Stirling High News

Dear Parents, Carers and all in our school community Welcome to another edition of Stirling News, edited and produced by our young people in the S3 Administration and IT class. As I write this the Christmas holidays grow close and I reflect on another packed term of learning and achievement. There is such a range of events that take place in our school, that this magazine can only show a small percentage. Please continue to follow the school on the school website, Twitter, Facebook and more recently, on Instagram. The recent Christmas concert at the Church of the Holy Rude was an outstanding showcase of the breadth of skill of our young people and demonstrated a very high standard of performance throughout – well done to all the participants and organisers, particularly to our music department staff for coordinating the event. We continue to develop many opportunities for our young people to develop their wider skills and recently we welcomed Kwik Fit to the school to work with senior pupils on car maintenance. We also have many young people who are developing their career options and skill development through attending courses in partnership with Forth Valley College. Our first Junk Kouture Fashion Show evening displayed the creative talents of our young people in transforming everyday disposable materials into fantastic works of wearable designs. All the designs were developed over a period time and reflected the skills and team-work that the art department staff had worked hard to develop with the young designers. Our recent parental engagement evenings were very well attended and they provided opportunities for parents and carers to find out more regarding learning and teaching in S1, our work with partners in developing skills for work, college and university and study skills workshops for those with young people in S4-S6. My thanks go to the wide range of partners from local employers, NHS, Forth Valley College, Skills Development Scotland and attending universities for their on-going support of our young people. We are determined to equip our young people as best we can for their futures. Our Community Winter Fete was a very successful event in bringing together friends and family to enjoy the array of stalls including our young enterprise teams. Thank you to the Parent Council and staff in organising the event which enabled our young people to participate and develop their skills. The Winter Fete is the first event to be run that will support our innovation hub. Look out for more news on the innovation hub in the New Year.

Paul Cassidy

Head Teacher

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I am sure our senior pupils will be working hard in preparation for the prelim exams that begin on 16th January. Our teaching staff will be supporting them in the lead up to the prelims. I am confident that they will do very well through their planning, preparation and application. As Christmas approaches I would like to thank all our community of partners, parents and carers for your on-going support of the school. I hope you have an enjoyable holiday and I look forward to working with you in the New Year. Paul Cassidy Head Teacher

Dates for your diary:

21 December 2016 – Last Day of Term

5 January 2017—Start of new term

10 January - S2 into S3 Course Choice information evening, 7pm—8.30pm

16 January - S4/5/6 Prelims begin

16 January - S2 Course Choice begins

17 January - S1 Parents’ Evening

23 January - S1-S3 Ski Trip leaves

27 January - S1-S3 Ski Trip returns/end of prelims

31 January - S4 into S5 Course Choice information evening, 7pm—8.30pm

6 February - S4 Course Choice begins

13-17 February - Staff In-service/Local Holiday (Pupils off all week)

13/14 February - Berlin trip

21 February - S2 Parents’ Evening

24 February - S4 reports issued

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Strathcarron Hospice 10k Winner

One of our S4 pupils, Craig Palmer came 1st in Race in the

Strathcarron Hospice 10k Road Race that took place on Sunday 25

September. He was also the 1st person aged 16 to cross the line

too. Mr Dennis Canavan, who works closely with Strathcarron

Hospice, came into the school to present Craig with both his

trophies and to speak to our senior pupils about the good work

that the hospice does to help patients, their families and carers.

Stirling High School’s Mathletes

Stirling High School’s Senior Maths Team had a fantastic day out at the University of the West of Scotland on Thursday 10th November. Elliott Lawrence, Daniel Norman, Adam Thomson and Harvey Pizey were a credit to their school. They competed against other schools from across Scotland in this Regional Round. In the first round the team worked together to solve ten group questions in forty minutes. This was followed by a gruelling Numbercross Puzzle. One pair was given all the down clues and the other the across clues. No communication was allowed between each pair. The last and final round was a quick fire relay. The answer to one pair’s questions was the starting number for the other pair’s questions. Four rounds, eight minutes each. You could feel the pressure.

When all the scores were totalled The High School of Glasgow came out on top followed by Glasgow Academy and St. Aloysius College. Elliott, Daniel, Adam and Harvey should be commended for their commitment to preparing for this challenge in their own time. Well done to all participants and hopefully we will see some of them again representing Stirling High School next year in the Senior Maths Team Challenge.

City Deal

Two of our City Deal Ambassadors, Humza Baig and Jennifer

Gordon, attended the Scottish Parliament last week to

celebrate the Stirling City Deal announcement. Our

ambassadors were accompanied by Mr Cassidy and Mr

Hamilton and met with guests from politics, business,

communities, academia and the third sector. We are very

excited about the opportunities the City Deal will afford our

pupils in the coming years.

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Children in Need 2016

We had a very successful day of fundraising for Children in Need on Friday. We had bake sales, “Pie the Teacher” events at lunchtime and a non-uniform day for staff and pupils. We are proud to announce that we raised a grand total of £1,064.07 for this worthwhile charity – well done to all everyone who took part

Curling News Congratulations to the Curling Team on their victories against Dunblane & Wallace in the qualifying stages of the Scottish Schools Curling Championships. This week 2 teams are involved in the annual Hay Trophy in Perth.

Charitable S1s After a recent charity walk first year pupils reps from Stirling High took great pride in presenting a cheque for £455 to The Bumble bee conservation. The cheque was received by CEO Gill Perkins. Pupils learned about what the bumble bee conservation group did and how the money donated was to be spent. Earlier on in the month another group of first year pupil reps donated the same amount to the Aberlour Trust. Well done to all our first year pupils for raising so much money for local charities.

Stirling High Pupils Meet Tim Peake

On evening of Friday 4th November a small group of excited Stirling High pupils gathered to travel down to the University of York. Their mission: to take part in the Principia Schools’ Conference on the next day. Organised by the UK Space Agency the conference was to celebrate and report on the many different educational activities and projects carried out in schools across the UK in support of ESA astronaut Tim Peake’s Principia mission to the International Space Station. Stirling High School was one of only two secondary schools from Scotland at the conference. The six pupils from across the year groups had all taken part in Principia events and developed a poster summarising their involvement. The conference was organised along the lines of a scientific meeting with presentations and posters in parallel sessions. The keynote speaker and guest of honour was Tim Peake, who gave a wonderful insight to his 6 month stay on the ISS. His description of his return to Earth with a bump clearly illustrated some of the challenges faced by astronauts. When asked if he had to choose between being weightless or being able to look down upon Planet Earth he replied that being able to look down on the beauty of our fragile planet was the thing he most missed and that he would love the opportunity to go into space again. He then took the time to meet with every one of the 400 delegates at the conference to shake hands and patiently answer the many questions being put to him by pupils and staff. He had a special word of thanks to the Stirling High School pupils for coming such a long way to support him.

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Spanish visit

On the 15th November 2016, Stirling High Pupils who study Spanish enjoyed a visit from nineteen students and three teachers from Colegio Kostka, Catabria, Santander Northern Spain. The Spanish guests were welcomed by head teacher Mr Paul Cassidy and the Modern Languages faculty. The visit organised by faculty teachers Mrs Mandy McMillan and Ms Amy Lochhead was a huge success. Pupils enjoyed communicating with the students in both English and Spanish and presenting their home areas in both languages. The pupils enjoyed an unforgettable experience that allowed them to enhance their communication, listening, talking skills. It gave pupils a confidence boost as their learning was used in a “real” environment. At the end of the visit our Spanish guests were welcomed by a pupil playing bagpipes and the opportunity to sample typical Scottish dishes. Stirling High Pupils had the opportunity to try some Spanish tapas. Our Spanish guests were also presented with a tin of Scottish shortbread and a haggis. Our Spanish guests presented us with a rich madeira cake called Sobao: a typical delicacy of their region. Firm friendships were established. It’s hoped that one day, our pupils will enjoy a visit to their school in Northern Spain.

Stirling High School Swim Team

Congratulations to all of the Stirling High School swimmers who swam so brilliantly at the Scottish Schools time trials. We achieved many PB’s and medals ….hopefully some times to make the finals in East Kilbride in January.

Team as follows: Back row: Alexander Harris, Lauryn Turnbull, Anna Pollock, Jennifer Pollock, Chris Archibald. Front row: Anna Mackinnon, Mairi Craig. In team but not in photo: Cameron Kerr & Jessica Turnbull.

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Enterprising Maths Competition held at Stirling High As many of you will know if you follow @SHS_Maths on Twitter the Maths Department of Stirling High School recently hosted the Stirling qualifiers for The Scottish Maths Council’s Enterprising Maths Competition. Each school brought a team of two 3rd and two 4th years and in the first round the teams worked as a group to solve problems like: A biscuit factory turn on their machines at 7.30am. At 10.10am the machines have completed one quarter of the day’s job. At what time will the machine complete the job? OR In a science test, 30% of the students scored 70 points, 35% scored 80 points, 10% scored 90 points, and the rest scored 100 points. What is the difference between the mean and median score of the students’ scores on this quiz? At the end of this round McLaren, Dunblane & St Modan’s were in joint first place. In the second round the groups spent 5 minutes circulating around 7 stations solving, puzzles jigsaws and problems, Bannockburn High School performed really well in this round. In the final round the teams had half an hour for a relay round consisting of 20 problem solving maths questions. The teams worked in pairs; as one pair finished their question they relayed the next question to the other pair in their team. As we approached the end of the competition, the excitement was palpable and we had several teams running to deliver answers to the markers and questions to their team-mates. Stirling High’s team excelled in this round. The top two teams are through to the final of this competition in the Science Centre this week. St Modans were narrowly pipped to the post by McLaren High School and Dunblane High. Many congratulations to both teams and good luck in the final! Answers: (a) 6:10 pm (b) 83-80 = 3

Joes Boxes

On Wednesday 2nd December Prof Joe Goldblatt visited the

RME department to deliver ‘JOES Boxes’ – Jewish Objects

for Education in Scotland. Professor Joe Goldblatt, is a

member of SCoJeC’s Council which was responsible for

creating the boxes and sourced many of the items himself

including a small Torah scroll which was donated by the

synagogue he attended as a child in Dallas. Professor Joe

Goldblatt is an engaging speaker and spent the morning

showing S2 and S3 classes how the Jewish artefacts are

used. He helped them to understand both religious and

cultural aspects of Judaism. The pupils were given an

opportunity to ask questions and these were both insightful and responded to with clarity. We

would like to thank Prof Joe Goldblatt who was entertaining and informative visit. JOES BOX

will be available for other Stirling schools to use when teaching Judaism. 6

Junk Kouture

A new type of fashion took Stirling by storm last week. Junk Kouture hit the catwalk in Stirling High School on Wednesday 7th December and showcased an array of imaginative outfits in front of a packed and enthusiastic audience of family members, pupils and friends. Junk Kouture is a national competition which is open to all secondary school pupils in Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland. Rather than focussing on expensive and unattainable materials, Junk Couture sets young designers a different and unique challenge- to look at the everyday and unwanted items that are set to be thrown out to landfill or recycled, and to use them to create a designer outfit. This involves viewing objects and materials such as plastic bottles, cans, CDs, magazines, textbooks and plastic bags in a new light and using them in ways that are often unrecognisable from their origins. The only boundaries for young designers are the limits of their own imaginations. This was Stirling High School’s first year in the competition and the pupils involved had spent several months of hard work in small groups after school and at lunch time, working to achieve their finished outfits from initial sketches and a mountain of ‘junk’. Both junior and senior pupils took part in the design competition, but the whole school community threw itself into helping make the event an unforgettable experience for the young designers and their audience. Stirling High school’s talented dance group and musicians entertained throughout the evening and helped to create a fantastic atmosphere in the hall. Former Head Boy Rhys McKenna, who himself is now a rising star in international menswear fashion after graduating from Edinburgh College of Art, was delighted to be back in his old school to support the Junk Kouture event and it brought back memories for him of his developing interest in fashion. Other judges included Barbara Thomson Head of Creative at Stirling High School, Paul Cassidy Head Teacher at Stirling High School and Sarah Anderson, Stirling Council’s Service Manager for Skills and Youth Employment Schools, Learning and Education Children, Communities & Enterprise and Stirling High School’s Education Officer. Every participant in the competition was awarded a certificate in recognition of their commitment and achievement, but there could only be one winner. Tension mounted as the judges returned to their seats after making their difficult decision and the models assembled on stage for the final line up. To deafening applause, the winning team was announced as Ellie Baxter, Kathryn McKrell and Anna Morris. Their winning Junk Kouture creation was inspired by Effie from The Hunger Games and was fashioned from old history textbooks into 3D flowers, spray painted and arranged in a flowing dress. Who knows, maybe this group of young designers will make history themselves in their future careers! When asked, all of the pupils said they would love to take part in the competition next year. Most of them are already planning careers in the creative arts including costume design, art therapy, art studies, hairdressing, drama and architecture. All entries from the Stirling High school event will now be submitted to the national Junk Kouture Competition and we all hope to see these fantastic creations make the shortlist and go forward to a live catwalk involving just 80 designs in Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall on 9 January 2017. The judges will be Katie Brill, Rhys Ellis, Una Healy and Louis Walsh. Congratulations to Stirling High School’s winning team – everyone is looking forward now to the finals of Junk Kouture in Glasgow.

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Christmas Concert

Our annual Christmas Concert at the Church of the Holy Rude was another outstanding success. The event was captured on our Facebook and Instagram channels. A huge well done to all of our extremely talented pupils and staff for their part in the evening.