Employability Week 2019

The week of the 25 – 29 November was Our Lady’s first Employability Week which saw all classes focus on subject specific careers, employability skills and pathways. This is a key part of our Developing the Young Workforce Strategy as we ensure that our young people are equipped with the skills and the knowledge they need to play an active part in the world of work.

Our “Work Ready” strategy was launched and all classes became more knowledgeable about what we do across Our Lady’s to promote careers and employability skills. This strategy is now on display across all classes!

Career Lessons

A huge amount of work took place this week across departments; from visiting speakers to workplace trips.

All activities focused on skills and careers and allowed pupils to find out some more information about the labour market.

Social Subjects:

All S3 pupils were visited by Billy Fitzpatrick who spoke with pupils about the role of the Police and Crime and Justice. He focused on important skills such as problem solving and communication. S3 Modern Studies pupils also completed a Job Task where they took on a role such as Journalist, Criminologist, Police Officer and Judge. They researched each role and found out about how it links to the subject! S1/2 Pupils completed a skills treasure hunt, where they focused on key historical and fictional characters. Pupils were fantastic throughout!

Business and Admin:

S1 ICT worked on My World of Work while S2 completed a Visit Scotland enterprise activity. They researched the work of Visit Scotland and then designed a new logo, they also had to identify the skills they had used in this activity.

S3 Computing and Admin classes were visited by PC Punter who spoke to classes about the use of ICT skills in different careers

S5 Admin/Games/Business focused on thinking about the skills they have developed in the subject and how they can be relevant to the world of work, they also did some research on My World of Work about different industries and careers and then into specific jobs.

Ex pupil, Thomas Darling also spoke to pupils about applying to university and working in Finance/Accountancy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

St Andrew’s Day Coffee Morning

S3 Personal Development pupils organised a fantastic coffee morning for St Andrew’s day during Employability Week. They organised lots of lovely treats, invitations and decorated the library! A lovely morning was had by all!

S6 Subject Champions

Our S6 Subject Champions and My World of Work Ambassadors had a huge role to play in Employability Week. After undergoing training with our careers advisor Rosalynn Robinson, our S6 Subject Champions created lessons for S4 pupils which focused on the career management skills associated with their subject, as well as the associated pathways and employability skills. S6 pupils delivered these lessons to all S4 classes very confidently and also created fantastic career management skill posters which are on display across the school. Our Subject Champions have taken on many lead roles this year so far, having already presented to P7 pupils and parents. They will continue their role by organising a Subject Champion Day to help our S2 pupils personalise their option choices.

Careers Event

Our second career event took place on Friday 29th of November, with over 30 exhibitors present. All S4 – S6 pupils had the opportunity to visit stalls from Barrs, Police Scotland, Fire and Rescue, JP Morgan, The Army and Royal Navy and many many more. The exhibitors were able to inform our pupils of the career pathways available to them and the skills required to be successful, and they were very impressed with the knowledge and questions posed by our pupils. Professionals including Surgeons, Nurses and Dentists were also in attendance, sharing their experiences and advice with regards to their careers. We are very grateful to our exhibitors who gave up their time to benefit our young people!

Mock Interviews

Our annual Mock Interviews took place on Wednesday the 27th of November. Pupils had been preparing for these in Health and Wellbeing and were able to experience a one to one interview with a local employer. This was an invaluable employability skill gained by our pupils and our thanks to Ms Sharkey and her team who organised the event.

Employability Events

Generation Tech 2019

Generation Tech is an exciting technology design challenge hosted by J.P. Morgan for female students studying National 5 mathematics interested in a STEM career. Using technology prototyping tools and their own creativity, students were supported by JP Morgan Technologists, to design an app to address a ‘social good’ challenge. Congratulations to Alannah Littlejohns, Ellie O’Reilly, Heather Stirling and Ciara McGrath who were excellent ambassadors for our school.

Step Into Stem 2019

Following on from last years Big Bang Event, a group of S2 pupils attended the NLC STEM event for 2019 at Cumbernauld College. The day was made up of various interactive workshops such as Vex Robotics, All About Animation, Programming, Crime Solving, Pit Stop Challenge, Dental and many more. The pupils reported that they had a fantastic day and had practical opportunities to learn more about potential career pathways. This will help to inform them in preparation for their S2 options.

Dragons Lair

S3 Business pupils had the opportunity to create their won product which they presented to the class. Each class then voted for the best idea and these two teams went forward to the regional round where they met with business owners and representatives from business gateway. Each team had to prepare a business plan for their idea and present it to the panel. Out of 25 teams, 5 were picked for the final, with our own Jake Fiddler one of the finalists. Jake presented his idea again to councillors, staff, pupils, parents and business owners and enhanced his employability skills throughout.

Digi explorers

S3 Computing Science pupils spent the day at Easter Road stadium in Edinburgh taking part in workshops to enhance their coding skills. Each group got the opportunity to code a robot to make it follow commands! They then attended presentations on all of the different career opportunities within the computing industry.

Girls into engineering

Rosie Boyce, Tea Boyd, Louisa Gibson, Rachel Reilly and Emma McCurrach attended the training facility at EKGTA for an engineering/manufacturing event for girls. This event was part of Scottish Apprenticeship Week. The facility in East Kilbride was showing girls the different avenues into manufacturing and engineering industries. The girls had an excellent day visiting the facility, subsequently some of the girls are pursuing a career in this field.

Project Runway at Glasgow Kelvin College

Julie Campbell, Darcy Friel, Aqsa Javid, Robyn O’Hare and Elle Smith (S3) attended a two-day Fashion worskhop at two different studio spaces as part of Glasgow Kelvin College. Pupils were also involved in a Creative Industries presentation where there were interactive stalls from each creative department where pupils could find out about course opportunities as well as taking part in different interactive stations which included:

· Fashion Customisation Station
· Music Sound Production Workshops
· Jewellery – Sand Casting Workshop.
· Photography – Digital Photography Workshop, Dark Room Workshop
· Art Screen Printing Workshop
· TV Green Screen Demo

The two day workshop culminated in a Fashion Show featuring previous years fashion students work from Kelvin College and it ended with the garments created by our pupils on the day.

Christmas Concert

On the evening of Tuesday 3 December over 60 pupils from the Music and Drama departments were involved in our annual Christmas Concert. The evening was very well attended by staff, pupils, family and friends, and our talented pupils put on an outstanding performance leaving us all in the festive spirit! Our thanks goes to everybody involved in preparing and on the evening itself. A massive “well done!” to all performers!

Literacy Week 11-15 November

The English and Literacy department in conjunction with the library, organised a number of activities to raise awareness of Literacy and to promote reading for enjoyment.

‘Read a book week’ – across the school, pupils were encouraged to read a book of their own choosing and staff read alongside them putting their ‘What I’m Reading’ posters on their doors. Staff sent in their #shelfie: pictures too and we had pupils trying to guess which teacher they belonged to.

We had lunchtime activities for S1 and S2 pupils: ‘Story Time in the Library’ and a book quiz. Both were well attended and staff got involved too, reading extracts from their favourite stories and joining in with the book quiz teams.

We had folktale storyteller Daiva Ivanhauskaitewill in to share her intriguing stories with S2 and we had some energetic ‘book relay-racing’ for S1s in the library!

S4 parents/carers were asked, ‘What’s your favourite book of all-time?’ at the Parents’ Meeting and we displayed the results in the library – there were quite a few classics in there!

There was lots going on across many departments in the school: from storytelling in RE to illustrating favourite stories in Art and learning about and writing reviews in Business Education. Maths were busy too with S1 classes using skimming and scanning skills to find information.

Employability Events

On Thursday 7 November a group of S4-5 pupils attended the ‘Skills Scotland Glasgow 2019′ event at the SEC Centre, Glasgow. It brought young people face-to- face with employers, training providers, colleges, universities and professional bodies. The free event helps young people transition into the world of further study, work or training by identifying their ideal career pathway. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed the event and now feel that they are more prepared to pursue their chosen career pathway.

There will be a Careers Insight Event in the school for S4-6 pupils on Friday the 29 November and parents are welcome to attend with their child as long as they return the tear off slip to Mr. Maxwell or Miss Ruddy.

Parental Communication

We are beginning to use a new communication tool called Groupcall. This allows the school to use texts, emails and an app called Xpressions to aid communication with parents.

Parents can easily download the free Xpressions app to their mobile phone to begin receiving updates. We intend to use the app to communicate any school information during extreme winter weather.

Our Lady’s will also send information by email to parents. We have already sent prelim timetables and Saturday study day information to S4 and S5 parents. Please contact the school office to update any email addresses.

Christmas Concert

Pupils from the music and drama departments have been working hard preparing for their performances at our annual Christmas Concert. There will be a variety of acts and lots of talent on show. Please come along and support our pupils on the night.

Date: Tuesday 3rd December

Time: 7pm (doors open 6.30pm)
Ticket cost: £3.

Available from any music teacher.

Hope to see you there for a bit of festive fun!

Musicians wanted

Father McKay is appealing for musicians to join the music group at 11am Mass in St. Joseph’s Church. Anyone is welcome regardless of age or ability.  If you are interested please text and leave your name: 07580114701

S1 Halloween Disco

The S1 Halloween Disco took place on Wednesday 30 October. A huge thank you to the S6 girls who came along and helped organise the music and scary decorations !

Digi Explorers Event

On the 8 October our S3 computing science class visited Easter Road Stadium for a Digi Explorers event. We learned about codes like Morse Code and made own torches with an LED light, 2 plastic covers, a piece of foam and a battery. We then moved on to working with small spherical robots named Ozobots. We learned all about how the Ozobot responds to colour as if it was a code giving it an instruction.  We then proceeded to make our own maps consisting of codes to help move the Ozbots including increasing its speed, doing turns and some cool tricks too. Ozobots need special pens to be able to read the code.

After our lunch break we moved upstairs and were told all about how technology has changed the world and we were given the challenge to think of a product that would further technology.  We also had to make a prototype of our invention as well. One group made glasses and another made a toaster. After we made our products we presented them to another group telling them the name of the product and a little bit about it. The final activity was a Q & A session with some people who had jobs in Computing Science. They told us all about what their jobs were like and the different types of jobs available in the Computing Industry. It was a great trip and a very worthwhile experience and everyone who went on the trip gave very positive feedback.