It’s been another busy week at the CSS.

Our senior pupils continue to enjoy their college courses, plus cope with some disruption this week due to industrial action. Lewis and Aaron are going to TV Production at Cardonald and really enjoying it. Mark and Ruth are also going to Cardonald to do the Travel Skills course. On a Friday Aaron and Casper attend Langside where they are looking at future planning for after school.
Mark and Ruth attended a Fresher’s Fair this week and managed to find time to fit in meeting a body artist. Here are her beautiful designs.

Ruth and Mark were also able to get their portraits done by a cartoon artist. Here is Ruth’s:

We have had some beautiful sunshine this week and pupils have been lucky enough to get out and enjoy it during Nurture and Rest and Review times.


Finally, I would like to say a huge goodbye and thank you to everyone in the CSS and all the pupils and families I’ve met over the last eight years. This is my last day at Williamwood. Working with the staff and pupils here has been the highlight of my career and I’ll never forget my time here. You’ve taught me so much and made me a better teacher along the way.

Yesterday I was thrown a party with a few extra surprises added in. Beautiful watercolour cards from the pupils and a visit from ex-pupils from my original class. Thank you all so much for the kind words, notes, cards and gifts.

Writing this page every week, with a little help from my classes, has been a privilege and something I’ve really enjoyed. So, with a little indulgence, here are some photos from yesterday.

For one last time, have a brilliant weekend.

Miss Macdonald xo

The last post for this month!
The last three weeks have flown by, so much has been happening already.
Our rooms on the first floor look much more like classrooms now, with lots of pupil work already up on them.
This week some pupils were lucky enough to meet Miss Campbell, who is taking over from Miss Macdonald on 11th September. She is really looking forward to starting and everyone she met made her feel really welcome.

College courses are underway and a few pupils attended for the first time this week. Here is Mark at Cardonald College on Tuesday attending his Travel Skills course for the first time.

Exif_JPEG_420

Exif_JPEG_420

Have a great weekend, it looks like good weather is in the forecast 🙂 .

Just a wee reminder that the website will be updated on a Thursday for the next few weeks as Miss Macdonald doesn’t work on a Friday at the moment.

This has been our first full week back and everyone continues to settle back in to the routines of the service, meet new staff and catch up with friends old and new. Some of us are also getting used to working in new rooms on the first floor. Pupils are helping staff make them our own by adding work and designs to the wall displays.

Here is another picture of Darryl (S4) with one of the awards he achieved this year. Over the summer he completed the Police Scotland Summer Programme. Darryl hopes to join Police Scotland in the future. Well done Darryl.

Ruth (S5) gave a presentation to her Princes Trust: Achieve group about her Scripture Union summer camp. She was kind enough to bring in the trophy her dormitory won and give us a presentation on the camp.

Exif_JPEG_420

This week we had two birthdays. Keegan (S2) celebrated on Tuesday and Ryan (S3) is celebrating today. Happy birthday to you both.

Welcome to a brand new year – session 2023-24. We hope everyone, families, friends of the service and all staff had a fabulous summer break. It was lovely to see everyone again on Wednesday, I’m not sure if the staff or pupils were more excited!

We welcomed 11 new S1 pupils to the service:
Max, Eugene, Callum, Lewis, Matthew, Isaac, Tom, Josh, Joshua, Ethan, Rhys and Ella. We are al really looking forward to getting to know you, helping you settle in and working with you this year.

There were successes over the summer. Darryl (S4) received a certificate of Merit for taking part and successfully completing the Police Scotland Summer Programme. Very well done Darryl.

We also have new staff working with us this session. A great big welcome to Mr Cowan who joins us as a PSA and Mrs Hodgart who joins the teaching team.

We would also like to say an enormous well done to all the senior pupils who received their SQA results recently. We are so proud of all your hard work and it has really shown in the results. You should be very proud of yourself.

We have made it!! The school year 2022-23 has come to a close. The last two weeks have been a blur of finishing assessments and coursework, tidying and sorting the CSS and celebrating our successes in different ways. Lots of photos to follow.

Before our Blair Drummond trip, Miss Jamieson and her seniors class got in the safari spirit by making masks for everyone.

The Blair Drummond trip on Tuesday was fantastic and everyone had a great time. Here are just some of the photos from the day…

Thursday was the Big Day In when we could take part in various activities. We even got to meet and handle some alpacas. And lost count of how many dogs came to visit Ammaar!!

Kaiden celebrated his 18th birthday last Sunday and kept it quiet from everyone! Happy belated birthday Kaiden!

And finally, as the year comes to an end, it was time for one of the hardest, but proudest moments for us. We say goodbye to another group of S6 leavers. Sharon, Jack, Josh, Kaiden and Jayden have been with us since their first day of S1. In that time they have grown into mature, caring, responsible, funny and inspiring young people. It has been a pleasure to get to know and work so closely with every one of them. We wish them all the best of luck for a future which we know will be successful. Please keep in touch with us. Here are some pictures of their celebration.

This was the first week of the new timetable. A huge well done and thank you to everyone for coping so well with the changes of classes, rooms and teachers. I’m sure everyone will be used to the new routines by the end of term – in only two weeks!

The (new) S2/S3 science class certainly had fun outside with their experiments.

Miss Jamieson made some beautiful woven paper crafts with the seniors.

Mr Holtham is organising a trip to Blair Drummond for the end of term (Tuesday 21st). If anyone still has their consent form, please hand it in early next week. Parents can now also access Parent Pay for the trip.

Let’s hope it is another sunny weekend as we head into the last two weeks of school.

This has been a busy, busy week for everyone here at the CSS. Right, here we go!
The good weather meant the seniors enjoyed some outdoor time during Health and Wellbeing. They walked down to the riverside and spent some social time together.

The S1 class continue their problem solving skills in Science. They had to build a tower, using only straws and sellotape, which would hold up a golf ball. Here are some of their structures.

Wednesday was the very first CSS sports day. Miss Glenn arranged a range of activities throughout the day. These included badminton, archery, beat the goalie and Hungry Hippos. Everyone, spectating, keeping scores or taking part had a brilliant time. A few teams even ended up with extra teammates for part of the day. Here are some photos, more are on the school Twitter page.

<img

On Thursday the seniors went on a trip to the Burrell Collection and Pollok Park as a finish to their Classical Studies class. They enjoyed looking at the interactive displays in the museum, looking for the Highland Cows in the park and finding the Fairy Garden!

Also on Thursday, our S3 pupils took part in the S3 Skills Academy Day which involved all S3 pupils participating in workshops in a whole host of career and interest areas such as stage make-up, detective skills and cookery. Here are Eleanor and Miss Glenn taking part in a Mocktail Masterclass.

And finally, this week we said goodbye to Gilen (S3). Gilen has decided to return full time to Barrhead High School. We are so proud of his resilience, confidence and everything he has achieved since joining the CSS. Good luck, Gilen! We look forward to hearing from colleagues how well you are doing.

Monday will be the start of our new timetable, with everyone moving up into their new year groups for the final three weeks of term. Before then, have a relaxing, sunny weekend.

A short post, just to wish everyone a fabulous, sunny holiday weekend. We are back at school on Tuesday, for one more week before the timetable changes.
Plus, a huge congratulations to the S1/2 CSS pupils who came second in a Boccia tournament this week. Here are Mitchell, Lucas and Evan with their medals.

No update on Friday, so we will see if that means there will be two in quick succession this week!
Ruth and Mark worked together to make a bridge with Miss Norman in ASDAN.

Darryl and David conducted an excellent, informative lesson as part of their John Muir Award and Outdoor Learning classes with Miss Norman. They took the S1 pupils on a tour of the local green spaces and discussed their investigations and how to preserve these urban environments. Both boys were very interesting, confident and enthusiastic.
Well done Darryl and David!

Miss Taylor’s S1/2 textiles class made some funky mobile phone covers. They look great!

Congratulations to Miss Norman and Miss Jamieson who were successful in interview and are now permanent members of the CSS staff. Congratulations also to Miss Glenn who was successful in her interview for a post in PE. We are looking forward to still working with you next year!

And finally, a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Odin, who kept it a secret, but turned 13 today. We hope you have a brilliant day, Odin.

Apologies for no website update last week, we hope everyone had a great long weekend.
Congratulations and well done to the seniors who continue to study hard and complete N5, Higher and Advanced Higher exams. We all know how hard you have worked and the effort you are putting in, well done.

Last week the National Autistic Society and Mrs Henderson donated a very special gift to us – a new ‘pet’ for the CSS pupils and staff. Miss Taylor’s S1 class excitedly met our visitors and collected our robotic gift. Here is Mitchell unwrapping the surprise.

And some more photos of the group.

Well done to Ruth for helping Miss Paterson embroider this Hermione badge on to Ruth’s bag.

Ruth and Mark constructed a shelter during their outdoor learning time. Here they are with the shelter.

We had one big birthday this week; Josh turned 18 on Thursday. Happy birthday, Josh!