Headteacher's Newsletter
Christmas Newsletter 2008
By M Edie
Dec 17, 2008 - 2:34:58 PM

Penicuik High School

Parental Newsletter Christmas 2008

It is a great pleasure for me to have this opportunity to write to you about some of the achievements of our pupils and staff over the last few months.

School News 

During the first weeks back we had pupil visits to The Edinburgh Book Festival by the English Department, Biology led a visit to the Botanical Gardens, our Art students participated in a Midlothian School’s residential visit to Benmore.

Penicuik Recreation Roadshow

Our pupils had the opportunity to take part in a Recreation Roadshow put on by Penicuik Police and Midlothian Community Learning and Development. We had superb displays in the assembly hall from community groups as well as a come and try session for various sports and activities. The main comment was that the event was too short and pupils wished that they had longer to enjoy the activities. Thanks go to PC David Shirley and John Fairgrieve for their organisation of this event.

S6 Residential

Our S6 pupils enjoyed a residential visit to Broomlee Centre in West Linton where they took part in a number of team building exercises. The 6^th years were fantastic in their determination to participate in all aspects of the visit.

The Big Day

Our annual health promoting Big Day was held in September and we were blessed with reasonably favourable weather this year. The day is a major fundraising, health promoting and house event. The focus of the day this year was on participating in healthy activities, pupils still undertook the sponsored walk through the John Clerk Estate and our thanks go to Sir Robert Clerk for graciously allowing us access to his property. My thanks also go to you for your continued generosity in supporting the school in our endeavours. We raised over £2,600 in sponsorship. Our top fundraiser Ruairi Thain in 1A3 won a Wii kindly donated by the Parents Association. The Big Day proved once gain to be a huge hit with the pupils and staff, a truly enjoyable occasion for all involved. All the money raised will be used to support school activities.

Student Council

Elections have taken place for the Student Council and the first series of meetings have taken place. I am sure that the Council will be highly effective in terms of taking forward the concerns of students and helping with the smooth organisation of the school.

The Bite Site

The Bite Site in the school has undergone a “Make over” with new chairs, a fresh paint job, with a burgundy colour scheme, and new blinds on order.

Staffing

Miss Suzie McLennan has been appointed to the post of teacher of Art, she has already taken up her new post.

Ms Heidi Moller and Mrs Fiona Marshall have taken up post as learning assistants working within the Support for Learning Department supporting pupils in a number of subjects.

Theatre Visit 

A number of pupils and staff enjoyed a superb production of Mary Poppins at the Playhouse Theatre  in Edinburgh. Thanks go to Ms Adamson in RMPS who organised this visit.

Local MP Visit.

Mr David Hamilton MP accompanied by Donald MacKay, Director of Education, visited the school as part of a visit they were making to a number of schools in the Penicuik area. Mr Hamilton was impressed with the atmosphere and work ethic he saw whilst visiting classes.  

Army March Past

S1 pupils represented the school at the parade through Penicuik by The Royal Highland Fusiliers on their return from Afghanistan on Thursday 30^th October. Although the weather was dreadful it cleared just in time for the soldiers to proudly march past the on looking group of pupils from many local schools.

KPMG

S6 pupils have the opportunity to work on a business project with a difference. Financial sector giants KPMG have commissioned “Space Unlimited”, a Glasgow base consultancy company to do some work with 2 groups of S6 pupils from Scotland. Penicuik High School has been successful in securing one of these opportunities. The pupils will work with the consultants whilst being coached by Mr Beards.

Meet the Management Team and AGM of Parents’ Association

The AGM was well attended with a number of parents staying on for a really interesting Meet the Management Team meeting, with lots of topics raised from the floor. The next Meet the Management Team meeting will take place at 7pm on Wednesday 28^th January with a focus on different learning styles.

Marie Curie Cancer Care Musical Charity Event: October 16th 2008 

Third year music pupils, Nicole Murray, Kirsten Lennon and Ruth Furneaux helped organise a performance filled day on Thursday October the 16th. With help from class mates, the young Business Enterprise Group and SVS forth year pupils, they entertained residents from Broomhill day centre and put on an evening concert for staff, family and friends.

Solo performances included Sarah Mills S2 playing classical guitar, Lauren McManus S3 singing, Anna Wareing S3 playing Cello, Finlay Noble-Chamings S4 playing his Violin Composition, Lynsey Duncan S4 performing on Piano and not forgetting our resident piper, Grant Rolland S4. The Vocal Academy also sang in an energetic and expressive finale. Also a big well done to Compere of the Evening, David McEwan S2.... Watch out Mr Wilson, David's jokes haven't been around for as long! 

A great big congratulations to all involved and to all who supported the event. Total raised was £529.84, all donated to The Marie Curie Cancer Care Charity.

Miss Lundy

PENICUIK HAS MATHS SUPERSTARS 

For the second year running, Penicuik High School qualified for the national finals of the SMC Enterprising Mathematics Challenge.  Finlay Noble Chamings, Jayde Jeffrey, Robert Oyler and Sarah Law represented the school in the final at Strathclyde University.  They did fantastically well, finishing as the best school in Midlothian and the second best school in the Lothians area.   They were presented with a glass trophy as a reward for their hard work.   A super achievement and well done to all involved. 

Mr Saffhill

Higher Trip to Dublin and Belfast

Anarchy in the UK! Well at least in the Irish part of it in 1916 and in the troubles in Northern Ireland until 1998. History students in S5-6 study this period and as usual a vital part of History is seeing and learning about events in context. 15 Penicuik Students made the trip to Dublin and then on to Belfast to research the reasons and results of the Irish troubles. They were helped by Ms Van Aswegen and occasionally hampered by Mr Hayes. (For reasons of economy we travelled with small bags; so packing was an issue for some.)

We went round the only Victorian gaol in Europe that is open to tourists (there are plenty open for other inmates). We stood outside the General Post Office and read the Irish Declaration of Independence. We checked out Ireland’s top university, Trinity College Dublin, and sampled some of Dublin’s fine architecture. We then moved into the North to see the memorials of the Troubles, took the Black Taxi Tour through some of the front line areas of the troubles and added our graffiti to the  so-called Peace Wall that still divides the two communities.

The students were a credit to the school- with exceptional interest and engagement in what we were doing. Well done!

S2 Trip to Surgeon’s Hall 

A medieval cure for headache: drill a hole in your head!

S2 have been studying How Medicine has improved. Ms Oliver’s class didn’t really believe her descriptions of what things were really like hundreds of years ago. Only one thing for it: see for yourselves. So a trip was organised to the Surgeon’s Hall in Edinburgh to examine the history of surgery. Students learned about the body snatchers, Burke and Hare, as well as the invention of anaesthetics and anti-septics and ‘cow-ination’. Ask an S2 student to see if they really know why medicine improved!

S3-4 Trip to “All Quiet on the Western Front”

Beeslack and Penicuik High school History departments have been cooperating in a number of areas- we’ve shared the development of a new unit, organised a Higher History conference together and this was our first trip together. We took 70 students to see the great classic of First World War protest literature- All Quiet on the Western Front. This was being performed as a play at the King’s Theatre in Edinburgh. Students found it a really powerful description of conditions in the trenches during the war. What was best? The actors were all male, so the re-enactment of the red light district was a lighter moment in what could have been a rather depressing evening. Once again our students were a credit to the school. We’re looking forward to taking many of them to Berlin in the summer.

Holocaust Memorial Trust visit to Auschwitz

Two S5 students were lucky enough to get a place to visit Auschwitz in Poland and to interview survivors of the Holocaust. Auschwitz was the centre of Nazi Germany’s attempt to murder all the Jews of Europe during the Second World War. It is an extremely moving place to visit. Ann Scarr and Jill Morton will be explaining this in more detail to the school community in January as part of Holocaust memorial Day and as part of the S2 course on the Holocaust.

Mock Trial Competition

Ever wanted to see a real trial? Be a lawyer? Actor? Journalist? In PR? 15 students in S5-6 thought that they would and joined the prestigious national Bar Mock Trial Competition. Our school prepared two cases and took on all the roles from lawyers, court clerks, witnesses to jurors. We prepared by watching real cases at Edinburgh Sheriff’s court and then went to Glasgow High court to prosecute and defend against other schools. We won one case in a very challenging competition, but unfortunately didn’t make it through to the final at the Old Bailey in London. Congratulations to the outstanding performances of everyone who took part. If you’re interested in any of the roles above, or just want to have fun, look out for our preparation at the end of the summer term for S3-5.

S3 Duke of Edinburgh's Award  

Ever wanted to run your own life?! A large group of students have embarked upon the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, one of the best chances you'll have in school to demonstrate your independence, teamworking skills and abilities beyond the academic areas. Currently they have been trained in navigation, cooking on a Trangia stove and tent construction. They are demonstrating their team skills in a variety of ways from mapping the school to creating Christmas dinner out of a rucksack. They are also learning new sports, skills and providing services in the community ranging from help in nurseries to charity shops. Well done to all of them. The real expeditions will start in March. Good luck!

Mr Hayes

National Prize Winner

Eilish Curran (5A4) attended a prize giving ceremony at the House of Lords this December to collect her First Prize in the national Christian Projects competition. From the thousands of entries received Eilish’s writing, entitled ‘Symbol of Love,’ impressed the panel of judges to beat all other entries. After a tour of the Houses of Parliament, and accompanied by her parents, Eilish received her prize from Baroness Cox and Lady Benyon at a Private Members House. We are delighted at Eilish’s achievement: Well done! Should you wish to read her entry you can find it at www.christianprojects.org.uk

Ms Adamson   

The SCHOLAR Programme Explained

And a Password for Parents

Is your child in S5 or S6?

Do you know about the SCHOLAR Programme?

Would you like a password to see what SCHOLAR is about?

…read on...

Login and learn

Education is changing. We know that many students learn better if they can be shown visual explanations such as animations, or if they can learn at their own pace (e.g. by accessing material on the computer outside of the classroom).

Introducing SCHOLAR

Heriot-Watt SCHOLAR is the world’s largest e-learning education programme, with 60,000 registered users.  Created by Heriot-Watt University, based in Edinburgh, SCHOLAR provides computer based learning materials to support teaching and learning in a wide range of subjects:

SCHOLAR does not stand still. New courses from August 2009 are noted below.

The SCHOLAR programme is designed to promote self paced, student centred learning in a teacher supported environment.  The online learning materials are complemented by opportunities for teachers to attend staff development workshops and learn how to use SCHOLAR when teaching.

Proven approach

SCHOLAR offers a well proven, innovative approach to academic study within schools, Further Education colleges and foundation programmes within universities.  Over 400 secondary schools in Scotland are benefitting from using SCHOLAR.

Interactive

The online learning materials have been professionally developed and consist of textual and graphical descriptions, animations and simulations and online formative tests.  The material is embedded within a Virtual Learning Environment that provides channels for student and teacher communications, frequently asked questions and progress reporting and monitoring.

Achieving potential

• A recent survey showed that SCHOLAR had an 80% acceptance rating by teachers and that 95% of students would recommend the programme to a friend.
• 32% of the online study time is undertaken by students out of school hours.
• Peak usage time is between 7pm and 9pm Monday to Thursday in direct competition with prime-time television.

SCHOLAR Password for your Son or Daughter

Teachers in school have been provided with passwords to issue to all pupils studying a range of subjects at Higher and Advanced Higher and Intermediate 1 and 2 Maths as summarised in the table below.  If your son or daughter has not yet received their password, encourage them to ask their teacher.

A Password for Parents

In order to see the course materials SCHOLAR provides for your son or daughter, go to our website at http://scholar.hw.ac.uk/ , click on Login, and enter the following:

Username:    schparents

Password:    warm24key

Next click the Login button and you will be presented with a list of SCHOLAR courses and links that you can browse to get a better idea of the resources that are available.

Please note that this password does not provide access to the following features:

• Discussion – chat boards for students, tutors and teachers to discuss courses
• Reporting – allows students to monitor their progress and assessment results

Feedback

We also welcome your feedback. Email the SCHOLAR Unit at info@scholar.hw.ac.uk