St Aidan’s High School news

May 13 2009 by Jean Ward, Wishaw Press

ON Thursday, April 30, the S4 Leavers’ Ceremony took place in the school resource centre.

Deputy head Mr MacKay acted as Master of Ceremonies introducing each of the speakers. Head teacher Mr Rooney presented each of the students with their North Lanarkshire Diploma which recognises the skills the young person has achieved during their years at St Aidan’s High.

Shona Burnside from Career Services and Cathy Russell from Employability Scotland spoke to the pupils and parents about the continued role these services will provide beyond school and into their future employment. Finally Elizabeth McKenna, PT Pupil Support for S4, gave a humorous yet serious message to the leavers.

ABOUT 50 S1 pupils are getting ready for the bi-annual trip to Lindisfarne which takes place on May 14. In preparation the pupils got together to discuss the different aspects of the trip including the places they will visit including the Priory, museum and the present St Aidan’s Church.

THE Robert Shields Memorial is very important to the school. Robert, formerly one of our science technicians, sadly died a couple of years ago. Following Robert’s death the staff, led by the science department raised money for a charitable project in Robert’s name. It was decided that enough money should be raised for a project in Uganda to provide clean drinking water for a village. Consequently staff and pupils set about the task of raising £500 which was presented to Sister Martina, who was representing the Uganda Banana Tree Project. This week staff were delighted to receive photographs which highlight the tremendous benefit to the people in the village.

ALAN Lynch, the Youth Development Officer at Dalziel Rugby Club, is delivering a six-week introduction to rugby to our S3 boys. The response from the pupils has been fantastic. In their first week the boys were taught passing and had their first practice of a tackle in a Royal Rumble. The boys thoroughly enjoyed the experience and are keen to start a club and a senior rugby team at St Aidan’s. Some of the boys have already joined the club at Dalziel and are extremely enthusiastic about this new sport.

OVER the past few years pupils have been lucky to have been given try out sessions of Judo by visiting coaches. Many of the pupils have expressed a real interest in continuing with this sport and now they will have the opportunity to do so as Stevie Blair is about to start classes in this martial art on Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings. John McLaughlin, one of the teachers from Modern Studies, will be assisting at the clubs. Although based in the school it will be open to members of the wider community.

IN keeping with all the schools in North Lanarkshire, St Aidan’s staff were involved in the first of the special in-service provision to introduce Curriculum for Excellence. Mr Rooney began the day with an informative presentation to all staff outlining some of the possible effects on the curriculum and the benefits for changes to certification for students. Later time was allocated to departmental discussion on how these changes would impact on each subject.

THE S3 Parents’ night is on May 12 from 4.30 to 7pm; the S5 and S6 Masses prior to SQA exams are on May 13; study leave for S5 and S6 begins on May 14.