Braidhurst High School hosted its annual Summer Transition Programme last week. A large group of young people took part in a wide range of curricular activities including science, art, PE, photography and special effects makeup. The Summer Programme helps ease the transition from primary to secondary and gives young people the opportunity to meet new friends, meet members of staff and find their way around the school building before the start of term. On the final day the group went to Blair Drummond Safari Park for fun with the sea lions, giraffes and lions.

Motherwell FC kindly invited the boys who last session won the Scottish Schools under-14 football shield to the home tie against Partick Thistle. The boys who were accompanied by parents and staff thoroughly enjoyed the entire occasion. They had their photograph taken on the pitch at half-time and walked around the park displaying the Scottish and Lanarkshire shields. The entire crowd gave them a rousing ovation much to their delight. The match programme also included a two page spread in honour of their achievement.

One of the school’s largest ever intakes started secondary school on 16 August with every single pupil in full school uniform. They all seemed really keen to start secondary following a quite extensive series of induction events spread throughout last session organised by Ms Ruth Anderson, Depute Head Teacher in charge of lower school. Senior pupils acted as guides to ensure that they found their way around the campus whilst various support staff worked with them in class to assist them in their learning. An assembly was held to make sure all administrative issues were understood and to encourage participation in the wider life of the school. At this early stage they seem in general to have adjusted well to life in Braidhurst. Parents and guardians certainly have supported the school policy of full school uniform.

New Staff also started the school in August with several appointments for additional staff likely in the weeks ahead. Included in the new staff are Mrs Susan Welsh in computing, Ms Claire Mullen in English, Ms Kirsty McNeill in music, Mr Alan Inch and Ms Lynne Barr in physical education, Mr Blair Cockburn in biology, Ms Kirsty Logan in geography as well as Mrs Catherine McKenna and Mrs Angela Sweeney as assistants in learning support.

Ex-Scotland international footballer Willie Donachie recently paid a visit to investigate the Scottish FA Performance School of Football set-up at Braidhurst High. Willie gained 35 Scotland caps playing at left back taking part in the famous 1978 World Cup side. Most of his career was spent with Manchester City. Willie is currently the development coach with Newcastle United and he asked to come and see for himself the football development set up at the school. He was greatly impressed by the facilities land the development programme.

The 2nd match of staff –v- pupil cricket took place on Monday afternoon after school with the pupils looking for revenge from last year’s humiliating defeat to the staff. The pupils had formed a strong team and rumour had it that they were holding training sessions in weekends before the big match. On the day, the pupils were very confident and had brought along supporters, including two parents. However, one parent very kindly agreed to umpire the match whilst the other decided to join in with the staff team. The pupils elected to bowl first and the staff were eager to take wickets. The pupils looked to be starting off with their strongest batting pair, the Khan brothers, with Azhar looking to have more of an impact in this years’ game after being bowled out for a golden duck last year. It was looking promising after scoring a couple of runs until Mr Clark had him caught and bowled with a lighting reflex catch. The pupils began to score, some down to wide bowls from staff but eventually the pressure from bowlers began to cause problems as the teachers began to take wickets. Mr Khan stepped up to bowl and he took 3 wickets in his over, a tremendous achievement for the staff team. Pupils scored 40 runs all out.

For the staff, the promising Mr Thompson, who has a wealth of experience in cricket, opened but he was then put out after the ball went high off of his bat and was caught. Mr Clark joined Dr Gardner on the field. This was the beginning of the end of the match, with Mr Clark and Dr Gardner scoring with almost every ball, even though a very young Zafar’s bowling was the highlight of the match. They even managed several 4s and 6s land the pupils could see that with 8 batters still left in the pavilion the match was well out of their reach. The match finally ended with the staff scoring 44 for 1.

Well done to everyone who participated and to the group of senior pupils who organised the game. Thank you to staff and parents who were involved in the game. I’m sure the pupils will be starting to practice for the 3rd annual Braidhurst staff –v- pupil test match.

Prizegiving will take place on the morning of the last day of term Thursday 27^th June starting at 10.30 am. The principal guests will be Councillor Jim Logue the Convener of Learning and Leisure Services and Mrs Madeleine Hannan, wife of the Rector. The parents of all prizewinners have been invited to attend what is always the highlight of the session.