Higher History pupils visited Paisley Town Hall this week to attend a Student Revision Conference.   The intensive revision day helped students prepare for the upcoming SQA examination.   The workshops were presented by experience teachers and SQA examiners John Kerr and Simon Wood.   Pupils took part in workshops teaching essay writing skills for Paper 1 and source evaluation skills for Paper 2.   The visit was an excellent opportunity to work with pupils from other schools and helped pupils to gain confidence and experience in the study skills and examination techniques demanded in the final examination.

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.