On the 3^rd of September 2014 Clyde Valley English and History students enjoyed Quantum Theatre’s production of ‘Your Country Needs You’. Pupils were entertained, as well as informed, about the First World War, from the causes of the war and recruitment, to trench life and the home front. S3 and S4 History students are in the midst of studying this topic and the actors energetically reinforced what they had learned in lessons. The pupils, particularly those in S5 and S6 who had been to the battlefields in France and Belgium, joined in the singing of World War I songs such as ‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary’ and ‘Keep the Home Fires Burning’. English students will be examining World War I poetry in the coming months and the actors also incorporated some of these in their performance. Although a very serious topic, the actors managed to inject some humour and audience participation, along with some moments of poignancy to a very appreciative audience.

The theatre was packed to capacity on the last Monday of the session for the school’s annual prize giving. Given he would retire at the end of session, this was a particularly poignant occasion for Head Teacher, Ian Sommerville.

In his introduction, Chairman Mr Robert Nimmo paid tribute to the school’s overall achievements. He made special reference to the work the school does in supporting charitable causes. As an ambassador for St Andrew’s Hospice in Airdrie, Mr Nimmo acknowledged the huge amount of money Clyde Valley has raised for the Hospice since it opened its doors in 1992.

Mr Sommerville was speaking at his twentieth, and final prize giving. To mark this milestone in his career, Mr Sommerville presented both his annual report and offered the reflections to the school usually reserved for the principal guest.

He began by thinking about his very first address to school in June 1995, only three weeks after taking up post. He spoke of the tremendous work undertaken by Jack Gallacher, the school’s first ever Head Teacher, laying the foundation of the school Clyde Valley has become. Looking forward, Mr Sommerville wished his successor, Mrs Catherine O’Keane, currently Depute Head Teacher at Cardinal Newman High School in Bellshill, every success. He was sure Clyde Valley would continue to flourish under her leadership.

Mr Sommerville looked back on what he proudly reported had been a highly a successful year. He pinpointed a number of areas worthy of special mention, including examination performance in the 2014, which had been the best in the school’s 22 year history. He recalled successes in sport, in the arts and music and in vocational education. He highlighted the vast range of opportunities available to young people at all stages, including numerous educational excursions abroad. He spoke of the school’s strong progress in delivering both Curriculum for Excellence and the new National Qualifications courses. All of these achievements had only been possible due to the tireless efforts of all staff.

He described Clyde Valley as being more than a successful school, highly regarded across Scotland for its innovative and progressive curriculum and renowned for its commitment to offering wide opportunity, encouraging excellence and promoting decency and good citizenship.

Mr Sommerville spoke of Clyde Valley as a community with a heart, whose values of integrity, wisdom, justice and compassion were evident, all day every day. He concluded by thanking all those who work in partnership with the school and without whose support none of what the school achieved would be possible.

Mr Sommerville concluded by offering his personal congratulations to all of the prize winners and by stating, for one final time, it had been his privilege to serve Clyde Valley High School as its Head Teacher.

On behalf of the entire community, Mr Nimmo paid warm, personal tribute to Mr Sommerville’s stewardship of Clyde Valley.

John Pentland MSP presented Sports and House Awards. Councillors Jim Hume and Gary O’Rorke presented prizes to S1. Councillors Tommy Lunny and John Taggart made the S2 presentations. Councillors Marion Fellows and Frank McKay handed out the S3 awards. Councillor Sam Love presented prizes in S4.

Mr Sommerville presented the senior school prizes. This culminated in the presentation of the Proxime Accessit Award to Gary McFarlane and Heather Waugh and the Dux Award to Ryan Devine.

Clyde Valley’s principal award winners (left to right): Gary McFarlane, Ryan Devine and Heather Waugh

Staff and the outgoing sixth year pupils recently gathered at the Avonbridge Hotel in Hamilton for their annual S6 Formal.

Immediately following the meal, Mr Lanagan introduced school captains, Josh Speirs, Karen Perry, Alex Murphy and Adam Lawson. Then, speaking on behalf of all the captains, Josh fondly remembered their six years at Clyde Valley. With sparkling wit, Josh brought tears to everyone’s eyes as he recalled some of the more bizarre events from their collective catalogue of memories. The quartet then paid tribute to the staff who had given them so many opportunities over their six years.

In a very special tribute to their Head Teacher, Ian Sommerville, who retired at the end of session, Josh thanked him for his wise guidance and support and inspiration throughout their six years together.

Josh, Alex, Karen and Adam then each presented Mr Sommerville with a number of gifts, some serious, some funny – but all of which carried some special significance of the six years they had enjoyed together.

Replying on behalf of the staff, Mr Sommerville thanked the year group for their special contribution to the life of the school over the past six years.

On a personal level, he said how greatly moved he was by their expression of affection and high regard and described the year group as the embodiment of all that makes Clyde Valley such a special school.

Staff and pupils then enjoyed a fantastic night’s dancing to celebrate their happy times together.

Congratulations to Louise Winter of S1 and Reagan Binnie of S4 whose Gold Medals at the recent NLC Schools Sports ensured Clyde Valley’s athletes finished the season on a successful note. Louise captured gold in the S1 Girls Shott Putt, while Reagan saw off all challengers in an impressive 800 metres performance. 

For Louise this was her first County Sports medal while Reagan built on her past successes and now looks forward to summer training with the Scottish Schools Athletics Team.

Louise Winter (left) and Reagan Binnie proudly show their athletics medals.

During library periods S1 classes carried out a research and information retrieval exercise on the Commonwealth Games. This helped revise library skills which taught during the Library Induction Course. 

Classes were set the task of researching the History of the Commonwealth Games and gathering information about this year’s event from the Glasgow 2014 website. The research was split into three rounds.

Round 1: Research non-fiction books and encyclopedias to retrieve information on the history of the Commonwealth Games; Round 2: Research non-fiction books to retrieve information on a specific Commonwealth Games sport; Round 3: Access the official Glasgow 2014 website to answer set questions on this year’s games.

Each S1 class was divided into six research teams and each team was asked to choose a captain. Captains then selected a sport to study, allocating specific research tasks to members and ensuring that everyone worked together in the completion of the research. The team names were taken from Glasgow 2014 sports: Team Athletics, Team Badminton, Team Boxing, Team Hockey, Team Rugby Sevens and Team Netball.

Well done to David Kennedy of 1S1 who has won the Commonwealth Games Legacy Competition. David received a Commonwealth Games ‘goodie bag’ for his winning entries with his two Legacy Wishes:

I hope the Commonwealth Games will allow more people to see Glasgow as a nicer place and want to visit; I hope by watching the Commonwealth Games more people will change their attitude to sport and will try sports they’ve never tried before. 

Well done to David Kennedy of 1S1 who has won the Commonwealth Games Legacy Competition. David received a Commonwealth Games ‘goodie bag’ for his winning entries with his two Legacy Wishes:

I hope the Commonwealth Games will allow more people to see Glasgow as a nicer place and want to visit; I hope by watching the Commonwealth Games more people will change their attitude to sport and will try sports they’ve never tried before.

Congratulations to Calum Dunn and Ross Corbett of second year on their success in the recent Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum Schools Competition. Calum’s work was Highly Commended while Ross received a Certificate of Commendation.

Both boys were part of a 20 strong group of Clyde Valley young people who recently visited Kelvingrove with Art teachers, Miss Wendy McKenna and Mrs Julie Menzies.

Staff have said farewell and happy retirement to four of the school’s longest serving teachers. With close to 100 years’ service between them, Mrs Mary Burns (Mathematics), Mrs Margaret Franks (Home Economics and Sneddon House), Mrs Joyce Halliburton (Drama) and Mrs Wilson Andrews (Physics) have all decided the more leisurely pace of retirement should beckon after the summer.

Mr Sommerville paid warm tribute to each of these highly committed teachers at a special presentation lunch during the last week of session. He commented upon their unique contributions to Clyde Valley before presenting them with a token of the staff’s deep appreciation of their friendship and professionalism.

Every member of the Clyde Valley community wishes all four colleagues a long, happy and healthy retirement.

The school is delighted to announce the appointment of Mrs Catherine O’Keane as our new Head Teacher from the start of the new session in August. Mrs O’Keane is Depute Head Teacher at Cardinal Newman High School in Bellshill and knows Clyde Valley very well. She was a member of the Home Economics Department when the school opened in August 1992.

Mrs O’Keane is very much looking forward to her new challenge and getting to know pupils, staff and parents. She hoped to visit the school prior to the holiday.

Pupils were out in force to support Clyde Valley’s three Commonwealth Games Baton Bearers during its passage through Wishaw and Motherwell. Laura Kilpatrick, Pamela Kerr and Eilidh Murray all enjoyed strong vocal support from our flag-waving pupils as they proudly carried the baton for their section of the relay.

Almost twenty years ago, Clyde Valley’s latest Headteacher took to the stage in one of his first formal roles to deliver a speech at that year’s prize giving. Twenty years on, as the session draws to a close, he takes to the stage one more time – to bid a final farewell to the school, pupils and staff that he has come to love. He has given so much to the school and has asked only for respect in return; a term that he himself has promoted at all times and, in the last few days, has seen returned to him tenfold.

Ian Sommerville began his role as Headteacher of Clyde Valley High School on the 30^th of May 1995. Starting out his career as an English teacher, he took over as Headteacher from Jack Gallacher on his retirement, who had lead the school from its opening in 1992. In that time he has seen hundreds of pupils pass through the gates of Clyde Valley and develop both as individuals and in their learning. He has dedicated much of his life to the school and has been responsible for some of the biggest changes and achievements within the school, including leading the pioneering introduction of Skillforce and delivering some of the highest attainment results in the history of the school. Yet, Mr Sommerville would be the first to emphasise that none of this would have been possible without the hard work and commitment of all of the staff and pupils alike. The Clyde Valley family. He is very much the head of our family and always ready to do his part – including the ritual humiliation of being gunged at charities week! A perfect send off for his retirement.

If Mr Sommerville’s dedication to the school was ever in doubt, you would only need to look in his office for evidence to the contrary. On a shelf in his office, Mr Sommerville keeps an archive of all of the events and achievements of the school and its pupils – some 41 volumes in total. Yet perhaps the most interesting book of all is one that sits alone at the very start of the shelf. This is Mr Sommerville’s personal archive, which records his own special highlights. There on the very front page of the book is a copy of his application for the job of Headteacher along with the original letters offering him the position and announcing his appointment. The fact that, almost twenty years on, Mr Sommerville still keeps these treasured items is testament to the unwavering pride that he has for the school. Anyone who has ever spoken to Mr Sommerville for any length of time cannot fail to agree.

Many will have heard him say that he feels he is the luckiest Headteacher in the world and his personal archive is proof of that belief. Yet the true ‘lucky’ ones have been those members of staff and those pupils who have had the honour of learning and teaching with him. Galileo once declared “You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him to find it within himself” and this is something which Mr Sommerville has worked tirelessly to fulfil. Through his leadership he has left a legacy that will not be easily forgotten. The ‘Sommy Years’ certainly have been some years.

The 6^th years recently presented Mr Sommerville with a copy of D.H Lawrence’s poem ‘The Best of School’ as a retirement gift. The last line reads, “my time is hidden in theirs, their thrills are mine.” Your time and achievements at Clyde Valley, Mr Sommerville, are far from hidden and plain for all to see. Yet, you will leave a mark on each and every one who has known you and you will be remembered and respected for years to come. We thank you for all that you have done for our Clyde Valley family and truly wish you well as you enter your retirement.

Recently, a large group of second year pupils enjoyed the opportunity to visit the main Commonwealth Games venues as part of the school’s Commonwealth Games legacy project. The group posed for photographs outside Celtic Park, the Emirates Arena and Hampden Park and enjoyed seeing he athletes’ village. They finished their day by undertaking a series of outdoor challenges at Strathclyde Country Park.

Winners of the Commonwealth Quiz completed during the tour were: 1^st Zoe Know (Clyde Mascot cuddly toy), 2^nd Kara Wilson (Clyde Mascot key ring) and 3^rd Reegan-Jaye Boal (Clyde Mascot badge).

Clyde Valley pupils strike a familiar pose outside Celtic park which will host the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony.

The pupils of Sneddon House are this year’s Inter House Champions! Strong performances in the Junior Quiz, Junior Public Speaking events and the School Sports when they finished in equal second spot gave them a 5 point winning margin.

The final year totals were: 1^st Sneddon 37 points; 2^nd Houldsworth 32 points; 3^rd Curran 29 points.

Sneddon will proudly take their place in the Championship Board for 2013-2014 and receive the Championship Trophy at Prize Giving.

Well done to our 8 person S2 team who travelled to Wishaw Sports Centre to take part in their first ever Triathlon event. Pupils competed exceptionally well both in the pool and on the track. Although exhausted, and relatively inexperienced, each person of the team completed every leg with impressive times.

Miss Clare Hughes of the PE Department, was fulsome in her praise for the dedicated application and effort demonstrated by the team and felt them well worthy of the medals they received.

Clyde Valley’s S2 Triathlon team enjoy a well-earned break form the hardships of competition.

The school held its final public speaking event of the year last week. The Partnership Primary and Junior Inter House both produced speeches of the highest calibre. Mr Sommerville, as chairman, Mrs Elizabeth Clarke, former member of staff and who launched public speaking at the start of the school, and Mrs Esther Craig, our Partnership Officer, had the difficult task of judging.

8 of our primaries took part: Heather Duncanson (Morningside), Emma Brown (Newmains), Calum Boyle (Wishaw Academy), Eva Martinez (Netherton), Iona Cowie (Castlehill), Sarah Dunn (Berryhill), Corey Owens (Overtown) and James Kilpatrick (Thornlie). These fine orators delivered a wonderful programme of insightful, humorous, reflective and challenging speeches. At the end of a really tight contest, Corey Owens received his individual award and the Public Speaking Shield for Overtown with his passionate account of his involvement in the art of dance.

In the Inter House event, Cara Sinnett and Chloe Hall represented Houldsworth, Stuart Murphy and Abby Cockburn were Curran’s duo and Sneddon’s team was Aaron Miller and Paige McLelland.

The S1/S2 event more than matched the quality of the opening contest, with Chloe Hall declared the individual winner with a moving and challenging speech on the sometimes tragic impact caused by thoughtless and bullying behaviour. And, a strong performance from her Houldsworth partner, Cara Sinnett extolling the virtues of literature, allowed that House to win the Junior Quaich.

Curran came a close second with Sneddon third but by the narrowest of margins in the history of the competition.

Well done to Miss Claire Douglas, of the English Department who organised the event, and to all her colleagues who have worked with all of the speakers over a number of weeks. And, a special thank you to the many teachers, parents and friends who provided a large and appreciative audience for these very talented speakers.

Houldsworth’s Chloe Hall (centre left) and Cara Sinnett hold the junior public speaking trophies and are flanked by Paige McLelland and Aaron Miller (left) and Abby Cockburn and Stuart Murphy.

Congratulations to Kayley Pollock of S4 whose career in the martial art of karate goes from strength to strength. Kayley’s latest award came when she captured a silver medal in her category at the latest national Grand Prix event. Everyone at Clyde Valley records our congratulations to Kayley and look forward to learning of her future successes in this most challenging of disciplines

Pupils from S1 and S2 recently travelled to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow to take part in the annual schools’ competition. Miss Wendy McKenna and Mrs Julie Menzies of the Art Department led the group who marvelled at the stunning exhibits and were inspired by the creativity all around them.

After enjoying a tour of the main galleries, pupils and staff became immersed in their own creations, sketching and drawing some of the many wonderful items around the museum. The visit to Kelvingrove is always one of the highlights of the Art department calendar and this year’s visit was no exception.

Clyde Valley’s young artists proudly display the fruits of their day’s sketching at the Kelvingrove gallery.

Congratulations to our junior badminton team who rounded off a highly successful season by capturing the bronze medal in the recent North Lanarkshire Commonwealth Games Badminton finals at Wishaw Sports Centre. Well done to Laila Dougan, Jaqueline Sweetin, Zoe Knox, Nathan Wale, Jordan Brown and Liam McGhie who all played their part in an absorbing round robin event.

After their own competition, the pupils enjoyed meeting some of Scotland’s top badminton players who will be participating in the Games proper in a matter of weeks. They also took part enthusiastically in the lively question and answer session with these international athletes, taking the opportunity to gain tips for their own development and future success.

Days after earning a bronze medal in the North Lanarkshire Schools junior Badminton tournament, Clyde Valley’s badminton team received exciting news from the sports, national governing body. In recognition of their participation, their success in local and district competitions, BADMINTONScotland has declared Clyde Valley’s entire squad their Schools’ Badminton Team of the Month for June 2014.

This award was launched in 2010 and recognises schools whose badminton players have demonstrated exceptional commitment and skills levels. Well done to Miss Clare McCrory, of the PE Department, and all our dedicated players!

The Clyde Valley Junior Badminton team – (Back row: left to right) Laila Dougan, Zoe Knox and Jaqueline Sweetin; Front row: Jordan Brown, Liam McGhie and Nathan Wale.

S2 pupils enjoyed a day off normal timetable last week to take part in a full day’s programme aimed at raising their awareness of the Commonwealth.

Their day began when some of North Lanarkshire Council’s Games Legacy Ambassadors and representatives from Young Scot spoke of the opportunities the XX Glasgow Commonwealth Games offered the people of our local area. This included highlighting all the places and activities that would promote healthy lifestyles and an indication of the beautiful attractions located within North Lanarkshire.

Pupils enjoyed the opportunity to learn about the many and varied countries of the Commonwealth and took time to look at the wonderful displays produced by second year pupils across a range of subjects.

As the Games promote physical activity, pupils then tackled a range of sports and challenges, including a number of team-building games. Everyone had a fun-filled and highly educational day and took part with huge enthusiasm. A big thanks goes to Miss Claire Douglas of the English Department and her coordinating team of staff.

The project will finish before the end of session with a visit to the main Games venues, including Celtic Park and Hampden Park.

S2 pupils tackle one of the day’s team-building challenges.

Over the last couple of weeks, the Wonderful World Club, hosted by the Geography Department, has hosted a number of ‘teacher talks’. In these, teachers have been informing pupils about their own experiences of the wider world, relaying to them the sights, sounds and pictures of their experiences.

Miss Lucy Kelly, herself a Geography teacher, recalled her time in Bolivia in South America. She recalled the warmth of the people and her visit to the breath-taking Bolivian Salt Flats.

English teacher, Miss Clare Daly entertained pupils with her recollections of spending the summer of 2013 living on a farm in Zambia. Miss Daly handed out valuable advice, advising pupils never to stand between a hippo and its route back to the river!

The highlight of Miss Daly’s trip was undoubtedly watching the sun go down over the Luangwa River. The Luangwa is one of the main tributaries of the Zambesi and provided spectacular views for Miss Daly.

The most recent talk featured Modern Languages teacher, Mrs Hedda McLeod telling of her time spent living in Soviet Russia during the late eighties. This time of great change in Eastern Europe, found Miss McLeod experiencing the hardship of food shortages and queuing for basic food supplies. On a brighter note Miss McLeod also spoke of the beauty and history of some Russian buildings, such as St Basil’s Orthodox Cathedral in Red Square.

Each Teacher Talk has been accompanied by a slide show of photographs bringing the information to life. The next talk will take place on Thursday 5th June and will feature Modern Languages teacher, Mr Christopher Gibney, speaking of his time in Spain and France.

The photograph shows Miss Kelly (back left) and Miss Daly with the audience who were present for Miss Daly’s talk of her time spent in Zambia.

Pauline McLeish and Carolyn Thornton from the ‘Make A Wish Foundation’ were very welcome guests last week. On behalf of the entire school, Captains, Adam Lawson, Karen Perry and Josh Speirs, presented Pauline and Carolyn with a cheque for £7,300, the magnificent total raised during our recent Charities Week. Mr Vincent Lanagan, Depute Head Teacher in charge of S4-S6, who assisted the captains with the coordination, was also on hand to meet our visitors.

Pauline and Carolyn said, ‘We can’t thank the staff and pupils of Clyde Valley enough for this magnificent donation. Please know your generosity will allow ‘Make a Wish’ to bring moments of spectacular joy to a number of young people, and their families, at a time when they are battling illness and life-limiting conditions.

Having seen the pictures of the week’s events, we’re both just sorry we missed what looked like great fun! Well done and thanks to you all.’

Cheque Presentation (left to right): Adam Lawson, Pauline McLeish, Karen Perry, Carolyn Thornton, Vincent Lanagan and Josh Speirs.