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SCHOOL NEWS

S5/6 PARENTS MEETING

A Parents Evening for S5/6 pupils will take Tuesday 12 December. The evening starts at 6:00pm and runs until 8:30pm. We look forward to seeing as many parents there as possible.

CITIZENSHIP COMMITTEE

A Food Bank collection has been organised by the DofE classes on behalf of the Citizenship Committee on Thursday 7 December. Any donations of tins, dried food, sanitary products, toiletries or pet food will be collected from period 1 classes on the day. Your support with this is greatly appreciated by local families.

GEOGRAPHY AND EARTH SCIENCE CHRISTMAS LECTURE

Higher Environmental Science together with Higher and Advanced Higher Geography pupils will attend the annual Geography and Earth Science Christmas Lecture at the University of Glasgow on Tuesday 12th December. This year’s topic is Earth Futures, a topic that can be examined in these subjects. Information letters and consent forms can be collected from Miss Morrow in F044.

GAELIC ROCK BAND, LÀN CHOMAIS

We are absolutely delighted to say that our Gaelic Rock band, Làn Chomais, will be releasing their debut single on Thursday 7th December. The song is a brand new Gaelic Christmas song called ‘S e Nolloag a th’ ann! (It’s Christmas!) and, as well as the band, it features backing vocals from over 1000 pupils!

All of S1, 2 & 3 here at Greenfaulds were recorded, as were every pupil in Condorrat Primary and in Baird Memorial Primary.  The track is phenomenal and is somewhat of a departure for traditional Gaelic song!

Làn Chomais are;

Emily Robertson – Vocals / Piano

Jessica Muir – Fiddle

Eilidh Miller – Clarsach

Ava MacKonnon – Drums / Flute / Vocals

Craig Yule – Guitar

Jacob Spence also guests with the band on Bass for this track.

‘S e Nollaig a th’ ann! Will be available from Thursday 7th Dec for download from ITunes, Amazon, Google and Spotify. If enough people download the song we may just have a GHS band in the Scottish Christmas Download Charts!!!!

CHRISTMAS CONCERT

This year’s annual GHS performing arts Christmas Concert will take place on the 7th of December in the school theatre at 7pm. The night will showcase the wide and varied talents of our pupils including performances from our Junior and Senior Wind Bands, Jazz Band, Traditional Band, Rock Band, S1 and 2 vocal group, Gaelic Rock Band Lan Comais and the finale of a combined chorus made up of the primary 7 pupils from our local primary schools. Tickets go on sale soon and will be extremely limited so grab yours soon and join us for a festive extravaganza!

KARATE COMPETITIONS

Leah Stewart in 4KR1 was recently awarded her black belt in karate at the National competition in Largs. Well done Leah, we are all proud of you.

MATHS DEPARTMENT

On Friday 10th November the Maths Department ran a visit to Howden. The focus of the visit was to inform students of ‘Careers in Maths’.  Howden are a global engineering company who focus on the design and manufacture of air and gas handling products such as fans and compressors. The experience involved a guided tour of their factory, information on careers in engineering and kindly served us with a pizza lunch. The trip was a great success and thoroughly enjoyed by all.

TECHNICAL

First and Second years have been selected by their Technical teachers to take part in a STEM competition which is in partnership with LOVELL construction.  Pupils have been asked to bring in their rubbish to help recreate famous landmarks.  S1 have been given the challenge of the three bridges: Queensferry, Forth Road and Forth Rail.  S1 are recreating landmarks from the Glasgow Skyline: Hydro, Finnieston Crane, Riverside Museum and the Squinty Bridge.

AMAZONIA TRIP

Over 100 S2 pupils from the Geography department took part in a trip to Amazonia on Tuesday 7th November at M&Ds to learn more about the tropical rainforest as they have been leaning about this in class. Pupils got the opportunity to explore what animals live in the rainforest and had a handling session with some including a dragon, gecko, tortoise and snake. They were also given a guided tour of Amazonia and took part in some interactive games. Pupils were encouraged to ask questions and experience the hot, humid climate of the rainforest. They also played bowling. Thanks to all teachers who came on the trip. It was a fantastic day which all pupils really enjoyed!

SCHOOL CLUBS

Departments and staff within Greenfaulds High School offer a range of school clubs throughout the year to challenge and inspire our pupils. With many practical, recreational and educational clubs taking place there is sure to be something that will interest all of our pupils. Pupils should look out for details of new clubs posted around the school. PLEASE SEE THE WEEKLY ACTIVITIES TAB ON THE SIDEBAR OF THE SCHOOL WEBSITE @ http://www.greenfaulds.n-lanark.sch.uk/

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Celebrating Cultural Diversity: Syrian Week

Refugees share their experiences with school pupils in Cumbernauld
Syrian refugees who have settled in North Lanarkshire shared their experiences with S2 pupils at Greenfaulds High School in Cumbernauld at a special event.

They told the pupils about the torture and suffering they had endured and reminded them about the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the country.

All second year pupils spent a week across all their subjects learning about Syria, with classes ranging from cooking Syrian biscuits in Home Economics to listening to Syrian music and even learning to count in Arabic.

The week culminated in a presentation from local Syrian refugees living in the community about the abuse of children’s rights still going on in Syria today.

The event was inspired by two S2 pupils, Abdul and Maher, who are Syrian refugees attending Greenfaulds.

Craig Scoular, Greenfaulds HS Rights Respecting Coordinator, said: “We were honoured to have our Syrian friends in the local community present their stories for our S2.

“We are a rights respecting school and the stories of Mariam, Chadi and Mona was a timely reminder that in Syria rights of children are not being protected.  The week long focus we had on Syria across all our subjects allowed the students to appreciate that Syria and its people are no different to us, enjoying music, art and sport the same way we do.”

Pupil Isabella Knox added: “I learned what it is actually like for a refugee – it’s not just a story, its real life.  Mona’s story in particular about losing her husband in the war was very sad. She is a very brave woman.”

Pupil Amy Kennedy said: “Inspirational – that is how I would sum it up.  What the refugees have gone through is almost unbelievable and the fact that it was a real person’s life and not something from a movie or television made it even more upsetting.  I agree that Mona’s story was very sad.

“Trying to survive with two children, one very ill, when you’ve lost a loved one must have been very hard.  Mona, as well as Chadi and Mariam are amazing people.”

To date North Lanarkshire Council has resettled 133 Syrian refugees in the area.

Cllr Pat O’Rourke is chair of the council’s Syrian resettlement programme, he said: “The Syrians who have moved to our area have settled in really well and it’s telling that they now feel they are in a position to share their stories of all the brutality and hardship they experienced in Syria and of their time in refugee camps, with our school pupils.

“Together with other organisations such as Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue, the NHS and voluntary groups we provided a full support programme to help them to adjust to a new life here in Scotland.”

“They Syrians have made excellent progress with learning English and our service has been recognised by the Home Office as an example of best practice across the UK.

Isabelle Boyd, Asst Chief Executive, North Lanarkshire Council, said: “Anyone hearing their stories cannot fail to be moved and I have no doubt it will leave a lasting impression on everyone who hears about their experiences.”

Click Here to Access More Images of Syrian Week
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Arc Trust Competition Winners

The finalists event at Edinburgh Zoo for the Arc Trust Amazing Animals Competition took place on Saturday the 21st of October.
Congratulations to our very talented Kyle Diack S3 who placed 3rd in his category S1-S3 and Amy O’Keefe  placing 1st in the S4 category. There were 8 finalists in each category that came from hundreds of nationwide entries so both pupils did fantastically well to receive such recognition for their work.
They received prizes and will have their artwork published in a book edited by Dr Minting of ARC.

For a link to the twitter page: Click Here

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Homework Texts

In order to provide parents with more timely information with regards to homework concerns the Maths and English Departments are going to run a trial where they will text parents regarding homework concerns.

There are a number of reasons why we feel this will be more beneficial:

  • The process is much more efficient, rather than having to wait on the post or relying on the pupil handing the letter to parents.
  • We know that the parent will receive the information avoiding the requirement to remind pupils to have the tear off slip returned.
  • It is a much more sustainable and environmentally friendly method.

Should we feel this is beneficial we will roll this out across all departments in the near future.

The trial will start on Monday the 30th of October.

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SCHOOL NEWS

ART & DESIGN DEPARTMENT

Recently, S1-S6 pupils enjoyed a talk and mini drawing workshop with the illustrator and comic artist Tom Foster at GHS. Tom spoke about the art of comics and graphic novels and showed pupils photographs of his own and others’ works. This talk was held on Wednesday the 6th September and it was partly sponsored by The Scottish Book Trust (Live Literature Funding).

‘I loved how passionate Tom was, (he was) very informative.’ Courtney Smart S4

‘I learnt a lot of new things and it was interesting.’ Abbie Matthews S4

RMPS TRIP TO KAGYU SAMYE LING

Last week students studying RMPS at National 5 and Higher spent an enlightening day visiting the Kagyu Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist monastery near Eskdalemuir. Despite the damp weather, they enjoyed a guided tour of the spectacular temple and beautiful grounds.  As well as learning about the way Buddhist beliefs are put into real life practice, a particular highlight was the opportunity to witness the noisy chanting and percussion of a tantric meditation session in the temple.

S1 PARENTS MATHS CLASS

Following feedback from previous parents, the maths department decided to run a series of “how to help your child with maths” classes. It was felt that in the past that some parents perhaps lacked confidence when it came to helping their child with homework. The purpose of these classes was to not only give the parents the opportunity to remind themselves how to do certain topics but to also allow them to see how they are being taught and the methods used in the department. It is hoped that this will enable a more consistent approach at home and in school.

The first class took place on 6th Sept at 7pm and lasted for an hour. The class focused on the topic of Angles, as well as information regarding the structure and content of our S1 course. During the class important vocabulary and working was emphasised to assist. Parents were expected to take part in the session and complete questions using our ‘Show Me’ boards.

The turnout for the first class was excellent with 78 parents in attendance.   After getting over the initial shock that they were actually going to be doing maths everyone got involved and enjoyed themselves, with one parent commenting “I forgot how fun maths is!”

The evening was very successful and was thoroughly enjoyed by both parents and staff. Parents were asked to complete a brief evaluation and 100% of the returns said they found the class useful and all said they would attend any further classes that were offered.

Comments from parents included:

“The class material was well presented and easy to follow”

“The facilitators were great, kept the class light and fun while ensuring the content was fully understood.  The class was very enjoyable.  I was honestly dreading it but thoroughly enjoyed it”

“Teacher was so approachable and friendly-great workshop.”

“What I’ve learned this evening will make all the difference toward the help I can give my daughter”

Further classes are planned to take place over the rest of the year which are on the topic of fractions (27th Sept.) and Algebra (15th Nov.).

GREENFAULDS HIGH SCHOOL PARENT COUNCIL – LADIES FASHION SHOW AND POP UP SHOP

The Parent Council would like to invite you along to their forthcoming event which will take place on Friday 6 October. Doors open at 7pm for a 7:30pm start. Come and grab a bargain with many High Street names with 50% off with clothing available to try on and buy. There will be a raffle with lots of fantastic prizes to be won. Tickets cost £5 and include a “refreshment”, available from the school office. Come along and support your local High School.

SCHOOL CLUBS

Departments and staff within Greenfaulds High School offer a range of school clubs throughout the year to challenge and inspire our pupils. With many practical, recreational and educational clubs taking place there is sure to be something that will interest all of our pupils. Pupils should look out for details of new clubs posted around the school. PLEASE SEE THE WEEKLY ACTIVITIES TAB ON THE SIDEBAR OF THE SCHOOL WEBSITE @ http://www.greenfaulds.n-lanark.sch.uk/