On Friday 14^th June, along with eleven other schools from around Scotland, Arbroath High School performed at the annual Be Your Best Foundation Global Rock Challenge Scottish Final at the Caird Hall in Dundee. This global event is run all around the world, from Australia to Germany, with the aim of providing school pupils with the opportunity to experience the natural, adrenaline fuelled high from performing in a professional venue. The competition has an overall message of drug awareness and healthy lifestyle but it also manages to help to building creativity, independence and self esteem in young people around the country.

This was the second time the Scottish final had ever been held and Arbroath High School were attending as defending champions, having won the inaugural final with their piece ‘The Wolf’ in 2012. Nonetheless, this was still only their third year in the competition. As a relatively new team, they were excited to see if they could continue their success. They were competing against schools from across Scotland with teams from Highlands, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Dundee and Perth and Kinross all represented.

 Taking part in Rock Challenge takes a lot of time and effort from staff and pupils with everything from costumes to set and dancing created as a team effort. Their piece ‘Doomed’ was based on the story of the lost city of Atlantis and the costumes and set were built to represent an ancient Greek City being attacked by the elements before sinking to the bottom of the ocean.

 Fortunately, their efforts and hard work were deemed well worth it by the judges at the Caird Hall when they awarded ‘Doomed’ overall 2nd place, narrowly losing out on the top prize to Mackie Academy from Stonehaven. They were also commended with special awards for make-up, hair, performance skill, inclusion, press coverage and drug awareness. 3^rd place went to Fraserburgh Academy, closely followed by Westhill Academy with Kinross High School in 5^th.

 The Arbroath High School team now move on to preparing for next year and hope to add significantly to their number. They lose quite a few of the seniors this year as they move on to University and further employment so they hope to bring in some fresh new faces. They will be holding a dance school in Showcase the Street on 9^th August for anyone aged 10-17 who may be thinking about joining the Rock Challenge team. It’s a great opportunity to meet some of the team and to see if it’s something you might enjoy. The classes are from 11am till 3.30pm and will cost £5. Anyone attending should bring a packed lunch.

 A huge number of people were involved in helping to make this such a huge success, but the team would like to express particular thanks to Buchan Embroidery in Peterhead for their continued sponsorship. They would also like to express their thanks to Angus Council, Northern Tool Gear, Asda, GSK Montrose, Pepo’s and Strathmore Vintage Vehicle Club for their financial support over the years.

Local Chef Garry Watson and Hospitality pupils from Arbroath High School recently picked up a Partnership in Excellence award at a prestigious event hosted by Angus Council.  Sophie Martin S4 and Rebecca Ramsay S3 attended the event held at the Carnoustie Golf Hotel with their Mentor Chef, Garry Watson from Gordon’s Restaurant in Inverkeillor.  The award recognises “a specific example of partnership working…, which has made a significant impact on the learning of young people and has made a lasting contribution to the life of the school”.  Garry has mentored pupils from the school during the last three years, increasing their skills and awareness of the Hospitality industry to prepare them for local and national cookery competitions. Both girls have won the local and regional rounds of Springboard UK’s, Future Chef Competition and have placed highly in the Scottish heats in Glasgow. He has made strong links with the school’s Home Economics department and has delivered workshops to whole year groups as well as Teachers and continues to support and give free advice in matters related to his profession. The partnership award was as a result of being in the short-list of five nominees from over 100 worthy applicants and Garry and the school are delighted to receive this recognition. Mrs Forbes, who works in the Home Economics Department at the school, commented “Garry has been a fantastic asset to the school and the time, effort and sponsorship he provides each year to the deserving pupil is immeasurable.”       

A team of five S2 pupils, (Rory Watson, Fraser Scott, Cameron Burns, Cameron Doran and Gregor Stevenson) have achieved tremendous success by entering a school competition “The Importance of Engineering to Scotland”. This competition was sent from Scottish Engineering to the Directors of Education asking for all S2 pupils throughout Scotland to take part. It was sponsored by The Weir Group with the full support of the Education Minister, Michael Russell MSP.

The competition required a written report to be submitted by 22^nd March 2013 demonstrating various key elements, such as numeracy, literacy, cross curricular subjects, independent research and links with Dundee University and Angus College. The boys were successful with their written report and were one of six schools to reach the National final.

The team accompanied by Mrs Y Anderson took a trip to Glasgow where they presented their findings to the Offices of Scottish Engineering. The six member judging panel consisted of three members from Scottish Engineering and three from The Weir Group.

The boys and the school had to wait anxiously for another few days to find the final outcome from the panel. The boys were disappointed they did not receive one of the top three prizes. However, their effort in achieving the final stages is highly commendable and in doing so they won £500 for the school.

Arbroath High School would like to thank the four Seniors who assisted the boys with this project, (Rhys Cuthbert, Lauren Livingston, Sean Watt and Ross Craig) wishing them all success in their chosen career path. We would also like to show our appreciation to Jim Stewart, Jamie Henderson (Angus College) and Professor David Muir Wood (Dundee University) for all the support and advice throughout the project.

The On2Feet programme in Angus is designed to support pupils in fourth year at secondary school in Angus who are considering leaving school at the age of 16. The programme attempts to provide advice and support as they work towards a positive next step in their education and development.

The fifteen pupils that make up the On2FEET group at Arbroath High School have been working hard this session looking at interview skills, finding out how to apply to college and for jobs and have been trying to develop useful skills that will be needed in the workplace.  The group has had an opportunity to attend a Careers Fair in Aberdeen.  They have also participated in two interactive drama workshops at the Webster Theatre where they were helping the characters figure out how to get into the career they hoped for.  The pupils were able to help these characters perform well in interviews and this has helped change their own attitudes towards the working environment.  It also dealt with issues such as mental health, sexual health, alcohol abuse and the impact that negative attitudes have on family members and close friends.

We hope that we can find a positive destination for all of our On2Feet pupils as they move on from school in the next couple of months.

Carla Ingram, a sixth year pupil at Arbroath High School, was the winner of a recent Creative Writing Competition. ‘Tartan Treasures’ – organized by Angus Council in conjunction with other national events to mark the Tartan Week celebrations. There were over one hundred entrants for this prestigious competition where pupils from all Angus secondary schools were given an opening paragraph and then invited to complete a short story based on the theme of a tartan rug. The short stories of 1000 words were then given to the judges, who included Angus Council librarians and professional authors. Carla received her prize certificate, a DVD of a professional story-teller reading out her work and a Kindle at a ceremony at the Angus Archive centre on Friday 29^th March. Carla’s story will be published shortly in a number of local newspapers.

Last September, two S6 pupils were given the opportunity to take part in the Lessons from Auschwitz Project which is organised and run by the Holocaust Educational Trust. Kate Richards and Lauren Billingham, both studying Advanced Higher History, visited Auschwitz – the largest extermination camp built by the Nazis. They were given a guided tour of the camp for a whole day and returned that evening.

Now, building upon the insights gained through this visit, both Kate and Lauren have recently been visiting local Primary schools to share the key messages of the Holocaust and genocide. In the past month, the girls have given presentations to Primary 7 pupils in Carmyllie, Inverbrothock and Timmergreens primary schools and all have been extremely well-received by the staff and pupils there.

Both Kate and Lauren have had time to reflect on what they’ve learnt – both though the initial tip and the subsequent activities. Kate told one of her teachers that:

“It was a very worthwhile and memorable experience. From the Seminars and through visiting Auschwitz, I have learned not only the horrors of the Holocaust, but also how important it is to learn from history.”     

Lauren also commented that: “I feel extremely lucky to have been given the opportunity to participate in the Lessons from Auschwitz project. I would highly recommend this experience to everyone – it has been brilliant sharing my experience. It was a very emotional and touching experience”