St Andrew’s and St Bride’s High School

Christmas Newsletter 2016

Merry Christmas Everyone!

As the Christmas break approaches it’s time to reflect on all the activities and achievements this term, which continue to highlight how impressive our students and staff are and the energy, talent, enthusiasm and commitment they bring to our school community. Hopefully, this Newsletter will give you an insight into some of the things that have been going on.

Over the months we have seen a wide variety of milestones, events, and excursions take place, as well as supporting local, national and international charities. This

session alone we have raised more than £7,408.63 and supported the most vulnerable in our community through our Food Bank collections and Shoe Box appeal. This is a tremendous achievement and helps us put into practice the Gospel values of love, compassion and kindness that we strive to stand for, allowing our young people to focus on the need to reach out to people, to care for the defenceless and those less fortunate.

At the end of September we celebrated the many achievements of our young people at our annual Awards Ceremony. This allowed us to showcase the high levels of attainment that our students achieve and celebrate the wide variety of skills and talents that they demonstrate on a day to day basis. This year promises to be no different. From sporting competitions to maths challenges, debating and public speaking events to engineering contests, and science events to entrepreneurial extravaganzas, our pupils have come out on top. Fourth Year students have been working hard and have just completed their prelim examinations. Throughout this time their commitment was exemplary and we look forward to their results in January, which I am sure will be very pleasing.

Sadly, we have to say goodbye to two of our long serving and valued members of staff, Mrs Annabelle Meikle and Mrs Barbara Martin, who are retiring. Mrs Meikle has been a member of staff for more than 30 years, working initially in St Bride’s as a Latin and Classical Studies teacher and then as Principal Teacher of Support for Learning. Mrs Martin has also worked for more than 30 years as a Physical Education Teacher in St Bride’s and then in the merged school. We thank them for all their support over this time and wish them all the best in their retirement.

Can I take this opportunity to thank all parents and carers for your continued support in the day to day working of the school and the many ventures we get involved with. This is greatly appreciated.

On behalf of everybody at St. Andrew’s and St Bride’s High School, I would like to wish you, your family and all our students a holy and peaceful Christmas and every blessing for the New Year.

With best wishes

Mrs Fiona MullenHeadteacher

SCOTLAND’S YOUNG WORKFORCE

As part of our Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce initiative we aim to establish a strong supportive network of employers and industry links for our young people. It is vital that we have

employer engagement at a departmental level so that our pupils can see the relevance of what they are learning and its place in the world of work. Can you help?Do you have a friend, relative, neighbour or contact who would be willing to support or young people?We are looking for partners who can do some or all of the following:

commit to working with a department to enhance the delivery of our course content and emphasise its relevance in the work place

offer work experience, extended work experience or industrial visits

assist with CV writing teach interview technique and deliver mock interviews share employment and training opportunities

If you know anyone who would fit the bill, I would be very grateful if you would ask them to contact me through the school office or by email.Your support is very much appreciated. Mrs Sharon McLean, PT Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce.smclean@st-a-and-st-b.s-lanark.sch.uk

PUBLIC SPEAKING

A huge congratulations to S4 pupils Katie Hunter, Erin Seils and Sandra Santhosh, our Senior Public Speaking team, who WON the East Kilbride Rotary Club’s competition last night! The girls were, unbelievably, first-time competitors and faced stiff competition from the more experienced members of the four teams from Duncanrig and Calderglen. They impressed the judges with their fantastic speeches, gaining them the trophy and entry to the next round!Special thank you and well done to Jac Nelson, Michael Wilkie and Lucy D’Arcy for their help and support with the girls in prepping for this event!

HUGE congratulations to our four fabulous Public Speaking Teams who performed brilliantly on 15 November at the Rotary Club’s, Youth Speaks Public Speaking Competition. Up against competition from our neighbouring High Schools, Issabella Drennan, Emma Graham and Cara McManus of S2 emerged worthy winners with their speech, Kids should Rule the World.

Massive thanks to Michael Wilkie, Louise Dickson, Lucy D’Arcy – in fact, the entire English department – for being so supportive throughout this process. Looking forward to the next round.ENGLISH SPEAKING UNION JUNIORS COMPETITION

Congratulations to Sean Harkin and Ciara Briody (2D) who won through to round 2 of the English Speaking Union Juniors Competition. They did a sterling job and were a credit to us in all respects.DEBATING NEWS

Our debaters have taken part in three competitions so far this year and shown themselves to be clear thinkers, confident speakers and able to take on the challenge of inter-schools

debating with great determination. Speaking in the Scullion Law Society Competition, Luke Laverty (S4) and Matthew Deighan (S5) did an excellent job in their first competitive debate, powerfully arguing against the motion, This House would make voting compulsory. The senior team in the Law Society Mace is Emma Barrie and Caitlin McPhillie (S5) and the girls were strong competitors, winning through to the 2nd round which will take place in January. In the Junior competitions, Sean Harkin and Ciara Briody (S2) are through to round 2 of the ESU Juniors having won their debate opposing a ban on Animal Testing. A great start to the debating

season!Any pupil interested in debating should see Mrs Lyon in the New Year.

DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE

Congratulations to S4 pupils, Ross Cheshire, Kayleigh Gaffney, Owen Steele and Michael Trinh who presented the music department with the 1st of 2 Cello racks for the school orchestra? The project was commissioned by Mrs Mullen, who enabled the school to purchase the materials that would allow the Cello racks to be designed and manufactured by the S3 practical craft class.Well done.IMPORTANT BIRTHDAY

14th

November marked the 70th

Birthday of our very much loved Lay

Chaplain, Mr John Russell. The pupils and staff were delighted to share John’s big day with him.

FOOTBALL

Under 13sDefeated in the 3rd Round of the Scottish Cup 3-1 by Dumfries.Currently 3rd in the league having won one match and drawn the otherUnder 14s

Were defeated by Grange on penalties in Round 1 of the Scottish Cup. They will enter the Scottish Plate after ChristmasCurrently joint top of the league with 2 victories from 2.Were put out of the Lanarkshire Cup by Our Lady’s (Cumbernauld)Under 15sDefeated Calderglen 6-1 and Grange 7-1 to reach the 4th Round of the Scottish Cup where they will play St Andrew’s Secondary.Defeated St Maurice’s 5-4 in the Lanarkshire Cup and will play Dalziel or Duncanrig in the Quarter FinalUnder 16sWere defeated 5-2 by Largs in Round 2 of the Scottish.Still in the Lanarkshire Cup

NETBALL NEWS

Congratulations to our pupils who have worked hard to be selected for netball district squads. South Lanarkshire District U15's Carleen Bredin, Erinna Muir, Neve McArthur and Holly Whalin South Lanarkshire District U17's Eva Guidi, Eve Cawley, Jessica Hagan Rebecca Martin and Sarah Jane Woods Glasgow District U17's Erin McKee.

BOXING NEWS

A big congratulations to Chloe Bodwick (S1), Anthony O'Neil (S4) and Ryan Barden (Former pupil) who won the Scottish Boxing titles at the Novice Championships last weekend. Chloe and Anthony won their contests

by stopping their opponents in the 2nd round while Ryan unfortunately had no opponent at his weight.

EUROPEAN LANGUAGES DAY

This term, pupils in the Modern Languages department participated in European Week of Languages, which incorporated a number of events. First of all, a video was created which showcased the linguistic talents of pupils and teachers in the school who are able to speak a different language whilst S1 and S2 pupils took part in a quizzes about Europe. S2 pupils were also given the fantastic opportunity to experience a taster language session in another foreign language to the one they study- these taster classes were in Italian, Catalan, Portuguese and Japanese. As S3 pupils were studying the topics technology, TV and film, they had the chance to watch a foreign language film. S4 pupils studied the importance of learning a language and how learning

a language can make them more employable. Idiomatic expressions in French and Spanish were studied by Higher pupils. Finally, a photo-booth was set up in the street area during lunch where pupils (and staff) could dress up with European-themed props and have their photo taken. Pupils thoroughly enjoyed taking part in all activities offered during the week.

MICRO TYCO

St Andrew's and St Bride's took part for the seventh year running in the Social Enterprise Challenge, Micro Tyco. This year we had 12 teams from S1, our CVS class and a group from the East Kilbride support base; altogether we raised a staggering £4,006.85. This is the highest amount our school has raised to date and as a result we were 1st place overall in the global challenge for the third year running.

This year, each of our teams had their own business mentor from local businesses as well as a sixth year mentor and a teacher mentor. For the fourth year running, we ran a business brunch which gave the S6 mentors the opportunity to meet with their business mentors to discuss the best way forward for their groups’ business ideas.

Many thanks to Cameron Young and Stephen McCann from Arcufit who gave an inspiring talk at our business lunch. Many thanks to Brian Yates from Accenture who gave a business talk at the beginning of November to all our Entrepreneurs embarking on the challenge.

The pupils involved in the challenge took part in various activities including: Scrabble Frames (personalised), chocolate fountains, classroom tidying, homemade Christmas decorations and cards, bookmarks, Just Dance, St.Bride’s Church coffee mornings, great St Andrew’s and St Bride’s Bake off for pupils and teachers, Classroom signs, cake and candies, carol singing and other exciting events.

Many of our groups took part in our annual Christmas Fayre selling their home made decorations and Christmas cards, milking Bella the Cow (donated by Wiseman Dairies) and much more. The pupils greatly benefited from this experience learning to work as part of a team and they were inspired to break out of their limited self-perceptions and comfort zones.

Well done to all the pupils involved and many thanks to all our business mentors. Our businesses involved this year were Anthony Quigley (SGN), Paul Laverty, Margo Gibson and Patrick McGee (Coca Cola), Stan Ahmed (Lioz and Gazelle) Cheryl Andrew (Iberdrola), Robert Gilhooly (EDF Energy), Christina Mackay and David Scott (Be Yonder), Cameron Young and Stephen McCann (Arcufit), Bruce Reidford (Tunnocks), Ross Anderson (The Motivational Dude), James Meechan and Susan O’Farrell (MacRoberts Solicitors), Kieran Aitken (Orbit Enterprise), Brian Yates (Accenture), Samantha McLaughlin (GoGlasgow Urban Hotel), Ian McKemmie, EK Deli) and Stephen Harvie (RG Harvie Financial Services).Well done to our top three teams this year. Top three places were:1st Place – 1A - £554.17 (mentored by Stan Ahmed, Lion and Gazelle)

2nd Place – 1F1 - £590.02 (mentored by Robert Gilhooly, EDF Energy)3rd Place – 1B - £590.02 (mentored by Cameron Young and Stephen McCann, Arcufit)Well done to all the teams involved and many thanks to our teachers mentored who supported our teams throughout the challenge. What a fantastic total raised for Wildhearts charity. Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award.

Last academic year, 24 pupils from third to fifth year began their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award which had them undertake various challenges to complete the Physical, Skill and Volunteering sections of the Award. The biggest challenge though was the Expedition element of the Award which saw our pupils work in teams to navigate their own way through the Campsie Fells and Pentland Hills and set up their camp over the two separate nights in June 2016. A fantastic achievement!Once finished, our pupils will be presented with their Award at the Town House in February at the Annual South Lanarkshire Awards Ceremony. The Duke of Edinburgh Awards programme continues to grow this year with 19 third year pupils doing their Bronze Award and 14 of our fourth and fifth year pupils are looking to complete their silver

Award! Places are still available so if you would like some more information then please contact Mr Clark in the PE department.

HOME ECONOMICS

Star Baker Awards.

S2 and S3 pupils took part in a Halloween ‘Bake off’ with S2 pupils making and decorating cupcakes and S3 pupils producing a large Halloween cake. Pupils entered into theses competitions enthusiastically and the standard was very high.The ‘Star Bakers’ from each S2 class were:

2.1– Emma Lamont, 2.2 – Charlotte Burnside, 2.3 – Grace Wilson, 2.4 – Courtney Rooney, 2.5 – Robyn Mclean, 2.6 – Harsimer Hara, 2.7 – Ciara Briody, 2.8 – Kimberly Owens, 2.9 – Emma Wilson, 2.10 Ellie Searl, 2.11 – Sophie Burke, 2.12 – Kiera HendersonCiara Briody from 2.7 was choose as the overall S2 winner.The winner in S3 was Bronagh Miller with Rachel McNaught a very worthy runner up.The S5/6 Hospitality

The hospitality classes took part in a very enjoyable skills based workshop delivered by David Auchie chef / lecturer from South Lanarkshire College. The pupils worked on enhancing their skills and techniques while gaining an insight into the life of a chef and bettered their awareness of employability skills.

CHRISTMAS CARD COMPETITION 2016

This year S3 pupils were invited to take part in the Christmas Card Competition.  After a great deal of deliberation due to the high standard of all the entries Matthew McGhee’s painting of the Angel Gabriel was pronounced the winner with Beth Findlay’s Christmas scene coming a close

second.  Here we can see a copy of Matthew’s excellent work. 

CHRISTMAS FAYRE

In November we held our annual Christmas Fayre raising over £1300 for school funds. The fayre was well attended by pupils

and their families as well as members of the public, all enjoying a wide variety of stalls selling home-made crafts, us in the mood for the Christmas Season, getting us started on our Christmas shopping lists. Many thanks to Mrs Hilary Kirby and members of the Parent Council for their continued help and support in this thoroughly enjoyable event.

SHOEBOX APPEAL

A huge thank you to everyone who made an effort to help this appeal.From the bringing in of gift items, paper and shoeboxes to the painstaking job of checking the contents and writing cover labels, every bit of help has been appreciated. Almost 100 boxes were collected and the charity were extremely grateful. It was a busy week with many pupils offering to give up their lunchtime to help with the wrapping and packing of the boxes which was lovely as

often this gift of time is the hardest one to give.

EAST KILBRIDE FOOD BANK

The S6 Charities Committee once again organised collections for the EK Churches Together Food Bank, during Advent. As in previous years, the response from parents, pupils and staff was overwhelming and the 6th year collected 920 items over the period – the schools small contribution to making Christmas more

tolerable for the 1

in 5 children

of East Kilbride who live

in poverty.

Thank you all.

DANCE DISPLAY

Well done to all 40 dancers at this years Christmas Dance show. The standard this year was fantastic!! We have a lot of talented dancers. A big thank you to all the dancers who have been working so hard at lunchtime and afterschool to choreograph all their own dances. Well done to the award winners.Best dancer award: Elisha Thomson, Lauren Steele, Sophie MacLaren, Kacey O’Raw, Sky Thomson, Emma Lamont

Best choreography awards: Lucy Burns, Toni Marie McDermottMost Improved award: Mia Clinton, Charlotte BurnsideOutstanding achievement award: Eire RennieBest newcomers award: Millie Rossi, Emma McNeill, Abbie Glasgow, Jemma Kelly, Abbie Kirwan, Libby Currie, Paige Hamilton, Shannon Donnelly, Amy Crichton

Thank you to Corinna Iles and Charlotte Burnside, Robyn Lee and Katie MacLaren for selling tickets. Thanks to office, Drama Department, Music Department , Physical Education Department, Mr Quigley and Senior Management.

CHRISTMAS ART EXHIBITION

This year saw our first

exhibition of all the hard work our students have put in to secure excellent results in the National and Higher SQA qualification for Art and Design. Parents and carers got the chance to see the tremendous work whilst having a few festive nibbles and being entertained by Luke Sharkey and Andrew Lochran.

And last but certainly not least, our

CHRISTMAS CONCERT

To get us all into the Christmas Concert we were thoroughly entertained by pupils from S1 to S6 through song, music and

drama. By the end of the evening we were all in the Christmas spirit having enjoyed our new Concert Band, String Orchestra, Traditional Group, Rock Bands, our newly formed Vocal Ensemble and new staff choir and a number of solo performances. Our S1 Drama group then gave us an insight into how the story of Christmas and Nativity has an enormous impact on us today and the lives of those less fortunate than ourselves, especially the refugees and people displaced from their homes.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Christmas Break: School Closes Thu 22 December 2016(2.30pm close)

Second Term: Re-open Monday 9 January 2017

February Break Closed Mon 13 & Tue 14 February 2017

Development Day 4 Wednesday 15 February 2017

Re-open Thursday 16 February 2017

Easter/Spring Break 3 -17 April 2017

Third Term: Re-open Tuesday 18 April 2017

May Day Monday 1 May 2017

Development Day 5 Thursday 4 May 2017

Local Holiday Friday 26 May 2017

Local Holiday Monday 29 May 2017

Re-open Tuesday 30 May 2017

School Closes Tuesday 27 June 2017 (1pm close)

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