All pages - Knightswood Secondary School

KnightswoodSECONDARY SCHOOLIncorporating the Dance School of ScotlandSSPRING 2013Outdoor LearningAmnesty InternationalOur Campus PolicemanOur Journey to Excellence!Mrs Loughlin is delighted to have won agrant for £5,000 from Glasgow City Councilfor Outdoor Learning. KnightswoodSecondary pupils will soon be out ofthe classroom learning new skills withthe resources she has been able to purchase.Activitieswill include gardening,biodiversity and the manufacture of wildlifehabitats. Pupils will also be learningabout navigation, orienteering and mapreading around the school grounds. Increative subjects, pupils will soon beable to learn on a purpose built outdoorstage/classroom. No need to worryabout typical Glasgow weather either asrain jackets have been purchased too!Eco NewsEco Group continue to move the schoolforward to a point where they may beable to apply for Green Flag Status.They have been involved with GCC inan Energy Reduction Campaign whichmay save the Council money and in turnget the school some extra funding. Theytook part in Green Space Awareness atCleveden Secondary which focussed onhow to make more people use their localparks. They received a large supply ofEco goods due to the help of all Parentsand Staff who had collected Morrison’sVouchers.A group of students from both S4 and S5 have set upa branch of the human rights organisation AmnestyInternational in our school. This group meets everyThursday lunchtime to discuss how they can make achange in Knightswood and the wider community tobetter the cause of equal rights. So far they have run acake sale amongst the teachers which raised over £100,presented talks to two third year classes on the problemof homophobia and have sent many, many letters topowerful people around the world, asking them to takeaction to defend the rights of people around them.The group is open to all S3-S6 pupils, and welcomesanyone who wishes to help campaign.One of the members, Louise Wylie, has also had successin Amnesty’s Young Human Rights Reporter of the Yearcompetition, reaching the last three. The competition,which has four sections depending on year group, looksfor the best article on a human rights issue. There isalso a photo journalism category which seeks the bestpicture, real or staged, on those issues. So come alongthis Thursday and make a difference!article by Louise WylieCareers CarouselOn Monday 4th March we held our annual S2 CareersCarousel as part of the Personalisation and Choiceprogramme. We had 14 visiting areas of employmentincluding The Police, Fire Services, Architecture, Childcare,Engineering and Hospitality.Pupils had the opportunity to visit the different areasof employment, asking questions about necessaryqualifications, employment opportunities and what wouldbe involved with the job. Pupils enjoyed the event andseemed to gather lots of useful information from it.Knightswood’s BBC Schools News Reporters interviewedour newly appointed Campus police officer. We were keento find out about Officer Stephen Canale and how he sawhis role here developing. Amy MacPherson and GraemeMarshall spent some time quizzing Stephen while KeirPaterson and Craig McPartland filmed the conversation.First of all they discovered he wanted to be known byhis first name! Not what you’d expect from a policeman.Here’s why “I want the pupils to call me Stephen as I amhere to break down barriers and putting PC or Constablebefore my name is simply creating a barrier.”There had been quite of surprise expressed by pupilsacross the school when they heard there was going to bea permanent police presence in the school, so the nextquestion was obvious. Why do schools need a permanentpolice presence? “Schools don’t need a permanentpolice presence however I feel being based in a schoolhas some great advantages. It helps to show a positiveimage of the police to pupils who may not have greatfeelings about us.”The next thing was how much time did he expect tospend in school, or was he supposed to report in at thepolice station? “I will work here Monday to Friday, 8amto 4pm, however I will still do some back shifts with thepolice in the local community.”Where in school can pupils and staff find you and doyou have specific duties while you are in the building?“People can find me at my desk in one of the PastoralCare offices and I will carry out community patrols duringlunch hours. I don’t have specific duties but I’m keenRugby Clubto get involved in lots of projects and break down anybarriers that may exist between the police and youngpeople.”What kinds of situations do you think you might have todeal with here in this school? “I am still a police officerso I will be dealing with anything that I come across. Iam keen on football and plan on becoming involved inthe school football teams. I will also be giving relevanttalks to different year groups.”Have you learned anything from us since coming towork here? “Yeah, I’m learning all the time in fact, Iwas talking to some pupils the other day and they weretalking about their new blazers, I thought they weretalking about jackets however it turns out they were onabout a new style of Nike trainers.”How long do you think you might spend working hereat Knightswood? “I would imagine that I will be atKnightswood for about 3 to 5 years but that is subjectto change and could even run as long as my service inthe police.”Amy, Graeme, Craig and Keir would like to thankStephen for taking the time to speak to them and theyhope this has also answered some of the questions youmay have had about our Campus Police Officer.You can find our BBC Schools News Report film of thisinterview online at:http://www.knightswoodsecondary.org.uk/C5/index.php?cID=207Knightswood Secondary’s first ever Rugby Club started in January for all S1/S2 boys. Pupilswere initially invited to meet the Scotland National Team at Scotstoun Stadium and latergiven tickets to watch the team at Murrayfield against Italy, a great day for all that went.The club has been supported by local Scottish Rugby Union Coaches and pupils havealready participated in their first Rugby Union tournament; “The Emerging Schools Cup”. Weare delighted that the Knightswood Secondary team have reached the semi-finals, an excellentachievement by all of the team. We look forward to the team winning their first silverware.If you are interested in joining Knightswood Secondary Rugby Club please contact Mr Howie (Mathematics).I am delighted to share the good news that our SchoolQuality Review, which was completed by a 12-strong teamof Education Services officers at the end of last term,reported very favourably on many aspects of the work of theschool. In particular they highlighted the following strengths:the very positive ethos of the school; the very effective PupilSupport Team; the outstanding range of opportunities for widerachievement; the enthusiasm and positive outlook of our staff and young people; the veryeffective leadership of the Headteacher and senior leadership team; the commitment of staffto further improvement. The Review Team’s recommendations for further improvement willbe key priorities in our improvement plans in the coming sessions. But the most importantmessage for everyone is that the Review Team highlighted the significant improvements wehave already achieved in the last couple of years and their confidence in our ability to takeKnightswood Secondary from good to great!For that journey to be successful, it is important that we are clear about where we are nowand where we want to be at the end of our next 3-year improvement planning cycle. Everyonewho is part of Knightswood Secondary, along with our many partners, needs to be involvedin the planning of this next stage of our journey towards excellence. This quote says it all:-“A successful team is a group of many hands but of one mind.”Bill Bethel (author)The school’s vision and values have recently been revised with help from our young people,staff, and members of the Parent Council. Next session we will use the new pattern of theday/week to ensure that our vision and values become more than just words and underpinour attitudes, behaviours, and our decision-making as we establish a House system anda framework for increased personal development, and regular assemblies. All of this willreinforce our vision and values and help us develop that ‘one mind’ that is so important tous being a great team.Lastly, our S4, S5 and S6 students are in their final weeks of preparation before their SQAexams. If your son or daughter is one of these students please do all that you can to supportthem. Make sure they are revising regularly, are asking for help with any parts of theircoursework they are struggling with, and attend supported study/revision sessions beforeand during their study leave. They need to eat healthily, get some exercise and fresh air, andenough sleep over the coming weeks to make sure they are in tip top condition! It’s nevertoo late, and any effort they put in now will make a difference in the results they will receivein August!Head Teacher

Parliament TripAye WriteBasketballExhibits, Extracts and EntertainmentMasterchefMaking MouldsOn a cold and frosty January morning, 30 Modern Studiesstudents from S4 visited the Scottish parliament accompaniedby Mr McKinnon, Mr Sargent and Ms McMillan. We left schoolin high spirits, but as you may expect our hearts soon sankas we were treated to some of the finest traffic jams the M8has to offer! Once we were in Edinburgh we quickly got insideand through security. Amazingly our local MSP Bill Kidd metus there. After arranging for us to go on a fantastic tour of thebuilding, in which no room is square, he also met with us so thatthe students could ask questions of him. Bill was pleased withthe knowledge and enthusiasm shown by the students, so muchso, that he organised passes for First Minister’s questions. Weenjoyed both the tour and the debate!After a spot of lunch, we headed to the place that no trip tothe Scottish Parliament can do without…The Dungeons! Thrillsand spills were on offer and the students spent an hour beingterrified by the experience. Overall a fitting end to the day.Tired and in some cases bruised! We headed back home toKnightswood.It was agreed by all that it was a fantastic day!Red Nose dayKnightswood had a splash of red in March, with lots of funnyevents to raise money for Red Nose Day. Pupils had fun in a “wearsomething red” day, they bought a piece (or two!) of the deliciouscaramel shortcake baked by the 5th year Int 1 Practical Cookeryclasses, and took part in the raffle for a special red nose daycake. There was even a Harlem Shake in the PE department! TheFood Tech department raised £99 and the PE department £32,which went towards the massive £1062.49 raised this year.Knightswood pupils really joined in the spirit of “funny formoney”, wearing colourful onesies and sporting cat face paint,eating cake and buying red noses. Well done everyone!article by Louise WylieThe Mitchell Library hosted the8th Aye Write School’s Festivalin March and once again therewas a fantastic range of authorevents on offer. Some of ourS2 and S3 pupils attendeda workshop by graphic novelcreators, “Metaphrog” to seehow a comic strip comes togetherand had the opportunity to inventtheir own characters. S1 pupilsenjoyed a presentation by theaward-winning author, BarryHutchison, who only recently wonthe Scottish Book Awards olderreaders’ category for his book,“The 13th Horseman”. Well doneto everyone for making the visitsa success.Determinedto ReportOne of the S5 pupils, Louise Wylie,recently joined a programme runby the Scottish Government thataims to teach senior pupils in theskills of journalism. “Determinedto Report” runs lessons ontechnology useful for journalismand the ethics of journalisticreporting. The pupils then putthese lessons to the test bywriting articles for the schoolwidepublication “Shout it!”. Theyalso get the opportunity to writereviews for music, film and/orsports events. This is a wonderfulopportunity which Louise will nodoubt benefit greatly from.Speaking about it, she said “I’mreally looking forward to thewhole programme. It’s excitingto be able to actually havearticles published, and I’m goingto make the most of the wholeexperience.”On Thursday 7th March, the highlyanticipated Glasgow Schools CupFinals for basketball were held, andKnightswood were in the impressiveposition of being finalists in all threeage categories; under 14s,16s, and18s. Having won two categories lastyear, the players went out determinedto give it their best shot.The under 16’s team played with realgrit to get to the final of this year’scup competition, and were unluckynot to have got more out of theirgame, which ended in a 33-59 defeatto Lourdes. Knightswood had beatenSt. Mungos and St. Rochs on theirjourney to the Emirates Arena.It would be hard to imagine a tightergame than the under 14’s final, withjust five points separating the teams.Knightswood were once again theunfortunate second, yet made theirschool proud.Knightswood put on a fantastic showin the under 18’s, which was fiercelycompetitive and gained intensity as itprogressed. Again however, they wereunable to clinch the title and lost outto a ruthless Hillhead team.Every player gave it their all and had3 fantastic games. The experiencethey gained will give them a hugeboost for the future. Congrats on theachievement!article by Louise WylieNow in its fifth year, the Expressive Arts Departments – Art, Dance,Drama and Music - showcased the work of Standard and Higher Gradecandidates.A variety of expressive and design work created by Higher Art and Designpupils was on display while the Higher Drama pupils performed excerptsfrom ‘The Birthday Party’, ‘Men Should Weep’ and ‘One Good Beating’.Higher Dance pupils performed three contemporary dance pieces whileS4 Art and Designpupils modelledthe fantasticmillinery they hadcreated. The orchestraplayed a range ofpieces from SnowPatrol’s, ‘Run’ to thelatest James Bondhit, ‘Skyfall’.Pupils from the Hospitality Course run by the Food TechnologyDepartment entered this Glasgow City Council competition. Thecooking skills of the pupils in the class were judged by Iain Ramsay,Executive Chef at the Beardmore Conference Centre, and heselected four pupils to represent the school. The pupils selectedwere Sophie Warner and Lia McQuade of S5 and Jamie Budgen andAllan McPhee of S6. The pupils had to cook a two course meal withina £10 budget.The pupils were coached by Iain in his professional kitchen andtaught to prepare and present the dishes in a ‘Master Chef’ style.A local heat which involved competing against St Thomas Aquinasand Notre Dame Secondary took place in Knightswood. The pupilsthoroughly enjoyed their experience but were narrowly beaten intosecond place.Knightswood has established a close working relationship with IainRamsay and will benefit from his professional skills and knowledgein the future.Book Week ScotlandAs part of Scotland’s firstever national celebration ofbooks and reading, a groupof S1 and 2 pupils weretreated to the author, JonathanMeres’ hilarious presentationof his “World ofNorm” books. Jonathan hadpupils in stitches with hisstories of family life, which have been the inspiration for his books.If you loved “The Wimpy Kid” series by Jeff Kinney (this year’s mostborrowed books so far), you’ll love these.Work ExperienceKnightswood Secondary pupilJasmine Bell (S4) had the privilegeof working in the office of the MSPBill Kidd when completing her workexperience. Jasmine learned agreat deal from her placement andcontributed to the parliamentarian’swork by producing his regularnewsletter.S3 Design and Manufacture pupilshave been Successful Learners inthe workshop making their ownchocolate bar moulds on a vacuumforming machine. Pupils have comeup with their own designs and madepatterns from MDF and plywood. Thepatterns were put onto the machineand plastic sheets were heated andmoulded around the pattern by thepull of a vacuum. Pupils have takenthe moulds home to make their ownchocolate bars or giant ice poles. Welldone S3!Maths ChallengePupils Cora Tsang and HayleighSmillie (S3) and Connor Lynch andMark Walker (S4) qualified for thefinals of the National EnterprisingMathematics Competition. Thecompetition took place in HunterHalls at the University of Glasgow.The Knightswood team used theirmathematical expertise to battleagainst over 100 schools throughoutthe UK, through 5 growling butexciting rounds of competition. Theevent conjured up many differentmathematical puzzles and problemsthat the team had to work togetherto solve.