A group of S3 pupils recently attended the ‘Dragon’s Lair’ competition hosted by the Business Gateway at the Atrium Centre in Coatbridge. The pupils were bidding to win the prestigious Dragon’s Lair award for their business innovation, planning and marketing by submitting a business plan on their idea. Good luck to all the pupils involved.
CONNECTIONS FESTIVAL
Braidhurst recently hosted their very first Connections Festival which celebrated Literacy and Health and Wellbeing over three days and involved every young person in S1 to S3. They participated in a range of events, including a series of fun and informative author sessions from novelists Alex Nye, Kirkland Ciccone, and Philip Caveney; selected pupils were participated in workshops which included taster sessions on: slam poetry, comic books, stand-up comedy, storytelling, healthy cookery, yoga, Brazilian drumming, music recording, mindfulness and meditation, football, dance, Internet Safety, Women’s Aid, reading with pets and Young Carers. It was an action-packed few days for pupils and was only made possible by the funding which was gratefully received from the Pupil Equity Fund.
DARCI BURNS – NORTH LANARKSHIRE’S SCHOOLS’ PIPE BAND
Braidhurst pupil Darci Burns, who is a member of North Lanarkshire’s Schools’ pipe band, was recently credited with an award at a reception outside the Civic Centre as her band won the ‘Champions of Champions’ title for the best performances across all five major piping championships. The North Lanarkshire’s Schools’ pipe band have also been given the proud honour of marching down 6th Avenue in New York City as part of the annual celebration of Scottish culture in the Big Apple next April. Well done Darci.
SCHOOL OF FOOTBALL INFORMATION EVENING
On Wednesday 26th of September, the school hosted an information night for the School of Football programme. Over 140 pupils and parents attended the event which gave everyone a greater insight into how the programme will function over the next few years. The event included presentations from Jill Johnston a nutritionist from NL Leisure, Martyn Buckie from the Scottish Football Association and current Braidhurst pupil Jay Miller who spoke to pupils and parents about his experiences in the programme over the last three years. The school canteen provided samples of healthy food to try.
MENTAL HEALTH AMBASSADORS
The school has recently appointed several of our senior pupils to act as Mental Health Ambassadors over the coming school year. Due to the increasing awareness of mental health problems amongst young people across our local community, the school is determined to offer as much support as it can to our pupils, which includes the crucial introduction of this programme. Our ambassadors have been fully trained in various aspects of mental health and will begin by supporting the delivery of PSHE lessons to the S2 year group. We wish the pupils all the very best in this very important role.
MATHS WEEK SCOTLAND
The Maths department recently celebrated Maths Week Scotland. Pupils participated in team problem solving challenges, including ‘Bowland Maths’ and ‘Maths wi Nae Borders’. Some of our S3 classes have been learning how the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans influenced Maths and some of our local P7s took part in our Practical Maths Challenge looking at problem solving, tolerance and measure whilst building mini football tables with jelly baby players. Our S2s have had fun participating in the National Sumdog contest. Braidhurst’s top 5 pupils, pictured below, are Chloe McKenzie, Marshall Lennox, Robbie Kennedy, Emily Dougan and Katie Morrison.
Inter House Events
The first inter-house events of 2018 took place on Thursday afternoon. Over 350 pupils took part in a variety of sports, quizzes and of course our annual “bake off” and “Minute to Win It” Events.
The competition was fiercely contested with Atholl and Rannoch house tying for first place. Well done to all the pupils who were involved in this fantastic afternoon of house events.
Events are scored:
- 1st: 4 points
- 2nd: 3 points
- 3rd: 2 points
- 4th: 1 Point
See below for total’s so far:
| EVENT | Atholl | Lorne | Morven | Rannoch | ||||
| Football | 1 | 4 | 3 | 2 | ||||
| Dodgeball | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||||
| Table Tennis | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||
| Bake Off | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||||
| Minute to Win It | 4 | 1 | 4 | 2 | ||||
| Music Quiz | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| Total | 17 | 13 | 14 | 17 |
