Lasswade christmas newsletter 2014

Lasswade High School Winter Newsletter December 2014

Dream Believe Achieve @ Lasswade

Message from the Headmaster, Mr A Williamson Welcome to our festive Newsletter to end the 2014 term at Lasswade High School. As always, it has been a busy and very successful term in the school.

We have some amazing highlights as always and the School Newsletter only captures a sample of the outstanding work and effort that happens on a daily basis as our young people work in partnership with all members of staff.

Last week’s Christmas Concert embodied the spirit of success in the school with outstanding performances from our students supported by the tremendous effort of the Music Department and our Music Instructors.

The final week of term saw two evening performances of the school pantomime ‘A Christmas Carol’ - a truly wonderful and highly entertaining show! It is a pleasure to see so many talented students working together to produce outstanding performances.

We are particularly proud of our students who have recently become the Scottish SBBA Percussion Ensemble Champions.

As always at this time of year our students and staff have excelled in charitable events and I would like to highlight the Christmas Shoebox Appeal and our ‘Journey for Change’ cycling challenge to support our efforts to bring staff and students from South Africa to Lasswade in February 2015. The cycling challenge has led to entertaining moments of competition between staff and students and even witnessed a tired Headmaster pedalling like fury but getting nowhere!

One of the highlights of the session has been the announcement that Lasswade will host a Confucius Hub on behalf of Scottish and Chinese Governments and Midlothian Council.

The Hub will support the learning of Mandarin and deeper learning of Chinese culture.

As many parents will know, we are very proud of our 10 year link with Shanghai and the Hub will fund an additional Mandarin teacher shared with our partner primary schools and will add to the innovative work that we are undertaking with Heriot Watt and Edinburgh Universities. Within Curriculum for Excellence there is a strong focus on ‘future learning’ and the encouragement for language learning. Intertwined with our ongoing commitment to the use of technology this is one of the many things that makes Lasswade ‘special’ in terms of state school education.

Education at Lasswade is about building capacity and ambition in relation to Skills for Life, Work and Learning. This was exemplified recently by a highly successful Work Experience programme where so many of our young people gained valuable life skills in their work placements with outstanding feedback from local and national employers.

Scottish statistics recently published reveal that 95% of our leavers entered Positive Destinations, up significantly on previous statistics. We have the highest number of students gaining university places and positive leaver destinations in the whole of Midlothian. Huge credit needs to be given to our Pupil Support Staff, classroom teachers and partners.

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

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Work towards academic achievement is ongoing and I wish our senior students ‘all the best’ as they work over this holiday to prepare for their prelim examinations on their return to school in January. I always tell students that exam success is not about ‘good luck’ but about hard work and effort. A successful school however should not only be about academic success – a school must also promote values beyond the importance of attainment and achievement. With this in mind, I would like to highlight the efforts of the History Department in relation to this year’s Remembrance events in Lasswade. This was truly special and symbolised by the Poppy Memorial and our students’ commitment to the Assemblies and the memorial event on 11 November.

Schools should also push innovation and creativity and I would like to congratulate the Young Enterprise Team with their success in the Lothian Competition. Welcome done to all involved and get your orders in for their brilliant phone covers as soon as possible!

We were also extremely proud to be awarded our Eco Schools Green Flag. Lasswade now has a tradition of over 10 years of highlighting the importance of environmental awareness through the Green Flag initiative. Achieving a Green Flag is no easy task and I would like to congratulate our Eco Schools Team and our former Geography teacher, Mrs Wilson, for the latest achievement in setting a high standard for this expectation within and beyond the school.

At this time of year I would like to thank all parents for supporting their children and supporting our efforts in Lasswade High School. The Parent Council Christmas Fair was a tremendous success and we are very fortunate to have so many active, enterprising and supportive parents leading our Parent Council. This session’s P7 Open Evening was the busiest the school has ever experienced and we are still apologetic for not opening the extended Assembly Hall for accommodating the huge numbers of parents from within and beyond our catchment area interested in educating their child at Lasswade.

Let’s hope the snow stays away until the Christmas holidays and stops on 6 January to allow us to accelerate into an exciting new term at Lasswade High School.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Senior Leadership Team…

Read on!

Mr A. Williamson, Headmaster

Inside the Christmas Newsletter: China Visit ‘Journey for Change’ Remembrance Activity Eco Schools Young Enterprise Music and Drama News Sports News Parent Council

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

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Learning Charter

Lasswade High School Learning Charter Determination

Respect

Students have a right to expect…  

  

Respect and fair treatment from everyone (staff and students) Well structured and well-organised lessons which are relevant to students’ learning experience.

Opportunities to achieve their potential in every lesson.

A pleasant and secure learning environment.

Quality feedback with support and next steps.

Students have a responsibility to …      

Ambition

Effort

Treat everyone with respect.

Come to school prepared to learn with the right materials.

Have the right attitude to learning.

Allow everyone the opportunity to learn by not being selfish and disrupting lessons.

Complete class and homework on time.

Use feedback and support to make improvements.

Motivation

Teachers have a right to expect that…    

Students arrive to class on time.

Students come to classes with the right materials and the right attitude.

Students are actively involved in their learning.

Homework and classwork are completed to the best of each individual’s ability.

Teachers have a responsibility to …  



 

Design lessons to engage and include all students.

Set high expectations for all learners to encourage everyone to reach his or her potential.

Explain to the students what they are learning and how they will know that they have been successful.

Provide timely feedback on the progress of each individual in their class.

Help students to develop the 4 capaci-

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

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Lasswade students star in SQA Study Skills Last year the Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA) asked Lasswade students to help promote study skills. In June students went to Optima House in Glasgow (SQA HQ) and helped the SQA with advice for students. They helped to produce short videos on topics such as coping with exams, using past papers and study skills top tips. These videos have now been completed by the SQA and can be viewed on their YouTube Channel, SQAonline. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZLPZFnH12E&list=UUbzGN8m38ov-_lq_FKVq2Sw&index=10

Confucius Confucius Hub Congratulations to the staff and students of Lasswade High School, having been chosen as the Confucius Hub for Midlothian.

Confucius Classrooms are based in schools and serve the local community. The hub concept promotes joint planning of cultural activities, sharing ideas and resources to stimulate the learning and teaching of Chinese language and culture.

Our ultimate aim is for every student in Scotland to have access to a Confucius Classroom to benefit from their valuable resources.

‘Confucius Institute of the Year’ The Confucius Institute for Scotland's School has been named global ‘Confucius Institute of the Year’ at the 2014 Hanban World conference. This annual accolade rewards Confucius Institutes for their outstanding contribution to the learning and teaching of Chinese language and culture. It is a great honour for Scotland to have received this prestigious award. Scotland would not have been named as Confucius Institute of the Year if it were not for the ongoing support it receives from teachers, young learners and partners around Scotland. Lasswade is delighted to continue this very strong programme as the Confucius Hub for Midlothian. Congratulations to everyone involved for making CISS such a success.

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

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China 2014: ‘Beyond the Panda’ Lasswade High School's link with Tianlin No 3 Middle School in central Shanghai is now 10 years old. The ten years of twinning has seen extremely successful reciprocal visits of staff and students from both schools. This year saw an exciting development in our twinning when we were invited by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland to go ‘Beyond the Panda’.

The project we were offered was sponsored by Jaguar Land Rover China.

Our trip began with flights to Chengdu via Heathrow and Shanghai. From Chengdu we drove through the mountains and valleys of Szechuan Province and on to Ya'an, the area devastated by last year's earthquake. Our destination was a tiny village and Xin Cheng School which had been rendered unsafe by the earthquake. At the school we received the warmest of welcomes from the staff and students. Paired up with Xin Cheng students we exchanged gifts and described each others' lives and schools. After lunch we played badminton and table tennis. It was very easy to make friends with these lovely young people. The students in the school are from the remotest areas in the mountains and live in dormitories in the school.

We were treated like celebrities with people from the village coming to have a look at us. The Headteacher told us that in the 35 years of the school we were its first foreign visitors.

We felt very privileged to have this fascinating glimpse of rural China.

The next day we travelled to Bifengxia where pandas had been moved for safety after the earthquake. We were joined by the students from Xin Cheng, some of whom had never before been out of their village. They were as excited as we were to be up close with pandas. We spent the most amazing day learning about pandas from Professor Tang a world expert and the man responsible for bringing Yang Guan and Tian Tian to Edinburgh Zoo. We saw baby pandas in their cots and cubs playing in the trees testing out their climbing skills. We had the incredible privilege of actually feeding panda cake and carrots to the pandas. We were also given the task of breaking up bamboo to feed to them. These opportunities are quite unique and made for an emotional experience for everyone. Like us the Xin Cheng students had never been close up with pandas. Our two days in Szechuan Province were an experience we will never forget.

After leaving Szechuan Province, flying from Chengdu to Shanghai, we picked up what has become our school's biannual trip to Tianlin No.3 Middle School. A delay in our flight leaving Shanghai, due to “military activities” over Shanghai, meant that on our arrival there was only a little time before the students were whisked away by their host families. (continues on page 6)

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

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China 2014 continued...

The next day we all met up at school again for a tour of the school and lessons in artwork, dumpling making, knot tying, calligraphy and Tai Chi. The students experienced lunch Tianlin style with dumplings and then a tray of food each from the canteen. Chinese hospitality can sometimes be overwhelming, particularly at meal times. After lunch our students and their hosts practised songs and dances for the Anniversary celebration Our second day in school, we spoke to a class of Year 7 students telling them about our school, our work with SCEN (Scotland China Education Network) and our trip to Szechuan.

The Chinese students were excited to hear that Scottish students are studying Mandarin. The students then went to play ping-pong. The rest of the day was spent preparing for our 10th Anniversary. To celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the friendship between our two schools, staff and students from both schools played music, danced and sang traditional songs. Mr Mitchell and Mrs Du (the Headteacher of Tianlin No 3 Middle School) signed a friendship agreement for the next ten years. Mrs Du was presented with a Quaich as sign of the friendship between our schools. Mrs Du confirmed that her school would soon have a new sports facility where there would be room devoted to Lassawde! After school we went to an acrobat circus. “Intersection of Time” featured: acrobats; gymnasts, jugglers, dancers and motor cyclists in a metal cage!

Saturday was our day as tourists in Shangahi. Our hosts dropped us off at the staff hotel and we jumped onto the subway to Yu gardens. There were traditional Chinese style buildings and lots of shops. There is also a zig-zag bridge across a pond full of fish. We walked through to the Bund which is lined with European style buildings from the 30’s. This is the riverbank of the Huang Po, (Yellow River) where we had magnificent views of the skyline of Pudong with its massive skyscrapers. We crossed the river by ferry and walked to lunch. Afterwards we walked to the Shanghai World Financial Centre, with the world’s highest observation deck. There were spectacular views of Shanghai including straight down through the glass floor! Next was the market to barter for bargains and finally back on the subway to meet up with our hosts.

Sunday was spent with our host families in and around Shanghai, where went canal cruising, shopping and karaoke singing!

We were sad as this was our last day of our adventure and we would have a long journey home the next day.

See the video of our visit:

http://lasswadehsc.mgfl.net/?p=8379

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

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SCEN China Youth Summit On Monday 10 November, our Headmaster Mr Williamson, Deputy Head Mr Mitchell, former Deputy Head Mrs Mitchell, Mandarin teacher Mrs Zhang and 10 students attended the Third SCEN China Youth Summit at Gleneagles. The conference was attended by Mr Mike Russell, the then Minister of Education and the Chinese Ambassador via the Edinburgh Consulate.

Our students shared their experience of visiting China with more than 300 delegates and their wonderful presentation was received with great enthusiasm and praise. S6 student Ruth Higginson, an ambassador of SCEN, also told the audience about the ‘DREAM’ values of Lasswade High School and encouraged everyone to work hard in learning Mandarin and achieving their own ‘dreams’.

The students very much enjoyed this event. S4 Mandarin student Hannah Bertram said she enjoyed seeing the other girls up on the stage talking about their amazing experience in China, while Rebekah Lansley said: ’’I found Gleneagles very useful and I had a very enjoyable day seeing how other schools have a strong relationship with China’’.

It was also announced on that day that Lasswade High School and our partner Primary Schools has been given the honour of being selected as the Confucius Hub in Midlothian which will come into place next year. This means our school will be the centre of Mandarin Chinese teaching and learning in this area.

After visiting our sister school in Shanghai, Mr Mitchell brought us back some very useful Chinese brushes, which were used and loved by students and their parents during the P7 Open Evening and as you see in the picture are also being used for staff training!

'Mandarin is not hard to learn at all'.

Our S1 and S2 students can show you how easy and fun learning Mandarin can be!

This session, the Modern Languages Department will enter the first ever cohort of students for SQA Certificate Awards in Mandarin.

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

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Remembrance Event: 11 November 2014 On Armistice Day, November 11, every student in Lasswade High School participated in a whole school remembrance activity. This involved all students and teachers temporarily stopping their regular class work and watching a short video clip made by the Lasswade History Department in the lead up to 11 am.

In the video Mr Murray, Mr McKay, Mrs Crawford and Miss McLay introduced three local stories about the Great War. After the video clip, students then observed one minute’s silence. Students were then given a poppy to write a message of remembrance. Poppies remember not just WWI soldiers but all those who have fallen in previous and current conflicts.

Some staff and S4 students used these poppies to create a very moving display in the Atrium for students and the community to see and pay their respects. It was a very poignant day for all those involved.

Photograph by Romany Howarth

Link for Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8xUuRn_5pU&list=UU5WqHeT0jVMxc_5lVbaLPcQ

Journey for Change Article by Erinn Murray The S6 South Africa Committee have been organising a cycle (on exercise bikes on Lasswade High School and Centre) to South Africa as part of our fundraising to bring 6 senior students from South Africa to Lasswade.

The money is being raised by teachers and students each cycling part of the 6,700 miles—the distance between the students in Umlazi in South Africa and Lasswade. The students will be here for 10 days and will attend our school and live with students from Lasswade. This will be a very different experience for them. They will share their experiences with us and learn along with us.

The students will also be performing at a conference we have organised where senior students from across Scotland will work together to address gender based violence and suicide. Our aim is to improve the lives of young people. We look forward to this opportunity, which will benefit everyone taking part and will be an unforgettable experience.

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

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Edinburgh University Pathology Event Article by Rachael Lamb and Zs贸fia Blair On November 5th, Zs贸fia Blair, Shay Lannan, Owen Clarke and I represented the school at a pathology event run by The Royal School of Veterinary Studies. It was overall a very informative and interesting day which we all enjoyed very much. Over the afternoon, we rotated around four different activities.

Initially, we were provided with lunch which was quite good, and then we were taken to changing rooms where we donned some rather unflattering overalls and shoe covers.

Our first activity was very interesting. We, with a professor from the university, were allowed to view and handle pre-dissected specimens from a range of different animals.

There was an entire body of a piglet, the skull of a deformed pug, which suffered a congenital illness, and a football-sized ovarian granulosa cell tumour from a cow amongst other things. The items were labelled with the different structures (kidney, liver, etc.), the disease it suffered from (cancer, mainly) and some details of the illness. If we had any further questions, the professor was happy to answer them and very friendly, as were all the other staff. The only slight blight on the experience was the terrible smell, but it was still great.

Next, we entered a large - rather ominous - room where we viewed the post-mortem of a sheep. Luckily, none of us were too squeamish so coped with this well. The professor cut open the sheep's stomachs and showed us all of the different sections. It turns out sheep have four stomachs - who knew? When the membrane was cut, many rather pungent gases escaped, which were not particularly pleasant. The inside was filled with green mush which became increasingly less solid as we travelled down the digestive tract. The professor explained a lot of the different structures as he went through and asked us a variety of questions. We were allowed to hold the heart, which was surprisingly light and a brain, which was surprisingly heavy. When he finished the post-mortem, he answered any of the questions we had, which was very helpful. Overall, it was extremely interesting and great to discover that we are not sick at the sight of blood, as most of us are considering careers in medicine or some other biology-related career.

The experience was invaluable - though smelly!

(Article continues on page 10)

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

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Edinburgh University Pathology Event Cont...

(Continued from page 9) Our third activity was ‘Pathogens up Close’. This allowed us to see more of the research-type skills involved in various branches of pathology. In this activity we were tasked with identifying a bacterium. We did this by carrying out gram staining, catalase test and many more.

For our last activity, we were led in to a small room containing one microscope.

However, the microscope was attached to 10 different eyepieces, which enabled everyone in the group to sit together and look at the same slide at the same time. We got to see a blood sample, which showed the thousands of tiny red blood cells. The white cells were also present, and these appeared purple. We got to see the differences between the different types of white blood cells. We then got to see different samples of blood taken from an animal suffering from a condition to see how the condition altered the blood. For example a dog with cancer had far fewer red blood cells and more white blood cells, and a lot of them were misshapen. This final activity was fascinating and we learnt a lot from the short 15 minute explanation.

Clothes Show Live: Home Economics and Art Our annual trip to the Clothes Show Live in Birmingham was a great success. The students enjoyed several catwalk shows including designs by graduates of major fashion universities across the country. They were treated to hair, make-up and lots of shopping as well as celebrity spotting and paparazzi opportunities!

The highlight of the day was the 45 minute long fashion show extravaganza hosted by British designer Henry Holland with music from Neon Jungle and a special appearance by Joey Essex.

All the Fashion & Textile students left feeling inspired and ready to create their own garments in the new year!

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

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Lasswade Community Project News The Lasswade Community Project opened its doors in August 2014. Situated on the ground floor of the school next to the Assembly Hall, it includes a classroom, meeting room and a staff office. A key vision for the school is inclusion and this is at the heart of the work of the Community Project. A person centred approach is taken to develop self esteem and interpersonal skills through a range of vocational options and practical activities.

School Garden & Enterprise Work has begun this term on the development of the school garden. The area has been cleared of weeds and rubbish with preparation started on improving the soil ahead of the spring growing season.

There are plans in place for seed planting in the new year with a wide range of fruit and vegetables to be grown and hopefully sold as part of a school enterprise. Look out for a further update in the Spring Newsletter.

Bonnyrigg Skate Park Murals In collaboration with PC Ian Hutchison youngsters within the Community Project have been working on two murals for Bonnyrigg Skatepark.

Projectors were used to beam the CAD designs onto the boards which were then pencilled in and painted with acrylic paint.

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

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Lasswade Community Project News Army Cadet Force Linked Detachment In August 2014 the Lasswade Army Cadet Force Linked Detachment was formed and now runs on Wednesdays for 3 periods. 18 cadets have been recruited from S2 and S3 and now that the majority have received their uniforms they are really starting to look the part. The students are working towards the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award together with learning First Aid and shooting disciplines, military tactics and community involvement. This is done under extremely close supervision and only after a strict training and testing regime. With no emphasis on recruitment the Lasswade cadets are sampling army life and the order and discipline associated with it. Moving forward the school is exploring the introduction of the ACF into the senior curriculum with further details to hopefully follow.

Myjet 2014/15 Lasswade High School supports students to complete the Myjet (Midlothian Youth Job, Education and Training) Programme which is a year long, work based learning programme.

It combines school education with real work experience.

For 4 days per week students attend school as normal and work towards their National qualifications and one day per week undertake a full days work experience with a major employer in Midlothian.

There are five students involved with Myjet this year; Chloe McCallion who is at Burnbrae Primary School, Suzanne Harris at Newtongrange Dental Practice, Rebecca Gordon-Tennant at 2’s Company Hairdressers, Marc Hughes at IKEA and Gregor Boon at Car Craft.

They are all doing very well with their employers and are learning lots of new skills that will help them to move on to future employment.

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

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Young Enterprise: Success at Edinburgh Trade Fair On Saturday 6 December, Lasswade’s Young Enterprise group arrived at Edinburgh Tollcross to set up their stand for the Christmas Fair.

31 teams from private and state schools in Lothian took part in this event. In Young Enterprise a group of sixth year students set up a company with each student taking on the role of a Company Director. The group must design, manufacture, market and sell their product.

At the Christmas Fair each group displayed their wares.

There was a wide variety of products on show from up-cycled candles, photo frames, cuff links made from old coins to watches designed and outsourced to China and a book of beauty tips. Lasswade’s winning product is Intellicase: 3-D PRINTED MOBILE PHONE COVERS.

Kyle Mackenzie, Rory Turnbull and Daniel Cherrie

At 10am the doors opened to the public. The boys engaged with customers, spoke fluently about their product and showed them photos and videos of the printer together with their products. The public were fascinated and the group managed to secure a few orders with many people taking business cards and promising to get in touch with details of their own mobile phone model.

At the fair official judges visit each group to find out more about their product and interview the teams. Each judge spent about 20-30 minutes at each stall. They asked questions about their company, product, sales and marketing strategies as well as communication and finances. The boys were articulate, enthusiastic and informative. All three were a credit to themselves and the school. The judges were very impressed with their product and remarked that it was completely different to any they had ever had at these events. Hopes were high for the award announcement!

Lasswade’s team and product impressed the judges so much that they Intellicase was awarded ‘first place for best product’.

Kyle went on stage to accept the trophy.

Their company were also awarded third place for ‘best overall company.’

A special thank you goes to Mr Inglis who has supported them and gave several hours to help them with the 3-D printer.

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

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Duke of Edinburgh’s Award December saw the formal presentation, by the Headmaster, of Bronze Awards to 28 Duke of Edinburgh‘s Award participants. This group was, in fact, the first group ever to participate in and achieve this award in Lasswade High School.

Blair Jones receives his certificate

The Duke of Edinburgh‘s Award is the worlds leading achievement award for young people and involves participants working on skills, physical activities and volunteering over a number of months and culminates in students completing selfsufficient outdoor expeditions. Many of these students are now working towards their Silver Award and a new group of 30 S4 students are working towards their Bronze Awards.

S4 Work Experience In November this year we sent out 269 students for a week of Work Experience.

Our students departed for a huge variety of companies and organisations, doing an equally large variety of jobs during their week, some having to set their alarm clocks a lot earlier than they are used to!

This is an important part of students Personal and Social Education this year, and can be daunting for many. Their experiences have taught them a lot about themselves and gained them a fantastic amount of praise, mainly through comments returned from placement providers.

We are extremely grateful for the number of employers in our local area, and the many parents/relatives, who helped out with placements - it really does give our youngsters an opportunity to experience a working week, in a completely different environment. Some students have confirmed their career ideas, some have changed their mind because of it - all valuable in the process of guiding our young people into positive destinations in their futures.

S4/5/6 Career Opportunities There are noticeboards around the Guidance Department in school, as well as bulletin notices alerting our senior students of potential opportunities on the horizon. Both Mrs Douglas (PT Guidance) and Judy Tyler (Careers Advisor) update these areas regularly, so watch out for interesting and exciting opportunities which may be the key to your future!

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

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S1 PSE: Small Group Work During the past term all S1 PSE classes have been split in half and students have been taking part in small group work. This unit of work is designed to allow students to work closer together, get to know their classmates better and to develop team work, communication and social skills.

During the 7 week unit students complete a variety of team challenges. Some of these were practical tasks; in week 2 teams built tall towers using only newspaper and tape. In week 4 the teams had to design and build an egg container using paper and straws. The effectiveness of the products were then tested with 'The Great Egg Drop' - dropping the egg container (real egg included) from a height. In this extremely enjoyable task at least two teams dropped their egg containers from the 1st floor into the Atrium - amazingly some of the eggs survived with shells intact!

The task in week 3 demanded effective communication and critical thinking skills as teams were asked to consider a post-apocalyptic move to the moon! This was a very popular task with students continuing to discuss which characters should be jettisoned off the spacecraft long after the lesson ended.

The unit cumulated in a news report challenge where students created a television news broadcast which was presented to the other half of the class in the final week. Teams were given a set of criteria for what this programme must include; a breaking news story, an outside broadcast, a sports story and a weather report. Teams were encouraged to create exciting scripts and interesting news stories.

In the programmes created in December 2014 the following stories were reported:  Santa's reindeer all have ‘Tinselitis’ - Exclusive interview with Santa  Daniel Murray's pet rabbit, Sniffles, enters the animal Olympics - and wins the javelin!  All the teachers have gone on strike, Head Boy Jack and Head Girl Alex take control of the school, including a real interview with Alex and Jack.

National 5 Construction visit local building project The National 5 Construction class visited a new build house project in Danderhall to develop their understanding of construction in a real life setting.

The class worked closely with qualified joiners and discussed self employment, health & safety issues and job prospects.

The class will be returning later in the year to visit the completed project.

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

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P7 Open Evening On Thursday 13 November the school invited all current Primary 7 students and their families to an Open Evening in Lasswade High School.

This was a chance for prospective students to get an inside tour of the school and meet with current students, teachers and departments.

The Tour Seniors students acted as tour guides, leading P7s and their families around the school and giving visitors an opportunity to chat with students along the way, ask questions and hear about life at Lasswade.

As well as visiting various school departments groups also went to a Question Time panel made up of S1 and S6 students. This was a chance for visitors to ask questions and receive answers without any teacher input.

At the end of the tour everyone congregated in the Atrium for refreshments and cake provided by the Lasswade Parent Council. This provided a further opportunity for P7 students and their families to chat with Lasswade students and staff. In the Atrium there was a variety of stall about partner agencies that provide support to the school community such as Active Schools, CLD and Children and Families.

The Presentations As part of the evening visitors gathered in the Assembly Hall for a presentation by Headmaster Mr Williamson, Deputy Head Teacher Mr Chisholm and current Lasswade S1 and S6 students. The presentations by Lasswade students were a particular highlight of the evening. S1 students Grace Murdock and Lawrie Tice-Young delivered an excellent presentation about their time at Lasswade so far. Their very humorous and engaging talk included information about their learning experiences and highlights from their first 6 months as Lasswade students. They illustrated the talk with photographs they had taken from around the school. They ended their presentation by talking about their ambitions for the next 6 years; including becoming Lasswade’s 2019/2020 Head Boy and Head Girl!

The Film Throughout the course of the evening David Hunter from Moving Films toured around the school, filming the presentations and parts of the tour. This video is currently being edited

by Moving Films and will be uploaded onto the school website very soon.

Next steps for prospective students As part of the transition process for current Primary 7s the following is on offer to local primary schools.  Visits to primaries by Lasswade Pupil Support Staff  Maths Challenge Day  Team Building Day  Cluster Camp at Dalguise  2 day induction programme in June

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

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Scottish Power Visit: S3 Geography S3 Geography students have been studying a unit called “Our Global Community” which focuses on energy production and climate change.

To enhance their understanding of energy production and the impact this can have on the environment, a guest speaker from the Generation Environment Team at Scottish Power delivered a lesson.

He discussed the UKs demand for energy, how this demand is met, the impact producing energy can have on the environment with regards to renewable and non-renewable sources and solutions to climate change. He is an expert in his field and delivered a very interesting presentation and answered specific questions which the students had.

Ellie Noble, Scottish Government Placement Article by Ellie Noble The first week of December I had a work placement in the Equality Unit at the Scottish Government at Victoria Quays. I learnt a lot from this experience, I was able to watch the unit prepare for their annual debate on ending violence towards women, which took place on the Thursday evening. I was able to ask many questions on topics that interested me and new legislations being discussed. I also had the opportunity to experience time in the human rights unit. On the Thursday I had the outstanding opportunity of attending the signing of intent of ending men's violence towards women 2014. I was introduced to Nicola Sturgeon and I told her about my interest in politics and ending inequality and she was overwhelmed with my commitment and has offered me to do work experience with her early next year. It was a tremendous help for my UCAS applicants and for what I am wanting to do at University. I would recommend any student to get involved in politics.

Student Success at First Aid S6 student Shona Chalmers is an assistant cadet officer at Bilston Glen First Aid Group. She has competed at national first aid competitions, the most recent in Blackpool where Shona finished first in the individual and team competition with her partner Lauren.

First Aid groups provide training for young people in vital life-saving skills. In October Shona received the Brave@Heart Award, presented to her by then First Minister Alex Salmond. Shona received this award after she provided essential first aid at an accident in Loanhead.

Shona was nominated by St Andrews First Aid for her “calm determination and maturity beyond her years”.

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

pg 17

Higher English: ‘The Kite Runner’, Kings Theatre On Wednesday 12 November Miss Mollon’s Higher class went to see the outstanding production of ‘The Kite Runner’ at the Kings Theatre in Edinburgh.

We have been studying the novel as part of the Higher course and leapt at this opportunity to see it on the stage. The stage production certainly did not disappoint.

The students were already huge fans of the novel and we were all a bit apprehensive about how the story would translate to the stage. The performances by this predominantly male cast were incredible and we were able to experience the story in a new way. All of the students enjoyed this experience and found it extremely useful for their understanding of the text.

AH English: ‘NTL: A Streetcar Named Desire’ Article by Molly Duffield, S6 On 16 September, I went to see A Streetcar Named Desire as part of the Advanced Higher English course.

Having read the play and studied it in class, I was fairly certain about what I was about to see —and I expected a reasonably enjoyable performance, which would hopefully deepen out understanding of the play, without being too taxing for a Tuesday night. I did not expect to see one of the most phenomenal performances of my life!

From the end of the first scene, we were hooked. Scene changes were signalled with a flood of coloured light, and the actors remained onstage and in character for set and costume changes— so the characters never left our sight. As the play was performed in the round it was a true “fly on the wall” experience, and we were thoroughly invested in the characters. The audience were constantly on the edge of their seats, as throughout the performance tension was building—and though we were watching a live stream from the Young Vic in London, the extraordinary camera work made us feel we were in the room with them.

The play featured a stunning performance from Gillian Anderson as Blanche DuBois, which was complemented perfectly by Ben Foster as the menacing Stanley Kowalski, with wonderful support from Vanessa Kirby as Stella. This modern retelling of Tennessee Williams’ classic work, directed by Benedict Andrews, destroyed any attempt to slot the story into the past and showed its true value as a timeless tale.

The raw emotion of the performance left the audience reeling, particularly in the last few scenes. As the play neared its violent climax, Anderson and Foster clashed talent on talent—but, ultimately, it was the heart breaking portrayal of Blanche that brought the audience to their knees. In a previous interview, Gillian Anderson admitted “I have completely fallen in love with Blanche, and I was unprepared for that.”

So were we.

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

pg 18

Book Week Scotland Book Week Scotland, an annual event organised by the Scottish Book Trust, took place this year from 24 - 30 November.

Book Week Scotland celebrates books and reading in schools, libraries and book shops across Scotland with a number of events and promotions.

This year the Scottish Book Trust wanted to “explore the impact libraries have on our lives” . To that end, they coordinated ‘Love Letters to Libraries’.

Photo by Emma Dickson This promotion encouraged individuals to celebrate their own relationship with libraries in a letter starting ‘Dear Library’.

Here at Lasswade School Library we embraced this opportunity to reflect on how we use the school and public library. During the week S1 and S2 classes used their library lesson to write their own love letter...resulting in a overwhelming number of extremely positive letters written by Lasswade students.

Throughout Book Week Scotland Kat, Lasswade School Librarian, was energetically tweeting some extracts from our love letters on @LWSchoolLibrary. These quickly became very popular; being favourite and retweeted by the Scottish Book Trust and even The Guardian!

Based on these brilliant letters and tweets, the Scottish Book Trust got in touch with Kat and our letters are going to be used in their event summary and when they compile evidence on the value of school libraries. Find out more about Book Week Scotland and the Scottish Book Trust http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/book-week-scotland Read extracts from “Thank you for our Love Letters “Thank you for making me letting me see the on Lasswade School feel welcome every time I world through “Thank you for teaching me come to the library.” books.”

Library Twitter that if you find the right @LWSchoolLibrary book reading can be fun.”

Student Librarians Lasswade Library, which functions as both the school library and the public library, offers a variety of volunteer opportunities to Lasswade students.

In the last term several ’Student Librarians’ started helping Kat, Lasswade School Librarian, at break times and lunchtimes. Student Librarians help to keep the library tidy, shelve books and create new library displays. We also have the Student Librarians to thank for keeping @LWSchoolLibrary interesting and up-to-date with their great tweets! Let Kat know if you would like to be a Student Librarian next term.

Several students, who are recommended by the Guidance or SfL departments, also volunteer during class time. As well as traditional library work these volunteers may also help Kat with junior classes. This term we also had the pleasure of S4 student, Romany Howarth, working in the library for a week for her S4 work experience.

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

pg 19

Young Writers Conference On Saturday the 1 November a group of 5 S4 students from Senior Writing Club visited Stirling University to attend The Young Writers Conference.

It was an early start as the group met Miss Ludbook at Waverly Train station in Edinburgh at 7.45am to travel through to Stirling.

The students heard the author Matt Whyman talk about his life and what inspired him to write before attending a selection of workshops to help inspire their own writing.

The workshops were run by the Scottish Book Trust and included ‘Creating Believable Characters’ and ‘Creating a Fantasy World’. The students were delighted to be able to get books signed by the authors who ran the workshops and also by the goody bag of books they were given at the end of the day. We have since been sharing these ideas and trying to put some of them into practice at senior creative writing club.

New members are always welcome to come along - we meet every Thursday lunchtime in room 219.

Reading Logs: S1—S3 English All S1—S3 students are set personal reading as homework from the English Department. Students are asked to keep track of their reading on their ‘Personal Reading Log’. English teachers and Kat, Lasswade School Librarian check these weekly or fortnightly. Students are also asked to have their reading logs signed by a parent or guardian regularly.

Alongside their reading students are asked to complete a ‘book task’. How often these need to be completed depends on the class. There is a list of suggested book tasks on the back of the reading logs but students are encouraged to be creative.

Pictured is a cake made by Nicole Kennedy and a Harry Potter board game created by Louise Hamilton.

Home baked book cake

by Nicole Kennedy

Harry Potter Board Game created by Louise Hamilton

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

2A1’s book task wall in Lasswade Library

pg 20

Interhouse Dodgeball Interhouse dodgeball was a great success on Monday 15 & Tuesday 16 December.

S5/6 SL Girls and S4 SL Boys took the victory to ensure that St Leaonard’s are top of the leader board!

Well done to all staff and pupils who are part of the Lasswade Sports Council they were fantastic and organised a great event!

S2 Art Club Mr Miller`s lunchtime Art Club designed and created a ceramic tile panel depicting an abstract bird`s eye view of Lasswade High School and the surrounding landscape.

This panel will be installed on a wall at the back of the school to add colour and interest to the school environment.

The students used ceramic enamels to create a permanent surface to the panel which will be weatherproof.

Pictured are only some of the students involved in creating this artwork.

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

pg 213

Anti-Bullying Week and ‘Respect Us’ Article by Keiran Harvey Respect Us came about when a group of young people at Lasswade High School shared their concerns about bullying with Community Learning & Development. We wanted to do something about it. This is the second year we have campaigned during anti-bullying week. It went really well this year with lots of people taking the pledge to beat bullying and adding their support to the beat bullying wall. We ran a competition asking people to write a poem or song about bullying to try and help stop bullying. We had some fantastic entries and great prizes, Lasswade School Librarian, Kat, had the tough job of picking the winners. The Respect Us team would like to say thank you to Community Learning Development, the staff at Lasswade High School and Kat. We would love more people to get involved to help us beat bullying and support those who have been bullied. For more information contact Catherine Duns, CLD, 0131 270 5769 or find us on Facebook Respect US – Lasswade High.

In anti-bullying week 280 students and teachers signed up to the Anti-Bullying pledge.

The winners of the creative writing competition were: 1st Prize 2nd Prize 3rd Prize

Emma Dickson S2 Tiana Main S3 Megan Kay S2

@Club:L Article by Keiran Harvey @club:L is a youth drop-in designed by young people for young people. We meet up in the Kabin in Loanhead every Monday night, 6-8pm, everyone from S1 to S6 are welcome.

The drop-in offers young people a safe free space to meet with friends and socialise, engage in activities such as Xbox, music making and recording, dancing and projects. So pop along and see us or for more information, like us on Facebook Club:L. We are now off for Christmas and return in January, see Facebook for more information. https://www.facebook.com/pages/ClubL/426299370807709

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

pg 22

Higher Dance: Scottish Ballet Workshops

On Wednesday 19th November the six members of the Higher Dance class set off for an exciting behind the scenes look at Scottish Ballet as well as a number of workshops designed to improve technique and inspire their choreography pieces.

They started their day with a contact workshop involving partner work and impressive lifts before exploring ‘The Crucible’, the latest ballet to be showcased by the Glasgow based company. The dancers then had their technique class focusing on many of the skills they will need in order to pass their Higher Dance exam.

Lasswade High School Childcare Service Taken from an article from the Midlothian Insider An innovative new childcare facility is now available at Lasswade High School. The recently opened Lasswade Childcare Service previously ran as a crèche which received a very positive report during it’s recent inspection by the Care Inspectorate. It was praised for providing a high quality service and received two ‘excellent’ ratings and three ‘very good’ ratings. The report also highlighted that the crèche “provided children with very good indoor and outdoor play opportunities.”

Following the inspection it was decided to expand the childcare service and Lasswade High School Childcare Service was opened.

The facility caters for children aged three months to five years including school in-service days. The premises within the Lasswade Centre are modern and purpose-built with an enclosed outdoor play area. The nursery is registered and parents, teachers and council staff can use childcare vouchers or claim the childcare element of Working Tax Credits.

Opening Times: 7.45 - 4.30 Monday —Thursday 7.45 - 4.00 Friday Parents and guardians can apply for either a half day or full day spaces. The service offers sessional/term time hours so people who may not need childcare outside term time do not have to pay over school holidays.

For more information, including rates and bookings, contact Nursery Manager, Angela Sinnet on 0131-271-4540.

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

pg 23

Lasswade gets the Green Flag This term we were delighted to receive notification that Lasswade High School has retained our Green Flag status for another two years. Green Flags are awarded by Eco-Schools which is “an international award programme that guides schools on their sustainable journey, providing a framework to help embed these principles into the heart of school life.”

This will be over 12 years of this outstanding achievement. No other school in Midlothian has held a Green Flag for so long. Green Flags are awarded to schools which show commitment to addressing environmental issues. Eco-Schools encourage all students, staff and parents to take control of environmental issues in and around school and its surroundings.

The Eco Schools Team, led by Mrs Young, includes a dedicated cohort of students who take forward environmental initiatives in school. The ongoing success of Eco-Schools in Lasswade is very thankful for the tireless efforts of former Geography teacher, Anne Wilson who put in so much time and effort into developing the Eco Group and Eco Schools in Lasswade before her retirement in June.

To celebrate this special prize the staff involved with the Eco Group got together for a special afternoon tea. Special guests Mrs Wilson, Ms Malcolm, Gail Chapman and Charlotte Gee (aged 6) made a special trip to Lasswade to enjoy the home bakes and tea. This gave all the staff involved a chance to celebrate the hard work and achievements of the Eco Group and discuss many great ideas for future projects. Priorities this year:  Work with the Community Project and student volunteers to develop our garden and pond  John Muir Award alongside Miss Conlan  Fairtrade partnership with Miss Maltby’s group  School litter and recycling

‘Trio’: Drama Performance Article by Molly Duffield I wrote "Trio" in January this year, and started directing rehearsals in February. We performed on the 7th of October 2014, during the Scottish Mental Health Arts & Film Festival, which lasted from 1 - 19 October 2014.

All proceeds from the play are going to SAMH (the Scottish Association for Mental Health), which is Scotland's leading mental health charity, and we raised £730 in total.

A representative from the charity will be coming to the school to meet with Mr Williamson and I on January 15th so that we can formally present the cheque.

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

pg 24

School Pantomime: ‘A Christmas Carol’ The term ended on a high with two evenings of “A Christmas Carol” on Tuesday 16 and Wednesday 17 December.

The show included all the usual panto gags (“Oh no it didn’t!”) and even our very own Pantomime Dame (TJ Connell). The audience were thoroughly entertained by the antics of Etheleeza Scrooge (Rebecca Thomson), the Cratchit family (lead by Josh Shanks and Erin Bowden as Bob and Mrs Cratchit) and included visits by The Ghost of Jacob Marley (Hamish Misselbrook) and the Ghosts of Christmas Past (Susan Hirst), Christmas Present (Rebekah Lansley) and the silent but sinister Christmas Yet to Come. The story was perfectly narrated

by Charles Dickens (Max Marshall) and also included excellent performances by Amy Wright as Cuthbert Slap and Jack Ramage as Fred Hollowell. Well done to everyone involved!

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

pg 25

School Christmas Show Well done to all the performers in this year’s School Christmas Concert on Thursday 11 December. The evening started with an excellent performance by the Junior Drama Club and a unique interpretation of the Nativity entitled “An Almost Correct Christmas Story”.

For some students this was their very first time performing in public and all performed very well.

The concert moved into the atrium for the musical part of the concert which included excellent performances from the Concert and Jazz Bands, the String Orchestra and fiddle groups, the percussion and guitar groups and not forgetting the wonderful singers.

The concert ended on a high with an excellent and very apt version of “Merry Christmas Everybody!”

Scottish SBBA Percussion Ensemble Champions Well done to Zoe McLellan, Jack Gilchrist, Andrew Murphy and Harry Noble who, as part of the Midlothian Percussion Ensemble, not only received a Gold Award at the Scottish Brass Band Association's Percussion Ensemble Competition but also got 1st place meaning that they are the 2014 Scottish SBBA Percussion Ensemble Champions!

They group were awarded a certificate, the Percussion Competition Trophy, a framed Commemorative Banner and every member also received a medal.

Lasswade Fiddle Group Well done to the members of the Lasswade Fiddle Group who performed at the “Celebrate Midlothian” Awards Ceremony at the Mining Museum on Thursday 27 November.

They performed extremely well and many people commented on how they set the tone for the event perfectly.

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

pg 26

Lasswade Football News S1 Boys The S1 boys have had a great start to the season recording 7 victories thus far! In the league the boys have been playing some great football and have won 5 games so far and currently sit top of the league.

The Scottish Cup has proved to be just as rewarding for the boys. They successfully beat Boroughmuir High School in the first round 3-1 and then defeated Holyrood High School 6-5 in what was a thrilling and entertaining match.

Well done boys!!

S2 Boys It has been a quiet start to the season for the S2 team with only a few games played but hopefully we can mount a challenge in the league after Christmas.

In the Scottish Cup we narrowly lost away to Peebles Rovers on penalties after a 1-1 draw. In our opening league fixture we lost 1-0 to Musselburgh in a game Lasswade dominated for large spells. This was followed up by a spectacular 6-0 win over Ross High.

Recent Football Results Board S1 League Lasswade

4-2 Musselburgh

S1 Scottish Cup Lasswade 6-5 Holyrood HS S3 League Craigmount

1-4 Lasswade

S4 League Musselburgh

1-1 Lasswade

Senior Ross High

1-9 Lasswade

U15 Girls Lasswade

7-4 James Young

S3 Boys The boys are continuing to make excellent progress this season. Having played 8 league matches they are sitting in top of the league with 19 points. The team lost their first game of the season to Craigmount after only being able to field 9 players.

However, since that disappointment the team are undefeated and face a tough test in the 4th round of the Scottish Cup against St Modans after the Christmas break. The attitude and effort the players have shown has been excellent and hopefully they can bring some silverware to the Lasswade High School trophy cabinet this season!

There are a few players who have proved very influential in recent games including Luke Kennedy who is being hailed as Lasswade’s answer to Zinedine Zidane! Liam Dalgettty has taken his responsibility as team captain in his stride and leads by example on the pitch with strong tackles and an excellent array of passing. Liam also scored the winning goal in the teams most recent league win with a fantastic free kick against Portobello.

A huge thanks must go out to Craig Bertrams and Dougie Neill who have taken on the coaching responsibility for the S3 team. This is a big commitment and all their efforst are greatly appreciated by Mr Dewar and all the players. We will soon be seeing the team sporting their new Nike strips and we also have Craig and Dougie to thank for funding this.

Good luck with the rest of the season boys. #trophytime

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

pg 27

Lasswade Football News Continued S4 Boys Football in S4 has enjoyed a renaissance under the tutelage of Mr Dinwoodie and Mr Murray.

So far this year, the team has competed at the top end of the league and has played a forward thinking brand of pass and move football from the back. With a large squad to pick from all players have made an impact throughout the season so far with goals coming from across the team. Quick mention to Finlay McIntosh who is the leagues current top scorer.

Credit to the boys for their enthusiasm and appetite for the game and support from the sidelines. The team is still in contention for the league and the aim is to stay unbeaten for the rest of the season.

U15 Girls The U15 Girls team started their campaign to defend their Scottish Cup triumph from last year with a comfortable 7-4 win against James Young. There are a number of new first year students who made their debut for the team. This was their first 11-a-side match and credit must go to them for their performance. The star player was undoubtedly Angyl Learmonth who scored a hatrick after 15 minutes of the match starting. Zoe Carmichael has also continued to progress and showed real commitment in the tackle and fantastic individual skill throughout the match. Gabi Wright was the rock in defence for the team and was another strong performer. Angyl has also made it to the final trial for the U15 Scottish Schools Football Team. Good luck Angyl!

U18 Girls This is the first year that Lasswade High School has had 2 girls team represented in the Scottish Cup for a long number of years. The U18 Girls Team started their campaign away to Turnball Academy, Bishopbriggs and won 4-1. This was a great first performance with captain Caitlin Lynch leading by example alongside Bethany Simpson at the back. The star player without doubt was Aimee Russell scoring 2 goals and putting in a great cross for the third goal. We are hopeful that the stars from last year can continue their good form and bring more silverware to the Lasswade trophy cabinet. Good luck on Wednesday girls!!

Senior Boys Congratulations to Ben McKenzie who has been selected for the U18 Scottish Schools FA U18 International Team 2014/15. Ben will play alongside a team made up of students from across Scotland. The team will play in year’s Centenary Shield and an invitation International against Australia. Well done Ben!

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

pg 28

Swimming Championships Congratulations to all the students who took part in the Edinburgh and Midlothian Schools Championships. Great results from everyone.

Lasswade Netball News The Lasswade High School Netball Team have been competing in their first season; taking part in the Scottish Netball Championships 2014.

This is the first year the netball team have been training and playing and they have been improving with every game. The senior team have been playing against a number of other schools across Edinburgh and Midlothian and look forward to building up their experience in the new year.

The team recently received their new netball team hoodies and look forward to wearing these to away games!

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

pg 29

Success in Gymnastics Article by Abbi Smyth On Friday the 24 October myself and 12 other gymnasts from Lasswade Gymnastics Club travelled to Newcastle for a national competition called ‘Spooky Spectacular’. The club had been fundraising for this for months including a sponsored sleepover in the gym. The bus journey took around 3 hours.

When we arrived we immediately got changed into our leotards and went straight to podium training at the venue. Podium training allows you to warm up your skills and routines on the unfamiliar equipment. We trained for two and a half hours, then went back to the hotel for dinner and had some free time before getting ready for bed and preparing ourselves for our competition the next day.

We woke up early to get ready. We were so tired as we barely slept the night before due to excitement. We got into our competition leotards and completed the look with a backcombed ponytail and spiders at the side of our eye; this made us look a bit spooky! We went for breakfast and then got on the bus to City of Newcastle Gymnastics Academy for 9:15. The little ones were on first so we warmed up our cheering voices.

The little ones had an amazing competition and performed fantastic routines and won several medals. My group was up next which was exciting. I warmed up and started beam - completing a great routine with no falls. Next up was vault which was another great performance for me and my team. Next was floor which I was slightly nervous about as I had hurt my back in my last competition. I needn’t have worried as I performed a fantastic routine with no problems.

Finally it was bars, I was almost done. Bars hadn’t been my strongest point lately so I was hoping to perform a clean routine, which I successfully achieved. It was over; I was pleased with my overall performance and would gladly do it all over again. All was left was to wait for the results to see how we had all done. I secured a bronze medal for my fantastic vault and just missed out on medals on beam by 0.05 points and floor by 0.1 points.

It was an amazing weekend and I was proud to have been invited to be part of this. It was a great experience for my first national competition and I hope to take part in many more.

Lasswade Community Sports Hub Calum Smart (S5), Blair Jones (S5), Eilidh Morris (S4) and Kirsty Robertson (S4) have been appointed as The Young Hub Leaders for the Lasswade Community Sport Hub. In the coming year it will be their role to promote the school facilities to community sport clubs and increase participation and quality of sport on offer at The Lasswade Centre.

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

pg 30

KIC Dance Company KIC Intermediate, Advanced and Elite classes were delighted that the world renowned Rambert Dance Company came to work with them on Monday 24 November here at Lasswade.

The dancers enjoyed a workshop from their current repertoire, ‘Rooster’ (The iconic dance to music by the Rolling Stones).

Lasswade Staff: ‘Run in the Dark’ 5 Lasswade teachers completed the Edinburgh ‘Run in The Dark’ on Wednesday 11 November. Well done to them all with a special mention of our Depute Head Teacher, Mr Chisholm, who finished first in the 10K.

Annual Lothian Schools Ski The Lasswade Ski Team entered the Annual Lothian Schools Ski Racing Competition. Lasswade finished an impressive 4th place overall in the Boyd Anderson Race.

We are looking for more people to complete in downhill ski racing for the school, if you are interested in taking part, please contact Miss Murray in the P.E. department.

Lasswade Basketball Lasswade Basketball Team played Newbattle High School in a friendly away game on Wednesday 26 November. The game was an excellent show of sportsmanship, with the hosts narrowly beating Lasswade in the 4th quarter. Lasswade hope to arrange a home game in the near future.

Keep an eye on the bulletin for further information, or come along to our basketball club on a Wednesday after school, S1-S6 welcome.

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

pg 31

Lasswade Rugby News The rugby season has continued with some very exciting fixtures against Kelso, Portobello, Musselburgh and Preston Lodge.

Congratulations to our U16’s team who have progressed through to the next round of the Bowl where they will face North Berwick. The U16 team defeated Whitburn Academy 72-5 in the previous round.

Recently a group of S1 players were invited into the East Lothian schools 10s tournament at Meadow mill. Some fantastic rugby was played with great victories against Knox, Dunbar and Ross High. Our team had players with a wide range of rugby experience and it has been great to see them develop throughout the first term.

Our Girls team combined with Newbattle and Dalkeith to create a Midlothian XV to play against Forrester High School. It was a hard fought victory with some excellent tackling and attacking play on show.

TRAINING TIMES FOR RUGBY S1 School of Rugby

Monday after school Lasswade Rugby Club

S1 Team

Wednesday 6.00 - 7.00 Lasswade Rugby Club

S2 Team

Monday 4.30 - 5.30 Wednesday 6.30 - 8.00 Lasswade Rugby Club

S3 Team

Wednesday 7.00 - 8.00 Lasswade Rugby Club

Girls Training

Monday after school Astro

For further information about fixtures and training please follow us on twitter @LHSrugby14.

Clubs Timetable and Extra Curricular Fair Lasswade is very proud to offer a wide number and range of extra-curricular lunchtime and after school clubs. Sports clubs run everyday including basketball, netball, table tennis and dance to name but a few. Many of our sports clubs welcome pupils from all year groups and encourage beginners to come along and try it out!

As well as sports clubs, many departments and teachers offer extra-curricular clubs. New clubs this term include Scratch Programming, Comic Art, Film Club and Senior Creative Writing. The full timetable for study classes, extra-curricular clubs and sports clubs can be found on our website: http://lasswadehsc.mgfl.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/StudySupport-and-School-Clubs-2014-151.pdf Early next term there will be an extra-curricular fair where all pupils can find out more about all the clubs on offer at LHS.

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

pg 32

Parent Council The Parent Council at Lasswade is going from strength to strength. We meet at the school every month for about 90 minutes and generally about 20 parents attend. The highlight of the meetings are presentations from students and we have had fascinating talks from the students who visited Ghana and China this year. The Headmaster’s report is also extremely informative and highlights achievements and challenges since the previous meeting.

All parents and guardians are most welcome at these meetings.

The minutes and agendas can be found on the school website under the Parent Council tab.

At the beginning of this year we set ourselves three aims and we have been working towards meeting these. The first aim is to actively fundraise for the benefit of the students and staff at the school. To this end we have provided refreshments at all school shows and parent consultation evenings since March. We only ask for a donation and so far we have raised over ÂŁ450 from this activity alone. We also organised a Christmas Fair which was a huge success. Many thanks to all those who provided tombola prizes and home-baking and of course those who attended and supported the stalls. We made over ÂŁ1200 in profit from this event and we will be repeating it! As a result of this fundraising, we have been able to donate funds to the Sports Council, the music department and the home economics department.

The second aim is to improve communication with parents, students and the school. We are working with the school to look at better ways of communicating with parents through social media. The school has set up a twitter account and we are actively looking at other opportunities. Contributing regularly to this newsletter will be an additional way of letting parents know what the Parent Council is up to. We have also set up a parent council email address to allow you to communicate directly with us about ideas, comments or items you would like to see on the agenda.

Finally we are setting up a skills bank so we can link in with parents and local businesses to the benefit of our students. This could be by mentoring a student or providing work experience opportunities. We are starting to roll out the forms across the year groups to set up a database. If you would particularly like to be involved with this please contact the Parent Council through the email address.

Hopefully we will see some new faces at our next meeting on 20th January 2015.

Parent Council email address: Parent Council on Twitter:

LHSPC3@gmail.com @lhspc

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

pg 33

Severe Weather Information In the event of severe weather we may be in the unfortunate situation where individual students cannot make it into school. In extreme situations, the Headmaster, in consultation with Midlothian Council, will close the school to all learners.

In case of severe weather parents can look out for communication about transport disruption and school closures via:     

Radio Forth The school website http://lasswadehsc.mgfl.net/ Midlothian Council website http://libraries.midlothian.gov.uk/ ‘Group Calls’ sent by the school – please make sure the school have your most up to date mobile telephone number The Lasswade High School Twitter account (@LasswadeHSC)

Information for students Students are reminded that there are study skills information and revision information on the school website which they can access to continue their learning in the event of severe weather. These website links and study materials organised per Department are useful for all forms of revision. http://lasswadehsc.mgfl.net/?p=8501 Transport Parents are reminded that if they choose to bring their children to school via their own transportation method ‘if’ school transport is cancelled but the school remains open they are responsible for collecting their children again at close of school.

Lasswade on Twitter

@LasswadeHSC

We hope that students and their families are kept up to date with events and news from the school.

If you are a Twitter user you may also want to follow @LasswadeHSC where we will post news and photos regarding school events and student successes.

Many departments and teachers also use Twitter to communicate with students.

Here are some Twitter accounts you might be interested in! @lhspc (Lasswade Parent Council) @LWSchoolLibrary @lasswadehistory @lasswadesports @LHSrugby14 @LHSCfootball @lhscomputing @LasswadeGeo @LasswadeYearbk (for the 2014/2015 Yearbook) @tweetsfrom212 (Modern Languages Twitter from Mr Poots) @LasswadeDofE (For DofE Award participants only) @lauramo1209 (For Miss Mollon’s English classes)

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014

pg 34

Important dates for next term School closes for the Christmas break on Friday 19th December 2014 at 12 noon.

The new term begins on Tuesday 6th January 2015 at 8.30am.

February mid term break Monday 16 February - Friday 20 February 2015 inclusive

Parents’ Evenings next term S1: S2: S3:

Tuesday 12th May 2015 Thursday 12th March 2015 Wednesday 25th March 2015

Lasswade Burns Supper: January 2015 The Events Management Team, made up of Lasswade staff and S6 pupils, are hosting a Burns Supper Night which will take place in the school on Tuesday 27th January at 7pm.

Tickets cost ÂŁ8 which will include entry, a two course meal with refreshments and entertainment.

The evening will also involve a guest speaker, S6 student speeches, a raffle and our very own school musicians.

Lasswade High School Newsletter, December 2014 The End!

Lasswade High School wishes all our students, families and partner organisations best wishes for a very happy festive break.