Celebrating Success

Celebrating Success 12th September

 Celebrating Success - 12th September

Music

Following on from last week’s award of certificates from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music and Trinity College, London, it gives me great pleasure to announce that the following pupils have all achieved a Bronze Award of the Royal School of Church Music, and all with commendation.  These exams test not only singing ability, but also general musicianship and knowledge of church music.

They are:

·  Sadhbh Quail  1H

·  Tom Ralph 1K

·  Olivia Daisley 2M

I would like to congratulate them on their achievement.

Pupil Voice

Anna Blessing: 

Hi everyone, today’s assembly will be led by the school’s pupil voice captains. It will be a short introduction to who we are and what our role within the school is. My name is Anna Blessing and as the Pupil Voice Captain it’s my job to oversee all areas of pupil voice. This includes the upper and lower school councils, Debate and Lecture and the Rights Respecting School Act. This year we’re lucky enough to have four talented vice captains who each have the challenging task of heading one of these areas, which will the explain more about in a moment. You might be wondering what pupil voice is; it allows pupils the opportunity to have a say in decisions that affect them. This means it’s our job to ensure the needs and opinions of the pupils are being represented fairly and effectively, to the appropriate members of staff to initiate change within the school. I will now pass you on to Angelo who will discuss his role in lower school council.

Angelo Ianiello: 

This year my responsibility is with the lower pupil council, so what I am hoping to achieve from this year? It is my best intention that many of the new S1 and S2 pupils take full advantage of the many opportunities and the activities that the pupil council allows pupils to do. The pupil council has a reputation of being a successful organisation in the school and this wouldn't be possible without the aid of the younger years of the college. It is my duty to make sure that this year is no different. That is why I'm asking the younger years to not only participate in the activities offered but also, to keep up the enthusiasm towards the pupil council. If you have any questions regarding the council, do not hesitate to stop myself, Anna, Amy Rose, Calum or Aidan.

Amy-Rose Cameron:

My role as vice pupil voice captain is to bring the opinions and ideas of the upper school pupils to the senior management team and improve the school and year groups through these ideas. This year I hope to introduce several social areas similar to the S6 common room for S4 and S5 students. This would hopefully include study areas but also a common room. To make this possible the upper school pupil council will take place on a Wednesday which will allow a representative from each form class from s4 to s6 a chance to discuss their own ideas as well as their classmates, and help make decisions about the school and their own year's activities. Not only is joining the pupil council great for CVs and applying for universities but it also gives you the opportunity to develop as a leader, giving experience and helping you to gain captaincy and leadership roles.

Aidan Vickers: 

Hi, I’m Aidan Vickers and I’m also in charge of organising the S6 Debate and Lecture sessions with Calum. This involves us getting in contact with potential speakers and having them come in and talk about their area of expertise with the S6. A couple of examples of confirmed upcoming speakers would be people that work at NASA, Charities like Project Trust and well-known lawyers like Austin Lafferty. We also set up debates that the entire year has the opportunity to take part in. The aim of this is to hopefully encourage people to speak in front of an audience when the might not have done so in the past. The debates can cover a variety of topics such as abortion, the decriminalisation of drugs and whether or not Rugby is better than Hockey.

Calum Macleod: 

So you are probably thinking what is the point of pupils voice- why do we have it? What is the need for it? Well, I’ll tell you, if it wasn’t for Pupil voice- there would be no water machines in the school; guys would not be allowed to  wear gel in their hair; girls would not be able to have earrings; S4 girls upwards would not be allowed to wear their hair down; and S5 and S6 you guys would not have a common room. So all these things have come along not by themselves but because of pupils like me or you.  So yeah, Pupil Voice has done a lot for us in the college. Get involved!