December 2006 - Newbattle Community High School

December 2006Issue 2NEWBATTLE NEWSREFLECTIONS ON A SUCCESSFUL YEARThe end of the year isalways a time forreflection and whenlooking back over the pastsession there is a greatdeal to savour.Achievement across theschool was recognised at avery successful awardceremony. Gold Meritcertificates were presentedin recognition ofexcellence to a record 116pupils. Awards were alsomade in subject prizes;sport; community; servicesto the school and a rangeof general awards.The school’s musicaltalents were again verymuch to the fore. Thesession started with asuperb community XFactor competition as partof the Mayfield andEasthouses 50 thanniversary celebrations.A highly successfulChristmas concert playedto a packed audience. Ourschool choir performedalong with theNewtongrange SilverBand at Christmas to acapacity audience at theQueen’s Hall.In the Dalkeith RotaryYoung Musician of theYear competition JanelleReid won the soloistevent, going on to sing atthe national semi finalswith Kim Gray winningthe instrumental section.First year pupil, CallumEdmond won the, ‘East ofScotland Under TwelveSolo Cornet’ competition.Of particular note was theachievement of the schoolchoir who recorded thetheme tune, ‘Choices’ fora national health event andwent on to perform thesong to 16,000 primarypupils over two days at theIngliston ExhibitionCentre. In the summer ahighly acclaimed Rock ‘n’Roll evening rounded offa memorable musicalsession.The growth of extracurricular sport continuedwith more and more ofour pupils participating ina wide range of activitiesoffered. Badminton,hockey, cricket, golf, judo,bowls, rugby, football,snow boarding,swimming, dance, keep fit,self-defence, volleyballand basketball all featuredduring the session.Of particular note wasBilal Azhars’s continuedselection for the ScottishSchools U18 cricket squadand Stephen Tiffney’sScottish Championshipboxing win in his age andweight.The opening of oursynthetic turf pitch was agreat benefit both for P.E.lessons and extracurricularclubs.Our football teamscontinued to flourish withthe U16 side winning theLothian Schools Under 16league for the second yearin a row – only the secondtime a school has everretained this title. TheUnder15 side won theEast & Midlothian Under15 shield.The school againparticipated in a widerange of residentialeducational visits withover two hundred P7/S1pupils attending schoolcamp at Dounans andthirty participating in theS2 University Week atPollock Halls inEdinburgh.As part of the OutdoorEducation programme,staff and pupils made useof the facilities atLagganlia and Lowport.Further afield, nearly 200pupils participated in arange of cultural andsporting educational visitsincluding Holland, twovisits to France, Spain andDenmark. Our Germanexchange continued to

flourish with the schoolsending our senior rockgroup to Kreis –Heinsberg as part of theMidlothian delegation.These trips all add animportant dimension tothe work of the school.One hundred first andsecond year pupils tookpart in the prestigious‘Maths Challenge’ withOwen Gillespie and DaleWyllie winning thecoveted gold award.In recent years the workof our Art and TechnicalDepartments has beengiven much praise andrecognition. We wereagain the lead school in aMidlothian Art weekendresidential to Benmoreand subsequent exhibition.The work of this groupand those of others areexhibited throughout theschool. Our craft anddesign students againproduced much highquality work, on view bothin school and at theScottish Mining Museumin the ‘Midlothian IKEACraft and Designcompetition’.The ‘Friends ofNewbattle’ continued toreach out to ourcommunity and mounteda ‘Parent Zone’ workshopto support learning.Following on the successof recent years our‘Feasting With Music’corporate eveninginvolvedtheNewtongrange SilverBand performing with oursenior students, raising asubstantial sum of moneyto assist the work of theschool. Our active SchoolBoard continued tosupport the school in avariety of mattersincludingkeyappointments of staff.Discussions included thearrangements forimplementing the newParent Forums, which aredue to replace SchoolBoards in 2007-08.Our Young EnterpriseCompany – SIGGS gainednational recognitionwinning, ‘the Best OverallCompany to use quality asan intrinsic part of theirbusiness philosophies andoperations’ beating 300schools across Scotland.They also won ‘Lothian’sbest Company Overall’and had the Runner –upaward for Sales Directoras well as the ‘Best Ideaand Set Up’ at the LothianYoung EnterpriseChristmas Market.’ Thecompany’s product, a CD-Rom containing traditionaland modern Scottishrecipes sold well havingreceived assistance fromthe Melville Castle Hotel,the British HeartFoundation and theEdinburgh and Lothian’stourist board.Helping others lessfortunate than ourselvescontinues to be a highpriority for us. AChristmas, ‘X-Factor’production raised asubstantial sum forChildren In Need. Alsobenefiting fromfundraising efforts were;Guide Dogs For theBlind, Breast CancerCampaign, World AIDSDay, The Phoenix Cluband the Earl Haig Fund aswell as continuing tosupport the education ofchildren in India throughsponsorship of theGoodwill Children’sVillage.Indeed much to savourbut the Challenge alwaysremains, and it is onewhich we shall accept withrelish, to build on thesuccesses of the past andcontinue to stride forward.That is our target for2007, and I am sure thatwe will do our utmost toensure that this target isrealised.Colin B Taylor,Headteacher

A YEAR OF PROGRESSAs we approach the Christmasseason and a full year ofSchool of Ambition status, itgives me great pleasure toreport that the initiative continues to gatherpace. A number of changes have been madesince the Summer break which have addedto the ongoing improvements seen in recentyears.If you have visited the school itself since thesummer you will have noticed our newschool signs proudly displaying our Schoolof Ambition status. The design is intendedto capture the welcoming and inclusiveprinciples of the school and to remind usthat we are actually the sum of many parts.The teachers, ancillary staff, the council, theparental and business stakeholders and mostimportantly our pupils combine together toform a strong learning community. Everyone of those elements needs to contributefully for our school to become ever moresuccessful.Within the school building itself two largeplasma screens have been installed in publicareas. These are used to celebrate pupils’successes by showing photographs of themworking and enjoying themselves aroundschool. The screens are also used to informpupils of the healthy menu options availablein the Bite Site as well as arrangementsrelated to our sports clubs. We have alsoinstalled six large display boards to show offwhat pupils have achieved in all theirsubjects around the school.You will see from other parts of thisnewsletter that we are planning a majorexhibition of pupils’ work and successduring this academic session. Our aspirationis to have every pupil represented in the‘1000 by 1000’ exhibition, which emphasisesour belief that every individual hassomething worthwhile to contribute tosociety. You will also read thatour senior pupils are gainingvaluable experience as leaderswhen working with S2 pupils in our ‘PeakPerformance’ groups. Teenagers often get abad press, but seeing them organising andsupporting younger pupils is proof that theycan clearly be responsible citizens whengiven the opportunity.Being involved in the education of childrenis a privilege and gives teachers anopportunity to give something back tosociety. Giving every youngster the chanceto be successful in their own way is the bestpresent I can think of.Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy NewYear.John WilsonDepute HeadteacherSTAR PUPILS SUCCESSSeven pupils, Tammi Hubbard, AdeleMcBroom, Zoe McNeish, Adam Broadbent,Cameron Miller, Stephen Wylie andRebecca Rodger have been studying at Jewel& Esk Valley College on the Winter LeaversCourses for 2006-2007. These courses arein Hairdressing, Hospitality andConstruction. The college reports that theattendance has been fantastic and that all ofour pupils have completed their courses,achieving success in City & Guilds andTrade Tests.Zoe McNeish has been outstanding. Shehas been awarded the sole scholarshipwhich is competed for by all the WinterLeavers from Midlothian Schools.

1000 X 1000 EXHIBITIONWithin Newbattle’s School of Ambitioninitiative, a major exhibition of pupil’sArtwork is being planned for 31 st May 2007entitled the 1000 x 1000 exhibition.The aim of the exhibition is to allow everypupil at Newbattle to put on show an itemof their work, or displaying a photographshowing them performing a task at work orin a concert setting. The work will featureExpressive Arts but will also incorporate alldepartments in the school.A planning committee with additionalhelpers and supporters is in place and asystem of recording pupils’ contributionswill ensure no one is left out of this fantasticopportunity.An official opening will launch the eventand the work will remain on show for sometime thereafter.Danielle Robinson in S5 has work currentlyshowing in the Benmore Touring exhibitionwhich came to Newbattle on 1 st December.Danielle’s work shown above was used aspart of the publicity for the show.FAST TRACK TO SUCCESS!This term saw the launch of Newbattle’sfirst ‘Fast Track to Success’ group. Thisinnovative programme is designed toaccommodate 60 primary seven pupils fromour associated primary schools.The programme has been constructed inorder to provide a smoother transition forprimary school pupils to integrate into theHigh School, whilst at the same timepromoting and facilitating academicexcellence.Essentially, pupils have been invited toattend lessons in English, Mathematics andScience at Newbattle CHS. Teachers fromboth the primary and secondary sectorshave been involved in delivering theprogramme.Pupils and parents alike have respondedvery positively to the aims, objectives andproposed course of the programme. As thefirst six-week phase draws to a close, thepupils are eagerly awaiting to participate inthe next stage of the syllabus.TERMENDSALLRESUMEALLBREAKSTAFFRESUMEPUPILSRESUMETERMENDSFRIDAY 22 DEC 2006MONDAY 8 JAN 2007FRIDAY 9 FEB 2007WEDNESDAY 14 FEB 2007THURSDAY 15 FEB 2007FRIDAY 30 MAR 2007

NEWBATTLE LEADS THE WAYThe deadline for all schools tobecome officially recognised asHealth Promoting Schools isDecember 2007. By that dateall schools in the country musthave initiatives promoting thewell-being of both pupils and staffembedded in their curriculum andestablished in their school calendar. As aSchool of Ambition, Newbattle has alreadystarted living up to its new title by becomingthe first Midlothian Secondary School to beaccredited with the first of the three stagesinvolved in becoming a “Health PromotingSchool”Led by Home Economics Head ofDepartment, Helen Hannan, the School’sGroup for Health Promotion put in amassive amount of work to come up withnew initiatives to raise awareness of healthissues. All the evidence of the work done bythe school then had to be collated to provethat we really are a school that cares aboutthe mental and physical health of our pupilsand staff.There is an endless list of achievementsundertaken by the school which includecompletely ripping out and rebuilding theHome Economics Department, changingthe environment of the playground byadding colourful seating areas anddecorative murals, holding relaxation classesfor staff, organising activities such as theHealthy Hearts fundraising day, having anall weather pitch installed for outdoorgames, adding speciality equipment toenable physically impaired pupils to use theswimming pool and working with Primaryschools to promote healthy eating to ourprospective First Years.The Health Promotion Group includes stafffrom eight different subjects all putting theirheads together to find new and excitingways to include health education around theschool.planning how to improve all aspects ofhealth over the next two years in order tomeet the criteria for stage two of theprogramme. Working relationships with theOzone which provides counselling andother health support for pupils have neverbeen stronger and plans to develop ourbreakfast club provision, thus improving thepupils’ concentration and subsequentlyattainment are already beginning to hatch.Eat well to do well, just watch us succeed!MAGIC TIME FOR PRIMARYPUPILS AS BOB BOWS OUTPrimary pupils from Newbattle clusterprimary schools were entertained by MagicBob for the last time on Monday 11thDecember. Magic Bob, known tothousands of children all over Scotland isretiring at the end of this year. Bob hasbeen a regular visitor to NewbattleCommunity High School for many yearsand most of our children have beenentertained by him.This special occasion was marked with apresentation from the school with all of ourassociated Primary Headteachers inattendance.We wish Bob all the best in his futureendeavours and he will certainly be missedat Newbattle Community High School.Even though Newbattle is well ahead of thedeadline set we have already started

X-FACTOR NEWBATTLE STYLE 2006What is fast becoming an annualfeature of the Newbattlecalendar saw a huge number ofpupils audition for the covetedfinal slots and the judges MrsAllan, Mr Humphrey, MissWilkie and Mr Watkin had a verydifficult job choosing thefinalists.Eventually, and afterconsiderable heart-searching anddebate, they narrowed it down toa final eleven, with no fewer thanfive of those coming from theextremely talented S1 and S2.WEAR IT PINK DAYNewbattle pupils took part inthe National “Wear it Pink Day”earlier in the term in aid of theBreast Cancer campaign. Pupilswere asked to support the charityby donating to be allowed towear a pink item instead of thenormal school dress code. Afantastic sum of £510 wasraised! Well done to allconcernedThe final event, staged in front ofa capacity audience, wasbrilliantly organised by PaulWilson and his team and anadded touch this year was thateach of the finalists had a videoshowing their audition and givingtheir thoughts on the show. Thelarge crowd were enthralled byeach of the finalists who seemedto suffer no nerves andperformed to a breathtakingstandard.Paul Wilson - organiser entertains the crowdA winner had to be found andthe audience bestowed theaccolade of Newbattle X FactorChampion 2006 on Ann MarieHall. Ann-Marie who is in FirstYear wowed theaudience with“Closest thing toCrazy”. A verymatureperformance fromone of theyoungest finalists.X Factor winnerHead girl, Lois Nelson & Kelly McGarrypresent a cheque to Mrs A HallThere were no losers on thenight though as everyone takingpart had a great time andundoubtedly gained from theexperience of the occasion.An added bonus was the £400raised for Children in Need.Compere James Sutherland with the full X Factor cast

SKYE’S THE LIMIT FOR NEWBATTLE LEADERSThirteen students and 3 staff leftNewbattle Community HighSchool early on Sunday the 3 rd ofSeptember 2006 heading forStaffin on Skye.The aim of the journey was toattend a week long course at theColumba 1400 InternationalLeadership Centre. The mottoof the centre is “Our task is notto put the greatness back intohumanity but to elicit it, for thegreatness is there already” (JohnBuchan)The intensive 6 day courseinvolved long hours of work forall involved – a standard day ranfrom 8am – 10pm.The course focused on 6 corevalues - awareness, focus,creativity, integrity, perseveranceand service. Each day was spenton one of the core values. Thecourse, rather than being an‘outward bound’ type ofexperience, was more of an‘inward bound’ journey.The students studied, discussedand reflected on what wasimportant to them in their ownlives. Various activitiesthroughout the week were aimedat improving pupils self esteem,teamwork and leadership skills.At the end of a very challengingweek the students, althoughmissing their families – ‘didn’twant to come home’ such wasthe impact of the course.The challenge ahead now is toput our new leaders to work inour school. Our ‘Young Leaders’are already hatching plans for thefuture with the launch of a seriesof interhouse competitions, revamping the Student Council andfinding ways of releasing theleadership potential of everypupil and member of staff atNewbattle.The Columba team receive certificates at their graduation ceremony.

N.C.H.S. BIGGEST ENTERPRISE CHALLENGEOn Monday 13 November, S3pupils battled it out with tens ofthousands of other young peoplefrom further education colleges,universities, and workplaces aspart of the nation’s biggest everlive and simultaneous enterprisechallenge.Revealed online across the nationat 9.00am, the 2006 Make YourMark Challenge was a one-dayenterprise competition that wasspecifically designed to kick-startimaginations and unleashcreativity, as young peoplepersonally experienced what ittakes to turn an idea into reality.Students had just one day tocomplete the Make Your MarkChallenge before teams fromeach homeroom were selected topresent their ideas back to 175fellow students and teachers. Anoverall winning team wasselected and their idea, the ‘LazyChair 5000’ forwarded to theorganisers of the challenge, to seeif they agreed that it ‘Cut theMustard’.Mr Colin Taylor, Headteacher,commented, “The Make YourMark Challenge is a great opportunityfor our school to recognise and developstudents’ enterprise skills from an earlyage. It’s a great start to EnterpriseWeek 2006.”Newbattle High was thrilled andproud when the team werenotified that they were throughto the Scottish final. The teamfinalists, David Wilson, CallumBertrum, Billy Livingstone, RossWaters and Ryan McQueenieprepared themselves to battleagainst the best ‘teams’ inScotlandThe Scottish final took place onFriday 24 November atEdinburgh Zoo, where 20schools presented their ideas to apanel of judges. Although theteam didn’t win, theirpresentation of the ‘Lazy Chair5000’ was well received by theaudience and the judges for itscreativity and the boys a credit tothe school.BT ROADSHOW COMESTO NEWBATTLECOMMUNITY HIGHSCHOOLEnterprise Week came to anexciting close with a visit fromCraggRats Theatre Group. TheRoadshow formed part of a BTprize received by the school, forpromoting excellence incommunication. All of S5 andS6 were treated to an entertainingplay with some importantmessages about communication.The play concentrated onessential skills required whenlooking for a job and going foran interview. This was followedby group workshops to reinforceand develop these messages.The Newbattle team making their presentation at the Scottish final.

NEWBATTLE ACADEMIES OF SPORT MAKE GREAT STRIDESNewbattle Football Academygoes to HeartsOn November 2 nd the entireFootball Academy of the PeakPerformance group of S2 & S5went to Heart of Midlothiantraining grounds at Riccarton.Fifty four students & staff whohave been working together sincethe project was launched in Junelast year headed off down thebypass to the state of the artfacilities. The students were givena short talk on footballers’ dietsby Tom Ritchie who is the Dietand Fitness coach for the FirstTeam in the indoor astro turfhall. Then the students werecoached by Alan White, head ofcommunity sport at Hearts, andan ex Newbattle student as well!The coaching consisted of warmup, basic skills of dribbling andpassing then into small gameswith each team playing againsteach other all in the same hall asthe Hearts Team train! Lookingfantastic in their FootballAcademy kit, the studentsworked hard and although nofirst team players could come tomeet them the students had agreat trip.Mr Taylor, who was with thegroup was delighted and proudof the hard work, excellentbehaviour and superb turnout ofthe Newbattle students.Basketball on the MoveThe Basketball Academy has alsohad a solid start with forty fiveS2/S5 students working hard toestablish squads and trainingroutines to make a first rate teamto work together to develop thesport. Under the expertbasketball coach, Mr Gillespie(trained in the USA) seniorstudents have developed intotrainee coaches to the S2students, determined to maketheir squad of S2 the best!Ms Hamilton who also workswith Mr Gillespie has beenresponsible with Mr Baxter fororganising the huge amounts ofkit needed for all the squads. Abig well done to both teachersfor this. Both the Football andBasketball Academies lookfantastic.Dance Alive and KickingThe Dance Academy is workingon presenting a Dance Festival inDecember, when Ms Whyte andMs Ross along with their 20 S2/5girls will join together withschools from all over Midlothianto develop their skills through aseries of workshops andperformances.Leaders in SportWorking with all the Academygroups the Junior Sports Leaderssection is a body of 14 S5students led by Mr Wilson whoare training to become sportscoaches to help their careers.Every week they are learninghow to organise warm ups andskills training and soon will betaking some of the coaching forthe Football and BasketballAcademies. They are also offskiing to Hillend to see how thissport is coached.The Sports Academies havestarted a very exciting initiative atNewbattle High, with lots of newlearning opportunities andpioneering development of thePE curriculum.Reminder all Xmas LeaversNow that you have leftNewbattle Community HighSchool to go onto FurtherEducation or Employment couldI remind you to complete aLeavers Form at School? If youhave any books that you have notyet returned please bring theminto Reception. We hope youhave a great Christmas and wishyou lots of luck for the future.The School Office Team

NEWBATTLE FLY THE FLAG AT DANA CUPNewbattle Football sideshave enjoyed considerablesuccess in recent seasonsand have shown theirqualities by competing forthe last two summers inthe DANA CUPInternational tournamentin Denmark. The DanaCup, which celebrated its25 th anniversary in 2006, isthe second biggest Youthtournament in Europe andattracted 915 teams from47 different countries tothe town of Hjorring inNorthern Jutland, one ofthe most popular touristdestinationsinScandinavia.The town itself sees itspopulation of 25,000double for the tournamentweek and the teams arebilleted in schoolclassrooms across thetown. Tars, a small villageon the outskirts ofHjorring was our homefor the week with regularshuttle transportation toand from the event centreand the 83 well appointedpitches. The school hadtraining facilities which wecould use and those werecomplete with nets and allwe could have wished for- always a source ofamazement to Britishvisitors that these can beleft out and remain inperfect condition. In factthe whole area is spotlessand the sense of fun andenjoyment pervades theentire town. Showgroundsand a disco tent whichholds over 5000youngsters are well usedevery night but the feelingof total safety and wellbeingis always maintaineda testament to theatmosphere which makesthis whole experience soworthwhile.The Opening ceremonyon the Monday eveningsees all teams paradethrough the town to theStadium behind theirnational flag led bymarching bands throughstreets lined with thespectators. As the onlyScottish representative inthe event this year we hadthe stage to ourselveswhen Scotland wereintroduced on the bigscreen. The teamresplendent in their newtracksuits received theirapplause before settlingdown to enjoy the concertprovided by chart toppinggroup Infernal.The main event of coursewas the competition andour team respondedmagnificently to qualifyfrom the group stages andonly lose out on penaltiesin the last 16 to FC Staadin Switzerland. This is afantastic achievement forwhat was the only schoolside in the tournament,competing in the mainagainst towns’ sides, teamsrepresenting whole areas,professional clubs, andeven the Cameroonnational team who werethe eventual winners inour age group. FC Staadwho hail from the ultrarich ski resort of Gstaadhad a list of blue chipsponsors which any sidewould have been proud ofincluding Credit Suisse,Swisstel, and many more -a share of their budgetwould keep all of ourschool teams going for adecade!Although the schedule ishectic and withtemperatures reaching35ºC which saw some ofthe roads melting - notnormal for NorthernDenmark - the use of theswimming pools was mostwelcome. We also found

time to fit in Go-Karting,Golf, Bowling and a visitto the main theme andwater park, FarupSommerland.It was a tired but happygroup which flew back toEdinburgh after eight daysaway, a group whoundoubtedly benefited notonly in sporting but also insocial terms from theexperience of beingtogether and mixing withthe various nationalitieswhom we came across.The players were greatambassadors for theschool and their country.This year we will bereturning to Dana Cup fora third time with ourUnder 15 team and whilewe cannot guarantee theweather will be as good wecan be sure the overallexperience will bememorable.NEWBATTLEFOOTBALL TEAMSNETRAFSPONSORSHIPNewbattle’s Footballteams were delighted tonet a sponsorship packagewith four figures fromRAF Careers whomprovided two sets ofstrips, footballs, kit bags,waterbottles and tacticsboards.An RAF spokespersonsaid, “Newbattle’s recordover recent years is theresult of skill,determination,commitment and above allteam work. These arequalities which will bringsuccess in every walk oflife and are of vitalimportance in a servicesuch as ours. We aredelighted to be associatedwith NewbattleCommunity High Schoolfootball sides and wishthem every success in thefuture.”EDUCATIONMAINTENANCEALLOWANCEIf you are returning toschool after the ChristmasHolidays and you are over16 you could apply forEducation MaintenanceAllowance. Thisallowance could give youbetween £10 and £30every week you have fullattendance (otherconditions may apply).Please come into theSchool Office and pick upan application form.The School Office TeamInfernal entertain the crowdGlen Marshall, Liam Hall, Ryan Law & Darren Flynn model our new kit.

NEWBATTLE COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL64 EASTHOUSES ROADDALKEITHMIDLOTHIANEH22 4EWPHONE – 0131 663 4191FAX – 0131 654 2611Email – newbattle_hs@midlothian.gov.ukwww.newbattle.org.uk