FROM THE HIGH SCHOOL PREFECTS
ECO SCHOOLS
9 pupils from our Eco Schools group joined with the Rural Skills classes on Friday to start planting trees in the school grounds. We hope this is the start of developing a whole new ‘Eco Area’ in the grounds!
BLYTHSWOOD RECYCLING BIN
As part of our Eco Schools programme, we are hosting a recycling bin which has been provided by the Blythswood charity. It is located near the Dochfour Drive entrance, near the new bike shed, and takes a large variety of goods such as clothes, shoes, handbags, small toys, ink cartridges etc. Please put things in a plastic bag before putting them in the bin. The bin is available for deposits from 8.30 am- 5.30 pm. Blythswood use the items collected in a variety of ways, and any money raised goes towards their projects in Mozambique and Malawi. Let’s get recycling!
COMIC RELIEF
We had a great day raising money for Comic Relief on Friday 13th. Lots of staff and pupils came to school in their pyjamas, or wore red along with their red noses! Pupils had been selling red noses in school all week, and paying 20p a vote for teachers to be gunged. The staff with the top 3 largest number of votes braved having some very smelly gunge poured over them by pupils, in front of the entire school on Friday afternoon. We also had a ‘guess the baby photo’ competition, coffee and red nose cakes for staff and face painting. The pupils from room 5, who have been collecting pennies for the Oxfam Safe Water Campaign gave the money they had collected last week to Comic Relief too. All of this meant that we raised £537.22, which is absolutely brilliant, and we had a lot of fun doing it!
S2 LEADERSHIP PHONE RECYCLING
Our S2 Leadership group have been trying to raise money towards their project – a school radio show! They have teamed up with the company ‘Envriostudents’, and have started a mobile phone recycling campaign which we want you all to get involved with! It is very simple – you sell your old mobile phone on the website - www.invernesshighschool.envirostudents.com
and you receive the value of the phone. Envirostudents then donates £3.00 per phone to the High School. Once you have registered (for FREE) on the website above, you will be sent a free post envelope so you can send your phone to Envirostudents for FREE. They will then give you your money, and the donation to the school, within 7 days! So if you have any old phones lying around now that you have a better one, why not see if you can make some money, for yourself and the school at the same time! And you’ll be being eco friendly too!
JUNIOR SPORTS LEADERS AWARD
For the past few months, 6 of our pupils have been taking part in the Junior Sports Leaders Award, which is a nationally recognised qualification designed to help young people develop their sports leadership. This has been funded through the Merkinch Partnership, and the young people have been working really hard, taking part in training sessions after school, and helping to lead sessions for the James Cameron Centre youth club and also in Merkinch Primary School. They also have to complete a log book for the award. They have their last training session this week, and have all done very well. These pupils are: Lauren Fraser, Shannon Leckie, Kirsty Urquart, Jordan Macdonald, Edan Gardner and Derry Macdonald.
Monday 16 March 2009
Saturday 14 March 2009
Recycling for charity
The High School is hosting a recycling container for the Blythswood charity. It will take a range of goods which can be recycled including - clothes; shoes; books; handbags; small toys; mobile phones; ink cartridges etc. Please put any donated items in a plastic bag before depositing. The container is located near our Dochfour Drive entrance - near the new bike shed. The container is available for deposits during the day 8.30am - 5.30pm.
Red Nose Dress Code
Staff and Pupils paid to dress up/down for Red Nose Day. Many wearing red or their pyjamas and braving a cold wind. Some outfits were very inventive. The entire day had a great atmosphere with good spirit and lots of fun. The winner of guess the staff baby picture competition be announced shortly.
Red Nose Day Highlights - Gunging
The highlight of our Red Nose Day fundraising was the gunging of three members of staff - who won! the popularity contest. Mr Brown, Mr MacDonald and Mr MacKenzie (Head Janitor) all braved the ritual humiliation and very smelly gunge in front of the whole school. The gunging was filmed by BBC Alba (the digital Gaelic channel) for their 8pm news.
The final total for Red Nose day will be published soon but we know the total has passed the £500 mark. Well done to all the organisers and the brave staff who put themselves up for an unpleasant ordeal.
The final total for Red Nose day will be published soon but we know the total has passed the £500 mark. Well done to all the organisers and the brave staff who put themselves up for an unpleasant ordeal.
Friday 13 March 2009
The quality of Teaching and Learning recognised
Recently the school had a visit from a Council Quality Improvement Team they were looking at aspects of the school's work and commenting on our own self-evaluation.
They have produced a very positive interim report for us and I'd like to highlight some of the strengths of the school they commented on.
Some strengths of the school
Commitment of staff to the young people within the school
Mutual respect shown by staff to young people and vice versa
Positive ethos which is underpinned by very good staff/young people relationships
Positive environment for learning, attractive and relevant displays in classrooms, well organised teaching materials
Willingness and ability of staff to engage with new developments in learning and teaching
Wide range of approaches to teaching being consistently displayed in classes
Very good use of ICT to enrich and support teaching
Well paced lessons
Inclusiveness and support for a wide range of pupils
Expectations of staff
Focus on social targets as well as academic targets
Consistent quality of good/very good Teaching and learning
Young people who demonstrate that they are confident and successful learners and who are committed to the school and its community.
Young people who are confident that their views would be acted upon.
Opportunities for young people to develop leadership skills.
The faculty structure was also praised for its effectiveness and for placing the school well for future curriculum development.
Very well done to all - it was commented that the teaching in IHS is the best and most consistent they have seen in any secondary school.
They have produced a very positive interim report for us and I'd like to highlight some of the strengths of the school they commented on.
Some strengths of the school
Commitment of staff to the young people within the school
Mutual respect shown by staff to young people and vice versa
Positive ethos which is underpinned by very good staff/young people relationships
Positive environment for learning, attractive and relevant displays in classrooms, well organised teaching materials
Willingness and ability of staff to engage with new developments in learning and teaching
Wide range of approaches to teaching being consistently displayed in classes
Very good use of ICT to enrich and support teaching
Well paced lessons
Inclusiveness and support for a wide range of pupils
Expectations of staff
Focus on social targets as well as academic targets
Consistent quality of good/very good Teaching and learning
Young people who demonstrate that they are confident and successful learners and who are committed to the school and its community.
Young people who are confident that their views would be acted upon.
Opportunities for young people to develop leadership skills.
The faculty structure was also praised for its effectiveness and for placing the school well for future curriculum development.
Very well done to all - it was commented that the teaching in IHS is the best and most consistent they have seen in any secondary school.
New Bike Shed
With funds raised by last year's Columba group through their travel to school plan we now have a new bike shed which provides an attractive shelter for bikes and keeps them "Dry". This also removes bikes from the main car park area and therefore improves safety.
The new Bike Shed is now complete pupils can use it immediately. The old bike rails will hopefully be removed over the Easter holiday. Take your padlocks home please!
The new Bike Shed is now complete pupils can use it immediately. The old bike rails will hopefully be removed over the Easter holiday. Take your padlocks home please!
Monday 9 March 2009
Latest News
FROM THE HIGH SCHOOL PREFECTS
ECO SCHOOLS
Paul Cortopassi who works for Eco Schools in Scotland came to the High School on Wednesday to talk to our S1 and 2 pupils about how to get involved in Eco Schools, and why it is so important. It was great to have him along to the school, and he gave us all a lot to think about!
PUPIL COUNCIL
Our pupil council were filming over 2 days this week, with help from Gus MacIver from MP33, who came to the High School with cameras and lots of expertise! The pupils really enjoyed the filming, and will start the editing process next week at MP33, to make the footage into a short DVD to which will be used to tell P7 pupils all about what to expect from the High School when they come up into S1.
OXFAM SAFE WATER CAMPAIGN
The pupils from room 5 have been working hard to collect and count the money raised from collecting 1 and 2 pences. The campaign is now finished, with a grand total of £121 raised, which is a fantastic achievement. Any money collected after this will be put towards the money raised for Comic Relief next week.
COMIC RELIEF
Friday 13th of March is Comic Relief 2009, and our Community Involvement classes, along with the S2 leadership group have been coming up with lots of ideas to get everyone involved! As well as selling red noses, we are having a ‘wear your pyjamas to school day’, a ‘gunge the teacher’ and a ‘guess the baby photo’ competition, as well as coffee and red nose cakes for the staff. It sounds like a good day, and hopefully we will raise lots of money too!
REAL PROJECT
5 of the pupils involved in the REAL Project went along to the HISEZ (Highlands and Islands Social Enterprise Zone) Annual Conference in Aviemmore this week, and ran the exhibit for the project. They were the only young people at the conference, but definitely held their own and did the school and the project proud, as well as really enjoying themselves. The pupils involved were: Debbie MacGillivray, Tyler MacKenzie, James Cooper and Eyah Meneses from S2, and Ali Sloggie from S3.
ECO SCHOOLS
Paul Cortopassi who works for Eco Schools in Scotland came to the High School on Wednesday to talk to our S1 and 2 pupils about how to get involved in Eco Schools, and why it is so important. It was great to have him along to the school, and he gave us all a lot to think about!
PUPIL COUNCIL
Our pupil council were filming over 2 days this week, with help from Gus MacIver from MP33, who came to the High School with cameras and lots of expertise! The pupils really enjoyed the filming, and will start the editing process next week at MP33, to make the footage into a short DVD to which will be used to tell P7 pupils all about what to expect from the High School when they come up into S1.
OXFAM SAFE WATER CAMPAIGN
The pupils from room 5 have been working hard to collect and count the money raised from collecting 1 and 2 pences. The campaign is now finished, with a grand total of £121 raised, which is a fantastic achievement. Any money collected after this will be put towards the money raised for Comic Relief next week.
COMIC RELIEF
Friday 13th of March is Comic Relief 2009, and our Community Involvement classes, along with the S2 leadership group have been coming up with lots of ideas to get everyone involved! As well as selling red noses, we are having a ‘wear your pyjamas to school day’, a ‘gunge the teacher’ and a ‘guess the baby photo’ competition, as well as coffee and red nose cakes for the staff. It sounds like a good day, and hopefully we will raise lots of money too!
REAL PROJECT
5 of the pupils involved in the REAL Project went along to the HISEZ (Highlands and Islands Social Enterprise Zone) Annual Conference in Aviemmore this week, and ran the exhibit for the project. They were the only young people at the conference, but definitely held their own and did the school and the project proud, as well as really enjoying themselves. The pupils involved were: Debbie MacGillivray, Tyler MacKenzie, James Cooper and Eyah Meneses from S2, and Ali Sloggie from S3.
Thursday 5 March 2009
Maths in the Pipeline
On Friday 27th Feb., six of our brightest and best mathematicians attended this event at the UHI Milleniumn Institute. Mr. Macdonald, faculty head, had instigated this last year and we looked to build upon the success of the event.It was organised by Techfest and ten local secondary schools participated.Maths in the Pipeline involves firms from different aspects of the oil industry and the professionals work as mentors as well as delivering lectures and workshops.In the morning students were placed in mixed teams and then had workshops on the Captain oil field, on forecasting and on the efficiency of networks for helicopters visiting the various platforms in the North Sea.In the afternoon they were given a daunting challenge - to devise a strategy for the most efficient method of exploiting the oil reserves in the Caspian sea.All out students performed very well and were a credit to the school.Mr. Macleod also attended and drank far too much coffee.Calum MacBean was a member of the winning team - well done to him!Our participants were . in no particular order. Leah Frewin, Lauren Fraser, Eilish Rennie, Lisa Maciver, Calum, MacBean, Craig Wallace.With a bit of luck , there may be a follow up in sixth year and we will look forward to that.
Study Leave
SQA EXAMS
Study leave for S4 starts at 3.30pm on Friday 1st May 2009 and pupils return to school on Monday 8th June
Study leave for S5/6 starts at 3.30pm on Tuesday 12th May and pupils return to school on Monday 8th June
Study leave for S4 starts at 3.30pm on Friday 1st May 2009 and pupils return to school on Monday 8th June
Study leave for S5/6 starts at 3.30pm on Tuesday 12th May and pupils return to school on Monday 8th June
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