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Dear Parent/Carer

I am delighted to share some reflections on what has been a highly positive term, as I hope this summer edition of our Newsletter will show.

This was a busy term. Our young people were involved in a number of activities in the run up to the Summer break:

We have worked closely with colleagues in our associated primaries throughout the session on a range of projects and have noted real success in Maths We are looking forward to collaborating fur-ther next session on Science. Our S3 Sports Leaders did a great job in supporting a number of pri-mary sports festivals. We also had two highly successful induction days that saw P7 pupils leave us smiling and looking forward to returning as S1 pupils.

Our Duke of Edinburgh programme continues to go from strength to strength. Forty six pupils took part in a 2 day expedition based at Auchengillan. One day 1 they walked from Auchengillan to Mug-dock Park and on Day 2 the walk up Auchineden Hill and the Whangie. The weather was good and midge free and we managed a camp fire with marshmallows.

Welcome

Stonelaw High

S H S

July 2013

S1 Interdisciplinary Learning

Business/English/Art/Computing producing a

Graphic Novel

S2 Health Day

Duke of Edinburgh School Show Rent

All Difference All Equal Activities Days

Ocean Youth trust Voyage (S1-S3) Annual Prizegiving

UK Maths Challenge The Marriot Project

School Sports Reach

South African Teachers Visit

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We are genuinely committed to improving the school in any way we can and have high expectations of ourselves and each other.

A key priority for Stonelaw High School is to build stronger partnerships with parents, carers and com-munity partners. I believe that combining our skills and aspirations will have a highly positive impact on our young people. As a school we will commit to improving communication using a variety of platforms from school bag mail, to email, texts and website.

I would like to genuinely thank parents, carers and members of the community for your support throughout this time.

Please feel free to contact me directly with general feedback and suggestions at bmclachlan@stonelaw.s-lanark.sch.uk or contact any member of the Senior Management Team by phone on 0141 643 0212.

Finally, I would like to wish you all a pleasant and restful summer.

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Our Priorities

School Uniform The Uniform during the session has been very good. In order to maintain this, it is important that we support each other in implementing the expectations around Uniform.

I am aware that you might be already considering purchasing new items of clothing for the new term.

The expectation in the new term is that all young people will wear:-

White School shirt and tie

Black V neck jumper or cardigan

Black trousers or skirt

Black shoes

Young people should not wear coloured sweatshirts/denim jackets. Outside

jackets should be black.

Our uniform leaflet on our website outlines more detail in relation to what

is acceptable.

I would like to thank you for your continued support with Uniform.

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Our Fundraising

Stonelaw has supported many varied charities throughout the year. Some of the events are mentioned below.

Salvation Army was given £400 through our Christmas and Easter Service Collections.

A pupil, Sean Rooney, from Trinity High School sadly passed away having battled cancer. £600 was

raised by pupils at Stonelaw in his memory.

Jeans for Gene Day raised an amazing £1,000. This money will help support people with genetic dis

orders as well as their families.

The Scottish Poppy Appeal raised nearly £400. This money will be used to support ex-service men

and women.

Children in Need activities raised over £780.

Movember – Men’s Health Issues - Male members of the Science department did not shave during

the whole of November – and raised over £1200.

Ikusasalethu High School in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa have received nearly £5,000 this year

through the Fair Trade sales as well as our annual support for 300 AIDS orphans to attend school.

The school show ran for 4 nights performing to a sold out audience on Friday and Saturday. The young people involved worked tirelessly to make sure that this show was a success. Feedback from people who attended the show was highly positive. There is no doubt that this show really pushed the boundaries in terms of acting and performing. A big thank you to all parents, staff and pupils involved and a further thank you to everyone that supported this event by buying tickets to watch the performance.

School Show — Rent

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Four of our long serving staff retired at the end of the session after many years of service both to Stonelaw High School and our profession. I would like to thank them for their hard work and dedication to the young people of Stonelaw.

D Greenberg S Williamson A Crawford A Byrne

Maths Home Economics PT English PT Physical Education

Other staff leaving Stonelaw but going onto pastures new are:

Ms McCool Uddingston Grammar

Ms Norval Uddingston Grammar

Mrs Duffy Holycross Secondary

Mrs Fleming St Columba’s High School

Mr Waltham Head of Drama Glasgow Academy

Our probationers this year, Mr Martin, Ms McKenna and Mr Thompson are also finished at Stonelaw but are ready to start their teaching career in pastures new.

Four probationers are joining our staff next year in Computing, Maths, Technical and Spanish.

New members of staff:-

Ms Findlay will be joining us in the Maths department and Ms Birrell will join English.

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Staff Changes

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Our year

Business Management engaged in a number of activities this session:-

an investigation of the type of businesses in the local area – Burnside – they interviewed these businesses and produced a report

S3 and S5/S6 Business Management classes were involved in teambuilding/leadership activi-ties with the RMVT (Royal Marines Visibility Team)

S3 were invited to visit HMS Pembroke when it was stationed at King George V Docks

Pupils also competed in ‘The Dragon’s Den’ as part of their marketing topic with S5/6 Busi-ness pupils acting as the dragons

James Jarvie from Barclays Bank visited both S3 and S5/6 classes to discuss the important issue of finance

Jim Watt from University of West of Scotland visited both S4 and S5/6 Business Management to discuss marketing and offer the opportunity to enter a competition the department was holding re a facebook campaign

Geography

Young people took part in two major field trips this session

Stirling – This outing was to improve Enquiry skills techniques needed for Standard Grade Geography Course

Lomond Shores and Balloch – this outing was to undertake some fieldwork related to the Higher and Intermediate classes. This included field sketching, land use survey, speaking to tourists and looking for positive and negative effects of tourism. Although again the pupil had to suffer terrible weather, a good day was had by all.

Modern Studies Trip to Scottish Parliament

Modern Studies pupils went on a visit to the Scottish Parliament where they met with James Kelly MSP. They also met “Clyde” the mascot for the 2014 Commonwealth Games during this visit and had their picture taken with him.

English

Maggie Barry

The English department invited award-winning journalist from the Daily Record, Maggie Barry to the department to meet with senior pupils. They learned lots about the history of journalism, the way journalist’s cover stories and the language used to persuade readers to have certain opinions. A very worthwhile presentation.

Around the World in 80 Words

45 of our second year pupils had pieces of creative writing published in Around the World in 80 Words. This book is available from libraries around the United Kingdom. This is a great achievement for our pupils.

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Maths

SHS won the SLC Enterprising Mathematics Competition in September – this led to automatic entry to the National Final at the University of Glasgow in November where they had an outstanding per-formance which took them into the top 3rd out of over 90 schools coming from all over Scotland.

S3 Health Day

This event took place on Wednesday 19 September. All S3 were off timetable for that day and took part in various health workshops.

Young Musician of the Year

Two events were held this year – Junior Young Musician of the Year and Senior Young Musician of the Year. The winners were:-

S1 – Naomi Shilliday 1G

S2 – Megan Campbell 2E

S3 – Michael Collins 3A

S4 – David Burns 4E

S5 – Emma Christie 5C

S6 – Gavin Lamont 6E

Ocean Youth Trust

In September 2012, five senior pupils – Craig Dallas, Joseph Burns, Euan Conroy, Tayler McGarry and Chelsea McGillivray – took part in an Ocean Youth Trust sailing adventure.

They set out from James Watt dock in Greenock on Monday 24 September and sailed around the Clyde Estuary and returned on Friday 28 September. Not the best week in terms of weather to sail in Scottish waters!

In May 2013, Ocean Youth Trust again approached the school and offered 10 places for another voy-age. This was our first joint trip with Trinity High School. The pupils found the experience exhilarat-ing; they enjoyed the fresh air, the physical aspect of sailing and also the friendships that formed when working as part of a team. The pupils even enjoyed the food which they helped to prepare themselves. They left Oban on Tuesday morning and sailed slowly to Duart Castle and then headed to Tobermoray where they went ashore.

Our Year continued

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Our Year continued

Creative Industries Conference

Six pupils attended the Course at Hamilton Town hall hosted by South Lanarkshire Council. The aim of the course was to promote the creative industries as a career path for young people. The pupils participated in a number of tasks throughout the day; these included; interview filming, news reporting, examining architectural skill to build an external room and observing a jazz lesson. The tasks were led by creative industry professionals giving the pupils an excellent insight the career paths available. The highlight of the day was meeting the Academy Award Nominee and film soundtrack composer Patrick Doyle famous for the Harry Potter Score.

Stories for Change

Our book club have again produced a book “Ridiculously good stories for rainy days”. This book plus other merchandise is being launched today, Thursday 20 June. All monies raised will be for Stories for Change – a charity which supports children in Malawi.

All Different All Equal Day

All S1 pupils were off timetable on Tuesday 26 March 2013 to participate in our All Different All Equal Day. The purpose of this event was to promote equality and tolerance in terms of race, religion, disability and gender. Pupils were involved in Drama workshops, Disability sport event, Hard of Hearing Awareness event and many others. All S1 pupils thoroughly enjoyed the day.

Blood Donations

35 pupils and staff volunteered to donate blood when the Blood Transfusion Bus came to Stonelaw. 29 pints were finally collected. Well Done to our pupils who were donating blood for the first time.

S3 Careers

All S3 pupils participated in a Careers Event at the SECC in November. This was a highly interactive and hands on event where pupils learned about the opportunities that are on offer as careers.

The Marriott Project

This project is run by Clyde Gateway – work experience for S4 and S5 pupils interested in hospitality as a career.

Reach

This project is organised by Glasgow University to help our high achieving candidates

complete UCAS applications. Five S5 pupils attended this event Monday 10 – Friday 14

June.

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A sample of prizewinners from our Annual Prizegiving

The George Sherlaw Memorial Prize Sarah Ali 5H

The Henry Boot Cup for General Technical Excellence Jack Johnston 4A

The Robert Wilson Memorial Prize for Art Robert Hamilton 5C

Robertson Reid Prize for Leadership Zoe Wilson 6A James Friel 6E

Drew Menzies Prize for Services to the School and Community Luke Pye 6E

Julia Blair Memorial Rose Bowl - PTA Naeem Ahmed 2E

Brian D Cooklin Trophy for Citizenship

Jill Muir 6E

Brownlie Trophy for Citizenship

Amy Phimister 6E

Yell Group Enterprise Award

SLC Young Apprentice of the Year 2012

Zoe Wilson 6A

K E Norris Dux Medals Proxime Accessit Gemma Nimmo 5B Dux Medal Erin McCann 5E