Author: Mr Docherty

Kilsyth Civic Week – Art/Poetry winners
Our congratulations go to Zoe Walker, Kirsty McDowell and Alana Thomson (all S3) who are all winners in this year’s civic week art competition and also to Fergie Henderson (S1) who won the poetry competition.  Well done to you all your Art and English teachers are very proud of you.

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YPI National event
Following their successful interview on STV2’s Live@five show, last week our winning YPI team presented at the National Celebration event celebrating 10 years of the Wood foundations YPI Scotland scheme.  Hannah McFarlane, supported by a video message from her team mates Carly McLaughlin and Zoe Rutherford who were in London, took to the stage alone to deliver a challenging and powerful message to an audience of 1200 young people about the power of youth action.  Sharing the stage alongside comedian Anna Devitt and singing superstar Emile Sande. Hannah more than held her own and we are very proud of all three girls achievements this year.

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Junior and Senior Awards Ceremonies
Last week we held both our junior and senior awards ceremonies.  Our seniors were addressed by guest chairman Professor Frank Clarke C.B.E. and our guest speaker Mr Ken Lewandoski who delivered a thoughtful, direct and inspirational message to our pupils.  Our congratulations go to all pupils who received either a prize or award recognising their efforts and achievements over the course of next session.

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S1 Residential trip
A number of our S1 pupils recently returned for a three day residential experience at Auchengillan Outdoor Centre where they took part in a wide range of outdoor activities and challenges.  The pupils were more than up for the challenge and were a credit to the school.

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London Trip
A number of pupils returned for our London trip last week after a very full few days that involved a West End show, a visit to Harry Potter studios, the Natural History Museum and a tour of the Houses of Parliament where they met local MP Stuart MacDonald.  This was a busy and exciting experience for all the pupils involved.

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Activities days
This week pupils participated in activities trips to M&Ds and Blackpool Pleasure beach in a final reward before the summer holidays.

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Twitter
Thanks to everyone who has helped us break the 1000 followers mark.  If you haven’t yet, please follow @KilsythAcademy for up-to-date news and events from the school.

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Last Day – Thursday 28 June
The school will close for the summer, on Thursday 28^th June, at 1.00 p.m. SQA results will be published on Tuesday 7^th August.

The school will re-open for pupils on Thursday 16^th August, at 8.55 a.m. Pupils travelling by school bus can go on any Kilsyth Academy bus that day, pending the issue of bus passes.

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We are delighted that two of our pupils have won places on the prestigious Creative Residency. The Residency, held annually at the Kilbowie Outdoor Centre, offers an inspirational opportunity to pupils studying in schools across North Lanarkshire. Pupils who have demonstrated excellence in a specific field are nominated by teachers to enter a competitive authority-wide application process.
The course is delivered by industry professionals and takes place at a crucial time in their creative life and artistic development. The Residency not only provides pupils with the opportunity to explore, investigate, interact and communicate with like-minded individuals, but also challenges and stretches the creative thinking and practical skills of participants.
This year, Kilsyth Academy will see two pupils attend this excellent programme from 24^th-28^th June. Eilidh McDowall will study Creative Writing and Dylan McLay, Drama. Both students have produced outstanding work at National 5 this year.

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P7/S1 transition
Last week we welcomed our new S1 pupils to Kilsyth Academy for two days of lessons and activities in preparation for starting in August. It was great to see the enthusiasm of all our new S1 pupils who, worked hard, participated with energy and enthusiasm and left a smile on everyone’s face. They thoroughly enjoyed their time in school and we look forward to welcoming you all back in August.

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North Lanarkshire Council – Languages Awards
At the recent NLC Languages awards held in the Excelsior Stadium, Airdrie a number of our pupils were recognised for their progress and achievements in language learning this session. Pupils were recognised as being either an Outstanding Language Learner or the Most Improved Language Learner in French, German or Spanish over the course of this year based on performance and participation in class and performance in assessments. This is a great achievement for our pupils being awarded and we are very proud of their efforts. Pupils were presented with their certificates by Nathalie Kormaz from the Alliance Française, Dr. Sabine Schluter from the Goethe Institut, Xabier San Isidro from the Spanish Education Office in Edinburgh and Louise Glen from Education Scotland.

Our successful language learners recognised are as follows:
Outstanding Language Learner of the year S1.
French
James Dick
Gracie Currie
Abby Paterson

Spanish
Gemma McConnell
Robbie Brady
Erin McFarlane

Outstanding Language Learner of the year S2.
French
Fraser Anderson
Cameron McCaffer
Katie Watkins

German
Martyn Donaldson
Daniel Doyle
Katie Walker

Spanish
Katie Watkins
Aimee Kimmet
Euan Fitzsimmons

Outstanding Language Learner of the year S3.
French
Morgan Waite
Kathryn Wildsmith
Millie Mason

German
Lewis Robertson
Eve McTiernan
Stephanie Dow

Spanish
Layla Morris
Mark Donnelly
Kirsty McDowall

Most improved Language Learner of the year S3.
French
Emma Roberts
Iona Gilchrist

German
Graham Law

Spanish
Rachel McIntyre

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North Lanarkshire School’s Athletics Championships
Over the last two weeks, pupils from Kilsyth Academy have been taking part in the annual county athletics championships at Wishaw Sports Centre. Our pupils were a credit to the school and our local community, competing fiercely but with dignity and sportsmanship and always giving 100% effort. The following are some of our notable successes but we’d like to extend our thanks and congratulations to all our pupils who participated.

Day 1 medalists: S2 Niamh McCann Gold in Discus, S2 Hannah Matthews Silver in Discus and S1 Alanna Kimmet silver in Triple Jump.

In addition to this some pupils qualified for finals but narrowly missed out on the medals. S3 Calum Smith 4th in 1500 meters, S3 Hamish McMillan 4th in Discus S2 Robyn Stark 6th in 70m Hurdles and S1 Gracie Currie 5th in Triple Jump

Day 2 of competition was very exciting with many of our pupils making finals in both track and field events.
Day 2 medalists and finalists are as follows:

Silver in Javelin            Leah Pollock   S2
Silver in 300m             Alana Thomson S3
Bronze in Discus         Scott Reid   S5

4th places David Veitch in Long Jump
Sophie Bridges in High Jump
Senior Boys Relay squad lost out on bronze by 2/100’s of a second!
Blair Buchanan   in Discus
5th place   Regan Halliday in Discus
6th place   Duncan Grant in Hurdles final
Sam Dunbar in 200m final
Christopher Gibb in Shot Putt.

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Royal duties
As part of the 70th Birthday Patronage Celebrations for Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday 22nd May 2018 our very own Luke Shearer was lucky to be invited to play with the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland and also had the opportunity to meet the Prince of Wales. Our congratulations go to Luke for this amazing experience.

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Television appearance
Hannah McFarlane, Carly McLaughlin and Zoe Rutherford (S5) our winning ‘Youth Philanthropy Initiative’ (YPI) group this session will be interviewed live on the STV2 programme Live at 5 on Friday 15 June 2018 and we hope as many of our school community as possible can tune in to watch and give the girls their support.

The three girls have been on an amazing journey this year winning The Wood Foundation’s YPI grant of £3000 for their chosen charity ‘Friends of Merkland School’. In addition to winning they providing a significant, moving and inspiring talk to delegates at this year’s ‘The Gathering 2018’ conference in Glasgow, the largest 3^rd sector conference in Europe. They are following this up with their live TV duties about their experience of YPI and will round of the year next week by providing a final keynote speech to the annual YPI conference at the Perth concert hall immediately before Scottish music star Emilie Sandie takes the stage to close the conference. It’s been quite a year and our thanks go to the girls for their hard work and commitment in representing the school on the national stage.

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MasterChef
Last week, pupils from across S3 and S4 studying Hospitality were lucky to have a lesson from BBC’s MasterChef the Professionals Champion 2016, Gary MacLean. Gary kindly gave up his time to spend a morning with us in which pupils learned cookery skills and techniques in addition to hearing about Gary’s experience on MasterChef and the opportunities it has provided him. This was a really engaging and exciting opportunity for our young people and our thanks go to Gary for his time and support of the school.

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Senior Social
Last week senior pupils, together with staff, enjoyed their formal end of year dinner at the village hotel in Glasgow. This was a great night enjoyed by all and we wish all those leaving school our very best wishes for the future.

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 Junior and Senior Awards Ceremonies
This week sees both our junior and senior awards ceremonies. Our congratulations go to all pupils who received either a prize or award recognizing their efforts and achievements over the course of next session.

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Twitter
Thanks to everyone who has helped us break the 1000 followers mark. If you haven’t yet, please follow @KilsythAcademy for up-to-date news and events from the school.

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Dates for you diary
School uniform sales will take place in the school café on Monday 18^th June from 5.00 to 8.00pm.

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Rwanda
We are looking for your support to help us collect donations of childrens’ clothes, shoes, school equipment i.e. pens, pencils, bags that we can take to Rwanda and give to the young people and families we will work with when there. Any donations should be handed into the school by Friday 8^th June.  We very much appreciate the generosity of our school community in helping us raise funds for Rwanda and will be very grateful for any further donations you can give.

Litter Pick
Our thanks go to everyone who turned out on Sunday to support our community litter pick along the highline organised by Cllr Mark Kerr. The efforts of everyone have made a real difference to this pathway.

Twitter
We are pleased to launch our latest Twitter account @KA_English_Dept were you will get news and information about English and literacy. Our thanks to everyone who follows us, just a few more and we will reach 1000 followers so if you haven’t already, please follow @KilsythAcademy .

Dates for you diary
S1 tracking reports will be issued on Wednesday 23 May 2018.

The school will be closed to all pupils for the summer half-term holiday on Friday 25^th and Monday 28^th May.  SQA exams in RMPS and Woodwork will take place on Monday 28^th as scheduled and transport information has been provided to pupils.

School uniform sales will take place in the school café on Wednesday 30^th May from 5.00 to 8.00pm.

Cool Creatures

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Recently, all our S2 pupils took part in the ‘Cool Creatures’ event within the school. In this workshop, designed to enrich pupils understanding of habitats within Geography, pupils learned about animals from extreme environments such as the rainforest, hot desert and the tundra and were able to experience holding animals such as a Giant Boa Constrictor, an Armadillo, a Meerkat and a Tarantula. This was really well received by pupils who put aside any fears to take part and helped develop their deeper understanding of the topics they are studying.

BAM Ritchie Partnership
We were delighted to welcome Nick McCormick, Business Development Director of BAM Nuttall, to Kilsyth Academy last week to work with a group of our third year pupils.
Nick provided the pupils with an overview of the very wide ranging career opportunities open to them through pursuing a career in construction and civil engineering. He shared with them some of the exciting projects BAM had been involved in both here and around the world, from the ‘squinty’ bridge in Glasgow to projects in Antartica. The pupils came in with some ideas of what they thought life in the construction trade was and left with a whole new perspective on it.
The pupils also took part in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) activity to design and build a structure that would support a mobile phone. Not as easy as it sounds considering their building materials consisted of spaghetti and marshmallows! Their success hinged upon their ability to plan, communicate, problem solve and work effectively as part of a team.
The pupils thoroughly enjoyed their experience, gaining valuable insight into to the fast-paced and ever advancing world of construction and technology.

Rwanda
We are looking for your support to help us collect donations of childrens’ clothes, shoes, school equipment i.e. pens, pencils, bags that we can take to Rwanda and give to the young people and families we will work with when there. Any donations should be handed into the school by Friday 8^th June.  We very much appreciate the generosity of our school community in helping us raise funds for Rwanda and will be very grateful for any further donations you can give.

School Office
Following four months of renovation work our newly refurbished school office is now open and our staff are pleased to have moved in. The new office is located directly behind our main reception area and visitors to the school should report back to our main reception desk.  Our thanks go to everyone for their patience and understanding during the last few months of building work.

Litter Pick
The school would like to invite all pupils and their families to participate in a community litter pick up around the Academy on Sunday 20 May from 1.00 to 3.00pm. This event is being organised by Cllr Mark Kerr and we would very much appreciate any help and support you can give.  If you can help on Sunday please meet at the foot of the main school drive before 1.00pm.

Football success
We are delighted to announce that Aimee Gibb (S2) has recently signed for Glasgow Celtic FC Women’s U15 academy. Our congratulations go to Aimee for this great achievement and we wish her every success as she steps up a level in her football career.

Twitter
We are pleased to launch our latest Twitter account @KA_English_Dept were you will get news and information about English and literacy. Our thanks to everyone who follows us, just a few more and we will reach 1000 followers so if you haven’t already, please follow @KilsythAcademy .

Dates for you diary
The school will be closed to all pupils for the summer half-term holiday on Friday 25^th and Monday 28^th May.  SQA exams in RMPS and Woodwork will take place on Monday 28^th as scheduled and transport information has been provided to pupils.
School uniform sales will take place in the school café on Wednesday 30^th May from 5.00 to 8.00pm.

 

Primary sports
Kilsyth Academy hosted the Annual Primary Athletics Championships this week. This event was organised by the S5/6 Sports Leaders group who officiated very efficiently throughout the morning. Over sixty athletes from our cluster primary schools competed in a variety of Track and Field events, to gain points for their school towards the overall “Best School” trophy. The following pupils were individual champions in their selected events.

80M Sprint                            Blair Stewart                           Abbie Curtis

         200M                                 Braedon Kiernan                    Angela Houston

600M                                      Max Smith                              Olivia Curle

Shot Putt                               Duncan Fotheringham           Lauren Findlay

Cricket Throw                        James Bradshaw                     Kiera McKenna

Long Jump                              James Clelland                       Megan Girvan

 

Girls 4×50 Metre Relay:         Lennoxtown P.S.

Boys 4×50 Metre Relay:         Balmalloch P.S.

 

              Final Team Placings:   

Overall Champions:    Balmalloch P.S.           78 points

                Runners Up:     Lennoxtown P.S         50 points

                    Third Place:      Kilsyth P.S.                     47 points

Sports Ambassador
Congratulations go to Martin Murphy – S6 on being selected to play a role in organising and running the north area locality inter-school Primary Netball championships last week. Martin has worked very hard this year as one of our sports ambassadors to support the organisation and running of sport in the school and played an important role in helping to organise our recent club fair resulting in a big uptake of pupils into new sports clubs.

Leavers’ ceremony
All pupils from S4 – S6 who are leaving Kilsyth Academy this summer will be recognised at our leavers’ ceremony on Thursday 29^th April.  We wish them all the best in their endeavours when they leave school and every success in their exams before then.

S6 BBQ
The annual S6 BBQ will take place on Friday as a final in-school celebration and recognition to our young people on completing their time in the Academy.

Exams
Letters and personal timetables have been issued to pupils who will be sitting SQA examinations, during May and June. Study Leave, for S4, S5 and S6 pupils sitting SQA examinations, will be from 30^th April until 1st June (both dates inclusive). Pupils who have no examinations will not have Study Leave and will be expected to attend school, during this time.  Everyone at the school send best wishes to all our young people who are sitting exams over the next five weeks.

Easter School
There was a good turnout of pupils at the various Easter School tutorials, held between 3^rd and 5^th April. We hope that this will have helped pupils with their preparation for the forthcoming examinations.

Twitter
As our profile on Twitter continues to grow our range of accounts continues to provide news and information about the school, subjects, departments, careers and the world of work. Help us increase our online profile and keep up-to-date with school news and information by following our twitter accounts.  @KilsythAcademy   @ka_envscience    @ka_biology    @KACareers1 @KilsythPe   @KAhumanities     @KA_library    @KAmodlangs   @KA_ICT @ka_HSPO   @KACaptains   @KAMathsdept

Dates for you diary
The school will be closed to all pupils for the May holiday on Monday 7^th May.  The school is also closed to pupils on Tuesday 8^th May for an in-service day with the exception of those pupils due to sit exams in N5, Higher and Advanced Higher Physics.

Rotary Speaking competition
Congratulations to our all our young people who participated in this year’s Rotary young Speakers competition. There was a wide and varied range of topics including, The Six Nations, Wales is better than Scotland, The Refugee Crisis and Time is an Illusion.
The prize winners in the junior category were:
1st – Mark Donnelly talking about Music
2nd – Craig McFarlane talking about Global Warming
3rd – Jasmine Weir talking about morals and Fables
The prize winners in the senior category were:
1st – Amy Buck – Why I love languages
2nd – Jennifer Wright talking about why Time is an Illusion
3rd – Ayesha Chebe talking about Ghana and Scotland

 

K’nex Challenge
On Thursday March 22th, teams from across our cluster Primary schools took part in our annual K-Nex challenge. This year’s design brief was very challenging with pupils tasked with designing a Ferris Wheel. Banton Primary School finished as runners up to our winning team from Balmalloch Primary School.

 

Celebration of Success
Our “Celebration of Success” assembly takes place on Wednesday 28th March. A large number of pupils from across all year groups are being recognised for everything from reading to youth philanthropy to achievement of John Muir Trust Awards. We would like to offer our congratulations to all pupils, we are very proud of you.

 

Rwanda fundraiser – re-scheduled
As part of our ongoing partnership with the charity Comfort Rwanda a group of senior pupils and staff will again visit Rwanda this summer. To support this trip the group are holding their main fundraiser, a Race Night, in the school cafe on Friday 20th April from 7-10pm. Tickets are available from the school at a cost of £5 and you can get further information from Miss McKillop,
We have always had excellent support from the school and local community and the money raised will make such a difference to the people in Rwanda. At present we do not have our exact project location but it will be restoring or building homes and providing live stock for community groups.
As always raffle prizes will be graciously accepted.

 

Twitter
As our profile on Twitter continues to grow our range of accounts continues to provide news and information about the school, subjects, departments, careers and the world of work. Help us increase our online profile and keep up-to-date with school news and information by following our twitter accounts. @KilsythAcademy,  @ka_envscience,  @ka_biology,  @KACareers1,  @KilsythPe @KAhumanities,  @KA_library,  @KAmodlangs, @KA_ICT,  @ka_HSPO @KACaptains,  @KAMathsdept

 

Easter School
Easter School takes place during mornings next week from Tuesday 3rd April to Thursday 5th April for pupils in S4- 6 studying for SQA exams. This is a great chance to get in some focused study with additional support from subject teachers. Pupils have been issued with the appropriate information and all pupils signed up are expected to attend.

 

End of term arrangements/non-uniform day
School will close for the Spring Break on Thursday 29th March at 2.30pm and re-opens again on Monday 16th April. On Thursday 29th March pupils can participate in our non-uniform day to help us raise additional funds for pupil charities and activities. The cost to dress down is £1 per pupil. Classes will continue to run as normal so it is essential that pupils continue to bring with them a bag, jotters and equipment and P.E. kit. Please note that no football colours are allowed. We wish all our pupils and families an enjoyable break.

Rotary Speaking competition
Following the recent severe weather, The Rotary Club Speaking competition will now take place next week with a number of pupils from S1 – S3 involved. Good luck everyone participating.

Rotary Technology Tournament
On Thursday March 8^th, schools from across Lanarkshire took part in the annual Rotary Technology tournament in Kilsyth Academy.  All teams worked hard to create solutions to the task brief however, our congratulations go to Kilsyth Academy’s senior team who put in a great performance to win the advanced category.  Congratulations also to our junior and intermediate teams who also put in excellent performances to be placed 2^nd and 3^rd in their categories.

Employment and Modern Apprenticeship Opportunities
Employment and apprenticeship opportunities are regularly received in school and displayed in the senior’s area of the café and also on our careers notice board. These are updated regularly and pupils considering both routes when they leave school are encouraged to check the notices regularly.

Sporting success – Athletics
Congratulations to Jamie Stevenson (S5) who has again been called up to participate in a national coaching day with the Scottish School Athletics Association in March.

Rwanda fundraiser – re-scheduled
As part of our ongoing partnership with the charity Comfort Rwanda a group of senior pupils and staff will again visit Rwanda this summer. To support this trip the group are holding their main fundraiser, a Race Night, in the school cafe on Friday 20^th April from 7-10pm. Tickets are available from the school at a cost of £5 and you can get further information from Miss McKillop,

We have always had excellent support from the school and local community and the money raised will make such a difference to the people in Rwanda. At present we do not have our exact project location but it will be restoring or building homes and providing live stock for community groups.

As always raffle prizes will be graciously accepted.

Parent Council
The next meeting of the Parent Council is due to take place on Thursday 22/3/18 at 7.00pm. We welcome any new parents to attend.

Dates for your diary

S2 Tracking reports are due to be issued on Monday 19/3/18.
S2 Parents evening will take place on Thursday 22/3/18.
S3 tracking reports are due to be issued on Wednesday 28/3/18.

The Gathering 2018
Last Thursday, 3 S4 Pupils, Hannah McFarlane, Carly McLaughlin and Zoe Rutherford, led a workshop for more than 100 delegates from third sector organisations, Educations, Local Authorities and employers at The Gathering 2018 – the largest 3^rd Sector conference in Europe.  The girls, who were selected to represent The Wood Foundation from more than 230 school across Scotland, gave a very professional presentation and talked confidently about their involvement in the Wood Foundation’s Youth Philanthropy Initiative and about the power of youth to give delegates a better understanding about how they can embrace young people in their organisations.

 

Silver Linings
Recently, 13 pupils and Ms Gordon attended the ‘Silver Lining’s event which was held at St Maurices on Wednesday 21st February, 6.45pm to 9.00pm. The event was organised by YACK (Youth Action Cumbernauld/Kilsyth) and the main focus was young people and mental health.  Participants took part in 3 workshops, Reeltime music provided a practical session on drumming, Ukele playing and DJing.  There was also a comedy workshop and a ‘Market Place’ where young people had the chance to chat to service providers and take part in other fun activities.

It is hoped that this event will encourage young people from Kilsyth and Cumbernauld to become members of YACK, who meet every Wednesday night in St Maurices (7pm to 8.30pm), to take forward issues relevant to young people.

 

Careers fair
Our Careers Fair took place on Monday 26th February in the school Café and was supported by over 30 providers from Higher and Further Education and Employers. This was a well-attended, informative event and success and we would like to thank all those who gave up their time to meet and support our young people and their parents.

 

Rotary Speaking competition
The Rotary Club Speaking competition takes place this week with a number of pupils from S1 – S3 involved. Good luck everyone participating.

 

Rotary Technology Tournament
On Thursday March 8^th, schools from across Lanarkshire will gather at Kilsyth Academy to take part in the annual Rotary Technology tournament.  Working in teams, pupils will be given a problem to solve and provided with a limited selection of resources to encourage creative approaches to successfully achieving the specified aims.  We look forward to welcoming participating Schools and pupil’s to Kilsyth.

 

Cross Country
Kilsyth Academy held their annual Cross Country Championships last week with over sixty athletes competing in either the junior or senior events. This event also doubles up as one of our inter-house events which led to increased competition for every place in the field.  Furthermore the organisation and management of this event is led by our Sports Leaders and is an integral part of their course, allowing them to put their impressive leadership skills into action.

The individual results after some very close racing were;

• Junior Boys Champion; Reece Culley Silver, Matthew Carlin and Bronze Euan McCrae.
• Junior Girls Champion;   Gracie Currie, Silver, Chloe Whitelock and Bronze Katie Carr.
• Senior Boys Champion; Callum Smith, Silver, Cameron Comrie and Bronze Ross Alexander.
• Senior Girls Champion; Jessica Curle who successfully retained the trophy from last year and has now won three years running, Silver Sophie Lynch and Bronze Rachel Thomson for the second year.
• House Competition.   Junior Trophy; Antonine House

Senior Trophy; Colzium House

There will be a second meeting on Thursday 1st March at morning interval for all athletes competing at the North Lanarkshire Cross Country Event. This will be held in the back gym and permission forms will be issued so all participants must attend.

Rwanda fundraiser
As part of our ongoing partnership with the charity Comfort Rwanda a group of senior pupils and staff will again visit Rwanda this summer. To support this trip the group are holding their main fundraiser, a Race Night, in the school cafe on Friday 2nd March from 7-10pm. Tickets are available from the school at a cost of £5 and you can get further information from Miss McKillop.

We have always had excellent support from the school and local community and the money raised will make such a difference to the people in Rwanda. At present we do not have our exact project location but it will be restoring or building homes and providing live stock for community groups.As always raffle prizes will be graciously accepted.

Parent Council
The next meeting of the Parent Council is due to take place on Thursday 22/3/18 at 7.00pm. We welcome any new parents to attend.

Dates for your diary
S5/6 Tracking reports are due to be issued on Wednesday 7/3/18.

S2 Tracking reports are due to be issued on Monday 19/3/18.

S2 Parents evening will take place on Thursday 22/3/18.