Four pupils from the Braidhurst football programme recently signed professional forms for Motherwell FC.   The Rector Mr Derrick Hannan said, “This is absolutely fabulous news for the school and the local club.   These boys have progressed through the school and benefitted from their involvement in the daily coaching sessions provided through their involvement in the SFA school of football programme.   They have all been pro youth players with the club and have now been taken on full time contracts.   They are superb young players and I look forward to watching their future development in the coming years.   This has always been their dream and I am delighted that the school has played a part in their development.   It is proof that the programme operating in the school is working.   We wish them well in their chosen careers”.

Pupils at Braidhurst High School bade a sad farewell to the French Assistant, Marjolaine Zerbib last week.   Marjolaine has spent the year working with the children and they have engaged in numerous speaking activities and games in French.   She has worked with small groups, helping them to extend their knowledge of the language and culture of France, as well as assisting them with French pronunciation.   Marjolaine also took part in the Outdoor Classroom experience, when she accompanied S1 pupils as they completed a bike tour of Strathclyde Park and filled in a task booklet in French.   In addition, Marjolaine ran a French Club at lunchtimes and worked with Braidhurst’s Associated Primary Schools to deliver their French curriculum.   In her spare time, Marjolaine travelled extensively throughout Scotland and also joined a variety of groups, including a music ensemble, where she played the cello.   Marjolaine enjoyed her residence in Scotland so much that she plans to return in the future and will certainly keep in touch with members of the department on a regular basis.

She is wished a ‘Bon vovage’ for her trip home to France.

Prizegiving will take place on the last day of term, Thursday 25 June, with the principal guests being the school chaplains Rev Derek Pope, Rev Derek Hughes and Mr David Ramage along with the rector’s wife Mrs Madeleine Hannan.

Braidhurst under 14 football team narrowly lost out last week in the final of the Scottish Shield played at Airdrie FC stadium.   The match was against Grange Academy from Ayrshire who are also an SFA Performance school of football.   Braidhurst were the stronger team throughout the first half and took the lead, with Grange coming back in the second half when they finally equalised.   At the final whistle with the score 1-1, the match was decided by penalties with Grange Academy winning 4-2.   The match was played in great spirit and at a very high standard.   Whilst the Braidhurst team were disappointed they have to be warmly congratulated on their performance in what was a wonderful advert for schools football.

Braidhurst High version of “Back to the 80’s” will take place on Wednesday 17 and Thursday 18 June starting at 7.30 pm.   A limited number of tickets are still available from Mrs Hunter at the school.   Tickets are priced £4 for adults and £2 for children.

You are about to go on a journey…A journey back to a time when Michael Jackson and Rick Astley were the kings of pop…A journey back in time when bubble skirts and blue eye shadow were cool…A journey back to a time when the Atari was the cutting edge of technology…

Rehearsals are well underway for this year’s school show: “Back to the 80’s … the totally awesome musical”.

From the era that brought the world The Rubik’s Cube, Max headroom and the teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comes this ‘totally awesome’ musical in the style of movies such as Back To The Future, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Karate Kid and The Wedding Singer.

Join the graduating class of William Ocean High School as they live through their final senior year – as they experience the fun, the heartbreak, the loves and the loneliness of growing up… all set to the biggest hits of the 80’s!!

Wednesday 17^th & Thursday 18^th June, 2015 at 7.30 pm

Tickets priced £4 for Adults, £2 for children & £10 for Family ticket (2 Adults + 2 Children).

Tickets available from Mrs Hunter (Math Dept).

Braidhurst under 15s football team narrowly missed out on winning the British Isles Cup after losing the final 4-2 on penalties.

The boys, as Scottish cup winners, were taking part in the Allen McKinstry Cup.  This is a tournament where the cup winners from all of the home nations, plus the Republic of Ireland play to see who can be crowned overall champions.  The format of the tournament is that each team plays two games then a mini league is drawn up based on results with the top two playing for the cup, the next two play for third and fourth place, etc.  For this system to work a sixth team is included which is always provided by the host nation.

This year the finals were held in Northern Ireland, with all of the games being played at the Billy Neill Soccer Centre of Excellence.  Braidhurst got themselves off to a wonderful start with a 3 – 0 victory over St Teilo’s High, Cardiff.  The next day Braidhurst found themselves 1 – 0 down at half-time to Our Lady and St Patrick’s College, Knock.  After ringing the changes with four substitutions they were soon level, eventually overpowering the opposition and running out 4 – 1 victors.

Saturday morning saw Braidhurst take to the field for the final against Calasanctius College, Oranmore – Co. Galway.  The Irish side got off to the best possible start scoring in under six seconds straight from kick-off, a lobbed shot dropped over the Braidhurst goalkeeper into the net.  This spurred the Braidy boys on and they were level within two minutes.  From then on the game was dominated by Braidhurst.  The boys created chance after chance but agonisingly they could not get the ball into the net.  Calasanctius defended strongly but never troubled the Braidhurst goal for the rest of the match.  Full-time saw the game finish 1 – 1 and a dreaded penalty shoot-out took place.  All credit to the Irish players who converted their penalties with great skill, and their goal keeper who managed to save two Braidhurst penalties, winning them British Isles Cup.

The Braidhurst boys can be proud of the manner in which they conducted themselves both on and off the pitch.  This was commended by all who watched them play and met them.