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Dear Parents/Carers

I hope you enjoy the June 2018 edition of the Dunblane High School Newsletter and find it to be informative. Since the last Newsletter in March, many opportunities and experiences have been available to our young people and this newsletter reflects just some of these. SQA Results The SQA examinations concluded at the start of this month. Thank you to everyone who supported our young people before and during the examination process. Exam results will be with our young people on the 7th

August. Following the results, members of the Senior Leadership Team will be in school on Tuesday 7th and Wednesday 8th August between 10am – 3pm, should any young person wish to discuss their results or to recourse for next session. Can I remind you that there is no longer an ‘appeals process’. If any pupil achieves a grade which is markedly at odds with their predicted grade, then the school will take that forward in terms of asking for the paper to be remarked and contact with you and your child will be made. Staffing At this time of year, it is inevitable that there are a number of staffing changes taking place for the start of next session. Firstly, I would like to pay tribute to Mr Stephen Donnachie and Mr John Browne who both retire at the end of this session. Mr Donnachie has been at Dunblane High School since 1991, as a member of the Art & Design staff and as Principal Teacher of Art & Design. Mr Browne joined our school in 2004 and has been a valuable member of the Science and Physics staff. We wish them both well for a healthy and relaxing retirement. We also thank Mrs Jennifer Sutherland for her fantastic efforts as Principal Teacher of Pupil Support. Mrs Sutherland remains at DHS as a Teacher of Chemistry. We have recruited a number of staff over the last few weeks. Mr Adamson was appointed Principal Teacher of Mathematics on a permanent basis and Mr Smith has been appointed on a permanent basis as Principal Teacher of Technologies (0.5). Miss Harte has been appointed on a temporary basis to the position of Principal Teacher of Modern Languages. We have also recruited Mrs Buchanan to Music, Ms Lafuste to Modern Languages and Ms Blackstock to PE Department. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our Probationary Teachers for their dedication to supporting our young people over the last session and wish them well for their future careers. Thank you for all the support you have given to Dunblane High School over the last session and I look forward to working in partnership with you in 2018/19 to ensure the best outcomes for all our young people. I wish you all a happy, healthy and restful summer break.

S. MacKay, Head Teacher

S6 Council

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Ewan Paton (Depute) Morven Greenlees (Head Girl) Cameron Murray (Head Boy), Alabama Hall (Depute), David Clark (Depute). Missing from the main picture above is Depute Head Girl Anna Fraser (pictured below).

Battlefields Trip

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In May, 66 pupils from our new S2 visited the Battlefields of Belgium and France. This very moving and education trip was thoroughly enjoyed by all of our pupils many of whom saw it as a life changing experience and one they would highly recommend. During the trip our pupils visited the battlefields, cemeteries and memorials of The Somme, Passchendaele, Messines, and Vimy Ridge, they followed in the footsteps our their ancestors walking through the preserved trenches at Sanctuary Wood finishing the trip at the famous Menin Gate Ceremony. The school have already provisionally booked the same trip for our new S1 cohort in May 2019.

Art Department Excursion 2018: Venice

This year’s S3 Art Department excursion was to

Venice. Students flew from Edinburgh into Marco

Polo airport Venice where they were transferred to

their hotel on the Lido de Jeselo where they would

stay for the duration of the trip. Cultural visits were

organised with visits

to: Doges Palace

where they werte

given a guided tour,

St. Marks Basilica,

Ca’ Pesaro modern

Art Gallery, Peggy Guggenheim Collection and Gallaria Dell’

Accademia. Time was also given for time on the resorts lovely beach

and time in the resort, weather at the time was incredibly warm

which enhanced this experience. A great time was had by all in the

group with each student responding positively to the experience.

Venice

London

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S3 London trip 2018

Our trip to London was an amazing experience. We had the opportunity to explore Shakespeare’s life & culture first hand. We learned a lot and visited many places, including the different theatres that put on some of Shakespeare's plays. The theatres we visited were the Globe and the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. They were both amazing and the people there were very welcoming. Our main highlight of the trip was seeing the two musicals, Matilda and The School of Rock. We all enjoyed those experiences the most because everyone in the shows were so young yet so talented. Another highlight of our trip was going on the London eye. We had some great opportunities to take photos and to see London from a great height. Going to the Warner Bros studios gave us a chance to see the sets, props and behind the scenes from the making of Harry Potter. Madame Tussauds was also a great success and we all enjoyed taking pictures of our favourite celebrities and movie characters. While going through London and visiting all these places we had a competition going on to see who could take the best photos: we had to take a silly photo, a selfie and a landscape. Overall, we all had an amazing time. We wish we could have stayed longer and it is definitely an experience we will never forget. Report by Marco McCool, Amy McVey & Ruth Talbot.

Congratulations to Gavin Hamilton in 3S2 who was a finalist in the School Gardener of the Year 2018. This was a nationwide competition and the nomination was in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the school garden. Gavin attended the awards ceremony in London last weekend and received the certificate and engraved trowel as well as garden vouchers for himself and the school.

Young Gardener of the Year Nomination

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Our Parent Council is in place to support the communication and interaction between parents/carers and the school.

The Parent Council is tasked to:

· Work in partnership with the school to create a welcoming school community.

· Encourage links between the school and it’s pupils, parents/carers and the wider community.

· Develop and engage in activities which support the education and welfare of the pupils.

· Report actions taken to the Parent Forum.

· Receive reports from the Head Teacher.

· Encourage participation of all parents/carers and pupils in fundraising for the enhancements of the

school and the community.

· Deal with issues that have a bearing on the school, or potential bearing, upon the whole school.

· Concerns or queries about children as individuals should be addressed to the relevant member

Recent involvement/achievements:

· Encouraging the development of better communication links between the school and

parents/carers.

Raising the profile of the Parent Council.

· Taking part in the selection of senior staff to the school.

· Holding and supporting fundraising events and initiatives.

· An ongoing subcommittee working on building strong relationships between the school and the

community.

· An ongoing subcommittee working with the school on careers advice for pupils.

We are always looking for ways to build on these achievements. If you would like to become involved, or have an issue/idea you would like us to discuss, please get in touch by email, at dhsparentcouncil90@gmail.com For updates and information you can also:

“like” us on Facebook at “Dunblane High School Parent Council”

Follow us on Twitter at “Parent Council Dunblane High”

Visit our “Parent Council page” on the school website.

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T

The Parent Council organised and coordinated a very well received Careers Fair in June. There were 5 presentations in the Murray Hall, followed by over 75 stalls. Many parents were responsible for providing information in relation to their own career at each stall. It was a great example of our school community coming together and working in partnership, to provide invaluable careers advice to our young people. Thank you to the Parent Council and to all those who contributed to a tremendous evening.

Careers Fair

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Beauty and the Beast was an outstanding production which was performed on three consecutive nights last week. A magnificent cast entertained audiences with their excellence in the performing arts, showcasing the incredible singing and

acting in a performance that would not looked out of place on a west end stage. Thanks were given to all that supported the performances with special mention to Mr Cooper, Mrs Grant and Mrs Buchanan from our fantastic Music Department and Pamela Mackie from the Rubber Chicken Company who directed the performance.

An incredible amount of work went into the production and there were so many young people involved. We can all be very proud of the performances last week.

School Show

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Sports Day took place on Friday 22nd June. A very enjoyable day to promote Health & Wellbeing. Well done to all the Sports Champions. Below is a selection of pictures from the day.

Sports Day

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Scottish Schools Swimming Relay Championships Dunblane High School is lucky enough to have a number of students who swim either as part of Stirling Swimming Club, as part of Stirling Triathlon Club or as part of Stirling Water Polo Club. We also have a number of swimmers who take part in open water swimming. On Wednesday 6 June, 8 of our students travelled to the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh for the annual Scottish Schools Swimming Relay Championships. The races to be swum were the 4 x 50m freestyle and the 4 x 50m Medley (50m each of backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle). The girls team of Laura Murray, Zara Fenemore and Heidi Eik-Maxwell (all S3s) and Isabelle Wood (S2) competed in both of the S1/S2 girls relays as well as the two open relays. The girls did really well finishing out of 27 teams - 11th in the S1/S2 freestyle relay and 12th in the S1/S2 medley relay. In the open events, where they were competing against much older swimmers, they were 15th and 14th out of 22 teams. The boys team of Malcolm Jack (S6), Olly Carr, Shawn Cooper (S5) and Finn Carr (S2) competed in the open relays where they were up against strong teams from across Scotland finishing 16th in the freestyle relay and 14th in the medley relay. These great results were down to the effort all of the swimmers put into the day - both in terms of swimming effort (some great personal best times for many of the swimmers) and the teamwork they showed in cheering each other on, looking out for each other and having fun! They were a real credit to the school and even the alarm during the girls warm up didn’t distract them from achieving great results (although being on a street in Edinburgh in their swimming costumes was a new experience for all of them!) Thanks very much to our own Mrs Murray for ensuring that the team were entered and to the Dawn Jack, Helen Carr and Julie Fenemore who made sure our swimmers got to the pool for 9am and who stayed to support our school teams and make sure that they made it to their races on time! The next Schools Swimming Championships will be in November when swimmers compete in individual races and team relays. The PE department will be letting everyone know when the entry is open for this. Result Summary: The results can be viewed on the Scottish Schools Swimming Association Facebook Page and are summarised as follows: Girls Open 50x4 Freestyle - 15/22 Girls Open 50x4 Medley - 14/22 S1/2 50x4 Freestyle - 11/27 S1/2 50x4 Medley - 12/27 Boys Open 50x4 Free - 16/18 Boys Open 50x4 Medley - 14/18

Written by Jules Fenemore

Upcoming Dates For Your Diary

Swimming

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Date Event

29 June School Closes at 1pm for Summer Holiday

7 August SQA Exam Results

7 & 8 August Timetable Alterations for S5 & S6 pupils. McCarron Room 10 – 3pm.

17 August Staff return to DHS

20 August Pupils Return to School

30 August S6 Pathways - Parent Information Evening

13 September Awards Ceremony, Cathedral 7pm.

Remember to follow us on Twitter - @DunblaneHS – for all the most up-to-date information on DHS School Life