The High School of Dundee Review 2020

Review 2020

Review 2020 Contents

Editorial

Introduction

Rector’s Welcome................................... 4 Staff Welcome...................................... 5-6 Senior Prefects................................. 7-12 Features............................................ 13-28 Performing and Visual Arts......... 29-48 Writing . ........................................... 49-58 Let your lives speak ...................... 59-96 International Education .............. 97-100 Sport ............................................ 101-110 Out and About . ......................... 111-120

News

Prize List ...................................... 121-124

Retiral of Dr John D Halliday....... 125-128

Dave Preston........................................ 129

Staff Farewell................................ 130-132

High School of Dundee teacher awarded medal in New Year Honours List............. 133 F6 Class......................................... 134-135

L7 Class.......................................... 137-138

NURSERY

Introduction

JUNIOR

This year has definitely been one to remember. In January we welcomed our new Rector, Mrs Lise Hudson, only for the whole school to decamp home a few months later. This year has brought many surprises but not least the liberation of the Review back into pupil hands … vive la résistance. We’d like to thank our Pupil Editorial Team, who have contributed so much of their time and their ideas to the renewal of this annual publication. Also, we’d like to thank the legions of pupils and staff alike who have contributed their writing which can be read in these pages.

Specifically we’d like to thank Anna Kerr who has been our Successor-Apparent for the year (and we know will do a great job with the Review next year) and Rebecca Stuart who has been the best Junior School Liaison we could’ve hoped for. Not least, Mr Nigel Clarke for putting up with our breakdowns and frankly diabolical ideas but also for keeping us on track throughout the year.

Alasdair Richmond & Olivia Russell, Pupil (Co-Editors)

This has been a year unlike any other. Planned changes were followed by unprecedented international events. And yet, that difference has accentuated the threads that run through every year at the High School. You will see from these pages that young people, staff and parents pulled together to make session 2019 – 2020 as successful as ever. Smiling, engaged faces were in evidence both in school and remotely. I want to thank everyone for their contributions as ever and to apologise for any unintended omissions. Alasdair, Olivia and team worked tirelessly to pull this magazine together and my thanks and best wishes go with them for their futures.

Nigel Clarke, Staff (Supporting Editor)

High School of Dundee Euclid Crescent Dundee DD1 1HU Tel: 01382 202921 highschoolofdundee.org.uk Registered Charity No: SC011522

Design and Print: HB Rutherford & Co Ltd www.hbrutherford.com

SENIOR 3

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Review 2020

Introduction

Rector’s Welcome

As we publish the Review 2020, we have just had our first ever Virtual Open Morning. The chance to showcase the school ‘behind the Pillars’ via film, reminded us all of the amazing community that we have here and how rich and varied it is. To listen as teachers, pupils and the wider staff described the school as warm, caring, nurturing individual potential and creating friendships to last a lifetime was humbling and inspiring. The videos also captured a moment in history and were a powerful reminder of, both how much has changed, but also how important our traditions, events and rights of passage are to all of us. exciting chapter, I had in mind all those key dates ahead. The prelim exams providing crucial practice for the ‘real thing’ in May. Burns Night where Form 6 were set to showcase their talents and give us a taste of what was to come in the Senior School Musical Grease, scheduled for the final week of session. Rehearsals for the Spring Concert. The Ski Trip, training for expeditions, awards, positions of responsibility and all the promise of our annual farewell celebrations to mark our Form 6 leaving school for pastures new.

The pages of the Review 2020 demonstrate the extraordinary last 12 months. A year ago, we had no idea how many of the things that we take for granted would be taken from us and the change, uncertainty and worry we would have to face and continue to encounter.

The Review highlights the events and activities of the Autumn Term that are so familiar to us all. The Form 1 Residential at Nethy Bridge, the Open Morning with our Pipes and Drums, musical ensembles and vibrant co-curriculum all to the fore.

The fieldtrips, Duke of Edinburgh training, themed days, charity fundraising events and parties to name but a few. The wonderful Autumn Concert, with a programme specially designed to bid farewell to Dr Halliday as he began his retirement after 11 years as Rector.

As I witnessed these events and looked forward to 6th January, when I would have the immense privilege to lead HSD on its next Inspiring Education

What came in the final two weeks of March was to throw everything that we held dear into disarray. The Spring Concert was cancelled, I had to announce that the school would close its doors for the first time in 100 years. The similarity with the pandemic that followed the First World War was a stark indication of how serious the situation had become. I will never forget the emotion of packing up my office, asking the head janitor to put my desk chair in the back of the car and literally locking the gates behind me.

7 months on and we are back in school. Physically distanced, masked at times, in blocks and bubbles and cohorts. Following one-way systems, teaching all PE outside, finding ways to teach instrumental music, and go on Duke of Edinburgh training, and bringing Nethy Bridge to Mayfield. Day by day we are ensuring that great classroom teaching, building relationships and treating each other with kindness remains at the core of all that we do. We relish it more, look after each other with more care, understand that empathy and selflessness are the core skills that really matter. As always, our pupils are at the heart of everything. They bring an irreplaceable energy, joy and creativity to the buildings and to every classroom and shared space. The community has been extraordinary. Change has come at us 4

from every angle and yet the determination and dedication shown has been breath-taking. Staff have willingly abandoned precious holidays to make sure that online learning has become second nature and so much part of the fabric of what we do.

The network of collaborative working that this has required has transformed us as a school in a few short months. We have had to be open, embrace challenge, think again and step forward together. We have asked parents to trust us with the most precious thing - their children and the support and engagement we have had has encouraged us to reach for the stars.

The Review 2020 reflects this extraordinary year. We have viewed each other in different ways, through ‘windows’ on ‘Windows’ via Zoom and Teams, Firefly and Social Media. We have had to change and adapt, and we have discovered great opportunities too. A newfound confidence in the HSD Family that supports and nurtures us. The joy of shared fun and the exhilaration of being together again. The High School Family is thriving despite all the challenge and uncertainty.

The pages of this publication demonstrate in images and words the brilliance of the shared experience and the huge talents of our wonderful pupils from Nursery through to Form 6 (and beyond). It is a privilege to call them ‘our pupils’.

As the first ‘female’ Rector approaching the end of my first year, I am so proud of all that this community achieves each day.

I hope that you enjoy the reminders of an extraordinary year in the pages of the Review 2020 and here’s to 2021!

Lise Hudson

Review 2020

Introduction

Welcome to ...

Lise Hudson, Rector

In January 2020, we welcomed Lise Hudson as Rector. She is the ninth Rector of the school and the first woman to hold the position. Lise is very well known to the whole High School Community, having begun her teaching career here as a Teacher of History in 1990.

Lise was a member of the department during the ‘Bismarck Years’ and learnt her trade supporting and nurturing young people to find a love of the subject and the confidence to believe in their own ability to work hard and achieve beyond their expectations.

On becoming Principal Teacher of Guidance in 1999, Lise played a major part in ‘sowing the seeds’ of our pastoral support as it exists today.

It was here that she found her passion and belief in the central importance of emotional intelligence to wellbeing and achievement.

Joining the Senior Leadership Team as Head of Guidance in 2008, she took on what she describes as her ‘dream job’ before becoming Deputy Rector in 2012, a role she shared with her colleague Mrs Val Vannet. On Mrs Vannet’s retirement in 2016, Lise took on the role as

sole Deputy Rector. Having shared Dr John Halliday’s vision for an Integrated Curriculum with Intellectual curiosity and the Arts, Sports, Creativity and Community at its heart, she was privileged and delighted to be appointed to the role of Rector in January 2020.

She is passionate about the High School Family and the unique education that the School offers. Having experienced the school as a young teacher and as a middle and senior manager, she sees the wellbeing of staff as central. As a Parent to her daughters who attended the school from L1-F6, she understands the opportunities and support that they experienced and the integral part that the school played in nurturing them to become the amazing young women that they are.

This experience as an HSD Parent alongside her husband John who is Bishop Wardlaw Professor of Medieval History at St Andrews University has made her determined to ensure that the Parent and Pupil Journey are second to none. It is always a particular pleasure for Lise to welcome Former Pupils back to the school to reminisce and be part of the school’s future and she is very excited indeed to be able to lead the school through its next exciting chapter.

In her spare time Lise enjoys singing, listening to music, reading and taking her dog, Bertie for long walks in the countryside.

Amber Steven

Amber came to the HSD after teaching a range of primary classes at Clepington Primary. She grew up wanting to play for Liverpool FC and Scotland, but after settling for beating her big brother in the back garden World Cup, she moved back to Scotland from England and went to University.

Her career in business marked her out as a leader, but it was her ability as a coach that was most significant. Excited by helping others to develop and grow she took the plunge and undertook the PGDE at Dundee University.

Amber believes that all pupils should feel loved and cared for when in her class and ensures that the level of challenge supports both academic growth and increased confidence.

Amber says that she loves the sense of community at the HSD and threw herself into the changes required when the Covd-19 pandemic required a re-focus towards online learning. She has recently committed to leading the Junior Years Netball team.

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Michael Readman

Michael studied at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, graduating in 2014 with a FirstClass BA Hons in Drama and Performing Arts.

He also spent two years as a member of the Traverse Theatres Young Writers Group. After graduating he went on to work as a pupil support assistant in secondary education before going on to study a master’s level Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) at the University of Edinburgh. Michael has worked at several Scottish high schools from Dunfermline High to Harris Academy before taking up his current post at the High School of Dundee. Michael has experience working professionally as an actor, writer and director.

His specific interests are in theatrical and film theory, arts journalism and playwriting.

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Review 2020 Welcome to ...

Emma Morenikeji

Emma Morenikeji joined us in January from St. Marie’s Primary School in Kirkcaldy where she worked for fifteen years. She graduated from Strathclyde University, worked in various schools in Glasgow and London before travelling the world for two amazing years.

Emma loves art and enjoys working with her pupils to create a colourful and inspiring classroom. A keen sportswomen Emma now spends her weekends at the side of a hockey or rugby pitch screaming enthusiastically.

With a love of the outdoors, Emma often camps with her family, explores far flung countries and can often be found in her garden weeding!

Inspiring Education

Dr Naomi McReynolds

Rebecca Brown

Dr McReynolds studied physics at the University of St. Andrews. While there she made use of the long summers for various charity expeditions including climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, working in a turtle rescue centre and driving an ambulance to Mongolia. Her love of traveling led her to take a gap year traveling from Mexico To Brazil with a few stops along the way for volunteering in an eco-lodge in Belize and in an animal sanctuary in Peru. She then returned to St. Andrews to gain a PhD in Biophotonics. It was during this time that she began going to schools, science centres and even prisons for science outreach and discovered her passion for teaching. She studied for her PGCE at Durham University where she had the privilege to have work experience in a variety of school settings, including an SEN school and a bilingual school in the Netherlands. She completed her probationary year at Carnoustie High School before joining the team at the High School of Dundee. She has many passions outside of Maths, including board games, hiking, dancing and most recently, painting.

After graduating from the High School’s class of 2015, Rebecca went on to study English and Creative Writing at Dundee University where she fell in love with the world of digital media through the university’s student-led television station. After graduating, she continued to pursue a career in media by studying a masters in Film, Visual Culture, and Arts Management at Aberdeen University, finishing her degree while in lockdown. In her spare time, Rebecca helps to run her co-founded charity, Folklore Scotland which seeks to preserve Scotland’s folkloric heritage. She is excited to be returning to the school as Digital Communications Coordinator.

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Introduction

Senior Prefects

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Review 2020 Heads and Deputy Heads of School

Head Girl: Ailsa Miller Head Boy: Lewis Byers Deputy Head Girl: Eilean Mauritzen Deputy Head Boy: Fraser Coupar

Our final year has been a whirlwind. Lewis and I began our time as Heads of School with the notion it would be like no other but nothing could have hinted that we would be finishing our final lessons from home via a pixelated screen and a crackly voice from a teacher trying to conduct a lesson.

Whilst we are living in uncertain times, we have taken this opportunity to broaden our horizons from the comfort of our duvets.

From August until March we went about our everyday school life: spending time with friends, sitting in lessons and attending weekly sports fixtures. Days would pass and we would find ourselves wishing for the weekend, End of Term and as far ahead as the Leavers’ events. We all knew that the end of school was going to come close and yet we still wished away our days failing to grasp the wonder that was being part of such a cohesive year group. And then the news headlines started to fill with growing concerns about a virus thousands of miles away in China and then Iran to Italy and now on home soil.

The Common Room was filled with chatter and laughs about school closing for a few weeks and we ignored the thought that our weeks as 6th years, as the Head Girl and Boy of the High School of Dundee would come to an unfairly premature close. And then exams were cancelled, pupils and teachers were staying home and instead of weeks we were given days. Our initial thoughts jumped to anger, frustration, devastated at the injustice of leaving our community sooner than we deserved. However, from this bleak picture that we’ve painted, a new appreciation for what we have was born.

Our final days at the High School were spent with our friends and teachers who helped mold us into the people we are now. We were no longer talking about the future but instead the present. We found comfort in relishing what we achieved, cherishing the people we used to spend every day with and appreciating the special time we had together as a year group. We had time to thank the people who were there for the highs and there to carry us through the lows. And though it may not feel like it now we will go down in history as the year group, the glorious class of 2020, who survived Covid-19.

The virus has taught us to stop constantly moving forward. Yes, the future is exciting, and the past is nostalgic but what we’ve learnt is that we must stand still sometime. Plan for the future but don’t pine after it and reflect upon the past but don’t live in it. Because after some time has passed, at least once in our life we will want the time that the coronavirus has given us. When life becomes fast paced and a flurry of human contact we will think back to the time when we could spend endless hours with just our family playing dusty board games.

So, what we’ve learnt is to cherish. Cherish time, people and the present because the grass always seems greener on the other side.

Inspiring Education

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Senior Prefects

Review 2020 House Reports - Airlie

At the beginning of this school annum, we wanted to shift Airlie’s mindset to a winning one. Our first action to do this was to change our mascot. In doing this we felt it represented a new page of the Airlie story and allowed us, the 2019/20 house captains and vice captains, to leave our mark on the house. By introducing ‘The Airlie Assassin’ it meant we could bring a more competitive and fierce side to Airlie, whilst also remaining silent and humble.

Senior Prefects

House Captains: Callum Elliot & Anya Wilson House Vice-Captains: Craig Gunn & Hannah Meade

Our year started with the annual house choir competition. In this we gave a wholesome acoustic performance of The Back Street Boys “I Want It That Way”. Due to a lack of participation and a bland palette of taste from the judges, we unfortunately came fourth in this event.

We learnt from some of our previous mistakes when the Swimming Gala came around in November. In this event we had good participation, especially from the young years, as well as sound support from the sixth year. All of this amalgamated with a few talented swimmers, meant a respectable third place for Airlie.

Next up on the house event calendar was the fifth and sixth year Christmas Carol competition. Despite some mix up with what song we were actually performing, we still managed to put in a groundbreaking performance. Humming away to “Last Christmas” by Wham managed to get us a standing ovation and an excellent second place. One of our best house achievements came from our winners in the individual house bagpipe competitions pulling out the most wins from all the houses. It is clear that the house has been steadily improving throughout the year and we are certain that if it hadn’t been for the Covid 19 outbreak we would have had more wins in the events that have subsequently been cancelled. So, from the Airlie Captains and Vices we’d like to say thank you for an amazing final year and we hope to see great things from future Airlie Assassins.

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Review 2020 House Reports - Aystree It’s fair to say that over the course of this year, Aystree has gone above and beyond, making us extremely proud House Captains. Our Form 1 students are to thank for our strong start to a year full of success, as they were particularly triumphant during their residential trip at Nethybridge, leading overall in the House Team Challenges, won through a range of different activities, showing our diversity in talent across the House.

House Captains Jonathan Lang & Amy Bett House Vice-Captains: Callum Findlay & Lucy Roberston

Whilst clearly wowing the judges of the annual House Choir events, our talent did not go unnoticed and we accepted the 3rd place title each time, allowing us to display our consistent abilities. Despite this, we can all agree our Junior School pupils have got the music in them, finishing first place overall in the Junior Music Competition and putting our choir attempts to shame!

Although not winning House Choir, our motivational song choice of “Don’t Stop Believin’”proved powerful to us as we did just that and ended up top of the leader board overall for the year.

We are just as upset as you all are to be missing Sports Day due to Covid-19, as it’s clear our sporting abilities are unmatched following the substantial success in not only the Swimming Gala, leading by nearly 100 points, but also in Hockey, having a consistent winning rate all round in each year group event.

Finishing off the school year as one at Prize Giving was always our hope, and we are so sad to be unable to do so in the traditional manner, however we are beyond proud to reflect upon how amazing you’ve all been and what a year it is to remember, especially given the circumstances!

We want to wish you all good luck for the years to come and to go for gold, as we see a whole lot of potential in you all. We truly hope that you and your families are staying safe and well during these unprecedented times.

Lots of love from your 2019-20 House Captains Jonny, Amy, Callum and Lucy.

Inspiring Education

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Senior Prefects

Review 2020 House Reports - Lindores Lindores had another great year: musical victory in the House Choir Competition with “I’m Still Standing” by Elton John, sporting success at F2-3 House Hockey, 2nd place in the Swimming Gala. Of course, not all went well – most notably the Christmas House Choir Competition, in which we came last (well done to Wallace). We are extremely proud of all our house members that showed up to these competitions; a tremendous effort was made throughout the year to perform well in all the interhouse competitions.

Senior Prefects

House Captains: Alasdair Richmond & Catriona Paterson House Vice-Captains: Mike Anderson & Olivia Russel

This year we also started a House Instagram page, which we used to advertise house competitions and events, and release announcements to the whole of Lindores. Trend house award goes to.

Of course, this year we have ended on an odd note. The Coronavirus outbreak has put a harsh stop to the school term, and now pupils are adapting to new teaching practices and daily routines. This is why we are particularly proud of one of our loudest messages to Lindores and the greater school community this year; to grow the kind and supportive atmosphere in our school. Through house assemblies, notices and posters we have tried to emphasise the importance of building an environment in which people aren’t afraid to ask for help, with schoolwork, mental health or otherwise. Obviously, such a project will take longer than a year to see to completion, so we hope that future senior prefects will continue pushing this forward in the hope that we can all make a genuine difference to the ethos of the house, and the wider school, moving forward.

We thank the whole Lindores family for such a tremendous year and we hope you continue to be the loyal, courageous lions we know you to be.

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Review 2020 House Reports - Wallace Wallace entered the session with, as in most years, low expectations. However, we are delighted to say we outperformed those expectations massively, despite what the house points might show. We started the year off with an upbeat performance of Cee Lo Green’s “Forget You” which put us in second place in the House Choir Competition. As with all good things though, that luck faded; we were humbled at the Swimming Gala (congratulations to Aystree) but redeemed ourselves with some rousing performances in many of the Rugby and Hockey events. Returning to our musical roots brought us our greatest success in the Christmas House Choir Competition where our optimism accompanied by a “ground-breaking” dance routine earned us a truly great triumph. We are tremendously proud of all Wallace members who took part in any events this year. When competing alongside our mascot Wally the Bear we always had the most fun!

House Captains: Reece McLennan & Grace Tang House Vice-Captains: Ross Clark & Flory Speed

However, this year has ended with a highly unexpected twist with the Coronavirus pandemic causing most aspects of life to come to a grinding halt. The entire school community is having to adjust to the radical changes they now face in continuing to learn and try to maintain some sense of normality. It is in times like these that our mantra of looking out for all comes to the fore. We know now more than ever that it is vital to ensure everyone is coping and we hope that this message resonates wider than just the Wallace community.

Furthermore, we have tried to create an atmosphere where everyone feels confident and safe to reach out for help if needed. This is something else that is of great importance given how severely some may be affected during this trying time. Moving forward, it is important that the lessons we have learnt from this experience are not forgotten and that we become more resilient and continue to strive to change for the better.

We would like to say a huge thank you to the whole Wallace family for every-thing you have done this past year and that the legacy we have created lives long after we are gone.

Finally, always remember… Beware of the Bear!

Inspiring Education

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Senior Prefects

Features

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Review 2020 Armistice Parade

The wreath was then carried and placed in front of the War Memorial.

Pipe Band

11th November 2019 marked the 101st anniversary of the First World War. While minutes of silence and remembrance services were carried out all across, not only the UK but, the world, the High School of Dundee once again gathered into the playground a few days beforehand for the Armistice Parade to commemorate those of the school community and wider who made great sacrifices during the conflict.

The War Memorial Roll of Honour is situated in the main building opposite the office.

When looking over the vast list of names one cannot help but wonder who each of these people were. Each had his or her own family. Every individual had unique hopes, ambitions and fears and yet their personalities and experience of the school could not have been too dissimilar from ours. Many probably worried about exams or were uncertain about the future as any of us now even 100 years on.

Even now, it is impossible to avoid seeking out a personal connection with those who we will never meet but always remember.

The School’s annual Armistice Parade took place on the Friday before November 11th, and I was especially honoured to lead the Pipe Band as Pipe Major, due to the rededication of the War Memorial taking place this year.

Military and civilian personnel, as well as the wider school community of parents, relatives and former pupils looked on at the proud display put on by the Combined Cadet Force, the Pipe Band as well as the banner party on the crisp and clear morning. As part of the presentation of the wreath, members of the Junior School (Sam Brass and Freya Galvin – both L7) walked in procession up towards the pillars and were greeted by Head Boy, Lewis Byers and Deputy Head Girl, Eilean Mauritzen.

Inspiring Education

The School’s War Memorial to those who died in the First World War is placed at the heart of the School. It is placed prominently in the foyer, and is an intrinsic part of the School’s history and identity. This year was especially important as the School discovered a previously unknown 84 names, and the memorial was extended to give each person the recognition of which they are so deserving. To commemorate these newfound names, the Memorial was rededicated to those who lost their lives in the conflict. The Pipe Band had a prominent part to play and certainly lived up to the expectation that, over the years, the members have rightly earned.

In 2020, in these times of adversity our lives are filled with statistics and figures of casualties and death. behind every gilded entry is an individual. Each had a name and a life tragically cut short and they should never be forgotten.

The ceremony began with the band marching on to the Parade Square past the entire school,

Jonathan Lang (Co-Head Cadet – F6)

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Features

playing ‘Scotland The Brave’ and successfully opening the commemoration. This led the School into the minute’s silence which allowed the pupils, staff, and all our guests a moment of reflection for those former pupils who walked the same corridors as us, but lost their lives to save ours. After a short rendition of ‘Scotland the Brave’, and a moving slow air, the Pipe Band ended the Parade with a strong performance of the retreat march ‘The Green Hills of Tyrol’.

Craig Gunn (F6 – Pipe Major)

Review 2020

Features

Rededication of the War Memorial This year’s Armistice Parade was perhaps slightly more poignant than those of previous years. On Remembrance Day, just before the parade, a service was held to mark the rededication of the School’s War Memorial, watched by a range of invited guests, including the City’s Lord Provost, as well as staff, Board members and pupils.

Research led to the discovery of a total of 84 former pupils and staff whose names did not appear on the original War Memorial.

Of particular importance was the revelation that there were a further 24 men killed in action as well as 14 women who served with “great bravery and fortitude” in the Great War in roles including ambulance drivers, hospital doctors and key positions in the war-time ministries. This landmark discovery sheds light on the enormous contributions and sacrifices made by women in armed conflict. The fact that such actions had been overshadowed and deliberately omitted from Remembrance events until now reveal the clear injustice at the time, which only now has been rectified. Their discovery led to the rededication of the War Memorial with the addition of 6 new oak panels designed, manufactured and decorated

via the combined efforts of the Technology and Art Department.

During the rededication, Rector at the time, Dr John Halliday reflected on “the sacrifices and mistakes of the past in the hope that we can learn and make the world a better place”. Prayers were led by the Reverend Caroline Taylor, the Very Reverend Kevin Golden and in one of his last services with the school, the Very Reverend Jeremy Auld delivered a prayer which spoke of not only the losses of the First World War, but of all wars past and those ongoing. Also, poems were read

by Head Boy and Head Girl (Lewis Byers and Ailsa Miller) as well as by the Presidents of the Old Boys’ Club and the Old Girls’ Club, Peter Grewar and Pam Sinclair.

Pupil Pipe Major, Craig Gunn delivered a doleful rendition of ‘Flowers O’ the Forest.’ The Scottish folk tune which has been used across time and space to commemorate fallen soldiers in many armed conflicts, and on the day did not fail to instil a feeling of deep poignancy among many who heard it.

Fraser Coupar (Deputy Head Boy) & Jonathan Lang (Co-Head Cadet – F6)

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Review 2020 Global Climate Strike It’s very easy to be pessimistic and cynical about the current state of the world. Authoritarian despots dominate the global scene, large conglomerates cash in public safety in exchange for profit and the values that form the bedrock of progressive societies seem to be under attack. On September 20th, 2019 however, millions of young people showed there might still be some hope.

Change was the word on everyone’s lips, and change seems to be occurring. After the global strike, all major UK political parties pledged to guide the country towards zero carbon emissions. Silicon Valley companies also made moves to withdraw investments from anti-environmental enterprises after pressure from students.

To be clear, the fight is far from over. Incremental change is welcomed but not accepted as the new status quo. However, the climate change protests cultivated a movement for the zoomers (generation z), and the occasional woke (baby) boomer, to follow. A movement constructed by organisation and sustained pressure that can lead to more radical systemic change. A revolutionary movement to end the In front of the Caird Hall, the students seemed most dangerous existential threat humanity has to represent everything our society should be. ever faced.

Diverse, energetic and principled. Highlighting an issue long ignored by the ruling classes, Young people who turned up on that day young people across the earth showed not only signaled a coming shift, a profound change their awesome engagement with contemporary towards a society that favours public good over political issues but also demonstrated pupils short-term utility. This future still remains a long knew how to organise and push their ideas into way off, but hope seems to be guiding a way forward. We do, however, need to be pretty mainstream discourse. relentless to get there.

The Dundee protest was a uniquely vibrant and passionate affair with organisers putting Alex Fish (F6) together a ceilidh and an open mic session (something this particular writer zealously used to get his point across) which helped engage activists and the Dundee public. That is not even to mention the numerous placards and signs held by students with some particularly biting phrases intended to turn some heads.

A worldwide school strike highlighting the climate crisis, orchestrated by teenage activist Greta Thunberg, was carried out. Dundee pupils enthusiastically participated, joining millions of other students across the globe. The Dundee collective also contained a sizeable cohort of High School of Dundee students.

Photos Courtesy of Jonty Bryce (F6)

Inspiring Education

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Features

Review 2020

Features

Diana Award Anti-Bullying Ambassadors Pupil Voice Introduction On 5th September 2020, the Heads and Deputies of school, travelled to Glenalmond College along with other volunteers from our school to receive training to become anti-bullying ambassadors. This training was provided by The Diana Award, a charity which was established to recognise young people who were going above and beyond the expected in their local communities. At the training day we learnt many new things including the various ways in which bullying behaviour presents itself and how to deal with these. The teaching was delivered through lots of fun activities including complimenting strangers and working in teams to think of responses to difficult scenarios during which someone is being bullied. During the day we were inspired and thought of many ideas for anti-bullying campaigns to set up once back at school. Learning about what works in the fight against bullying allowed us to make plans for these campaigns. The charity workers running the day encouraged us to set out an aim for our school. We decided that our aim would be to “have a safe space where everyone feels

Throughout this year, we’ve placed a focus within the Senior Years on listening more carefully to our Pupil Voice. As a starting point, we’ve prioritised listening to our pupils about their health and wellbeing. The Q+ group, formed initially in Spring 2019, has helped develop a better understanding of issues affecting our LGBTQ+ pupils. In September, the Diana Award organisation offered 10 of our pupils training to better inform their understanding of bullying and to enable them to plan a range of approaches to tackle bullying using a peer-led approach. Our Young Carers group was launched, and they’ve focused on supporting each other while raising awareness of the unique difficulties they can face in managing their learning alongside their caring roles. The Form 6 Wellbeing Prefects have openly discussed a range of mental health issues that they have faced during their adolescence and have worked hard to communicate what they have learned, including how to access a wide range of support mechanisms. Aside from these initiatives, we have continued to encourage all of our pupils to follow their own interests, to communicate these with passion and to have the confidence to articulate their ideas in a range of forums. Their involvement in the global Climate Change protests are just one example of this.

like they can talk and express their concerns without being judged”.

Attending this training day helped develop our schools anti-bullying work. When we returned from the training day it was decided that weekly meeting were going to occur, where all of the newly trained ambassadors and any other pupils who were interested could put into action the plans we had made on the day and think up new ones. Shortly after the training day, the ambassadors talked at assembly about what we had learnt about bullying so we could make this information more widely known to other pupils in school. A survey was also created by the group with the help of the guidance staff, with the aim of finding out the extent of bulling within the school, so we could set about fixing this.

As a key priority on the 2020-21 Whole School Improvement Plan, the superb work started this year will continue to move forward. We hope that these pages provide you with a fuller understanding of everything we have achieved this session.

We hope that the work done by all the antibullying ambassadors in school has helped to prevent bullying and ensure that everyone feels safe and happy in school.

Q+ Group Q+ is a group of pupils that came together in the Spring of 2019. Our goal from day one has been to make the High School of Dundee a better place for LGBTQ+ students and to create a safe space for them to be open about any issues they are experiencing within or outside the school that is LGBTQ+ related. We have also made this an environment which openly accepts all people who are allies to the LGBTQ+ community and want to show their support.

Eilean Mauritzen (F6 – Deputy Head Girl)

Already, we have helped push and create gender neutral bathrooms and changing rooms at both the main school and at Mayfield. Other than this, we have been working with the Guidance Department to create a more LGBTQ+ aware curriculum; for example, we presented an assembly for Forms 1 - 6 in February to celebrate LGBT History month. At this assembly, we talked about the history of the LGBTQ+ community, as well as explaining some labels and talking about our personal experiences. As a group, we are really happy to have achieved what we have so far, and we have lots of plans for the future!

Finlay de Vale (F4)

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Review 2020 RESPECTFUL

CONFIDENT

RESILIENT

CREATIVE

KIND

HONEST

LET YOUR LIVES SPEAK

Learning and creativity from home

During lockdown we really did come together as a school community and our core values (kindness, resilience, creativity, confidence, honesty and respectfulness) shone

through. Pupils, parents and staff supported one another and developed new skills to stay connected through the wonders of technology. Learning from home presented many challenges but luckily many pupils were able to tune into live lessons, watch pre-recorded content, upload resources from Firefly and found creative ways to submit their homework too.

During lockdown there were 18,860 Microsoft Team meetings (mostly lessons) and over 171,580 channel messages.

HONEST

Learning skills, Music lessons and Guidance chats continued.

New Sports, Health & Food Technology and Music Instagram pages were borne with weekly challenges to inspire creativity and bring us closer together.

The Care Hub at Mayfield played a vital role, allowing children of key workers to be looked after in a reassuring and friendly environment.

KIND

Mrs Rose’s weekly Rainbow Roundup kept the Junior Years families entertained and Mrs Hudson’s Friday blogs kept us up to date with the latest news and events. The pupil-led Quarantimes newsletter provided an opportunity for pupils to share information and ways to keep busy during lockdown.

All in all a wonderful team effort across the board keeping us engaged and motivated throughout such uncertain times.

CREATIVE

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Review 2020 Care Hub

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Rainbow Roundup Meddy Teddy Mindful Yoga A great image from Mandy Arthur’s Mindful 5 Breathing challenge for L1-3 (Molly Foster) Meddy Teddy was also in the live lesson (recorded too). The L1 had already met him in PE last term so it was great that he was there with Mandy; fully involved.

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Review 2020 Rainbow Roundup ...

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Review 2020 QUARANTIMES Pupil-led Newsletter Packed full of features ranging from baking recipes, to staff interviews and tips on staying active, the publication was started during Covid-19 lockdown by a team of Senior Years pupils, led

by Malavikha Sudarshan (F5) She says, “We wanted to start a student-led publication which we hope will be useful for pupils while we are all in lockdown. It’s main aim is to allow our fellow Senior Years pupils to see what we are getting up to during quarantine, and possibly inspire them to take up a new skill, reach out to others and to stay calm.”

You can read the newsletters on our School website here

Features

CyberDiscovery Challenge Each year CyberDiscovery, an HM Government-funded extracurricular program, attracts Senior School aged cyber security enthusiasts from across the UK. Devised to encourage and train the UK’s next wave of cyber security professionals the challenge is split into four sections: Assess, Game, Essentials, Elite. The first being a preliminary testing phase, and the rest progressing in difficulty, this program is not easy nor for beginners, but for those who have an interest and a slightly above school level understanding of cyber security it is truly an experience like no other. This year, being my first with the challenge, I quickly developed an understanding for a subject which I loved at school but wanted to take further than the course offered. Currently competing in Essentials, deadlines have been extended due to the pandemic, offering an exciting way to fill my time. I hope to progress to Elite which, if not cancelled, is held, in person, at either a London or Manchester venue. To those with an interest in computing I would thoroughly encourage participating next year.

F1 & F2 provided a series of video book reviews

Alasdair Richmond (F6 – Lindores House Captain)

Podcasts

Form 6 Wellbeing Prefects have created a range of resources to help promote and support an awareness of mental health and wellbeing issues including a series of Mental Wellbeing Podcasts

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L7 performed ‘The Climb’ as a way to commemorate the culmination of their final Junior years.

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Review 2020 Foodbank distribution by Ruairidh Simpson

Features

Lauren Chesters t-shirt production for Dundee Bairns

Creativity and Kindness shone through during lockdown as pupils found new ways to commemorate events and support one another in a virtual way.

Here is a small sample of their achievements.

Charity support HONEST

During lockdown, School Charities and Community Outreach Coordinator Karlene Douglas was able to hand over a large collection of items for the Foodbank thanks to generous donations from our school community and fundraising continued via an online fundraising page too. Pupils didn’t stop there, they baked cakes and gave musical performances outside residential care homes, made scrub bags for the NHS, helped with Foodbank distribution, printed t-shirts to raise money for Dundee Bairns and many more initiatives will continue for many months to come.

KIND

Little Things

Scrub bags for NHS by Sarah Elliot

In the February half term, I came up with the idea of starting my own wee jewellery business, during isolation it has really taken off – so far reaching 1000+ followers on Instagram. It keeps me busy during isolation, posting around 20-25 packages in the post each day but the best thing is I love making them! I’ve had lots of support from current and former HSD pupils which has been amazing!

People have also sent some packages to friends and family to cheer them up during this difficult time which is also really heartwarming.

CREATIVE

If you want to check it out, follow

RESILIENT

@littlethingsbyluce or @littlethingsbyluce

Lucy Robertson (F6 – Aystree House Vice Captain)

CONFIDENT

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Features

@ HSD Sport

On entering the first week of lockdown I was very keen to complement our vast range of online PE learning resources with some more ‘fun activities’ that would encourage engagement through social media. Our PE twitter account drummed up a bit of interest but not quite what I was looking for, so the HSD Sport Instagram page was born! Since then I have been absolutely delighted with its growth, over 500 followers and lots of positive engagement from pupils, parents and even the odd staff member! It has been a bit of a learning curve for me but my social media manager (aka Mrs. Jack) has been there to help!

The concept behind our page is to encourage physical activity, motivate people to push themselves out of their comfort zone, but most importantly to have a bit of fun during this very odd time.

Post lockdown, I really hope to keep the page going in some capacity, probably to post pictures, highlight achievements and positive experiences in the PE department, but definitely with an odd challenge thrown in now and again!

Mr. Jack (Head of PE and Games)

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Review 2020 Dalguise L6 Virtual Experience Although L6 did not have the chance to go on their Dalguise Experience this year they devised an ingenious way of being outdoors and simulating taking part in some of the activities that might have been on offer. Here are some of their virtual creations including Mrs Rose protecting herself from the notorious Dalguise Drop Bears!

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Wearing Dalguise hoodies

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Review 2020 Health and Food Technology

@ hsdhft The HFT Instagram account was set up to help inspire our pupils and the HSD community at large to engage them in such a crucial and creative life skill. With lockdown in place, it was particularly apt. Food has become such a medium for sharing and for demonstrating kindness by, for example, making home baked items for neighbours or those less fortunate. Pupils have been following the perfect recipe for keeping their culinary skills up to speed during lockdown. In year groups pupils have been completing home learning tasks in which they have been challenged to make their favourite recipes and share photos of their creations with the HFT Department. The Insta account was always a medium I had planned to use to share creative culinary success from HFT and we look forward to sharing future posts. I hope that after lockdown is eased, the joy of making a dish that draws everyone to the table, that we will hold onto this. And if this has whetted your appetite for more Health and Food Technology, then check out the department’s brand-new Lesley Ross, Head of Health & Food Technology

Farewell Cake

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Music Collective

@ hsdmusic During the lockdown, pupils continued to receive their individual music lessons online. Most were able to have a weekly lesson, and they enjoyed the chance for a personal interaction with their teachers. Whilst all music exams ended up being cancelled, concert life moved online, with the weekly Performance Platforms taking place over Microsoft Teams on Thursday afternoons for the last few weeks of the summer term. In addition, several collective online performances took place, including members of our Chamber Orchestra playing “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” for #ClapForNHS, and the Junior Years Piano Day. Meanwhile our Pipers joined in with “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” as well, and the Brass Band came together online for a performance of “African Funk”.

Dr Lionel Steuart Fothringham Director of Music

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Review 2020 We’ll meet again ...

Rebecca Hamilton

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Review 2020 Nativity

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Review 2020 Grease

Unfortunately, due to the national lockdown, 2020’s Senior School Musical ‘Grease’ was unable to go ahead as planned. Throughout the past year the entire cast and crew worked extremely hard to put this show together to hopefully make it one of the most upbeat and exciting musicals the High School of Dundee has ever seen. Although the final performance had to be cancelled, we, as a cast, shared a lot of laughs during the rehearsal process. Memories we’ve made in the past year will definitely stick with us and the family bond that was created, both with our peers and the teachers, will never be broken. Therefore, the current F6, who will be leaving us in the summer, aim to produce a recording of some of the key numbers in the show with help from Mr Tonner. This will hopefully be released to the HSD family before the end of the summer term.

The school has also decided to devote the second half of the Spring Concert 2021 to a concert performance of highlights from the musical performed by the current F4 and F5 cast members. It was a journey that none of us would want to forget, from singing and dancing in Trinity during the auditions to the tiring Sunday rehearsals in Margaret Harris. Even though we won’t be performing in the Gardyne Theatre in June, we are extremely thankful for the incredible experience and the many valuable life lessons it has taught us. A massive thank you to Mrs Drummond, Mr Darby, Mr Tonner, and Mrs Sangster.

Fraser Houston (F5 - Danny Zuko)

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Review 2020 F2 Performance of Bugsy Malone From the 29th of October to the 1st of November, after being intensely involved with rehearsals for over a year, Form 2 presented their performance of Bugsy Malone.

Many came to watch this greatly entertaining musical.

Set in 1920s New York, Bugsy Malone is a comical, light hearted story with speakeasies, hoodlums and gangster mobs fighting, only not using modern weapons, but with splurge guns and cream pies used to fuel the feud between Dandy Dan’s gang and Fat Sam’s hoodlums.

However, Dandy Dan tricks Fat Sam, killing most of Sam’s hoodlums in the first half of the show! Fat Sam then hires Bugsy Malone to be his driver; Bugsy, desperate for money, agrees. After a narrow escape from Dandy Dan, Bugsy loses the money when he is mugged in a dark alleyway, but is then rescued by Leroy Smith. He teams up with Leroy to do what Fat Sam’s gang were meant to do – steal the weapons that Dandy Dan had been using. Leroy and Bugsy then find the ‘down-and-outs’, a large group of homeless people, and employ them to help get past the guards of the guns, and take the weapons. Then, the final scene, a massive battle between the two mobs, which sees each rival destroy the other. Resolving the musical with ‘Good Guys’, the end echos the opening ‘Bad Guys’ leaving the audience with one final happy number.

A major help with this production, as with any of the High School’s, have been the production crew. Covering props, lights, sound and even stage management the show was rounded off with the help of the F5/6s whom have helped us bring this show to life.

Thanks to Ms Sangster and Ms Drummond for all their dramatic expertise. To Mr Tonner and his amazing band who transported us back to ‘20s New York with their music, and finally to all those pupils involved for once again dedicating so much of their time to an amazing production without whom none of this would have been possible.

Polly Parker (F2) Inspiring Education

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Review 2020 Benedetti Sessions

In early March, around 20 pupils in L3-F6 spent their weekend attending a string course in the Caird Hall set up by world-renowned Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti. The pupils attended numerous musical game sessions and rehearsals, resulting in an informal concert by three orchestras at the end of both days: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. The highlight of the weekend was watching all three orchestras join in playing Bartok’s “Romanian Dances”, despite the difference in age and levels of playing.

Working with Nicola Benedetti was so inspiring for everyone involved, and it was always a pleasant surprise to be able to turn around in rehearsals and see her standing behind you! I took part in the Advanced Orchestra and loved performing Elgar’s “Introduction and Allegro” at the Sunday performance; the conductor and section instructors were all so exciting to be around and I feel I learned lots in such a small amount of time. Everyone involved, either playing or watching, would agree that the atmosphere created with combining young musicians, professionals and the student helpers was fantastic.

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Brass ensemble championship review

On Sunday 24th November, the Brass Ensemble went to Perth Concert Hall to compete in the Scottish Brass Band Association Festival of Brass Youth Brass Band Championships. This was the first time that the High School had entered the competition. We played in the Novice section, performing four pieces: “Afterburn”, “Ticket to Ride”, the set work “Tartanheart”, and “African Funk”. There were fifteen bands playing in our section, which went on for about four hours, so luckily there was time to use the photo booth, watch a few other bands play and browse the many trade stands. We were delighted to receive a silver certificate (meaning we were placed between fourth and ninth). We were very pleased with the result as about two weeks before the competition, we were unsure as to whether we would be playing there or not. It was good fun and a great experience. A massive thank you to Mr Tonner, Dr Steuart Fothringham, Ms Anderson, and guest musicians Callum Tonner and Catriona Hackwood!

Polly Parker (F2)

Kirstin Petrie (F6)

Blue Riband and Record Achievements for F4 pupil Megan Cant took away a record breaking 9 awards from the Arbroath Music Festival and one of which was the most prestigious ‘Blue Riband’ (the top award for the Festival). In the 88 year history of the Arbroath Music Festival no one has ever won 9 trophies in the one week. Winning the Blue Riband was extra special because her grandfather, William Cant won this 3 times in 1938, 1948 and then lastly in 1966 – and so 54 years to the day Megan won the trophy that her grandfather had won in 1966.

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Review 2020 Interview with KT Tunstall

On 24th January, the High School was delighted to welcome back former pupil, and now singer-songwriter, KT Tunstall. Joined by her band Cat (Drums) and Mandy (Bass), P5 pupils (alongside teaching and support staff) were treated to a performance of “Suddenly I See” and “Black Horse & The Cherry Tree”, and Fairground Attraction’s “Perfect”. At ease with large audiences, KT happily mingled with the pupils, signed autographs, and posed for photos. KT, who has “really good memories of the School, especially the Music Department”, later joined HSD’s Alex Fish and Alasdair Richmond (both F6) for a short interview, resulting in a wonderful Lindores Blazer photo op, reminding KT of her time at the school and in Dundee were she was a regular sight busking on the streets. The visit was part of a Lidl Live Tour which raised more than £25k for STV’s Children’s Appeal to help children and young people living in poverty.

Alasdair Richmond (F6 – Lindores House Captain)

Alex Fish and Alasdair Richmond (F6)

AF: In your time when you were a first year, I know we were just talking about orchestra’s and bands, were you part of any orchestra’s and bands, and did they help?

KT: Yea, so I was a flautist. At first, I had started learning piano when I was about four and I’d started lessons really young because I was so fascinated by the piano. So, I started flute in St Andrew’s [Madras College] and carried it on here in my third, fourth and fifth year. I think in fourth year, I got my Grade 8 Distinction and that was really exciting to get that certification on the flute. But you can’t really play flute on your own, it’s a bit lonely, so I joined the wind band and that was great. I didn’t do tonnes of singing, my voice weirdly didn’t stick out, I wasn’t an amazing singer. The school did a production of [Gilbert and Sullivan’s] H.M.S. Pinafore and I actually auditioned for the lead female part and I didn’t even get a look in for that. I just got put in the choir, I just didn’t have that kind of voice. Suzie Henderson got the part, amazing - absolutely amazing singer. Me and my friend Nina, who was a cellist and also a singer, were up here all the time in the Music Department, we were kind of spending our spare time hanging out up here really, just mucking about with instruments. Also I know it sounds ancient, but the department had also just got hold of electronic keyboards at that point, so they had all these different sounds and all these different demo buttons and beats, so I’d really enjoyed playing with those as well, just getting used to the different sounds on the keyboards.

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Review 2020 AR: Following on from these new keyboards and sounds, your latest album WAX, having Nick McCarthy as a Producer, you can sort of hear these subtle influences such as the synth, just creeping in a bit but the music still links back to your original albums with the punchy, up-beat sound, how would you say your sound is progressing forward, especially since WAX is the second installment in a trilogy, where do you see your sound going for the third album?

KT: It’s an excellent question, it’s really good and I’ll tell you something funny that has really permeated my creativity.

Growing up in St. Andrews where they filmed Chariots of Fire, my dad had the soundtrack, which is by Vangelis who’s one of the most amazing electronic artists ever, and actually the B-side of Chariots of Fire is really interesting.

It really feels kind of underwater, kind of mysterious but beautiful atmospheric electronic music, and that’s probably the first synthesiser music that I heard – that Chariots of Fire soundtrack. We would just always go to the West Sands and pretend we were in the film running along the beach.

But I still go to Vangelis as an influence, cause it’s all the Blade Runner’s soundtrack as well, I still go to that stuff. It’s a particular keyboard actually, called the CS-80, it’s a Yamaha keyboard which is like the size of a couch, it’s massive.

But we hired one of those for my third album, Tiger Suit, and used that a lot, so you definitely form really important relationships with sounds that you hear when you’re young.

Things that you grow up with, it’s a bit like smell, I think those sounds just really are very nostalgic and so, for me, the Chariots of Fire soundtrack is kind of the sound of my childhood, partly. So, there’s these flags in the sand of your life that you go back to, these sounds that keep influencing you as you go on. But in terms of how it’s progressing, I’m actually finding I’m coming a bit full circle at the moment where I’m coming back to my roots a bit more. I’m really enjoying playing very acoustically - maybe it’s just cause I’m getting old and it’s just really nice - but I think really I’m always influenced by what I’m doing live. Playing live is kind of the most exciting part, I love being in the studio, but there’s nothing like sharing your music with an audience.

So often I’m thinking, when I’m making music, I’m thinking how we make this live, how can this be visually exciting as well as just the sonics of it. The trilogy – it’s soul, body and mind – it’s a really interesting project because each album is kind of affected by that theme. The next instalment of the trilogy, with the ‘mind’ record, I really want to emulate all the

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patterns that happen in the brain. A lot of the way we learn is repetition, and so there’s going to be a lot of repetitive patterns that kind of change quite slowly and subtly, using what’s called sequences. Which is a synthesiser where, basically if you have 16 beats in a bar, so that would be semiquavers, you program a note per beat and then you press play then the computer will go [sings], and then you can change each note and come up with different patterns, and that to me is really reminiscent of how the brain works and how you learn and how you re-learn things, it’s just really about repetition.

AF: So now that you’re getting to that point where you’re able to make that on the album, you said during your set that you started busking, when was the first time you went and did a proper live gig and how would you recommend to younger artists how they should start?

KT: No, again a really good question. Questions from you guys are always better than questions from 50-year-old journalists by the way. You always ask really interesting questions - it’s things that you would wanna know. But nothing against 50-year-old journalist by the way, they’re great. But I actually started when I was 16. I didn’t see a live gig until I was 15 and I sneaked into the St. Andrews Union and watched The Waterboys, which was amazing. And then when I was 16, King Creosote, from St. Andrews, came to see my very first gig which was at the back of the VIC pub, cause I wasn’t really allowed to be in there and we did it at like 6 o’clock and he saw it and thought I was a really good singer, so he actually asked me to join his band so I started going and doing gigs with them, and they would do a lot of busking, they were the ones that really introduced me to busking.

Busking’s a really good way of building your confidence as a live performer because you’ve just got to go out there and do it, and I felt so stupid the first time I did and then the second time I did it, it was great.

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Review 2020 Cantabile Joint Choral Evensong with St Paul’s Cathedral Choir

Peforming & Visual Arts Senior Music Competition

Once again, the School’s elite choir, Cantabile, joined St Paul’s Cathedral’s permanent choir in singing Evensong, as has become a new tradition much to the enjoyment of the choir’s members. Held in the grand cathedral it is always an honour to be invited to sing with the practiced, more vocally mature members of St Paul’s Choir in such an awe-inspiring surrounding.

The Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis were sung to the stirring setting by Herbert Brewer in the key of D, and the anthem was John Rutter’s version of “The Lord is my Shepherd”. Helping to improve and expand Cantabile’s repertoire, this wonderful evening always serves as a beginning to all the concerts to come in the winter months, bringing us forward to the Carol Service held also in St Paul’s later in the Autumn term.

Alasdair Richmond (F6 – Lindores House Captain)

Scottish Schools Pipe Band Championship

On Sunday 8th March the High School of Dundee Competition Band travelled to Kilmarnock to take part in the Scottish Schools Pipe Band Championships, an event which takes place in a different Scottish school each year. Schools travel from across Scotland to compete to win top place in their respective grade. The school band entered two bands, one under the Novice Juvenile B section, and another under the Junior B section. Both bands put in commendable performances on the day which were rewarded with a strong set of results. The Novice Juvenile B band achieved an excellent second place, the best result achieved by the School Competition Band this piping season. This result was well deserved considering the amount of practice and effort put into preparation for the event.

Craig Gunn (F6 – Pipe Major)

At the beginning of November each year, the Music Department holds a Senior Music Competition for pupils in F1-6. This year there were 68 solo performances from Grade 5 to Grade 8 and beyond, with many of our pupils even participating on more than one instrument. Over two days, adjudicators Dr Steuart Fothringham (the Director of Music) and Mr. Allan Young (Music co-ordinator for Perth and Kinross Council) judged all kinds of instruments and pieces, with show tunes from musicals such as ‘Oliver!’ on brass to classical favourites such as Elgar’s ‘Salut d’amour’ on strings. Every year we celebrate every pupil’s achievements whether it’s a personal one or winning a Grade class. However, this year’s double prizewinners included Angus Ledlie (F2) who attained the top prize in the Grade 5 classes for both Piano and Guitar, and Daniel Higgins (F2) who won the Larg Prizes for both Piano and Strings by winning the respective open classes for pupils playing at Grade 7 standard and above. All participants gained performance experience, got a chance to share their music with friends and family and benefited from constructive feedback from the adjudicator.

Kirstin Petrie (F6)

HSD Pipe Band Liam Brown

Liam Brown (F4) had a very good year on the Bagpipes after winning the Junior Grampian League for the fourth year in a row. This is for a series of competitions playing Piobaireachd, the traditional music of the Bagpipes. He also came joint first in the Regional competition and was the runner-up in the League for Light Music (marches, strathspeys, reels, slow airs, etc.), which he had won the previous three years. Liam could be found competing in over ten Highland Games competitions over the course of the season.

Rebecca McConnachie (F4)

Dundee Uni Graduations Each year, it has become somewhat of a tradition for the HSD Pipe Band to perform at the University of Dundee Graduations as the stream of Graduates file out clutching their certificates. Always an event with high excitement, it proves a great event for new and returning Pipe Band members alike to perform in what is always a busy Pipe Band calendar.

Alasdair Richmond (F6 – Lindores House Captain)

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Autumn Concert

Almost 400 pupils from L4 to F6 came together in the Caird Hall for one of the largest events in the school calendar at the end of November, showcasing our pupils’ musical talents in the best way possible. This year the Autumn Concert was held in aid of The Dundee Young Carers Project. As usual the concert included a wide range of repertoire, meaning that there was something for everyone to enjoy. The concert featured some well-known pop classics such as Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” and Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition”. Extracts from the 1964 Disney classic Mary Poppins were also performed, along with a medley of songs by The Beatles to mark the 50-year anniversary since the release of their “Abbey Road” album. The evening concluded with a complete performance of Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony, Mozart’s last such work, written in 1788. The evening was a great send off for Dr Halliday as Rector, as the “Jupiter” Symphony was his favourite, and was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Anna Kerr (F5)

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Autumn Concert Rehearsals

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Review 2020 SCO String Academy

(Scottish Chamber Orchestra String Academy) For the second year running, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and St. Mary’s Music School have come together to create a String Academy. Calling on Grade 6 and above musicians, the course puts young, enthusiastic musicians together with professional instrumentalists of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra for five Sundays, to prepare for an impromptu concert on the last day. This year we attended for a second year both playing the cello having enjoyed the inaugural course.

We found the repertoire very enjoyable and varied, including works by Hallgrímsson, Bartók, and Elgar. As cellists, we were thrilled to hear that Hallgrímsson was a previous Principal Cellist of the SCO who composed a set of picturesque pieces titled ‘Daydreams in Numbers’. The challenges of this group of vivid story pieces were that each has a distinctively personal style, testing a string player’s grasp of more contemporary techniques. Although the notes and rhythm weren’t too challenging in themselves, the skills we were able to improve were invaluable as we learned the importance of working with those around us to merge as one instrument.

Bartók, famous for his study of Folk Music, composed a suite of six pieces, originally for piano, which he then later arranged for ensemble. Being characteristically livelier than the rest of the program, this piece was exciting to us as musicians, requiring control of sound over the entire range of dynamics. Throughout this course we were all starting to realise the importance of bringing the character of the music alive, not just focussing on playing the right notes at the right time! Our favourite of all the repertoire was Elgar’s Serenade for Strings, a prime example of late-Romantic composition, featuring a rousing introduction allowing each instrument to sing as opposed to merging and creating a single sound.

The concert was very successful and all of us involved highly enjoyed performing the music we had worked so hard on for the previous five weeks. If this opportunity arises again, we both highly recommend participation, but also to the Wind Academy which is to commence in 2020.

By Alasdair Richmond and Kirstin Petrie (F6)

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Review 2020 Junior Music Competition Each year budding musicians from across the Junior Years prepare for the music competition with various classes for different instruments at all levels.

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(The Festive Fundraising Concert took place in Trinity on Monday 16th December 2019)

Arya Sanu, L7 – Winner of Open Classes Piano and Strings.

Recipe for a Festive Fundraising Concert

I was rather surprised at winning the Open Classes for both piano and violin. I felt I had played well, but the other pupils in the competition were really talented. I was pleased with the result, as I put in a lot of work to get the pieces to sound good as I could make them. It felt great at the end knowing all the violin and piano practice I did had paid off. I would like to say, “practice makes perfect”, but I know I have quite a way to go before I can get to perfection!

Each year, around Christmas, the Music Department gets hungry for more than Mince Pies. A tradition each year is for the department to host a Festive Fundraising Concert.

An unusually tricky recipe – with lots of ingredients to coordinate and even more avid musicians to feed – but follow the method and you’ll end up with this disgracefully scrumptious event. Here is my recipe, for a Festive Fundraising Concert.

Junior Music Competition 2020: RESULTS Congratulations to all pupils on their hard work and excellent performances Grade One Brass 1st: Oliver Brown L6L – trumpet Grade One Clàrsach 1st: Isla Jones L5K Grade One Guitar 1st: Miraal Kahn L5M Grade One Percussion 1st: Arthur Rutherford L5R – drumkit Grade One Piano 1st: Emily Smith L5R & Oliver Walker L5R Grade One Strings 1st: Harry Yin L4S – violin Grade One Voice 1st: Isabella Lowrie L6C

Ingredients

Grade One Woodwind 1st: Jessica Reid L7J – Oboe

Grade Three Percussion 1st: Ansh Pavan L5M

Grade Two Guitar 1st: Leo Pugh L6S

Grade Three Piano 1st: Sophie Sun L7C

Grade Two Percussion 1st: Finlay Thomas L7J – drumkit

Grade Three Strings 1st: Sophia Cameron L7C – violin 2nd: Oliver Ledlie L6C – violoncello

Grade Two Piano 1st: Oliver Ledlie L6C Grade Two Strings 1st: Poppy Thurston L6C – violin 2nd: Jonathan Nagy L6S – violin Grade Two Voice 1st: Alexandra Hay L7C Grade Two Woodwind 1st: Hannah Petrie L6C – tenoroon Grade Three Guitar 1st: Zahirah Mason L7J

Grade Three Woodwind 1st: Lucy Smith L7T – recorder

Open Class Guitar 1st: Fergus Stubbings-Tilley L7T

Open Class Piano (Old Girls’ Prize for Piano) 1st: Arya Sanu L7J

Open Class Strings 1st: Arya Sanu L7J

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• 126 pupil musicians (aged 7-18y) • 11 ensembles (preferably containing a mixture of brass, wind, percussion, string, guitar and clàrsach players – if you want to stand out from the crowd, look for a brand-new junior pipe band with drummers) • 24 pieces of festive music (to make a rich concert, use a mixture of baroque, traditional, classical and jazz – to bring out the flavour, allow the musicians to choose some of the pieces themselves) • 14 music staff (the sort who love music and enjoy watching pupils being inspired) • 66 hours of ensemble rehearsal (at least – marinade for longer if possible) • a full hall of audience members (enthusiastic and encouraging family and friends should be readily available) • refreshments for several hundred people, young and old (crisps are popular and elderflower cordial always goes down a treat) • as many wider school staff as you can lay your hands on (members of the Development Office, Janitorial Team, Junior Years and Catering Team are crucial) • to garnish, 126 Santa hats, pieces of tinsel or other Christmas ornaments – the brighter the better • a large helping of good cheer

Method

Line your concert with a sparkling Big Band at either end to start and finish it with a bang. Make sure you include some old favourites like the delicate flavour of ‘Silent Night’ from the Clàrsach Group, the zesty ‘Frosty the Snowman’ from the Bream Guitar Ensemble and the mellow ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ from the wind ensemble. Mark the halfway point with a glittering Percussion Ensemble piece. The concert is done to perfection when you see smiles all round from performers and audience and hear a loud wave of applause and cheering. If you stop and savour, you’ll feel that festive spirit in the air.

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Review 2020 Pipe Band

A familiar sound at the High School of Dundee Open Morning is our Prize winning Pipe Band who parade between the main building and Trinity Hall, entertaining the parents and pupils with their fantastic talent. The Pipe Band is an integral part of the HSD co-curriculum with around 100 pupils learning either bagpipes, snare drum, tenor drum or bass drum from our world class teaching staff.

David Wilton, Pipe Major

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Art & Design

Zara Latif

Zara Colette Wiewiorka

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Matylda Sarraf

Malachy McCrimmon

Maisie Tait

Malavikha Sudarshan

Ben Martins Da Silva

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Emily Baxter

Anisha Sangmor

Emily Baxter

Ryan Kilburn

Sophie Lennox

Rebecca Hamilton

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Malachy McCrimmon

Owen Barclaywood

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Heather Clark

Maisie Tait

Heather Clark

Maisie Tait

Heather Clark

Eve Hewitt

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Rebecca Ritchie

Lilly McCarthy

Emily Robertson

Eve Hewitt

Isabelle Connolly-Brown

Laura Connolly

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Review 2020 Burgess Essay Competition

A Global Warming Short Story

The thick, black smog filled my lungs as it wrapped around me, engulfing me. I gasped for fresh air, (my lungs) begging for oxygen. The storm had appeared suddenly entangling our boat in a dense mist that made it impossible to see. As we got deeper into the fog, conditions only worsened, there was barely any visibility making me unsteady and anxious.

All had calmed down as we approached the harbour. The boat no longer rocked back and forth making me able to concentrate on what was happening around me. My teammates remained on the boat frantically panicking about the experience while I ventured onto the jetty. I was unaware of my surroundings due to the fog which filled the whole city.

I came to the realisation that I was in fact in Dundee, the place I have lived my whole life. Except that this Dundee was strange, old. I stepped out onto the cobbled road searching for a sign of civilisation. Not long after I heard the crack of a whip and a huge rumble coming towards me. As I stepped away from the road a horse and carriage passed me taking no notice to my presence.

I looked around me to see tall housing blocks towering above me, attached to every window was thin string holding clothes and socks. As I pondered around the city I saw people coughing and spluttering into handkerchiefs in effort to conceal their sickness. I passed a small shop which was advertising all sorts of things in the window including a newspaper from that day.

It was the 8th December, 1820. This meant I was in Dundee during the Industrial Revolution, when facto- ries thrived and the environment suffered.

The smog was due to the amount of fumes being produced by the many factories and mills that made up Dundee. Tall chimneys could be seen on top of every building pumping out toxic gases into our atmosphere. It was easy to see that the people of Dundee at this time suffered dramatically as sickness spread like wildfire. I could see families of more than ten people living in the same room causing infection and disease. I walked the streets watching my step, for people had deposited their waste onto the streets below them. I was utterly appalled at the state of the city. I witnessed small children begging for bread on street kerbs and dozens of women being filed into a mill preparing to begin their strenuous shift. The city was crumbling as advances

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on industry took negative effect on everything and everyone. It seemed that the purpose of Dundee was to bring in income for the government versus providing safe homes for families.

The sight of Dundee in this state forced my blood to boil making me angry. The helpless people that surrounded me had to try to survive there while I had only been there for an hour and was already sick to my stomach. I wished I could put in place sustainable sewage systems to reduce the amount of waste being thrown onto the streets. I wished I could make accommodation larger for families creating safe, clean homes for them to live in. I wished I could help.

As my body absorbed the carbon monoxide in the air I became increasingly dizzy and lightheaded. The world around me spun causing my body to slump onto the frosted concrete beneath me. I felt the warm touch of someone on my shoulder in an attempt to wake me. I opened my eyes to see the clear blue sky above me. I could taste the somewhat fresh air in my mouth, the oxygen entering my deprived lungs. I slowly sat up to see the V&A directly in front of me.

This informed me that I had been taken back to 2019, back to the city I came from. All was serene as I looked out over the River Tay appreciating every detail of the city, valuing everything I saw.

Although huge advances had been made to alter the city since 1820, flaws still remained present. I walked past homeless people living on the streets, struggling to survive which only reminded me of what I saw on my journey. The taste of the fumes in the air was stuck at the back of my throat much like I had witnessed during my adventure. In that moment I hoped that in the future I would see the effect of lower carbon emissions making a positive impact on Dundee, providing cleaner air to breathe.

Amy Paterson

Changshi Tang 17 years and 3 months High School of Dundee, Dundee

Never mind the Pandas Never mind the Pandas

Review 2020 “Chinese New Year always means spring rolls. Grace loves them.

I brought some so she could share her favourite food with her friends.”

Grace (Changsi) in F6 is winner of I broughtMysome mumso stood my classroom “Chinese New Year always means Tang spring rolls.

Grace loves them. she in could share with a tray. She had volunteered to talk about Chinese New Year to my primary class and the “Young her favourite food with herScottish friends.” Writer of the Year.” had practised that line the night before with my dad as an

Her piece is about being Chinese in Scotland. encouraging audience. My friends snickered and made no move My mum stood in my classroom with a tray. She had volunteered to talk about Chinese New Year to to take the spring rolls my mum had got up so early to make that my primary class and had practised that line the night before with my dadmorning. as an encouraging The only interest they had in Chinese culture was about audience. My friends snickered and made no move to take the spring rollsthe my mum who had had got recently up so been introduced to Edinburgh zoo. pandas early to make that morning. The only interest they had in Chinese cultureStill, washer about pandasbright who as she beckoned me, “Why don’t smilethe remained had recently been introduced to Edinburgh zoo. Still, her smile remained you bright she beckoned getasyours first Grace”me, Except she used my Chinese name (Changshi). I Icringed “Why don’t you get yours first Grace” Except she used my Chinese name ““长诗”” (Changshi). cringedand my face went red with shame. and my face went red with shame.

“Changy? What’s that?”

“Changy? What’s that?”

“Did her mum just call her Ching Chong?” “I bet those spring rolls have dog in them.” “I bet they eat the pandas too”

“Did her mum just call her Ching Chong?”

And just like that Chinese terrified me.

“I bet those spring rolls have dog in them.”

“I bet they eat the pandas too” And just like that Chinese terrified me.

As a child I often felt ashamed of my parents’ accented English and foreign mannerisms. At school events I would beg my parents not to come: people would realise how different I was – as if it wasn’t already obvious. My language was something foreign. Something different.

Something other than English.

Nowadays, English is everywhere, and everywhere, English dominates. From humble beginnings on the edge of an As a child I often felt ashamed of my parents’ accented English and foreign mannerisms. At school insignificant European archipelago, it grew to a vast size of events I would beg my parents not to come: people would realise how different I was – as if itFor wasn’t impressive influence. the 350 million people who speak it as already obvious. My language was something foreign. Something different. their first language, a billion more know it as a secondary tongue.

No other language has been used by so many or controlled a greater portion of the globe. It is aspirational: the golden ticket Something other than English. to the worlds of education and international recognition, a parent’s dream and a student’s Nowadays, English is everywhere, and everywhere, English dominates. From humble beginnings on nightmare. It is inescapable: the language of global business, the edge of an insignificant European archipelago, it grew to a vast size of impressive influence. For the internet, diplomacy, science, pop music, technology. And everywhere it the 350 million people who speak it as their first language, a billion more stellar know navigation, it as a secondary ventures, it leaves behind a trail of destruction: cultures crushed, tongue. No other language has been used by so many or controlled a greater portion of the globe. It literatures mangled, languages forgotten.

is aspirational: the golden ticket to the worlds of education and international recognition, a parent’s are in a fragile time of change with roughly 40% of the world’s dream and a student’s nightmare. It is inescapable: the language of globalWe business, the internet, diplomacy, science, stellar navigation, pop music, technology. And everywhere it ventures, it leaves behind a trail of destruction: cultures crushed, literatures mangled, languages forgotten.

We are in a fragile time of change with roughly 40% of the world’s languages endangered, often with

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languages endangered, often with fewer than 1,000 speakers remaining1. Meanwhile, just 23 languages account for more than half the world’s population. While the globalisation of English undoubtably has its benefits, we must be careful not to get caught up in the arrogance of our supremacy. This undisputed reign has been at the cost of the lives of other languages. In a linguistic context, language death equates to the lack of speakers of a language.

The year 2010 saw the death of Boa Senior, the last living speaker of Aka-Bo, a tribal language native to the Andaman Islands. With her, she took a 65,000-year link to one of the world’s oldest cultures. Boa Senior survived the 2004 tsunami, the Japanese occupation of 1942 and the barbaric policies of British colonisers.2 Narayan Choudhary, a linguist at Jawaharlal Nehru University, said: “To me, Boa Sr epitomised a totality of humanity in all its hues and with a richness that is not to be found anywhere else3.”

Her death is not merely the death of a language but the loss of culture, identity and diversity. And a language dies every two weeks4.

While bilingualism and multilingualism are the social norm in a whole raft of countries – with English usually being one of the languages, the monolingualism of the United States, Australia and Britain is far from the international norm.

The flight from Edinburgh to Qing Dao has two layovers; and every airport has employees who can speak a minimum of two languages. Yet, in Edinburgh, English is the only accepted language.

Foreigners adapt to our linguistic uselessness, but it leaves us looking arrogant and impolite. If we rely on people of other countries to learn English just to communicate, we run the risk of becoming ridiculously ignorant. It is easy to write off additional languages as unnecessary in the age of technology, multilingualism has also been shown to have many social, psychological and lifestyle advantages. Language-learning forces reflection both on how we ourselves think and communicate, and how others think. Language teaches culture implicitly.

Frankly I believe languages should be at the very heart of

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Review 2020 educational systems. Learning languages disables our habit of skipping over differences and failing to understand others. You cannot achieve fluency in another language without learning its speakers’ perspectives: enriching your own mind. You see the world with better eyes.

Now when I am heard speaking Chinese people gush that they, “Wish they could speak another language.” And, the thing is, you can. And you should. Learning another language will expand your knowledge and your intelligence. If it takes you two years of hard work and constant practice to learn a language. To maintain it, it language you must get linguists into the field, support the community with language teachers, publish dictionaries, write textbooks for schools – and all in the span of a couple of years.

The fight for languages is a race against time. However, there

are already organisations who are devoted to the preservation of languages like the Foundation for Endangered Languages (FEL) based in Britain. If we really want to make change, we need to raise awareness and increase funding.

Last week, a group of Chinese head teachers visited my high school to educate themselves on western education. I was the translator. My classmates admired my smooth transition from English to Chinese and I felt proud. Chinese no longer feels like a burden but is instead the greatest gift I have ever received. The joy of another language shouldn’t just be restricted to people who grew up with foreign language speaking parents but should be integrated in all aspects of today’s society, just like English is part of countless other countries’ lifestyles. If we want to keep up in the race of the modern world we need to match the pace of the

Junior Writing in L3 The early years where it all begins...

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rest of the world. And the first step is learning a new language.

Your passion for speaking another language is your way of saying that the history and diversity of the world matters.

Don’t worry about the pandas. They already speak Chinese.

1

https://www.ethnologue.com/guides/how-many-languages https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/feb/04/ancientlanguage-extinct-speaker-dies

2

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/feb/04/ancientlanguage-extinct-speaker-dies

3

https://news.psu.edu/story/141259/2008/02/11/research/ probing-question-what-lost-when-language-dies

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Review 2020 Teddy Rocks Maths Essay Competition Honourable Mention

To Infinity and Beyond!

We have all been there. In the playground, fighting with a friend.

However, this was no physical conflict. It was far more serious.

Who could name the largest number? Early battles would have been won with numbers such as 100. As the years went by, numbers in the millions, billions and possibly even trillions would bring victory. However, a time would come when someone would discover a weapon which would be unbeatable in this number war. The huge, indescribable, colossal number that is… infinity. However, our young brains were underprepared to tackle this vast, complex and extensive topic of mathematics. Our statement that infinity is a number, and the automatic, retaliatory response of, “what about infinity plus 1?”, were undoubtedly wrong mathematically. In fact, infinity is not a number. It is an idea. It is a concept of something that has no end. For example, here are some really big (and I mean really big) numbers that are known. A googol is 10^100- that is 1 followed by 100 zeroes.

A googol, which is larger than the number of atoms in the known universe, is dwarfed by a googolplex (10^10^100)- which is 1 followed by a googol zeroes. This number is so big that there is not enough space in the known universe to write out a googolplex. But we can go bigger still. Much bigger. Graham’s Number, for example, is tremendously, incomprehensibly, immensely larger than a googolplex. However, all of these numbers are finite. Eventually, they terminate. So, they are not even close to infinity. Why? Because infinity is endless.

This is hard to get our heads around because there is nothing in the observable universe which is endless. Several mathematicians throughout history have simply refused to accept the existence of infinity. As the ancient Greeks developed the studies of mathematics and science, they very soon came across the concept of infinity. Can matter always be divided into smaller and smaller pieces indefinitely? Does the universe have an end? How many natural numbers (1,2,3,4,…) are there? The Greeks, in general, feared the idea of infinity and tried to avoid it. Instead the idea of a ‘potential’ infinite was offered to solve some of these problems. Introduced by Aristotle, the idea is that we can never conceive of the natural numbers as a whole, but given any natural number, another can be found, so they are potentially infinite. So, Euclid did not actually prove that the prime numbers are infinite in 300BC. Euclid’s famous theorem actually stated that, ‘Prime numbers are more than any assigned magnitude of prime numbers’. The infinite was carefully avoided.

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the actual infinite. However, the careful treatment of infinite processes by Greek mathematicians, laid the foundations for the rigorous treatment of infinite processes in the development of calculus in the 19th century. For example, the method of exhaustion was developed formally by Greek mathematician Eudoxus. This technique was used to rigorously prove the area of a shape by inscribing inside it a sequence of polygons with an increasing number of sides, whose areas converge to the area of the containing shape. These ideas were seen as a precursor to the methods of calculus. While differential calculus is used to study the rate of change of a function, integral calculus is used to find the area under the curve of a function. Integral (pardon the pun), to the study of calculus is infinitesimals. Infinitesimals are things so small that there is no way to measure them. The insight with exploiting infinitesimals was that they can still retain certain specific properties, such as angle or slope, even though they are extremely small. Infinitesimals are infinitely small.

Zeno of Elea, the Greek philosopher, was the one of the first to really think about the implications of infinite processes and the infinitely small. He put forward Zeno’s Dichotomy paradox.

Suppose you want to cross a room. In order to get to the other side, you must first get to the halfway point, which will take you some finite amount of time. Before you can get to the other side, you have to cross half of that distance, at which point you would be a three-quarters of the way across. Before that, you would have to cross half of that quarter, and so on, infinitely. Each of these steps must take a finite amount of time. And yet, you have to cross an infinite number of distances to walk across the room— or indeed any distance at all. Since one cannot travel an infinite number of distances in a finite period of time, motion itself is impossible. Of course, motion is possible. It does not take each finger an infinite amount of time to reach the keyboard to type each letter of this essay. The solution lies in the fact that infinite series can sum to a finite answer. To solve Zeno’s Dichotomy paradox, an infinite series can describe your journey as you walk across the hall. Assuming you are walking at a constant speed, each ‘part’ of the journey takes half as the long as the previous ‘part’. If the first part of the journey takes one second, then the infinite series is: S = 1 + 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + …

S = 1 + 1/2 + 1/4 + …

0.5 S = 1/2 + 1/4 + … www.highschoolofdundee.org.uk

Review 2020 S – 0.5 S = 1

B – C = – 4 – 8 – 12 …

0.5 S = 1

B – C = -4 (1 + 2 + 3) …

S=2

B – C = -4 C

So, it would take you 2 seconds to walk across the hall.

B = -3C

This seems sensible. However, infinite series that do not converge (each term is smaller than the previous term) in the usual sense can be summed to produce answers that seem to defy basic logic. For example, it would be sensible to say that the sum of all the natural numbers is positive. It would also seem sensible to say that whatever the sum is, it must be a whole number. Another sensible claim would be that it is extremely big and tends to infinity. However, every single one of the previous statements are false. The sum of the natural numbers: 1+2+3+4+… =-1/12.

Edward Frenkel, a mathematics professor at the University of California stated that

1/4 = -3C

“This calculation is one of the best-kept secrets in math.”

In the following proof, the infinite set A (Grandi’s series) = 1 – 1 + 1 – 1 + 1 – 1 …; the infinite set B = 1 – 2 + 3 – 4 + 5 – 6 … ; and the infinite set C = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 … (the set of all natural numbers).

A=1–1+1–1+1–1…

1 – A = 1 – (1 – 1 + 1 – 1 + 1 – 1 …)

1–A=A 1 = 2A 1/2 = A A – B = (1 – 1 + 1 – 1 + 1 – 1 …) – ( 1 – 2 + 3 – 4 + 5 – 6 …)

A – B = (1 – 1 + 1 – 1 + 1 – 1 …) – 1 + 2 – 3 + 4 – 5 + 6 …

A – B = (1–1) + (–1+2) + (1–3) + (–1+4) + (1–5) + (–1+6) …

A–B=0+1–2+3–4+5…

A–B=B A = 2B 1/2 = 2B 1/4 = B B – C = (1 – 2 + 3 – 4 + 5 – 6 …) – (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 …)

B – C = (1-1) + (-2-2) + (3-3) + (-4-4) + (5-5) + (-6-6) …

B – C = 0 – 4 + 0 – 8 + 0 – 12 …

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C = -1/12 Therefore 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + … = -1/12 (incredible!)

In these equations the concept of countable infinity is used. This is a type of infinity that deals with an infinite set of numbers, but if given enough time you could count to any number in the set.

It allows the use of some of the regular properties of sums like commutativity in the equations.

The concept of a countable infinity was introduced by Georg Cantor, when he created set theory and in doing so revolutionised the mathematical study of infinity. In set theory, the cardinality of a set of numbers is the number of elements the set has. For example, the cardinality of the set: {1,2,3,4,5} is 5.

Cantor said that the cardinality of the set the natural numbers is infinite. However, the real importance of Cantor’s work was that not all infinite sets were the same size. There are different sizes of infinity. A set is said to have the same cardinality as another, if each element in one set can be paired to an element in the other set. This was observed by Galileo Galilei around 300 years before Cantor, when he found that the natural numbers can be put in one to one correspondence with the square numbers. So the sets of the natural numbers and square numbers have the same cardinality, which I find to be pretty weird and counterintuitive.

However, it can be shown geometrically. Consider two concentric circles, one with a greater circumference than the other. Each has infinitely many points on its circumference, yet the outer circle, since it is bigger, seems to contain more points. Now consider a radius which sweeps along the two circles. Each time it passes through a point on the larger circle it also passes through a point on the smaller circle. So, the two circles contain the same number of points, even though one is larger than the other.

Cantor took Galileo’s ideas one step further, showing that the set of natural numbers, which is infinite, cannot be put into one to one correspondence with the real numbers (the numbers that form the number line), which is also infinite. Introduced earlier, the

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natural numbers are said to be countably infinite- given enough time, hypothetically any number in the set can can counted to.

However, the set of of real numbers is said to be uncountably infinite. Assume that we have a list of all the real numbers from 0 to 1 written down one on top of the other. Create a number by taking the number in first decimal place from the first number in the list. This will be the number in the first decimal place of your number. Then take the number in the second decimal place of the second number in the list, which will be the number in the second decimal place of your number and so on. Now take your number and add one to each digit to form a new number (9 goes to 0). Therefore, we have created a number that is not in our ‘complete’ list, as it differs from the first number, in the first digit, the second number in the second digit and so on. So, our initial assumption that we have a complete list of all of the real numbers between 0 and 1 has arrived at a contradiction, so the set of real numbers is uncountably infinite.

Cantor’s work on infinite sets led to him hypothesising that there is no set whose cardinality is strictly between that of the integers and the real numbers. However, Cantor could not prove it and the so called Continuum Hypothesis remains unsolved to this day. Arguably one of the most profound unsolved problems in mathematics, it has led mathematicians to question the very axioms on which their subject is based.

Proofs by Kurt Gödel and Paul Cohen found that the continuum hypothesis could neither be proved, nor disproved using the Zermelo-Fraenkel axiom system – which is widely regarded as the most common foundation of mathematics.

So, mathematicians have arrived at a crossroads. Should a new addition be introduced to the axiomatic system which can solve this problem? There are two main contenders: forcing axioms and the inner model axiom. However, set-theorists have no idea on which one should be chosen.

So, it seems that the puzzle of the infinite is providing today’s mathematicians with just as much trouble as their Greek predecessors some 2,500 years ago and will continue to bother the community for all of time… endlessly. Possibly to infinity and beyond?

Ethan McColgan

Review 2020 Song of Experience

Monday morning. Angela Blake peers out of the dirt-streaked window, her myopic, almost-shut eyes, resentfully accepting the watery light trying to push through the innocent close knitted clouds filling the still grey sky.

Cold, she pulls her thinning, moth-eaten green wool cardigan around her thickening waist; hiding the button missing from her plaid skirt whose fading, muted grid pattern did well to hide the stain of an ancient disregarded coffee spill.

Her once startling black hair is piled up in snatched salt and pepper twists, held together with an old tortoiseshell comb, its missing teeth allowing a number of frazzled tendrils to escape, lop sidedly framing her face. Straight mouthed, dull eyed but at least washed this morning, she sets her jaw without checking the hall mirror, places her glasses on her slightly reddened nose and steadies herself; resigned to merge unnoticed into the monochromatic back drop of another day. She shuts the door on the silent house, avoiding a cracked flower pot lying on the unswept step, its only redundant purpose now to hide the spare key for no one to use.

The smell of petrol hangs in the air as she opens her broken garage door and walks to the car. Angela glances backwards at the sky; detached but strangely fixated at the same time,

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she checks the windows and doors and her watch. Yellows, pinks and reds streak the horizon and the mist thickens until it makes her view opaque now, like an ancient bride’s veil. Rain starts to splatter on the windscreen. Had she fed the cat, she wonders fleetingly as she turns on the ignition and auto pilots this last time to the school, unknowingly running a red light.

and alone, Angela had decided herself to abandon life.

The class hums as one, like an orchestra of millennial bees with occasional bum notes and snatches of inane solo performances“how crazy was Megan’s party on Saturday!” and “did you see how drunk Caleb was?- no wonder Jo dumped him” and then the inevitable finale, “she is such a bitch!”.

Putting her pen down softly on her desk, she automatically and without any intent or thought, asked the class to open their textbooks at page forty- three. She had done this countless times before now and the words floated overhead entirely ignored by everyone in the neutered classroom. “O Rose thou art sick. The invisible worm, That flies in the night In the howling storm: Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy: And his dark secret loves Does thy life destroy….”

Miss Blake enters the classroom, almost invisible, and the exuberant crescendo dials down to a half-bored murmur. She props herself up at her cluttered desk; year old sheets of A4 paper and unmarked essays, scattered and forgotten about. She smiles weakly at the rows of anonymous faces, for the most part directed smiles towards her, and summons, by muscle memory alone, the lesson plan she had delivered now by rote for the last seven years.

She had forgotten to do the register- one smart nameless boy at the back points out. The pupils’ names per the register, limp meaninglessly out of her mouth. Regardless of what they are formally named, throughout the day she calls each of the boys Henry and the girls Lucy. Or a variation on that at the very least.

The blurred words of the lesson regurgitate; the same dull as mud routine delivered in grey sludge: concrete breeze-blocks placed automatically one on top of or beside each other. She knew exactly how to teach the lessons, however the passion behind them had long since abandoned her…

Angela had once loved being a teacher: a woman who passionately implored and explored words, books, poems and plays. Each of them (to varying extents at least) explaining life’s complicated trajectory and all that happens in the world; the universal themes of love, war and death. She believed in them and desperately wanted her pupils to believe in the transformative magic of a single line of words strung together so simply and beautifully as to give the reader the golden key.

And then life and the world happened to Angela. Unfolding like a bruised already dying rose, her unshakable faith in her books and poems turned out to be a false god and her proud and extensive knowledge, an entirely superficial vanity. Abandoned

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Some of her students’ eyes fixated on the clock, watching the hand creep forward painfully slow, whilst others scanned her up and down with detached accusation and snarking mouths but she had long since been oblivious to the cruelty of youth.

Nothing now could touch her.

She glances sideways and up and takes in the blank bank of unmoved faces and sighs silently; mentally checking off the minutes herself, she considers her car keys and thinks of her journey home.

And for reasons unclear to her, she zones into a movement towards the back of the classroom and the smart boy re-reading the page for the second time catches her eye. He looks up and searches her face, awkwardly twitching his mouth in a half smile of recognition and gives her an imperceptible nod.

What exactly was it that she saw there in the boy- a glimpse of herself perhaps? No. Nothing. Another moment went by and then like a key in a lock, it fitted and clicked. She looked beyond the stacks of unmarked papers on her desk, up towards the open window at the back of the classroom and remembered.

She recognised what it feels to connect and then looking further saw what was right in front of her. The ability to make an impact.

At that moment she no longer felt quite as hollow inside; a little flame of hope reignited what she thought had abandoned her and she could imagine her life once more. Her heart flips slightly in her chest as a faint smile spreads across her silent mouth. She nods back to the boy in an unspoken pact.

Monday evening. A child-like sob catches in her throat as she switches off the engine. Angela walks out of the garage, up the path towards her door, stepping over the broken flowerpot anxious to search out her hungry cat.

Flory Speed

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Review 2020 A Glitch in Time

My senses slowly brought me back from the thick mysterious fog. I became aware of foul air, the clatter of the docks and a vision of sails in the harbour. Dundee looked strange, yet familiar. The Balgay and Law hills dominated the horizon but the Tay Rail Bridge looked very different and there was a steam train crossing over it. Was it the first Tay Rail Bridge?

I felt extremely confused. Could the fog on the Tay have transported me to 1879?

I was covered in wet silt. After pulling the boat into the harbour, I dropped the anchor. Across the street, horses and carts clip-clopped on the cobbles. The people were clothed in elegant, Victorian dresses and suits. I saw chimney stacks of jute factories, lacing the clay-grey sky with clouds of black smoke. Feeling curious, I decided to explore…

I turned a corner on to a dark, narrow street. “ Hey! Get out of the way child,” shouted a man. I narrowly missed a horse and cart. Spinning around, I came face to face with a girl about my age. She wore a dirty dress and apron. I felt scared and lost so I called out to her and followed her a few steps. The girl asked me why I was following her so I explained that I was lost and alone. The girl’s face softened. I introduced myself and she did too, telling me that her name was Annie. The sky was darkening and I didn’t have a place to stay. Feeling apprehensive, I asked the girl if I could stay at her house for the night. She looked at me as if I was crazy but then she sighed and nodded her head. She told me that I could stay for one night, as long as I was no trouble. As I thanked her, she led me to her home.

Annie lived in a single room filled with many children. It was lit only by a coal fire and some candles. A row of mattresses lined one wall and there was a tin bath with a jug and some pegs. I helped look after the children and chop vegetables for soup: simple yet good.

It was getting darker, so I fumbled in my pocket for my windup torch. Unlike my phone which didn’t work here, the torch still worked. Annie was intrigued by the gadget and asked me what it was. I quietly told her that I was from the future.

I explained that it was a wind-up torch so it didn’t use up

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Writing

electricity and it was meant to be good for the environment.

All of this needed a lot of explaining. I explained that burning fossil fuels such as coal to generate power had started a process called climate change. Simply, the sun’s heat is absorbed by living things, especially trees. Trees die and form soil and after many years this turns into peat, coal and gas or fossil fuels. When burnt, fossil fuels release the heat energy.

This makes the Earth warmer - we call this global warming.

Annie asked if global warming mattered. I told her that as the Earth warms, this affects plants and animals making habitats disappear and the North and South poles melt, making oceans rise. These oceans can swallow up land and climates become more extreme - climate change. She gasped with fear about the future. Eventually we both fell silent. Speaking about climate change made me wonder why I wasn’t doing more to reverse it.

Waking up, I remembered I was at Annie’s house in 1879. I had to get back to present day Dundee. Soon after dawn, we walked back to the docks. I thanked Annie and we said our goodbyes before pulling my boat into the silver water.

After a few minutes, the smog began to cease. I could see the outline of present day Dundee! The smoke was gone but I felt troubled by the invisible greenhouse gases choking up the atmosphere. I didn’t want to dump greenhouse gas into our air like the Victorians dumped soot. I managed without my devices when I stayed with Annie so I was sure that I could lead a simpler life every day and decrease my carbon footprint. I looked up at the skyline. The sails on the ships in the harbour had disappeared but in front of me was a rail wagon towing a fleet of wind turbines. Perhaps wind power could be an answer to climate change? The wind harnessed by jute sails was Dundee’s past and the wind driving electricity turbines could be Dundee’s present and future. I took a deep breath in. It was good to be home.

Parisa Hossain-Ibrahim

Review 2020 The Voice Silence. There’s nothing. I can’t hear my brother and my parents chatting and laughing or the blare of the TV echoing through the house. All I can hear are my own thoughts. The thoughts of not being good enough circle my mind and are like a vice on my heart, squeezing with enough pressure to be a constant pain. The silence echoes in my ears like an incessant white noise which never quietens. I sit in the corner of my dingy room, my back pressed against the cold walls, my hands shivering along the cracks of paint. I lay my head back against the hard surface behind me as the first tear slides down my face. The soft hum of my crying is the only noise in the room. Tears fall into my parted lips and stick to my eyelashes. I can taste the saltiness sliding down my parched throat, as I observe the eerie shadows from the moon reflecting off my walls. Everyone in my life can be felt drifting farther and farther away. I just want somebody to care.

I just don’t want to feel so alone.

I can feel the springs in my mattress denting into my back, as I stare straight at my mirror. My reflection looks back at me, my eyes haunted. My thoughts are eating me alive, swallowing every ounce of happiness I have left to spare. They are feasting upon any joy I have left, leaving behind an empty carcass; full of despair and unhappiness. My life has slowly been filled with a cold howling storm of worthlessness, which refused to let up.

Tonight the voice in my head is back, taunting me. It’s the voice at the back of my mind, that all day long tells me I’m not good enough. Whenever I walk past girls at school, it reminds me I’m not as beautiful as them. Whenever I walk past a cute couple, it tells me I’ll never be perfect enough to be in a relationship.

Whenever I get grades back for tests, it repeats over and over again that I’m dumb. I walk past a mirror, and it tells me I should be ashamed to be who I am.

Footsteps creak in the hallway, and I pause mid-thought. I stare at my door, praying that nobody comes. I don’t want to be seen like this. Blinking through the tears, I wait impatiently, but no one opens my door. Silence falls upon the house once more as

I sit back in my bed, and get lost in my thoughts once again...

I hate the voice in my head. It’s the voice that questions every decision I make. That makes me overthink everything I do. That tells me my friends don’t care and that I’m just their second choice. That repeatedly reminds me I’m irrelevant and unimportant. It’s the voice that says to me that nobody would notice if I wasn’t there. Just for once in my life I want somebody to be afraid of losing me...

My tears continue to fall, staining my face and drenching my pillow. My breathing is unsteady, and my hands shake uncontrollably, as I attempt to calm myself.

I try and force myself to think about the good in my life. About the people that care about me. But the voice just keeps coming back to torment me.

“They’re prettier than you” echoes in my mind, over and over.

“Think of their beautiful golden hair, your hair’s just ugly and disgusting” “Ugh your grades are awful, you’re so dumb, can’t you do anything right?” repeats again and again. “You got 92%, what about the other 8%?”

“You do everything wrong!” Screams in my head. “You’re just not good enough!”

I squeeze my mouth shut, resisting the urge to scream. Covering my ears with my hands, I lay my head on my pillow. Rocking backward and forward, my whole body shakes. The voice just won’t go away. It’s always there. Like it’s a part of who I am.

But what hurts me more than anything else, is that the voice isn’t wrong. I believe everything it says to me. Every little word spoken stays with me. Everything said, taunts me day in and day out. It makes me feel physically sick, knowing that I’m not good enough for anyone and that I can’t do anything right, no matter how much I try.

Writing

might, in an attempt to release my bottled up feelings. As I punch harder and faster, the voice echoes around my mind more and more.

“You’re ugly! You’re fat! You’re stupid!”

The voice is like a horrible, name-calling bully, but there’s nothing I can do about it. My thoughts are a vicious cycle, and there’s no escape.

My low self worth is a part of who I am. It’s not something that can just be solved with a “stop being silly, you’re really pretty” and a “92% is good, you’re clever”. That’s not how it works. The feeling of not being good enough is engrained in my mind.

No matter what happens, I always have that voice in the back of my head, reminding me that nothing I do is good enough.

If I try and fight it, and if I accept praise and compliments from people, it just starts to speaks louder. If I ignore it still, it starts screaming and shouting just to be heard and listened to. It refuses to let me believe good about myself.

It’s a shame. I was once a happy little girl, confident in who I was. I didn’t care who was cleverer than me or prettier than me.

I didn’t care who could run faster, or who had nicer hair. I was happy exactly the way I was. I was a little girl who believed in fairytales and magic, but at some point growing up, demons struck my mind, and since then I’ve always believed that I’m just not good enough.

Eventually I sink into my bed, tired of thinking, and I close my eyes. The rush of the wind outside my window, strangely soothes me, bringing me close to sleep. As I drift off, I have one final thought. That I’m just dying to hear somebody say that I didn’t have to try so hard to be perfect. That I was enough and it was okay...

S F Jafferbhoy

I’m not the most important thing to anybody. Not even to myself...

Frustration bubbles inside of me. My sadness turns to anger so easily. I clench my fists and pummel my pillows with all my

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Review 2020 Billabong Bingo

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Chess Club

One of the biggest charity events this year was the Billabong Bingo Night which was an Australian themed bingo night to raise money for the animals affected by the Australian bush fires. The event was put on by the Rotakids, High Helpers and Interact, with Miss Douglas coordinating. It was a night full of excitement and fun with families and HSD pupils participating in friendly competition. HSD had its very own crocodile caller for the night (Rebecca Stewart) who called the ten games of bingo. In addition to the bingo, there was also a raffle and bake sale which was generously donated by pupils and families from the school. Prizes included Nando’s vouchers, Starbucks cards and Easter hampers, with the grand prize being a weekend with a rental Mercedes. The event was a massive success with over 150 tickets being sold and a total of £1200 being raised.

Every Tuesday lunchtime the budding grandmasters from the Senior School met in Mr Middleton’s room to test their tactical openings and defensive strategies against each other. Eleven pupils from F1-F6 competed for the Beckingham Trophy which was run as a double eliminator knockout. The first half of the competition was played in Chess Club using real chess boards and was finished online with the help of chess.com. The final was a close affair between Kit McEvoy Gould F6 and Henry Lapslie F6 with Kit coming out on top.

Krish ponders his next move

The Intermediate Chess Club Trophy was open to pupils in F1-F3. There were nine entries and again the competition was a double eliminator knockout. Like the Beckingham Trophy, the competition had to be finished online with Ramit Kanodia F2 defeating Zamin Okhai F3 in the final.

Grace Tang (F6 – Wallace House Captain)

With the success of the online chess, an extra tournament was held, the Lockdown Trophy.

Fourteen players entered and the popular double eliminator format saw David Logan F5 up against George Li F1 in the final. With hardly any time remaining, David secured the win against his younger opponent. Well done to all who took part.

Sophia and Ramit like to socially distance when playing chess

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Review 2020

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L2 Children in Need

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Review 2020 L3 Children in Need

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Review 2020 L5 Children in Need

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L1 & L2 Christmas Party

L5R dressed in support of Children in Need. All of them looking fabulous in their yellow and spots ! Also lots of teddies joined the children as visitors for the day.

Chinese Christmas Lunch The Chinese Christmas lunch is an absolutely wonderful event organised

by Mrs. Murdoch which takes place at the end of each year, with every student who studies Mandarin that year or who attends Mandarin Club receiving an invite to go along in a small group a few weeks before it is arranged. It is a great chance to try some authentic Chinese food consisting of various meats, vegetables and a lot of rice, and it gives you time to spend with your friends too. I would personally say that it is great fun since I have gone every year since it was established. You get to learn about Chinese culture and their large variety of scrumptious foods, and if that isn’t completely your cup of tea, you get a delicious lunch anyways!

Tegan-Jai Mellor (F6)

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Review 2020 L1 & L2 Christmas Party

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L3 Christmas Party

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Review 2020 L4 Christmas Party

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L4 Christmas Party

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L6 Christmas Party

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Review 2020 L6 Christmas Party

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Review 2020

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Nursery

L7 Christmas Party

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Review 2020 L7C Assembly

The L7C Assembly was all about the heart and being kind to one another, in advance of World Heart Day. After a bit of a science lesson in the first scene, we thought about how to keep our hearts healthy. We then thought about heart expressions - wholehearted, faint-hearted, half hearted, broken hearted, hard hearted – there are so many!

We finished with two stories about characters who didn’t have kind hearts – a wise man and a thoughtless woman and a crafty fox and a craftier crane. We loved being on stage and our confidence levels on stage were high.

By Marwan and Josh (L7C)

L7J Assembly

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Review 2020 Debating: New Recruits and Golden Oldies

Fish, who came home with the winners’ quaich last year. On this occasion his randomlyallocated partner from another school was not quite as strong, so Alex had to content himself with giving a passionate Marxist extension (it’s a debating thing) in the Chamber. The second photo (both courtesy of the Scottish Parliament) shows David collecting the prize for the best pupil judge.

or in fact give up the activity altogether, thus propelling others into the front line. In addition, Mrs McGrath was WFH in term 1 before it became fashionable, having had her second hip (very successfully) replaced; debating tournaments don’t quite work on sticks and painkillers. Dr Pepper stepped up heroically to the challenge of ferrying and coaching; she took three teams to NJDC at RGS Newcastle in September, where younger debaters cut their teeth and seniors gained some judging experience at a competition which has been a first step for many of our successful speakers.

‘Always start with a hook’, they tell you. So in The Year of The Virus, here is our intro; this picture of David, competing from his home, is what debating looks like now. His team-mates are in Perth and Dundee, their opponents are in Kilmacolm and Glasgow, the judges are in Edinburgh and Mrs McGrath is listening intently at her desk in Broughty Ferry.

One of the benefits of debating, we often tell our competitors, is learning from the experience of overcoming a certain degree of adversity. Particularly for academic pupils who have never failed an exam, coming to terms with taking a 4th (last place) in a top room contributes to an ability to cope with some of what the world may throw at them when they leave the secure environment of school.

This year, before anyone had even heard the dreaded words COVID-19, we were hit by what our sports-playing friends would categorise as ‘injury problems’. Three of our established debaters found they had either to take a break

But then said injury problems kicked in. Two teams participated in the Glasgow University Union tournament without troubling the tab very much. A last-minute withdrawal from an established Law Soc team meant that an impromptu performance in a long-prep competition saw us knocked out in the first round. On a night of terrible road conditions, when Mrs McGrath’s Volvo swam rather than drove to Edinburgh for the Mace second round, we unfortunately drew a very inexperienced team and the debate didn’t quite happen for them or us.

The F3 SSD Juniors team of Zara with Sahar Jafferbhoy, having successfully come through their first round, waited in vain for a second round to be organised and in the end it never was. Sahar and Sneha Sripada F4 cheered us all up by qualifying for the second year running as one of the 5 Scottish teams at ICYD finals day, this year to be held in the Oxford Union after their exciting trip to speak in the Cambridge Union last year. But that would have been in

In October, a further three teams participated in West Coast Worlds at St Columba’s, Kilmacolm.

Alex Fish F6 and Dominic Westwood F5 won their first round Mace. At the St Andrews University tournament, Dominic with David Logan, also F5, speaking together for the first time, missed breaking to the final by the number of firsts they had had – which makes a change from a coin toss. At the Edinburgh Juniors, Isla Hutchinson topped the speaker tab and her partner Zara Taylor, also F3, came 3rd, but lost out on winning the final (for the second year running for Isla). Two consecutive final appearances were also a feature of the annual St Andrews Day tournament for Alex

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The last ‘IRL’ competition of the year, at Edinburgh University, just managed to sneak in on the Saturday before lockdown. Alex and Dom made the final, with Alex finishing 5th on tab and treating us to more (intentionally hilarious) Marxist rhetoric in his last tournament as a school pupil. Since he is heading next year to study History at Oxford, we suspect that it will not be his last debate.

Thereafter, debating moved online. Our FP internationalist Steven Roy, in the 3rd year of his Computer Science degree at Durham, is one of the tab directors for the European championships in July. He invited David and Dom to his ‘Doxbridge’ practice platform, attended by participants from Harvard and Stanford (whom we knew when they were schoolboys at Eton), the top speakers from a number of UK universities, and not forgetting the ‘normal’ suspects from TCD (Sally Rooney’s alma mater). In this high-powered environment, our two 5th years put on an excellent performance to finish half-way on a tab of 80 teams.

In the first weekend of the holidays Dom, David and Georgia Douglas (also F5) took part in the online ESU competition referenced in the first paragraph. After four rounds of very highquality debate they were a little disappointed not to make the final, which featured two internationalists, but Dom and David finished 5th and 7th on tab respectively.

We tend to take photographs of the exciting finals or the pretty bits of Oxford, Cambridge and Durham. All of those opportunities having been swept away by the virus - we don’t have any this year! So here are some old ones to make up, like all the repeats of ‘the best bits’ that have been running on television. These also serve to emphasise that Debating Takes You Places continues to be made manifest in the careers of our amazing alumni.

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Review 2020

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both represented Scotland at WSDC 09 in Athens before heading off to Oxford to study Law, where Lauren managed to take being President of the Oxford Union in her stride en route to achieving her First and a place at a ‘magic circle’ law firm.

In 2010 Rachael McLellan and April Shepherd won the Mace, before Rachael embarked on a career which has so far included a First in PPE at Oxford and a PhD at Princeton. She takes up a lecturing post at LSE in the autumn. April meanwhile became our third World Champion at WSDC Cape Town in 2012, followed by a degree in Modern Languages at Cambridge.

HSD debating has over the years contributed members to Team Scotland on 14 occasions; 3 of these debaters have become World Champions. Two of those are siblings, who got together for a photo with the Worlds trophy on one of its visits to Dundee. Fiona Dewar read Law at Oxford and is a barrister at Maitland Chambers; her brother Neil has an Oxford DPhil and is assistant professor in the Philosophy of Physics at the University of Munich.

Neil and his first school partner Cathy Jung (First in Law at Cambridge and also a barrister) collected three trophies in three weeks in 0405. When Cathy left, Neil and Lauren Pringle accounted for quite the trophy haul in 0607.

Lauren’s next partner was Scott Ralston; they

You will be welcome.

Our most recent trophy haul was achieved

by Ciara Mitchell, who was Dux of School in 2016, and her partners Ivan Kapelyukh and Steven Roy from the year below. Ciara, who graduated with a First from LSE this summer and joins the Treasury in the autumn, reached the final of the European Championships two years ago. Steven, as mentioned above, has become a sought-after tab master and Ivan, also a computer scientist, is in charge of student debating at Imperial College London.

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We don’t know what next year will look like, but we’re pretty sure it will still have debating in it even if your rhetoric is addressed to your laptop rather than a lecture hall. If you think acquiring a raft of skills which will never leave you (last year one of Mrs McGrath’s very first debaters from - cough - 40 years ago invited her to his silks party on being appointed QC) then talk to Mrs McGrath or Dr Pepper.

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Pix: 1 David online 2 Alex in the final in the Scottish Parliament 3 David best pupil judge 4 Dewars sibling World Champions 5 Cathy Neil trophies 0405 6 Neil Lauren trophies 0607 7 Lauren Scott Team Scotland 0809 8 April Rachael Mace 0910 9 Ciara Ivan Steven trophies 1516

Review 2020 Inspector calls

On the Thursday 10th October, Form 3 pupils went to Edinburgh to see a play called An Inspector Calls.

The pupils had been reading and learning about the play since September and were eager and very excited to go.

When we entered the beautiful Kings Theatre in Edinburgh, we got led upstairs and were seated. The play was very interesting as it let us visualise how the characters we were reading about would perform those lines and made it easier for us to analyse the play in class. My favourite part was the fantastic acting throughout and the amazing pyrotechnics. It was very fascinating to see how different people interpreted the character’s emotions and the audience could really connect with the actors. During the climax of the play a giant house structure that had been built upon the stage tilted forward and sparks flew everywhere, it was quite a shock but was very effective. A trip to see a play is something I would suggest to all pupils studying a production in class, as sometimes it can be quite hard to picture the characters but going to see the play helped us all greatly.

Zara Taylor F3

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Higher Trip to “Frankenstein”

Within our Higher Drama course students are given the opportunity to see multiple productions – not only for inspiration, but as preparation for their exams, in which students would have to discuss a play they have seen recently and analyse relevant features from it. Our class kicked the year off by watching “Frankenstein” at the Horsecross Perth Theatre.

Originally written by Mary Shelly, the story conveys the creation of an artificial man, who seeks vengeance against his creator - Dr Victor Frankenstein - whilst also covering several themes ranging from love, to vengeance. This trip has been extremely useful, providing us with plenty of notes on the play and providing a high standard of entertainment. We thank Patricia Benecke, the director, for creating a beautiful yet fearsome portrayal of such an iconic tale.

Malachy McCrimmon (F5)

UK finalists of major literature contest

Get Well Gamers

It was with great pleasure and excitement that Niain Craw of the charity “Get Well Gamers” joined us at our Form 3 and 4 Senior Assembly in January to promote the charity, to explain what the charity does and to receive a tremendous number of donations from the High School family, showcasing a most impressive array of gaming equipment.

“Get Well Gamers” is a charity which promotes health and wellbeing in hospitals for children who find themselves there for long periods of time. The charity takes donated video games and consoles to hospitals across the UK and these are used as an effective pain management tool, providing much needed entertainment for young people during long hospital stays or in circumstances in which recreational activities can be beneficial. They are currently linked up to over 100 hospitals over the UK and pupils from High School of Dundee got the ball rolling here in our neighborhood by setting up links with local hospitals and establishing a very positive partnership with Grove Academy.

The support and generosity shown from families, individuals, pupils and members of staff and our extended High School family has been humbling. Karlene Douglas has been a tremendous support, as too have been our Interact Committee who bravely carried the torch to launch the project. Our F6 representatives Rebecca Stewart, Humna Ikram, Grace Tang and Tegan Brewster-Black spoke passionately during Assembly and consequently, since the launch, we have been delighted to appoint our first High School of Dundee GWG Ambassadors from Forms 3 and 4: Sarah Richmond, Camryn Mckay, Giulia Cotroneo, Rosie Welch and Martin Kelly.

Our city-wide, two school approach with Grove Academy has already made a hugely positive impact to the welfare and rehabilitation of sick children. We have been nominated, along with Grove Academy, to be “huge supporters” and once normal life resumes, we look forward to carrying this forward throughout the year, visiting children in hospital, looking at ways to future fund-raise, establishing more links with local hospitals and following up the stories of individual patients. Watch this space!

Mrs Stevenson

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North East Final trophy A team of Form 2 pupils made it to the finals of The Kids Lit Quiz about children’s books. The team comprising Jonathan Henderson, Neil Bhat, Libby Finnegan and Eilidh Acford headed down to London after winning the North East heat in Aberdeen and came a proud 7th overall in the UK final. www.highschoolofdundee.org.uk

Review 2020 Christmas House Music Competition

F4-6 House Hockey

Every year the fifth and sixth years come together and take part in a Christmas choir competition in order to get in the mood for the festive season. The choir competition is always excitably looked forward to, as all know that with the competition Christmas is also near. Each House was tasked with picking their own festive tune and then performing it to the rest of the Houses. The performance had to be without accompaniment, but jingle bells and/or piano are always welcome. The competition was judged by a panel of seasoned judges from the HSD music department. The main goal of the competition was for everyone to get together and have a bit of friendly competitive Christmas fun with House points up for grabs.

As we turned up to House Hockey on a rainy Saturday morning, with only 7 players, seeing all the other House teams with their many subs lined up was a bit discouraging – especially considering 4 of our players had been out partying the night before! We assumed all would not go to plan but with our strong house spirit, determination and rather tired players, we managed to show the other teams what Aystree is really made of; never giving up despite what we are faced with. At first, we were off to a bit of a slow start, already 3-0 down against Airlie, however we picked ourselves back up after a half time chat and managed to secure a draw.

We then went into the following match against Wallace with a more positive mindset, achieving us a win. This was the boost we needed before our final match up against Lindores, now with only 6 players! But this didn’t stop us, we won again. In the end, we were crowned winners of the tournament, scoring 15 goals in total. Despite the many funny looks we received showing up as a rather small squad, covered in our blue face paint and carrying glow sticks from the night before, it proved to us that if you’re determined enough, even the impossible is possible!

The four Houses all chose different songs to perform which all had their individual charm and were all so fun to watch. Wallace chose Jingle Bell Rock as the song is a House favourite. We decided to keep our performance similar to the original song but added a fun surprise in the middle. Flory (Vice-Captain) choreographed a short dance routine, which four sixth year boys Rami, Lewis, Reece and Ross – performed enthusiastically. The dance was definitely a challenge to pull off successfully, but the boys had practiced diligently for the 40 minutes of rehearsal time we had, and, in the end, it really made our performance that little bit more special. They were definitely favourites of the audience! Of course, the boys wouldn’t have been able to dance without any music. The Wallace pupils of fifth and sixth year really sang their hearts out and the smiles on their faces only lifted the energy. Overall, this house event was the one where we, as a house, had the most fun and getting to see each house incorporate their own house spirit into their performances was a great way for the fifth and sixth years to bring the term to an end.

Winning certainly boosted our Christmas spirits!

Grace Tang (F6 – Wallace House Captain)

House Music Competition

One of the great highlights of the School Calendar, not just musically but for all pupils, is the annual House Music Competition – House Choir as we pupils call it. At the beginning of each academic year, the Heads of House put together a choir and perform a favourite song. Being at the start of the year, it serves as a great opportunity for new pupils to the school to get to know everyone a bit better – whilst being serious, nobody manages to not smile at House Choir. This year the winners, Lindores, chose to sing I’m Still Standing by Elton John. A rousing song at the best of times, this seemed to be a favourite. In true Lindores spirit, with the help of an extremely musical house, we put on a foot stomping performance. Though winning is important, what was even better was everyone, from across the year groups, getting to know each other that little bit better.

Wallace performed “Forget You” by CeeLo Green, Aystree Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” and Airlie sang “I Want It That Way” by The Backstreet Boys.

Amy Bett (F6 – Aystree House Captain)

Alasdair Richmond (F6 – Lindores House Captain)

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Let Our Lives Speak House Swimming Gala

Each year the respective houses participate in a Swimming Gala, each race promising house points. This year the House Swimming Gala proved a great success for Aystree, with an outstanding first place win. Aystree House took up many of the top accolades including house relay amongst others. Some particularly outstanding individuals included Rory Grant, Mathew Joss, Callum Findlay and Hamish Findlay were all able to take 1st or 2nd place wins. However, Aystree’s success wasn’t just due to the talent and hard work of its swimmers, there was also a great deal of support from those in the stands who were integral in securing the win for Aystree. Anyone there could not ignore the sea or banners, handmade by those artistically skilled amongst us, cheering on our ‘Boys in Blue’. The swimming gala truly embodies what it means to be part of Aystree, where people of all abilities and skillsets come together for a common goal.

1st Aystree 2nd Lindores 3rd Airlie 4th Wallace

By Jonathan Lang (F6 – Aystree House Captain)

SWIMMING GALA HOUSE CHAMPIONSHIPS HOUSE POINTS PLACE Aystree 152 1 Lindores 113

2

Airlie 68 3 Wallace 48 4

Review 2020

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L4 Sparkle Day

L5 Sparkle Day

L2 Robert Burns

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Review 2020 L5 Burns Day Celebrations

The 23rd January was a celebration of all things Burns for the pupils in L5. The children all dressed in a touch of tartan which ranged from kilts and dresses to tammy hats ! As part of the morning the PE staff arranged for the children to have a ceilidh at Mayfield where they participated in some partner and group dances. During the day each child contributed their own piece of Scots inspired entertainment whether that was a dance, song, instrumental piece or poem. The children also enjoyed a traditional Burns Supper complete with a piping in of the haggis, the ‘Address to a Haggis’ and the ‘Selkirk Grace’ ! The children even had a visit from KT Tunstall ! A busy but enjoyable day was had by all !

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Review 2020

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L5 Space Day

In January, L5 enjoyed a Space Day to link in with the topic they were studying in Science. This involved input from Dr Brown from the Senior Years Physics Department and a visit from the Planetarium from the University of St. Andrews. During the day the children were set the challenge to each build a rocket which they then had the opportunity to launch in the afternoon in the Margaret Harris Hall. The children also learned about Exoplanets and the Goldilocks Zone from Dr Brown and they saw a representation of the night sky in the Planetarium and learned about the constellations and how to locate the planets.

This was an interesting and fun day which extended the children’s knowledge in this area.

L5 Dragon Dance

In the first term of L5 there is a focus on dragons for some of the pupil’s work. They use this focus in the classroom for their Language curriculum and Art work. This year the PE department also used this theme as a focus and worked with the girls to choreograph their own dragon dance. The girls also made their own masks to wear during the performance. As you can see it was a very colourful occasion and the girls had a great time performing their dance.

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Review 2020 L5R Assembly

L5R delivered the first Junior Years Assembly of 2020 ! Following on from the L5 Burns Day, the children presented a great Assembly celebrating all things Scottish. They shared some information about Robert Burns and why we celebrate his birthday. The children demonstrated what would happen at a traditional Burns Supper complete with a piping in of the haggis, the ‘Address to a Haggis’ and the ‘Selkirk Grace’.

There was also a recitation of ‘Tae a Moose’, some dancing in the form of the ‘Gay Gordons’ and all of the Junior Years joined together to sing ‘Auld Lang Syne’.

L7 Assembly

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L7 Mock Court The L7 Young Speakers participated in the Tayside regional trials of the Mock Court Case. The pupils took on the roles of lawyers, witnesses, researchers, robe makers, court artists and journalists. They began their case in September and worked very hard to prepare for their day in Perth Sheriff Court in November. Everyone performed exceptionally well on the night especially when faced with some extremely difficult opposition. The defenders were placed second in their section and the pursuers were awarded first place in theirs. Unfortunately, the national finals were cancelled due to restrictions at the time however both teams received further awards despite this setback. Our pursuers reached the top three teams in Scotland and the defenders were given the advocacy award for Tayside.

Review 2020

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JY Tay Drive 24th October 2019 As part of UNICEF’s Rights Respecting Schools Award, Junior Years Pupil Voice and Rotakids teams hosted a “beetle drive” with a difference!

A “sold out” Trinity Hall was the venue for our Tay Drive, where parents and pupils rolled the dice in attempt to add all the pieces they needed to recreate a picture of Tay, our RRSA mascot. Amidst the fun and laughter, our Pupil Voice reps were able to spread the word about children’s rights and our aim to become the first school in Dundee to achieve the Rights Respecting Schools Gold Award.

The combination of ticket sales, a bake sale and a tombola helped us to raise over £600 for UNICEF.

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Review 2020 Worlds Largest Lesson L2

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Review 2020

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Worlds Largest Lesson L6

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Review 2020

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Worlds Largest Lesson L1

The Singing Children of Africa

In August the school welcomed The Singing Children of Africa which is a choir from Jolaurabi School in Kenya. They perform on these tours to raise money for the school which is part of the charity Educate the Kids. Educate the Kids was started in 1998 and constitutes of 4 school blocks, an orphanage and a kindergarten. They performed on the pillars in the morning and had a concert in Trinity in the evening. The evening was enjoyed by all and was an incredible performance and display of talent.

Scottish Space School

After my application was approved, I was thrilled last summer to be awarded a place on The Scottish Space School program. The weeklong camp at The University of Strathclyde in association with NASA gave me the opportunity to work in a team to tackle challenges whilst giving me a fantastic insight into University life and what it would be like to study Engineering at degree level. Throughout the week I attended lectures and workshops learning about what’s involved within the different disciplines of Engineering followed by a challenge specific to the department; my favourite being building, testing and evaluating model rockets. I also enjoyed learning from NASA astronaut, Doug Wheelock who delivered talks about his experiences in space and on the ISS, and how his degree in Engineering helped him achieve this. Overall the week was a very enjoyable experience and further piqued my interest to study Engineering at degree level.

Rebecca McConnachie (F4)

Lewis Byers (F6 – Head Boy)

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Review 2020

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Des-man Function Art

We use the Desmos graphing calculator in class to explore functions and graphs. In Form 3 some pupils used it to learn about linear and quadratic functions, transformation of functions, and domain and range restrictions. Afterwards, they were given the challenge of drawing a portrait of ‘Des-man’ using only mathematical equations and expression. This gallery highlights some of the best portraits.

Enterprising Maths Report A team of 4 pupils from F3 and F4 travelled to Glasgow: Anisha Sangmor, Kaixi Liu, Isla Hutchinson and Archie Macdonald. We took part in a maths competition, competing against other schools in a series of challenges. Firstly, we did a team round. We had to work together to solve a series of maths puzzles. Our team did very well which put us in a strong position for the next round. We had to solve a maths crossword.

The clues gave numerical answers, which we filled into a grid, like a crossword. This round was my favourite as you could use some of the other clues to work out the difficult ones and all of the clues were designed to be quite quick to solve.

We had lunch, provided by the host school, and bonded more as a team. We were given sandwiches, juice, crisps and a snack bar. It was nice to have a break from the maths challenges in-between rounds, and the relaxing time helped us to concentrate on the next rounds.

After lunch, we had to do physical challenges.

Some involved cards, others involved tangrams and in one challenge, we had to solve puzzle

cubes. We were one of the only teams to complete the puzzle cube successfully and the practical aspect of the task helped us to use everyone’s strengths. In the final round, the relay, we split into pairs. The F4s went together and I went with Archie, the other F3. The first pair solved a maths problem and, if they got it correct, they gave it to the second pair, who used the answer to solve the next problem. This continued for around an hour, but the time flew by!

The final challenge was very hard so we ended up finishing in the middle of the pack. This was still good, though, because it was a very competitive competition and we were against many other schools with excellent teams. We came away from the competition feeling very pleased with ourselves. We were proud of what we had achieved and pleased to have bonded more as a team. Altogether, it was a very enjoyable day out and well worth the drive! Thank you to Dr Smith and the maths department for organising the trip.

Isla Hutchinson F3

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Review 2020 Mathématiques Sans Frontières

This year F4 and F5 classes took part in a world-wide Maths Language competition “Mathématiques sans Frontières” organised by The University of the West of Scotland. The competition involves working collaboratively to solve a range of problem solving questions where one question requires an explanation in a foreign language.

The High School of Dundee F4 team placed 1st in the junior division and the High School of Dundee F5 team placed 2nd in the senior division.

The pupils rose to the challenge to such an impressive degree that they secured two positions on the overall top 3 podium.

Maths Week Scotland 2019

To mark this national event, which aims to showcase the involvement of maths in our everyday lives and enable people to engage with the subject in exciting new ways, pupils in the Senior Years added a range of special activities to their timetables.

Kicking things off, pupils in F1 and F2 were tasked with uncovering the answers to a series of maths questions, spread across different locations within the school, as part of a keenly-contested Maths Treasure Hunt.

Meanwhile, F3 pupils worked together in small groups to solve multiple problems in a House Maths Challenge that culminated in a fast-paced Maths Relay in which the youngsters raced around the room to deliver and fetch new questions as quickly as possible – the event was won by Wallace.

A number of year groups also took part in the Mangahigh.com online maths competition and took on the challenge of ‘Maths wi nae Borders’, a national contest in which the pupils tackled various maths problems (including one written and answered in Scots or Scots Gaelic), making use of Minecraft and wooden blocks to model solutions!

Review - Cipher Challenge

This year several teams from the High School of Dundee participated in the National Cipher Challenge organised by the School of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Southampton. Competing against schools from every part of the UK, over a period of several weeks, the teams had to solve several encoded messages to reveal a story regarding the Apollo moon landings. The codes became increasingly hard to crack but the Dundee teams performed well and in a supplementary competition organised during the lockdown a team from the High School was placed very highly.

I really enjoyed the Cipher Challenge because it was a fun way to do some Maths and problem solving. It’s extremely satisfying when you realise that you’re on the right track with a puzzle. Something may look like a completely random string of letters, but when you shift all the letters by one place in the alphabet, read it in reverse, or look at every second letter, it can suddenly become a comprehensible message.

You should definitely consider entering the competition as it’s very enjoyable and you can enter with your friends. Code breaking isn’t just for mathematicians but also for linguists, computer programmers and anyone with an interest in puzzle solving. Code breakers helped win the Second World War and code breakers at GCHQ are currently involved in many areas of cyber security so it’s a useful skill to have. Plus, it’s lots of fun!

[Written by Isla Hutchinson, whose success in these competitions was an incredible achievement and a testament to her resilience and problemsolving abilities.]

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Scottish Mathematical Challenge

Once again, a large number of our pupils, seventy-nine to be exact, entered the Scottish Mathematical Challenge. This competition, which has been running since 1976, is a problem-solving competition open to all pupils in Form 1 to Form 6.

The entrants are required to do two sets of very demanding problems, months apart. The following pupils did exceptionally well and would normally have been invited to attend the Award Day at the University of Stirling in June, where they would receive their prize and attend a mathematical lecture.

Junior Division Gold: Freya Tyson F1, Christopher Scott F2, Ramit Kanodia F2, Neil Bhat F2, Hugh Docherty F2

Middle Division

Silver: Shivani Bhushan F1, Emily Macdonald F1, Nadia Sarraf F1, Amy Leburn F1, Jack Fleming F2, India Simpson F2, Daniel Higgins F2, Clara Fraser F2

Bronze: Jinken Li F3, Zamin Okhai F3

Bronze: Kynan Alipour F1, Moya Craig F1, Caris Hamilton F1, Ben Harris F1, Erin Lee F1, George Li F1, Anish Chaudhuri F2, James Westwood F2 86

Gold: Isla Hutchinson F3

Senior Division Gold: Ethan McColgan F5, Steven Chen F5 Well done to everyone who took part.

Review 2020 UKMT Mathematical Challenges

Every year the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust run three individual challenges which consist of twenty-five challenging problems in which the later questions are very challenging indeed and are solely designed for the most able mathematicians.

The pupils who do well are awarded a Gold, Silver or Bronze Certificate. The pupils who do exceptionally well qualify for further competitions.

Senior In November, twenty-eight pupils from F5 and F6 took part in the UKMT Senior Mathematical Challenge. Two Gold, two Silver and eleven Bronze Certificates were awarded, with the Gold Certificates being awarded to Cormac Morran F6 and Ethan McColgan F5, who also shared the Best in School Certificate. The two Gold winners qualified for the follow-on competition, the Senior Kangaroo, in which Ethan was awarded a Certificate of Merit.

Gold: Cormac Morran F6, Ethan McColgan F5 Silver: Cosmo Bobak F6, Edward Appleton F6 Bronze: Jonathan Lang F6, Hannah Meade F6, Charvi Kanodia F6, Fraser Coupar F6, Michael Anderson F6, Matthew Rainey F5, Georgia Douglas F5, Jenny Shang F5, Malavikh Sudarshan F5, Steven Chen F5, Catriona Taylor F5 Intermediate In February a total of eighty-four pupils from F3 and F4 took part in the UKMT Intermediate Mathematical Challenge. Three Gold, fourteen Silver and nineteen Bronze Certificates were awarded. The three Gold Certificates were awarded to Dexter Samani F3, Tobi Idowu F4 and Roman Stirrat F4 all of whom qualified for the follow-on competition, the Pink Kangaroo, which only Tobi actually sat as the school approached Lockdown. The Best in School Certificate was also awarded to Tobi.

Gold: Dexter Samani F3, Tobi Idowu F4, Roman Stirrat F4 Silver: Zamin Okhai F3, Angus Clark F3, Jan van der Kuyl F3, Gregor Tyson F3, Jinken Li F3, Isla Hutchinson F3, Iain Chalmers F4, Ross Mauritzen F4, Anisha Sangmor F4, Hamish Petrie F4, Kaixi Liu F4, Olivia MacLellan F4, Sneha Sripada F4, Sarah Richmond F4 Bronze: Alix Saddler F3, Jonah Masters F3, Madeline Fraser F3, Archie Macdonald F3, Hannah Mackland F3, Rishabh Akula F3, Suzie Sturrock F3, Anthony Hingston F4, Matthew Lowdon F4, Angela Sun F4, Hannah Humble F4, Sophie Aitken F4, Sophie Elder F4, Byron Hart F4, Giulia Cotroneo F4, Nathan Preston F4, Ksenia Kapelyukh F4, Maisie Tait F4, Fiona Sharp F4 Junior Due to Lockdown, the UKMT Junior Mathematical Challenge was postponed from the original date in March. However the competition went ahead online at a later date and four classes from F1 and F2 did the competition on 16th June. Results are pending.

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UKMT Senior Team Maths Challenge

On the 8th November Ethan McColgan F5, Steven Chen F5, Edward Appleton F6 and Cosmo Bobak F6, accompanied by Mr Middleton, represented the school in the Regional Final of the UKMT Senior Team Maths Challenge, held at Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen. In a very closely contested competition and after four rounds of rigorous problem solving, the team finished in first place and hence qualified for the national final to be held in London in February. The team travelled down to London by train and competed in the final at Lindley Hall, Westminster, along with another eighty-seven teams. Although they did not manage to win, they all thoroughly enjoyed the experience as well as a visit to the Science Museum.!

UKMT Team Challenge

After an exacting selection process and disruptions caused by illness, the F1/2 team for the Junior Team Challenge was selected: F2 - Christopher Scott / Kaile Liu F1 - Caris Hamilton / Emily Macdonald Several gruelling training sessions, involving the reserve squad followed, ensuring that the team were well prepared for the Regional Final at Kilgraston School on Wednesday, 26th February 2020. The group round, crossnumber, shuttle and relays all require different techniques and some testing mathematics. Our talented and motivated team came from behind on the first two rounds to tie with Strathallan School for first place and as joint winners of the Regional Final, were invited to participate in the UK National Final in London on Monday, 15th June 2020.

Needless to say, that never took place, so our excellent team can end the year undefeated!

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Review 2020

Let Our Lives Speak

Photography Competition

We are very grateful to all the people who entered the Competition over the Summer holidays. Mr McBride (Head of Technologies and talented photographer) was the judge. The standard seems to rise each year and I know that Mr McBride was very impressed with the quality of the images. In addition, he was delighted that many families entered several images to the contest. He had a very difficult job to choose the prize winners!

Allan Wilson

Overall

Winner Title: “Wave Power”

By: Conan Lyall (Secondary)

Runner Up Title: “Musée d’Orsay, Paris”

Runner Up

By: Graeme Hutton (Parent)

Class: 5AY1

Description: “Taken on a beach near Vík in Southern Iceland”

Winner

3rd Place 3rd Place Title: “Simba comes to the Cairngorms” By: Alasdair Grant (Junior) Class: L7T

Description: “This photograph was taken at top of Jocks Road which I walked with 8 of my friends from Dundee High, it was an amazing but tiring day.”

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Review 2020 Early Years Category

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Runner Up

Winner

Winner Title: “Loch Linnhe” By: Nathan Smith Class: L3T Description: “I took this picture when I went fishing with my family to Loch Linnhe.”

Runner Up Title: “Fun family day out” By: Elena Elassar

3rd Place

Class: L3T Description: “This photo was taken

by Elena the week before Easter during a family day out on Knockhill racing track. The main red car in the photo is her Daddy having fun on track. Elena loves joining Daddy in his cars. She took the photo with Mummy’s phone.”

Third Place Title: “The Beetles” By: Clementine Hartridge Class: L1W Description: “Taken at Earleshall Woods. Clementine became a nature enthusiast during lockdown - we came across this collection of beetles on a walk, sadly, they seemed a bit worse for wear.”

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Review 2020 Junior Category Winner

Runner Up

Winner

Title: “Simba comes to the Cairngorms” By: Alasdair Grant Class: L7T Description: “This photograph was taken at top of Jocks Road which I walked with 8 of my friends from Dundee High, it was an amazing but tiring day.”

Runner Up

By: Joanna Gui

3rd Place

Class: L4S Description: “I went camping near Ben Nevis, the next day, after the rain stopped, we went to climb Ben Nevis. We went over the clouds and the view was amazing.”

Third Place Title: “Papa’s Roses” By: Astrid Kiddie Class: L4F Description: “My Papa grows roses in his garden. This pink one is called “Elizabeth of Glamis” and smells like Turkish Delight!

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Review 2020 Parent Category

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Runner Up

Winner Title: “Musée d’Orsay, Paris”

Runner Up Title: “Caught in action”

Third Place Title: “Cleared for Landing”

By: Graeme Hutton

By: Prasad Guntur

By: Gordon Will

Description: “Family fun and action time on a warm summer evening”

Description: “Taken at Keptie Pond, Arbroath. I like this image as it captures a bee mid-flight and about to land in it’s search for a meal on a summer evening.”

3rd Place

Winner

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Review 2020 Pet Category

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Winner Title: “Never Take Your Eye Off The Ball”

Runner Up Title: “Black Labrador”

Third Place Title: “Two dogs at the Sidlaws”

By: Carol Sibson

By: Nathan Preston

By: Jacob Shaw

Class: (Parent)

Class: 5AY2

Class: 4AY1

Description: “Archer, our border collie, became obsessed with his various tennis balls over lockdown, never failing to deliver one to our feet whenever and wherever we sat down... garden, lounge, kitchen...bathroom!!”

Description: “A close-up picture of my dog, Merlin. It’s special to me as it is one of the best pictures I have of him.”

Runner Up

Winner

3rd Place

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Review 2020 Secondary Category Winner Title: “Wave Power”

By: Conan Lyall Class: 5AY1 Description: “Taken on a beach near Vík in Southern Iceland”

Runner Up Title: “Cullen Bay”

By: Polly Parker Class: 3WA2 Description: “I took this photo while on holiday in Cullen, during the summer when I wasn’t able to go further away due to COVID 19.”

Let Our Lives Speak Runner Up

Third Place Title: “Poignant Reminder”

By: Fraser Gray Class: 4AY1 Description: “I took this photo when I was on holiday on the west coast. It is of an American Bomber that crashed into the hills near Gairloch. It was returning from the war when it got into difficulty above the Fairy Lochs and it crashed with the deaths of all on board.”

3rd Place

Winner

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Review 2020 Staff Category

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Winner Title: “Daybreak in North East Fife”

Runner Up Title: “Watching the World Go By”

Third Place Title: “The name’s Bond...... Roni Bond.”

By: Mr McAdam

By: Miss Carrie

By: Mrs Sneddon

Description: “Taken at Victoria Park, this is a photo of Max, my sister’s Border Collie. It was great to be allowed to meet up in open spaces after lockdown; I hadn’t seen Max for quite some time before this walk!”

Description: “Daughter’s 9 month old Boston Terrier called Roni Delline Sneddon. Bought just 2 months before lockdown, and kept us all sane and entertained.”

Runner Up

Winner

3rd Place

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Review 2020 Immortal Memory

When I was asked to deliver this Immortal Memory, I leapt at the opportunity head first and eyes shut; I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I had no idea about Burns. I didn’t really know who he was or what he did (other than write a couple of poems.) So, I thought it might be a little useful to find out.

I found out that to give a good Immortal Memory I should leave the audience better informed than when they arrived, and I should illuminate aspects of his life that you will hopefully consider.

Here’s a potted history that comes out of typical Immortal Memories: Born 1759 in a rundown wee farmhouse in Alloway Goes to a school Moves to a slightly larger and no less rundown farmhouse Catches consumption Works hard in the fields Publishes a wee bit of poetry Goes to Edinburgh to do some carousing Goes to the Borders to do some more carousing Goes up to the Highlands to do even more carousing Then settles down in a rundown wee farmhouse with the best woman he could find, as a result of all that carousing.

Even though Burns generally has a bit of a reputation for being a womaniser, what I think is the most important thing about him is his work.

Wherever you look in the world, and you pick a country or a city, you’re going to find they’ve got a poet, a writer, a songwriter or a philosopher spouting words of wisdom that’s specifically famous to them. It’s amazing that in Scotland

we have one guy doing all of that. No other in any other country at the time had the skill to give songs such coherence and brevity to poetry as Burns did.

Let Our Lives Speak

Sketch of Robert Burns by Finlay de Vale

People talk about the fact that Burns died at the age of 37, and people say wow, that’s amazing that a 37-year-old had achieved that.

He produced most of this work when he was in his 20s!

There’s an example I’d like to share with you now, from Epistle To Davie, A Brother Poet,

by Burns It’s no in titles nor in rank; It’s no in wealth like Lon’on bank, To purchase peace and rest: It’s no in makin’ muckle, mair; It’s no in books, it’s no in lear, To make us truly blest: If happiness hae not her seat An’ centre in the breast, We may be wise, or rich, or great, But never can be blest; Nae treasures, nor pleasures Could make us happy lang; The heart aye’s the part aye That makes us right or wrang

A clapper is that thing on the inside of a bell that makes it sound as it yaws backwards and forwards. This means it’s a woman that just goes non-stop, non-stop speaking and shouting and bickering.

That “wad deave a miller”

Burns is just saying here; if you’re not happy, life’s not worth it. Burns was 28 years of age when he wrote that. At 28, even with all his carousing, he shows such emotional maturity and skill to write this.

Now, the mills at that time, just after the Industrial Revolution, are possibly the loudest things you’ve ever heard. People wouldn’t find the mills loud now because we’re used to jet engines and loud music like rock concerts etc.

But for someone that grew up in silence at that time, the mills were deafening. And he’s saying this woman’s incessantly carping tongue would threaten the aural capacity of a mill worker that is used to these kind of noises. It’s just taken about a minute for me to explain this. Burns did it in 7 words. He took complex concepts and made it so simple for all to understand.

What I think makes art, art, is the distillation of the human condition. If you find art and you don’t understand yourself better for witnessing it, it’s not art. It’s only art if it makes you think about things you haven’t thought about before.

Burns was a master of this. He was an artist.

How about his songs? Well, in one of Burns’ songs there’s a great line about a dreadful, ugly woman that he’d found himself with:

And this is what I want to leave you with. I implore you to consider good old Rabbie Burns.

“A clapper tongue wad deave a miller”

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We maybe can’t write the poetry he wrote, we maybe can’t write the songs he wrote, we can’t get all the girls he got, unless you’re Lewis Byers!

In around 12 years Lennon and McCartney wrote 286 songs. In roughly the same amount of time, Burns wrote 480 songs.

And at the same time, he wrote some of the best poetry we’ve heard of, while at the same time writing incredible letters, and at the same time running a farm, and at the same time he’s got a family and a thousand kids to look after.

He is a breathtaking individual. And that’s why people all across the country gather every year to remember him. Not because he was king of the drinkers and king of the carousers and all that. But fundamentally, he was simply an amazing artist.

And that’s why I want you to consider the Immortal Memory of Robert Burns.

Cheers!

Andrew Lothian

www.highschoolofdundee.org.uk

PROUD TO SUPPORT THE HIGH SCHOOL OF DUNDEE

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International Education

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Review 2020 Lessons From Auschwitz The Lessons From Auschwitz Project run by The Holocaust Educational Trust has given me an education not only through knowledge but also emotion. The initial seminar gave me context and knowledge I needed about the Jewish pre war experience and the introduction of the holocaust across Europe in the 1930’s: it also began a new thought process and gave a new definition to the holocaust and the people who were involved. Hearing from Eva Clarke, a holocaust survivor, who was born inside of a camp, opened my eyes and made it more clear to me the intentions of the project: not only to inform us but to help us remember that all those involved were human beings no matter their actions or the actions committed against them.

Eva’s story was inspiring and heartbreaking. The strength her mother had to have to carry on despite the pain she went through and continually hiding her pregnancy to save Eva’s life is truly something I could never imagine myself or anyone else being forced to go though. Hearing about the pain caused by her captors by forcing her apart from her family, murdering her husband and being forced to live in inhumane conditions, conditions which caused the death of her newborn son (Eva’s older brother who was also born in a camp) was astounding. From the introduction seminar I took away an open mind set in preparation for what I would see during our visit to Auschwitz and a new knowledge of the effects of the holocaust.

Auschwitz was not just one camp in one isolated area, Auschwitz was a huge area of land with 42 satellite camps within it. We stopped in a small town not far from Auschwitz and we were able to see the destruction caused by the Nazis, the ground where a synagogue had stood, now covered in trees and bare land. The tour through the Auschwitz museum was shocking, the faces that laughed and smiled at us in room 27 only made the people affected in the holocaust seem more human. Out of everything we saw on our trip this was the most hard hitting, the videos of men, women and children, laughing, playing and living their lives just as any other would, made me really upset that most of these lives would later be taken or destroyed by other human beings. Seeing the book of names, names of those who lost their lives during the holocaust, was particularly testing - the book taking up the whole room and there are still an estimated 2 million names missing from the book. Visiting the Birkenau camp was also very challenging, seeing the camp which was designed specifically to kill huge quantities of people and the mass of land it was reduced to today meant you could only imagine the extent of suffering that happened there and that is a lot to imagine.

Thankfully, the follow up seminar provided everyone with a place to talk about what we had seen and what we had taken away from our day in Poland. Our group discussed at length everything we had seen and the effects it had had on us as individuals and what we would take away from this experience. We also began to think about how best to deliver this information to other people. So many different opinions and ideas provided myself and Laurence a great platform to begin thinking about our next steps. I cannot praise this project highly enough, and I would recommend to anyone who has the opportunity to visit Auschwitz Birkenau if only to see for themselves the humanity lost during the holocaust.

The day of the visit to Auschwitz Birkenau was such an early start that all of us were tired and cranky on our arrival, this made for an even more emotional day.

Driving from the airport by bus, our group was lucky enough to have Rabi Marcus on the bus with us, he spoke to us several times throughout the journey and told us about everything we would see throughout the Inez Spence (F5) day. My biggest realisation of that morning was that

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International Education

Advanced Higher Geography Trip to Barcelona

As part of the Advanced Higher Geography course our class visited Barcelona to build on and improve our field work techniques. We stayed in Sitges, a town positioned just outside of Barcelona on the coast of Spain, perfect to carry out our coastal fieldwork. The coastline provided spectacular natural and manmade beaches, providing a great place to relax, get burnt (sun cream is advised) and play football in our spare time. In order to study tourism and the rebranding of an area we visited El Reval, a district in Barcelona. We witnessed a huge amount of diversity within El Reval with areas being worlds apart in terms of environment, housing and wealth. During our fieldwork we were exposed to a strong sense of community with breathtaking murals scattered across El Reval to commemorate local heroes and injustice felt by the local people. The fieldwork was thorough and at times exhausting, however we were given time to explore the city for ourselves. During this time, we visited cafes, shops and navigated ourselves through the famous Mercat de la Boqueria, where we bought delicious smoothies and fruits. A highlight of the trip was visiting the spectacular Sagrada Familia, the abstract and detailed design left us in awe. Overall, the trip was crucial in teaching us new techniques that proved useful throughout the advanced higher course and left us with a deeper understanding of the diversity within a city whilst also providing long lasting memories.

Anya Wilson (F6 – Airlie House Captain)

Review 2020

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International Education

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Sport

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Review 2020

Hockey VS Rugby On Wednesday 6th November Interact held a hockey vs rugby match at Mayfield. Form 5 and 6 sportsmen and women played against each other in hockey and then touch rugby. With the girls winning the hockey and the boys winning the rugby spectators and players had a great afternoon of fun, competitive sport. The day was a great success with interact raising ÂŁ186 for WheelPower, a charity which helps children with disabilities get into sport.

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Review 2020 1st XI Girls Hockey The 1st XI experienced ups and downs, success and failure, disappointments and moments of excellence this year. Finishing the season as a whole with strong individual players, we built over the season to come together as a team. Through the year groups, positions and training we built friendships and bonds with each other, which presented themselves during our performances on the pitch. This was rewarded by reaching the semifinal of the plate. As Captain I couldn’t have been prouder of the team and the performance they gave allowing us to compete against such a strong side. The determination, hard work and team ethic was further developed throughout the season as we grew to become the team we finished the season as, making ourselves and the school proud. Although our time as a team was cut short, I’m grateful to have spent my last year playing with the girls and gaining the friendships on and off the pitch. I’m honoured to have had the opportunity to captain the 1st XI and will miss putting on my HSD strip every weekend. A huge thank you to coach Charlotte for the endless laughs and support this year, it wouldn’t have been the same without her on the sideline.

Isla McRobbie (F6 – 1st XI Captain)

2nd XI Hockey With a strong start to the season, going a number of games undefeated, we set high expectations for our new coach, Katie.

Typically, our first game with Katie happened to be against Dollar, leaving us with a narrow loss of 8-0. Despite this, spirits remained high as we were modelling the brand new, never seen before, 2nd XI red strips. This would be one of the few games we actually showcased the sought-after strips! Our development as a team grew greatly in no time and our ability to go into a match with a positive mindset benefitted us massively and as a result, we were able to secure a 2-2 draw against Dollar only 2 months later.

Amongst the many cancelled games, we officially only lost a total of two matches against competing schools, which we all see as a substantial combined team success. Over the season, there’s no doubt that there were many highlights in performances, however the funniest moment had to be when Niamh took Katie out, by rolling a hockey ball in her direction, which Katie then stood on

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and went flying up into the air and back down onto the pitch, leaving us all crowded round unsure whether to laugh or panic.

Overall, the 2nd XI had a fantastic season both on and off the pitch, forming many new friendships along the way.

Amy Bett (F6 – 2nd XI Captain)

F3 A Hockey

Sport

F2 A Hockey F2 was an excellent year for us in hockey. We began the year with our first ever hockey tour to Belfast where we came back unbeaten! As a team, we learned so many new things and it was so wonderful to have Charlotte Jones on tour with us alongside Mrs. Baxter who deserves a huge round of applause for this year!

It was so great to meet new people and a lot of us are still in touch with girls from the Belfast teams now!

We had some really tough games this year – out of 11 games we won 5, drew 2 and lost 4. So, we were pretty consistent all the way through. After we lost a game, we made sure we won the next. Which we, of course, always did.

At the beginning of the season we were really struggling with getting into shape at the back of the pitch and struggling to take shots as soon as we got into the ‘D’. By the end of this season we had mastered the shaping and our defenders were the best they have ever been and up front we got some cracking goals.

The Form 3 hockey team had a successful season. At the start, we weren’t playing to the best of our abilities but by the end, with thanks to Miss Allan, we matured and developed as a team. This led us to the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup and the semifinals of the Midland Cup. In both cups we were knocked out by Strathallan. The first time we played them was a deserved defeat as we were very unhappy with the way we played. We trained hard to make a comeback against them and on the day of the match we held the score at 0-0. We faced an unlucky defeat on penalty flicks but were happier with our level of play. Our biggest achievement of the year, without doubt, was winning the Indoor Midland Cup, beating Strathallan in the final. Unfortunately, our season came to a stop when school was cancelled, and we weren’t able to cherish our last match together as a year group.

We’ll be sad to split up into separate teams, but Miss Allan has been an amazing and committed coach and has helped us improve. She has prepared us for the step up to the senior hockey teams.

I am incredibly proud of the girls this year. They worked so hard and we played some really great hockey. Thanks to Mrs. Baxter we all improved so much and worked hard to achieve goals.

Hopefully we can carry on into F3, into bigger and more important games and I’m sure we are all looking forward to beating the teams who beat us this year!

Martha Baldwin (F2 – F2 A Captain)

Hannah Mackland (F3 – F3 A Captain)

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Review 2020

Sport

F2 Belfast Hockey Trip Report

We got our trip tops and we left school at 16:15, then took the bus to the airport in Edinburgh. We arrived at the airport at 20:20 and we went to get some food. We were all so excited for how close we were to arriving in Belfast. We boarded the plane at 20:20 and arrived, after a speedy trip, at 21:15. We then took the bus to our hotel and stayed in rooms of two at 22:00. We were all very excited for our training and match early morning the next day.

We woke up at 08:00 and had a Northern Irish styled breakfast and walked to the pitches, which were about a 15-minute walk away, for a training session. After training we came back to the hotel and had lunch, then at 14:30 we played Wallace High School. We then came back to the hotel and had dinner.

The next day was sadly the penultimate day of our trip but luckily, we still had a lot more to do. In the morning we did team challenges at 10:00 and then had some free time. After that at 14:30 we played Friends’ School, Lisburn and had lunch with the girls and made friends. After this we went to the Victoria Square Shopping Center and could go shopping for about two hours. We then regrouped and had pizza express which was delicious. After this we took the train back to our hotel and went to bed.

It was the very last day and we all wished we could stay longer but we did still have many activities yet to come. We played Hunter House College and got given a little gift as well. Then we watched the ladies Ulster Premier League Cup Game, and some of us even met the founder of the winning team. Then, sadly, we went to get our luggage from the hotel to leave, and went to the airport at 20:35.

Our flight left to get home at 21:25 and we arrived safely at 23:15.

Poppy Rawson (F2)

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Review 2020

Sport

F2 B Hockey

F1 B Hockey

u-15 Boys Hockey

This year the F2B Team has come with several setbacks but we have pushed through. Many of our matches were cancelled due to weather or pitch conditions though the team has developed their skills over the year. In training, it is very inspiring to see people’s determination and passion for hockey shining through. Each player has their own qualities and brings something useful to the pitch. Over the year, we have improved in short corners, keeping formation and most importantly working as a team. It has been a great honour to captain this team of people.

This year the F1 B hockey team have improved so much. We have grown lots individually and as a team. And I honestly couldn’t choose any particular game which I loved or hated the most, every game is memorable when it comes to hockey and every game has its ups and downs. I feel we have become much more of a team, than a group of individuals. Everyone’s skills have improved so much thanks to the help of our wonderful coaches and each game we have a clear idea of what we are doin. And in general, this year the F1 B hockey team have been amazing! Well done everyone!

This year’s hockey season has been mixed for the Boys U15 team, with 1 successful win against Glasgow Academy (4-0) and 3 losses. We had lots of games scheduled this season, but Scottish weather persisted, causing many games to be cancelled, leaving us with less games than we would have hoped for. Despite this, there were many good training sessions coached by Mr. Strachan, who recently took up international commitments for the Womens’ Indoor team. Overall, a mixed, fun season. We are all looking forward to next year where many of us hope to be playing for the Boys 1st XI.

Libby Finnegan (F2 – F2 B Captain)

Jessica Forster (F1 – F1 B Captain)

Archie MacDonald (F3 – u-15 Captain)

F1 A Hockey

1st XI Boys’ Hockey

The F1 A Team had a great season this year. Our start to Senior School Hockey has been very positive and we have all enjoyed our first year. We have had many highlights. For example, a 1-1 draw on our first full pitch game, against one of the teams who had previously beaten us earlier on in the season. Another highlight for me was going to the Perth Pantomime to watch one of our team members perform.

The whole of the team has had an amazing first season and even though it was unfortunately cut short, we are raring to go for the first game in F2.

Despite numerous obstacles, Boys Hockey at HSD has had a successful year. Starting back in August, the season started off with a close 2-0 defeat to Edinburgh Academy. However, things from there started to head downhill, with heavy losses against George Watsons and Robert Gordons. After these games things seemed to steady for a few matches, and the Boys’ 1st XI got their best result of the season in a 1-1 draw with Balerno. This proved to be the highlight of the season. In each match the team put in a really good effort, but despite these positives, there are areas of improvement needed. Importantly, Boys’ Hockey needs more players in order to be more successful, as a team of nine we are always going to be at a disadvantage no matter what. Commitment also seems to be another underlying issue that affects Boys’ Hockey. So, I urge any boys in F1-F6 to enthusiastically have a go at hockey because you never know you might end up loving it. Being Captain this year has been an immense privilege and although at times it has been hard going I have loved playing hockey throughout my time at HSD. I hope Boys’ Hockey flourishes in the future like it deserves to.

Harvey Saddler (F6 – 1st XI Captain)

Emily MacDonald (F1)

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1st XV Rugby The 2019/20 season is one that won’t be forgotten soon for the 1st XV. Off the back of a once in a lifetime tour to South Africa, the season started off with a pre-season fixture against Merchiston. Despite a loss here it was evident our game plan was coming together, and we were certainly coming together well as two different year groups. After this the boys picked up half century wins against both Hutchesons’ Grammar and Robert Gordon’s College (first conference fixture) to get the season rolling. Next came the 3rd round of the National Cup in which we were drawn away to Dollar Academy. Despite putting everything into it, unfortunately we came out second best in a 22-14 loss. Loss aside, I was extremely impressed with the heart and commitment to the crown everyone showed that day. Next came an impressive pair of wins over Glenalmond, both home in the conference and away in the National Plate. The 1st XV then finished off an unbeaten Conference season with away wins over Fettes College and Loretto School. Next saw a home fixture against George Heriots School in the semifinals of the Plate. After a postponement and change of pitch, we played on an especially muddy Dalnacraig pitch. With the game scoreless till about 50 minutes in, Heriots eventually earned their place at Murrayfield with a 5-7 win. After this the 1st XV only played three more

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Review 2020 fixtures, winning two. The exception to these wins was a very entertaining game against Strathallan on the 4G at the new High Performance Centre in December. Next was a very delayed 7s season. With harsh weather and COVID-19 both taking turns to cancel events, the boys only managed to compete in 2 tournaments, coming 3rd in both, which is especially impressive given the lack of rugby post-Christmas. Over the course of the season the 1st XV saw squad members earn both regional and national recognition (both Malachy Keogh and Adam Flynn in the Scotland u17s Squad), as well as several older players making the step up to senior rugby. It’s been a pleasure to represent the 1st XV and I hope that next year’s squad can only add to the success that this great squad has already achieved.

Callum Elliott (1st XV Captain)

F3 Rugby Thinking back to this year’s rugby, we all remember the beginning. With a new coach and a promise of a fresh start for the team we were raring to go. However, we had a sluggish start to the season. Then came the George Heriot’s game. The team that had pumped us at home the year before were back for more but this time we were different. A last-minute goal kick saw us through our first win of the season. This got us going and we started to put some big scores past some good teams.

Other games should have gone our way too; however, we were caught sleeping. With some more wins to our name this year, we are all looking forward to the u16 season and are excited to see how we get on in the Scottish schools matches.

Jan van der Kuyl

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F1 A Rugby There were many memorable moments from the season, which I believe started very well with a 16-0 win over Hutchinson Grammar. The win certainly boosted our confidence for the rest of the season ahead.

We won the majority of our games, only losing three! Twice we lost very closely to George Watson’s and to Glasgow Academy. We all felt we could have won these matches and will hope to take revenge next season! If I had to pick my favourite game that we played this season I would pick the close game against Dollar. We were winning with one try and a kick at halftime. As soon as the second half started, we got an early try with Jock running through as usual. Then slowly through that half we applied more and more pressure due to some excellent playing from the whole team and created a few more tries. Unfortunately, they got a ‘pick and go’ try from the scrum but we were still delighted with how we had played and won the game.

David Barrie (F1 – F1 A Captain)

Open Netball This season of netball within the High School saw the introduction of not only a brand-new coach but yet also a new fresh-faced group of girls to represent the High School of Dundee Open VII netball squad. This squad consisted of a total of 12 girls ranging from F4 through to F6. Although we began the season off with an unfortunate draw in the Scottish Cup against our longtime rival Monifeith High School, we as a squad did not allow ourselves to be disheartened and fought back to have a strong and very successful season. Although our time in the Scottish cup was short, with only one successful result, the girls pushed through getting more experience against teams we have never had the challenge of playing against before, such as Abertay University. With the majority of our players being part of the Leisure and Culture Dundee District Netball Squads we were lucky enough to have a bundle of experience and skills between us, overall making our training sessions and game play stronger.

Before the 2019/20 squad was disbanded, we had entered the

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newly introduced tournament for the Dundee and Angus Plate.

The open team were off to a flying start with our first match against Webster’s High School coming out with a successful, very promising score. Our heads were high with delight with the prospect of an overall win on the horizon. Although the 2019/20 squad may not have got to the end of a season that was originally hoped for, we sure bonded and performed as a team like we have never done before and I, as the departing Captain, can only leave wishing the girls the best of luck into next season, I couldn’t have lead a more promising or hard working team and it was a true privilege to call myself Captain.

Emily Baxter (F6 – Open Netball Captain)

F3 Netball We started the season playing really good netball, winning our first two games, building confidence and bonding as a team. However, we knew that our next game was going to be a challenge. We played Monifieth High at home and unfortunately lost 39-3 but from that match we all worked harder in training and wanted to win more games. Later in the season we had a triangular tournament at the Regional Performance Centre to determine which group we would be placed in for the Scottish Cup. After a challenging three games, we managed to place in the silver plate which the whole team was happy with. One of our favourite matches would be our quarter final match. It was an interesting day for us all as we didn’t know what to expect from a team none of us had ever heard about. After a long four hour drive down some very windy roads, we ended up in Newton Stewart. Everyone was quite tired and nervous for the game, so it was hard for us to get started in the first quarter. Once we reached the third quarter we all faced the fact that we had no hope of scoring enough goals to win the game, so we all decided to have fun for our final game of the season, swapping positions which was quite eventful. After playing seven games this season and losing only two, I feel that we have developed better skills and are prepared to play for the Open VII next year. As a team we would all like to thank Eva for coaching us this season and buying us McFlurries after a heavy defeat.

Review 2020

Sport

Cross Country Congratulations to High School of Dundee athletes who returned from the Dundee Schools Cross Country Championships with a haul of medals to show for their efforts! At the annual event at Baxter Park, talented runners from F1 through to F6 raced their way to a series of team and individual accolades. Erin Lee (F1), John Donald (F1), Sophia Donald (F2), Martha Reeves (F3) and Rose Ryan (F4) all came home with Gold medals and raced terrifically. Laurence Petty came home with Silver in the S4-6 event as well as Kate Dalglish in the S3 event. Bronze medals were awarded to Georgia McKinley (F2), Ollie Hall (F3), and Emily Baxter (F6). Our teams performed incredibly well, winning 7 out of the 8 categories. Our F1 Girls came home with Silver. In the Scottish Schools Cross Country at Hopetoun House our 36 athletes performed well across the board in tough underfoot conditions, albeit being a fine day in Edinburgh. Special mention goes to Erin Lee in F1, finishing 4th in the Girls Group D category.

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Review 2020 Tayside Schools Swimming Championships

Swimarathon teams Our three Swimarathon teams swam a collective 230 lengths in 25 minutes and raised over £550 for charity. 20% of their sponsorship went to the Rotary Club of Dundee’s Trust to support their End Polio campaign and the other 80% to RNLI whose volunteer lifeboat crews provide a 24-hour rescue service in the UK and Ireland.

For the swimmers, there is only one opportunity a year to proudly represent the High School in a competitive environment with other schools. Tayside Schools allows the swimmers to compete in the Midland District ; it is fiercely competitive. From there, by placing in the top three in each of the pupils’ respected disciplines, they then qualify to represent their school at the Scottish Schools Championships , competing against schools from across the country.

From the High School, sixteen pupils entered Tayside Schools, where most of the pupils entered the maximum number of races allowed. Through two days split across Monday and Wednesday, it was tough racing for our swimmers, trying to achieve a spot in the final, taking place in January.

In our team relays, the Dundee High girls dominated taking gold in the 4x50m Freestyle relay across all age groups, with strong finishes, often winning by quite a margin. Across the board, the swimmers took home a total of sixteen medals ranging from gold to bronze with six swimmers qualifying to represent the High School at the Scottish Schools Finals. This being a prestigious opportunity.

On the 25th of January 2020, our swimmers travelled to the Tollcross International Swimming Centre in Glasgow, which was the host of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. For all our swimmers, this wasn’t the first time they were competing at this competition.

First up in the morning finals, we had Shona Graham leading the school off to a strong start in the 200m Breaststroke taking silver. The afternoon finals were anything but disappointing with Darcey Brown having a strong swim in the 200m freestyle. Martha Reeves and Shona Graham were next in the 100m Breaststroke in their respected age groups. Both with tough competition and close finishes, both finishing highly in the top ten. Finally, in the evening swims we had Darcey Brown once again back in the pool, swimming the 100m Freestyle. Known to be a fast pace swim. Darcey made the school very proud by finishing fifth overall. Finally, Martha Reeves, back again to swim her second race in the 200m Individual Medley which is a combination of all of the strokes, presenting one of the toughest competitive races in the swimming community, she definitely did not disappoint, making a strong finish.

Overall, it is easy to say, that our Dundee High swimmers were strong once again in another season of excellent performances.

Shona Graham (F5)

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Review 2020

Badminton

It was a busy couple of months in February and March for pupils of the High School of Dundee who competed in three competitions. It was great to see so many players take part in these events. The first event was the Dundee and Angus Schools Badminton Championships held at DISC on Tuesday 18th February 2020, a large contingent of pupils competed in all categories. There were lots of good matches and talent on display with all players showing determination and fair play. We had lots of success winning the following events.

• Primary Boys Singles – Winner, Arya Sanu and runner-up Matthew Gordon who then teamed up for the boys doubles and were runners up • Junior Boys Singles runner-up Anish Chaudhuri • Boys consolation Winner Hugh Docherty

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• Intermediate Boys Singles winner – Jack Sandilands who teamed up with Alistair Clark to win the Boys Doubles • Intermediate Girls Singles runner-up Emily Reid and 3rd place Emily Robertson • Intermediate Mixed Doubles winners Emily Reid and Ross Mauritzen with Emily Roberston and Harry Paul runners up The Dundee Schools Badminton Festival was held at Mayfield Sports Centre on Monday 2nd March 2020, this was a fun event and had a round robin format. All players enjoyed the experience which provided an opportunity for Junior and Senior pupils to display their talents. Following on from the Dundee and Angus Championships several pupils qualified for the Scottish Schools Badminton Union, Secondary Schools Championships, Bells Sports Centre, Perth on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th March.

This attracted the top talent from all over Scotland with many nationally ranked players competing in all age categories.

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This was a big step up for many of our pupils who showed a fighting spirit against the elite of Scotland’s badminton players.

Emily Reid and Ross Mauritzen competed in the Intermediate Mixed Doubles, the strength of the opposition on this occasion was too much and they lost to the eventual runners up. Jack Sandilands played in the Junior Boys Singles and Doubles with Alistair Clark, they both showed great effort and determination in their matches. Well done to all those who competed and to Callan Short for an outstanding tournament reaching the final of the Junior Boys event and narrowly missing out on the title to take the runner-up spot. However, he managed to go one step further after teaming up with Anish Chaudhuri to win the Junior Boys Doubles event. Overall great performances from all our pupils who entered these events, in particular it was good to see players supporting each other during the events.

Emily Reid (F4 – Captain)

Out and About

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Review 2020 F4 Dundee Sheriff Court and Police Station Visit

In November 2019, pupils of National 5 Modern Studies in Form 4 payed a visit to the Dundee Police Station at Bell Street, and the Dundee Sheriff Court and the Justice of the Peace Court. With crime and law being a section of the National 5 course, these trips were helpful to give an insight as to what goes on inside these buildings, and to also give pupils the opportunity to experience what it would be like to work in these professions.

Our first trip was to the Dundee Police Station. There, we were introduced to two friendly police officers who gave us a complete tour of the police station from top to bottom. We were shown the reception, the door where criminals were brought in, questioning rooms, the prison cells, the canteen and the call centre room, where we had to be very quiet and no photos were allowed to be taken, since these officers were receiving calls (emergency and non-emergency) from all over Scotland. Perhaps the most interesting room was the CCTV camera room. The officers in there were facing a wall which was completely covered with TV screens which displayed live feeds from CCTV cameras all over Dundee. It was amazing to see how many there were. The cameras could zoom in very far, so the workers showed us our school through the CCTV camera beside the bus stop outside the school. It was very interesting to see what went on inside the police station.

Our second trip was to the Dundee Sheriff and the Justice of the Peace Court. When we arrived there, we were taken into one of the court rooms where we watched a live trial. It was very interesting to see what went on in the court room and how trials worked. After staying for half an hour, we were taken into a meeting room where we were greeted by a friendly judge.

He spoke to us about his career, and what it was like to be a judge. He told us about his days at University, the different types of lawyers and judges you can get, and the difference between the Sheriff and the Justice of the Peace Court and the High Court in Edinburgh. It was very interesting to listen to all his experiences as a judge and he gave us all lots of good advice if we wanted to go down the Law route.

Both of these trips were brilliant and interesting and were very helpful towards our crime and law section of the course.

Erin Craig (F4)

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Out and About

Duke of Edinburgh Award Safe Drive Stay Alive Each year pupils are keen to push themselves out of their comfort zone, trying something new with the Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Participants undertake their own program at three different levels – Bronze, Silver, and Gold – by volunteering, trying a new, or improving on, a skill or physical activity and then finally going on an expedition. Charvi Kanodia writes about her own experience.

I remember being very nervous before my first bronze DofE expedition – I had never been a very outdoorsy person and was not the fittest of people either. On top of that, the people in my group were people I didn’t really know. However, when I ultimately did the expedition, I found it to be a very enjoyable and unique experience, one that cannot be gained passively by reading a book or watching a documentary. Each of us in the group had our strengths and weaknesses and we all worked to support each other in what was quite a strenuous journey. Undertaking the Duke of Edinburgh award took us on a path of self-discovery, and we all improved our teamwork skills and resilience along the way. We were not always comfortable; however, I really enjoyed the aspect of working with new people and made some lasting friendships. It was indeed a fun experience!

Charvi Kanodia (F6)

F3 Geography Cairngorms

In early October, F3 geography pupils visited the Cairngorms.

We learnt all about tourism in the park. Rangers guided us around four different locations: The Cairn Gorm Mountain, Rothiemurchus Estate, Loch Morlich and Aviemore. We found out that the Cairngorms is a wonderful area with amazing glaciers, rare animals such as wild cats and ospreys and a large variety of nature, including wildflowers and looming forest trees. We also learnt why the Cairngorms National Park is such a popular tourist destination. From observing the picturesque views to going on walks and participating in exciting activities such as skiing and mountain biking, there is something for everyone. We learnt all about environmental issues and conflicts in the park, to help our studies back at school. It was an exciting day out, and we learnt so much. Although the weather was miserable, the amazing activities that the geography department had planned for us made up for it.

Sahar Jafferbhoy (F3) 112

On the 15th of November, Form 6 attended the Safe Drive Stay Alive roadshow. It is an event which brings attention to the true impact of dangerous driving. It is aimed at school students who are at the age to start learning to drive, or those who will turn seventeen soon. Taking place in the Caird Hall, it started with a nightclub-like environment, designed to excite and bring joy to participants. With loud music and strobe lighting, pupils flocked to the stage to dance. After a few songs, the singing and dancing was brought to an end. The atmosphere rapidly became far more serious – a horribly effective scare tactic. We listened to very sobering talks from members of the police, fire brigade and ambulance service who spoke to us about the harsh reality of the situations which they regularly face in their jobs. It is vital that teenagers understand the effects that drugs and alcohol have, which can make for extremely dangerous driving. We heard true stories from the family members of people involved in Road Traffic Collisions (RTCs). This was especially sobering, hearing from firsthand victims of reckless driving. It is imperative that young people who are planning on learning to drive or are currently learning to attend a show. It demonstrates to viewers how an incident on the roads can have a huge effect on relatives, friends and the emergency services, not just the driver and passengers.

Sandy Robertson (F6)

John Muir Trip

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Out and About

F1 Residential Nethy Bridge We especially liked being able to get to know all the pupils who had joined from other schools. Now we are all very close friends. All the activities taught us something new about each other too.

Erin Lee My favourite activity was definitely mountain biking. This is because we all had to help each other at some point and I made lots of funny and joyful memories.

Emily Coulson I loved making special connections with all the new pupils. Each activity was always fun and there was never a negative moment. It is a place where I made lots of unforgettable memories.

Orla McKelvey My favourite part was definitely the zip lines. Everyone had a job and we all worked together. But, the best part was of course going down the zip line backwards, forwards and upside down.

Sahara Baptie Each part was amazing but I adored camping. Although it was very cold, I had loads of fun with everyone in the tent.

Brier Candy

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Review 2020 L3 Megginch Report The L3 classes had another successful visit to Megginch Castle and Port Allen this year when the weather was kind and sunny. Pupils were excited to have the opportunity to explore the castle grounds with the owner, Catherine Drummond-Herdan. Acorns, conkers and Monkey Puzzle tree seeds were aplenty, and the pupils learned that the red squirrels who live there are well catered for!

Gavin the Beekeeper was again on hand to show working hives and give everyone a taste of a variety of differently sourced honey. The apple trees proved very popular and everyone ate their fill. Following lunch in the orchards, a trip to Port Allen revealed the enormous size of the reed beds and their importance in the local environment, ecologically and economically, past and present.

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Out and About

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Out and About

L3 RNLI Trip

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Review 2020 L4 Crannog Trip L4 had another successful trip to the crannog at Loch Tay. As we drove towards the Loch the sun burst from behind the grey clouds and we all knew we were in for a real treat. The Crannog looked stunning sitting out on the sparkly loch. Each year the Crannog Centre is expanding what they have on offer to allow guests to get a real sense of how the Celts lived 2500 years ago. This year inside the crannog the fire was blazing, and we were shown how the barter system would have worked and also treated to a musical interlude. Outside the children greatly enjoyed wood turning and discovering how wool was turned into thread and dyed. However, the big hit of the trip this year was learning how the Celts used the top of a Christmas tree to make a whisk and then actually using the whisk to make butter.

The whole year group was involved and had a go at whisking until eventually they produced butter which everyone had a taste of. Not all of L4 liked the taste but everyone appreciated the time and effort that went into the process. After a tasty packed lunch, we headed home after a very successful day trip.

L6 Safe Drive Stay Alive On the 15th of November, Form 6 attended the Safe Drive Stay Alive roadshow. It is an event which brings attention to the true impact of dangerous driving. It is aimed at school students who are at the age to start learning to drive, or those who will turn seventeen soon. Taking place in the Caird Hall, it started with a nightclub-like environment, designed to excite and bring joy to participants. With loud music and strobe lighting, pupils flocked to the stage to dance. After a few songs, the singing and dancing was brought to an end. The atmosphere rapidly became far more serious – a horribly effective scare tactic. We listened to very sobering talks from members of the police, fire brigade and ambulance service who spoke to us about the harsh reality of the situations which they regularly face in their jobs. It is vital that teenagers understand the effects that drugs and alcohol have, which can make for extremely dangerous driving. We heard true stories from the family members of people involved in Road Traffic Collisions (RTCs). This was especially sobering, hearing from first-hand victims of reckless driving. It is imperative that young people who are planning on learning to drive or are currently learning to attend a show. It demonstrates to viewers how an incident on the roads can have a huge effect on relatives, friends and the emergency services, not just the driver and passengers.

Sandy Robertson (F6)

L7 Safe Taysiders Pupils attended Dundee Police HQ police station to take part in SafeTaysiders.

There were 8 bases which taught us all about being safe outside and in our own homes. Anti-social behaviour, electricity, water safety, drugs, online safety, safe relationships, stranger danger – there was a wide range! A quiz at the end tested how much we had learned. We were very grateful to have such a valuable opportunity.

Lyndsey and Nellie (L7C)

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Out and About

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Out and About

Pudsey Day

F5 Macmillan Coffee Morning Fridays are usually the best day of the week, but even more so for everyone back in October when the High School ran their own Macmillan Coffee Morning. Staff, pupils and parents baked a variety of amazing cakes, biscuits, and sweet treats in all shapes and sizes to be sold on the pillars during the day. As if the cakes themselves were not sweet enough, the delight of being able to raise a sweet ÂŁ434.09 for Macmillan made it all that much sweeter.

Inez Spence (F5)

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Review 2020 F3 Ski trip to Les Menuires, France - Feb 2020 Nearly 60 F3 pupils took part in a wonderful week’s skiing in the French Alps in February. During the 6 days on the slopes, pupils were guided for 6 hours by local instructors. Conditions were favourable and the challenging snowy days brought us lovely fresh power the following day.

It was a pleasure to watch the pupils’ progress by improving their skiing technique and confidence on the slopes. The pupils behaved impeccably, and it was rewarding seeing the fun had from skiing plus spending time together through the evening activities and around the accommodation. I’m sure new friendships were formed and a greater desire to return to the slopes.

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Out and About

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Out and About

India 2020

Since early 2019 a group of pupils had been preparing for an HSD organised expedition to the India Himalayas for July 2020. A volunteering project with the Snow Leopard Conservancy Trust was established and the other key phase was for a week’s hike through the mountains. Two training days took place in the Highlands but unfortunately the main training weekend was curtailed due to Covid-19 as was the main expedition in July. All credit to the pupils for their dedication in preparing and time will tell if the expedition will be forwarded to July 2021. Hopefully the burning desire for adventure remains.

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Where inspiration begins!

Friendly, nurturing environment for children aged 3-5, led by experienced Primary teacher.

For more information, please contact us: T 01382 202921 E nursery@highschoolofdundee.org.uk highschoolofdundee.org.uk/admissions/ nursery/welcome

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Prize List 2020 L6

Academic Merit Prize Ayanah Adam Adithya Bhushan George Bickerton Oliver Ledlie Isabella Lowrie Daniel Robinson Antonia Schweikert

L7

Academic Merit Prize Fin Gray Eilidh Hearn Marwan Muqit John Nicolle Lucy Smith Leng Silver Medal for Singing (Boys) Matthew Jamieson Leng Silver Medal for Singing (Girls) Alexandra Hay Prize for Pipe Band Drumming Emily Hough Prize for Bagpipes Daniel McConnachie Prize for Guitar Fergus Stubbings-Tilley

John McLennan Prize for Proxime Accessit Nellie Luxford Hutton Prize for Environmental Studies in L7 Woodman Trophy for Mathematics in L7 E M Stewart Prize for Dux of the Junior School Gemma Pattullo

Form 1 Academic Merit Prize Shivani Bhushan Moya Craig Simone Finlayson Ben Harris Amy Leburn Erin Lee George Li Tie for International Recognition (Singing Re-award) Nathan Ogston A S Drummond Prize for Public Speaking in Forms 1 - 3 Aisha Gani Betty Sword Prize for Academic Improvement in Form 1 Blair Laing

Old Girls’ Prize for Piano Prize for Strings Arya Sanu

Academic Merit Prize Alexander Mill White Prize for all-round ability in Form 1 Emily Macdonald

Academic Merit Prize Walter Smith Memorial Prize for Drama in L7 Old Girls’ Trophy for all-round ability in L7 Lyndsey McDowall

Robertson Prize for Proxime Accessit of Form 1 Caris Hamilton

Florence Whytock Memorial Prize for Dux of Form 1 Freya Tyson

Form 2 Academic Merit Prize Neil Bhat Clara Fraser Rory Gifford Kaile Liu Maya McColgan Christopher Scott Tie for International Recognition (Shotokan Karate) Zara Steele Maggie Stewart Memorial Salver for all-round Sporting Ability in Form 2 Girls (joint) Martha Baldwin Maggie Stewart Memorial Salver for all-round Sporting Ability in Form 2 Girls (joint) Sophia Donald Andrew K Paton Memorial Trophy for allround Sporting Ability in Form 2 Boys Harris Landsburgh Betty Sword Prize for Academic Improvement in Form 2 Calum Skea Academic Merit Prize Intermediate Chess Club Trophy and Prize Ramit Kanodia Academic Merit Prize Prize for all-round ability in Form 2 girls Sophia Kapelyukh

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RSL Macpherson Prize for Proxime Accessit of Form 2 James Westwood Dvořák Prize for Musical Ensemble Larg Prize for Piano Larg Prize for Strings Neil Fraser Cup and Prize for all-round ability in Form 2 boys RSL Macpherson Prize for Dux of Form 2 Daniel Higgins

Form 3 Academic Merit Prize Madeline Fraser Parisa Hossain-Ibrahim Phoebe Jennings Jinken Li Zamin Okhai Alix Saddler Naomi Sibson Zara Taylor Tie for International Recognition (Singing) Martin Kelly Tom Durrheim Memorial Quaich for Recitation in Forms 1 - 3 Emma Gilchrist Larg Prize for Pipe-Band Drumming Rohan Seenarine Dvořák Prize for Musical Ensemble Jessica Chen Dvořák Prize for Musical Ensemble Jonah Phillipson-Masters

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Review 2020 Chris Rea Prize for Games in Form 3 (Boys) Fraser Gray

Southgate Prize for Musical Ensemble Rebecca Hamilton

Prize for Higher Physical Education Sophie Mason

Chris Rea Prize for Games in Form 3 (Girls) Hannah Mackland

Southgate Prize for Musical Ensemble Hamish Petrie

Robert Biggar Prize for Higher Geography Melissa Mitchell

Academic Merit Prize Old Boys’ Club Prize for Creative Writing in Forms 1 - 3 Sahar Jafferbhoy

David Mathers Trophy and Prize for Improvement in Mathematics in Forms 3 - 4 Benjamin Lang

Spankie Quaich for Higher Engineering Science Matthew Rainey

Isabella Hunter Award for Higher Art Elizabeth Lang

James Stevenson Memorial Prize for Higher German Maisie Ross

Jane Spiller Prize for Proxime Accessit of Form 3 Archie Macdonald

Larg Prize for Bagpipes Angus Macfarlane

Jane Spiller Prize for Dux of Form 3 Isla Hutchinson

Jane Ray Prize for Home Economics Rebecca Ritchie

Form 4

Larg Prize for Brass Southgate Prize for Musical Ensemble Fraser Smith

Academic Merit Prize Anisha Azad Jenny Bonnyman Eve Campbell Giulia Cotroneo Sophie Elder Anthony Hingston Claire Joss Ksenia Kapelyukh Ross Mauritzen Anisha Sangmor Tie for International Recognition (Javelin Throwing) Liam Brown Tie for International Recognition (Sailing - Re-award) Tom Mitchell Tie for International Recognition (Singing - Re-award) Emily Reid

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Armitstead Trust Prize for Higher Modern Studies Jessica Slingsby Prize for Higher Classical Studies Gabrielle Thompson Baker Trade of Dundee Prize Maisie Webster

RSL Macpherson Prize for Proxime Accessit of Form 4 Sneha Sripada

Prize for Higher Spanish James Stevenson Memorial Prize for Higher French Meghan Branch

Armitstead Trust Prize for Dux of Form 4 Kaixi Liu

Academic Merit Prize E M Stewart Prize for Higher English Georgia Douglas

Form 5

Academic Merit Prize Malavikha Sudarshan Dominic Westwood Kasym Zaidi

Academic Merit Prize Tie for International Recognition (Athletics - Re-award) Laurence Petty

Prize for Higher Drama Fraser Houston

Southgate Prize for Musical Ensemble Graeme Matheson-Bruce Prize for Higher Music Catriona Taylor

Tie for International Recognition (Singing - Re-award) Toluwani Idowu London Angus Association Trophy and G H Phillip Prize for Public Speaking in Forms 4 - 6 Andrew Lothian

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Tie for International Recognition (Athletics - Re-award) Edinburgh Angus Club Prize for Higher History Collins Prize for Higher Latin Anna Dalglish Academic Merit Prize Dennis J Paterson Trophy and Prize for the Best Speaker in the Inter House Debates Prize for Higher Economics (joint) David Logan Tie for International Recognition (Brass Band) Southgate Prize for Musical Ensemble Graeme Matheson-Bruce Prize for Higher Music Catriona Taylor Larg Prize for Guitar Prize for Higher Computing Science Prize for Higher Economics (joint) Prize for Higher Mandarin J B Meiklejohn Prize for Higher Mathematics in Form 5 (joint) Christopher and Philip Daft Prize for Higher Physics (joint) Caroline S Low Prize for Proxime Accessit of Form 5 Steven Chen Glenday Award for Higher Biology Sandy Wardlaw Memorial Trophy and Book Prize for Higher Chemistry Prize for Higher Economics (joint) J B Meiklejohn Prize for Higher Mathematics in Form 5 (joint) Christopher and Philip Daft Prize for Higher Physics (joint) Dennis J Paterson Prize for Dux of Form 5 Ethan McColgan

Review 2020 Form 6 Form 6 Leaver Award Rami Abboud Clodagh Alexander Mike Anderson Ruairidh Beaton Amy Bett Cosmo Bobak Sandy Bonnyman Tegan Brewster-Black Findlay Brown Hardie Bryce Jonty Bryce Lewis Byers Corey Cheape Abigail Cousins Fraser Cowie Finn Cox Michael Crawford Cameron Davidson Brooke Fairweather Hannah Gamble Humna Ikram Joanna Johnston Ben Kidd Henry Lapslie Marina Lawson Cameron Leng Rory Masson Hollie McCarthy Matthew McIntosh Fiona McKechnie Findlay McLean Jamie Meade Tegan-Jai Mellor Ailsa Millar Munro Mitchell Russell Mitchell Elyn Monson Cormac Morran

Amy Pal-Kerr Freya Purdie Amelia Purdy Lucy Robertson Sandy Robertson Molly Ross Gregor Ryan Harvey Saddler Holly Sampson Lily Shaw Anjini Snape Sarah Spalding David Stewart Rebecca Stewart Georgia Stirling Ishbel Stuart Magnus Wilken Anya Wilson Oliver Withers Shannon Woodward

William Laird Prize for Scottish Studies (Geography) Form 6 Leaver Award Katie Gilchrist Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award Form 6 Leaver Award Craig Gunn Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award Form 6 Leaver Award Maya Harris Prize for Higher Environmental Science Form 6 Leaver Award Tegan Hunter-Franks Beckingham Trophy and Chess Club Prize Form 6 Leaver Award Kit McEvoy Gould Dott Prize for Dux in Music Form 6 Leaver Award James McFadyen

Prize for Dux in Physical Education Form 6 Leaver Award Oliver Campbell-Rodger

Mhairi Henderson Cup and Prize for Outstanding Performance in Physical Education (Girls) Form 6 Leaver Award Isla McRobbie

Dr John M Morgan Prize for Outstanding Service to School Form 6 Leaver Award Ross Clark

D Arnot Shepherd Travel Scholarship Form 6 Leaver Award Cia Neser

Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award Form 6 Leaver Award Fraser Coupar

Dr John M Morgan Prize for Outstanding Service to School Form 6 Leaver Award Alasdair Richmond

Prize for Higher Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies Form 6 Leaver Award Rosa Doran

Bain Prize for Outstanding Service to School Form 6 Leaver Award Olivia Russell

P Gordon Grant Trophy for Contribution to School Sport (joint) Form 6 Leaver Award Callum Findlay

Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award Form 6 Leaver Award Kitty Scott

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Block Prize for Creative Writing in Forms 4 - 6 Form 6 Leaver Award Flory Speed Armitstead Trust Prize for Dux in English Form 6 Leaver Award Grace Tang Bain Prize for Outstanding Service to School Form 6 Leaver Award Lauren Tyson Jacuk Prize for Investigation at Advanced Higher Physics William More Prize for Dux in Applied Mathematics Form 6 Leaver Award Edward Appleton James Smart Prize for Investigation at Advanced Higher Chemistry W E Crichton Prize for Dux in Computing Science Form 6 Leaver Award David Bruce Dott Memorial Prize for Dux in Mathematics Jacuk Prize for Dux in Physics Form 6 Leaver Award John Gardiner Games Merit Scarf (Re-award) Tie for International Recognition (Hockey Re-award) Form 6 Leaver Award Jamie Golden Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award Sibbald Prize for Dux in Geography Form 6 Leaver Award Eilean Mauritzen

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Review 2020 William Laird Prize for Scottish Studies (History) Dallas Allardice Cup and Prize for Outstanding Performance in Physical Education (Boys) Form 6 Leaver Award Reece McLennan Bain Prize for Outstanding Service to School Larg Prize for Woodwind Form 6 Leaver Award Hannah Meade

Bain Prize for Outstanding Service to School Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award P Gordon Grant Trophy for Contribution to School Sport (joint) J Torrington Bell Prize for Dux in Art Form 6 Leaver Award Emily Baxter

Caird Prize for Higher Business Management W E Crichton Prize for Dux in Economics Form 6 Leaver Award Suzanne Stirling

Dr John M Morgan Prize for Outstanding Service to School D Arnot Shepherd Travel Scholarship Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award P Gordon Grant Trophy for Contribution to School Sport (joint) Form 6 Leaver Award Callum Elliott

Dr John M Morgan Prize for Outstanding Service to School Sir John Leng Prize for Dux in History Edinburgh Angus Club Prize for Dux in Modern Studies Form 6 Leaver Award Alex Fish

Bain Prize for Outstanding Service to School Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award Frank Young Prize for Excellence in Natural Science Brian McNeill Prize for Dux in Biology Form 6 Leaver Award Charvi Kanodia

Anderson Prize for Investigation at Advanced Higher Biology T S Murray Prize for Dux in Chemistry Armitstead Trust Prize for Dux in French Form 6 Leaver Award Jonathan Lang

The Rorie Trophy for Inter House Debating Inter House Shield for Champion House Lindores

High School Quaich for Best all-round Instrumentalist Larg Prize for Vocal Graeme Adamson Prize for Dux in Drama Form 6 Leaver Award Catriona Paterson

Rector’s Prize for Deputy Head Girl Eilean Mauritzen

Bain Prize for Outstanding Service to School Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award Tie for International Recognition (Orchestra Re-award) Form 6 Leaver Award Kirstin Petrie

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Rector’s Prize for Deputy Head Boy Fraser Coupar

Erskine Prize for Head of School (Boys) Lewis Byers Lowson Prize for Head of School (Girls) Ailsa Millar Vannet Prize for Proxime Accessit Alex Fish / Jonathan Lang Harris Gold Medal and David Gray Book Prize for Dux of School John Gardiner

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Review 2020 Rector’s Retiral

These features went on to form the foundations of a key feature of Dr Halliday’s legacy; our Integrated Curriculum. This is the fusion of the Academic, the Co-curricular and the Pastoral which places the child at the centre and enables us to nurture individual talents, inspire creativity through learning and develop well-rounded, aspirational young people, who are fully prepared for the future, whatever that might hold. His vision made this a living reality for a generation of HSD pupils.

Under his leadership HSD achieved the best SQA results in its history. On his watch, two pupils were awarded the SQA Star Awards for the top-performing pupil in Scotland. This was unprecedented for the High School and possibly unmatched by any other school during that time! The success of our pupils in securing their chosen courses at university stands at its highest level ever and this within the context of increasing competitiveness year on year.

At the start of 2020 we said farewell to Rector, Dr John Halliday, who retired after 11½ years leading the School, and a career spanning 40 years working in education.

Dr Halliday joined HSD from the Headship of Albyn School in Aberdeen, having taught at Sedbergh, Merchiston, Rannoch School and Dollar Academy prior to finding his destiny in Bonnie Dundee. The experiences that he brought with him, alongside his ambitions for HSD to let its life speak, underpinned all of his endeavours from the start and remain undimmed even into his retirement. His formula for success also encapsulated the uniqueness of HSD/DHS within the city and as a Scottish educational institution. On his first In-Service Day in August 2008, he outlined what he believed HSD was all about:

True to his vision, Dr Halliday committed himself to championing the richness of the learning experience at HSD. Music runs through his veins and he ‘let his life speak’ playing his viola as a member of both the Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. He participated in every concert, 23 in total, and also numerous other events including Open Morning where he seamlessly moved from performing to addressing all the prospective Parents within a few minutes. Many spectators were often unaware that he was

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part of the orchestra. His determination that the joy of creativity be placed at the heart of the Integrated Curriculum was the key motivator behind the school’s ambitious plans for the MAC, a Performing and Visual Arts Centre in the former Post Office Building. The importance of creativity, and a shared ambition that seeks to inspire all young people to realise their potential was ignited by him and continues as his legacy at HSD. A passionate sportsman himself, Dr Halliday was a constant presence on the touchlines every Saturday. Early in his Rectorship he oversaw the redevelopment of Dalnacraig and the creation of state-of-the-art all-weather floodlit pitches. These continue to offer superb facilities both for our pupils and also for various Dundee clubs. On the SRU Council first as schools’ representative and latterly as SRU representative for Rugby Europe, he used his knowledge and experience to enhance and support the development of the game here at HSD. He was an avid supporter of the Former Pupil Rugby Club and took time to follow their fortunes with great interest. Even when HSD struggled to find form, he was always involved in challenging and encouraging teams to believe in themselves. He followed the scores with a very keen eye and willed our young people to believe they could win…! Win HSD did, under his leadership, getting to Murrayfield U16 and 18 finals twice during his time as Rector. He was immensely proud of this achievement. Beyond that he was

• Rigour without roughness • Excellence without elitism • Flexibility without feebleness In four words - “Let Your Lives Speak”!

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Review 2020 an advocate for as full a sporting provision as possible for all ages and ability levels, including Athletics, Football, Cricket and CrossCountry Running. Our High-Performance Sport Programme is a testament to his energy, encouragement and passion.

Spending hours of his spare time researching the History of the School, Dr Halliday discovered the significant number of prominent FPs and worked hard to ensure that the community knew of their inspiring and aspirational stories. This was writ large when, again at his instigation, HSD opened a new state-of-the-art Nursery at Mayfield in 2014. He was determined that it should be named in honour of FP Mary Lily Walker, a remarkable social campaigner for the rights of women and children in Dundee and beyond. In 2014, Dr Halliday embarked on a project “Four Years that Changed the World” which drilled down into the school First World War archives and demonstrated the extraordinary sacrifices that were made. This led to four years where the names of those who gave their lives in the Great War were remembered

with their names, regiments and place of death read out as part of the school’s Armistice Ceremony. This project reached its zenith in 2019, when Dr Halliday led the rededication of the memorial, adding wooden panels which carried the names of 84 former pupils and staff, 24 of whom had made the ultimate sacrifice, but had been omitted from the original lists. In addition, as a result of painstaking research, his work allowed us to recognise the contribution of 14 remarkable young women whose names are now also inscribed on the war memorial. This is his lasting and very powerful legacy to the school and one for which we are very grateful indeed. Dr Halliday’s encouragement of the Art & Design department to festoon the Pillars with poppies and light the pillars red, has now become a regular feature of our act of remembrance and one which allows HSD to stand as a proud part of the City of Dundee’s history and future.

Dr Halliday was committed to ensuring that HSD was an active part of the wider Dundee Community. He was a member of

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Dundee Rotary Club and chaired Youth Committee for many years. In this capacity he also took an active part in the Rotary Youth Leadership Award, where he often spoke of having the privilege of meeting extraordinary young people from across the city. In addition, he was the driving force behind the Dundee Rotary Young Musician of the Year (Instrumental and Vocal) competition for many years and contributed to building it into the huge success that it is today. As Rector he was a member of the Bonnetmakers and therefore the Nine Incorporated Trades of Dundee. The historic connection between the Nine Trades and the School was a responsibility and honour that he took very seriously in recognition of their generous support. Moreover, in 2019, Dr Halliday worked in partnership with the Nine Trades to establish the Innes Duffus Lecture Series, aimed at young people across the city, to recognise the contribution that FP Innes has made through a lifetime of service to the history of the Nine Trades. Dr Halliday secured Sir Tom Devine Kt OBE FRSE FBA to give the inaugural lecture. This is now established as a regular fixture in Dundee’s cultural and historical calendar. As a member of the Dundee Cultural Partnership, he was able to build bridges with many key members of the cultural community in the city and he was a loyal member of the Dundee Symphony Orchestra, giving his time and talents to this wonderful Dundee institution.

The Orchestra also regularly used the school buildings as their practice venue. In these ways, as Rector, John Halliday built many partnerships to the lasting benefit of the school.

Dr Halliday was a supporter of the constituent groups of the school and regularly met with representatives of the Friends of the High School and the Old Boys and Old Girls Clubs. He oversaw the creation of the Former Pupils’ Association and was an Honorary President of the DHSFPCC, and Honorary VicePresident of the DHSFPRFC. He was also an active member of the Dundee-Alexandria and Dundee-Würzburg twinning associations Dr Halliday has overseen so many extraordinary events over his time as Rector. Who will ever forget ‘Party on the Pillars’ where a spectacular open-air concert and fireworks display rounded off a day when HRH The Princess Royal visited the school to unveil a plaque marking 150 years since the signing of our Royal Charter?

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Review 2020 Red Nose Day 2008 saw the whole school form an enormous red nose in the playground for charity. Through Dr Halliday’s efforts and encouragement, we supported the Archie Foundation via the Oor Wullie Bucket Trail. After a personal letter from the Rector to the Courier, appealing for information, we managed to rescue HSD Oor Wullie and bring him ‘home’! In 2014 to mark the centenary of the start of hostilities in World War 1, the whole school (L1- F6) walked from Euclid Crescent to the top of the Law. These events demonstrate Dr Halliday’s unique approach: High challenge, low risk - with creativity, charitable giving, respect for tradition and a genuine belief in children and young people to rise to a challenge and excel. It is these qualities for which he will be so fondly remembered. In the words of one parent

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stop learning, from each other, from external influences and not least, from the pupils. Thank you to all who have accompanied me on this amazing journey, to those who have challenged, supported and inspired me at every turn. I will always carry that with me. Thank you!”

Dr John D Halliday

on the announcement of his retirement:“School

days will be remembered by my children as extremely happy, fulfilled, community spirited, collegiate and exciting. They are well-rounded, responsible citizens and eager to take their place in the world and that applies to generations of children who have attended school under your leadership. This will be your legacy.”

We will leave the last word to Dr Halliday himself:

“It has been a huge privilege to lead this fine school, one of the oldest in the UK, and one whose influence has been felt across the nation, as well as in Dundee and Tayside, since 1239. For me teaching is not just a job. It is a profession, and I like to think a highly skilled one. More than that, though, it is a vocation! The opportunity to nurture, encourage and challenge young people is immensely rewarding. Hard work yes, but in the time-honoured phrase, the more you put in the more you get out of it. Great teachers, and I have known many over the last 30 years, never

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Review 2020 Party on the Pillars 2009

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Review 2020

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Dave Preston

We were stunned and saddened by the death of teacher Dave Preston, very suddenly at home on 1 August 2020.

Dave joined the school in 2007, initially teaching Graphic Communication and then Technology, Engineering Science and latterly also Physics.

He was a hugely dedicated member of the School’s Combined Cadet Force and was a crucial member of staff on numerous camps, exercises, parades and weekly training. Dave brought calm good sense and pragmatism combined with a kindness and compassion which ensured excellent pastoral care at all times.

“Dave was such a warm-hearted and genuine colleague. His quiet manner belied his deep intellect and passion for teaching and engaging with the young people in his care. He was beloved by his pupils and was a teacher who thought deeply about how to bring out the best in every individual.

Rector Lise Hudson said,

“Dave always took particular time to check in that all was going well.

He frequently popped his head round office and classroom doors or stopped in the corridor to ask

how everything was going. We will always remember his kind words of encouragement at difficult times. He was totally committed to HSD and passionate about the opportunities that the school provided for young people.

Dave rose to the challenge when asked to create additional boards for the rededication of our war memorial, spending many hours in pursuit of a perfect match and a fitting tribute to those who lost their lives in battle.

Inspiring young people in all things related to technology Dave ran lunchtime and after school activities including the popular soldering club. He gave up his spare time to help produce the wonderful acrylic awards for our annual Sports ceremony and again stepped in to help pupils dress our main Christmas tree with decorations produced in our workshop.

“Most importantly Dave was a devoted father and husband who understood the importance of family life to all that he did professionally and personally.

Dave is going to be hugely missed by us all.”

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Review 2020

Nursery Farewells ...

We have said goodbye to three valued members of our team this year.

Anne Mitchell joined the High School

team 8 years ago working in our Finance team.

In 2017, Anne joined the Nursery team as our first Nursery Administrator. She was a huge asset to the team and built up many positive relationships with parents and children, as she greeted them warmly each morning. Anne played an important part in keeping our office organised and running smoothly. We will miss her bubbly personality and smiling face at the door each morning the most. Good luck to Anne with her well-deserved retirement.

Joy McGahie joined the HSD Nursery team in 2015, as one of our first part-time Early Years Support Workers. Over the years, she has supported all aspects of working with the children and supporting our Early Years Practitioners to deliver a high quality curriculum. She is a valued member of the staff team and we will miss her enthusiasm each morning. We are very lucky that Joy will continue to support us through ongoing Supply work when needed.

Holly Robertson joined us as an Early

Years Practitioner in 2016. As a Key Person to many children over the years, she played an important part in developing all aspects of the nursery, particularly our high quality curriculum. Our parents, children and staff will miss her greatly. We wish her all the best in her future endeavours.

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Farewell to ...

Mick Kitson

Mick joined the English department to replace Flora Murray, initially for a few weeks up to the end of the summer term. He immediately threw himself into teaching and brought the punctuation song, wild corridor productions of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and a wonderful wit. If you haven’t yet read his book, “Sal” do, and he has another one out later in the year. Our thanks and very best wishes go with Kit as he puts is ‘mortar board aside once again (although we are sure not for the last time!) and returns to his writing.

Kirstie McKie

Miss Kirstie McKie joined the History and Modern Studies Department in August 2006.

Kirstie was responsible for the preparation and delivery of History and Modern Studies courses to a full range of year groups and SQA classes from F1 to F6. Kirstie was passionate about creating a positive and supportive classroom environment and she always engaged her pupils with a range of strategies to foster a love of the subject and develop their academic skills. Like many of her colleagues Kirstie was an experienced SQA marker and this allowed her to develop and share her expertise across the curriculum.

In addition, she was responsible for designing and maintaining the department area of the Schools VLE, and also took over the coordination of the annual F6 AH conference.

Kirstie also took her talents into the Co curriculum running a weekly table tennis club and supporting lunch time activities in the History Society. In addition, Kirstie acted as a UCAS tutor every year and supported students in their applications beyond school in this capacity. Kirstie was the Staff Chair of the Senior Years Pupil Council and was involved in the early stages of the successful F1- F6 mentor system. In addition, she willingly took on the role of Editor of the

school’s annual Review publication which, as those who have undertaken this role will know the demands that this brought! Undaunted, Kirstie ensured that this was a first-class publication that showcased the vibrant life of the school. Over this summer, Kirstie decided to take a career break to look after her young family. Kirstie leaves with our very best wishes for the future and our grateful thanks for all the varied contributions she has made to HSD. In addition the support that she has given to pupils pastorally over the years and her enthusiastic involvement in the co- curricular life of the school has been very much appreciated.

Aimee Howland

Although Aimee was only with us for the school year she made a significant contribution to the Marketing Team with her digital skills and wonderful ability to capture the essence of what HSD represents through our promotional videos.

Aimee demonstrated the power of our school community during lockdown with the stirring acapella ‘We’ll Meet Again’ performance by pupils and staff as a tribute to VE day. We wish Aimee well as she expands her own communications business.

Karen Hamilton

Karen was a dependable member of the Music Department staff for many years, teaching all the woodwind instruments. A talented performer herself, as well as conductor of the Brechin City Band, she taught her pupils with a calm resolve, and they thrived due to her extensive experience. As mother to Jack (Class of 2014) and Alan (Class of 2016), she had a great effect on Music at the High School in more ways than one! Karen was recently appointed Head of Instrumental Instruction at the Dundee Schools Music Service and has decided to concentrate her teaching there.

We wish her well for the future.

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Sarah Grimes

Sarah joined the High School in 2019 as the Admissions Co-ordinator. During her time at the School Mrs Grimes welcomed many new and prospective families and particularly enjoyed taking families on tours to see the School in action. We wish her well in the furthering of her own education at the University of Dundee.

Caoimh McLaughlin

Caoimh joined HSD in January 2020 and was welcomed into the Early Years to teach L3.

Although Caoimh studied in Dundee and was teaching in Perth before coming to us, she hails from Derry. Friendly, warm and full of fun, Caoimh settled into life at HSD very quickly.

Staff and pupils found her soft, lilting Northern Irish accent so engaging. I know that her pupils particularly enjoyed listening to Caoimh at story time!

Caoimh only managed ten weeks with us before we went into lockdown and moved our teaching online. However, she showed extraordinary resilience and managed this transition with ease. Caoimh’s online lessons were creative and inspiring and her pupils looked forward to her classes.

Caoimh left HSD in June 2020 for an exciting new adventure, teaching P1 pupils at Bellver International School, in the beautiful city of Palma on sun-soaked island of Mallorca! She now lives in an apartment (complete with roof terrace) only 20 minutes from the city centre, 15 minutes from the beach and 10 minutes from the school! Caoimh’s mother and stepfather moved to Palma 8 years ago so she was delighted to take up this post and be nearer to her family.

Caoimh is very fond of Dundee, having lived here for several years. She plans to visit and catch up with friends, as soon as she can.

Caoimh knows that she will be very welcome at school and we look forward to seeing her again soon.

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Farewell to ...

Susan Williams

Mrs Williams joined HSD in 1999 as a Geography Teacher and from that first day has been positivity personified. Those of us lucky enough to be on the receiving end of her wise words know that these have been carved out of a lifetime of experiences. These qualities made her a brilliant Guidance Teacher taking on the role of APT Guidance in Wallace. Susan rarely had a free break or lunch to enjoy at her leisure, instead there was a pupil, or member of staff, perched on a desk seeking her counsel. Mrs Williams has’ guided’ countless generations of DHS/ HSD pupils as they have faced challenges, some in the worst of times but her humanity, sense of fun and genuine warmth has empowered her pupils, to believe in themselves and reach for the stars. Susan is a very smart lady and observes the world through a unique pair of eyes. Her classroom is overflowing with productivity and when a pupil enters BH24 they know they are entering a bastion of trust that will support, nurture and challenge them. Eruptions of laughter are a common feature and her Head of Department (Jenni Stewart) has been known to run through and check the class only to find Susan and the pupils all in hysterics.

Mrs Williams is renowned for her passion for everything Rugby. A constant support on the touchline for the 1XV, Susan became an honorary member of the squad and their no.

1 cheerleader. Her sunny disposition belying a fierce (and vocal) competitive spirit! As a

embraced the excitement of an iPad pilot for the school. Although this project had its challenges, it also provided an opportunity to explore how the school could develop learning with the use of technology. Claire was a fantastic ambassador for digital learning and embraced this new initiative wholeheartedly. A switch to L3 was not something Claire had anticipated however, in 2015 she made the move down the stairs into the Early Years. Claire loved working with the younger children and settled into her role as an Early Years teacher very quickly.

Claire’s pupils responded to her high standards and excelled in her class.

stalwart of the FP Rugby Club, Susan and her husband Spot were great supporters of the club. We miss Susan very much indeed, but all our warmest wishes go with her as she steps into retirement and we know she will keep her bonds of friendship and family with us in the years to come.

Billy Craig Billy joined HSD as Director of Estates in 2016 and left us in Nov 2019. He established annual maintenance and capital projects during his tenure with us and also built excellent relationships with local suppliers, ensuring we managed our spending appropriately. Billy was always very conscious of health and safety and his Army background did prove very useful on many occasions as he dealt with a large staff compliment. We thank Billy for his loyal service at HSD and we wish him the very best in his new role with the V&A here in Dundee.

Not long after her move to L3, Claire grasped the opportunity to lead the school as Charities and Community Outreach Coordinator. This was a whole school remit and the first opportunity for a member of the Junior Years team to tackle a role from Nursery to F6. Although challenging, this extremely rewarding position gave Claire the chance to work with pupils of all ages, with staff from across the school and with many people from the local community. Over her two-year tenure Claire led the school to raise a record breaking £79,045.09! Although she has lots of great memories, the highlight must be the Oor Willie Bucket Trail! He holds a special place in her heart.

Claire Reid Claire joined the school in August 2008 after completing her probationary year and she started her HSD career in L7.

The following year, a move to L6 lasted for six years during which she threw herself into the appropriate History topics. Little did her husband know that he would be dragged to places such as Hampton Court Palace and Culloden all in the name of Tudor and Jacobite research. In one particular year during her time in L6, Claire and her class

In addition to her charities remit, she also participated in several co-curricular clubs over the years. In her first year with L7 she enjoyed accompanying the hockey and rugby teams to their away matches on Saturday mornings providing enthusiasm from the sidelines. She also had the opportunity to lead the chess club with many tense and exciting moments during the annual tournament.

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Claire enjoyed a variety of trips during her eleven and a half years at school. From Paris with L7 and Dalguise with L6 to Megginch Castle, Edinburgh Zoo and Blair Drummond Safari Park with L3. She thoroughly enjoyed seeing the children blossom in a different environment from the classroom.

Speaking of trips, Claire has gone on to pastures new and is now living in Houston, Texas and we wish her well in this exciting new chapter. She will miss the High School community greatly however, she has promised to keep in touch through social media and we all look forward to her visiting the school, when she is back in her hometown of Dundee.

Christy O’Donnell Christy joined HSD in January 2015 and immediately had a big impact! After a brief spell working with Primary rugby teams, he moved up the age groups before getting himself the big promotion to U-16 squad. Last year he led the team on a hugely successful Scottish Schools Cup run to the final at Murrayfield.

Although we lost the final, we did win the first 10 minutes! Christy is renowned for initiating the HSD Sports Awards Dinner and every year he has developed and expanded this fantastic event even taking it online during lockdown this year! In addition, Christy led the School athletics programme, reinstating fixtures with other schools and hosting our very own ‘meet’ In the classroom, Christy has played a huge role in delivery of Higher PE and in designing

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Farewell to ... recent course design in line with SQA changes and he is renowned for always go out of his way to help pupils – extra Higher revision sessions, one on one training sessions, meal planning to name but a few. Christy loves travelling and he became a stalwart on foreign tips and tours across range of departments! Paris, Opal Coast, Berlin, Krakow, South Africa, Skiing, USA, France with Modern Languages. Christy is a great team player in every sense of the word, and we wish him well as he embarks on his two-year sabbatical at Wellington College, China.

Ellen Mawhinney Ellen joined the High School Music Department staff for the Session 2018-2019, teaching singing while Mrs Colgan was away on her maternity leave. A graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Ellen hails originally from Northern Ireland. She brought an ebullient enthusiasm and infectious humour to the department, and quickly endeared herself to staff and pupils alike.

A skilled singer and communicator, her pupils’ singing flourished under her careful guidance.

Ellen threw herself into producing a Cabaret performance with Mr Tonner and 35 pupils in F4-6, and it was such a success that it ended up being performed four times during the Spring Term 2019. Having won the Inaugural Charles Wood Song Competition in Armagh in March 2019, Ellen returned to her vocal studies with a Masters course at the Royal Conservatoire from September 2019.

Inspiring Education

Mandy Arthur Mandy first joined HSD or DHS (as it is also known!) in 1990.

Mandy was employed by the High School as a teacher of PE, where she excelled in all areas.

In 1996, to accommodate her young family, Mandy moved into peripatetic PE teaching in both Primary and Secondary schools across Angus and Dundee City, returning to the High School in 2003 to once again teach PE across all areas of the School. Mandy spent another seven years as a Primary PE specialist working in Perth and Kinross before emigrating to Dubai with her husband’s work. We were very fortunate indeed to be able to have Mandy join us to cover a shortterm PE teaching role back at the High School on her relocation back to Scotland in August 2019. As part of that role Mandy also developed a rich co-curricular offer around her passion for yoga. She was able to build a wide base of pupils and found that the interest amongst our senior pupils was particularly strong. Alongside her PE teaching Mandy created first class yoga modules and groups. This became even more important with the closure of the school due to COVID 19 in March 2020. As the integrated curriculum moved online, Mandy delivered live Yoga lessons from our Care Hub each week and offered vital wellbeing support through this medium for the whole community. Mandy made a very welcome return to the PE department and took on the responsibility of ‘looking after’ everyone. She made and sprayed us all with home-made disinfectant prior to lock down and produced some excellent home baking to

keep us all nourished up. We send all our best wishes as Mandy moves on from HSD to build her Yoga business but she will never be far from her ‘spiritual home’ here!

Flora Murray Flora Murray was much loved by all she taught. She took the lead with Advanced Higher, creating a structured course but also worked well with younger pupils who loved her enthusiasm and the way she brought texts to life. Fiercely committed to environmental concerns she loved her work with the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and was a stalwart on late night trips to the theatre. She is now working at Edinburgh Academy who are very lucky to have such a skilled teacher; we miss her professionalism, organisational skills and how much she made us all laugh.

WO2 Willie Nichol

(DHSCCF SSI 1993-2020) Sergeant Major Willie Nichol worked for and with the High School for over 30 years as a Regular Army (Black Watch) training sergeant and then as DHSCCF’s School Staff Instructor for the last 27 years. He was also responsible for coaching and managing all the boys’ hockey for over 20 years and did much to enhance the credibility and profile of boys’ hockey as well as the developing hundreds of players over the years. He was also responsible for all First Aid instruction and a significant number of pupils that he taught went on to gain valuable First Aid skills and qualifications.

In was in his CCF capacity that he really

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demonstrated his selfless commitment, giving up his time in the evenings, weekends and holidays to take groups of cadets away for rock climbing, small bore shooting and drill training/competitions in addition to routine CCF activities run in the holidays and weekends. The welfare of each cadet and their enjoyment of the CCF was at all times his priority and his talents and enthusiasm led to many group and individual successes. These ranged from winning national competitions in drill and rock climbing to regular recognition of DHSCCF to be the best contingent attending CCF Central Camps. The development of individual cadets in terms of their cadet skills, leadership and instructional ability by giving them the confidence and support to allow them to achieve their potential, was very much a priority for WO2 Nichol.

Much of his hard work from a logistical and administration point of view was unseen but his effort and thoroughness in these capacities ensured that all events ran very smoothly and that the weekly checks and routines were always completed to a high standard and with an impressive attention to detail. The weekly training programme, local camps and events that he developed were both diverse and challenging with him using his imagination and army connections to develop and deliver them.

As he retires to spend time in Spain, we wish him and his wife Rita all the very best for a well earned retirement. Both DHSCCF and HSD owe him a great deal and are hugely appreciative for all he has done for the pupils of the school and the cadets of the CCF. C. McAdam Lt Colonel, DHSCCF Contingent Commander (1994-present)

Review 2020 High School of Dundee teacher awarded medal in New Year Honours List A High School of Dundee teacher has been awarded a Medal of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours List.

Irene McGrath is to receive the BEM in recognition of her services to Scottish schools debating.

was “shocked, surprised and the award of the medal, which she will be presented with at a local ceremony.

Irene

said

she

delighted” by

She said, “Surreal is the only word to describe it!

“The day the letter arrived I had actually been with pupils at a debating competition in St Andrews all day. I wasn’t expecting anything of importance in the mail, so I didn’t check it until the next morning.

“It took three years of my life to organise,” she said.

“Years later I was chatting to a student working on a till in the supermarket. For some reason we got talking about debating and he started telling me excitedly about when WSDC had come to his school! It was tremendously rewarding to hear that it had had such an impact.”

Irene, who for many years taught French and Russian and is now Head of Academic Administration at the High School, was nominated by staff and alumni of the School and Team Scotland.

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as many young people as possible, from as many different schools from across the country, to stand up and express structured and persuasive cases based upon reasoned argument and properly researched facts.

“I get a huge buzz out of seeing them learn how to do that and I think it’s an extremely valuable skill for our young people to possess and to be able to take out into the world.”

As well as being the School’s debating coach, she has attended every WSDC since 2003 as an adjudicator and is currently secretary of the international Board of Directors of WSDC. She said, “My

goal has been, and continues to be, to encourage

“When I opened the envelope, I just burst into tears. I never thought anything like this would happen to me.”

Irene has been involved in Scottish schools debating for 43 years, serving as a member of the Scottish Schools International Debating Council – which organises and supports the Scottish team for the annual World Schools Debating Championships since 2003 and chairing the body from 2007-2017.

She lists her proudest debating achievement as having been Convenor of the World Schools Debating Championships (WSDC) in 2011, when, with strong support from Dundee City Council and all its schools, Dundee hosted over 400 participants from 48 nations for the ten-day event.

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Review 2020 A tribute to our Form 6 Class of 2020 As the School was closed at short notice there was no opportunity for an official class photo but some of our Form 6 got together to pose for one last snap on the pillars.

Unfortunately, not all of our Form 6 were there on that day but we hope that our Class of 2020 will be able return to School when Covid restrictions and guidelines allow so we can celebrate some of the traditional end of school events in the coming months.

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prepare future them for their

find out more about the benefits of an all-through education here

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Review 2020 Mr Joss’s L7 class

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Mrs Trotter’s L7 class

Mrs Coupar’s L7 class

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L7 activities

• Crisp packet collection for helicopters with Dr Judith Joss • Mr Rodriquez, visiting Student Teacher from Texas • Safe Taysiders Visit • Christmas-themed indoor hockey tournament

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