All posts by Mr Winning

China Summer Immersion

China Summer Immersion

10 pupils from Our Lady’s along with Miss Ruddy attended the China Summer Immersion course ran by the Confucius Institute for Scotland. The group visited Beijing and then Tianjin where pupils attended a local high school and became immersed in Chinese Culture.

The group visited a variety of tourist attractions in Beijing including, Tiananmen Square, the Summer Palace, Beijing Watertown and The Great Wall, and managed to fit in lots of shopping at the Pearl Market and Ancient Culture Street. In Tianjin, pupils excelled in their Mandarin classes and embraced culture classes in Chinese tea making, calligraphy, opera mask making and even Kung Fu and Tai Chi. Pupils also visited Tianjin Museum, as well as our partner school, Tianjin High School and different host families. Pupils thoroughly enjoyed the two week experience and were an absolute credit to the school throughout.

China

Visitors from China

Visitors from China

On Monday 20th August we were fortunate to have a visit from our partner school Tianjin High School in China. 47 pupils and staff travelled to Cumbernauld at the end of their UK trip to visit our pupils and staff. Our senior pupils, who visited China Tianjin High School during the summer immersion, were thrilled to meet up with friends! Pupils visited classes and even participated in a few lessons!

Pupils from China and our pupils enjoyed a traditional Scottish meal of haggis, neeps and tatties together before they set off! This visit undoubtedly strengthened our links with our partner school and we know pupils will certainly keep in touch with their new friends!

The Modern Languages Department have embraced the 21st Century and now have a Twitter account! Please follow us @OLHSModLangs to keep up to date with what’s going on!

China Visit

50th Anniversary

50th Anniversary

Session 2018/19 marks 50 years since Our Lady’s High School opened. Back in 1968 Our Lady’s was the only Catholic secondary in Cumbernauld. Originally intended as an all girls school, Our Lady’s welcomed girls and boys for the first time 50 years ago this week.

We will have a range of events this session to mark our 50th Anniversary. Our first event will take place on 7th September, when His Grace Archbishop Tartaglia will be the Principal Celebrant in our Feast Day Mass. We will be joined that day by former clergy, staff and members of the local community as we mark this very important day in our school calendar.

We are also planning some fun activities for pupils on that day…more information to follow !

SQA Exam Success

SQA Exam Success

Once again pupils in Our Lady’s have performed exceptionally well in their SQA exams.

In S4, an outstanding 63% of pupils attained five or more National 5 Awards at Grade C or above. This is a fantastic achievement, and our students should be very proud of this. Congratulations also go to 14 pupils in S4 who attained 7 As in their National 5 awards – a phenomenal achievement. They are Sara Blake, Michael Breslin, Ben Docherty, Rachel Farrelly, Carmina Gray, Magdalena Hubbard-Perez, Rebecca Johnston, Vanessa Liu, Katie Martin, Monica McGee, Megan Murphy, Anna O’Reilly, Rachel Reilly and Skye Richardson

In addition to this, 95% of our pupils attained at least 5 Awards at National 4 or above – again an outstanding achievement. Well done to all of S4, and we look forward to building on this success next session.

Our S5 pupils also worked hard to secure success in their exams. 6 Pupils in S5 attained 5 As in their Highers, which was a fantastic achievement. Congratulations to Caitlin Clancy, Amy Docherty, Matthew Doogan, Matthew Jaffray, Jonathan Reynolds and Andrew Tonner.

Additionally, 45% of our pupils achieved 3 or more Highers, and 67% of our young people achieved at least one Higher in S5.

Our S6 enjoyed outstanding success. 45% of our S6 cohort last year left with 5 Highers, which is a superb achievement. In addition, almost 25% of our S6 students left with at least one Advanced Higher – a very commendable achievement.

Well done to all our pupils in their recent SQA exams, which again this year are amongst the very best performances in North Lanarkshire. We will have an opportunity to recognise this formally at our Awards Ceremony in September.

 14 with 7As

pupils with 5As

Blackpool

Blackpool

270 pupils enjoyed a fantastic day at Blackpool Pleasure Beach on Wednesday 27 June accompanied by approx. 20 members of staff.

This trip was a reward to pupils for positive behaviour throughout the year and a great day was had by everyone.

A very fitting end to another great year at Our Lady’s High School!

Blackpool

School Show – School of Rock

School Show – School of Rock

Congratulations to all involved in the 3 night run of “The School of Rock”!

The School Show Team would like to thank staff for donating their time to help with the running of the show, to the parents and school community for supporting the show by buying tickets and most importantly our fantastic pupils for their starring roles both on stage and back stage. Till next time!

School of Rock

BGE Awards

BGE Awards

Over 600 certificates were presented to our S1, S2 and S3 pupils during our BGE Award Ceremonies on Tuesday 19 June. Pupils were rewarded for their academic progress and for their achievements and successes out with the classroom. Congratulations to all.

Awards

Class of 2018 – Prom

Class of 2018 – Prom

S6 pupils were joined by staff at the Glasgow Marriott Hotel on Friday 15 June 2018 to celebrate their Prom.  It was a fantastic night and lovely to see everyone all dressed up in their suits and dresses.

The speeches were moving, the awards were funny and the dancefloor was filled all night!

A great way to send off the Class of 2018 in style.

Prom

P7 Transition

P7 Transition

P7 Transition Project

As part of our P7 Transition Project our six primary schools joined us here in Our Lady’s High on Wednesday 20 June for a showcase event. The theme of the Transition Project focused on safe use of social media.

The six schools worked closely together to research, work co- operatively and share information about keeping safe online. Across the cluster pupils produced a Podcast, Website and TV advert! Well done to all involved!

P7 Project

P7 Transition Tree

Primary 7 pupils visited the Modern Languages Department during their two day Transition Visit in May.

Pupils designed leaves with information about themselves in Spanish, French and Mandarin. All the leaves were attached to our Transition Tree with the cluster Primary Schools on each part of the tree.

We have a lovely tree full of P7 pupil work – ready for them starting in August!

P7 Tree

Butchery and Beyond Winners !

Butchery and Beyond Winners !

Congratulations to S4 Hospitality pupils on winning the Butchery and Beyond street food competition. The winning dish was a spicy pork pinwheel, which received excellent feed back from Masterchef The Professional winner, Gary Maclean.

Pupils attended the Royal Highland Show on Thursday 21 June to take part in the final stage of the competition against St. Ninian’s High School and Kirkintilloch High School and the winner was announced by Saskia from the Voice. Well done to everyone who took part in the competition.