Last week Braidhurst received a visit from I Bike NL, the North Lanarkshire arm of Sustrans Scotland, a leading UK charity which encourages people, young and old, to make more of their everyday journeys by foot, bike or public transport.   The PE department arranged for S2 pupils to watch a stunt display performed by 3Sixty cyclists which everyone thoroughly enjoyed.

Over 100 S3 pupils took part in the annual Maths Challenge this week.   The challenge consisted of various team rounds, including tower building and an energetic relay round.   The extremely competitive year group fought it out and in the end Team 6, which included Aimee Harper, Sarah Leighton, Reece McAleer and Marc Ross were the delighted winners.

Having qualified from the Vex Robotics Regional competition team “Braidy Angeles” from Braidhurst High School Robotics Club and team MEH… from Airdrie Academy then took part in the UK finals in Birmingham held at the vast NEC exhibition complex. The robotics club is committed to delivering Scotland’s STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) future. The club meets on a Wednesday  lunchtime and is supervised by Mr Hussain of the Science department ,the topics covered by the club so far include Logic circuits, robotics and computer software / hardware architecture.

The Vex challenge formed part of the “Big Bang Fair” is the World’s Largest and Fastest-Growing Robotics Competition for High Schools and Collages. More than 10,000 teams from 32 countries playing in over 750 tournaments compete to become the best globally. This was the first time that teams from Scotland took part in the National competition.

In the VEX Competitions, presented by the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation, teams of students are tasked with designing and building a robot to play against other teams from around the world in a game-based engineering challenge. Classroom STEM concepts are put to the test on the playing field as students learn lifelong skills in teamwork, leadership, communications, and more. Tournaments are held year-round at the regional, state, and national levels; local champions go on to compete against the best in the world at VEX Worlds each April.

This year Braidhurst High has further invested in teaching robotics by imbedding it in the curriculum by investing in four full classroom kits. This commitment will hopefully be rewarded in the future by the Club making to the World championships in the USA in the near future.

Braidhurst High School was host to the Scottish Youth Parliament Hustings for the constituency of Motherwell and Wishaw on Tuesday the 7^th of March.  The school staff were delighted to host this event, especially given that S6 pupil Barry Williams is again standing as a candidate.  All candidates involved gave a confident account of themselves, outlining their policies and why they want to represent the young people of Motherwell and Wishaw.  Characteristically, Braidhurst pupils were warm and welcoming to all candidates, giving their home representative a special, rousing cheer.  Candidates spoke to a capacity audience of pupils from S1-S6.  It was wonderful to see the pupils fully engaged and actively participating in the political process.  Barry Williams later summed up the event by saying that he was delighted by the turnout of Braidhurst pupils and that he was looking forward to the electorate storming the polls on Wednesday the 8^th March.

A group of second year science pupils from Braidhurst High School received certificates this week to mark their successful completion of the British Heart Foundation’s Heart Start programme. Pupils are now proficient in CPR, carrying out the recovery position, dealing with suspected heart attacks, choking and bleeding.  The pupils thoroughly enjoyed the course and appreciate how useful it may be in their lives.

Braidhurst High School VEX Robotics Club is meeting the Scottish Governments desire to expose developing young minds to the understanding of STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics).  It is hoped that this exposure to STEM concepts will nurture creative advancement in robotics and electronics, to learn skills in teamwork, leadership, communications, and more. Pictured with the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, are two of the clubs members. The First Minister was attending the, All Different But United Event, held at Holyrood Sports Centre on Saturday the 11^th of March. The community event is organized by the Raza Sadiq, the Chairperson and founder of the Active Life Club. It was a short but detailed master class in robotics delivered by the girls to the First Minister.  The Club are getting ready to compete in the UK National Championships on the 17^th of March, being staged at the NEC in Birmingham as part of the Big Bang Fair. The finals are an opportunity for the Scottish Design and Judges award winners to compete against other clubs who have also qualified.