Two Braidhurst second year boys who are members of the Scottish FA School of Football squad based in the school recently attended the Scotland under 14 Training Camp at Stirling. Dylan Falconer and Jake Hastie both play for Motherwell FC Youth and were selected for the national squad following a series of regional trials held throughout Scotland. The Rector Mr Derrick Hannan said, “Everyone in the school was delighted to hear that Dylan and Jake have made the national squad. They both play for the school in addition to Motherwell FC Youth Academy based in the school. They have fully deserved this honour having worked so hard to develop their skill”.

Braidhurst High School’s third year netball team travelled to St Andrew’s to play Madras College in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup. The game started off very tight with both teams scoring goal for goal. The score was 5-5 half way through the first quarter. Madras managed to take a small lead in the final minutes of the first quarter with the score 8-5. In the second quarter Braidhurst showed great determination and managed to bring the score back to level, but again were unable to hold onto this lead. Braidhurst continued to work hard to try and close the gap in the second half. Good defending by Caitlin Watson provided Braidhurst with more attacking opportunities and excellent shooting from Holly Worton and Gillian Scott kept the pressure on the home team. Although Braidhurst’s team put out a very creditable performance they were unable to come out on top. Madras won the game 31-21.

A group of 19 Higher Biology pupils from Braidhurst High braved freezing temperatures to visit Edinburgh Zoo where they spent two hours with one of the zoo’s specialist education officers both inside the education centre and in the zoo.

They then visited several enclosures and among the highlights was the chance to see the now world famous pandas, Sunshine and Sweetie. Pupils were also able to observe first hand dominance hierarchy in chimpanzees in their purpose built, state of the art enclosure, the Budnogo Trail. The pupils were also able to visit the Zoo’s newly opened Penguins Rock facility were a couple of pupils tried to adapt themselves to fit in unnoticed with the penguins.

A group of fifth year Braidhurst pupils were recently invited to attend an open evening at the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow. The pupils were able to enjoy four fascinating lectures on the important cancer research work taking place at the Institute. They were then taken on a tour of the impressive laboratories in the building, where they were able to converse with a number of different scientists about various aspects of cell biology and see first hand the techniques being used in the facility. Pupils all agree it had been an intense but highly rewarding night.

All second year pupils studying French were given the opportunity to study German recently. As German is an extremely important language in the Europe of today, especially in the fields of engineering, Science and Business, it is promoted with great success in Braidhurst High School. Pupils are given the opportunity to study the French and German Curriculum for Excellence from the new National 4 and National 5 levels, to National 6 level, which will replace Higher.

During their ‘taster’ lessons, pupils had a ‘Kaffee und Kuchen’ session, where they were able to sample German cakes such as Schwarzwalderkirschtorte (Black Forest Gateau), Erdbeerkuchen (strawberry cake) and Sachertorte (chocolate cake), washed down with Kaffee (coffee), Tee (tea) or Orangensaft (orange juice). Classes all agreed that these were ‘lecker’ (tasty) and certainly helped them absorb the language more easily. Guten Appetit!

The Modern Languages Department held its annual Easter Egg competition this week and the entries, as usual, reflected great flair and initiative on the part of the pupils. With the help of the Art Department, pupils decorated their eggs on a European theme. Entries this year were as impressive and ingenious as ever and included Sponge Bob Square Pants et sa maison, ‘un petit francais au beret noir’ and ‘des lapins en route’. The eggs were judged by Senior Depute Mrs Kathryn Clarke, who declared the overall winners of the competition to be Shaz Afzah with ‘La tour Eiffel’, Danni Blair with ‘La Guillotine’ and Rachel Ross with ‘der kleine Hai’. Class 1L were also given extra house points for submitting the most entries.

All pupils are to be congratulated on their efforts, which just get better and better every year!