Last night Williamwood held its annual Christmas concert in the school’s Ena Millar Theatre. A full house was entertained by a programme which featured wonderful performances from the Big Band, junior choir, percussion ensemble, horn ensemble, traditional band, string orchestra, senior vocal group, junior concert band, senior choir, the Williams Quartet, junior vocal group and the senior concert band. Matthew Wilson (winner of this year’s Senior Young Singer of the Year competition) and Morven Miller (runner-up in the junior event) added outstanding solo performances to loud applause. There was also the traditional audience participation of The Twelve Days Of Christmas. At the end of the concert, Mr Fitzpatrick (pictured left) presented a cheque for £300 to Clare Hughes of Yorkhill Children’s Charity.

St John’s Primary School choir sang and recorded a song in aid of the Brightest Star charity which was set up in memory of my godson, Jack Kennedy, who died very suddenly last December. He was 5 years old at the time and passed away six days before his sixth birthday. The charity was set up by his mum, Arlene, who aims to provide support for other bereaved parents. Arlene was a member of staff at St Luke’s for a number of years and Jack attended Arthurlie Family Centre before starting St James’ in Renfrew. ‘Jack’s Bright Light Will Shine’ is available to download from itunes http://bit.ly/1kCdauB and amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jacks-Bright-Light-Will-Shine/dp/B00H8NU5WU for only 79p, less than the cost of a Christmas card. The charity is aiming for 7777 downloads to mark Jack’s seventh birthday which would have been on Christmas Day. I would really appreciate if you could help spread the word about this amazing charity. Please see the Brightest Star website for more information on its aims.

A reminder that school closes at 2.30pm on Friday, 20 December. Pupils return to school on Monday, 6 January 2014. We wish all students an enjoyable holiday.

Williamwood’s annual art and design Higher and Intermediate exhibition took place last Wednesday evening and was attended by more than 300 pupils, parents and friends of the school. Mrs Selbie, Mrs Dippie and pupils from the music department provided live music to add to the visitors’ enjoyment. Throughout the evening Mrs Robertson, Mrs Rogers and their pupils were also on hand to provide tasty snacks and drinks.

The Williamwood art and design department calendar for 2014 was on sale during the event; all money raised will be donated to the school fund. If you would like to purchase a calendar, priced at £3, please contact Miss Clelland in the art and design department.  Finally, Mrs Coggans and her staff would like to thank everyone who supported this very successful event. <gallery>

From discussion with parents, I am aware that many are keen to help their children with revision and study for examinations. Many parents tell me, however, that they find this increasingly difficult as their children move up through the school and, by the time their children are studying for Higher examinations, parents can often feel ‘out of their depth’. In response to this, I have organised an information evening on Thursday 12th December 2013 for the parents of pupils studying for Higher examinations this session.  click for further information

Williamwood has applied to be a part of the inaugural Elite Engineering Programme for Schools (EEP) in 2013-14. If successful, the school will receive £3000 worth of LEGO Mindstorms EV3 resources including 5 fantastic robotics kits. As part of our application, enthusiastic pupils from S1 to S5 created a video about the importance of engineering which we want as many of you as possible to watch and ‘like’. We think the EEP is a great opportunity for our young people to experience the engineering and programming skills necessary for us to be a successful and competitive nation in the future.  We are competing at a UK national level against 158 other schools. To show your support, and to help increase our chances of being selected, all you need to do is watch and ‘like’ our video by following the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j3rr2b2A6o

From the Calendar for Parents 2013/14, which is posted on the school website, you will know that I have arranged an information evening for parents of pupils in S2 on Thursday 5 December. The purpose of this information evening……. click further information

Please find link to e-brochure http://bit.ly/Sportsforall for January–April 2014 activities.

The Music Department would like to invite you to our annual Christmas Concert, where you will be entertained by both traditional Christmas items and performances of the work that has been carried out this autumn term. This year the concert will be held in the school’s Ena Millar Theatre at 7.00pm on Thursday 19th December <click> for full details.

This timetable is being distributed to all pupils in S4-S6 during assemblies this week. <timetable>

Congratulations to Tom Potter (S2) who has secured a place in the final 10 of the UK Young Drummer of the Year 2014 competition. For more information go to http://www.youngdrummeroftheyear.co.uk/

A group of S6 pupils took part in the Mini Trials event at Paisley Sheriff Court on Saturday 30th November. The pupils participated in two criminal trials and performed excellently in both. Pupils were praised for the preparation, enthusiasm and professionalism on the day. Well done to all involved.