Next week letters will be issued in RME about next years trip to Ardentinny Outdoor Centre. Have a look at their website http://www.ardentinnycentre.org.uk/
S5/6 Tracking Guidance for Parents
With S5/6 Tracking reports issued to pupils this morning, we’re taking the opportunity to share our Tracking Guidance for Parents document (which S5/6 pupils also received today) to help you make sense of the report and its purpose. Click the link below to open the document:
S3 Gathering the Voices
Next week an exhibition by Gathering the Voices about those who fled Nazi Europe and came to Scotland will take place in the school library. This organisation has gathered extensive testimony from those who came to Scotland. S3 pupils will have the opportunity to attend an assembly and many will visit the exhibition. Over the course of a couple of days we will also have speakers from Gathering the Voices working with some classes. Please visit their excellent website for more information. http://www.gatheringthevoices.com/
Team Tanza 2 – Training Expedition
This is the part of the World Challenge experience where it suddenly gets very real. After more than a year of fund raising and team meetings in school, bag packs are on, tents are allocated and setup the trekking begins. And suddenly challengers think – “this is happening – I’m quite excited/scared/nervous buzzing”. Take your pick – it may be all 4.
Team Tanza 2 made their way to Aviemore with some brilliant weather considering it was October. Team 1 will head up in November, and if they get the weather half as good they’ll be delighted.
Day 1 saw tents allocated. The very tents that will be used in Tanzania. This was also the first time that the team met Expedition Leader Lyndsay and to get the ball rolling with responsibility and team work the first task was to put the tents up – blindfolded. Not a bad job done, with one member of the team giving instructions to 2 wearing blindfolds.
Next up it was packs on and up the hill. In Tanzania packs will be carried day after day (including tents) as this was a great chance for the team to see where they were with their fitness. Some work still to be done for sure, but with 8 months to go there will be nothing to worry about – as long as the fitness regime kicks in now.
Saturday evening saw the team cook up the meal that they had brought with them. A great job done here with everyone working well together. Another school were using the same training facility in Aviemore – they started cooking long before Team Tanza and were still at it long after Team Tanza had finished. Super efficient!
Bedtime saw weary bones getting into sleeping bags and a cold night ahead. More lessons learned – get a good quality bag, liner and ground mat. It pays to be comfy with more than 3 weeks in a tent facing challengers in Tanzania.
A 6 am start on Sunday and another efficient food service with the cooking team on breakfast sharply.
Today would see an easier trekking day with lots of stops to look at scenarios and consider isues that will be needed for the team in country.
Lunch at Loch Morlich and the leadership groups for Tanzania were announced. The al important accountancy role going to Morgan Spence. Mess this one up Morgan, and the team will be going hungry!
The day flew in and soon it was time to say farewell to Lynsey – the next time the group wil meet her will be at the airport heading for Tanzania next summer.
Back down the road and the journey went quicker knowing a McDs stop was planned. There will be none of that malarkey in Tanzania!
All in all a very succesfull training expedition. The team will have learned lots about themselves, their team mates, their levels of fitness and what is expected of them in Tanzania.
It’s going to be epic.
Autumn Newsletter
Welcome to our first fully electronic school newsletter.
It’s full of 32 pages of luscious full colour awesomeness, showing everything from our new staff to our head boys and girls: from details on our after school clubs to our extra curricular trips it’s absolutely essential reading.
Here’s a preview. Click on the link to download it now – you won’t regret it.!
Delivering the newsletter this way helps us to take advantage of colour, include more and higher quality photographs – thanks Morgan. – ensure that they don’t get lost in the bottom of bags and lastly help save the environment.
Despite these many advantages we would be interested to hear what you think both about the method and the new style.
Pupil Bulletin 7th October
Catch up with Mrs Hollywood and the soggy bottoms at Johnstone High. Congratulating all the pupils of Johnstone High for doing so well in our recent non-uniform day where you all helped to fill 51 crates with food.
There have also been lots of other things going on. Fund raising by out S6 for St Vincent’s Hospice and the nominations for the schools young ambassadors. We still plan on being an ‘active’ school and there are plenty of after school clubs looking for volunteers and recruits. Discover more by reading the bulletin in full by clicking on the link below.
Shared Reading: S6 Support Development of Positive Reading Culture
Over the course of the session, S6 pupils have developed partnerships with S1 and S2 pupils and are enjoying the shared reading experience.
By reading and discussing texts in an informal setting, both senior and junior readers are realising that there is nothing better than reading and discussing a good story.
The focus is reading for enjoyment and our young people are certainly enjoying the experience.
I would like to thank our S6 shared reading team for bringing such enthusiasm and commitment to our initiative.
Angela Haggerty
Literacy Development Coordinator
Pupil Bulletin 30th September
Lot’s to read about in this bulletin. Mrs Hollywood has been visiting all our related primaries with our Sixth years, spreading the good news about Johnstone High and its new school values chosen by yourselves. Johnstone High is also an ‘active school’ and our new ‘Active Schools’ coordinator Mr Johnston is keen to get involved, starting with a girls football team and hockey club. There are other extra curricular activities also announced alongside announcements abouts employability, careers and apprenticeships. Finally, drumroll please, the beginning of the School London trip. So make sure you read and catch up on the
Pupil Bulletin 16th September
Catch up with latest goings on in and around Johnstone High. Mr McGivern is heading towards manager of the year as the football teams have another great start to the year. He is our very own Claudio Ranieri – dilly ding, dilly dong.
We also need S6 volunteers for the S6 weekend. It’s a cracking week end and seeing Mr Munro cooking is a memory that will live long after you’ve left Johnstone High School. Sign up now you won’t regret it.
The paralympics may have ended, but the PE dept live on. So get out there and play!
We also need more S6 volunteers for our new exciting program ‘ Mentors in Violence …… Prevention’. Download the bulletin to find out more ….
Senior Football: Gryffe v Linwood
The senior team were looking to build on their excellent start to the season with a trip away to face Gryffe.
The match got off to a great start with Greg Steven showing his pace and determination to connect with a loose ball in the Gryffe defense and a drive and cool finish saw Johnstone 1 – 0 up.
Soon after another great finish from Greg saw the team 2 – 0 up and things were looking good.
With little more than 25 minutes on the clock the match looked over after another Gryffe defensive mix up and brilliant pace and determination to get to the ball from that man Steven saw the score 3 – 0 and a hat trick for Greg (he won’t have liked Daniel Smith taking the limelight last week with his own hat trick).
This was a match determined by teams taking their chances. In the first half that’s exactly what Johnstone did. Competitively, Gryffe were always in the match but were struggling to take advantage when chances fell their way.
However, they managed to pull one back before half-time and Johnstone heads dropped for a spell as Gryffe began to move the ball about and dominate possession.
However, Lewis Banaghan was outstanding at the back marshalling the defense ensuring there was no way through for Gryffe, and in the last minutes of the first half another chance came for Johnstone and was duly despatched by the head of the team’s own man mountain, Sam Dillon, who scored for the second game running to ease the nerves.
The second half saw Greg Steven wearing a pair of borrowed boots that were a size tool small after his own burst (too many goals Greg). A couple of reasons chances were spurned by Greg which we’ll put down to those new boots.
Nonetheless, within the first minute of the match the contest was over as John Martin played a great ball through for Steven Banaghan to chase on to and lob the goalkeeper for a stunning goal and 5 – 1.
Gryffe managed to pull a goal back and there were a couple of shaky moments at the back but a fine 5 – 2 victory away is a fine achievement and leaves the team in a very comfortable position after 2 games.
Man of the Match: Greg Steven
