Please note the following dates:

• Monday 3 October – Parent Council Meeting
• Tuesday 4 October – Parent Faith Group, 7pm
• Wednesday 5 October – Duke of Edinburgh Information Evening
• Thursday 6 October – S3 Parents Information Evening, 7pm in the Forum

Two of our S6 pupils, Florence-Rose Cairns and Lauren McCarthy are travelling to Poland today to represent the school as part of the Lessons from Auschwitz programme. The will visit the site of two WW2 Nazi concentration camps with pupils from schools across Scotland. They will share their experience with their fellow pupils on their return.

Wishing them a safe journey and a thought provoking experience.

Many congratulations to Khadija Sarguroh (last year’s S6) who achieved the top marks in Advanced Higher Graphics throughout the whole of Scotland. In recognition of this incredible achievement, the Technology Teachers’ Association have an award to present to Khadija at this years’ annual conference.

St Joseph’s Church invites all families to an evening in St Joseph’s Church Hall this Friday evening (7pm-8pm). The theme is ‘Finding God in Everything’ and will be run by the Ignatian Centre in Glasgow.  All Welcomed.

Pizza and refreshments will be served.

Chest Heart and Boutique on Fenwick Road Giffnock is looking for a St Ninian’s S6 volunteer who will volunteer for one year. As well as volunteering the pupils will be trained in working in retail, creating displays, cash handling and meeting targets. As a volunteer pupils will gain a range of skills  that will help them if going on to apply for a job in retail even if this is a part time post while studying at university. For the first 3 to 6 months pupils will learn shop floor, customer service, cash handling, stock replenishment, and then in the latter 6 months pupils will become more involved in the stockroom, and targets, cashing up, and admin. All hours worked voluntary can be submitted for a Saltire award.

Please see Mr Macdonald if you are interested.

The School Calendar has been updated to include the following changes:

Duke of Edinburgh Information Evening is now being held on Wednesday 5th October 2016 and not as previously advertised on Tuesday 4th October 2016.

Parent Council Meetings are now being held on Monday 3rd October 2016, Monday 7th November 2016 and Monday5th December 2016.

• Governance Review
• Governance Review Respondent Form

S1 Interim Report 1 will be issued to pupils on Friday 30 September.

A First Year Information Evening is due to be held on Thursday 29 September 2016. The evening will take the format of a presentation in the forum focussing on the excellent progress of First Year in settling into life in St Ninian’s. This will be followed by individual class presentations from Pastoral Teachers who will focus on a number of areas offering advice on how to support your son/daughter with their studies. The evening concludes with refreshments in the street area as well as an opportunity to attend Eucharistic adoration.

We look forward to welcoming you to this important event.

The final Public Meeting regarding the consultation on admissions to St. Ninian’s takes place on Wednesday 28 September at 7pm in Eastwood Theatre.

Week Beginning Monday 26 September 2016

Thank you to Miss Maria McLuskey for coordinating the volunteering programme of S6 pupils and staff offering support for the Glasgow Legion of Mary Wayside Club and Day Centre.

The Centre provides invaluable spiritual and material support for people affected by homelessness or social exclusion. Warm snacks and tea/coffee are provided free. Those attending are offered warm food and non alcoholic drinks. Shaving, showering and foot baths are available and even a free game of Bingo is the own in for some light relief. An Oratory, library and first aid room are also available.

Tuesday 27th September is the Feast of St. Vincent De Paul who gave his life in service to the poor.

May we as a school continue to offer our service to those most in need, particularly during this Year of Mercy.

I have attached an article from Thinking Faith on ‘Jesus and the Homeless’.

jesus-the-homeless

The School Calendar has been updated to include a change to the Duke of Edinburgh Information Evening which is now being held on Tuesday 4th October 2016 and not as previously advertised on Tuesday 27th September 2016.

Please note that the school will be closed to staff and pupils on Friday 23 September and Monday 26 September for the September weekend.

Please note the following school calendar events:

• Duke of Edinburgh Information Evening – Tuesday 27 September
• S1 Information Evening – Thursday 29 September, 7pm in the Forum

In St Ninian’s High School we know that friendships that last a lifetime are born on the football field, rehearsing for the school show or celebrating Mass together.  Taking part in extra-curricular activities can also help our young people develop confidence and commitment as well as the skills that they learn.

St Ninian’s provides a first class extra-curricular programme which offers a wide variety of opportunities in areas such as faith, sport, music,  science, languages and volunteering.

In St Ninian’s there is also a culture of promoting leadership in all aspects of school life; often, older pupils leading younger pupils in various activities.  This in turn gives our younger students aspirations to become leaders themselves. Very often pupils’ first experience of leadership is through clubs and trips and these skills will be enhanced and developed throughout their school career.

These opportunities promote the development of the whole child and give our pupils the broadest education possible.

Please see our programme below for this session.

Extra-Curricular Programme 2016-17

New clubs often start throughout the year so keep checking the website and the school Twitter (www.twitter.com/stninianshigh).

Any updates or amendments will be notified on the school website. A permanent copy of the programme can be found on the sidebar on the front page of the website.

On Tuesday 20 September our Mandarin students gave a great opening performance at the UK & Republic of Ireland Confucius Classroom Annual Conference.

Photographs can be viewed on our Flickr site.

S3 Interim Report 1 will be issued to pupils on Thursday 22 September.

An S6 Parents Focus Group will take place on Tuesday 20 September at 6pm.

Many thanks to the parents who are able to attend.

Pope Francis appeals for prayers ahead of the Day of Prayer for Peace.

Prayers for Peace

Yet another excellent evening where a number of our parents and former students provided valuable advice to our young people who are considering applying to university to study medicine or dentistry.

One of the key distinguishing features within the application process is the personal statement.

The Sutton Trust is an organisation that promotes social mobility and whose aim is to ensure the most able and disadvantaged young people have access to the best educational and career opportunities.

A particular focus of their work has been to offer valuable guidance to students, parents and teachers, about the personal statement and I have listed 3 recent articles providing advice.

I’m sure you will find them of great value.

Please log on to the Sutton Trust website for further advice

http://www.suttontrust.com

Posted on January 28, 2016

Teachers’ views on what makes a good personal statement can be very different from those of Russell Group university admissions tutors, meaning many young people may not be receiving the advice and guidance they need, according to Making a statement, a new research brief published today by the Sutton Trust. … Read more »

How to write your personal statement

Author: The Guardian

Posted on: June 25, 2016

Liz Lightfoot covered our ‘Making a Statement’ report in a Guardian feature.

Read the full Guardian report here.

The Personal Statement

A report by Dr Steven Jones, University of Manchester, on what students from different social backgrounds put in their UCAS statements. Executive Summary The UCAS personal statement is an important non-academic indicator that many UK universities use as an integral part of their admissions processes. Up to half a million personal statements are written every… Read more »

• Making a Statement
• Better Statements (Dr Michael Englard, Sam Holmes and Helen Drummond)

Once again my deepest thanks to the parents and former students who offered their time, knowledge and experience, providing very helpful and practicable assistance supporting our young people in their application to university.

The next block of Saturday Sports Club for Primary 1 to Primary 7 pupils is now available to book.  This is attended by over 100 children every Saturday.

The cost is £50 for a 8 week block. It starts at 9:30am and finishes at 12:00pm.

This is a great opportunity to try a wide variety of sports; improving and developing new skills as well as having lots of fun!  It is also a fantastic induction for the pupils who will eventually attend St Ninian’s High School as pupils.  Though friends who attend other schools are also welcome.

All coaching sessions are run by fully qualified coaches and Physical Education teachers who will provide the ideal environment for children to learn and enjoy themselves safely.

Full details are on the form below which will be delivered to associated primary schools.  You can also print off, complete and send/hand in to the St Ninian’s school office where there will also be copies available for completion.

Saturday Sports Club – October to December 2016

If you have any questions regarding these please contact Mr Fuchs.

Please book early to avoid disappointment!

Could a robot do your job? Millions of people who didn’t see automation coming will soon find out the painful way. The answer is a resounding yes.

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs study predicts that 5 million jobs will be lost before 2020 as artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology and other socio-economic factors replace the need for human workers.

The good news is that those same technological advances will also create 2.1 million new jobs. But the manual and clerical workers who find themselves out of work are unlikely to have the required skills to compete for the new roles. Most new jobs will be in more specialized areas such as computing, mathematics, architecture and engineering.

New skills for new economies

So what skills should workers be acquiring to make sure they have value as the Fourth Industrial Revolution gathers pace – soft skills like sharing and negotiating will be crucial, social skills such as empathy and cooperation, along with those soft skills, mathematical ability will be enormously beneficial.

Last night we heard this very same message from Margie Taylor, Scotland’s Chief Dental Officer, in a talk she gave to pupils, parents and staff.

This afternoon we heard the same themes from Claire Herriot, producer for Sky Television, on the professional skills and personal qualities required to thrive in today’s workplace.

It was a great pleasure for our young people to hear from two highly talented, enthusiastic, and dedicated professionals working in such demanding work environments. Both illustrated these very skills and qualities in their interaction with our young people.

My thanks to both speakers for taking time out of their very busy schedules to meet our young people and inspire them in their ambition for the future.

A group of our Mandarin students will be attending the International Confucius Classroom Conference on Tuesday 20 September with Mrs Zhou.

Wishing them an enjoyable day!

The following Faith events are taking place this week:

• Morning Mass – Tuesday and Thursday in the Oratory, 8.25am

All parents, pupils and staff are most welcome to attend.

The annual S1 Skipathon will take place on Wednesday 21 September. All S1 pupils will participate in the event at the following times:

1A6 – 1A10:  Periods 1, 2 and 3

1A1 – 1A5:  Periods 4, 5 and 6

Good luck to all of the pupils!

The Life Group’s annual sponsored walk will be taking place on Wednesday 21 September. Funds raised will be used to purchase items for layettes which will be donated to the Life charity.

Participants in this event will be leaving from the forum at the end of the school day and will return to the school for approximately 4.30pm. After the walk there will be a social event for the group involving pizza in the street area and a film in the lecture theatre. This will last until 7.30pm.

An Information evening for our Sixth Year students (and their parents) who are prospective Medicine and Dentistry applicants will take place on Monday 19 September at 6pm in the Lecture Theatre.

This afternoon, Claire Herriot (Former Pupil) who has a senior position with SKY in their production department, and has previously worked for both STV and ITV, will offer a presentation to senior pupils interested in careers in the media.

We are delighted to have Claire in the school and appreciate her giving her time to speak to our pupils.

Pupils taking part in the Silicon Valley trip should hand in ESTAs and Passports to Mr Kelly before the September break (Thursday 22^nd September).

Final payment is due on 1^st October. Please contact the school if you are unsure of your current balance or have any other queries.

On Thursday 15 September we held our second Health and Wellbeing Lecture.  We were honoured to have Margie Taylor (Chief Dental Officer for Scotland) be our keynote speaker.

Margie Taylor CBE MSc MBA FDSRCSEd FDSRCPS(Glasg) FFGDP(UK) told how she decided on a career in dentistry having had a terrible fear of the dentist as a young girl and that she was advised to become a librarian as her “handwriting was neat”.  The moral was that all experiences were good, even the bad ones.

She went onto discuss numerous experiences as a young dentist, citing how social deprivation and modern life impacts on the populations oral health and general health.   This led her to complete a business degree and become involved in public health work.  Thanks to Margie’s work tooth decay in children has been on the decline since 2004.

She also answered questions from the audience, some of whom are aspiring dentists.  This gave them the opportunity to learn directly from the leading dentist in the country.

Feedback from parents and pupils was excellent with comments such as “it was inspiring, thank you” and “was very realistic, great speaker.”

Margie using Twitter account @cdo_scotland tweeting this morning “Thank you for the invitation @stninianshigh a truly inspirational school.”

We cannot thank Margie enough for this and she is always welcome at St Ninian’s High School.

You can view Margie’s presentation here:

Margie Taylor Chief Dental Officer Presentation 15.9.16

Today is the Feast of Saint Ninian, our patronal saint.

Gospel Matthew 9:35-37

Reflection – Courage

Today marks the fifth anniversary of Pope Benedict’s visit to Scotland. When he was with us, the Pope suggested that we look to Saint Ninian for inspiration in living out our faith in the here and now.

holy-mass-bellahouston-park

Ninian courageously preached the Gospel and his mission church in Galloway became a centre for the first evangelization of this country. That work was later taken up by Saint Mungo, Saint Mirin, Saint Columba and Saint Margaret. Inspired by them, many men and women have laboured over many centuries to hand down the faith to us. At Bellahouston, the Pope encouraged us to be worthy of this great tradition and to allow the exhortation of Saint Paul in the first reading to be our constant inspiration: “Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, and serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering and persevere in prayer” (cf. Rom 12:11-12).

pope-benedicts-address-to-pupils

Talking about Vocations

Ninian answered God’s call. What holds us back from following that same call? Do we encourage others to follow God’s call in their lives? If not, why not?

Prayer of Intercession

That the Lord of the Harvest may open the hearts of our young people to the possibility of a life in priesthood or religious life.

message-to-the-youth

May all members of our school community – pupils, staff, parents, carers and friends -have a very joyful feast day.

Week Beginning Monday 19 September 2016

Many thanks to parents and carers who made it along to the S1 Maths Workshop last night. We hope you found it useful and informative.

S1 Maths Workshop Presentation 

Thank you to the maths staff who presented and for organising this popular annual event.

More information on the methodologies used can be viewed below:

Parent and Pupil Numeracy Booklet