S3 pupils participated in an Easter cake competition earlier on 19th April and produced some beautiful cakes. The competition was judged by Stephanie Roth, Head of Department at Bells Food Group and our headteacher, Mr Robertson. The standard of cakes was extremely high and it was very difficult to select the prize winners.
1st Place: Scott 2nd Place: Jenny 3rd Place Bekki
Calderhead High School hosted the Wishaw and Shotts Youth Forum’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Conference on 20 March. The Pupil Council from Calderhead and the other three cluster High School Pupil Councils heard inspirational speeches from Kira Melville from Clyde Valley High School, and adventurer and author, Paula McGuire, as well as attending workshops with Chris’s House, Landed, NL Active Schools and the Scottish Youth Parliament. The Wishaw and Shotts Youth Forum is one of six local youth forums who represent young people, organise events and fight for issues that affect them.
Pupils in S1 and S2 were encouraged to participate in the BBC’s “500 Word” competition recently. This competition was devised by Chris Evans to get children excited about reading and writing, no matter what their ability. Entrants must submit a story of 500 words or less and this is now one of the most successful story-writing competitions in the world. Three quarters of a million children have taken part over the years. Pupils met with Mr Reilly in the library at lunchtime and created some wonderful stories on all sorts of different themes: sentient computers, crime stories, mysteries, and superheroes, to name but a few.
We also decided to award prizes for the best stories and held an event in the school on 22 March which was attended by some of the authors and their parents and carers. It was a very difficult choice but we eventually awarded Jonathan Hayburn first prize for his thrilling crime story. Lee McCormick was awarded second place for his moving story about evacuees and Andrew Prentice came third with his story about what happened one Thursday…A big thank you to pupils, parents and staff who attended and celebrated the exceptional contribution of all our pupils.
Sadly, the heavy snow prevented us celebrating World Book Day on 1 March and we had to reschedule some of the events planned. 
However, we did manage to rearrange the ‘Book and Biccie’ lunchtime session in the school library and it was a lovely way to celebrate the joy of reading (and biscuits!) at the end of term.
Pupils were also invited to take part in a “Share a Story” competition by submitting a review of their favourite book and why they recommended that everyone should read it. There were many fabulous reviews and Mrs Lumsden and Ms Faulds struggled to decide the winner. However, they agreed that Kevin’s review of the Skulduggery Pleasant series should win first prize and Lauren and Jack were worthy runners up with their excellent reviews. Thank you to Mrs Galloway for presenting the prizes.
The Consultation report on the proposal to vary the arrangements for transfer of pupils at Kirk O’Shotts Primary School from Caldervale High School to Calderhead High School has been published.
The outcome report is available at
www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/kirkoshottsconsultation
The Education Committee will make a final recommendation on 15th May 2018 and the full council will make a final decision on 21 June 2018.
Printed copies of the consultation report will be issued to pupils on Wednesday 25th April, 2018.
Three S4 pupils from Calderhead High School, Carly Ogilvie, Caitlin Bonnes and Dale Whitefield, recently participated in a Tree of Knowledge residential weekend on the Isle of Arran with pupils from other North Lanarkshire secondary schools. The group explored topics such as dealing with stress, facing fears, learning about mind-sets and building resilience. They also enjoyed some great activities including an “On- Shore day”, abseiling and a quiz. Our pupils had a great time and learned some valuable life skills.
Pupils in Mrs Byrne’s S3 Achieve class recently enjoyed a reward trip to Edinburgh Dungeon. The Achieve class have been doing some great work over the last few months, including an Art project and Intergenerational Project with Rose Hall Manor and helping the team going to Malawi organise their fundraising coffee morning and the pupil movie event just before the Easter break.
Calderhead High School recently hosted a Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) Conference. MVP is designed to train pupils to speak out against bullying and all forms of violent and abusive behaviour. It focuses on an innovative ‘bystander’ approach that empowers each pupil to take an active role in promoting a positive school climate. Within the MVP Programme young people are identified not as victims nor perpetrators but as empowered bystanders able to support and even challenge abusive and bullying peers.
Councillor Heather McVey, Equalities Champion, opened the Conference in the Assembly Hall and thanked all the peer mentors. Sarah Quinn, the local Member for the Scottish Youth Parliament then spoke. This was followed by a performance of ‘Crush’ by the Baldy Bane Theatre Company, a powerful drama that looks at the issues surrounding abuse in teenage relationships, gender stereotyping and the media’s impact on young people’s body image and behaviour. James Docherty of the Violence Reduction Unit talked about the impact of violence; PC Kenny Blades of Police Scotland considered sexting and the legal framework for the sharing of intimate images; and Anne Trevorrow, Educational Psychologist, discussed trauma and nurturing. Pupils were also asked to make a pledge by writing down one thing they will do to tackle gender violence and bullying by Elaine Byrne, the Home School Partnership Officer at Calderhead. Artist Graham Ogilvie produced some excellent illustrations on the day.
Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in maths to show the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter ( approx 3.14159).
S1 pupils helped mark Pi day by investigating circles in class.
Over 700 keen judoka competed in the British Schools Judo Championships at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. Around 400 schools were represented over the course of the two day competition and we are delighted to report that S2 pupil, Emma Pringle, was awarded a gold medal in the Girls (Years 8/9) Under 52kg category. Congratulations, Emma.
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