Christmas Wishes!€¦ · S4-6 Prelims Thurs 11th Jan - Tues 11th Feb (see school website) S6 Teenage Cancer Trust Ball Saturday 3rd February 2018 in the Hilton Doubletree, Cambridge

Christmas Wishes! The staff of St Maurice’s would like to wish all of our pupils and their families a very Happy and Holy Christmas. School closes at 2.30 pm on Friday 22nd December 2017, with buses coming at 1.15pm. We hope you all have a wonderful holiday and look forward to seeing you all in the New Year when school starts back

Monday 8th January 2018 at 8.55.

Important Dates S4-6 Prelims Thurs 11th Jan - Tues 11th Feb (see school website) S6 Teenage Cancer Trust Ball Saturday 3rd February 2018 in the Hilton Doubletree, Cambridge Street.

Holidays and In-service Days Monday 12th February Tuesday 13th February Wednesday 14th February (In-service)

Staff News Congratulations to staff who secured acting posts in St Maurice’s this term: Mrs M Cavanagh, DHT Mr M McKerr, PT Pupil Support Best wishes to Mrs L Moreland who will begin maternity leave in January.

Christmas Service A Carol Service will take place for all pupils and staff on Thursday 22nd December at 11.30 am.

NLC Music Groups Congratulations to all our pupils who took part in the Christmas Concerts in Motherwell Civic on the 11th and 12th December 2017. These young people rehearse every week in Coatbridge High School to achieve outstanding

public performances in a wide range of groups and orchestras.

St Maurice’s Christmas Card 2018

Makmerry 2017 The Makmerry Party was held on Wednesday 13th December where members of the community were invited to come along and enjoy a variety of acts, music and songs performed by our very talented pupils. Congratulations to all pupils and staff involved in an afternoon that was positively received by all of our visitors. A huge thank you goes to pupils and staff from the Prince’s Trust classes who worked tirelessly to raise funds for this event. Special thanks to Mrs Lynas, Mrs Kelly and Mrs Gallagher!!

Christmas Events On Thursday 14th December over 140 pupils from S1-3 went on a trip to see Jack and the Beanstalk in Motherwell Civic Theatre. We are extremely grateful to Mrs Harvie and to all staff who went along. S1 and S2 pupils were treated to a Christmas movie afternoon on Friday 15th December.

Prefects organized a Christmas Quiz for all year groups on Monday 18th December. Each year group had five representatives, one for each house. Pupils paid 50p to be in the audience with all proceeds going towards school funds. S6 pupils visited the Glasgow Film Theatre on Wednesday 20th December to see ‘It’s A Wonderful Life!’ with Mrs Hynes and Mrs Slaven.

Christmas Ceilidhs We greatly appreciate the time and effort from the PE staff spent decorating the ‘ballroom’ and for arranging fun-filled, energetic afternoons of Ceilidhs for all year groups. All pupils involved had a fabulous time!

Christmas Cracker Grateful thanks to the Creative and Performing Arts Department, all pupils and staff who contributed to the highly successful Christmas Cracker on Tuesday 19th December. All performers displayed a high level of talent and commitment, providing an evening of excellent entertainment.

Malawi Christmas Fundraising A Christmas Music Quiz was held on Thursday 7th December in the school Assembly Hall. The quiz was enjoyed by S4-S6 pupils, staff and parents. All proceeds will go towards the Malawi fund. A Christmas Jumper Day took place on Friday 15th December. Pupils donated £1 and looked extremely festive!

Events have raised almost £1000 to support our pupils and staff who will work with communities in Malawi in June 2018. Thank you to the school community for their generosity.

The annual Mzungu Ball will take place at 7.30pm on Friday 11th May 2018 at the Radisson Blu Hotel (301 Argyle Street, Glasgow). Tickets for the Ball are £45 which includes a drinks reception, three course meal and live entertainment. In order to secure the venue, deposits of £20.00 should be paid by Tuesday 31st October. We are asking people/companies to support us in whatever way you can. You may wish to buy tickets for the Mzungu Ball, donate prizes or buy tickets for raffles/auctions. Anyone interested in buying a table should contact Miss Donald on (01236) 794845 for a booking form. All donations are most welcome and we can guarantee you that every donation goes a long way.

Christmas Hamper Appeal The school would like to thank all the staff and pupils who contributed to the Christmas hamper appeal. With the support of their parents, pupils have donated a selection of items which allowed us to prepare well stocked hampers. These will go to our local parishes; St Patrick’s Kilsyth, Our Lady & St Helen’s, Holy Cross and St Michael’s, and will help spread some Christmas cheer to those less fortunate than ourselves.

SSVP Group The SSVP group would like to thank everyone for their tremendous support in providing a small gift for everyone who goes to the Ozanam

Centre where both pupils and staff volunteer. Again, the SSVP group would like to thank everyone for showing their love and concern for others.

Teenage Cancer Trust Ball The TCT Ball will take place on Saturday 3rd February 2018 in the Hilton Doubletree, Glasgow. Tickets cost £30 which includes drinks on arrival, a 3 course dinner and coffee. If anyone is interested in attending, deposits of £15 can be paid to the school office.It is a family event, and we are looking forward to seeing families and friends of the current S6 pupils for a fantastic evening. Thank you for your continued support

Nature of Scotland Award Congratulations to Cumbernauld Living Landscape who won the prestigious Nature of Scotland Award in the Youth and Education Category. St. Maurice’s had nominated them for this award because of the positive impact the projects that Tracy Lambert and her team had on our young people. It was an amazing evening and a fantastic outcome for the partnership that we have with Cumbernauld Living Landscape. Well done to all involved!

Dragons' Lair S3 pupils Niamh Horbury, Carra Wilson and Ryan Daly were runners-up in the Dragons' Lair final with their business idea 'Fakeaway' - a healthy lifestyle app and social enterprise aiming to educate and promote the

importance of health eating to young people. This is another remarkable achievement by our young people, building on last year’s success as winners of the competition. Well done! Horticulture and Outdoor Learning

St. Maurice’s pupils Brian Dow (5B), Catherine McCormack (6B) and Karolina Wegrzynowicz (6B), along with Horticulture pupils from Chryston High School and Our Lady’s High School, visited Learning and Leisure HQ at Kildonan Street, Coatbridge, on Friday 8th December to raise awareness of what pupils in the Horticulture class and Outdoor Learning Club are learning and producing. The pupils sold planters, hanging baskets, Christmas basket planters, hyacinths and our free range eggs kindly laid by our very own St. Maurice's chickens.

Battle of the Bands St. Maurice’s pupils auditioned for the NLC Battle of The Bands on Monday 27th November. The students sounded great at our award ceremony and have been working hard on their original material. The pupils involved are: Theo Black (4A), Meghan Connor (4B), Brendan Cullen (3E), Niamh Lewis (4C) and Taya Paterson (4E). Good Luck!

Maths Challenges The following pupils took part in a Maths Challenge at the University of the West of Scotland on Friday 24th November. Andrew Ferguson (6A), Shannon Laird (5D), Roma McGill (5C) and Andrew McLaughlin (6A).

S4 pupils participated in an Enterprising Maths Challenge on Tuesday 28th November. Well done to Jordan Baillie, Avais Shah,Heather Allan and Sophie Quinn. Great work!!

Careers Cafe Our Careers Café is now open in school every lunchtime on Wednesdays and Fridays. Open to S2 pupils at the moment, pupils can investigate career options in preparation for their subject choices. S2 pupils will work with My World of Work Ambassadors who will take each pupil through the steps of the My World of Work website to investigate careers and therefore help them to make the right subject choice

Educational Visits

The following Higher Human Biology pupils attended a lab session at the University of Strathclyde on Thursday 9th of November. Shannon Beattie, Ciaran Boyle, Rachel Egan, Lucy Ellis, Daniel Gordon, Christopher Hemming, Abbie Lavery, Daniel McCusker, Katie McGuckin and Kerry Majka.

S4 pupils attended a Medical Skills event on Tuesday 21st November: Kyla Dukes, David Kirson, Kirsten McKenna, Neve McFadyen and Anna Wegrzynowicz. S4/5 pupils attended a Learning HUB on Monday 6th, Tuesday 7th, Monday 13th and Tuesday 14th of November. The HUB assists pupils with their preparations for leaving school. S4: Cameron Orr, Josh O'Hara, Lennon McCombie and Liam Cassidy. S5: Connor Cassidy, Katie O'Neill, Liam Slaven and Jason Stewart. Pupils from S2 – S6 attended an event on Thursday 23rd November as part of their leadership

programme. S2: Lucy Rafferty. S3: Kiera Allison, Elizabeth Brown, Saoirse Ferguson, Orla Gilbride, Eavan Morrison, Niamh Ruddy and Hannah Watson. S4: Ciara Burns and Louise Glazer. S6: Karine Bunce.

S5/6 Geography pupils attended a field trip to Luss all day on Thursday 23rd November to collect data which will be used to complete their Higher and National 5 assignments.

On Thursday 23rd November the following pupils attended Coatbridge College. S4: Kyle Campbell, Jordan Docherty, Sean Kerins and Josh Selbie. S5: Katie Young.

Pupils from S4, S5 and S6 attended the 'Imagineer' show at Glasgow University on Wednesday 6th December. Imagineer is a project funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering. This multi-disciplinary venture brings together Glasgow Science Festival, University of Glasgow engineers, the School of Culture & Creative Arts, actors and a musician. The aim is to challenge perceptions about engineers and to create a space where pupils can engage with engineering creatively, through specially-commissioned theatre, music and performance.

Sporting Success NL Gymnastics Competition

The following pupils competed in the NL Gymnastics Competition at Ravenscraig Sports Centre on Friday 8th December.

S1: Niamh Banks, Caitlin Davis, Erin Goldie, Karly Kirkwood and Kaylee Kirkwood. S2: Lucy Bowman and Emma McMurray. S3: Heather Allan, Caitlin Hodge, Emily Reid and Madison Trainor. S4: Erin Dickson, Rebecca Fowler and Chiara Sankey. S6: Shannon McInally and Beth Tobin. All Gymnasts performed brilliantly on the day and, as a result, St. Maurice's were the most successful school at the competition leaving with 9 medals in total, and 2 of our teams qualifying for the Scottish Schools Finals in Perth next year! 3 pupils included in this are from the School of Aesthetics programme, and have had little or no Gymnastics experience prior to this, which shows the positive impact the programme is having on pupils’ wider achievement and personal growth.

Gymnastics results were as follows: LEVEL 1 COMPETITION: GOLD = Team Competition (QUALIFIED FOR SCOTTISH SCHOOLS FINALS) Erin Goldie 1A, Karly Kirkwood (SOA), Kaylee Kirkwood (SOA) and Caitlin Davis (SOA). SILVER = Team Competition Niamh Banks 1B, Lucy Bowman 2E, Caitlin Hodge 3C GOLD = Erin Goldie - Individual Competition SILVER = Caitlin Hodge - Individual Competition BRONZE = Kaylee Kirkwood - Individual Competition

LEVEL 2 COMPETITION: GOLD = Team Competition (QUALIFIED FOR SCOTTISH SCHOOLS FINALS) Chiara Sankey 4A, Erin Dickson 4A, Heather Allan 3E, Emma McMurray 2A BRONZE = Team Competition Rebecca Fowler 4A, Madison Trainor 3D, Emily Reid 3C SILVER = Chiara Sankey - Individual Competition BRONZE = Erin Dickson - Individual Competition. School of Rugby Trip

The CSLA group organised a trip for the S1 School of Rugby pupils and a number of the deserving S2 School of Rugby class on Wednesday 13th December. Dullatur Golf High School Cup

The following pupils attended the Dullatur Golf High School Cup on Wednesday 25th October. Kaden Ashmall (S1), Joe McCluskey (S1) and James De Neys (S3).

Girls’ Football

The Girls’ Football team played 4 friendly games at St. Ambrose High School on Wednesday 25th October. Unfortunately the girls lost all four games but their confidence is growing with each game they play. With increasing confidence and training, our team made up of mostly S1s, will be able to take on teams who are made up of more S3 players. The girls are working really hard to prepare for upcoming games in November. We wish them lots of luck! Girls’ Football Team: S1: Lauren Beattie, Caitlin Davis, Hannah Differ, Lucie Haughton, Amy Kiernan and Becky Smith. S2: Eva Cairns and Jenna McAllister. S3: Kaitlin Wardlaw. NL Schools Swimming

Championships. The following pupils attended the NL Schools Swimming Championships on Wednesday 1st November with their swimming clubs.

S2: Cameron Creaney and Evie Galbraith. S4: Alexandra Coyle, Neve McFadyen, Aimee Maloney and Shaun Selbie. Cameron Creaney won 5 gold medals and 3 silver medals. The gold medal events were 200m Butterfly, 200m Individual Medley, 200m Freestyle, 100m Freestyle and 100m Backcrawl. Silver medal events were 100m Breast Stroke, 200m Breast Stroke and 100m butterfly.

Chess Success!

S1 pupil Liam Heron recently took part in a chess tournament where he won first place. Well done Liam! Girls’ Basketball

The Open girls’ basketball team have progressed to the knock-out stages of the Scottish Cup, beating Larbert High School and Graeme High.

The team are as follows: Shannon Beattie, Karine Bunce, Ciara Burns, Hannah Frobisher, Louise Glazer, Sophie Loughran, Niamh McGarrachan and Julianna Martin.

Advent message Vatican City, Dec 17, 2017

With Christmas just eight days away,

Pope Francis said three simple

attitudes can help prepare us to

welcome Jesus Christ.

“Saint Paul invites us to prepare for

the coming of the Lord by assuming

three attitudes: constant joy,

persevering prayer and continual

thanksgiving,” the Pope said. “Joy,

prayer and gratitude are three

attitudes that prepare us to live

Christmas in an authentic way.”

Merry Christmas from all pupils and staff at St Maurice’s High School!!!