On 7th November, S6 pupils Jamie Reid and Brianna Shaw travelled with pupils from all over Scotland to visit Auschwitz in Poland. This is part of their work with the Holocaust Memorial Trust and the Lessons from Auschwitz Project. The pupils were offered a unique opportunity to be involved in a four-part course offered by the Holocaust Educational Trust, which consists of two seminars, a one day visit to Poland and a Next Steps project through which students pass on the lessons they have learned to the wider learning community. The Project is a journey of learning and exploration about the history of the Holocaust and about the world we live in. Brianna and Jamie described the whole project as a moving and thought-provoking experience. We are looking forward to hearing Brianna and Jamie share their experience with our learning community at Calderhead High School.
Category Archives: news
Hallowe’en Fun at Calderhead
S1 Pupils enjoyed Hallowe’en activities at lunchtime today as part of their Buddies lunchtime club with the senior pupils. As well as carving pumpkins, they had the opportunity to dook for marshmallows! Everyone had a great time.
Meantime, in the library, we took part in a spooky Hallowe’en quiz prepared by S1 pupil, Felix. Everyone got most of the answers correct, including a very detailed description of the location of Transylvania by Jamie! Incidentally, Mary Berry did not write Frankenstein (although that might be a fun book to read – Frankencake?) We won’t name and shame who gave that answer! (The author was of course Mary Shelley.)
Author Visit Alex Scarrow
Author Alex Scarrow visited Calderhead High School on Friday, 13th September 2019 and spoke to S1 pupils about his writing and treated them to a reading from the first book in his Time Rider series.
Alex then conducted a workshop with older pupils studying English and Media, and shared a fascinating insight into the structure of films, which can also be used for writing books and stories.
This visit was part of North Lanarkshire Council’s Read to Succeed initiative, funded by the Scottish Attainment Challenge. This affords every S1 pupil, in all of the North Lanarkshire schools, an opportunity to attend an author event, where they hear about the author’s books and the inspiration behind their writing. Author visits inspire and encourage pupils to read and to write creatively.
St Andrew’s Hospice Fun Run
Well done to all the pupils and staff from Calderhead High School who participated in the St Andrew’s Hospice Lanarkshire Schools 6km event at Strathclyde Park event on Sunday, 15th September to help raise funds for the hospice.
Outward Bound Course 2019
Staff and senior pupils recently attended an Outward Bound Leadership course at Loch Eil Centre in the Scottish Highlands. Staff and pupils enjoyed many different experiences including a jog and a dip in the loch, abseiling and hill walking. They even got to try some foraging and sampled some freshly picked wood sorrel!
Outward Bound Trust is a learning charity which equips young people with social and emotional skills through learning and adventure outdoors. The Centre is situated on the shores of the loch, near Fort William, and is the Trust’s most remote outdoor education centre. Our staff and pupils had a wonderful time and learned much from the experience.
Path Skillz Group of the Year Award
Congratulations to our pupils who were awarded the Path Skillz Group of the Year Award at a ceremony at the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday, 10th September after being nominated for their outstanding contribution to making their communities happier and healthier.
Getting Better Together worked with a group of pupils from Calderhead High School on a Path Skillz project to resurface 100m of disused path in Shotts to transform it into a safe and welcoming walking and cycling route.
When improving the path, the group started by using litter pickers to clear up the section where they were working before they started rebuilding. They then worked in ‘squads’ and created a base for the path before laying down the path surface. The pupils (and staff) worked extremely hard despite the horrendous weather and did an excellent job.
Football trip to Etihad Stadium
Six members of staff and over forty pupils travelled to the Etihad Stadium on 31st August to watch Manchester City play Brighton. The pupils had a great time playing in the fan zone in the stadium before they watched the game. A special thank you to all the staff who accompanied the pupil, especially Mr Mackie who organised the trip.
Edinburgh International Book Festival Trip 2019
Pupils from the Higher and Advanced Higher English classes visited the Edinburgh International Book Festival at Charlotte Square in Edinburgh on 26th August.
The first session the pupils attended was a Creative Writing Workshop on writing crime novels with Matt Wesolowski. Matt started by asking the pupils to play a consequences game which they then crafted into some great crime stories!
After getting a chance to bask in the glorious sunshine, and browse the massive book store, pupils then enjoyed a talk by Mel Darbon, author of Rosie Loves Jack, and David Owen, author of All the Lonely People, who talked about the importance of creating empathy with their characters.
Celebrating Success – Awards Ceremony 2019
We are very proud of all our pupils at Calderhead High School and were delighted to celebrate their successes at the annual awards ceremony on 19 June 2019. The ceremony was held at Calderhead Erskine Parish Church in Shotts and pupils, staff and proud family and friends attended.
The guest speaker was Kenneth Martin, an architect and former pupil, who gave an inspiring speech and presented the awards. The entertainment was provided by our talented pupils (with just a little help from our excellent music department).
The ceremony started a spirited rendition of ‘The Green hills of Tyrol’ by the Calderhead Pipe Band, followed by a beautiful rendition of ‘Only You’ by the vocal ensemble. Ellyn MacPhee and Jennifer Deighan performed ‘Caledonia’ before the presentation of the awards, which were followed by a performance of ‘Your Song’ by Jack Stewart and ‘Thank you for the Music’ by Emma Elliott. Mackenzie Forrest and Liam McElhinney performed ‘MSR’ and the pipe band ended the ceremony with a rousing ‘Scotland the Brave’. Special mention to Mr Arbuckle, Andrew Hayburn and Jordan Muir, who were our technical wizards on the day.
Congratulations to all our award winners – you can see a full list of the winners by clicking here.
Reward trips
S2 pupils enjoyed fun days out at M&Ds theme park and Blair Drummond Safari Park recently.
