31st March 2007
GOLD in Gateshead!

Many congratulations to Our Lady's High School School Band on their amazing performance in Gateshead.

The band's supporters applauded wildly as the Gold award was announced at the National Concert Band Festival at the Sage.

Well done to everyone involved! A more detailed report will appear later once our roving reporter gets the report to me (probably after her Advanced Highers!)

30th March 2007
Farewell Miss Frew

There are many sad faces around today as Miss Frew departs for pastures new. Anne Frew has worked in the English Department ever since we let her in the building as a probationer and quickly made herself at home. Her room became a riot of colour - even with her name over the blackboard, on a wooden plaque now destined to cheer a Glasgow classroom.

Who can forget the fate of that same blackboard (RIP) when English Department staff decided to "fix" it prior to HMIe's appearance?

Who can forget Miss Frew frantically cheering her class on to yet another Reading Trail victory - not that she's competitive (ha!).

How many staff walked away red-faced after scolding her for not wearing her blazer?

Anne Frew, we'll miss your excellent taste in books, your smile, and your enthusiasm for everything you involve yourself in. We hope St Mungo's appreciates you - keep in touch.

30th March 2007
Reading Trail comes to an end

The S1 Reading Trail comes to a close today and it's been a fiercely fought battle.

Miss Sneddon's Bravehearts painted their faces and quoted those immortal words "you may take our feet, but you'll never take our determination", which was countered by a cheer from Miss Frew's class (complete with pom- poms) about why 1S were doomed to fail.

And now... the last foot will be attached to the wall at 10.05am today, and then the counting starts!

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE
The final count - 1S wins with over 170 excellent mind-maps!!!!!

Congratulations to Miss Sneddon's class!!!

Every first year class has produced some exceptional work this year, and the mind-map reviews have been of a very high quality, demonstrating some great imagination and design, so well done to everyone involved. We'll try to get some examples up on the website soon.

The Reading Trail is designed to encourage pupils to read a wider variety of books, but the number of books read varies for each child, according to their ability. As a result, after the Easter holidays the first year classes will vote for the person in their class who has made the most effort during the Reading Trail. They may have read two books or twelve - but pupils are asked to think about rewarding their colleague who has worked the hardest.

The winning class receives a fun afternoon in the LRC, with entertainment and food!

27th March 2007
Parent Council

An open meeting was held in the LRC on Tuesday 27th March to discuss the constitution of the new Our Lady’s Parent Council. The constitution has been worked on over the last few weeks by members of the Parent Forum and has now been submitted for consideration.

A copy of the constitution will shortly be available on the school website.

26th March 2007
Got talent?

The Got Talent? Show was repeated this evening in the school theatre. Most staff and pupils saw the performance in the games hall on Friday as part of Patron's Day celebrations.

The Got Talent show was repeated on Monday 26th March in the school theatre to raise funds. On this occasion, the audience voted for Calum and Euan McCall’s amazing Diablo act.

Many congratulations to S6 on a very well organised event. You can see pictures of the star performers and staff here.

26th March 2007
Greenlink Survey

The Greenlink Project came to the Library Resource Centre this lunchtime to conduct a survey.

The Greenlink is a cycleway which runs between the Aquatec and Strathclyde Park. The Project conducts events, health walks and conservation programmes. Working with volunteers and schools, Greenlink are very involved with community development work and are keen to include as many local residents as possible.

In particular, the Greenlink volunteers wanted to find out whether pupils knew about the Greenlink, how / if they used it and what future developments they would be interested in.

The response from OLHS pupils was excellent, with about fifty turning up over lunchtime.

Each pupil who took part was given an assortment of free gifts, including a frisbee, day-glo wristband, badge and Greenlink map.

In addition, every survey is entered into a prize draw.

You can find out more about Greenlink by telephone, e-mail or website.

e-mail: greenlink@csft.co.uk
Telephone: 01698 267368
Web: smartways

23rd March 2007
Patron's Day

Our Lady’s celebrated Patron’s Day on Friday 23rd March with the whole school attending Mass conducted by Bishop Joseph Devine, Canon Carey and Father Steven Miller of Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral in the morning. Invited guests included retired OLHS staff and members of the School Board and PTA.

In the afternoon, pupils and staff were entertained by the Got Talent? Show, which featured “talented” acts from throughout the school, including bands, dancers, singers and circus acts.

Mrs Mulholland and Mrs Julie Fitzpatrick sang McFly’s “Five colours in her hair.” Nice make-up!

The winning act was a rendition of YMCA, performed by boys from S6, all appropriately dressed as members of the Village People. I have a sneaking suspicion that one or two fake 'taches were actually grown for the occasion, although it is hotly denied.

17th March 2007
Culloden re-enacted

5th year pupil, Mark Boules, has been taking part in a re-enactment of the Battle of Culloden. Battle Scar Entertainment contacted several re-enactment groups for volunteers to take part in the battle which is being filmed for the new visitor centre at Culloden.

Mark was one of the many Highlanders to meet their deaths on the battlefield at the hands of the British forces under the Duke of Cumberland. Being eviscerated by a cannonball (to be precise) is not expected to affect his Highers.

More information about the filming is available here.

12th March 2007
Band of HM Royal Marines

The Band of the Royal Marines are providing a workshop at the Motherwell Civic Centre. All pupils in the North Lanarkshire Preparatory Band are attending and other pupils with a woodwind or brass instrument can also attend.

The group from Our Lady's will include around 25 pupils along with music tutors to attend the workshops during the day, followed by a concert in the evening.

10th March 2007
Family Ceilidh

The Duke of Edinburgh Award group are aiming to complete their Service Section of the award with a family ceilidh.

The event is being held at St Bernadette's Church Hall on 16th March. Tickets are £5 per person or £10 for a family ticket, and can be purchased from the Partnership Base in Our Lady's or on the night.

Music will be provided by the Andy Kane Ceilidh Band and a prize raffle is being organised. All proceeds are going to ALMA.

10th March 2007
Quiz night and Talent Show

S6 are planning another two fund-raising events. A quiz night is being held on 28th March with tickets available at £5 per team. They are also holding a talent show on 22nd March, tickets £4 adults and £3 for children. Both events will take place in the school theatre.

Our Lady's pupils will also be able to see the talent show on 23rd March as part of the celebrations for Patron’s Day.

7th March 2007
Men Should Weep

Pupils in the Higher Drama class are looking forward to a performance of Men Should Weep by Ena Lamont Stewart. The Our Lady's group will be watching an interpretation of the play by their counterparts from Chryston High.

This should prove interesting when compared with their own ideas.

7th March 2007
Stressbusters!

Everyone knows that the run up to the exams are a tough time for pupils, so OLHS has arranged some additional assistance from Mr Lawrence Clifford.

Mr Clifford has agreed to provide after school training for S5/6 in working with and relieving stress. Pupils have already benefitted from their first group meeting where they discussed stress levels and how to cope with them. The group will meet over four weeks.

6th March 2007
Horizons: Sense over Sectarianism

The first major twining event in the Horizons programme took place last week. As part of the Sense over Sectarianism initiative, pupils from Our Lady's HS and Whitehill Secondary took part in a training session with four coaches from Rangers and Celtic Football Clubs.

Pupils were provided with badges and certificates and took part in a questionnaire about sectarianism. The Whitehill pupils also entertained their colleagues from OLHS with a version of their Sense over Sectarianism song.

Two pupils from S1 are acting as journalists for the event, and their reports will be published in a newsletter later in the year. Pupils from both schools are looking forward to the trampolining event being held at Our Lady's on the 21st March.

5th March 2007
Horizons - Sense over sectarianism

Our Lady's High School has twinned with Whitehill Secondary in Glasgow as part of the Sense over Sectarianism project funded by Glasgow City Council, Rangers and Celtic Football Clubs, Nil by Mouth and the churches.

A number of ambitious events are planned, including joint pupil councils, four sporting festivals and a number of cross-curricular activities. The schools have received a generous grant of £5800 to assist their plans. A group of ten children attended a training session at Parkhead with coaches from both Rangers and Celtic.

1st March 2007
Cross Country Competition

Staff were very pleased with the effort and determination shown by the team of fifty 1st, 2nd and 3rd years that participated in the recent North Lanarkshire Cross Country Championships at Airdrie Sports Centre.

While the full list of places has not been published yet, many congratulations to Conor Smith, 3C, who came 2nd in the individual competition. More awards will be announced as they become available.

1st March 2007
Young Engineers K'Nex Cluster Challenge 2007

Our Lady’s High School and our associated primaries are taking part in the Young Engineers K'Nex Challenge, which is organised by SETPOINT Scotland in conjunction with Careers Scotland.

This annual competition is aimed at all P6 pupils. A competition is held to find a team to represent the Cluster at the Area Finals in May. Area Final winners compete in the Scottish Finals in June. The Scottish winning team will then attend the UK Junior Engineer for Britain Final in London in September.

The Challenge involves pupils working in pairs to demonstrate their imagination, creativity and ingenuity by designing a model and then building it using K’Nex building materials. Pupils are given 1-2 hours to come up with a solution for a specific problem.

Primary 6 pupils will compete in their own schools shortly and the winners will come to Our Lady’s High to compete at the Cluster level in April.

1st March 2007
Science investigation

S2 pupils have been taking advantage of the recent good weather with their calss moving outside. 2P4 have been working on the habitats and environment as part of the Evolution topic in the course and enjoyed their opportunity to practise collecting physical data in locations across the school yard.