W A - LT Scotland€¦ · Please note that tight black trousers, tight black jeans, black trainers, ... But I didn’t like her much because she betrayed her dad ... angle singing,

WOODFARM HIGH SCHOOL

PARENTS NEWSLETTER

Inside this issue

HT Welcome 1

Library News 2-5

Tough Mudder 5

Mission Discovery 6

Eco News 6

Barcelona Trip 7

World Challenge 7

Parent Partnership 8

S4 Awards 9

House Winners 9

Graduation 10

Important Dates

27th June - School Closes 13th Aug - Teachers Return 15th August - Pupils return

Head Teacher News

Woodfarm High School, Robslee Road, East Renfrewshire, G46 7HG

Tel: 0141 577 2600

Website: https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Woodfarm/

Email: [email protected]

Summer 2018

Article 29 Education should develop your personality and talents to the full.

Dear Parent / Carer

This summer newsletter provides you with a flavour of the wide range of

events that have taken place over the past two months. In addition to

these events, our young people in the senior phase of the school have

been sitting their SQA exams. We hope that they have secured the

grades they deserve through years of hard work and dedication and wish

them well if they are moving on to the world of work or Further Educa-

tion to start the next chapter in their lives. The young people will receive their SQA results on

Tuesday 7th August 2018. If they then wish to alter their subject

choices they must call the main school office to be given an appoint-

ment to meet with Mrs Johnston, Depute Head Teacher, on either

Wednesday or Thursday 8th & 9th August 2018. No further changes

will be made after 9th August 2018 to ensure timetables are in place

for the young people starting on Wednesday 15th August 2018.

During the summer holidays you will be purchasing school uniform

for your son/daughter. It is at this point that I would request your

continued support with the Woodfarm High School uniform. The

wearing of school uniform contributes to school security and per-

sonal safety. It instils pride in Woodfarm and contributes to the

school’s values.

The basic requirements for our young people is for them to wear a school blazer, white school shirt,

school tie, plain v neck jumper or cardigan, dress black

trousers, knee length skirt, dress black shoes, dark

school bag and a plain dark jacket for inclement weath-

er. Please note that tight black trousers, tight black

jeans, black trainers, short ‘bandage style’ skirts are

not part of East Renfrewshire Council’s Dressing for

Excellence policy and are therefore not part of the

Woodfarm High School uniform.

I wish you all a relaxing and enjoyable summer holiday.

http://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Woodfarm/

mailto:[email protected]

Greek Mythology

It started as a simple task for the Monday class of S1 students: to do research on a favorite Greek myth. This

activity was related to the Scottish Teenage Book Prize which the class participated in by reading three

shortlisted books and selecting their preference. The book “Children of Icarus” (which was the winner of the

competition) reinvents the tragic story of Icarus and Daedalus and produces the reason to have a closer look at

Greek mythology.

The purpose of this task was for students to realize that the myths aren’t just legends; they are stories with a

purpose and reason. They help people to realize the difference between right and wrong and to explore vir-

tues. As the lines between righteous and immoral behavior are clear cut students see the consequences of

characters’ decisions and learn that what will happen to them depends on the choices they make.

They discover timeless truths how human stupidity and even hubris (arrogance) get people in trouble; how

life always punishes the ones who think they are above the law of Gods and humans; how true greatness is

achieved by those who dare and yet the same time, how the flaws of these heroes and the consequences of

them being big-headed can serve as a warning.

There is also a “vocabulary” benefit. Without a knowledge of Greek myths, terms like Pandora’s Box, Achil-

les’ heel, Herculean feat, the Midas touch, Daedalic and nemesis, don’t make much sense.

To understand modern literature and art we perhaps need to step a few steps back. Greek mythology and the

gods and goddesses with their strengths and human weaknesses had wide-ranging influence on the arts and

literature of Western civilization. Today’s fantasy fiction is especially rich in mythology such as Rick

Riordan’s Percy Jackson character, or J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter. Their stories have a myth of their own.

C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia are loaded with characters that are rooted in Greek and Roman mythology.

Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit has become a “modern” mythology. In the Hunger games, Su-

zanne Collins cites the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur as a significant influence on the world of

Panem.

After the students presented their favorite stories in front of the class they then had to show creativity. To revisit the myths by changing the ending or transporting the myths into a modern day environment.

This was indeed a Herculean task for such a young group.

Yet the results and the stories have been a pleasure to read. After all, to believe in the heroic makes heroes, as Benjamin Disraeli once said.

Library News Summer 2018

2 Article 29 Education should develop your personality and talents to the full.

3

Theseus and the Minotaur- rewritten by Aiden P

Hi I am Theo. My dad’s the king of Scotland. And I know what you are thinking, “oh it must be great to be a prince. You

would get everything”. But it’s not that good. I have to listen to all my dad’s speeches “make Scotland great again”. Meet

all the boring politicians “I seriously think you should say to your father that free orthopaedic surgery should be a law”. I

have lots of media outside our door (how do you feel about the crisis in Aberdeen Prince Theo “There is a crisis in Aber-

deen?”) And I have to go to all the boring meetings. (Prince Theo are you listening?) What? I will have spaghetti Bolognese

for dinner daddy. What was I getting into? Oh yes the Kingdom of England and the Minotaur.

Right so about 10 years ago, King Max of England wanted to invade Scotland. And of course we and the UN were having

none of it. But England was too big and strong. So they comprised a deal. Seven Scottish kids would be flown to England’s

pit in a maze of abandoned tunnels and eaten by a horrific monster. Bit over the top I thought. Could they not just have

said “Take 7 kids but just let the monster eat them?” The monster was a result of an experiment gone wrong. English scien-

tists had tried to give a man a bull’s reflexes and strength. It had worked but at a terrible price. . The man was left with a

bull’s head… (this is the bit where I imagine dun dun dun will play). The people called it a monster I call it stupidity. I

mean who is actually able to get it wrong that bad! I felt bad for the man’s head that was stuck to the bull’s body.

Of course Scotland didn’t like this. I didn’t like it. I was going to put a stop to it. I was going to go England and slay the

Minotaur (that was its name). Before I went my dad told me “if you beat the Minotaur, write I KILLED THE MINOTAUR

on the plane, if not then I will assume you are dead”. So off I went, right into passport control ready to kill the Minotaur.

Right, so I was about to go in the maze. With no weapons or food. Or was way to the Minotaur. But I did have Abbie. She

is the daughter of King Max and she likes me. A lot. She gave me a sword and a ball of string to help me out the maze

(what happened to families comes first?).

The Minotaur was easy to find, actually once we got in I could hear him shouting “Oi guard where is my lunch? I am well

stervin! “ That was a surprise. I didn’t know how he could speak! So I was in the labyrinth (oh fancy word!) ready to kill

with bull with the cockney accent. Three minutes into the maze and I was body slammed into the wall. “oh finally, right

let’s get this over with” he said. Ok then I replied promptly stabbing him in the gut. Oh that’s gonna hurt tomorrow he

said and charged at me. Another stab. Then he wacked me into the ground. And stepped on my stomach (you know what

would have helped here? Hermes flying sandals” You are dead now he said with a smirkish look on his bullish face. “Am i?”

I replied. He looked down to see my sword sticking out his foot. He jumped back trying to pull it out then I pushed him in

the face. And he was now the one on the ground. I think you can guess the rest.

Now I had said to Abbie that I would take her back to Scotland. But I didn’t like her much because she betrayed her dad

and was making eyes at the plane’s crew, especially Lewis. So when we were fuelling at Manchester I asked her to get me

food from the duty free and then we left the airport without her.

And there was the other matter of the writing on the plane I sort of forgot. Oops I didn’t realise until my dad’s friends

came to see and said “sorry for your loss, your dad was a nice guy”. What are you on about I asked? When he didn’t see the

writing on the plane he assumed you were dead and committed suicide. Dad if you are reading this from the underworld I

have two things to say to you. One sorry for forgetting. Two, HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID?! YOU KNEW I AM

FORGETFUL! IT DID NOT CROSS YOUR ONE BRAIN CELL THAT I MIGHT HAVE FORGOTTEN? There was one

good thing about it though, I am King of Scotland.



4

Orpheus and Eurydice/ by Rasmus K.

Sometimes there are strange occurrences. One in a million chances that change the way you see the world this is the story of

when I Hades witnessed one of these incidents.

It is unusual for a child to be this obsessed with music and at that a prince to this will worth keeping an eye on. His dad doesn’t

approve of this and I am unsurprised, but he did give him one lesson I shall watch.

As I sat here on my throne I can hear his beautiful music flowing around me filling the world with a sound that is like that of an

angle singing, yet is comes from a boy not even 5 playing on a piano while his drunken looking teacher jumps and claps.

Once Orpheus grew up he was famous and played music for the people who grew to love this young man, he had become a

great role model for all. It seem that his music could enchant all who heard it and the plants and animals all danced along to his

beautiful tunes and singing.

The man found love in a woman called Eurydice, two were a match made in heaven and the lived in harmony together. Orphe-

us continued to play and sing, and all was well. Orpheus joined the Argons in their adventures helping them by using his beauti-

ful music to block out the sirens song; the same sirens that I had seen trouble Homer during his epic the Odyssey. When Orphe-

us returned from his adventure and him and Eurydice were quickly engaged and I watched as the wedding was arranged, but I

knew that a man could not be this happy for this long. You learn this after watching people’s lives for a while.

The day of the wedding came and it was while Eurydice was at the wedding she was set upon a satyr and in a desperate attempt

to escape fell into a nest of poisonous vipers one of which proceeded to give her a fatal bite on the neck I watched with mild

interest as she thrashed in her last moments trying to crawl away from the vipers who seemed to be leering at her waiting for

her to faint, so they could be at peace once more. This was it I thought I had known that nothing could go this right for this

long the Gods had to put a stop to this madness. I had grown to like Orpheus, and even though knew something of this sort had

been coming up it was still…hard and saddening to see the pain in his eyes after the body had been found.

I have never felt so attached to a human and I knew that I shouldn’t be, but I didn’t know what to do I just felt a connection

like…like well I don’t really know but I felt that after all this man had done for the good of others he deserved better than this

he didn’t deserve to have it all taken from him, yet it wasn’t the first time something like this happened in fact it was a regular

enough occurrence for a wedding to be ended abruptly be it by an assassination or a by a clumsy trip.

It had been some time since the wedding incident and I hadn’t been paying much attention to what Orpheus had been doing. I

had seen that he now wrote poems but that had been a few moons ago. I was with my Persephone when I was warned by one of

my many minions that a man was approaching the river. I was surprised as it had been a long time since anyone had tried to en-

ter our world and for good reason to; even if they have a coin for Charon they could not make it past Cerberus. I was taken

aback when I saw that the man was none other than Orpheus, he was carrying a flute and there was a look of pure determination

on his dirty sweaty face, he walked forward with an incredible sense of purpose. Orpheus walked on through the cavern until he

reached the river. A boat was resting on the shore of the river and sitting legs hanging over side was a man in a long cloak; Char-

on the ferryman. Orpheus stormed forwards and stopped a meter or two in front of the boat. Charon slowly lifted his head and

his flaming eyes stared at Orpheus almost looking through him. He held his left hand forward palm open to receive his fare.

Orpheus held his flute to his lips closed his eyes and blew it into the instrument. A beautiful sound emitted from his flute and

the ferryman’s mouth opened in awe and he beckoned to Orpheus to enter the boat.




Orpheus and Eurydice/ by Rasmus K. (cont)

Once the ferryman’s boat had reached the other shore of the river he gave Orpheus a little bow and waved for him to step off.

Orpheus nodded in his direction and walked quickly along the cavern. He steamed on I was wondering what he was here for

when he turned a corner and ran headlong into Cerberus his three heads leered the snakes on his back and mane hissed and

spat. Orpheus once again put his flute to his lips and played his beautiful tunes once more. At first Cerberus grunted at him and

growled by then started to close his eyes and soon he lay his heads on the stone floor and stared to snore contently.

Orpheus stood before me minutes later and looked expectantly up into my eyes. It was strange having someone I had been

watching for years standing there without any idea of this fact.

“What do you seek mortal?” I boomed.

“I wish to see my wife again to hear her laugh to…,” I stopped him with my hand

“And what reason do I have to comply with your request?”

“None it is simply the plea of a broken man,” he said with a sigh.

“I shall give you a chance, one chance because a man who plays that beautiful music should not have to suffer. You may see

your wife again if you walk all of the way out of the underworld without looking back once”. A look of confusion passed over

the man’s face and then he looked me in the eyes and nodded.

“I accept,” he declared.

I watched him turn on his heels and walk out of the room not looking back. I waved my hands and a woman made of dust ma-

terialised out of the ground and started to follow him. She was draped in a wedding dress and her hair was ruffled. The dress

flowed behind her as if by wind.

Orpheus walked and walked back past the sleeping monster, and when he was almost at the door a look of doubt passed across

his face and he turned…

Tough Mudder !!

Congratulations to Mr Law who recently completed a gruelling Tough Mudder event.


NASA Mission Discovery Week

Eco News A big thanks to our S1 Litter pickers who did a great job collecting rubbish from the school grounds and the local

area.

A great week at the NASA mission discovery with Daniela and Emma making it to the final. A great effort by all the pupils- well done.


Barcelona Trip

Our S3 and S4 pupils ready to board the flight to Barcelona.

World Challenge 2018

Good luck to our World Challenge Team as the jet off to Thailand



Woodfarm High School Parent Partnership has been busy representing parents & carers and raising funds for the school in these increasingly cash strapped times. Our school fundraising has been going well. We now have an additional Rag Bag bin at the front of the school (behind the bin shed), in addition to the bin in the rear school car park, for you to recycle all your old clothes. Thanks for using the bins as it is an easy way to raise money for the school. Please also use our preferred uniform suppliers SchoolWearMadeEasy.com & Stevensons (in the old Mansworld shop) as they make donations to the school based on the amount of uniform they sell. This year we have donated the money to the English department to buy two Kindles, Dyslexia reading soft-ware & sculpture modeling heads for the Art department (total donated £890). We held meetings in September, November, March & May when we discussed how to improve parental engagement, the Scottish Government’s new Education Bill & gave our views on how the school should de-velop the School Improvement Plan for the next 3 years. We have also attended ERC meetings on Equality & heard about plans to develop “Diversity Champions”. Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 12th September at 6:30pm in the school. Please come along & get involved! Johnny Edgar Parent Partnership Chair

192 Fenwick Road Giffnock Glasgow G46 6UE [email protected]

Parent Partnership — June 2018

mailto:[email protected]

S4 Award Winners

Rowan, Molly and Tinashe being presented with their S4 trophies by Mrs MacGlashan. Well done on their success.

House Competition Winners 2018 Congratulations to Cumbrae House who have made it three wins in a row!!

Receiving the trophy are Junior House Captains Jack McG and Ben C.



Congratulations and our very best wishes for the future to the Class of 2018.

Graduation 2018

Graduation 2018



Graduation 2018


Graduation 2018


Graduation 2018


Graduation 2018


Graduation 2018

Documents

W A - LT Scotland€¦ · Please note that tight black trousers, tight black jeans, black trainers, ... But I didn’t like her much because she betrayed her dad ... angle singing,