March newsletter 2014

Kingussie High School Tel: 01540 661 475

Ruthven Road Email: [email protected]

KINGUSSIE Web: kingussiehigh.org.uk

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February and March have flown by at

Kingussie High School and I have been

impressed with how many of the S4, S5

and S6 have ‘upped their game’ in the

build up to their final examinations.

There is a real sense that exam time is

looming and classrooms seem full at

both lunchtime and after school with

students accessing any extra support

that they need to succeed.

Our new social spaces are now

equipped with new furniture and these

spaces also double as learning spaces

during the day. It is good to see staff and students explore

how these areas can be used for both formal and informal

learning. Since our last newsletter we also have new furniture

in our school canteen and along with this we have introduced

a simple breakfast service. We must be getting something

right as the number of people using the facilities have in-

creased.

As a school we want to become healthier and we also want to

support parents to make sure that ‘lunch money’ is spent on

‘lunch’ and not just sugar. Parents can help by encouraging

their young people to eat healthily if they go down the street

or to eat in the school canteen. Don’t forget you can also top

up Smartcard / cashless catering payments online if you want

to be absolutely sure where your money goes - http://

goo.gl/n5lZXE.

The Easter holidays also bring some staffing changes to

Kingussie High School. Mr Bill Hickey (Business Education)

leaves to work for the Calman Trust in Inverness, Mrs Trish

Johnson (School Office) leaves after many years of dedicated

Continued overleaf

NEWSLETTER

KINGUSSIE HIGH SCHOOL MARCH

Mr Bray in full flight

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ser-

vice to KHS and Miss Catriona Dale (Social

Subjects) moves on to take on a supply

contract in Nairn. We wish them all luck in

their next adventures. We have also re-

cently welcomed back Mrs Alison Wood-

row (PT Social Subjects) from maternity

leave.

Anyway, in our Easter Newsletter you will

have the opportunity to read about some

of our many successes including Cross

Country, Shinty, Music Festival, Heptath-

lon and Football. I hope you enjoy read-

ing our news as much as I did. If you

would like more regular new up-dates

then we regularly post on our website

(www.kingussiehigh.org.uk) and our Fa-

cebook Page

(www.facebook.com/kingussiehigh), both

are worth adding to your favourites or

‘liking’ if you’re into that sort of thing.

Wishing you all the best for Easter and a

happy holiday if you are taking some time

off.

As you can see from the photos,

KHS Sport Relief Day was a

great success. Over £776 was

raised from the Dress Down

Day and the various fun events

in the afternoon. The event

raised funds for Sport Relief

and the Cycstic Fibrosis Trust.

Well done to all those who or-

ganised, helped and took part.

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APRIL

Friday 4 School closes for Easter holiday

at 3.30pm

Tuesday 22 School reopens to staff and pupils

Tuesday 29 SQA Exams begin

Home Study S4-6 begins

MAY

Monday 12 Barcelona Trip this week

S2 London Trip this week

Monday 26 S1 Badaguish Residential this week

S2 Reports this week

JUNE

Tuesday 3 SQA Exams finish at KHS

Wednesday 4 New S5/6 return

Start of new timetable

Monday 23 S1 Reports this week

Tues/

Wed 24/25 P7 Visiting Days

Thursday 26 P7 Parents’ Visit 1.50pm

Friday 27 School Sports Day

JULY

Thursday 3 School closes for summer holiday

Visit from Cairngorms

Outdoor Access Trust

Our Business Studies Department received a visit

from local charity Cairngorms Outdoor Access Trust

this week. Project Co-Ordinator Lizzie Cooper gave

a very interesting talk on the local work the organisa-

tion is committed to. Pupils were intrigued to discov-

er that many of the local countryside lowland and

upland walkways have been created or renewed by

the hard work of this fascinating organisation. The

talk reinforced how the aims of a charity differ from

that of public and private sector organisations. The

Cairngorms Outdoor Access Trust's visit was prompt-

ed by a letter written by S3 Business Education pupil

Kyle Jamieson as part of a short interdisciplinary pro-

ject undertaken by the class this term. Each pupil

was tasked with writing a business letter to a local,

national or international charity of their choice to find

out about the sort of activities they provide. Replies

ranging from Greenpeace to UNICEF, have

been received by individual pupils over the past few

weeks and pupils have been busy updating their

mini projects with their up to date research. Many

thanks again to Lizzie Cooper for her generous visit

to our school.

Rehearsals are well underway for the school summer show ‘Back to the 80’s’

and pupils are working hard to develop their skills in dancing, acting and sing-

ing in collaboration with Heather Cooney – choreographer at Eden Court, Miss

Hodes and a production team of teachers.

We are now looking for budding musicians to play as part of the live band. If

you are interested in getting involved, please contact Miss Hodes for more

information.

Watch this space for more updates about tickets and the rehearsal process in future.

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GIANT HEPTATHALON

2014 by Roddy Young

Kingussie High School went to Inver-

ness to participate in the Giant Hep-

tathlon held at Inverness Aquadome

Centre. The day started off well , with

everyone in good spirits, assisted by Mr

Adamson who kept us motivated and

entertained. Thanks Mr Adamson!

The competition consisted of a sprint,

hurdle, triple jump, shot putt, step up

and standing jump. Our teams consist-

ed of seven girls and seven boys from

S2. Namely Megan Clark, Tyrawa Tait

Davies, Suzie Adam, Shania Strachan,

Agnesa Palugova, Emma McCallum and

Islay Watson for the girls and Andrew

Leiper, Alexander Michie, Chris Coupar,

Ruaridh Malcolm, James Danielo Cook,

Roddy Young and Owen Wemyss for the

boys.

All pupils did exceptionally well which

helped Kingussie High School to come a

very creditable runner up to Nairn

Academy and were presented with sil-

ver medals.

A great time was had by all.

Sprint Hur-

dle

Step

Up

OH

Shot

SLJ 3 Jump

Andrew Leiper 6.75 7.19 78 8.13 2.01 6.64

Alexander Michie 6.97 8.10 78 6.13 1.99 6.21

Christopher Coupar 6.47 7.94 67 8.19 2.08 6.49

Ruaridh Malcolm 6.72 7.84 75 6.73 1.87 6.00

James Danielo Cook 7.13 8.05 75 5.85 1.90 5.90

Roddy Young 7.12 8.15 70 7.33 1.75 5.72

Owen Wemyss 7.15 8.94 67 8.70 1.95 5.60

Megan Clark 7.59 8.88 63 6.43 1.79 6.04

Tyrawa Tait Davis 7.71 9.19 63 5.58 1.81 5.35

Suzie Adam 7.62 8.88 70 5.75 1.56 4.80

Shania Strachan 7.66 8.84 65 6.19 1.94 5.70

Agnesa Palugova 7.57 8.44 64 6.97 1.77 5.42

Emma McCallum 7.81 9.27 61 6.41 1.54 4.99

Islay Watson 7.94 9.47 53 5.26 5.26

Endurance

Boys 03:19

Girls 03:40

Total: 06:59

BADENOCH AND STRATHSPEY MUSIC FESTIVAL Several pupils from S1-6 recently competed in the annual Music Festival in categories ranging

from solo piano to spoken verse. Many pupils achieved scores of a very high standard, and it

was commented on by the festival organisers how well prepared Kingussie High School pu-

pils were for the festival.

Amongst the competitors were Caitlin Holmes (S3) who won a trophy for her solo piano play-

ing and the School Folk Group who received an outstanding award for their performance.

Most notably, Ruairidh McDonald (S3) received the new ‘Clive Dennier Memorial Trophy’ for

solo singing and was presented this award by the Music Festival Chairperson – Hilary Brown.

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the team and coming an overall 28th position.

Jake Reynolds Jones, in the ‘C’ boys event put in a

fantastic effort and managed to secure 14th

place overall. The rest of the ‘C’ boys, Ruaridh

Malcolm, Owen Wemyss, James Danielo Cook and

Ruaridh Malcolm all put in great performances

with James Danielo Cook also managing to finish in the top twenty with a fifteenth position.

The ‘C’ girls, Suzie Adam and Islay Watson also put in good performances with the best finish being Suzie

Adam who achieved a 21st place.

Ed Brown, Jaeger Lamont, Liam Mullender, Daniel Donald, Angus Burnside, Sam Appleby and John Aisthorpe

NORTH OF SCOTLAND SCHOOLS CROSS COUNTRY

CHAMPIONSHIPS

A team of twenty three pupils from Kingussie

High School travelled to Gordonstoun for the

annual North of Scotland Schools Cross Coun-

try Championships. Over 400 pupils from the

North took part in the event, which was held in

cool but bright conditions.

We had pupils competing in five of the six com-

petitions. First to run was the ‘D’ girl’s compe-

tition, which included our first year girls. The

team was made up of Sophie Godsman, Kiera

Stewart, Kiera Corson and Stephanie Dare. All

girls put in a superb effort!

In the ‘D’ boys competition (first year) Finlay

McDonald, Luke Appleby, Liam Borthwick, Liam

Armitt and Edmund Denman all put in a fantastic

effort with Luke Appleby finishing first out of

who made up the ‘B’ boys team all performed exceptionally and all finished in a good position against lots of

amateur athletic groups. The top three results were who finished in thirtieth

position and Jaeger who came in fifty fifth

All the runners put in a great effort and were a credit to the school. Well done

everyone!

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Kingussie High School Senior Football Team Review

by Josh Peters (Captain)

goal lead into the second half in our North of Scotland Cup tie away to Charleston Academy, we somehow

found ourselves level at 2-2 in stoppage time, only for Charleston to break up the park and score dramatically

with seconds remaining. This was heart-breaking for all the players, especially for goalkeeper Craig Mac-

Leod, who had produced an unbelievable save to prevent Charleston scoring from the penalty spot minutes

before the winner. However, our season looked to be on the up from then on.

After realising that winning the league was unlikely, it gave us the mentality that we had nothing to lose and

we could enjoy the rest of the fixtures with no intense pressure, allowing us to relax and play to the best of our

ability. We then travelled up north again to play league leaders Culloden Academy, knowing that we certain-

ly had a tough task in our hands. However, we produced a fine display of great football and hard work for the

full 90 minutes, ultimately earning us a terrific 3-3 draw although we were hugely disappointed not to take

maximum points from this fixture. A first goal of the season from Scott MacKinnon and a Man of the Match de-

but performance from Sam Richardson were key positives to take from this game. Our next fixture was the

long awaited Highland Schools Cup Quarter Final tie against Inverness High and our good form continued re-

sulting in an emphatic 8-2 win. This meant that we advanced into the semi final where we were due to face

Dingwall Academy, looking for revenge after being beaten heavily by them in the league. The league was our

next priority though, as we tried to finish as high in the league table as possible. We recorded a 5-0 win at

home to Lochaber High, although the score line did flatter us as it was a close game throughout. Dougal Cam-

eron and Craig Ritchie were the star performers in this game.

Next was the Highland Schools Cup match at home to Dingwall

Academy, and a surprisingly large crowd turned up to help

give us a home advantage. Despite matching Dingwall for the

whole game, they came out of the game as 3-2 winners after we

conceded a sickening last minute goal to put us out of the com-

petition. It was arguably our best performance of the season

and all players were extremely disheartened at the end of the

game, as all of them had put in 100%. Reaching the final would

have been brilliant, especially for the S6 footballers, as it

would have undoubtedly been the highlight of their school

football careers. Our team have performed unbelievably well

throughout this year and we have consistently worked hard for

As our football season draws to a close, it is

fair to say that, despite some disappointing

results and unfortunate defeats, we have

performed extremely well as a squad. Fol-

lowing our defeat to Dingwall Academy it

was clear to see that winning the league was

going to be a very difficult task, considering

the quality of schools we were still to play,

and this proved to be the case.

The following game away to Millburn Acade-

my resulted in a 6-1 defeat, a result which we

definitely didn’t deserve after putting in a

hard fought performance and matching Mill-

burn for the majority of the game. We cer-

tainly failed to ride our luck during the foot-

ball campaign, and this continued to be the

case in the following game. After taking a 2

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each other whilst also playing some great football as

a bonus. All players should be proud of their contri-

butions to a successful season for Kingussie High

Senior Football Team

Again, we would just like to thank Mr Douglas and

Mr Guy for their refereeing services throughout the

season, as we understand that they gave up their

free time to make sure our home matches have went

ahead as scheduled. I would also like to thank Mr

Mackay for being a superb manager for the Senior

Team and for getting the best out of all the players

and motivating us to work hard, but most important-

ly to enjoy our football.

The league campaign hasn’t come to an end yet

though, as we are still to face Nairn Academy in the

upcoming weeks, and hopefully we can end the sea-

son on a high.

TOP SCORERS

Joshua Peters 31

Liam Mullender 4

Darrin Fowler 3

Dougal Cameron 2

Kieran Partridge 2

Craig Ritchie 2

Calum Johnston 1

Finlay McBain 1

Scott MacKinnon 1

Dawid Porazik 1

Sam Richardson 1

Kern Tynan 1

MOST RECENT RESULTS:

Millburn Academy 6 : 1 Kingussie MoM Scott MacKinnon and Kieran Partridge

Charleston 3 : 2 Kingussie MoM Craig MacLeod

Culloden Academy 3 : 3 Kingussie MoM Sam Richardson

Inverness High 2 : 8 Kingussie MoM Joshua Peters

Kingussie 5 : 0 Lochaber MoM Dougal Cameron and Craig Ritchie

Kingussie 2 : 3 Dingwall Academy MoM Calum Johnston

DONELLA CRAWFORD CUP GIRLS’ SHINTY Recently the girls’ shinty team did a sterling job of repre-

senting the school in the Donella Crawford Cup in Ardnamur-

chan. The girls began their magnificent performance with a

7-0 win over Kinlochleven; a hat trick from both Mairi and

Megan and a goal from Rachael. Throughout the tournament

the girls continued to play well winning 6 out of their 7

matches, scoring another 14 goals. As a result the girls qual-

ified for the semi-final where they met Portree. They were

expecting a tough match but pulled through with a 3-1 win,

putting them through to the final – where they met Loch-

aber, their toughest opponents yet.

Lochaber scored in the early minutes of the match. Motivat-

ed by the promise of a Mcdonalds we had a McFlurry of activity, scoring 2 goals, putting them in the lead.

Lochaber had a last shot at goals, equalising 2-2, which resulted in extra time. The girls played a solid game

managing one more goal, but Lochaber took home the cup with a 5-3 win.

Everyone played outstandingly, but player of the tournament went to Rachael Borthwick for a consistently

solid performance. Top scorer was Mairi Stewart with 8 goals throughout the tournament. Big thanks to

Mrs Deans and Mrs Fenton for putting up with our awful singing but we know you secretly enjoyed the ban-

ter!

Goal scorers: Mairi Stewart (8); Rachael Borthwick (7); Zoe Reid (5); Megan Ralph (5); Shannon MacWhirter

(2).

Team: Rachael Borthwick; Shannon MacWhirter; Megan Ralph; Eilidh Robinson; Jessica Ross; Mairi Stewart.

Page 9

As mentioned on the front page our

school canteen has had a ‘makeover’

with a modern layout and furniture.

The area is now light, airy and wel-

coming as you enter the school.

Pictured alongside are our wonderful

canteen staff. Mrs Campbell, Head

Cook, says “The canteen now has a

very ‘grown up’ feel about it with a

sense of café culture. The atmos-

phere is relaxed and inviting giving

the pupils a more sophisticated set-

ting in which to eat.”

Pictured alongside are pupils relaxing at

lunchtime on the new furniture which recent-

ly arrived for the social areas. This soft

seating which can be used in many different

arrangements, creates a flexible and social

area for the pupils at break and lunchtimes.

This new facility meets the needs of the

young people and we are looking to extend

the theme in other areas.

We were delighted that former pupil,

Fraser MacKintosh, Newtonmore was

able to make a bespoke trophy cabinet

which adds an impressive and inspiring

entrance to our new foyer.