Penicuik
High School
Parental Newsletter Christmas 2009
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 and our Art students participated in a Midlothian Schools’ residential visit to Benmore.
Art News - Successful Learners
“A Concert for the Sea” was held at Grey Friars Kirk on 27th November, to raise awareness of Marine Conservation. 2P1 and 3E contributed art work in the form of pen and ink drawings, based on the sea, to decorate the Kirk. This concert was attended by over 400 people and the money raised will go directly to projects concerning Scottish Coasts. Our pupils work was highly praised and there is a possibility that some may be printed into cards or used in another exhibition in our parliament. Many congratulations to all of the pupils who not only learnt a lot about marine conservation but really put a huge effort into their work.
Science News - Successful Learners
Kathryn Peacock completed her Nuffield Award placement at the Moredun Institute. Over most of her summer holiday Kathryn worked with Dr. Pamela Cameron in the Division of Bacteriology. Her investigation was into the growth of Campylobacter jejuni, a bacterium found in chicken and one of the main causal agents of food poisoning in the
UK. Kathryn presented her findings at the Nuffield Event in the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh on August 28th and was subsequently awarded the British Science Association Gold Crest Award for her work. Congratulations to her!
John Muir/ Eco-schools Group - Effective Contributors
We started the year by celebrating the success of our John Muir Explorers. On 16th September Connor Low, Ashleigh Low, Sarah Law, Euan Whitelaw, Matthew King, Robin Drummond, Robert Oyler, Lee Davidson, Neil Cowper and Hollie Black were presented with their awards by Councillor Margaret Wilson at a barbeque in our newly created garden. The group is now continuing their work with the Conservers’ Award. In pursuit of this they are working with Midlothian Countryside Ranger’s service and are set to take over the maintenance of the North Esk Walkway between
Lower Valleyfield and Eskmill. The group hopes to produce interpretation materials for use in local primary schools.
During Monday lunch-time sessions the Eco-schools group continues its work toward “Green Flag” status. A new whole school recycling system has been set up. This system involves pupils from every class in the school, not just our trusty Duke of Edinburgh team. The Eco-schools group is looking into ways of improving our current recycling of compostable materials, ink cartridges, plastic bottles and mobile phones. We’ll have another Rag Bag collection early in the New Year. Thank you for September’s donations where we raised £44.80 towards more gardening tools and bulbs.
Anti-litter posters from Keep Scotland Beautiful have been posted around the school and every member of the school community has completed a Light Bulb Energy Pledge. During the “Big Day” sponsored walk every register class competed in the Big Biodiversity Scavenger Hunt. This involved the correct identification, and collection, of twenty items from larch cones to willow herb wool. 2A6 and Mrs Nicholson proved themselves our wildlife gurus by collecting all twenty. In the near future, the Eco-schools group plans to run a competition to devise the school “Eco-code”, needed for the achievement of the “Green Flag”, and to devise a screen saver promoting energy saving for use on all school computers. We have recently been awarded £250.00 by Keep Scotland Beautiful to help us with our work.
The garden now has three raised beds, a pond, a rockery (thanks to Robert Laurie for the rocks) and four compost bins. To add a splash of spring colour, one hundred and forty daffodil bulbs have been planted and Mr. Merson is hard at work on a further raised bed. After Christmas, pupils hope to build a willow structure before planting a crop of herbs, vegetables and colourful flowers.
The Eco-schools Group invites membership from the whole school community and that includes parents. If you would like to be involved either just by contributing ideas or by helping out on the occasional Friday afternoon please contact Mrs. MacFadyen.
Penicuik High School venture into the Community - Responsible Citizens
On Saturday 21st November, in response to an open invitation from Penicuik Community Development Trust, a group of staff and students from Penicuik High School mounted displays in Penicuik Town Hall at the Trusts weekly coffee morning.
The idea behind this venture was to make local people aware of some of the positive work that goes on both inside and outside the school. The displays represented examples of work which students do which are outwith their curricular commitments and which highlight their awareness of what being a good citizen means.
On this first visit the work of three groups – The Eco School, The Penicuik House Group and the Teenage Cancer Trust - was showcased. Each group set up a display with photographs, Power Point Presentations, appropriate literature (which could be taken away by interested parties,) and much student enthusiasm. Members of the public were able to walk round the displays and ask questions. Much animated discussion took place. The students were delighted to answer questions and responded well.
The morning slipped by effortlessly and soon it was time to dismantle the displays. The general feeling was of a job well done. We had achieved what we wanted i.e. to make the community aware of some of the worthwhile initiatives students are involved in.
Because of the success of this first visit we have been encouraged by the Penicuik Community Development Trust to return again soon and we intend to do just that. We hope to have at least one visit per term to
Penicuik
Town Hall coffee mornings. There is much more we can put on show and the cakes are delicious!
Confident Individuals
Our S6 pupils enjoyed a residential visit to Broomlea Centre in West Linton where they took part in a number of team building exercises. The 6th years were fantastic in their determination to participate in all aspects of the visit.
Our new S1 pupils had a superb residential visit to Fordell Firs in
Fife. The majority of pupils opted to spend the night under canvas and this added to the whole sense of adventure enjoyed by the group. Among the many tasks that the pupils had to undertake were a very popular night walk, an assault course, caving and making paper rockets. Thanks go to the staff that organised and ran both these visits.
The Big Day – Effective Contributors
Our annual health promoting Big Day was held in September and we were blessed with very 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 £1270 in sponsorship and our top fundraiser, Ima Bishop in 3A2, won a Wii Fit kindly donated by the Parents’ Association. The Big Day proved once again 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.
Theatre Visit - Successful Learners
A number of S4 pupils and staff enjoyed a superb production of “Confessions of a Justified Sinner” by the Ettrick Shepherd James Hogg at the Royal Lyceum in
Edinburgh. The visit was organised by the English department.
Malawi visit – Responsible Citizens
During the October holiday 7 pupils and 3 members of staff visited our sister school at Thyolo in
Malawi. A copy of their newsletter is enclosed with this publication. The newsletter gives just a flavour of what a fabulous visit this was and how important it has been in developing deep roots to our partnership.
Meet the Management Team and AGM of Parents’ Association
The AGM of the Parents’ Association was well attended with a good number of parents staying on for a Meet the Management Team meeting, with a number of interesting topics raised from the floor. The next Meet the Management Team meeting will take place at 7pm on 1st February. The Parents’ Association meets next on Monday 18th January 2010 again at 7pm - all interested parents are welcome to attend.
Marie Curie Cancer Care Musical Charity Event: Responsible Citizens
Congratulations to the S4 group of Nicole Murray, Kirsten Lennon, Ruth Furneaux and David McEwan who organised a fabulous charity musical evening in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care. The numbers attending this now annual event have grown so large that we have to use the main assembly hall. It is truly inspirational to see such good work being done by our pupils.
Successful Learners
David Ritchie in 4A4 won the National final of the Young Film Critic of the Year award at Bafta in
London. David received his trophy at a glittering awards ceremony attended by celebrities from the world of film and television. David’s success was highlighted in an article in the “Advertiser”.
Responsible Citizens
Another pupil celebrated in the local press recently was David McEwan 4A2 who was awarded a certificate and prize for his honesty in handing in a wallet containing £1300. David’s story was featured in the “Evening News” as the most honest boy in
Midlothian. David’s award from the Penicuik Crime Prevention Panel is the second to a
Penicuik
High School pupil following Jordon Pelosi 2A6 who was awarded a similar honour for his honesty earlier in the year.
Staffing
We said farewell to Ms Lorraine Gifford who left us to move to
Ireland to begin married life with her new husband John. We wish them both good luck in their new life together.
We welcomed Mr Grant Fraser who took over as Principal Teacher Modern Languages and Ms Seonaidh McCombe to our Biology department as teacher of Biology. Mr Fraser joins us from
Perth
Academy and Ms McCombe joins us from
East Renfrewshire. Mr David Bradshaw has been appointed to the post of Maths teacher in succession to Mrs Ward who has taken up a new post at the
Royal
High School. We also said goodbye to Mrs Fiona Marshall, Learning Assistant, who has moved to
Inverness.
Ms Karen Wright, acting PT English, has been appointed to the post of PT English at
Auchmuty
High School in
Fife. Ms Amanda Adams has been appointed acting PT English. Both will take up their new posts in late January.
We were delighted to welcome back Mr Ross Jamieson, Depute Headteacher, following a period of illness. Our sincere thanks go to Mr Andy Johnstone who acted as DHT whilst Mr Jamieson was absent.
Congratulations to Mrs Sandra van Aswegen and her husband Abram on the birth of their son Abraham.
Emergency Numbers and Severe Weather Closure
Can I ask that all parents and carers make sure that the school has the most up to date information including emergency contact numbers to enable us to contact you in an emergency. In the case of closure due to severe weather, before school starts an announcement will be made on Radio Forth. In the case of closure during the school day pupils would be sent home without parental contact. Pupils travelling by school bus would normally be the first sent home at the instigation of the bus company. Can I ask that you ensure that your child has somewhere safe to go to in the event of severe weather closure and that they know these arrangements. If there is a problem with these arrangements please contact us before severe weather arrives to allow us to discuss the individual needs of your child in this eventuality.
History
S1-2 History competitions
Two competitions are running this term. S1s are being asked to think who the Greatest Scot is in each subject. Later in the year we are going to have a great debate to decide whether Science, Art, History or another area can provide the Scot who has made the greatest difference. We are also running the picture competition for S1s. Parents might like to join in with this one too- in the corridor are a range of photos illustrating topics that we cover. Can you identify each one?
Duke of
Edinburgh’s Award
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is 50 years old! It’s one of the most prestigious and established ways of challenging students outside the classroom to achieve in a new Skill, Sport, Service to the Community and in an expedition to wild countryside. This year we have had an outstanding success with 16 students completing their Bronze Award. Another 23 have started in the new S3 and another 18 are going on to do Silver for the first time in this school. This means that once again we have more doing Duke of Edinburgh than the rest of the schools in
Midlothian combined. This effort is only possible thanks to the huge input from the Parents’ Association’s funds and from staff- last summer 14 staff gave up their time in one way or another to help our students
complete their awards. Thanks and congratulations to everyone.
S2 Trip to Surgeon’s Hall and Arthur’s Seat
What do you do with a murderer? Make his skin into a book?!
S2 have been studying How Medicine has improved. The whole year group was taken to Surgeon’s Hall for a History experiment to examine the History of Surgery and then on to a walk on Arthur’s seat with the Geography rangers. Students learned about the body snatchers, Burke and Hare, as well as the invention of anaesthetics and anti-septics and ‘cow-ination’. They had a go on an endoscope, a dentists drill and a spot of surgery 1800s style. Ask an S2 student to see if they really know why medicine improved!
S1 Trip to
Edinburgh
Castle, the
National
Museum and New Lanark
In June S1s had an opportunity to research their local areas as part of the ‘
Penicuik
Museum’ topic. They looked at early factories in New Lanark Mills and at what the 18th century prison in Penicuik might have looked like in the dungeon’s at
Edinburgh
Castle.
Summer Trip to
Berlin
41 students had an early start last June for a flight to
Berlin with the Languages and History trip. There they saw the World Cup stadium, ate schnitzel, stood at the gates to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, walked across the Holocaust memorial and down Unter den linden, found cakes and spoke excellent German. They were all outstanding representatives of our school- the only hairy moment was when their train was diverted thanks to a British WWII bomb and they had to do a bit of running between carriages to make sure everyone was still on board heading back to the hotel. Look out for this summer’s joint History and Geography trip to the battlefields of WWI and the French Alps.
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. Kathryn Peacock and Alison Taylor 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 S4-5 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 juries. 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, lost another and were robbed at the final! (Ask the real lawyers who were also watching). Next year we plan to make it through to the finals at the Old Bailey in
London. In the summer term our team will be prosecuting a case in school - with school students as the jury! 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.
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 Mrs Ward 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!
Happy Holidays
Can I take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Christmas and a great New Year. School closes at noon on Tuesday 22nd December for pupils, the School office will be manned up to and including Christmas Eve, with the school returning on Wednesday January 6th.