It was with sadness that the school recently were informed that the Scottish FA coach Gordon Craig was leaving the Performance scheme based in the school.   Gordon has been in the school for three years and has done a tremendous job in coaching approximately sixty players based in the school through the initiative.   The rector Mr Derrick Hannan said, “We are all really sad to see Gordon moving on but fully appreciate his business and personal reasons for doing so.   He has made a fantastic job of coaching the players these past three years”.   Gordon himself praised the scheme and players involved as well as thanking the Braidhurst High staff for their support over the past years.   Neil Mackintosh from the Scottish FA presented Gordon with a framed Scotland strip which had been signed by each of the players on the scheme.

Study leave and SQA examinations have now started with many pupils still taking advantage of tuition by attending lessons in the school between examinations.

A Parents’ Night was held last week for the trip to Paris which will take place in June.   The meeting was extremely well attended and both parents and pupils were given the opportunity to meet the staff involved in the trip and also to familiarise themselves with the itinerary.   Staff going on the trip are Mrs Eleanor Magowan (PT Modern Languages), Dr Peter Gardner (Chemistry), Mr Zaf Hussain (Physics), Mr Peter Brandon (History), Ms Jen McKenna (Technical) and Mrs Linda McGurk (Partnership Officer).   The pupils will spend a fun packed week engaging in a variety of activities.   They will visit the theme parks of Asterix, Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios.   They will also see all of the famous sights in Paris such as the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, The Sacre Coeur and Notre Dame Cathedral.   Also included are a boat trip along the River Seine, a guided tour of the Stade de France, a visit to a hypermarket and an evening spent at Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, where they will enjoy a ‘cowboy’ dinner!

All pupils are extremely excited about the trip and cannot wait to use their knowledge of the French language and to find out more about French culture.

School of Football trials have now been completed with the final selection based upon interviews and school reports to be made in the next few days.  The quality of applicants was very high indeed and the coaching staff deliberated for a long time prior to making their suggested group to be included to start in August.

Staff and pupils at Braidhurst High School are buzzing with excitement for the arrival of their first colony of honeybees.   Pupils have been working closely with Warren Bader of Plan Bee Ltd to learn more about the life cycle of bees and how they organise and build their hives.

Mr Bader was full of praise for the stellar efforts of the pupils and was extremely impressed with the enthusiasm and drive they have brought to the project under the guidance of Geography teacher Kirsty Logan.   Soon they will learn to manage and extract honey from their own hive, which has been decorated to commemorate the Centenary of World War 1.

Four second year pupils who form part of the Scottish FA Performance Group based in Braidhurst High were absolutely delighted to receive the news that they have been selected to represent Scotland at an international tournament in Holland in early May.   Joshua McPake a midfield player with Hibernian, Kieran McGrath a forward with Hibernian, Jamie Semple a forward with Motherwell and Dean Cornelius another midfield player with Hibernian all received the news from the Rector Mr Hannan.   As well as training sessions the boys will be involved in matches against Czech Republic, Netherlands and Turkey.   Mr Hannan said, “I am delighted for these young players.   Their international call-up is well deserved and they have benefitted from the daily coaching sessions through the SFA performance scheme in addition to their club coaching and matches.  These are absolutely top players all with a bright future in the game”.

The S1 boys participated in a Round-Robin football tournament taking place at Coltness High, with four other schools from the region vying for a place in the National stage of the Cashback 7-aside tournament.   The boys played a total of five matches, winning four and drawing one.   Alistair Small bagged a fantastic hat-trick against Coltness High, whilst Paul Reid scored an excellent long range effort.   The boys played some excellent football and more importantly, displayed a great attitude and conduct throughout the afternoon.