Summer Newsletter 2010

Summer Newsletter

N O R T H B E R W I C K H I G H S C H O O L Summer 2010

Stephan Johnstone 4L1 with his ‘Young Volunteer of the Year’ award.

Stephan was nominated by the Youth Café for the commendable work he is doing. He vol-unteers at the Appin Equestrian Centre, North Berwick Day Care Centre and the Youth Café where he works with the Zap group for chil-dren with disabilities. “ I like helping people, that‟s just me I sup-pose. I was ecstatic when Grant Stott (Radio Forth presenter) announced my name and presented me with the award.”

S1s and Gardening

1F, 1L1 and 1L2 have been busy in the vege-table garden planting: potatoes, onions, cour-gettes, leeks, lettuce, turnips, kohlrabi and sev-eral herbs and wildflowers. From a very bleak and empty space in March we now have raised beds and reclaimed baths and sinks burgeoning with edible delicacies. When the harvest comes we shall share our produce with the community by sending some of it to nursing homes in North Berwick. The rest will be given to the school kitchen. 3 First Year boys- Ewen Anderson, Matthew Watt and Brodie Stewart - have been going once a week to Fidra Nursing Home to work beside the elderly residents in their garden. The boys have been given a lovely lunch each week to fortify them for their afternoon of hard work and conversation. The residents and the boys have all gained a great deal from this ex-perience.

Beekeeping

The S6 Beekeeping Club is in its second year and the bees are flourishing. We have two hives now and the honey appears to be flowing. During study leave several staff members became honorary members of the club and when the original bees were determined to create a new queen we divided the colony and separated the bees into two colonies. Our bees are particularly gentle (luckily) and everyone, students and staff alike, who have become involved with them are captivated by their complex lifestyles and lifecycles. Bees are so important to biodiversity and we are so dependent upon them to pollinate much of our food, which is why it is hoped that we shall inspire some of our young people to become future beekeepers.

Summer Newsletter Page 2

Devon Golf Trip 2010

Lots of sleepy faces turned up at the school at 7o‟clock,on Monday morning with golf clubs and lug-gage in hand. The bus journey took a gruelling 12 hours with the bus restricted to 62 miles an hour. When we got there, we got our room keys and went to unpack, then we all gathered in re-ception for dinner. The food was pretty good. After dinner we went on a tour of the hotel and its facilities, and somehow managed to accidentally smash a window; great start. That evening we all tried out the ten pin bowling which was good fun.

We were up at half six on Tuesday for some to have a swim and for everyone to get showered and ready for breakfast. Everyone then went to collect their clubs and put them in the van. The drive to the other hotel took about five minutes. When we got there we all got some drinks for the round and went to tee off. That round we had a „closest to the hole‟ competition which was won by Lachlan Imrie. That evening we all went to check out the snooker, pool and games room.

On Wednesday it was another early start to play the par 3 course which for most of us ended up a par 5 with the amount of balls lost in the lakes! After that it was a quick refuelling for the round in the after-noon. We had another „nearest the hole‟ competition on the 13th which was won by Coll Donaldson and a stable-ford competition which was won by Ruaraidh Smith. That evening we just relaxed, using the ho-tel‟s facilities. Thursday we all got a lie in and another chance to use the hotel‟s facilities. The first tee time was at 1.50pm. That day we were playing a Texas Scramble. The team that won, with a massive 6 under par, was Ross Wilson‟s team: Lewis Carmichael, Maggie Goodlad and Chris Algeo. That evening we all had dinner and then went to the games room for prize giving. Maggie Goodlad was presented with a trophy for winning the par 3 competition with a nett 51. Lucy McKay was voted „Golfer of the Week‟ by the teachers and pupils and was also awarded a tro-phy. For the rest of the evening we had to pack and there were room inspections to make sure our rooms were all ready for the next day. We later found out that Lachlan had decided to join a women‟s aquarobic class that morning! Friday was yet another early start with breakfast at 7. Then in the bus by 8 and another long journey back up to North Berwick. It was a lot calmer on the way back up with us all catching up on sleep. The trip was enjoyed by all. Maggie Goodlad, Lucy McKay and Rhona Thomson.


S1 Singing Workshops From „Last Choir Standing‟ to karaoke, from Pop Idol to singing in the shower – everyone gets a feel-good factor from singing. We wanted all S1 pupils to have the opportunity this term to take part in an exciting singing ex-perience with our vocal coach, Sergei Desmond. Mr Desmond has worked with many recording artists and is currently working in East Lothian secondary schools, funded by Youth Music Initia-tive. S1 pupils came in practical classes and were given a 1 hour workshop, exploring their voices through exercises, singing contemporary songs and watching foot-age of pop stars to see what they could learn from their technique. The feedback was really positive, and now we have around 30 boys and 25 girls who have opted to have further coaching from Mr Desmond. Here are a few of the comments from the S1 pupils: “It was really fun and I learned lots!” (Racheal Adam) “I really enjoyed it. I thought I was going to be nervous but I wasn‟t”. (Guy Stirling) ”It was awesome, nice tips!” (Andrew Grant-Suttie) “I enjoyed singing „Hallelujah, „Don‟t Stop Believ-ing‟ and „Love Story‟. It was great fun‟”! (Mhairi Finlayson) “I found it enjoyable and entertaining”. (Gavin Baxter)

Dates for Diary Christmas Concerts Mon 13th and Tues 14th December 2010 Easter Concert Thurs April 7th 2011 We look forward to seeing you there!

Careers Scotland

Can I remind everyone that I post updates, vacancies and general careers related activi-ties throughout the year on the careers blog at edubuzz.org/blogs/careers and that you can also access this via the main page of the school website. If anyone would like to contact me with a spe-cific enquiry my email address is [email protected] or by phone 0131 665 3120 and I hope you have a great summer. One of the areas I am keen to develop next session is the podcast section of the careers blog by inviting ex-students to meet and talk with current students and pass on their ex-periences and provide further advice and in-formation on post school options. Giving cur-rent students the opportunity to hear, at first hand, from others close to their age range can help with career planning and preparing for life after school. Over the past couple of months I have re-corded sessions with a personal trainer and another ex-student who has just finished her first year at Edinburgh studying veterinary medicine. These podcasts give a real sense of what life after school is like and help give the bigger picture that you cannot find in books or websites! You will also find sessions with a professional footballer, students on music/psychology degrees, even a dolphin trainer! Please feel free to visit and, if you are really up for it, suggest some volunteers and I don‟t just mean students; people who have taken a gap year, are working, at college, self-employed and would like to share their experi-ence with current students are very welcome to arrange a visit. Contact me at [email protected] or tel 0131 665 3120. Mick Burns Careers Adviser


S3 Activities Week – Highland Fling

In collaboration with East Lothian‟s fabulous Outdoor Education Depart-ment, eleven of North Berwick‟s S3 pupils embarked upon a Scottish ad-venture during the May Activities Week. “Up and at „em” was very much the spirit of the week, and no challenge proved too tough for these young people! With a change of venue every day, the group of nine boys and two girls travelled over parts of the North West Highlands, from Ul-lapool to the banks of Loch Veyatie, to the Bone Caves near Inch-nadamph and finally to Carbisdale Castle. Pupils were engaged in a range of activities, the success of which hinged upon teamwork and re-silience. We arrived in Ullapool on Monday evening for a night in the youth hostel, before leaving for Loch Veyatie on Tuesday morning. After “portageing” our Canadian canoes down to the shore, and filling them with an inordinate amount of supplies for our wild camp, we set off in two groups to find a spot to camp that evening. One group walked in

towards Cul Mor, the other paddled the fully-loaded canoes upwind. A few hours after set-off, we found a beautiful, pristine spit of pebbled beach and decided to set up camp there. Had the weather been atrocious – as it is wont, occasionally, to be in this fine country of ours – our experi-ence may have been quite different, but as it was the few spring showers that passed did not stop pupils from learning how to light their own fires, pitch their tents, or maintain their respect for our amazing surroundings. Wednesday morning started with a powwow, the up-shot of which was a move to strike camp, re-turn by land and loch to the buses and pitch camp anew near the enticingly named “Bone Caves”. The rocks and mountains in the north of Scotland are some of the oldest in Europe, sites of keen geological interest, so of course our pupils were tickled by the thought of camping near caves in which 8000-year-old remains of arctic foxes, bears and wolves had been found. If I‟m honest, I was delighted to be going there too! Cave visits done, it was time to strike camp for the last time and reclaim creature comforts at Inch-nadamph Lodge. After a good night‟s sleep, we packed the minibus again and went on to Carbis-dale Castle, a beautiful residence gifted in 1945, along with its contents and estate, to the Scottish Youth Hostels Association by Captain Harold Salvesen. The castle was the venue for mountain bik-ing and (my personal favourite) games of “Stealth”, in which our new-found friend, Dennis (a golden retriever), lost some of his popularity as he happily bounded up to all of those in hiding with a joyous bark and a wag of his tail! As befit the surroundings, we enjoyed a 3-course meal in the castle on our final evening and pre-pared ourselves for a final day of adventure – an adrenaline-packed afternoon at Go Ape! in Aber-foyle. Some of our young monkeys were born to the trees, it seemed, while others bravely con-quered their fears to test their own limits. All completed the course, none backed down – a fitting epithet for the week! From my point of view, it was fabulous to work with inspiring colleagues – John Rutter, Lianne Mil-lar, Liz Brookes, Al Paul and Martyn Pegg – who all worked very hard to make the week run smoothly. The real stars of the week, however, were the pupils – one of the best groups I have had the pleasure to take out yet. Well done, guys! Some of the pupils‟ reflections will stay with me for a long time. On return from two nights of camping, Eilidh and Con-nie mused about how many small things they take for granted – like door handles and kettles! Macauley‟s comment of “I don‟t care what we do, I just think it‟s great” is probably the best testimony that I heard that week though. And I agree with you, Macauley, it was great! Ms Ritchie


S3 ACTIVITIES TRIP TO LONDON

The S3 trip to London was amazing. On Monday we had an early rise for a very ex-citing 5 hour train journey from Edinburgh Waverley. The sun was shining brightly on arri-val at King‟s Cross station. After exploring the hotel we took an extremely hot tube journey before going for a great Chinese meal in China-town. After dinner we went sightseeing around Westminster before going back to the hotel for the night. On Tuesday we went into the centre of London to see “The Gherkin” (30 St Mary Axe) before going to the Bank of England for a presenta-tion. After lunch we went for a walk around St Paul's Cathedral and walked across the Thames to the Tate Modern to see 'art'. Some of it was really weird, including a blank canvas hung up on one of the walls. We then went on a Thames Clipper to Canary Wharf and went to Jamie (Oliver)'s Italian for dinner. We finished the day by seeing the Prince of Persia at the cinema in the O2 Arena. On Wednesday we went to the Museum of Brands which was very interesting as we could see what products we buy now used to look like. After lunch in Regent's Park we went to Madame Tussauds which was very enjoyable but the Scream area was very, very scary. We went for dinner at Planet Hollywood before go-ing to Green Park to play a very competitive game of frisbee football. Some people took it more seriously than others!! Before we went back to the hotel, we had time to visit Bucking-ham Palace for a group photo.

On Thursday morning we went to the Science Museum then visited Harrod's. After lunch we were allowed to go shopping on Oxford Street. Primark must have had a field day with the amount everyone spent there. After dinner at Pizza Express we went back to Westminster for a surprise flight on the London Eye which was excellent. We finished the evening on the dodgems at the amusements which led to lots of screaming. London was so good I would definitely want to do it all again. Beth Gardner 4C

S1 Yellowcraig Barbecue On the Wednesday of Ac-tivities Week the day dawned to cloud and rain. The whole of the First Year student body arrived at school in anticipation of a walk to Yellowcraig where they would be re-warded with a barbecue cooked for them by their teachers. We peered out of the window at the weather and googled weather forecasts for the day. After a few min-utes of deliberation we decided to go for it and at approximately 9am the first group set out on their journey. The rain stopped and soon it was a distant memory as 150 young people and 20 members of staff strode towards Yellowcraig. Upon arri-val the food was soon sizzling and 200 burgers and countless sausages later it was time to set off for home. This year was notable because the young peo-ple were completely exemplary in their behav-iour. Previous groups have been very good too but this year really took the prize. Your children were polite, helpful, responsible and completely positive. Thank you to them and to you, their parents! Mrs McCormack


MATHS CHALLENGE A number of our pupils took part in the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust Mathematical challenge this year. The questions are quite tricky and test problem solving as well as mathematical skills. Well done to everyone who took part and congratulations to everyone who won an award. S1 Silver award – Euan Miles, Cory Szymoszowskyj, Jack Poole, Heather Oberlander, Mhairi Finlay-son, James Smith, Ruben Lancaster, Riccardo Cucchi. Bronze award - Rebecca Forbes, Cameron Robertson, Greig Govenlock, Ellie Williams, Lewis Grant, Matthew Hogg, Sylvie Caithness, Jeeva Nagra, Jennifer Jack, Cameron Gordon, Katie Bennet, Sarah Dunlop, Michael Bell, Gabriel Melville, Holly Sanderson. S2 Gold award and best junior challenge entrant in school – Maddie Ryan, Silver award– Chris Ramsay, Jamie Bullen, Ben Coke, Kelly Kinnear, Gareth Grant, Josie Gibberd, Hamish Law, Fergus McMahon, Adam Munro, Charles Butler, Fraser Thomson, Ayoola Oshodi, Callum Burns. Bronze award – Euan Tippen, Oliver Ladbrooke, Jack Bradley, Megan Lott, Finlay Pratt, Libby Sam-pey, Jane Gourlay, Gregor Penman, Jessica Thomson, Jill Muir, Sarah Adam, Kirsten Dewar, Alex Rycroft, Tim Lahaise, Elisabeth Musgrove. S3 Gold award – Calum Finlayson Silver award – Rachel Coll, Henry Slater. Bronze Award - Ailan Murray– Rhodes, Lianne Fyfe, Connie Dale, Fergus Jones, Iain Morrison, Cameron Thomson, Anna Fox, Catherine Bunney, Eilidh Simpson, James Leslie, Matthew Harding, Oliver Crowe, Nandini Nagra, Alec Edmans, Jessica Renwick, Scott Burnside. S4 Gold award and best intermediate challenge entrant in school – Alex Rycroft Gold award – Lisa Oleksy, Sarah Patrick. Silver award – Dan Ryan, Jack Dunlop, Alex Edgar, Catherine Baker, Elliott Bruce, Rowan Wood, Sophie Armstrong, Patrick Maher. Bronze award – Jamie Black, Jonathan Walsh, Sophie Allinson, Grant Mac-kay, Sarah Alexander, Wendy Smith, Leigh Chapman, Daniel Rogers, Helen Catleugh.

Karate

Murdo Lunn 1G2 was selected to represent Scotland at the Japan Karate Association Jun-ior European Championships which take place in Prague from 20-23 May.

CHARITIES COMMITTEE At two recent assemblies the Charities Com-mittee has presented a cheque for £1000 each to Mary‟s Meals and Leuchie House. The money given to Mary‟s Meals will help fund the kitchen in Malawi for which the cluster schools are paying. This has been another successful year and is the result of hard work and fun with activities such as dress down days, a “slave” auction, bake sales and raffles. Over the year the total raised was £3422 with donations being sent to Children in Need, Haiti Appeal and Macmillan Coffee Morning. The Committee is very grateful to all pupils and parents for their generosity and continued support.


A Website for the English Department - Courtesy of S3 Girls!

Recently, Mrs Millar‟s class of S3 girls success-fully completed the challenge of developing a website for the English department at NBHS. Work on this started back in November when we first heard from our English teacher, Mrs Millar, that we would be asked to put our minds to de-veloping this initiative. The work started first of all with planning. The purpose of the website was to allow NBHS students, parents and the public some insight into what it was that the English department in our school were doing. Before this the English department didn‟t have a website so some work on this was clearly necessary. The girls in the class were split into 3 different groups. They had to come up with different ideas: pupil pods, book recommendations, „poem of the week‟, photographs, videos and other useful features. The class also came up with the idea for colour coding and the style of the page. “We chose black, red and white as they are theme colours for NBHS and we tried to keep it close to school colours,” the girls agreed. The class worked hard on this project and they achieved a lot from it. “It was something differ-ent and I definitely think we would like to do something thing like this again!” said one of the girls. We think that a project like this can inspire pu-pils to make websites of their own and become more familiar with using technology for a lot of different purposes. In class it has led to develop-ments in group discussion and collaboration and, as said before, it‟s something different and something fun. Well done S3 girls for your excel-lent work. Abbie Herriot 4L2

We’re on the web! www.northberwickhigh.net


Pupil Support

The Spring term ended with the official opening of the Pupil Support Base kitchen. Representa-tives from the PTA, the Rotary, parents, teachers and pupils all attended the opening. The Head Teacher made a speech and two pupils cut the ribbon to officially open the kitchen. Funds had been received from the PTA and the Rotary to provide equipment and reorganise the Pupil Sup-port Base so the kitchen could be fitted. This new facility will enable the most vulnerable in the school to develop their life skills more fully in a practical manner. The Support Department and the school are very grateful to those who provided the funds for this fabulous facility which is used every day.

Activity Week in May saw the young people go on a Science trip, enjoy a barbecue and a visit to Edinburgh on the train, where they had a picnic in Princes Street Gardens and enjoyed the lovely weather. It was a very busy week enjoyed by all the young peo-ple from the Pupil Support Base. Two of our sixth year young people have been involved in their transition programme and have attended Telford College to try

some courses. One of the sixth year who has a keen interest in forestry and agriculture has been visiting Alba Trees and The Botanic Gardens where he will be going in August. The other sixth year has visited Jewel and Esk College and also participated in art, first aid, cooking and looking after small animals through courses at Telford College. She also attended the Upward Mobility programme on a few occasions. The Pupil Support Department organise the Paired Reading scheme within the school. Mrs Bar-low and Mrs Lawson pair sixth year pupils with S1, S2 and some S3 pupils to provide regular reading opportunities twice a week. This year they extended this support to the Law Primary with some sixth year pupils going and working with various primary classes. They supported Law Primary‟s „Scotland Reads‟ scheme, went over at lunchtimes and played basketball, supported P1 maths and even helped with the knitting group! A big „Thank You‟ to all the sixth year young people who gave up their time to work with those at Law Primary as everyone has benefited from this initiative. June has been a very busy month so far with a programme of work based on the World Cup. The young people have been researching the flags from the various countries and a food project from the countries which is prepared and eaten in the kitchen. Numeracy is included by looking at the time zones for the countries involved with some very creative art work. Come and see the wonderful drawing of the World Cup in the centre of the display. Now the World Cup has started the young peo-ple will be responsible for collating the results and completing the charts on the display. The young people who visit the Support Base are very enthusiastic about this programme of work especially as they are getting to study something they like! The end of term is looming and one of our S6 attended the Leavers‟ Dance at Murrayfield Sta-dium where she had a lovely time and enjoyed herself. On this note the Support Department would like to say farewell to Fraser and Joanne and send them very best wishes in the next phase of their life. We hope they will come and visit us and tell us all about their new ventures.


PGL Trip 2010

It was Saturday 22nd May, 5am, just one hour before I was to leave to join my friends on a week-long trip to the South of France. I double-checked my suitcase and got ready to leave. This was possibly the slowest hour of my life. Excitement flowed through my whole body as I loaded my belongings into the car and set off to the school with my dad. After an extremely long bus journey we finally arrived at Mimosa, on the Mediterranean coast, at 9am on Sunday where we met our groupies. Groupies are team leaders who motivated us and made our spirits lift. They made the trip so much fun. They were called Becky and Chris and were two of the most friendly, entertaining people you could meet. In Mimosa we learned how to sail fun boats, catamarans and picos. We capsized many times but the weather was so lovely that it didn‟t mat-ter at all. The best part at Mimosa was the ba-nana boat. We all helped each other on and then it whizzed off, flying around. At one point I turned round to ask Nicole if she was ok and realised she had fallen off. All I could see was a small head bobbing in the water. We all fell off at least three times but it was brilliant. The food in PGL was absolutely amazing. It was extremely healthy and we sat outside as we ate it. A typical breakfast was fresh fruit, pain au chocolat and croissants all gulped down with fresh orange juice. Water sports took so much energy out of us that the food needed to be good to fill us up again. In the evenings after our day on the beach we took part in various activities before the disco. One of the most entertaining was when Amy, Lauren, Pete and Gavin had to put as many ba-nana sweets in their mouths as they could with-out being sick and then Mrs Barlow had her face and hair covered in yoghurt just after getting changed for the evening!

It was really funny. There was a disco every evening where everyone went wild and the dancing was hilarious. Pete Jeffries was a star! and showed off his dancing skills to the great tunes. On Wednesday we went on a shopping trip to Carcassonne which is a beautiful medieval fortified town. The town has a haunted mansion which was so scary that someone fainted. When we left Mimosa to go to the Ardeche river it was a great feeling – we felt like we had had a lovely holiday and we were going home, but we still had the second part of our trip to come! The Ardeche was quite different from Mi-mosa as we were canoeing for all 3 days. The scenery was beautiful and it was lovely to paddle along the gorge with all of our friends. Some of the rapids were quite tricky and there were lots of spectacular capsizes but the river teams were always on hand to rescue us. We stopped along the river to rock jump and one of the funniest activities was when we had to be „dead ants‟ – this is where you stand in a line holding on to the person in front of you and then jump into a rapid and bob downstream together. One of our coach drivers, Bruno, has to have a mention - he was really amazing. He brought DVDs for us to watch, made us a CD of all our favourite music and even joined in the activities with us. We would also like to say a really big thank you to Mrs Barlow for organising the trip and Dr MacIntosh, Dr Scott, Mr Baillie and Mr Cox for being such good sports. Robyn Duns, Nicole Crawford, Eleanor Milne Rebecca Coull, Jasmine Duns, Paige Mitchell.


Cool Down Crew We have just finished a fire awareness course at North Berwick Fire Station called „Cool Down Crew‟. The course has been run-ning for four or five years now. It is a group-based course involving safety, house drills, ladder drills, hoax calls , drug and alcohol awareness and community wardens. The course ran from 15th to 19th March. We did a presentation on the last day, which in-volved our parents being there to watch, as well as teachers from NBHS. It took place at the Fire Station with some of the fire brigade there from the local station. The course has taught everyone on it major life skills for the real world, and was also really great fun. Darren Kellet, Lachlan Imrie S3

Date for your diary - FUN RUN 2010! The Fun Run, which is a cross-country run round the country roads to Kingston and back, will be held on Friday 17 September. All pupils will be taking part, having fun and, hopefully, raising funds for good causes in the process. Watch out for more details early next session.

County Winners! The East Lothian County Sports were held earlier this month and North Berwick High School came out on top, as overall winners. Well done to everyone who took part. We are very proud of you all.

Travels Afar Two trips are setting off at the end of term to far-flung corners of the world. The modern studies trip to China includes visits to many famous and exotic landmarks. Meanwhile, the Music for Malawi trip will be visiting various schools around the country, sharing music and culture. We hope everyone has a very happy trip, with lots of exciting, unusual and challenging experiences. We look forward to hearing about the adventures in the next newsletter.

HOUSE CAPTAINS

CRAIG To be confirmed once Mr McDowell has returned from paternity leave!

FIDRA House Captains Rachel Doig Fraser Stevenson Vice Captains Jamie Arthur Greg Houlston

GLEN House Captains Sarah Nelson Todd Jeffries Vice Captains Grace Brown Lawrie Pratt Kathryn Corrie Tom Vevers

LAW House Captains Molly Smith Niall Mackle Vice Captains Louise Melvin Josh Knight Fiona Wood Jamie MacDonald Well done to our captains, and we wish them a very successful year.

SENIOR SCHOOL LEADERS Head Girl Megan Dewar Head Boy Gregor Anderson Depute Head Girl Emma Aitken Depute Head Boy Callum Devine


Belgium History Trip 2010

Leaving on 23rd of May, about 40 excited 3rd years gathered in the turning circle ready to start the long journey to Belgium. We travelled down to Newcastle where we boarded the ferry to Amsterdam. At 9 o‟clock the next morning we arrived and headed to Ypres straight away. Once we arrived in Ypres we visited the In Flanders Field Museum. We were each given a card when entering the mu-seum, with a person‟s name and details on it. We then had to put it into a machine and it would give more information on our war victim. After the museum we headed outside for a little while to look around the town of Ypres. Mrs Mitchell and the other teachers decided that a coffee would be nice in a traditional café, whereas most of us thought the water fountain would be more enjoyable! We then piled back onto the bus and travelled to Tyne Cot Military Cemetery. The cemetery was filled with grave stones of soldiers who died in the war. On the walls surrounding the cemetery there were 35,000 of those who had died but had no found body. After Tyne Cot we made a quick check into the hotel and then back out to the Mennin Gate to hear „The Last Post‟. This was a very moving cere-mony that is held every night at 8pm to commemorate all lives lost in the war. A wreath was then laid with our personal message. On Tuesday we were up nice and early to start a new day in the Somme. First we went to Delville Wood which is a South African memorial. Today it is looked after by the South African government. Next we visited the Lochnagar Crater, a 90ft deep 300ft wide crater left by an explosion. Back on the bus again we moved off to Thiepval memorial for a quick visit then to Beaumont Hamel Newfound-land Memorial park. Here we had a guided tour of the front lines and were able to walk through the preserved trenches. Another wreath was then laid with a different message on the Royal Highlanders Memorial before moving off again to Fricourt German Cemetery. Most of us found this the most dis-turbing as there were 11,970 bodies buried at the rear of the cemetery, there was only a very small area. Finally we headed to our last cemetery, Heilly Station Cemetery, where one pupil laid a wreath for a family member before having our evening meal and going out bowling. Calum Hardie won and Nina Murdoch came last! Also Mrs Mitchell claims she beat Mr Docherty but who really believes that?! On Wednesday we were lucky enough to get a half an hour lie in but woke up to horrible weather! However we still drove over to Bellewaerde Theme Park. We had the whole day, leaving at 5 o‟clock, some of us soaking wet and cold after going on every ride including some river rapids! Once dried off and fed some of us decided to dress up…the girls as boys and the boys as girls! The teachers also organised fun games and quizzes for us. They found it very hard to keep a straight face as they watched us! Finally, but sadly, it was our last day of our S3 trip 2010. We had breakfast and checked out of the hotel then travelled a short journey to Bruges. When we first got off the bus, the teachers took us the wrong way to our canal ride but we eventually got there and were given a small tour round the canal of Bruges. After this we were allowed to have a wonder around the many shops, most of them being chocolate shops! At 2 o‟clock we met again and went to a chocolate museum. We watched a demonstration then got a piece of free chocolate at the end. All of us then got some more time to shop, buying presents and chocolate for our families or for ourselves! Sadly, it was the end of our S3 trip to Belgium as we embarked on the ferry back to Dover. Once off the ferry, the teachers thought it would be funny to trick us into thinking there was a new passport checking system and they made us put our pictures and faces up at the windows! It was especially funny as there were certain people who got worried and took a while to catch onto the joke! We then had an overnight journey back to North Berwick, getting back at 7 o‟clock in the morning. All in all it was an amazing trip, very memorable, fun and a worth-while experience, both the history and social aspects of it. We miss it very much! We‟d like to thank all the teachers who made it possible and hope that next year‟s S3 enjoy it as much as we did! By Nina Murdoch and Lara Frostwick


SAFE week June 14th-18th Substance Awareness For Everyone

The theme for this week has been „keeping myself safe‟ and issues explored have been alcohol, drugs, risky behaviour and how to keep yourself safe. The main characteristic of the week has been partnership working, where community organisations have joined school staff to plan and deliver the week. PC John Cowan has led very popular ‘Party’ workshops with S5; in biology S3/4 classes have been learning about the effects of alcohol on the developing brain and PSE classes have fo-cused on relationships and sexual health. On Tuesday the school welcomed a variety of agencies to set up stalls in a „health market place’. This focused on keeping a healthy mind as well as a healthy body and visitors included ABEL; the Youth Café and Duke of Edinburgh Scheme; East Lothian Integration, Health and Food and Nutrition; CREW 2000; VDEL; Young Scot; SU; and Active School Sports and Clubs. Classes visited the market place throughout the day and participated in various activities and competitions. The Fair Trade stall did a lively trade but the busiest stall had to be Food and Nutrition, where around 750 fresh smoothies were produced in four hours! Thanks to the fol-lowing pupils who helped to man the stalls – James Leslie, Max Roper, Cameron Thomson and Calum Finlayson. The stars who helped chop the fruit for all those smoothies were undoubtedly Bethany Hillhouse and Stephan Johnstone. On Thursday all S2 classes joined in Hip Hop led by the Chest Heart and Stroke Association and on Thursday evening parents were invited to SAFE for parents. After an introduction by the school nurse and community warden, East Lothian Youth Theatre performed a thought-provoking short drama on issues to do with alcohol. Parents then took part in exciting interac-tive workshops and had the chance to see some of the stalls from Tuesday and ask any ques-tions.


Skills for School – Linking Theory with Reality We are sure you would agree, it would be extremely beneficial if the connection between the the-ory of the classroom and the reality of the work place could be demonstrated to the students so they can begin to understand the relevance of the subjects they study. For example

architects could discuss the link with art, physics and maths students

journalists could share their experience with English and history students or those working

on the school newspaper human resources personnel could demonstrate the theory studied in business studies

physiotherapists could detail the many areas in which they work to science and sport stu-

dents

If you would be prepared to come in to school and share your knowledge, experience and exper-tise with the students, could you please contact Vanessa Hutchison on [email protected] Thank you.

DUKE OF EDINBURGH Many of us would like our children to have the opportunity of achieving the Duke of Edinburgh Award – which they would begin from S5. However, last year, around 40 to 50 students wanted to take the Award but NBHS had the re-sources for only 14. I need to have further discussions about how we (the parents) could support the initiative in the long run but at this stage, there are 2 main requirements which need to be fulfilled for a forth-coming expedition within Scotland (dates to be confirmed but currently planned as follows). Silver Award: 28 to 30 October: 3 day/2 nights Requirements Someone who has the Mountain Leader qualification Someone who had the Midas minibus qualification If you are qualified in these areas and would consider talking to us about the possibility of help-ing or if you know of someone who might be able to help, please contact Vanessa Hutchison on [email protected]. Many thanks.


DAY SCHOOL SESSION DATES 2010-2011 Thursday 19th August 2010 Pupils resume Monday 20th September 2010 September holiday Monday 18th October 2010 First day of October holiday Wednesday 27th October 2010 Pupils resume Friday 24th December 2010 First day of Christmas holiday Tuesday 11th January 2011 Pupils resume Monday February 14th 2011 First day of February half-term holiday Monday February 21st 2011 Pupils resume Monday 11th April 2011 First day of Easter holiday Tuesday 26th April 2011 Pupils resume Monday 2nd May 2011 May Day Holiday Monday 23rd May 2011 First day of Victoria Day holiday Thursday 26th May 2011 Pupils resume Friday 1st July 2011 School closes for summer holiday

Grange Road

North Berwick

East Lothian

EH39 4QS

Phone: 01620 894661

Absence line: 01620 894716

Fax: 01620 895495

Email:

[email protected]

PLEA FOR TEXTBOOKS Any school textbooks or library books still lurking under beds or at the back of bookcases? If so, please bring them back into school before the end of term and hand them back to teachers. It is essen-tial that all books are returned. Thank you.

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Documents

Summer Newsletter 2010