‘Focus West’ is a programme organised by Glasgow Universities to encourage more pupils to consider applying for Further and Higher Education.   A group of 30 Braidhurst pupils in S4 have followed this process through from S3, culminating in a two day visit to Strathclyde University on Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 January.

Pupils returned to school excited and full of positives after their experience.   Their experience as a student, for 2 days, has certainly strengthened their determination to continue to apply themselves in school and to ensure they have the required grades by the end of S6 to follow a pathway to Higher Education.

Pupils participated in a series of workshops, challenges and engaged in stimulating debate with mentors.   Feedback was positive and comments included:

“The mentor sessions were very interactive and helped us understand about university life”.  Fatima Khan.

“Speaking to mentors eased my nerves and helped me realise that there are lots of different options for students”.  Chelsea Dykes.

“I enjoyed the variety of different activities over the two days at University and particularly the study techniques sessions which will help me prepare for exams”.  Chloe Elrick.

“I enjoyed my two days and now have a better understanding of how to study and student finances”.  Tony Sharkey.

Meanwhile, S3 pupils have been fortunate to visit The University of the West of Scotland, Hamilton Campus and New College Lanarkshire this week on Wednesday 28^th and Friday 30 January.

For the lucky 30, this is the start of their journey and partnership with Focus West.   Their initial experiences certainly met our aim of encouraging some to consider applications to College or University in the future.   Pupils have returned to school with a different insight about life as a student and for many with renewed optimism for their future.    They ae greatly looking forward to more visits of this kind.

Braidhurst High School in Motherwell had a very special visitor last week, in the shape of North Lanarkshire Provost Jim Robertson.   He popped along to collect a cheque for £2,000 in aid of his Malawi appeal.   This was in response to recent news articles about the current flood crisis in Malawi.   The Charity Committee decided as they had not made a donation to an international charity this session from the funds raised at the annual fun run, this was a worthwhile cause.   The current S1 pupils are studying their unit Humanitarianism in RMPS and it is good for them to see humanitarianism in action in the form of this donation.

Braidhurst High Art pupils visited the Creative Residency Art Exhibition in Summerlee, Coatbridge.
On show were examples of work in photography, painting, jewellery, textiles and a range of other creative disciplines.
The pupils thoroughly enjoyed taking in the exhibits and commented on their favourite pieces.
The exhibition stimulated a great deal of interest and many of the pupils will be applying to take part in this year’s Creative Residency at Oban in June.

Pupils from Braidhurst High School and five other NLC secondary schools recently returned from an adventurous week at the Outward Bound Centre at Loch Eil, in the Highlands.  The pupils were able to take part in a number of outdoor pursuits during their week away including an overnight expedition, canoeing, abseiling and hill walking.  Each of the enjoyable activities allowed individual pupils to improve their self-confidence and communication skills.  The pupils had a wonderful time and all were able to successfully achieve the Outward Bound Trust’s Adventure and Challenge Award (SCQF Level 5) in addition to the John Muir Discovery Award.  All pupils agreed that despite the freezing weather conditions they had thoroughly enjoyed their experience.

Examinations for students in senior school were recently completed with staff now busy marking scripts and producing parental reports.  These will be issued to parents in school through meetings with pupil support to allow realistic targets to be agreed and set.  Staff continue to offer a tremendous range of study classes after school in an effort to fully support candidates for SQA examinations.

Muir Street Primary and Logans Primary P6 and P7 pupils celebrated Burns Day by participating in the Annual Day of Dance at Braidhurst.  Over 100 pupils enjoyed showing off their Scottish country dance skills.  The dance programme consisted on a range of simple ceilidh dances and very complex Scottish country dances which included difficult formations.  Mrs Jean Gardner from the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society led the pupils through the dance.  She was full of praise about the quality of dancing.

This event is part of the primary/secondary transition programme and provided P6 and P7 pupils with an opportunity to work with others from different schools.  The next event is a sports afternoon for P7 on Monday, 16^th February.  The P6 enterprise morning is on Wednesday 18^th March.

Students at Braidhurst High School came face to face with some knitted nightmares thanks to Glasgow University.  Dr Mhairi Stewart and Dr Jane Munday, from the Parasitology, visited S4 and Higher Geography students.  The researchers helped students explore Scotland’s extensive history in the discovery and control of tropical diseases and how the parasites responsible for both malaria and sleeping sickness cause problems for people and economies around the world.  Pupils also got up close and personal with some of the parasites common to Scotland, including a 30m long crocheted replica of the world’s longest tape worm.

This is Dr Munday and Dr Stewart’s second visit to Braidhurst High.  This gave pupils the opportunity to find out more about university life and what it’s like to work each day with some of the world’s most dangerous creatures.  Dr Stewart, co-ordinator of Glasgow’s ScienceGrrl chapter, was delighted to speak to a large number of female students looking to excel in science in higher education.