The Chief Executive of North Lanarkshire Council Mr Gavin Whitefield recently visited the school.   He was greeted by Rector Mr Derrick Hannan who put together a comprehensive programme to ensure he saw different aspects of the school.   He started with a look at the current second year Scottish FA Performance School of Football programme.   This included seeing a coaching session as well as meeting various players from throughout Lanarkshire.   Mr Whitefield then took the opportunity to see the fourth year School of Football group with coach Paul Burns and teacher Mr David Gardiner.   From there he held a discussion with Gordon Craig the SFA Performance Coach based in the school and Scott Leitch the Motherwell FC Academy Director.   Scott was able to outline the close working relationship with the school with the Motherwell FC Youth Academy being based within the school.   The Executive Director was given a conducted tour of the school meeting staff and pupils as well as holding meetings with several groups of pupils and staff.   The Rector Mr Derrick Hannan said, “It was a great pleasure to showcase the fantastic work and facilities within Braidhurst to the Chief Executive.   The staff and pupils certainly thoroughly enjoyed having him visit their school”.

Braidhurst’s June production of The Wizard of Oz has a new star-Lexi the Yorkie. Lexi starred as Toto, Dorothy’s dog, in last year’s pantomime at Motherwell Civic Centre, and her owner, Hazel, is happy to encourage her theatrical career. The cast were delighted to meet Lexi and look forward to her stealing the show in June. Rehearsals are well under way, and it promises to be a lively and entertaining show. Look out for details of ticket sales for this special production which will run from 18^th -20^th June.

Trials for the Scottish FA Performance School of Football are well underway with the final trial scheduled for Monday 17 March.   Thereafter, parents will be contacted and the school will ensure links are established to include the successful applicants in all the planning to join Braidhurst.   Trials for the Scottish FA School of Football which is also based in the school will begin in May.   Pupils wishing to be considered must apply to the school by the Easter holidays to be included.   All primary schools have been contacted with details of the application procedures.   Any parent may also contact the Rector, Mr Hannan for further advice.

Examinations for pupils in their third year recently took place with external supervision in place.   Staff are now busy marking papers and preparing parental reports.   The conduct throughout these examinations was exemplary.

The Parent Teachers and Friends Association have organised a Prize Bingo evening to take place on Thursday 13 March starting at 7.30 pm. Entry is free and cakes and tea will be provided at the interval.

On Monday the 3^rd of March the Braidhurst second year netball team were playing against Lomond High School from Helensburgh in a home game for a place in the Bronze stage of the Scottish Cup final.

The girls, Aimee, Lucy, Hannah, Amber, Kristie, Taylor, Rachel and Danielle were feeling  nervous before the match but by the end of the first quarter they led 4-3 which became 5-4 by half time.

The girls worked hard throughout the third quarter and at the end this resulted in a score of 11-5.

Before the fourth quarter began Miss Lilly and Ms. McKenna praised the girls for their hard work and strong team work skills shown throughout the last quarter, particularly our shooters. The girls went back on for their last quarter in a confident mood. The game finished with a score of 16-7 to Braidhurst and they were over the moon along with their coaches.

The girls as usual showed their good sportsmanship by giving the other team a ‘Three cheers’ and later getting a group picture with them. They did the school and themselves proud.

Holyrood 2 Braidhurst 4

Braidhurst made it through to the semi-final of the under 15s Scottish Shield after a very eventful match.

Braidhurst lined up without their deadly striker Dylan Falconer who was absent due to a calf strain.

Rico Quitongo moved from central defence into midfield whilst the ever reliable Dillon McCreath took his place alongside Ross Wilson in defence. This gave Jake Hastie a chance to be wide left in a front three.

After a tense start Braidhurst settled down into their natural game with Jake Hastie giving the Holyrood right back a torrid time. The away team soon opened the scoring through Nick Mullen which settled the nerves even more.

The heavens then opened and tremendous downpour took place leaving players and coaches soaked through. Luckily this had no real effect on the play as the pitch was 3G. If it had been a grass pitch then the outcome could have been very different.

Jordan Duncan was doing well down the right hand side despite some heavy handed treatment from the opposition. In fact it took several fouls before the referee finally booked a Holyrood player.

The referee awarded the home team a foul for a push just outside the box. Holyrood managed to convert this free-kick bringing the game back to all square.

Then came a real moment of controversy. Braidhurst restored their lead through Ryan Watt only for the referee to send off Nick Mullen for what he deemed to be an obscene gesture. This bemused not only the player but also the onlookers who could see no wrong in his celebration.

Holyrood came close to equalising as one of their players rounded Adam Sinnet in the Braidhurst goal only to see his shot run agonisingly past the post.

Half-Time Holyrood 1 Braidhurst 2

The half-time team talked revolved around getting the players to keep calm and move into a 5-3-1 formation for the second half.

Despite the nature of the team talk Jordan Duncan exacted some revenge for the treatment he had been receiving and was rightly booked by the referee.

Braidhurst kept coming at Holyrood and managed to claim a corner from which a scramble ensued in the box which led to Ross Wilson heading the ball into the net giving the away team a much needed two goal cushion.

Holyrood kept plugging away at Braidhurst and a ball over the top saw keeper Sinnet come to meet the ball and collide with the on rushing Holyrood player. The referee saw this as a foul and awarded a spot kick which was converted.

All this with twenty minutes remaining. Braidhurst defended very well and Ryan Watt playing up front on his own displayed some wonderful hold up skills buying his team some much needed respite.

Then Andrew McNulty found himself free in the middle of the park and looking up saw the Holyrood keeper off his line and chipped him to score the last goal of the game.

With their two goal lead restored Braidhurst managed to see out the rest of the game and take their place in the semi-final of the tournament.