Mr Andrew Macrae

Mr Andrew Macrae, Senior Depute at Liberton High School will be retiring from Education on Thursday July 2 2009, after 37 years service.

To mark this occasion a dinner dance will be held in his honour at Liberton High School on Friday 26 June 2009. The evening will begin at 7.00 pm with a Champagne Reception, followed by a buffet dinner, an opportunity to share your memories of working with Drew and Ceilidh dancing.

Places are limited, so if you would like to reserve a ticket please email by return shona.mathie@liberton.edin.sch.uk your name and contact details, indicating how many tickets you would like. Cheques must be made payable to ‘Liberton High School’ for £20.00 and should be sent to the address below no later than 4 May 2009. Tickets purchased before 12 June will be posted out (please include details with cheques), any tickets purchased after this date can be collected on the night.

If you have any further questions/comments please contact Christine Babbs and Shelagh Lee on 0131 664 7514.

Liberton High School
328 Gilmerton Road
EDINBURGH
EH17 7PT

Dress down day for charity

Today, we finished off the term with a dress down day for staff and pupils. Well done to everyone who contributed to raising a magnificent £411.24!! The money raised will go to the Children in Need fund.

The term was brought to a close by having teams of pupils competing in an interhouse Quiz. On this occasion Clyde House were victorious.

Well done and thanks to Mr Russell, S6 helpers and staff for organising and staging this event. I thought the atmosphere across the school was great - a perfect way to end the term!

PTA update

Message from our PTA (known as LHSA)

We have just recently funded Business Management, Geography and Chemistry Departments for much needed new books; we have also given the Astronomy Club funding to buy a new camera attachment for their telescope as they will be taking part in the events for International Year of Astronomy.

We have organised a Bag Packing weekend at Morrisons on Sat 2 & Sun 3 May
to raise funds to buy and install a Smart Board for the school, and are also holding our Car Boot Sale on Sunday 31 May 9.30am-12.30pm. Watch out for further details.

If you are interested in how we raise and spend the funds for the school, come along to our next meeting on Wed 22 April at 7.30pm in the staff room.

Many thank to Liz Kettle, parents and staff on the LHSA for all of their efforts in supporting the school in so many different ways.

March/April Bulletin (1 April 2009)

As always, this has been a very busy and productive term. Now that the clocks have gone forward we can all enjoy lighter evenings and take advantage of the better weather. I take this opportunity of wishing all staff and families a very relaxing and enjoyable Easter Holiday.

I can confirm that Wednesday 20 May will be an additional in-service day for all Nursery, Primary, Secondary and Special Schools in Edinburgh.

Pupils, parents and staff are asked to note that as a result of the extra in-service days over the next three years, the school day will have to start at 5.30 a.m. This will begin immediately after the summer holiday.

Liberton High School has been awarded £9,220 from ‘Awards for All’ to build on progress already made with Dance in the school!

During the past few weeks pupils across the school have been heavily involved in preparation for their final exams. Exam leave for S4 pupils begins on Tuesday 5 May and for pupils in S5 and S6 will begin on Friday 15 May.

Parents of pupils whose attendance continues to cause concern will be contacted by House Heads to discuss what support may be required, over the coming weeks. Well done, and thanks to all those who have managed high levels of attendance this session.

Warmest congratulations to Liam Allison, Lewis Allan and Callum Munro who won this year’s Edinburgh Schools Battle of the Bands final. The boys beat several great bands from all over Edinburgh to win the top prize of 2 days recording at a top studio.

Revision for exams All pupils are reminded of the extensive programme of revision classes that take place across the school during the school week. Additional classes will be on offer during the Easter Holiday. Details of these have already been passed to pupils. Please take advantage of these!

Events that have taken place in the last few weeks include:


• The astronomy club run by Mr Crawford meets regularly.
• Continuing rehearsals for Grease, which will be staged in June 2009
• Last week we ran a health promotion week across the whole school. ‘Body attack’ and ‘Cheerleading’ were among the activities on offer.
• Janet MacInnes, Writer in Residence, has been based at Liberton High School
• Syd Maddicott (British High Commissioner to Cameroon) visited us on Friday 27 March and presented to S6 pupils about life in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
• Jennifer Martin has joined us on a four week placement as a Musician in Residence
• Rudi Oppenheimer (Holocaust survivor) visited and addressed an S2 assembly on Tuesday 31 March.
• A BBC film production team visited Liberton High school to record pupils’ opinions on ‘Democracy and Politics in Scotland’ for a Learning Zone programme on Democracy in Action.


Staffing update Miss Nowosielska (Bursar), Mrs Day (Office), Mr Scott (Art) and Mr Waterhouse (CDT) are currently off through ill-health. We wish them all a speedy recovery.

The Library is collecting Times and Sunday Times tokens for free books for school. Please continue to support a very worthy cause!

Litter All pupils are requested to be considerate of others and our environment when disposing of waste. Please use the litter bins provided!

BBC Blast! Came into school and spent the morning with a lucky group of S2 pupils. The aim of the workshop was to introduce the pupils to the variety of Media products which can be created easily using simple computer programmes. During the two hour workshop, all of the pupils were involved in creating both a short radio programme and a short 3D animation. All the projects were a great success and the pupils were very proud of their work. Thanks to Miss Mackinnon for organising this.

On 24 March, Saffron Law, Kieran Armitage, Emma McNaughton and Fraser Murray took part in a Childline Conference which looked at the issues of peer pressure and bullying. They were asked to look at the issues and think about some solutions to the problems and at the end they had to make a presentation in which Saffron stood up and spoke in front of 100 people! They all found the day really interesting and informative and we have come back to school with lots of ideas to help combat the issues! Thanks to Miss Arnold for leading on this.

I am delighted to note the positive impact that the Story-teller, Ruth Kirkpatrick, and the Writer in Residence, Janet MacInnes, have had on the classes they have been visiting in the English department over the past few weeks. The pupils are very engaged with the work that was done by both of these creative people. A range of topics were explored with whole classes, and smaller groups, in order to raise awareness of, and encourage interest in, writing, especially by Scottish authors and poets. Work was undertaken with lots of our pupils of all abilities and across the year groups. A huge, long, Japanese poem called a Renga was composed in the library by pupils from S2-S4 and some really imaginative poems have been written by the pupils themselves!

We are now running a homework club for all pupils. S1 – S3 Tuesdays straight after school,
S4 – S6 Wednesday’s straight after school – these clubs allow pupils the opportunity to complete homework for any subject in a quiet environment and with access to computers and the internet. Thanks to Miss Rankin for organising this.

Key Dates for your Diary


Friday 3 April Term Ends (Dress Down day for charity)
Tuesday 21 April New term begins
Monday 4 May May Day Holiday
Tuesday 5 May Exam leave begins for S4 pupils
Friday 15 May Exam leave begins for S5 and S6 pupils
Monday 18 May Victoria Day Holiday
Tues 19 and Wed 20 May In-service days. Additional holidays for pupils

Check the school website for copies of all previous bulletins and other important news!

My sincere thanks for your continuing support in 2009. Donald J Macdonald (Headteacher)

Congratulations to Jennifer Somerville S6

Jennifer took part in the DSE Junior National Swimming Championships in Sheffield over the weekend and won a handful of medals. These were:

50M FREESTYLE GOLD MEDAL IN 43.83 seconds
50M BACKSTROKE GOLD MEDAL IN 53.18
50M BREASTSTROKE SILVER MEDAL IN 59.86 PB
100m BREASTSTROKE SILVER MEDAL IN 2:09.53 PB
100M BACKSTROKE GOLD MEDAL IN 1:50.93
100M FREESTYLE GOLD MEDAL IN 1:36.75
400M FREESTYLE GOLD MEDAL IN 7:08.28

Well done Jennifer.

Liberton High School Bulletin Jan/Feb 2009

2009 has started very well. Throughout this session and beyond we will continue to be an ambitious school for all of our pupils. A highlight for us in January was our Burns supper which was a huge success. My sincere thanks to all staff, pupils and parents who contributed to this superb occasion.

During the past three weeks pupils have been heavily involved in prelim exams. The prelim results will give all those involved a very clear picture of where they are now and what must be done to realise their potential in the final exams this summer.

School building I am pleased to say, that despite all the recent press about crumbling school buildings in Edinburgh, our building is wind, watertight and fit for purpose.

Along with the December newsletter, you should have received a copy of your child’s attendance summary. Thank you to all parents for your support in ensuring attendance at school. Pupils whose attendance is les than 80% will be interviewed by House staff in order to assess what can be done to support them in their learning this session. I anticipate that there will be some pupils whose progress has been so hindered by poor attendance that repeating the year will have to be considered. No decision will be taken until parents have been contacted by us. ‘Pupils who are absent from school are not being taught and therefore will not make the progress expected of them’. (Quote from HM inspectors in January 2006)

Curriculum for excellence update Liberton High School is presently reviewing what we teach to our pupils. As you may already know, every school in the country has been asked to develop its own Curriculum for Excellence. In developing ours we would like to hear the views of pupils, parents, employers, colleges and universities.
Could you please spare five minutes of your time to complete a brief survey? To do so, simply click on Survey Monkey.
Surveys should be completed before Sunday 22 February for your response to register.

Heartstart Parents are invited to join us at Liberton High School on Saturday 7 March to learn about Emergency Life Support skills and practical advice for what you do when someone has had a heart attack. (See attached sheet for details).

Very well done to the following:
• Jennifer Somerville who continues to go from strength to strength in swimming. Jennifer won three gold medals at the regional championships in Middlesbrough on 10 January.
• Anthony Garcia (former pupil) who came second in the World Karaoke Championships in October 2008.
• Jordan Wilson (2D) and Ellie-Louise Wilson who have both been chosen to represent Scotland at Handball in the World championships this summer.

Staffing update Ms Nowosielska (Bursar) and Mr Scott (Art) are currently off through ill-health. We wish them both a speedy recovery.

The Library is collecting Times and Sunday Times tokens for free books for school. Please support a very worthy cause!

Litter All pupils are requested to be considerate of others and our environment when disposing of waste. Please use the litter bins provided!

Revision for exams There are a wide range of revision classes on offer across the school; these are particularly relevant to pupils in S4-S6. Pupils sitting exams this year should, by now, have obtained copies of revision guides and Past Papers. Some of these are available (for free) on the Internet. Please take advantage of these; exams are looming large!

Events that have taken place in the last three weeks include:
• Holocaust Education day for all S2 pupils on Monday 26 January.
• Senior pupils have led whole school assemblies on ‘standing up to hatred’.
• Continuing auditions for Grease, which will be staged in June 2009
• Visit by a BBC film crew to record a pupils debating topical issues on Monday 9 February. (Screening arrange in March)
• Senior pupils, organised by Mrs Imlach, continue to share their skills and talents with local primary pupils.
• Liberton High School’s newly formed astronomy club had a visit from Chris Lintott on Monday 9 February. Chris co-presents the BBC ‘Sky at Night’.

Babies go home Over the last few weeks a number of students in S4 have had the opportunity to take home a ‘reality baby’. The babies are programmed to behave like a real baby, so they cry to be fed, winded and changed at inconvenient times and they protest long and hard if handled roughly, they can cry for over 30 minutes if they are upset. The students had mixed experiences, mostly positive but some students were heard to utter ‘never again’! Some babies cried for over 60 minutes while other babies only cried for 16 minutes in the 13 hour period they were at home depending on their care. Next term the same students can take the babies home for the weekend. Some of the students are very keen but others have already got reservations about coping with the needs of a baby 24 hours a day!

LHSA Update 100 Club Winners:Jan - 1st Prize Maureen Irving, 2nd Prize Miss Quigley, 3rd Prize Norman Adam Feb - 1st Prize Alan Smith, 2nd Prize Louisa Mc Donald, 3rd Prize Patricia Somerville.

We are planning to hold a Bag Packing weekend at Morrisons to try and raise enough funds to buy and install a new ‘Smartboard’ for the school and we are also holding our Car Boot Sale on 31 May so start clearing out the attic now!

Dates for the Diary
Friday 13 February Term ends
Friday 13 February Deadline for returning course choice forms
Monday 23 February Staff training day (Pupils on holiday)
Saturday 7 March Heartstart Training for parents (see separate flyer)
Friday 3 April Term Ends
Tuesday 21 April New term begins

Check the school website for copies of all previous bulletins and other important news! (http://www.liberton.edin.sch.uk)

My sincere thanks for your continuing support in 2009.

Donald J Macdonald (Headteacher)

Music success!

Congratulations to a very talented group of musicians, known collectively as 'The Directors'. Today they were successful in winning their 'Bands' heat at Liberton High.

Lead Vocals and Guitar: Liam Allison (S4)

Bass Guitar: Callum Munro (S3)

Drums: Lewis Allan (S3)

They will now perform at the Picture House on Lothian Road in the finals on 19 March.

Well done boys!

Tribute to Brian Queen

It is with great sadness that we mourn the loss of Brian Queen.

Brian was the cleaner in the CDT department in Liberton High school for a number of years. During this time he proved to be a valued member of the department. Brian always took pride in doing an excellent job but Brian’s contribution was much more than that. He always knew what to say at the end of a busy day to keep the mood cheerful. Brian also had an endless supply of sweets which he shared every day!

During the years that Brian worked with us he showed that he was a thoughtful and kind person in his day to day actions e.g. keeping the Evening News Edinburgh Marathon results for Jim Heneghan, bringing in milk and biscuits for break time and making sure that the rooms were spick and span before the SQA exams. Brian was modest and never expected any thanks for the extra work he regularly did for us.

We will miss Brian as a colleague and a friend and feel fortunate for having the chance to work with him.

(Words provided by staff of the The CDT Department at Liberton High School)

Weather Warning - Tuesday 3 February 2009

The school received the following message earlier today. This is for the period from midnight tonight to 23.59 Tuesday.

There is a High Risk (60%) of a Severe Weather event affecting parts of England, Wales, Northern Ireland and eastern Scotland during Tuesday. Periods of snow are expected through the day, with heavy falls likely in places. Although marked variations will occur from place to place, 5-10cms is likely, especially over higher ground. This could cause disruption to travel networks, especially across higher level routes. Snow may turn to rain at times at lower levels.


Parents and pupils are reminded that if any Edinburgh schools are closed tomorrow (Tuesday) an announcement will be made on Forth One and Forth Two.

Astronomy Club

To mark the 400th anniversary of Galileo first using a telescope we are setting up an astronomy club in Liberton High School.

Contact Mr Crawford for details.
First meeting Monday 19th January 1.10pm Lab 2