisyear's Seniors have achieved and contributed, has been quiteremarkable and it will be with very heavy hearts that we waveall of them off when they leave at the end of this Session - butthey will definitely leave their own lasting legacy.

There's much to come in the next couple of months. It goeswithout saying that we wish all of those embarking upon SQAexaminations all the very best of luck and are confident that allof the hard work, from pupils and teachers, will come tofruition. Our S6 Graduation Ceremony and Senior Prom will bea very appropriate way to mark the distinguished schoolcareers of nearly 200 leavers, our Celebration of Achievementand Prize Giving Ceremonies will recognise the hard work andtalent across all year groups (S1-3: Monday 9 June, S4-6:Tuesday 10 June) and our Dance Showcase (Friday 6 June) andSchool Show, Fame (16-20 June) will be a very fitting end to anincredibly successful year for which we hope we can count onyour support.

Right, off to see what else is happening! As always, pleasekeep in touch with us via our website (larberthigh.com), ourTwitter account (@LarbertHigh) or via email.

Kind RegardsJon Reid, Rector.

A Message from the Rector

With some help from Councillor Cowan, Doctor Who and the Daleksrecently materialised in the school library.

LARBERTlink - May 2014

Amnesty InternationalOur Amnesty International group have entered the Amnesty International Campaignercompetition and some of the senior members of the group have also entered the youngreporter and young songwriter of the year categories. Richenda Rae has made it to the topthree in the Young Reporter of the year competition. There were over 2,700 entries to thiscompetition, so this is an amazing achievement. She is due to attend an awards ceremony atThe Guardian in London.

Jack Thomson and Richenda Rae are also attending the NationalConference in Edinburgh in early April. Hopefully they will have a greattime and bring back lots of new ideas for the group!

The group have also been very busy campaign wise. The petal petition forYorm Bopha at Christmas was a huge success with over 40 petals beingsent from form classes. This was an amazing response and the group wantto thank everyone who added their signatures to this. They made a verycolourful petition as you can see. MRS R. BIRD

Around the CorridorsMUSIC NOTESThe following pupi

ls gained grades in Piano in the

Associated Board of the Royal Schools

of Music

exams on February 8th:

Caitlin Forret (S3) - Grade 3 - Pass (111

)

Melissa Morrison (S3) - Grade 5 - Pass (

110)

Rebecca Walker (S1) - Grade 1 - Pass (1

14)

The following

Larbert High pupils

have beensuccessful in gainin

g

membership of the

National Girls'

Choir:

Mhairi Sharkey S4

Emily Henderson S3

They will be taking part in a residentia

l course

from 14 - 19 April at Loretto School an

d will be

singing at the end-of-course concert o

n 19th

April at St Cuthbert's Church Edinburgh

.

DR C. CRADOCK

WIDER ACHIEVEMENTSDaniel Woods (SB2) has again qualified for thePony Club National Triathlon Championships whichwill be held in Milton Keynes in March. There willbe around 20 Scottish triathletes travelling southfor this.

Daniel trains with the Scottish Junior YouthDevelopment squad for pistol shooting. At thequalifying competition, Daniel shot 1000, thehighest possible score.

Lewis Simpson of (SA2) has yet again beenselected to train at the Japanese KarateShotorenmei International Seminar held in Tokyo,Japan in December 2013; this will be his fourth timebeing selected. And will be his fifth visit to Japan.

Lewis represents Scotland at karate internationallyand will compete in Belgium, Dublin, Denmark andEngland this year and South Africa next year. Thistraining opportunity is crucial to his development inhis sport.

IAIN TANNAHILL

YOUNG CARERSSincere thanks to Camelon Pro Bowl and Hairwayz Hairdressers ofLarbert, who hosted the latest Young Carers trips, for boys and girlsrespectively. These trips have meant a lot for many young peoplewhose own chances to get out andabout and enjoy themselves areseverely limited by theirresponsibilities.ABBIE MACMORRISMEAGHANFISHER

A CLASS ACTThe Expressive Arts WAO classescontinue to offer a dazzlingrange of opportunities to shine.The Faculty held an evening ofcelebration on March 31st toshowcase the achievements ofthe classes across the Faculty, andleft their audience suitably star-struck! BAILEY STEWART

DUKE OF EDINBURGHS AWARD

The new S4 Silver groups will be taking part in Navigation training

days throughout March at the grounds surrounding Stirling

University. This will involve learning how to use both maps and

compasses in preparation for their upcoming practice expedition

in May/June.

The S5 Silver groups are completing their presentations and online

E-D of E profiles in order to receive their awards.

The S6 Gold group are continuing with their fundraising efforts. In

January they held a successful Tina Turner Tribute night at the

Three Kings Hotel. They raised 1500 from ticket sales and a raffle

on the night. They will also be holding a Games Night at Tryst Golf

Club on Friday 4th April. The group are also required to

undertake a Gold practice expedition and this will be at the end of

March in the Pentland Hills (Edinburgh). CODY IZATT

Cycling SupremoSir Chris HoyOlympic gold medal cycling supremo Sir Chris Hoy cameto visit Larbert High on April 23rd. His visit wasorganised by the Captains as a highlight of the CaptainsChallenge programme which has inspired over 1200pupils to take up a challenge over the course of session2013-4 and included sports and culture.

Sir Chris spent time with representatives of the variousSchool of Sport groups before addressing over 300pupils from Larbert High, Carrongrange and the clusterprimaries. Ticket holders were identified for theirachievement over the session. The event took the formof a question and answer session which coveredSir Chriss upbringing in Edinburgh and hisachievements in cycling.

Sir Chris inspected plans for the Pump Track tobe built soon at the school, and vowed hewould be back to cycle on it.

The pupils were overwhelmed by the experienceof meeting Sir Chris and many of them, evennon-cyclists, found his words inspirational andrelevant in their own lives.

BAILEY STEWART

LARBERTlink - May 2014 page 3

CAPTAINS CHALLENGE: THE FIRST YEAR.The Captains Challenge has achieved some incrediblesuccesses over the first year: so far 6 Scottish athletes havevisited the school and addressed 800 pupils with messages ofmotivation and inspiration.

1200 pupils and staff have taken up the Challenge andfulfilled their own personal goals in sport and culture, andmany have felt encouraged in aspiring to worldchampionship level.

The Captains have been overwhelmed by the positiveresponse of pupils and staff. It is noteworthy that theCaptains themselves have organised almost all the eventswithout relying on the staff. Their motivation has been thebelief that everyone needs to set goals and work hard toachieve them. It is planned to keep the Captains Challengegoing as a permanent feature.

The Challenge has also helped to put Larbert High on themap, with four articles in the Falkirk Herald, 500

Facebook views, 300 Twitter followers, 100 Instagramfollowers and 500 blog hits. At the General TeachingCouncil(Scotland) conference on May 1st the Captains arehaving a stall to publicise the Challenge across all ofScotlands schools, and other athletes are expected to visitthe school as well.

A farewell message from the Captains as they prepare tomove onto the next chapter of their lives:

No challenge you set yourself is out of reach. Think big, andbreak it down into short term targets to reach your ultimategoal.

Fraser Johnston, Marnie McKay, Andrew Lauder, ConnorCloughley, Christine Kinnon, Ailsa Biggerstaff, Megyn Fraser,Fraser Malcolm, Andrew Gillespie, Lisa Mitchell and KirstyGrant.

Interview with FRASER JOHNSTON by IAIN TANNAHILL


This year, Larbert High Schools Science Faculty celebratedNational Science and Engineering week in style! We had afull programme of events linked to science, technology,engineering and maths events!

S1 GET ACTIVE OUTREACH TOUR All S1 pupils experienced a fantastic Get Active Science Show delivered by scientistsfrom the Glasgow Science Centre. Pupils find out what happens to their body whenthey exercise. Why does it feel different? We had some brave teacher and pupilvolunteers get up and active with the Glasgow Science Centre scientists.Carrongrange school also joined us for a session!

WorkshopsWe had a fabulous range of workshops for all to sign up to!!CSI Biology, Refraction Action, Forensic Chemistry, RenewableEnergy and Building a Cloud Chamber!


The hugely successful Trash Fas

hion Show hit town again on

Thursday March 6th, attracting

a sell-out audience at both

performances. Each costume s

howed startling originality with

some

that wouldnt look out of plac

e in Bond Street or 7th Avenue

while

others would have made Carn

aby Street in the 60s look posi

tively

respectable. Behind it was the

serious message that we throw

away

far too much material which co

uld instead be used for all kind

s of

creative purposes.

S2 Lab in a Lorry! Lab in a Lorry was parked outside the Max for 3 days and isan interactive mobile lab staffed by practisingscientists and engineers that gave our S2 pupils achance to explorescience through hands-on experiments. Pupilsenjoyed explored thescience behindresonance, drilling foroil and camera optics.

The pinnacle of National Science and Engineering Week wasthe Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM)careers Fair. Featuring companies and universities fromScotland this was for all 4th, 5th and 6th years, who weregiven a slot to attend. Pupils networked withrepresentatives from Herriot Watt University, BAE systems,Helia, Fibre Photonics, University of Edinburghs BiologyEngagement Team and many more! Pupils engaged indiscussion about the skills and qualifications needed to workin these companies.

Larbert High Schools First ever STEM Careers Fair!

Its in the canthe Trash Fashion Show


Some hae meat...The Reading Group with the Librarians Mr Smith and MrsMcElroy, together with the Reading Coordinator MrsSharkey, celebrated Robert Burns with poetry and song. Thegroup enjoyed an auspicious setting in the library in thepresence of the Rector Mr Reid and Principal TeacherIntegrated Pupil Support Mrs Disbury. The guest speakerfrom the English Faculty Mr Stephen Wilson spokeeloquently on Burns poem Address to The Toothache. This isthe first time an event of this nature has been hosted atLarbert High School and due to its success looks like it willbe an annual event in the school calendar. Emily Fergusonwas super as Poosie Nancy delivering the haggis into theoccasion with expertise.The Selkirk Grace wasdelivered with excellenceby Liam McCallum. Liamalso entertained thecompany through hismusical delivery of theSkye Boat Song and AllyBally. Mr Smith wasexcellent in his brilliantToast to the Haggis and

his wonderfulsinging of DonaldWheres yourTroosers. MrsMcElroy togetherwith Emily, Jack,Hannah, Jessica andAimee expertlydelivered To AMouse. MhairiSharkey in S4 wasexcellent with herlovely delivery of Caledonia. Mrs Sharkey masterminded theproceedings as Master of Ceremonies and contributed toproceedings with her singing of Auld Lang Syne (in theEddie Reader genre). Thanks must go to the excellentcatering provided by the team with special thanks to MissAnderson. Thank you to the Rector ,Mr Reid, for his Vote ofThanks, and to Mrs Disbury for her support withphotography and Twitter information. This was a first classScottish event for all who participated and looks like thefirst of many. During March the group will visit Alloway inAyrshire to take part in the Tam o Shanter Experience andBurns Cottage. English teacher Mr Wilson is at presentworking with the reading group on an animation of Tam oShanter. MRS M. SHARKEY

MONKEY BUSINESS!On March 28th Larbert Woods, next to Forth ValleyRoyal Hospital, played host to over 100 first year

Humanities pupils, learning about the work of theForestry Commission and environmental

conservation. The pupils gained practical forestryexperience by planting saplings. The HumanitiesFaculty would like to extend thanks to Gordon,

Kenny and Jenny from Forestry CommissionScotland for making the morning such a success.

IAIN TANNAHILL

Maths is mental S1!! During the week of Monday 20th January, allof S1 were involved in Numeracy Passportweek.

This was part of their curriculum andNumeracy across Learning at Larbert HighSchool.

Some examples of what they had to do

The students wereawarded stickers for all correct entries and on the 27thJanuary all the S1 students took part in Passport control.Having completed Passport control the students wereawarded a pin badge.

Those students who passed Passport controlwere entered into a prize draw where theyhad the chance to win an Ipad mini. On Fridaythe 7th of February the lucky winner wasannounced . The winner was Owen Lake.Congratulations!!! MRS M. THOMSON


Read, Debate, Enjoy!On the 29th of January, the 8th annual Falkirk RED BookAwards were held in Falkirks Town Hall. This award exists topromote reading and debating in schools across Falkirk, andalso to bring writing talents to our town. The RED BookAward is presented to the writer of the novel which Falkirkdistrict high school pupils have decided is their favourite ofthe four short-listed contenders. This years shortlistfeatured the horrifyingly brilliant Mister Creecher by ChrisPriestly, the nail-biting Mortal Chaos by Matt Dickinson,the hard-hitting Torn by David Massey and the famouslyfantastic Slated by Teri Terry.

Link reporter Jordan Allan was able to speak to the authorsbefore the days activities started. The authors wereparticularly enthusiastic in giving tips to any buddingwriters. Matt Dickinson believes that the three mostimportant steps are Plan, plan and plan, and evenadmitted that, while writing his shortlisted book hecovered a full wall of his study with post-it notes in anattempt to tie his plot together. Chris Priestly offered theadvice to always finish what youre writing even if itsrubbish because that is the only way youll learn,

The events began with a series of presentations by each ofthe high schools in attendance, everyone with their owntake on one of the novels. Our own S2 pupils, currentlystudying English, gave a very dramatic interpretation ofSlated, the sci-fi teen-thriller about a young girl who hasher memories slated from her brain and must find her wayin a very confusing, unfamiliar world.

As well as the local teens, some other children took part inthe awards ceremony too. They were from further-flung

parts, though Kenya, to beexact. Pupils from the affluentInternational School of Kenyapooled their creative talentswith the far less fortunatechildren from Mathare NorthSchool to create shortpresentations of Torn andSlated. The importance ofthese award ceremonies wasnever more obvious than whenKenyas richest and poorestcould be seen acting out theirfavourite scenes together, theirdifferences forgotten because ofthe stories they all loved equally.

Before the big one, a prize wasawarded to Lewis Mitchell ofFalkirk High, whose review ofSlated won him the Best Review prize.

Anticipation swelled in the room in the moments before TeriTerrys Slated claimed the 2014 Falkirk RED Book Award.After her victory, the author spoke of how much it meant toher than the audience had personally chosen her book astheir favourite, and also expressed her pleasure in beingawarded the winners bowl, hand crafted by Falkirks ownBarbara Davidson.

The day was a fun-filled reminder of the importance ofreading, both in our town and further afield. Future REDbookers have all of this and more to look forward to in thecoming years of RED, and long may it continue.

By JORDAN ALLAN

Brush Up YourShakespeareThere is something rotten in the heart of Stratford, and thatis the absence of a certain group of LHS pupils. April 1st 5th sees the next annual Stratford trip this time with overeighty pupils attending. However, there is a method to themadness in the form of Miss Leach and willing Englishteachers eager to reach the home of the man himself,William Shakespeare.

The pupils will be able to visit the birthplace and home ofShakespeare, his wife Ann Hathaways home and farm, theworld famous Globe Theatre, and the infamous gingerpigs amongst many other treats, including the indoorrain which is raved about regularly by Miss Leach whilstviewing a RSC production, this years being Henry V.

However, not all of the trips preparations were plain sailing.Two beds or not two beds, that was the question - whichwas immediately sorted out.

This trip is definitely a trip to be remembered by all,especially if all of the stories of previous years are true.

KIRSTY GARDINER

The Road to SafetyAll teenagers look forward to passing their driving test. Some onlylook at the advantages such as having more friends or gettingplaces quicker; the other side of the coin is that a car can be alethal weapon, with road traffic collisions causing untold grief andsuffering. To hammer home this message all pupils went to theMacRobert centre at Stirling University to the annual Safe DriveStay Alive event, jointly run by the Emergency Services withsupport from the insurance industry.

The event featured members of the Police, Ambulance and FireServices, together with staff from NHS Forth Valley, describing thehorrific experiences they had in dealing with a horrific road trafficcollision. Their stories were made even more graphic by a videoreconstruction of a real collisions which left one young persondead and two injured. Perhaps most sobering of all was a talk by ayoung man who had been paralysed in a terrible collision. It wasobvious from the silence at the end of the show that all theaudience members had been really shocked by what they saw. It ishoped that everyone will take the lesson very seriously when thetime comes to take control of a road vehicle.

BAILEY STEWART

Croeso I GymruThe Cwlwm Celtaidd festival is an annual eventcomprising concerts and workshops in Porthcawl,Wales. John Dick and Blair Faulds (S4) travelled down on the 6thMarch as part of the California andDistrict Pipe Band and arrived backon the 10th. John played thebagpipes and Blair the snare drum,and they thoroughly enjoyed theirexperience. On the first day theydelivered a tutorial at a primaryschool on how the bagpipes andsnare drums work. Over the courseof the weekend they also openedconcerts, took part in a streetparade and played at a beachceilidh. John and Blair have alsoplayed at Hampden Park beforethe womens football games aspart of the London 2012Olympics and have travelled toFrance and Switzerland to takepart in further competitions. CODY IZATT

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ITS OFF TO WORK WE GO!On February12th, the Faculty of Technology operated a Worldof Work day for the first years. This opportunity was to showthem that they could have a lot more skills than they think. Italso lets them get an insight into other subjects and makestheir course choice a little easier for moving into second year.The World of Work day happens every year and will continueto happen for many more. Thanks to Mrs Jones and others formaking it a very enjoyable day for the first years.

BAILEY STEWART

Curriculum for Excellence promotes the aspiration that allyoung people will benefit from different approaches tolearning and opportunities to develop learning in differentcontexts. This year witnessed the development of an excitingnew programme run in partnership with Falkirk Council andForth Valley College aimed at encouraging young people inthe Falkirk area to consider applying to college once theyleave school.

120 S4 pupils from all secondary schools across the Falkirkarea secured a place on the one year School-CollegeOpportunities to Succeed (SCOTS) Programme, 15 fromLarbert High School. All pupils attended college oneafternoon per week and experienced eight different subjectsincluding construction; hair and beauty; engineering;business; administration and tourism; care; fitness, healthand exercise; creative industries and science. In theforthcoming third term, there will be an opportunity forpupils to focus on a specific area in the last 8 weeks of theprogramme.

Back in Larbert High the pupils involved worked hard toimprove their skills for learning, work and life. By workingtowards the SQA Employability Award they were able todevelop skills such as researching for jobs, creating a CV andpreparing for interviews. They also learned more about thetaster courses undertaken within Forth Valley College.Guest speakers such as Leigh-Anne Bridgeman of Asda andTerry Anderson of the Scottish Trade Union Congress visitedthe school and were able to bring to life lessons on groupinterviews and the rights and responsibilities of employees,respectively.

Pupils in Larbert also had an opportunity to gain experienceof the workplace to further develop their understanding ofthe working environment. As well as individual workplacements, pupils also enjoyed a series of group visits toemployers representing a wide range of industries includingvisits to Alexander Dennis in Falkirk; Capital Radio inGlasgow and Falkirk Fire Station.

As a result of their participation on the programme thepupils were able to find out more about the different typesof courses available at college and the employmentopportunities and progression routes they can lead to.Indeed, each of the Larbert High School pupils involved havegained the confidence to apply to either a full-time collegecourse at Forth Valley and elsewhere, or one of the Skills forWork courses available in S5.

Well done to all who participated, they have set a challengeto next years entrants.

MR J. MOONEY

KARATE KIDLarbert High has its very own Sports Personality of theYear Lewis Simpson.Competing against over 50people, Lewis won the FalkirkCouncil Sports Personality ofthe Year at the Town Hall forhis success at karate. Lewis hasspent 6 years doing karate andtrains in Dunfermline for aminimum of four days perweek. He is competing in theScottish Open in Glasgow onthe 26th April and will betravelling to Denmark thissummer for the EuropeanChampionships. Lewis aspiresto be a karate instructor whenhe is older.

CODY IZATT

Larbert High pupils gain anOpportunity to Succeed!

Dancing the Night AwayThis year the next annual dance showcase is said to bebigger and better than all years before. Many talentedyoung individuals will take to the stage to show theirtalents on the sixth of June. With dancers from the

recent Forth Valley Dance Competition which all wentdown a storm, it is sure to be a great night. Details of

tickets to follow.

KIRSTY GARDINER

Larbert Link (MAY 2014)

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