posted by Jennifer Gall, Librarian, Arbroath High School

World Book Night is an annual celebration of reading and books that takes place on 23 April. It sees passionate volunteers give out hundreds of thousands of books in their communities to share their love of reading with people who don’t read regularly or own books.

Arbroath High School library successfully applied to be one of the volunteering institutions, with ‘Whispering Shadows’ by Jan-Philipp Sendker and ‘Too Good to be True’ by Ann Cleeves given away in the local community. These were just two in a selection of some fifteen titles recommended for distribution on World Book Night, covering a range of genres including crime, poetry, quick reads, non-fiction, historical fiction and fantasy. Some of Arbroath High’s books were given away to senior pupils, while some were distributed in the nearby sports centre to members of the public.

As well as the World Book Night volunteers, people are also encouraged to give their favourite book to someone in their community and special events are taking place at libraries, community centres, prisons, hospitals and schools around the UK on 23^rd April, in this mass celebration of books and reading.

World Book Night is run by The Reading Agency. More information can be found at www.worldbooknight.org

Pictured with their gifted books are some fifth Year National 5 English pupils.

posted by Lisa Liness, Teacher Support for Learning, Arbroath High School

Ten pupils in the Support for Learning Department took part in a Mondrian inspired art competition. Members of staff were asked to become art critics and judges. From all the wonderful entries they chose the following winners: First place, Callan Guest (S5); second place, John Gerrard (S3) and in joint third place, Drew Laurie (S3) and Josh Gordon (S2). All the entries are currently on display in the department.

Pictured with his winning entry is Callan Guest (S5)

posted by Sheena Hardie, Friockheim Primary School

The John Muir Award is an environmental award scheme focused on wild places. It supports experiential learning and acknowledges and celebrates the achievement of young people beyond formal qualifications. It is an educational initiative of the John Muir Trust and it aims to encourage people of all backgrounds to connect with, enjoy and care for wild places.

To achieve a John Muir Award each individual participant engages in a range of activities that encompass the following Four Challenges:

• Discover a wild place – this can range from school grounds to mountain tops
• Explore it – in an active way
• Conserve a wild place – take personal responsibility
• Share your experiences

There are three Levels of the John Muir Award – Discovery Level, Explorer

Level and Conserver Level. They encourage a progressive involvement.

• Discovery Award – 4 days (or equivalent) minimum time commitment
• Explorer Award – 8 days (or equivalent) minimum time commitment
• Conserver Award – 20 (or equivalent) time commitment, over at least 6 months

The pupils in P5/6 at Friockheim Primary School have achieved the Discovery Award over the last 6 months with their teacher Miss Hardie. The wild place they discovered was an area of the park across the road from the school. They carried out a number of different activities under the headings discovering, exploring and conserving. Some of the activities are detailed below.

They shared the changes they noticed over the course of the project
  

Senses Poetry

The pupils recorded what they heard, smelled, saw, felt and what they could eat in our wild place. They used their notes to create senses poems.

Scavenger Hunt

The pupils completed a nature scavenger hunt in our wild place and then they created their own for other pupils to complete.

Bird feeders

As part of the conservation element, the pupils made bird feed and hung them on the branches of the trees.

Posters

After carrying out surveys of litter and dog fouling in the park, the pupils created and displayed posters around the park to encourage dog owners to pick up after their dogs and to put litter in the bins.

The final element of the award is about sharing your experiences with others. The pupils have kept record books throughout the project to record their experiences. They worked in groups of 3-4 to create a PowerPoint presentation about the award, which they then shared with classes in the school.

The pupils have been very positive about the award:

• “I think the John Muir Award is really fun because we get to explore outside and we get some fresh air.” ~ Teigen
• “I think the John Muir Award is amazing because I like helping the environment.” ~ Bex
• “I think the John Muir Award is a good thing to be doing because the rest of the class, like me, enjoy the adventure side of it.” ~ Finlay
• “I think the John Muir Award is pretty fun and I love how we get to explore our wild place.” ~ Zeki

As you can see the John Muir Award has been very much enjoyed by my class – I’d encourage you to take part in it too! More information can be found at:
https://www.johnmuirtrust.org/john-muir-award

posted by Laura Law, Early Years Practitioner, Airlie Primary School

Airlie Pre-school children recently went to visit Kirriemuir fire station as part of their People Who Help Us topic.

The children really enjoyed getting dressed up in their own fire safe suits and finding out lots of jobs that the fire and rescue officers do. The best bit was using the water hose to knock down the cone and thankfully didn’t manage to give Mrs Law a shower!

We would like to thank all the staff at Kirriemuir Fire and Rescue service in particular Judi, Craig and Kenny for showing us around.

posted by Jamie McLaren, Active Schools Coordinator, Montrose, Schools and Learning

As some of you may be aware Active Schools undertook a cycle challenge for Sport Relief on Friday the 18^th of March. The challenge was to cycle to a school in all 8 burghs of Angus within the school day. Two Active Schools Coordinators (Jamie McLaren and Kelly Moonlight) and the Active Schools Manager (Andy Garnett) took up the challenge to raise as much money as possible for Sport Relief.

Newtyle Primary School

The Challenge started in a grey, cold and dreich Newtyle at 9am in the morning. We forgot the weather as the whole school were out cheering us off.

Auchterhouse Primary School

We headed to Auchterhouse and were greeted by the whole school on the road side. This gave us an early boost with the pupils cheering us on.

Tealing Primary School

We then headed on to Tealing and the school were out in the playground wheeling around on their bikes, scooters and skates to help keep us motivated. The school had encouraged pupils to bring in their ‘wheels’ to engage them with our challenge.

Monikie Primary School

We then had a slightly longer ride to Monikie. This was made well worth while by being handed a chocolate bar and a bottle of water on arrival. The whole school were out again to cheer us on and keep us going. They had also brought in their wheels to celebrate the cycle challenge.

    
Muirfield / Timmergreens Primary Schools

The next stage was on to Muirfield/Timmergreens (Kelly’s base school). Both schools were out and had created a guard of honour for Kelly. She dutifully cycled up and down through the crowds managing to show impeccable balance whilst high fiving every pupil. Muirfield were undertaking a cycle challenge of their own and the had an exercise bike to try and race us over the 55 miles. Needless to say the energy of over 200 excited primary pupils managed to beat our weary legs! After a quick sandwich and a brownie it was off to Inverkeilor.

The school had the Angus Cycle Hub in with the pupils undertaking their level 1 bikeability training. We handed out the certificates and were presented with an amazing cake (made by the nursery) to keep our energy levels up. This was needed as we headed off and tackled the short lunan beach climb up and over to Ferryden.

They were also out on the road to cheer us in. Jamie McLaren had organised a spin bike for the school and it was their challenge to race the Active Schools Team taking turns to pound the miles on the exercise bike. Unfortunately they completed the required distance by Lunchtime and stuffed us!

The last leg was a quick cycle to Andover as technical difficulties had slowed us down. We made the school by 3pm and were cheered home along the road by the whole school. They had made a finishing banner which was a hugely welcoming sight!

The challenge covered 55 miles and all schools involved over the route engaged in the challenge and helped cheers us on so we could make the final bell. We received great sponsorship from across the council and this helped us raise £845. We would like to thank you for all your support.

posted by Louise Kirby, YMI Coordinator and Creative Learning Facilitator, Schools & Learning

Find out what it’s like to be part of NYCoS Angus Choir in our FREE taster session for P3 & P4 children, Saturday 16th April, 1pm, Lowson Memorial Parish Church, Forfar

NYCoS Angus Choir Taster

More info about NYCOS http://www.nycos.co.uk/Area-Choirs/Angus