S4 pupil, John Stevenson was recently selected to represent Scotland at the European Junior Boxing Championships, held in Anapa, Russia. John was selected in the 57Kg category and progressed to the quarter finals where he met Francesco Lozia of Italy. John performed superbly, but lost out on a split decision after a very closely fought encounter. To be selected to box for Scotland is an excellent achievement, and one which Johns is rightly proud of.

Pupils from Braidhurst High School attended Scotland’s Autumn International Rugby Test against Japan at Murrayfield Stadium on Saturday 9^th November. They began the day by soaking up the atmosphere around the ground waiting on the match to begin. Scotland got off to a slow start but gradually took control as the match progressed and they comfortably won 42-17. The highlight from the Braidhurst pupils had to be Scotland’s first try, which was scored only metres away from where they were sitting.

Pupils thoroughly enjoyed the experience and left with an appreciation of the physical requirements needed for this sport.

Second year French students at Braidhurst High School have been learning how to talk about ‘Food and Drink’ in France, and as part of their course, they were asked to work in pairs to devise an unusual and delicious ice cream sundae in French. The responses were outstanding, showing imagination, flair and linguistic competency. After much deliberation, Mrs Anne Macdonald, Depute Head Teacher, chose the sundae she considered best met the criteria for the task, as well as being the one she would most like to eat! Winners were Aaron Black and Tyler Tobin of 2L, with their coupe entitled ‘Le Grand Homme!’ Runners up were Molly Clarke of 2M with ‘Mont Chocolat’, Toni Dunsmore and Nicole Purdie of 2R with ‘La coupe Miam Miam!’ and Lynette Butcher and Lucy Blackwood of 2A with their ‘Banana Split’. The winners are pictured here with their prize – a real ice cream sundae complete with chocolate flake, strawberry sauce and lashings of cream!

The winners are members of the ‘School of Football’ and are pictured here with their football coaches, who were making sure that the ‘coupes’ were healthy and would not impede the boys’ performance on the football pitch!

The annual Christmas Cracker concert will take place on Wednesday 18^th December starting at 7.30 pm. The choir from Logans Primary will also take part. Tickets costing £2 are now available from Ms Watson at the school. 01698 274999.

The school hall was packed to capacity recently for the annual Children in Need contest with the overall individual item winner being a newly formed group called “Hannah and the Montanas” comprising senior pupils Fraser McCormick, Hannah Allan, Ben Oliphant and Jack Clarke. The House winners were Lorne House who put on a fantastic show of talent from a large group of Lorne pupils well co-ordinated by Samuel Biggart and Oliver Meggit.

Parents of pupils in senior school have been invited to meet teaching staff on Tuesday 3^rd December from 4 pm to receive updates in progress. They have also been sent interim reports to assist them for the evening discussion.

McLaren High School 0 Braidhurst High School 9

Braidhurst began their quest for a third successive Scottish Shield with a potentially tricky away tie to McLaren High School, Callander. Nestled in the heart of the Trossachs the boys took to arguably one the more picturesque footballing fields. However sightseeing was the last thing on their mind. Despite missing two of their regular players, Jake Hastie and Dylan Falconer, Braidhurst were determined to stamp their authority on the game. The pitch was in remarkably good condition, despite the amount of rain that had fallen, and the boys quickly settled into their normal passing game. The absence of Jake Hastie saw Rico Quitongo move out of his central defence role into central midfield where he began to assert himself. A lovely pass from Rico to Nick Mullen saw him open the scoring with what would turn out to be the goal of the game as he rifled a shot from outside of the box into the top right hand corner, leaving the keeper with no chance. The match then became the Ryan Watt show as he went on to score the next three goals. A major part in these goals came from the sterling work of Jordan Duncan on the right hand side of the pitch. By this point in the game he was terrorising the McLaren defenders.

Half-time McLaren 0 Braidhurst 4

The second half saw Braidhurst ring the changes as Oliver McDonald and Deryn Lang came on for Andrew McNulty and Ryan Watt respectively. The biggest surprise was to see Tony Sharkey make his debut as a centre forward as he replaced Darren Wilson, Tony normally plays in goal for the team.

All three players did well in their positions as the scoring continued when Thomas Smart saw his cross being turned into the net by one of the McLaren defenders. Goals then followed from the ever excellent Jordan Duncan and Oliver McDonald before Rico Quitongo finally helped himself to the goal he had been searching for the whole game. All in all this was an excellent professional performance from the under 15s, seeing them move into the next round of the Scottish Shield where they await the news of who their opponents will be.