CALDERVALE

NEWSLETTER Christmas 2015 Edition

Name Class

Foreword

Welcome to the Christmas edition of Caldervale High School’s newsletter. As you read this newsletter you

will see some of the activities our pupils have enjoyed so far this session and have an opportunity to find

out about the successes of some individuals.

I would like to thank parents for your on-going support of the school and in particular for your generosity

in donating to the Christmas Fayre and coming along to support us on the evening. The money raised will

all go to School Fund which is used to subsidise a variety of activities for our pupils.

I would like to acknowledge the on-going efforts of young people in the school, who make a difference to

the lives of others through the charity activities which they support in school. So far this year we have

raised money for St Andrew’s Hospice, Readathon, Children in Need, MacMillan Cancer Care, Cancer

Research and Yorkhill Children’s Charity. Pupils and staff also donated items to Airdrie Food Bank, a local

charity, which was very much appreciated.

As we approach the holiday I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a Happy Christmas and

New Year.

Karen Kubica

Pupil Safety

All parents are asked to

remind pupils to take care on

the road and behave

responsibly when making their

way to and from school.

Despite regular reminders at

assembly we still receive

telephone calls from local

residents who are concerned

that pupils are not paying due

attention when crossing the

road. Your support in

discussing this with your

children at home and

reminding them to behave

responsibly would be greatly

appreciated.

Responsible Behaviour in the

Local Community

All parents are asked to encourage

pupils to remain in school at lunchtimes

where there is adult supervision. If you

do allow your children to leave school

at lunchtime could you please

encourage them to behave responsibly

and show consideration for residents in

the local community. In particular

pupils should take care not to drop litter

or to congregate in large groups outside

houses. While the vast majority of

pupils are very positive ambassadors

for the school it is important that all

pupils show respect and consideration

for our neighbours.

Building Community Bridges

The social enterprise group from Caldervale High School’s S5

Enterprise Co-operative have linked with Hillend Care Home to take

forward the Playlist for Life project for a group of residents. The aim of

the social enterprise group is to Build Bridges with the local

community through an intergenerational project. “We wanted to do

something for the community which would also give a good image of

young people as well as building intergenerational bonds between

different people in society.”

Following a visit from a Hillend representative, the group arranged a

getting to know you event for a small number of residents. After a

sandwich brunch and an “about you” questionnaire, the young people

and the residents enjoyed a chat and a games session with their visitors

opting for 4 in a row, scrabble, card games and chess.

The next step of the venture, happening in the new year, will be to

work with the group of residents to help them find the songs, theme

tunes and significant sounds that rekindle memories and put these

together to produce a personalised Playlist for Life.

Fund Raising

Each year we use money

from the school fund to

benefit all young people in

the school. One easy way

that all parents/friends of the

school could help raise

money for the school fund is

by using the website

www.easyfundraising.org

and selecting Caldervale

High School to receive

donations. When shopping

online, please continue to

support the school through

use of this website.

Debating Success

It has been a busy term for the Debate Club, which meets every

Tuesday lunch time in Social Subjects with Miss Sullivan and Mrs

McKean. Our Senior debaters have represented the school in several

competitions, congratulations go to Emma Dunn and Ronan

Alexander who travelled to Craigholm School in Glasgow for the

first round of the English Speaking Union's Senior Mace, and

Colette Wilkie who joined Emma for the first round of Scullion

Law's Lanarkshire Schools Debating Cup. Both teams held their

own amongst teams of a very high standard and were a credit to the

school.

On the 25th of November the school hosted Heat T in the first round

of the Donald Dewar Memorial Debate Competition, organised by

the Law Society of Scotland in association with Hodder Gibson.

Caldervale was represented by Colette Wilkie and Rachel McLellan,

with support from many of our young debaters. We welcomed

teams from Holy Cross (Hamilton), Our Lady's (Motherwell) and

Lanark Grammar for what was an excellent night of top debate! In

the end, Holy Cross and Our Lady's progressed to the next round,

however, congratulations go to Louise Sneddon for her award of

'Best Floor Speaker' during the floor debate.

On St Andrew's Day, a group of our debaters travelled to the

Scottish Parliament to participate in the ESU's St Andrew's Day

Debate. Emma Dunn represented the school in three parliamentary

style debates, and achieved a 3rd, 1st and 2nd place, a fantastic

achievement for our first year competing in this competition. Well

done, Emma! Louise Sneddon and Sam Rintoul also gained

experience as pupil judges for the day. Rachel McLellan and Lauren

Buchanan joined the others to participate in the final floor debate in

the Parliament Debating Chamber.

In the coming weeks the club will be preparing for the first round of

the ESU Junior competition and the Inter-House debate.

Charity Giving

As part of our Harvest celebration this

session the school’s generous pupils

and staff have donated a huge amount

of foodstuffs to Airdrie Foodbank.

The school also took part in Children

in Need by selling Children in Need

merchandise and sweets. In Home

Economics they made Pudsey cakes.

Pupils and staff teamed up for a

Strictly School Dancing show where

they showed off their moves in a Rock

'n' Roll Dance, a Charleston, a Jive and

a Tango. All of the activities raised

over £500 for the charity telethon. Our

Christmas focus will be on the

Aquabox charity, during the month of

December we are asking pupils to

bring in cash donations to buy an

Aquabox Gold. This box includes

humanitarian aid items and a water

filter.

Christmas Fayre

The school’s second annual Christmas Fayre took place on

Thursday 3rd December. The combined efforts of the staff, pupils

and parents ensured that the event was a huge success, raising

£2,291.57 for the School Fund. Christmas games, raffles and

even an opportunity for a Christmas makeover were the order of

the day. Santa’s Grotto was extremely popular, as were the variety

of stalls selling crafts and Christmas gifts. Santa will be visiting

lots of Airdrie homes if the sales of magical reindeer food are

anything to go by!

Santa Dash

24 pupils and 2 staff braved the

weather on Sunday 6th

December to participate in this

year’s annual Santa Dash. A

flash of red Caldervale santa

suits set off from George Square

at 9.30am in the hope of beating

last year’s total donations of

£1500.

S4 Health and Well Being Project

It is now a tradition that for the Senior Phase transition, the S4 Personal

Development Award class organise a project for the S3 Challenge class.

This year the S4 transition project was a Health and Wellbeing event. There

was a Relaxation Room to promote positive mental wellbeing, this involved

transforming a classroom with calming music, projected images, comfy

seating, soft lighting and massage if desired. At the other end of the scale, the

Mini Olympics gave the class the chance for a bit of fun taking part in a range

of physical activities. The scientific side covered blood pressure, heart rate

and lung capacity checks before and after exercise. A research questionnaire

asking about the lifestyles of healthy young people’s was also completed. To help the group understand the

body better, one of the groups arranged a trip to the Science Centre where the pupils witnessed a heart being

dissected. Well done to the S4 class and thank you to the S3 class who took part and gave great feedback.

Thanks also to the PE department for the use of space and equipment.

House Charities

Our kindhearted and generous pupils raised

a phenomenal amount of funds for their

chosen house charities again this year.

Taking the Gordon Austin Charity Cup,

were Scobbie House after raising £2287.57

for Yorkhill Hospital Trust. Erskine House

raised £1432.38 for Macmillan Cancer

Support and Morton House collected

£1305.21 for The Dogs’ Trust.

Battlefields

S4 Social Subject

students recently took

part in the annual trip

to the Battlefields of

Belgium and France.

The group visited

many key landmarks

which featured in the

conflict of the Great

War as well as visiting

and honouring the graves of the fallen.

Cinema Trip

S4 History pupils attended a showing of Suffragette at the

Showcase Cinema in Coatbridge. The group have been

studying the topic of women’s suffrage and the movie allowed

them to consolidate this learning in a visual manner.

Short Story Star

S3 pupil, Lewis McGown was awarded the

runner-up spot in the secondary student section

of the Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser’s

Short Story Stars competition. Lewis’ story of

a fighter pilot’s mission over the Channel

impressed the panel of distinguished judges, led

by writer, Rebecca Forster. Lewis was invited

to a ceremony where he and the other

prizewinners were presented with their trophies

by Councillor Jim Logue, Convener of

Learning and Leisure Services and local author,

Teresa Watson.

Open Night

Many parents of P7 pupils

attended Caldervale High

School’s Open Night in October.

Throughout the evening parents,

guided by senior pupils, were

able to experience and observe a

variety of classroom activities.

These included hands on exhibits

and pupil led demonstrations in

departmental areas. Feedback

from parents was very positive.

Geography Field Trip

S4-S6 Geography classes were given the opportunity to complete field work for

their National and Higher Added Value Units this year.

In June, S4 classes spent a glorious day at Strathclyde Park conducting traffic/

pedestrian counts as well as interviewing people. They have been using the

information they gathered in class to produce their National 4/5 assignments.

S5/6 pupils spent a day in September investigating land use changes along their

chosen urban transect. Pupils visited Airdrie Town Centre, Shettleston Road and

Glasgow City Centre to compare environmental quality, land use and traffic. They

have since been writing up their findings in class for their Higher Geography

assignment. Pupils thoroughly enjoyed both outings and have been afforded first-

hand information to use in their assignments. The pupils were a credit to the

school - Well done everyone!

Dramatic Incidents

Caldervale High School Drama students have had a busy start to the

session with several curricular visits to the theatre. At the beginning of

the autumn term students, from S3 to S6, were given the opportunity to

visit the King's Theatre in Glasgow to see an outstanding performance

of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time' by Simon

Stephens. A play based on the novel by Mark Haddon. This show was

a magnificent piece of theatre about a fifteen year old boy, with autism,

who discovers his neighbour's dog dead in the garden and sets out to

solve the mystery of who killed it. This spellbinding play was

enthralling for all to watch and it gave us an insight as to how someone

with autism copes in everyday situations. The acting from all the characters was very convincing and the set

in the theatre was very imaginatively created. A wonderful performance and a very uplifting trip to the

theatre was experienced by all from Caldervale.

This trip was followed by attendance at a Production Skills workshop and a

performance of “The Lovers”, hosted by Cumbernauld Theatre. As well as visits to

Eastwood Theatre and the East Kilbride Arts Centre for productions of “Bold Girls”

and “The Crucible”.

Meanwhile, the Theatre Group for senior pupils run by Drama teacher, Mrs

McSeveney, had an evening trip to see the modern fairytale “Zanna, Don’t!”

Performed by the students of New College Lanarkshire at the Townhouse,

Hamilton.

The final event planned for 2015 was the annual trip for S1 pupils to attend the

pantomime, “Snow White” at the King’s Theatre in Glasgow.

Musical Talent

A group of musical students from Caldervale

High School recently competed in the Rotary

Club of Coatbridge, Airdrie and Monklands,

Young Musician of the Year and Festival of

Youth Music 2015/16 in Airdrie Town Hall.

Muriel Anderson, Rowan Cook, Jayne

Crawford, Euan Dolan, Callum Stephens and

Crae Stevenson all performed well in their

individual sections and were a credit to the

school. S5 pupils, Jayne Crawford and Euan

Dolan took first place in their respective

categories. Jayne won the brass section with a

cornet solo and Euan won the piano class.

We Will Rock You Planning for the school’s 2016

summer show is well under way.

Auditions have been held to select

the main cast members for the mu-

sical showcasing the music of the

rock group, Queen. S5 School

Show fundraisers put on Halloween

activities including, dooking for

apples, a doughnut challenge and

face painting. The event was well

attended. A BIG thank you to the

team and everyone who donated.

John Muir Award

Eighteen pupils from the current and previous S4 Personal Development Award class gained a John Muir

Discovery Award for a garden project to beautify an unused area of the school ground.

This is the Environmental themed transition project devised by the

previous S4 class who, as part of the award criteria, planned and

organised a trip to explore the local flora and fauna in Drumpellier Park.

The rest of the project involved creating a sustainable wildlife garden

with an insect hotel, bird bath and Scottish wildlife flowers and bulbs.

These will continue to attract insects and animals to the area for years to

come as the plants establish themselves. The pupils had to spend time

researching and planning the construction of zones to attract wildlife to

the area and, where possible, used recycled materials, the ground was

prepared plants and planters established in the area. The garden can be

seen from the walkway bridge that links the admin block to the main

Edinburgh International Book Festival

A group of 38 senior pupils, from the English Department, visited the

Edinburgh International Book Festival, where they attended two author sessions.

In the first session, author Keith Gray spoke about the challenges involved in

the adaptation of his award winning novel, Ostrich Boys, into a play script along

with playwright Carl Miller. The pupils then listened to an inspiring talk by

Patrick Ness, on the subject of his latest book, Not the Chosen One, an inspiring

novel about all those who are not destined to be the hero of the story. Everyone

enjoyed the event and patiently queued afterwards to have copies of their books

signed.

Kids’ Lit

Congratulations to the Caldervale Kids' Lit Quiz Team for their

performance at this year’s West of Scotland heat. Eight pupils

from S1 and S2 travelled to Kilsyth Academy to compete in the

2015 Kids’ Lit Quiz. They did a great job in a very competitive

contest and had a few high scoring rounds, although not enough to

win them a top place. The pupils also had the opportunity to

purchase books written by the team of authors in attendance and

have them personally autographed. All of the pupils were a credit

to the school. The team were Hannah Cockburn 1E2, Dylan

Fleming 1M1, Ben McCarroll 1E2 and Ellie Turpin 1E1.

Supported by Abigail Lumley 1E2, Rebecca Lang 2E2, Ming Lee

2E2 and Jacqueline Martin 2E2.

Prince’s Trust

The present S3 Challenge class ventured to the stunning venue

of 101 Park Street at Coatbridge College as part of the new

look Princes Trust awards. Pupils took part in this year’s Kick-

start event and engaged in two tutorials “Bonkers Artwork”,

where the pupils created wacky clay creatures and “Reel Time

Music” which tuned more into the pupils musical talents. Pu-

pils will select one of the workshops from those which were on

show at the Kickstart event which will form the basis for their

project which they will work on as part of their course in the

New Year.

Blast from the past

The Tie Dye T-Shirt group have been busy

experimenting with designs and have been

promoting some of these in posters around

the school and at the

Christmas Fayre.

Information on how to

order the creations will

be available soon.

SCHOOL CAPTAINS

Boys’ Captain Marcus Bailey

Girls’ Captain Sophie McConnell

Boys’ Vice-Captain Kyle Lawson

Girls’ Vice-Captain Dayna Clark

ERSKINE HOUSE

House Captain Jordyn Murray

House Captain Lucy McAteer

S6 Prefects Zilke Bleyl, Vary Condie,

Alistair Donald, Matthew Gill,

Chloe McNaught, Lauren Tough

S5 Prefects Rowan Cook, Reiss Harrison,

Honor Nicol,

Panashe Samushonga

MORTON HOUSE

House Captain Emma Millar

House Captain Christie Smith

S6 Prefects Melissa Condie, Daryl Gardner,

Jordan Shanks, Emma Dunbar,

Jennifer Rankin, Ronan Alexander

S5 Prefects Andrew Haxton, Raniya Robb,

Carly Stoddart,

Emma Jayne Troup

SCOBBIE HOUSE

House Captain Sophie Reid

House Captain Hannah Watson

S6 Prefects Carla Walker, Scott McIlwraith,

Rachel McLellan, Emma Goldie

S5 Prefects Kamryn Bailey, Jessica-Jo Moore,

Ewan McDonald, Ewan Speirs

LCSC

S6 Prefects Nathan Rodger, Jack Woodlock

S5 Prefects Connor McCann, Dylan Morrissey

Cosy Café

As a trial run at catering for the public, the

Intergenerational Group organised the Cosy

Cottage Café for staff in the school. This was a

great success and the group developed both

skills and confidence. They created an ambient

space in one of the classrooms where they

served tea, coffee, hot chocolate, a selection of

cakes, scones and biscuits. The group enjoyed

providing the service and are hoping to have

the Café open for a day in mid-December with

a festive theme for the menu and décor.

The group thanks staff for their custom and for

the generous donations that were given. The

money will go towards providing something

for the residents in Hillend Care home where

the young people hope to be working with care

staff and residents to produce playlist for life

cds for individuals (story on page 2).

S5 Enterprise class

The S5 Enterprise class have been busy with several

different businesses on the go. As well as the Tie Dye T-

Shirt Group, the Face Painters sent out promotional

information offering their services to local primary

schools. They have had 2 bookings so far. For Hallowe’en

they visited Dunrobin to scare up some faces for the P1-4

party, they supported fund raising for Children in Need in

Chapelhall Primary School on Friday 13th November. The

group were kept busy and have painted around 200 little

faces. The girls also had a popular stall at the Christmas

Fair with their paint and glitter tattoos.

Sports News

Basketball Success

On Monday 7th December, the school’s

basketball teams represented the Airdrie

and Coatbridge area in the North

Lanarkshire School Sports basketball

finals held at the Ravenscraig Sports

Facility.

The S3/4 Boys’ team, consisting of: Scott

Waddington, Cameron Waugh, Jack

Mullholland, William Caddell, Keatan

Kane, Lewis Cowan, Joshua Ferguson and

Euan McKenzie, won their title defeating

both Cumbernauld Academy and

Braidhurst High School. The boys

received Gold medals along with a school

trophy.

The S3/4 Girls’ team: Cerys Kelly, Molly

Guy, Chelsey McLean, Emily McIntyre,

Emma Boyd, Kay McKenna and Chloe

Fraser, were runners up in the final losing

out in an exciting match against St.

Maurice’s High School. The girls received

Silver medals.

The S1/2 team: Adam Woods, Darren

McGhee, Lee Shanks, Elias Bleyl, Marc

Faulds, Christopher Stangoe and Josh

Lang, were also runners up in their section.

The boys won against Cardinal Newman

but were narrowly defeated by Our Lady’s

High School, Cumbernauld to take the

Silver medal place.

Gymnastics

Abbie Nichol from 1M2 performed

skillfully at the North Lanarkshire

Schools’ Gymnastics Competition held at

Ravenscraig Sports Facility on Friday 4th

December. Abbie led the field to take the

gold medal in the Level 3 competition.

The Caldervale pupil has now qualified

for the Scottish Schools’ Gymnastics

Competition in March.

Lunch After School

Monday Malawi Club(S1-6),

Art(S1-3), Science(S1),

Mobility(S1-6),

Athletics(S1-2), Tennis(S1)

Girls’ Fitness(S3-5),

Badminton(S1-6)

Tuesday Debate Club(S1-6),

Table Tennis(S1-6),

Scripture Union(S1-2),

Choir(S1-6), Rugby(S1-6)

Volleyball(S1-6),

Girls’ Football(S1-4)

Wednesday Netball(S1-3),

Fitness(S1-6),

Football(S1-2)

Thursday Film Club(S1-2),

Catalyst(S3-4),

Metafit(S1-3),

Basketball(S1-6),

Drama(S1-3),

Homework (S1-6)

Hockey(S1-6)

Friday BOOKies(S1-2),

Dodgeball(S1-2),

Gymnastics(S1-3),

Dance(S1-2)

Extra-curricular Activities Several lunchtime and after school clubs are up and running.

Any interested pupils will be made most welcome.

Interhouse Results

Erskine Morton Scobbie

P7 Olympics 100 300 200

Badminton 300 100 200

Football 300 200 100

Netball 100 200 300

Total 800 800 800

Netball

The school’s S1-S6 teams continue to

compete with varying degrees of success

in the North Lanarkshire Schools’ League

and in the Scottish Cup. There will be

more news in future newsletters.