News

Panto Fun from the S6s

There was noise, laughter, boos, hisses and plenty of cheer as the S6s treated everyone at the school to the annual school panto. This year it was the turn of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, with a cast including Ali and his mother – who bore a more than

passing resemblance to our English PT Mr Maxwell - the evil baddies and their band of thieves; the genie of the lamp; a snake

charmer; a troupe of belly dancers and two camels! Congratulations to all our S6s for putting on such a good show and many thanks to all the staff who joined in the fun both on and off stage.

Music for Malawi 2016 Last month, the Music for Malawi group attended the Scotland – Malawi

Partnership Youth Congress, an event organised for Scottish schools with a link

to Malawi, held at

Strathclyde University’s

Technology and Innovation

Centre. The overall focus of

the conference was on

global citizenship and

partnership, key elements of

Scotland’s long standing

links to Malawi and an

important aspect of NBHS’s

own links to Katunguwiri

Community Day Secondary

School. The group had the

opportunity to visit stalls run by voluntary organisations, including Mary’s

Meals, which NBHS has long had strong links to. It was an excellent chance for

the group to learn more about fundraising and meet other people planning a

visit to Malawi. The group then attended a variety of workshops, with subjects

ranging from Malawian culture to structuring a CV to reflect the skills our

pupils will enhance during their time in Malawi. The day finished with a lively

debate on whether celebrities have a role to play in the fight to end global

poverty. Our pupils all found the conference most informative and are looking

forward to their own visit to Malawi in 2016.

Music for Malawi / Rotary Quiz Night Earlier this month, the Rotary Club organised and hosted a very popular quiz night, complete with raffle and a heads or tails game, with all proceeds going towards the Music for Malawi fund. Over £1200 was raised, which is a fantastic boost to the Malawi fund. A huge thank you to the Rotary Club for their generosity and continued support of NBHS’s Music for Malawi project. Thank you also to everyone who came on the night and made it such a success.

Festive Fun in Food Technology Over the last few weeks, the S3 Food Technology pupils have been working

hard on designing, making and decorating their own Christmas cakes and learning about the theory behind successful cake making. This week, the finished products were ready to be shown in an exhibition, with a competition for the best design. Mrs Rodger was given the difficult job of judging the competition, which

proved to be a tough task as all the designs really were fantastic. Congratulations to Amy French who won the competition with her penguin design and Erin Haywood who was in 2nd place with her delicate holly leaf pattern. This is going to be an annual event in the Food Technology department and our S3s have set a very high standard, well done to them all!

Local Chef Visits S1 Food Technology Department Our S1 Food Technology pupils received a visit from local chef Mr Cunningham,

to discuss nutrition and the benefits of eating a healthy balanced diet. The pupils watched a food demonstration and had the chance to help out our chef. They were then able to taste the delicious three course meal and discuss the

nutritional value of the food. The group of S1 pupils were amazed at how quick and easy it was to make such nutritious food and they are looking forward to learning more and creating their own version in class. Thank you so much to Mr Cunningham for giving up his time to visit us.

Christmas Concerts The pupils and staff from

the Music department

have been extremely

busy this term preparing

for the school’s annual

Christmas Concerts. As always, the two evenings

were a sell out and

the audiences

were treated to an

evening of varied

musical styles,

ranging from film

music to soul and

traditional carols to Queen. The music was

performed by pupils from across the school

years, many of them appearing in multiple

pieces. The evening finished with a rousing rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus

performed by the Staff & Senior choir, followed by a sing-along of popular

Christmas songs. Everyone left the evening feeling full of festive spirit and

somehow, it started to feel like Christmas really was just round the corner…

S2 Pupil Pipes for Primary

Last month Athelstaneford Primary

School was delighted to welcome

back former pupil, Mackenzie

Swanston to their St Andrew’s Day

celebrations. S2 pupil Mackenzie

played the pipes and also took

time to visit each class to meet the

pupils and answer all the questions

they had.

Carol Singing

A group of S4s, S5s and S6s have been spreading Christmas cheer by visiting Leuchie House for some carol singing. The visit coincided with the settling in day for residents and it certainly helped them start their festive celebrations. The following day the same group sang at the Royal Bank of Scotland to raise funds for Music for Malawi and were delighted to raise £570!

And finally… The term has ended with our annual Christmas jumper day and it was great to see the school full of festive colour. We are delighted that donations on the day raised nearly £500 for our school charities. Thank you everyone!

Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year!