Category Archives: Whole School News

National 4 Skills for work program

36 Braidhurst pupils recently spent the week at Forgewood community center where they undertook a variety of skills for work training courses and qualifications.

The pupils have gained experience and qualifications in First Aid, Food Hygiene, communication skills, team building, Army Personal Development as well an introduction to SFA Early Touches, Credit Union and positive destinations, all of which will be useful employability skills which can be utilised in the world of work.

The pupils are now undertaking up to 3 weeks of work experience while other pupils sit their SQA exams.

S3 BGE Graduation Ceremony

On Wednesday 2nd May, S3 pupils celebrated being Successful Learners in Braidhurst High School, graduating from the Broad General Education Phase (S1 – S3) to the Senior Phase (S4 – S6).  The focus of the Ceremony was Celebrating Success with an emphasis on the young learners’ career journeys in applying skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work.

Alongside first-class musical entertainment from the Performing Arts Department, the pupils heard from our S3 World of Work Ambassadors and a panel of invited guests.  Karen Baird and Emma Baird, former pupils, shared their career journey as owners of Funtastica, a thriving local business comprising of a gift shop, coffee shop and dance studio. We were delighted to welcome them back to their old school.  Joseph Martin, school Career Adviser, shared valuable information on his role in supporting pupils in the senior phase.  Pauline O’Neill, Continuous Improvement Officer for NLC had recently visited the school to see Developing Young Workforce in action, and we were delighted that she could join us to celebrate and encourage our young people in their journey.  Our final speaker, Kieran Aitken, Managing Director of Orbit Enterprise Education and young entrepreneur, shared his inspirational success story with the graduates. Kieran’s current venture is to encourage, inspire and support the next generation of Scottish entrepreneurs to create the businesses and jobs of tomorrow.  We look forward to working with Kieran again in the near future.

Thanks to all staff involved in organising such a successful, inspiring event celebrating the progress and achievements of your young people in the BGE phase.  We look forward to celebrating the same success as pupils progress into the senior phase.

Celebrating Success Committee

GIRLS FOOTBALL

On Wednesday 18th April the school’s girl football teams were in action at the Soccer Sevens tournament at Hamilton Palace Football Centre.  Both the ‘A’ and the ‘B’ team were successful in qualifying for their regional finals with the ‘A’ team also winning the Lanarkshire Cup.  Well done.

DANCE

Congratulations to the school’s dance troupe who recently competed at the North Lanarkshire Dance competition where they won two silver medals and a gold medal.  A fantastic effort from all involved.

ST ANDREW’S HOSPICE FUNDRAISING

Senior pupils Emma Ewart and Christopher Duncan have been continuing their fundraising efforts this year for St Andrew’s Hospice and recently sold items, including keyrings, lip balms, pens, torches and jars of sweets, to pupils from the stall they set up in the foyer at lunchtime.  By the Easter holidays they had managed to raise over £200 which is a fantastic effort.  Emma and Christopher are also helping to organise the school’s upcoming Ben Nevis trek to raise more money for the hospice.

LES OEUFS DE PAGUES

The Modern Languages Department held its annual Easter Egg competition and pupils were asked to decorate an egg and label it in a foreign language. The response was excellent and it was difficult to choose winners.  First prize was awarded to 1L pupil Sophie McCallum with her Humpty Dumpty sur le mur’, second prize was given to Rebecca Davidson for  ‘On fête Pâques à la campagne’ and third prize was won by Thomas Hogg of 1L for his egg ‘Madame Magowan’ ( PT Modern Languages).  The most eggs submitted were by Morven House, followed by Lorne, Atholl and Rannoch. All entries gained points for their house. There were also excellent submissions from the Hub group, under the tutelage of Madame Currie and also the Modern Languages for Life and Work class taught by Mrs McKenna.  The department was most impressed by the imagination and commitment of the pupils who entered and would like to wish them all a ‘Frohe Ostern!’

S2 STORYTELLING

Wednesday, 28th of March saw the finale of our seven week Storyteller project.  Twenty of our S2 pupils have been involved in this initiative, which has been supported by Pupil Equity Funding, and is part of our drive to improve Literacy levels across the Broad General Education phase of the school.  Pupils have worked with Storyteller, Bea Ferguson, who has led them through the process of creating their own stories and developing their public speaking skills.  At an afternoon tea for friends and family, pupils regaled an audience, which also included Primary 7 pupils from Muir Street Primary and residents from Baillie Court.  Our S5/6 Hospitality class provided home baking and did a fantastic job of ensuring that our guests were well looked after throughout the afternoon.  We are always proud of our pupils, but watching this S2 group rise to the challenge and deliver engaging, original stories was a special end of term treat.