Week beginning 12th September 2011
Eco Group
Pupils from Bannockburn High joined forces with the ’On the Verge’ organisation to plant a wildflower area in the school grounds. The initiative is to sustain biodiversity and to help our bee population. The pupils spent time raking and sowing and are looking forward to a beautiful, insect-essential display next year!
Food Festival
The ACE events Group are organising a Tombola Stall for the Broomridge Food Festival on Sunday 2nd October and would greatly appreciate any donations. The Food Festival aims to raise awareness about local produced food and recycling, therefore, any eco-friendly products would be especially welcome. (No alcohol please.) Please see Mrs Mackay or Mrs Mackinnon in the English department if you have any donations.
Aviemore Trip
On Friday 2nd September we went on a geography trip to Aviemore. On the day we arrived we participated in team building activities with the mountain leader which was really fun. It gave us a chance to get to know each other and really built up our confidence. There were at least 8 team building activities which everyone enjoyed very much; the best one was where we had to work as a team to move on giant skis! After the team building activities we saw our lodges – it was amazing everyone was so happy and exited to see the rooms.
We then went to do a river survey of the Allt Mor River near our lodges. We carried out 3 different activities measuring the width, depth and speed of 3 different parts of the river. The following day we were all very excited as we were going to climb the Cairn Gorm (Mono Rouge). It was a very big task but you really felt a great sense of achievement at the top. Once we had enjoyed the spectacular views of the corrie and Aviemore in the distance we headed back down the mountain. We got the funicular railway back up the mountain to see the beautiful viewing platform and the very cute gift shop and all enjoyed a lovely hot chocolate and snack. The following day, Sunday, we were going into Aviemore for a look around and to complete some human fieldwork – a traffic survey and asking people some questions about why they came to Aviemore and where they came from. After finding out all of the information we had a look around. Then we had a lovely lunch on the kettle hole beach at Loch Morlich. Overall we would like to thank Mrs Chalmers for organising the trip because we had a spectacular time and to Miss Esmail, Mrs Farley, Ms Baxter and Mr Steel who gave up their weekend to come along as well and help look after us on this great trip!
By Charis Maclean and Nicola McGregor
Dying For Life Conference
MUM’S THE WORD FOR BANNOCKBURN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AT ‘DYING FOR LIFE’ GLOBAL FORUM
A STAGGERING 1,000 women die every day due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth and students from Bannockburn High School were in Edinburgh this week to find out more about the greatest health inequity in the world today.
‘Nearly every minute, a woman dies of complications in pregnancy and childbirth,’ said ‘ Alasdair Keane (17) ‘We discovered that 99 per cent of these deaths occur in the developing world. That cannot be right. What’s more they could be prevented with basic care and help.’ Alasdair was one of 10 S6 students from Bannockburn High School at the (GSF) held at the General Assembly Hall, Edinburgh this week (Thurs 8th Sept 2011)
‘It is heart-breaking to find out that new born babies are up to 10 times less likely to survive if they have lost their mother in childbirth,’ said Clare Heggie (17), Head Girl.
With the help of multi-media presentations, seminars and live music, students explored why the world is so far off-track in meeting the fifth United Nations Millennium Development Goal of reducing maternal mortality by 75 per cent and achieving universal access to reproductive health services by 2015. GSF also offered practical suggestions of how students could make a difference.
‘Having a nephew just three weeks old, highlights the problems facing young mums in other countries and this really hit home to me,’ Mrs Audrey Farley (teacher) who went on to say
‘Our students have already discussed creative ways to tell their peers and the local community about the things they’ve learned and, because the message is coming from them, it is likely to hit home much harder.’
Bannockburn High School looks forward to working as a Global Student Forum school to highlight this issue through a number of exciting events.
Modern Languages
On Tuesday 30th August, our S1 pupils spent a morning “travelling” to France, Belgium and Switzerland as part of their Modern Languages Passport Project. Each pupil had to gain entry to the 3 French speaking countries by answering a series of questions in French given by passport control officers. Paper passports made by the pupils were stamped and the pupils then had to move to the next country on their list. The passport controllers were played by Modern Languages staff and each of the Modern Languages classrooms played host to one of the 3 countries. Feedback from the pupils was very positive and everyone enjoyed talking in French and “travelling” around Europe.
LEAPS visit
Sarah Austen from LEAPS will be in school next week to interview pupils in S5/6 who wish to make an application for a university course. The interviews build on the programme of events which started last year including The Typical Student Week and the S5 Student Conference. Pupils will continue to receive ongoing support throughout the year in order to help increase progression rates to Higher Education.
London February 2012
Any Higher/Advanced Higher Modern Studies or Music pupil planning to participate in the excursion to London should return their consent form with a £50 deposit to Mrs Millar by Friday 16th September.
London May 2012
Any S1 – S3 pupil planning to participate in the excursion to London should return their consent form with a £50 deposit to Mrs Millar by Friday 30th September. A list of pupils selected to participate will be posted the following week. Any pupil who is unsuccessful will have their deposit returned.
Photographer
H. Tempest photographer will be in school on Wednesday 21st September to take individual photos of all S1, S3 and S5 pupils. She will also take a group photo of the S6.
Order forms will be issued later in the week and we would ask as many parents/carers as possible to place orders. The money raised helps towards our M+ scheme.
Battlefields Trip
Finalised lists for the trip are displayed in the History department. All pupils on the list should pick up a payment card from Mrs Smith or Ms Baxter. All £50 deposits must be with Mrs Smith and Ms Baxter asap. There are a number of pupils on a reserve list and they should listen for any change of details.
Young Engineers
Senior pupils are taking part in the Makerbot challenge with Strathclyde University. Also some S2 girls are building a working scale model wind turbine, and the there is a group taking part in the international MATE ROV underwater competition.
