Craigholme School NewsletterNovember 2017

On Tuesday 21 November, Craigholme faced Edinburgh side, George Watson's College in the Quarter Finals of the Scottish Cup.

Craigholme took the lead in the first half and held that until the last 90 seconds of the match. George Watson's equalised taking the game to penalties.

Our girls performed incredibly well under pressure scoring in all of their shots which proved too challenging for George Watson's to match ending the game 4-2.

Craigholme now progress to the Semi-Final against, George Heriot 's or Galashiels Academy. The date for this is still to be finalised though it must be played before 27 February 2018.

Craigholm e Qualify for Scot t ish Cup Sem i Final

After four heats, Ailsa and myself were delighted to make it through to the final along with 16 other competitors from other schools. The final was held on Tuesday 21 November. Ailsa impressed the judges, speaking confidently on her chosen topic and I was honoured to win the competition discussing Why youths are no longer interested in clubs and associations. This was my fifth year in the competition and feel very grateful with the experience of learning how to stand up in front of an audience and speak. This has taught all of us a very valuable life lesson that we will never forget.

Head Gir l Wins Rot ary Club of Glasgow Public Speak ing Com pet it ion

The Rotary Club of Glasgow hold an Annual Public Speaking Competition for Senior 1 to Senior 6 pupils. This year, Kenzie Stewart (S3), Eve Workman (S3), Ailsa Marshall (S3), Catherine Mackie (S6) and myself competed along with 59 pupils across Glasgow.

The topics this year included 'Living with Social Media', 'Who has inspired me' and 'Why the youth of today are no longer participating in clubs and associations'. The first heat of four was held at Craigholme School with the next three held at the High School of Glasgow, Jordanhill and The Glasgow Academy.

Manaal Shah, Head Girl

A Warm Welcom e t o our Aust ralian Exchange St udent sThe Glasgow weather may not reflect it but Chloe and Sophie, who are visiting from Australia have received a warm Craigholme welcome this week. There was a litt le excitement on Monday when the girls had their first experience of snow.

The Australian girls are being hosted by Mia and Ailsa in Senior 4 and have been following their timetable within School. In June 2018, Mia and Ailsa will travel to Australia to experience their part of the exchange programme.

Sports Coach UK workshop in Safeguarding and Protecting Children. This is well delivered and balanced course aimed at coaches and volunteers who work within the UK Sporting Framework and is used as a tool to help Leaders create a positive sports experience for the children and young people they are delivering to.

Every child deserves to enjoy their sport. This workshop tactfully and effectively raises awareness of the signs of abuse, and gives candidates the tools and confidence needed to deal with any issues sensitively, appropriately and effectively should the need ever arise in their coaching career.

Well done to the following pupils on completing their workshop: Faith Borland, Sehar Zahid, Huda Sultan, Jenny Crawford, Alice Williams, Kimberley Murray, Elle Bryce, Clark Stewart, Hannah Rigby and Imogen Bremner.

Accompanied by Mrs Craig and Mr Donnelly, Nicole Dickie recently performed at the prestigious SQA Star Awards at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh. A star-studded ceremony, hosted by Kay Adams, rewarded the most outstanding SQA candidates from across the country. Nicole was given the honour of closing the awards, singing the Italian aria O Del Mio Dolce Ardor and You?ll Never Walk Alone from Rodgers and Hammerstein?s musical Carousel. Following Nicole?s performance she received a standing ovation led by Deputy First Minister, John Swinney.

SQA St ar Awards

The girls then took some time to chat to the speakers more informally and find out more. Many of them snapped up the chance for some work experience and have made some great contacts.

Many thanks to all the speakers who volunteered their time.

STEM Careers Event

Senior 6 Leadership Course

All girls in S3 to S6 had the opportunity to hear from a wide variety of STEM ambassadors at the recent STEM Careers Event. The topics our speakers covered included; MRI physics, engineering, geology, oncology and psychology. Some of our speakers had recently completed their chosen undergraduate courses or PhDs, and it was great to hear about the opportunities that are open to newly qualified STEM candidates, and their experience of different universities. We even had a visit from former pupil, Caroline Carslaw.

Melissa Whiteside has been accepted for the WEIR-WISE engineering event at the University of Strathclyde. This event will take place on Monday 29 and Tuesday 30 January 2018.

WEIR:WISE

The Art Department were thrilled to have Designer Kerry Douglas from Downie Allison Downie for a morning to work with pupils sitting Advanced Higher Art and Design. The girls learned about the art of traditional bookbinding and received step by step instructions on the Coptic Stitch technique resulting in a beautiful handmade sketchbook incorporating their own personal artwork.

http://www.dadbookbinders.com/

Book Binding Workshop

Melissa will be involved in a variety of activities involving many fields of engineering.

Special Gala Per form ance

S2 Pupil, Hannah Burnett Godfree and S6 pupil Nicole Dickie recently performed alongside Mr Donnelly and acclaimed pianist Geoffrey Tanti, as guests of the Bothwell Philharmonic Choir at a gala concert in the historic Bothwell Parish Church.

eTw inning Am bassadorsOn Saturday 11 November Mrs Neill and Mrs Young attended the British council in Edinburgh to receive training to become eTwinning Ambassadors. Mrs Neill and Mrs Young already facilitate a great deal of eTwinning activities in the School and we look forward to building links with International Students.

Another exciting musical opportunity was recently presented to us for our Junior 1-5 girls. Former pupil and artist, Margaret Moore, asked our Infant and Training Choirs to be involved in the recording of playground songs to be used in her new film and art installation charting the history of Scotland Street School. S3 Business are participating in the Brand

Challenge.

Doing blindfold taste testing of Coke v Pepsi and Milka Chocolate v Own Brand to understand the power of branding and visuals.

Sound Inst allat ion Ar t Project

This project will form part of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Exhibition in 2018.

Senior 3 Business St udies

Senior 1 and 2 thoroughly enjoyed a visit from Scottish Ballet Principal Dancer, Constance Devernay. She told them about her life journey from growing up in France to joining the Scottish Ballet Company in Glasgow. It was fascinating to hear about her experience of living in another country and having to learn the language. We prepared some questions and some girls even asked questions in French!

Scot t ish Ballet

S1 recently participated in the Great Schools Online French Challenge. They worked in groups to research different aspects of francophone culture. There was a choice of homework tasks which included cooking a dish from a French-speaking country. We enjoyed looking at the photographs and hearing each other 's views about French food. Erica made a very impressive mille feuille.

French Challenge

Senior 6 Fr iday 1 SpeakersFollowing the October Break, Senior 6 have welcomed a number of Speakers to present to them on a Friday, Period 1 about a variety of Subjects. Our first speaker was Laura McKinnon who owns Dress Hire company, Laura's Dresses, who presented on her experience of starting her own business. We then welcomed Glasgow City Mission to talk about their night shelters and the services they provide to the homeless around Glasgow. Alison Muang visited from the Blood Transfusion Service and spoke about the importance to the NHS of having sufficient blood supplies available. Evelyn Walker from Walker Gordon Associates provided an interesting presentation on Personal Branding and the power of Networking.

The programme will continute until the end of term with talks from Helen Campbell from StudioKAP Architects and Professor Lorna Paul from Glasgow Caledonian University.

Cam br idge Assessm ent Cent re

A wide range of courses at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge now require application to sit pre-interview assessments to demonstrate their aptitude for the subject. This November, Craigholme, for the first time, acted as host to a number of applicants from other schools as well as our own pupils. These came from as far afield as Aberdeen and Newcastle, and the subjects tested included Geography, Physics, Maths, History and Engineering. The two hour exams seemed to be challenging, but both our pupils - Faith Borland and Hannah Rigby - have been invited for interview by Cambridge. We wish them both the best of luck at these!

Junior 3 are taking part in a Global Citizen Research Project with Senior School Librarian Mrs Luc. We have been developing our visual literacy, mapping and discussion skills to find out about children in different countries who lead very different lives from ours.

The J7 class are hot on the heels of the suspects in the case of 'Who kidnapped Santa Claus?!'. So far they have interpreted suspect profiles, analysed fingerprints left at the scene and pored over some blood samples. Hopefully the girls will have all the evidence they need to ensure the safe return of Santa in time for Christmas!

Who Kidnapped Sant a Claus?

Junior School NewsWe would like to remind parents please to have girls in School by 0845 each morning. Class teachers encourage all pupils to be in School early to put out what they require for morning classes and then to benefit from morning activities. In addition, each Friday morning, all classes leave for assembly at 0850. We would greatly appreciate your support in helping us to enable our pupils to be relaxed and well organised at the start of each day.

Junior 6 have been working on an Enterprise Project, making decorations to sell at the Christmas Fayre on Saturday 2 December.

J3 and J5 worked together on Octopoems. Here is the one they created for Craigholme!

On Thursday 16 November at Castlemilk Swimming Pool the following girls took part in the Glasgow Schools Primary Gala time trials. Anna Campbell Junior 4, Lena McBride Junior 5, Lily Mappin Junior 5, Lily McKaig Junior 5, Anna Campbell Junior 5, Beth Coles Junior 5, Thenoo Annamalai Junior 5 and Louisa Pelosi Junior 6 competed really well in freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly and relay time trials. Names going forward to the Glasgow Schools in January will be announced shortly. Well done girls!

Open Classroom sOur Open Classrooms event on Thursday 9 November was well attended by parents and thoroughly enjoyed by the pupils. Our next event will be our Night at the Museum on Tuesday 27 March 2018. Further details of this will be communicated next term.

Dat es for t he Diary

Sat urday 2 Decem ber

CSPA Christmas Fayre, 1.30 pm - 4.30pm

Monday 4 Decem ber

Junior School Flu Vaccines

Tuesday 5 Decem ber

Procurator Fiscal Competition, Murdoch Room, 6 pm

Wednesday 6 Decem ber

Senior 5 & 6 Parents' Evening, 6 pm

Thursday 7 Decem ber

Junior 5-7 Careers Event, 2 pm - 3.30 pm

Coffee Drop-in 2.20 pm - 3.30pm

Sat urday 9 Decem ber

West District Indoor Tournament,

Sports Complex & Hutchesons', from 9 am

Wednesday 13 Decem ber

Nursery Nativity, School Hall, 11.15 am

CSPA Junior 1 - 3 Christmas Party, 3.30 pm - 5 pm

Thursday 14 Decem ber

Junior 1 - 5 Nativity, School Hall, 2 pm - 3.30 pm

Senior 3 & 4 Parents' Evening from 6 pm

Tuesday 19 Decem ber

Junior 4 - 7 Christmas Party, 1.30 pm - 3.15 pm

Thursday 21 Decem ber

Ecumenical Services, Sherbrooke St Gilbert 's Church, 11 am - 12 noon

Tuesday 9 January

Pupils return to School