Don’t Fret have been together since 2013 and are competing in this year’s Battle of the Bands in Motherwell Civic on 5 February.   They are mainly influenced by Biffy Clyro, Muse and Foo fighters.   This week they performed in the school foyer at lunchtime to entertain pupils and teachers.

Our Rock Band members are all in S6.   Jack hopes to go on to study sound production, Fraser is doing Advanced Higher music and Music Technology this year as well as other Highers.   Ben is a keen linguist and hopes to go on to further study in this area.   Ashleigh is doing sever Highers and is enjoying being part of the band.

We wish our rock Bank the best of luck in this year’s competition and certainly all of Braidhurst is behind them.

Braidhurst High School robotics Club have successfully started to make the journey to Scotland’s high tech future by activating their Raspberry Pi.   The robotics club is committed to delivering Scotland’s STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) future.   The club meets on Wednesday and Friday lunchtimes and is supervised by Mr Hussain of the Science Department, the topics covered by the club so far include Logic circuits, robotics and computer software/hardware architecture.   Pupils pictured are studying National 5 physics and one pupil is studying advanced higher Maths (One of the youngest pupils to do so in Scotland).

Their teacher Mr Hussain has a background in science and engineering, having worked as a commissioning engineer for some of the most well known companies around the world, such as NASA in the United States and Mitsubishi in Japan.   In the background is a picture of a robotic hand made by a Scottish company called Touch Bionics (www.touchbionics.com/) based in Livingston.   This company is where Mrs Hussain is a robotics engineer, “she’s the real expert in the family”, comments Mr Husain.   The company is a real success story that Scotland should be celebrating and has offices in many countries as well as fabrication facilities in the United States.

Pupils from Braidhurst Art & Design Department took part in a jewellery design workshop, which was run by Glasgow School of Art Design Graduate, Catriona Clark.   They were given the opportunity to work with a wide range of materials to help them develop their ideas for their design portfolio.   Catriona spoke about her journey from school right through to her studies at GSA and gave the pupils an insight into the exciting possibilities of a Degree in Art & Design.   She is spending a few weeks in Braidhurst, working with a range of pupils from National 5 through to Higher Art.

Thirteen S6 students studying Advanced Higher Physics attended Strathclyde University last week to complete work on their project.   This allowed the students to carry out experiments using more sophisticated equipment and to collect data that will be used when they come to write up their investigation report.   The students were accompanied by Mr John McGuire, Principal Teacher of Science.

Examinations have recently taken place for pupils in second year.   The content covered work completed throughout first and second years and results will advise pupils on the courses to undertake in third year.   Pupils in upper school are undertaking examinations at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher levels.   External invigilators have been supervising all the examinations.

Pupils and staff from Braidhurst High recently assisted at the Airdrie, Coatbridge and District Boys’ Brigade swimming gala held at the Sir Matt Busby centre in Bellshill.   Approximately 200 boys of primary and secondary age took part in what was a well organised gala.   The staff and pupils acted as timekeepers as well as starter and judge.   The pupils and staff had to work really hard for over two hours as the various age groups completed their races.   The convener of the gala was the rector of Braidhurst High, Mr Hannan and he publically thanked and congratulated the helpers for their tremendous contribution.