Congratulation to Owain T., Kieran C. and Jamie McE. who were named joint U.K. champions in the Geographical Association’s WorldWise Challenge weekend.

The event, held at Malham Tarn in the Yorkshire Dales, saw teams from all four nations in the U.K. complete a series of Geographical tasks around the local area. Each team was then challenged to present on a topic to a panel of judges including the President of the Geographical Association.  The judges commended the boys on not only the excellent Geography included in their presentation but their application, attitude and encouragement of others over the weekend.

After battling through the Scottish qualifiers in 2015 this was a fantastic achievement for the boys. In the end the trophy was shared with Wallace High School Lisburn which was fitting given the close friendships developed between the two teams over the weekend.

This week we have had representatives from the local Muslim community in to speak to S2 pupils about their faith in Islam.  This opportunity has allowed pupils to ask questions and participate in activities which have enhanced their understanding of the 5 Pillars of Islam and challenged stereotypes of Muslims.  Pupils will use this knowledge and further research in class to produce a report on the key beliefs and practices of Islam and their significance today.

Building on their research investigations on Martin Luther King in S1 and Islam in S2, this week our S3 RME classes worked with our school librarian Mrs Mundie to learn how to use Harvard Referencing when writing a bibliography.  Pupils will evidence their learning by completing a research project on one of the world religions of their choice from: Buddhism, Hinduism or Sikhism.

After winning the Scottish Final of the Geography WorldWise Quiz last session Jamie M (S3), Kieran C (S4) and Owain T (S5) will now represent the school (and Scotland) at the Geography Challenge weekend in the Yorkshire Dales. The boys will now compete against schools from across the UK. This is testament to the boys who fought off stiff competition in last years final.

Good Luck to the team!