Year in View: Heads & Deputies

After enjoying a far more normal summer holiday this year, pupils of the High School of Dundee returned to an exciting start of term. As well as reconnecting with friends and teachers, pupils were able to make the most of the recommencement of sports fixtures. Saturday morning hockey and rugby has been greatly missed within the school community, and its return provided the well needed release at the end of a school week. As well as the ability to put to work all of the hard training completed by the teams and a little healthy competition!

Another set of events that were missing last year were the Caird Hall music performances. We are very grateful to be able to perform in this special venue again this year for a Christmas themed concert. We also have our fingers crossed that other music events such as the Christmas Carol Concert are able to go ahead. On the academic side of things, pupils are now working towards their exams, which have been confirmed to go ahead, providing a lot more certainty for students. The start of the school year has been full of fun and exciting events already, with many more to follow.

With the lifting of Covid restrictions a lot more events have been able to go ahead, such as the annual Co-Curricular fair and the House Choir Competition. There is also excitement building for the Christmas parties and We Will Rock You musical. Even in the first few months of term, the School has been committed to supporting a variety of incredible charities. In September, 39 members of the HSD community took part in Cancer Research UK’s ‘Race for Life’. Navigating their way through 5km of obstacle courses and mud, the team proved themselves unassailable in the fight against cancer. The annual Macmillan Coffee Morning also took place in September on the Pillars, where pupils and staff enjoyed an array of homemade cakes, traybakes and sweet treats. This year’s Coffee Morning was as popular as ever and all proceeds went towards Macmillan Cancer Support. Another highlight this term was undoubtedly the Monochrome Ball, which invited pupils in Forms 5 and 6 to dress up in black, white or silver for an evening of pop music and Ceilidh dancing. This was a fantastic way to end the first half of what had been a rather busy term, not to mention that ticket sales raised £680 for The Scottish Association for Mental Health! The success of all these charitable initiatives is thanks to Interact, the School’s pupil-lead charity group, under the supervision of Miss Karlene Douglas. Interact are always finding creative and engaging ways to fundraise.

With kindness being the main theme of this school year, we want to bring the school community together in a fairer and kinder environment. We feel that more respect will be gained by building connections throughout all the Senior Years and the Junior School. By allowing different year groups to come together more often it can create friendships and closer bonds, which can contribute towards our main goal of a kinder school environment. Another key focus of ours is to allow every pupil from any year group to have more of a say about what direction they want the School to move in and, through methods suggested by our Prefect team, such as Pupil Voice, this can become a reality. Anti-bullying week is a great opportunity to put time aside to be together as a school to focus on the issue of bullying and to provide support for students who are affected by it. Through various activities spread throughout the week it allows pupils to discuss many topics surrounding not only bullying but the many different ways to treat people to make them feel comfortable in the school environment. However, the most effective way to bring pupils together in a fun and exciting way is through our events such as the Christmas dance. It is very important to everyone that these events go ahead as planned and are as normal, to preCovid times, as possible. We are working hard to make sure this happens with not only the Christmas dance but the many other events we have planned for this school year.

Heads of School: Sophie Elder & Sneha Sripada

Deputy Heads of School: Cameron Jones & Harry Paul