October Bulletin

The next 50 Anniversary event will be a Ceilidh on Friday 28 November. Tickets costing £8 are available from Mrs Babbs, our school librarian. Please check the school website to find out what else is planned! (www.liberton.edin.sch.uk)


Parents’ evenings. I was very disappointed with the low turnout for our S5/6 parents evening on Wednesday 29 October. Only 39% of the parents from these year groups attended. Last year’s attendance for S5/6 was 38%. This is particularly disappointing as the vast majority of parents who responded to the summer survey on the timing of parents’ evenings, indicated that they preferred a 6–8 pm slot. I am really keen to hear from parents who were unable to attend so that we can make arrangements that allow us to engage more with parents. If you haven’t already done so, please call guidance staff to find out how your children are progressing. By working together in this way we can support pupils in achieving their potential.


Reading for Gold. All of S1 and S2 are taking part in a new reading programme. It is called Reading for Gold and it is fun, flexible and creative! It involves the pupils being given targets and reading five books. Once they have completed a book they will do a creative task on it. After the five books have been read and a task has been completed, the pupils will receive a RFG certificate signed by their class teacher and Mr Macdonald. They will then move on to the Silver and Gold projects. These tasks are a bit trickier but they are just as much fun and give something to aim for! So far, the project has been warmly received by the pupils and the certificates will be achieved in no time!


A whole school photograph to mark our 50 Anniversary was taken on the afternoon of Wednesday 27 August. Orders for these must be placed with us no later than Friday 7 November.


Improving pupil attendance in session 2008/09 is a priority for the school. Attendance across the school has improved this session. Thank you to all parents who took the time to respond to the questionnaire posted in the summer. However, a minority of pupils continue to cause concern because of their erratic and/or poor attendance. In early December I intend to notify all parents of their child’s current levels of attendance and the cut offs we will use to look at who should be repeating the year and who is not ready to sit exams.


Staffing update. I am sure you will wish to join me in wishing Mrs Coburn a speedy recovery following a recent knee operation. Mr Robertson is currently leading the PE department. Mrs Steele (English) and Mrs McKerrecher (French) are currently in acting PT positions in their departments.


Homework concerns: I take this opportunity of informing parents that you will now be sent a text if we have concerns about your child’s homework.


The L Factor on Thursday 16 October was a fantastic success and an unforgettable evening! Warmest congratulations to Kirsty Evans who won the contest. On returning from the October break we learned that Kirsty has been invited to perform with Sandi Thom at her Edinburgh concert in January 2009. Many thanks to all who supported us and particularly to Mr McCorquodale who oversaw the entire show.

The Home Economics department staged our annual Ready, Steady, Cook event on the afternoon of Wednesday 22 October. In an exciting contest, PC Thomson’s rabbit stew was judged to be tastier than Mr Macrae’s spam fritters!


This year’s National Antibullying Week takes place from 17-23 November. Among other activities happening in the school, pupils in S2 and S3 will be working on antibullying presentations in SE and a group of S6 plan to launch some of their own initiatives during the week.

Megan Bryant (S5) and Stuart Wilson (S6) participated in the “Lessons from Auschwitz Project”. This included a visit to the former Nazi extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland. Megan and Stuart are planning a programme of activities to disseminate the lessons they have learned. These will be held in the run up to Holocaust Memorial Day in January 2009.
A further 20 pupils are being trained in Heartstart this term. The S3 Intermediate 1 Biology pupils have so far learned the skills involved in recognising a heart attack, providing CPR and knowing how to treat bleeding in relation to their coursework on The Heart. If any parents are interested in attending evening Heartstart sessions, led by Liberton High pupils themselves, please keep an eye on future bulletins for dates and times.


Parent’s association news. (Liberton High School Association LHSA)

LHSA held another successful Car Boot Sale on Sunday 5 Oct raising £260 for the school. Thanks to all who made this possible.

One of the objectives of the LHSA is to promote partnership between parents, pupils and the school, and the LHSA felt that funding the purchase of new, better maths books for all pupils studying higher maths this year was an investment that would directly benefit pupils and also assist the school in its aim to raise attainment.

This year alone LHSA has funded the purchase of new resources for the library, strips for the rugby team and a new saxophone for the music department. This has been made possible through a variety of fundraising events such as car boot sales, raffles, quizzes and the sale of tea, coffee & tuck at school events.

The main ongoing fundraiser however is the 100 Club and many parents, grandparents, staff and former pupils are already members, but we need more members to keep this going. You can download an application form from the school website.

If you feel you would like to help LHSA support Liberton High School in any way please email us at liberton_pta@yahoo.co.uk.



Dates for the Diary

Tuesday 18 November S1 Parents’ Evening (6-8 pm)
Wednesday 19 November S4 prelims begin (Standard grades only at this stage)
Friday 28 November 50 Anniversary Ceilidh (Tickets @£8 from Mrs Babbs)
Thursday 11 December S4 Parents’ Evening (6-8 pm)
Monday 15 December Carol Concert
Friday 19 December Term ends

Please share any news with me that you would like me to publicise or let me know if there is anything in particular that you would like to see included in future editions of this bulletin.
Many thanks.

Please check the school website for copies of all previous bulletins and other breaking news. (http://www.liberton.edin.sch.uk)
Donald J Macdonald (Headteacher)
3 November 2008

Events@Liberton

A new section has been added to the school website to tell you more about what's happening around the school and what's coming up in the next couple of months.
Click for Events@Liberton

When Sandi came to Liberton

photos by Lou Hardless (cactusclimber@hotmail.co.uk)

Thursday 16th October saw one of the most exciting evenings Liberton has ever witnessed. Our annual talent show was delighted to welcome a very special celebrity judging panel including million selling singer songwriter Sandi Thom, Forth One Celebrity DJ Grant Stott and Big Brother Celebrity Hijack winner John Loughton. And what a show we gave them - the talented students of LHS sang, danced and played their hearts out to a sell out crowd of students, parents and invited guests.

After some tense moments in the judges room the winners were announced - Third place went to Uni Kim (S5) for her rendition of 'The Heart Never Lies', Second place to Iain McBain and Cecily Kingston (both S5) for their version of 'The Prayer' and the overall winner was Kirsty Evans who performed 'Chasing Cars'. The judges were amazed at the standard of all the acts and we are delighted to announce that Sandi Thom was so blown away by Kirsty that she has asked her to perform with her at her Edinburgh concert in January.

It was a wonderful evening and something for the whole school to be incredibly proud of.

Read more about the evening here

Kirsty Evans L Factor winner

As a result of winning the L Factor, Kirsty has been asked to perform with Sandi Thom at her Edinburgh Concert (29th January Liquid Room) which forms part of her UK tour. Kirsty has obviously said yes and is really excited about it. If you see her give her a big well done!
For anyone that would like to attend tickets are priced £13 and are available from www.tickets-scotland.co.uk
Scott

End of term

What a fantastic end of term week we have had. In addition to all the usual classes and activities that take place there were another four major events that were staged this week at Liberton High School.

On Tuesday we had an enterprise day for all S1 pupils. On Thursday we had a Ready, Steady Cook competition involving staff and pupils. Throughout the week we had 'Book week'. This is a celebration of literature with this year's emphasis being our 50th anniversary year. The week culminated with our third 'X' factor, which, this year, we called 'L' factor. (see Evening news report) All of these events could not have happened without the amazing support of parents and pupils.

At morning break today, I read a poem to staff. I chose this poem to emphasise the importance of unity with parents.

Unity

I dreamed I stood in a studio
And watched two sculptors there,
The clay they used was a young child’s mind
And they fashioned it with care.

One was a teacher:
the tools she used were books and music and art;
One was a parent
With a guiding hand and gentle loving heart.

And when at last their work was done,
They were proud of what they had wrought.
For the things they had worked into the child
Could never be sold or bought!

And each agreed she would have failed
if she had worked alone.
For behind the parent stood the school,
and behind the teacher stood the home!

By Cleo V. Swarat

I take this opportunity of wishing all associated with our school a very pleasant and relaxing holiday.

Swimming success

Congratulations to Andrea Sheen who took fourth place in the 100m Freestyle with a time of 1:10:26 at the recent heats of the Edinburgh Schools Swimming Championships and second place in the gruelling 200m Individual medley event with a time of 2:54:52. This takes Andrea to the Edinburgh Finals at the Commonwealth Pool on 20 November. Please congratulate her if you see her.

Joe Walker,

Dress Code for Last Day

Parents and pupils are reminded that Friday 17 October will be a normal dress day.

Curriculum for excellence

Over the coming months I will want to communicate more with parents about what 'Curriculum for excellence' is and how it will affect pupils' education at Liberton High. The following link for 'Curriculum for excellence' is intended for parents and is worth looking at.

Sci-Fun

Sci_Fun came to Liberton on Friday 10/10/08. All S2 pupils heard about the latest stem cell research in a fascinating presentation. After that they had a chance to play with the fun science exhibits.

Swiming records!

Congratulations to Jennifer Somerville (S6) who, last weekend, at the East district time trials in Glenrothes, broke the British record for 200m breaststroke and the Scottish record for the 100 m individual medley. What a fantastic achievement from such a delightful girl!