Penicuik High School

Parental Newsletter Summer 2009

www.penicuik.info

Dear Parents and Carers

This is the last parents’ newsletter of this year and I would like to start by thanking each parent and carer for the superb support you have given to the school throughout this session. I know that many of the events and activities that we have run this year have only got off the ground because of your support.

The Art Department

It's been a busy year of excursions in the Art Department! 

All of our S1 pupils recently visited the Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh and our new S3's were given a guided tour and drawing workshop where they got the chance to explore some new materials and techniques.

The new S4's had a great start to their Standard Grade Design Units on a field trip to the Botanic Gardens.  Earlier in the year, some of this year group participated in a tour and Impressionist Painting workshop at the National Galleries Complex on the Mound.

S5/6 kept themselves busy by visiting various Galleries with a tour and workshop at the Gallery of Modern Art and by going to some of the Graduate Fashion Shows at Edinburgh College of Art.  The Advanced Highers enjoyed their residential weekend at Benmore where they produced some excellent work which was exhibited in various locations throughout Midlothian.

Lucy Allison 3A1 will attend a Prize Giving Ceremony following the achievement of a special merit in the S2 National Galleries Competition 'A Sense of Place'.  Lucy's work will be on display in the Gallery throughout the summer.  The Midlothian Schools Art exhibition was held at the Mining Museum at Newtongrange and featured a selection of work from S1-S6.

And not forgetting Arts week where we welcomed many professional Artists and Designers who held a variety of workshops and master classes! 

Parents' Association
The Parents' Association has continued to meet regularly through the  year. As usual you can find full minutes of our meetings and notes on  activities through our section of the school website,  www.penicuik.info. We are grateful to all who attend regularly, both  staff and parents, and in particular to teachers who have given  presentations to us this year, including Mr Pithie on attainment  targets and initiatives, Mrs Stewart on activities with our partner  school in Thyolo, Malawi, Mrs Grainger on Arts Week and Mr Hayes on  the Duke of Edinburgh scheme.

Outside our regular meetings, we have been involved with appointment  panels for senior posts, with the school planning process, and have  met the Director of Education in relation to the forthcoming review of  secondary schools provision. Meanwhile, a subgroup is developing ideas  to help us keep in touch with the parents' group in Thyolo.

Thanks to regular contributions of members, the 50-50 club has been  able to donate several thousands of pounds in support of school  activities. A grand total will be reported at our next AGM in October.  Major items this year have included start-up funding for the Duke of  Edinburgh Award scheme, a contribution to the costs of the leavers'  evening, buying a stock of the PHS Pride medals distributed to senior  winners at the Awards Ceremony, prizes for The Big Day, a donation to  the school Hardship Fund, a contribution in support of Arts Week and  contributions to assist fund-raising efforts by pupils for the Teenage  Cancer Trust and the Malawi partnership trip. If you're not already a  member, please give a thought to whether you could join the club, or  make a regular donation. Forms and details are on the website, or ask  any PA member.

Finally, thanks to all the other parents who make contributions in so  many ways to support Penicuik High School - everyone can make a  difference.

Our next meeting is in on Monday September 7th at 7pm in school.  Please feel free to come along, whether to listen or to get involved.  As usual the PHSPA can be contacted through the school office or by  e-mail to mic@inf.ed.ac.uk, or by phone on 01968 672400.

Murray Cole (Chair).

Mathematics

Each year our most able maths pupils are entered into a number of maths based problem solving competitions run by the Scottish Mathematics Council (SMC) and the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (UKMT). The aim of these competitions is to promote mathematics as a source of interest and pleasurable achievement through challenging problems which require only elementary techniques and simple logic.

As with the last few years, our pupils did exceptionally this year.

SMC Enterprising Mathematics Day

After doing so well in the Regional Final last June, Penicuik High School was invited to participate in the National Final in Glasgow in November 2007 as the best school in Midlothian. The team of Jayde Jeffrey, Finlay Noble Chamings, Sarah Law and Robert Oyler did remarkably well finishing in the top 20 schools in Scotland. The team won a trophy for their efforts, which is proudly sitting in the School Trophy cabinet

Well done to all that took part!

UKMT Mathematics Challenge

The School received a fine haul of certificates in this year’s Challenges. Two Gold Certificates, six Silver Certificates and 21 Bronze Certificates were awarded to our pupils. A fantastic achievement! The Gold Certificates were awarded to Finlay Noble Chamings and Amy Steel. Silver Certificates were awarded to David Hall, Daniel McGrory, Lawrence Bennett, Mark Wilson, Sarah Law and Andrew Hutt.

World Maths Day

The school participated in World Maths Day in March. Pupils from all ages were invited to log onto the Mathletics Website and compete against other Mathletes from around the world in a highly addictive Global online mental maths competition. Our school did amazingly answering 137,803 questions during the day. Well done to all those who took part, particularly to Connor Low, Sarah Law, Athena Oddy and Ima Bishop whose personal contributions were outstanding!

David Saffhill

This was another very successful hockey season for Penicuik HS, with significant highlights both on and off the pitch. Penicuik played in all 6 high school festivals across the season at the various high schools, performing to a high standard and coming out on top on no less than 4 occasions. Newbattle HS hosted the final event of the season, the Midlothian Active Schools Trophy, on 1st April 2009, with serious silverware at stake!  All 5 high school teams attended this tournament and the results were as follows:

Penicuik 2-1 Beeslack
Lasswade 3-2 Newbattle
Penicuik 4-0 Newbattle
Dalkeith 2-4 Newbattle
Beeslack 3-4 Lasswade
Penicuik 2-1 Dalkeith
Newbattle 6-1 Beeslack
Lasswade 1-3 Dalkeith
Dalkeith 1-1 Beeslack
Penicuik 1-0 Lasswade

Final Points table:
Team          Pld  W  D   L   GF  GA    GD    Pts
Penicuik      4     4   0   0    9     2     +7   12
Newbattle   4     2   0   2   12   10    +2     8
Lasswade   4     2   0   2    8     9     -1      8
Dalkeith      4     1   1   2    7     8     -1      7
Beeslack     4     0   1   3    6    13     -7     5

This was certainly a fitting finale to a great high school hockey season in Midlothian. This season has seen all schools improving and becoming much closer in terms of ability level, with Lasswade and Newbattle each winning Festivals for the first time this year. There was plenty of excitement as this was the highest scoring Festival to date, with an incredible 42 goals scored in just 10 matches. In the end it was Penicuik who came out on top, as they remained unbeaten, to be presented with the Trophy by our VIP guest, Louise Munn (GB and Scotland), for a fantastic 3rd time in as many years.  Well done also, to Thomas Chisholm (S3), who was voted Penicuik’s Most Improved Player for the season.

This has been a very successful season off the pitch, too - for Penicuik HS hockey club:

Leader Award

Well done to Iain Chisholm (S6) and Briony Gladstone (S6) in achieving their Hockey Leader coaching badge and for all the coaching they have carried out since qualifying.

Youth Umpire Award

A Youth Umpire coaching course was hosted at Penicuik HS in January, and from this event 8 young Midlothian umpires went on to pass their practical assessments recently, to qualify as Youth Umpires able to umpire hockey up to U18 level. Among these 8 youngsters who are now using their umpire skills to assist at hockey festivals are our own:

Aedan McCrossan (S4) Iain Chisholm (S6)

Representative Honours

Aedan McCrossan (S4) – Scotland U16

Gwen Morton Lloyd (S5) – Scotland U16

Iain Chisholm (S6) – East District U18 indoor + outdoor

Neil Morton Lloyd (former S6) – East District U18 indoor + outdoor

Midlothian Potential Squad: Aedan McCrossan (S4), Blair Smith (S4), Euan Craik (S4), Greg Mackenzie (S3), Mark Wilson (S3), Thomas Chisholm (S3), Iain Cowper (S2). 2 were then selected to East District U14 Trials: Aedan McCrossan(S4), Greg Mackenzie(S3). Let’s hope Penicuik HS hockey continues to grow from strength to strength next season – to help ensure this, can any willing parents, teachers, etc who are happy to help out in any way - please pass their name/contact details to the school office.

The School would like to record our thanks to Mr John McCrossan for all the work that he does to promote hockey at Penicuik High School.

History Department

Duke of Edinburgh Award

S3 students should have completed the prestigious Duke of Edinburgh’s Bronze award by the time you read this. They have completed in 4 areas: Sports, Skill, Service and and Expedition. They have completed a huge range of activities from swimming to ice skating and rugby and from working at a nursery to eco-schools activities and recycling. Probably the most challenging was walking over 2 weekends to cover the overland journey from Melrose to Peebles- unsupported. This meant they had to plan their routes, organise themselves, take their food, tents, equipment and deal with problems on their own. They have been a fantastic group. Thanks to the support of the school staff and the Parents’ Association we are hoping to also run a Silver group next year- so if you’re interested get in touch with Mr Hayes, Mr McIlwaine or Ms Hickey.

S2 History book club

Ms Oliver launched a hugely successful book club for S2s. They read and discussed over snacks a variety of novels connected with the subjects that they had been studying in History. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas was a particular favourite. We hope to expand the book club next year. The group are currently also putting together a reading list of their favourites that we’ll hand out in history classes. Well done to all who came!

S3 Trip to Lady Victoria Colliery

S3 students all went on a trip to the mining museum at Lady Victoria in Newtongrange. This is a fantastic resource for our students studying mining for Standard grade. A number of students have relatives who worked in the pits- so it has special relevance for them. Students went ‘down the pit’ and operated heavy machinery as well as studying- the museum said that they were one of the best groups they had had- so congratulations to S3.

S1 Visits to Edinburgh Castle and New Lanark Mills

S1 are studying what it was like to live in Penicuik 200 years ago. As part of the ‘Determined to Succeed’ programme they were all given the opportunity to try to experience this for themselves as part of a trip. They went to the prisons at Edinburgh Castle to re-construct the Napoleonic prison here in Penicuik. New Lanark showed them the mill life that was common here too. The National Museum gave a fantastic overview. Well done for participating so well.

S2 ‘Swinging 60s’ fashion show

As part of Arts week, and to complete their studies of the ‘Swinging 60s’, S2 students are putting on a fashion show. They will show the dramatic changes in fashion that happened after the 1950s. They will also show how the events of the 60s such as the Vietnam war and the Space Race and the Sexual Revolution influenced fashion through modern fabric, the miniskirt and so on. It should make for a good show!

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

Staffing

We say farewell to Mr Don Francis who retires as Principal Teacher of Biology after 18 years service to the school, we wish him a long and happy retirement.

Congratulations to the following; Mrs Diane Razavi who has been promoted to the post of the school Administrative Assistant, she will head up the school office staff. Ms Ellen Leonard who has been appointed Principal Teacher of Home Economics, Ms Leonard currently teaches Home Economics at Gracemount High School in Edinburgh. We look forward to her taking up post early in the new session before Mrs Sandra van Aswegen departs on maternity leave. To Mrs Alison MacFadyen who has been appointed to the post of Principal Teacher of Biology in succession to Mr Don Francis. Our warmest congratulations and best wishes go to Mr Alan Pithie, Depute Headteacher, who was promoted in mid June to the post of Headteacher of Auchmuty High School in Fife. We wish him every success in his well deserved new position. Mr Jim Fair (Principal Teacher of English) will be Acting Depute Headteacher for the next year. Ms Karen Wright has been appointed acting PT of English.

From August, Mr David Saffhill will be Acting PT Guidance for A1 classes and 5a5.

We also say goodbye at the end of their Newly Qualified Teacher year to Paul Beattie in PE, Kerry Oliver in History, Hollie Lyon in RMPS and Daniel Fulton in Chemistry. We wish them all the best of luck in their future teaching careers.

Activities week

Our S1-S6 pupils enjoyed an excellent activities week at the end of June with a range of activities both within school and outwith school. Activities included, adventure days, mountain biking, sailing, Alton Towers, Blair Drummond Safari Park, Deep Sea World, Big Art project, Movie Making, Craft activities, multi sports M and D’s, Edinburgh Zoo, mosaic making, art workshops and also nails, hair and beauty. In addition residential trips included Iona, London, Berlin and Norway. My thanks go to all the staff who contributed to such a successful end of session.

Can I once again take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support of our school dress code. I can tell you that we have a very high level of support for school dress. We have not changed anything in our school dress code which is :

• White shirt or blouse

• School tie

• Black trousers or skirt

• Black shoes

• Black V neck jumper or cardigan

• All pupils should bring a bag with all necessary equipment for school.

For PE we would like to suggest that students wear the following:  Plain white T-shirt (no logos), jogging trousers (no combat style trousers) or shorts and training shoes.

Examination results

SQA examination results will be posted out to all pupils to arrive on Wednesday 5^th August 2009.

Awards Ceremony

We celebrated a very successful awards ceremony on 16th June with a packed Assembly Hall and a table laden with prizes for every subject area. Our guest of honour for the evening was Mr Jim Aitken former Scottish rugby Grand Slam winning captain and former pupil of Penicuik High School. Our warmest congratulations go to all who received awards, their number being too numerous to mention here.

Concert

Our end of term concert took place on Thursday 25^th June when once again we had a hall full of proud parents and family members as well as guests. We were treated to a wonderful evening of musical talent. Our thanks and admiration go to all who took part in this superb event and to all who had a hand in the organisation of the concert.

As a school we bade farewell to our leavers at a very enjoyable leavers evening. This event, which can only take place through the very generous support of the Parents’ Association, is the school’s formal goodbye to those pupils who leave at the end of each session. We were able to present each pupil with a commemorative gift and certificate. We are grateful to Mr Alan Pithie who presented the gifts as the final act of his time here at Penicuik High School.

Happy Holidays

Can I finish by wishing you all a very warm and sunny summer holiday and we look forward to seeing our pupils again on Thursday 20^th August for the start of the new session.

Mark Edie

Headteacher

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