A group of 19 Higher Biology pupils from Braidhurst High braved freezing temperatures to enjoy a wild day out at Edinburgh Zoo. After visiting the United Kingdom’s only pandas, Sunshine and Sweetie they spent two hours with one of the zoo’s specialist education officers both inside the education centre and in the zoo learning more about primate behaviour and animal adaptations.

Pupils were able to observe first hand dominance hierarchy in chimpanzees in their purpose built, state of the art enclosure, the Budongo Trail. This included seeing the newest chimpanzee, baby Velu (which means hairy in French) being cared for by the troop. The pupils were also able to visit the Zoo’s recently updated Koala enclosure, the Rhino house at feeding time and the Penguins Rock facility. A great day was had by all and the pupils’ excellent manners and first class behaviour was a credit to the school.

S4 pupils who are part of the JSLA class were given the opportunity to go to Ratho Climbing centre in Edinburgh to experience some adrenaline infused activities including climbing, abseiling and bouldering.

In the climbing pupils were given the chance to scale the heights of the Ratho climbing centre which is specially built around a natural quarry.  They learned how to belay for each other which required a lot of trust and teamwork between the pupils.  The abseiling section was where pupils were truly put to the test as they were suspended at mind numbing heights and their lives were quite literally in their own hands as they carefully lowered themselves towards the ground.  This was probably the most popular part of the day with many pupils reporting to have overcome their fear of heights.

All pupils had a fantastic day and found it both a challenging and worthwhile experience.

A group of fourth year French and German students from Braidhurst High School attended an event organised by the Scottish Association of Languages in Glasgow last week.   They were accompanied by Mrs Eleanor Magowan, Principal Teacher of Modern Languages, Mrs Joyce Dalzell, Classroom assistant and Miss Imke Reitenbach, the German assistant at Braidhurst High School.   The pupils met with students from other schools throughout Scotland and commenced the day with a tasty breakfast prepared by the event organisers.

They were then given the opportunity to engage first-hand with business leaders who view language skills as key to the growth and success of their organisations.   More importantly, the young people were able to take part in workshops and to ask questions to find out more about a variety of careers and employment opportunities that are open to people who can demonstrate language skills on their CV.   Career input ranged from The Open University,  Engineering,  Scottish Business Enterprise to The Scottish Football Association.

All pupils thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to learn about the possibilities of a career with languages and the importance of learning a language in today’s society.   They will hopefully be inspired to take their study of French and German further in the future.

‘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.