Judo Success

February 20, 2014 Mrs Cimmino Leave a comment

Congratulations to Aaron Miller of second year on his recent success in national judo competitions. Competing in the Aged 13-14 years category, Aaron won Gold at the Scottish Grand Prix event. He then built on that success by capturing Silver at the British Regions competition.

Aaron continues Clyde Valley’s strong record in the various martial arts and the school wishes him continued success in this highly competitive sport.

Aaron Miller of second year displaying the gold and silver medals he won in the recent judo tournaments.

Biodiversity Photographic Competition

February 20, 2014 Mrs Cimmino Leave a comment

During the month of February, the school’s Eco Committee was inundated with entries for this year’s Biodiversity Photographic Competition. Pupils, and staff, were invited to submit to Mr John Weir, Principal Teacher of Visual Arts, as many pictures of images from nature as entrants wished. The range of entries was amazing and included close-up shots of wild-life and plant-life to panoramic landscapes.

The thankless task of judging the dozens of stunning entries fell to Head Teacher, Mr Sommerville, and to Mr Weir, whose Department delivers course in photography, especially to senior pupils.

Deserving winner of the first prize and recipient of cinema tickets was Ket Prabkhonchua of second year. The judges felt Ket’s close-up of lichen was captured with good texture and sharp focusing. Equally impressive were the runners-up of Kate Reid (Lake District landscape), Scott Cooper (fungi), Ainslie Wright (snail) and Shona Scott (fence with birch leaves)

Opportunities Beyond School

February 20, 2014 Mrs Cimmino Leave a comment

The school recently hosted its second ‘Opportunities Beyond School’ event. Piloted last session, the event targeted pupils in S3-S6 to raise their awareness of jobs, careers, training and study opportunities both in their senior years of study at school and after they have left.

Pupils in S4-S6 visited the games barn location during the school afternoon to visit as many of the 40 plus exhibitors as they wished. Pupils in S3, those from S4-S6 who wished more time, and parents were then able to speak to the presenters at the close of school.

Co-organisers, Miss Anushi Pathmanathan, our Acting Principal Teacher of Work and Enterprise, and Gail Connelly, our careers adviser from Skills Development Scotland, wish to thank everyone who took part and providing such expert advice and guidance to all our learners.

Those presenting included local businesses and professions, many local and national training providers, support and integration services from North Lanarkshire Council and many colleges and universities, serving the central belt of Scotland.

All of the hundreds of pupils who attended voted the afternoon a great success and ‘eye-opener’ for many!

Fifth year pupils, Nicola Sylvester and Frazer Lindsay gathering information from one of the many presenters at the recent Opportunities event.

Spotlight on Design & Technology

February 20, 2014 Mrs Cimmino 5 Comments

It’s a New Year, in a relatively new department (where physical location is concerned). This month we reflect on what has been happening in the Design & Technology Department since their relocation in August 2013.

The new rooms have felt like ‘home’ for a number of months now and thank you to all our new neighbours who have made us feel very welcome.

It has been business as usual since taking ownership of our new premises. Pupils in all year groups have been patient, understanding and continue to produce fabulous work. The following highlights a number of areas where I have seen fantastic examples of pupil work.

S1: It was great seeing the pupils working on and completing their ‘Soma Cube’. Personal highlight for myself was watching pupils try to figure out 1 solution for this mathematical puzzle only to be told there are 240 possible solutions!

The ‘Celebrating Scotland’ of work was also a great success. Pupils embraced the new software that came into the school with the upgrade to Windows 7 and produced professional looking work using some of the new features available on the software.

S1 – S6: With the upgrade to Autodesk Inventor 2013, pupils have been taking advantage of the department’s subscription to 3dmadeeasy.com. The Website offers pupils access to a wealth of video tutorials to learn about how to use the new version of ‘Autodesk Inventor’ (3D modelling software) we have in the department. A number pupils have downloaded this ‘industry standard’ software at home from the ‘Autodesk Student Community’ website and are now able to take advantage of this subscription at home also.

S2: Certificates and Awards

Congratulations to the following second year pupils who have received Certificates of Excellence from the Design & Technology Department for their outstanding work in term

Pupils nominated for Merit:

2/1 Paul Codona, 2/1 Meghan Hill, 2/1 Bobbi Kennedy, 2/1 Daniel McMillan, 2/1 Lisa Megahy, 2/1 Stuart Murphy, 2/3 Jamie Brooks, 2/3 Jamie Brownlie, 2/3 Calum Dunn, 2/3 Nicole Dunning, 2/3 Chloe Hall, 2/3 Nathan Harkin, 2/3 Christopher Jack , 2/3 Jenna McFarlane, 2/3 Gemma Muir, 2/3 Carly Murray, 2/3 Charlie Smith, 2/3 Caitlyn Thomson, 2/4 Rhys Brown, 2/4 Cameron Gray, 2/4 Leah Hannah , 2/4 Ross Hayhoe , 2/4 Adam Hogan, 2/4 Nathan Wale 2/5 Melissa Arnott, 2/5 Sam Campbell, 2/5 Nikola Carswell, 2/5 Jack Gregor, 2/5 Brandon McCorquodale, 2/5 Paige McLelland, 2/6 Lauryn Brown, 2/6 Chloe McKean, 2/6 Kayleigh Moon,

Pupils nominated for Endeavour:

2/1 Nicole Busby, 2/1 Aleksandra Komarek, 2/1 Annabel Rae, 2/1 Lewis Scott, 2/1 Rachel Taylor, 2/2 Reegan-Jaye Boal, 2/2 Lisa Conlon, 2/2 Kayleigh Hart, 2/2 Stephen Morton, 2/3 Louise Cumming, 2/3 Ailiesh McInnes, 2/3 Jason McLeary, 2/3 Megan McLelland, 2/4 C Chelsea Armit, 2/4 Jamie Clydesdale, 2/4 Callum Hamilton, 2/4 Rebecca Martin, 2/4 Rachael McEwan, 2/4 Abbie Nelson, 2/4 Leah Turnbull, 2/4 Jay Wilson, 2/4 Kara Wilson, 2/5 Arran Dickson, 2/5 Rebecca Kilpatrick, 2/5 Sasha McKenna, 2/5 Sophie Paterson, 2/5 Amber Proudfoot, 2/5 Megan Thomson, 2/6 Kerr Brown, 2/6 Claire Forrest, 2/6 David McMillan, 2/6 Karah Millar, 2/6 Rachel Murdoch, 2/6 Ashleigh Park, 2/6 Linzi Penman, 2/6 Nicole Rogan, 2/6 Amy Speirs, 2/7 Ryan Boyd, 2/7 Euan Bradshaw, 2/7 Katelyn Campbell, 2/7 Laila Dougan, 2/7 Ellie Louise Forsyth, 2/7 Katelyn Kenmuir, 2/7 Zoe Knox, 2/7 Amy MacFarlane, 2/7 Amy McLeod, 2/7 Kira Melville, 2/7 Aaron Miller, 2/7 Jaqueline Sweetin.

S1 ENTERPRISE CLUB:

The Enterprise Club continues to be well attended by a number of S1 pupils meeting on a Friday at lunch time.

During the weeks leading up to Christmas the pupils decided to create and donate a ‘Nativity Scene’ to our senior community friends at the Law View Sheltered Housing Complex in Wishaw which was gratefully received.