Congratulations once again to Mairi Small (3a8) who has won another prize for her review of “Grave of the Fireflies” which the Film Club watched in February. Well done!

Mairi’s review can be viewed here.

Congratulations to David Hayes (3a8) who achieved a Merit award in the Pink Kangaroo round of the UK Maths Challenge. A terrific achievement!

Well done also to the following pupils who received awards in the Scottish Maths Challenge:

Silver Award

Cameron Bruce (2a3)

Bronze Awards

Gemma McDonald (4a2)

John Lynch (2a6)

Antony Harley (1a2)

Congratulations to Ms Madden’s (1a2) and Mr Richard’s (2a2) classes who both accumulated the most points throughout this year’s class of the year competition. Both classes will be given the opportunity to attend Blackpool Pleasure Beach on the 22 June 2015. Well done to both classes!

Matthew Coyle 3a6 played in the final for the West Region (26 April) and helped to retain the Inter Region Shield for a second year beating the East Region 4-2. Well done to Matthew and all his team mates!

Well done to our chess teams who played extremely well against Mearns Castle recently.

The junior and senior teams both won their matches and the intermediate team drew.

Congratulations to Patrick O’Sullivan, Scott Campbell and Joseph O’Sullivan who won the Scottish Schools’ West Regional Squash Finals on Tuesday 10 March. Our other teams were also successful in coming 2nd and 3rd in the group which contained Williamwood High School and the High School of Glasgow.

Second place team: Jonathan Brady, Leon Masia and Declan Moore

Third place team: Christopher Murphy, Matthew Deehan and Lewis Lunny

All three teams now qualify for the National Finals. Well done to all of them for an outstanding performance!

The Saltire Award for Volunteering has really taken off in Saint Ninian’s this year. So far, we have awarded pupils for over 7000 hours of volunteering – a staggering figure!

Volunteering takes many forms. A number of our pupils volunteer in school by helping out at clubs, helping at school events or by fundraising as part of the Life Group or Helping Hands Group. We also have pupils who volunteer outside of school in their community or local Parish. There are a wide range of volunteer activities which have been recognised so far this year including: sports coaching, day care centre assistants, dementia centre assistants, young leaders in cubs and scouts, helpers at Saturday Sports Camps, bake sales, bag packing and many more.

Any unpaid work which is undertaken by a pupil to help other people is a form of volunteering and may qualify them for a Saltire Award in recognition of the work that they are doing. Pupils who feel that they might qualify for an award should see Mrs Gorman (Maths department) as soon as possible.

The number of pupils in our school who identify themselves as volunteers is fantastic and numbers are growing rapidly. The effort from the pupils this year has been incredible and their dedication to the work that they doing is admirable.

Congratulations to everyone who has been awarded with the Saltire Award for Volunteering so far this year.

Many congratulations to Mr Robertson’s S1 Basketball Team who were crowned League and Regional Cup Champions this week in an undefeated season. A fantastic achievement!

Well done to Hannah Ward of S1 who is the Easter Puzzle of the Month winner and wins a goody bag!

A group of 50 S2 and S3 pupils enjoyed a fantastic trip to the city of Valencia. The pupils worked with Valencia CF football coaches each day, at the clubs state of the art training complex. They also enjoyed other activities, immersing themselves in the Spanish culture, by enjoying a day trip to the city of Valencia. They also carried out a tour of the Mestalla Stadium (Valencia CF’s home ground), and attended a Palm Sunday Mass at a local parish church. Overall pupils and staff had an excellent time and experienced memories that will last a lifetime.

Valencia 2015