Message from the Head Teacher

Message from the Head Teacher

Welcome to the latest edition of our school newsletter which gives us an opportunity to keep you up to date with the many things that are happening within Duncanrig.

As most people are probably aware Mr Wynne has been seconded to a Head of Service post at HQ and it is an honour and a privilege for me to have been appointed as Acting Head Teacher.

Our examination results wereonce again of a high standardthis year maintaining our tradition of academic success and excellence. Staff at Duncanrig are forever committed to the continued success of our schooland I trust that I can rely on the support of all parents to ensure that we enjoy another successful session together.

This session we have re-introduced black blazers as part of our school uniform and it has been a huge success. We wish to maintain our high standard of uniform throughout thesession and I ask you to ensure that your child comes to school properly equipped for classes and in full school uniform. Blazers and ties can be purchased/ordered at the school office. School badges for blazers purchased elsewhere will also be available soon.

Can I also remind all parents and carers that if you have any concerns regarding your child’s progress and/or welfare or have any issues you wish to raise please contact the school. Working together we can make a difference to the achievement, attainment and success of our young people.

George Randall

Acting Head Teacher

Duncanrig Media

Since returning in August we have recently established our own media group (incorporating the school radio station, Duncanrig Radio and the school magazine). Thegroup havealready produced their very own web-site to be used as a media centre. This will give our pupils opportunities in developing broadcasting skills including journalism, film making, radio broadcasting and web design. It will provide a means of sharing news and interesting stories for the whole school. It will also allow parents and members of the local community to keep up to date with everything that is happening in Duncanrig and provide enterprise opportunities for the school with businesses in the local community.

Here is the link to the website:

If you have any information or news you would like to feature on our website, you can get in touch with the media group at the following email address

This new site will be of great benefitto the whole school.

Outdoor Activity Days

Throughout September over 300 of our S1, S2 and S3 pupils participated in a wide range of outdoor activities based at the Heritage Park here in East Kilbride and Chatelherault Country Park in Hamilton. The activities which were led by specialist staff from the council’s Outdoor Resource Base included canoeing, orienteering, mountain biking, climbing wall and team building. Despite the rather damp, chilly weather a great time was had by all.

Duncanrig Secondary School1 November 2012 Newsletter

Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme

Also in September,18 of our S4 and S5pupils went on their Silver Practice Duke of Edinburgh Expedition to the Pentland Hills, camping at Bonaly Campsite. The pupils walked for at least four hours every day for three days using maps and compasses to find their way through the hills. They also pitched their tents and cooked their own meals. Entertainment included toasting marshmallows and singing songs around the camp fire. Last month the group successfully completed their Qualifying Expedition in the area of Guay in Perthshire. They are now able to sign off and receive their Silver Awards. Well done to one and all.

Design Project to be Showcased in the Museum of Rural Life

Our Higher Art & Design pupils are participating in an exciting Design project which has been organised by South Lanarkshire Council’s Cultural Team. The project has been running successfully for several years andDuncanrigare involved this year along with three other schools. The project involves 10 after-school workshops led by professional designer Laura Murray. The group also had a visit to the designer’s jewellery workshop in The Briggait, Glasgow as part of their learning experience. The project is an exciting opportunity for them and will aid in the execution of ideas for their own Higher Design projects. The project will culminate in an event showcasing the pupils’ designs at The National Museum of Rural Life on Wednesday 16thJanuary 2013.

Staffing News

Congratulations to Mrs Lynsey Ross (Music) who has been appointed to the post of Principal Teacher of Music at Cleveden Secondary School in Glasgow. Congratulations also to Mr Keir Geatrell (PE) who has been seconded to the post of PE and Sports Development Officer within SLC.

A warm welcome is extended to Mr Alan Martin our new Principal Teacher of Art who replaces Mrs McCulloch who retired at the end of August.

Dates for the Diary

S5/6 Parents Evening – Mon 26th November.

S4 Prelims – Wed 5th to Tues 18th December.

Visit of Vice Lord Lieutenant

A warm welcome was extended to Mr Louis Munn the Vice Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire who visited our school in September. Mr Munn came along to see our Diamond Jubilee Display and was interviewed by Duncanrig Radio. Mr Munn also presented the school with a Diamond Jubilee Certificate for our participation in the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Special thanks were expressed to Miss Clark (HE) whose photographs charting the past 35 years of the Royal Family were the centre piece of our display.

If your child studies Physics and you would you like to know when homework has been issued, or when an assessment is scheduled, follow us on Twitter @DuncanrigPhysX

We are trialing Twitter for this use and hope that pupils and parents will find it of benefit. You will need to know your child’s Physics section, which can be found on the front of their jotter, to identify which tweets are of interest to you. We will not follow parents or pupils and therefore cannot respond to direct messages. Please contact us through the normal procedures if required. Pupils will continue to record homework and assessment dates in their school diary.

Achievements

Congratulations to David Gray (S6) who won a silver medal at the recent ITF Tae Kwon Do World Cup in Brighton. David was part of the Scotland Team who finished 6th overall.

Congratulations to Holly Moffat (S3) for her success in this year’s Road Safety Calendar Competition. Also to Holly Kerr (S3) whose illustration was chosen to feature in the Council’s Bus Safety Booklet.

Well done to our school Concert Band who achieved a silver award for their excellent performance in the National Concert Band Festival on Sunday 28thOctober in Paisley Town Hall.

Congratulations to Mrs Audrey Macpherson (Music) and Mr Chris Gerrard (CSB) who have successfully completed their Harvard University Masterclass Training.

Duncanrig Radio

Duncanrig Radio was one of the runners-up in the Arqiva Award for School Radio Station of the Year 2012. Three of our pupilsattended a spectacular awards ceremony at the Houses of Parliament in London to receive their award from Speaker of the House, Mr John Bercow MP. The school was nominated for their outstanding successes throughout last year which included:

• Interviewing Lord Coe at the Olympic Park in London for BBC News School Report.
• Producing Olympic material that featured on the Fred Macaulay Show on BBC Radio Scotland.
• Reporting from a number of high profile events including interviewing Peter Andre at the Christmas lights switch on at the EK Shopping centre.
• Receiving a motion from the Scottish Parliament for its innovation in improving the communication skills of pupils from the Communication Support Base in the school where the radio station is based.

Teacher and Duncanrig Radio co-ordinator, Chris Gerrard explains “I was absolutely delighted when I heard the news that we had been short listed for the award. An Arqiva is one of the most sought after awards in the radio industry so to be nominated for one was an incredible achievement. I was informed that there are over 1200 schools involved in the Schools Radio network that run the awards, so to get down to the final few schools was astounding. I felt like we were winners already”

Duncanrig was the only school from Scotland to be nominated for the award and a party of two staff and three pupils travelled down to London for the day to attend the ceremony. Before the ceremony, the group was treated to a tour of the Houses of Parliament by Michael McCann MP’s parliamentary aid, Gordon Paterson. Chris added, “When we arrived at Westminster, Michael met us and was really keen to congratulate and wish us luck for the awards ceremony. His aid, Gordon, then gave us a tour of the House of Commons and House of Lords which was a once in a lifetime experience for the pupils.” The group was also met by Cambuslang and Rutherglen MP, Tom Greatrex, a big supporter of the community radio station Camglen Radio that had donated the radio equipment to Duncanrig.

The group then proceeded to the Terrace Pavilion where the awards ceremony was held. Chris continued, “It was a stunning venue as we were overlooking the Thames and the Houses of Parliament were right above us.” The awards ceremony was hosted by BBC presenter, Julian Worricker with the Key Note Speaker being television and radio presenter, Paul Gambocini. Chris added, “Paul gave a fantastic and very inspiring speech and afterwards was lovely to our pupils when they interviewed him about his career”. Also in attendance on the day was television presenter, Nicholas Parsons, who is patron of the Vision Charity, a sponsor of the awards and a host of Westminster MPs.

Chris continues, “Unfortunately, Mr Bercow was unable to attend due to Parliamentary business but Deputy Speaker of the House, Lindsay Hoyle MP stepped in and announced that Duncanrig Radio was one of the runners up. We were all thrilled and received our award from the Deputy Speaker.”Julia Duncan, S1, added, “It was an amazing experience. I had never been to London before so to go to the Houses of Parliament for such an important awards ceremony was an experience I will never forget.”

Chris explained, “Last year was an amazing year for Duncanrig Radio and receiving the certificate from the Deputy Speaker was the icing on the cake. Our success is solely due to the pupils who run the station and their enthusiasm and dedication. Hopefully, we will have even more success next year.

To find out more about Duncanrig Radio, follow us on -

You can listen to their shows on their mixcloud page at –

/radioduncanrig

Members of our Pupil Council 2012/2013

1A1 – Paul Hunter

1A2 – Kieran Noble

1B1 – Kirsten Docherty

1B2 – Sunita Carroll

1C1 – Mark Kane

1C2 – Dayna Bell

1C3 – Zak Williamson

1D1 – Hannah Shearer

1D2 – Sian Oo

1D3 – Stuart Forrester

2A1 – Robert Griffiths

2A2 –Kieran English

2A3 – Julia Duncan

2B1 – no rep

2B2 –Aileen Smith

2B3 – Caitlin Campbell

Sophie Bullough / 6A1 / Scott Coster / 6C1
Andrew Mungall / 6A1 / Victoria English / 6C1
Jonathan Powell / 6A1 / Darroch Campbell / 6C2
Hayley Crawford / 6A2 / Stephanie Cullen / 6C2
Robyn Cochrane / 6A2 / Ryan Forbes / 6C2
Samantha Eadie / 6A2 / Lynsey McCulloch / 6C2
Molli Mitchell / 6A2 / Eilidh Thomson / 6C2
Katie Peters / 6A2 / Gordan Beveridge / 6D1
Emily Thompson / 6A2 / Dylan Brodie / 6D1
Neil Campbell / 6B1 / Pamela Hendry / 6D1
Rachel Fairlie / 6B1 / Christopher Hunter / 6D1
Gemma Hanton / 6B1 / Andrew Ferguson / 6D1
Shona Leatham / 6B1 / Hailie Lawson / 6D1
Laura McKechnie / 6B1 / Dean Maxwell / 6D1
Sabrina Mime / 6B1 / Scott Murphy / 6D1
Scott Nicol / 6B1 / Katie Nugent / 6D1
Scott Buchan / 6B2
Alisha Hope / 6B2
Megan Scott / 6B2

2C1 – Caitlin Dickson

2C2 – Conner Wilson

2D1 - Joe Ather

2D2 – Ryan Coleman

3A1 – Caitlin O’Neill

3A2 – Greg Hughes

3B1 – Lucy Devlin

3B2 – no rep

3C1 – Scott Joyce

3C2 – Ryan Craig

3C3 – Charlie Watt

3D1 –Alix Aitken

3D2 – Danielle Hamill

3D3 – Lauren Gallagher

4A1 – Ian Lonsdale

4A2 – David McLellan

4A3 – Daniel MacDonald

4B1 – Craig Rennie

4B2 – Rachel Keeley

4B3 – Mylo Ainslie

4C1 – no rep

4C2 – John Hardy

4D1 – Ross Faulds

4D2 – Kyle McIntyre

5A1 – David Anderson

5A2 – Amy Wilson

5B1 – Heather McColl

5B2 – no rep

5C1 – Ewan Eltis

5C2 – Callum Leckie

5C3 – no rep

5D1 – Jak MacDonald

5D2 – Leon Green

5D3 – Kirsty Mc Donald

6A1 – Gregor Banford

6A2 – Raymond Lynch

6B1 – Jade Robertson

6B2 – Harry Clark

6C1 - Alexander Marshall

6C2 – Stuart Hill

6D1 – Kirsty Jamieson

1CSB – David Daly

2CSB – Chris Hosie

3CSB – Steve Lynn

4CSB – Sean McCartney

6CSB – Callum MacInnes

The Council is led by our two School Captains for 2012/2013 Rachel Hamill and Darren Hutton.

House Captains 2012/2013

Autism Conference

A representative from the Communication Support Base has been invited to speak at the next national MEDICA CPD Conference on ‘Getting it Right for Children and Young People with –Dyslexia, Developmental Coordination Disorder (Dyspraxia), ADHD &Autism Spectrum Disorders.’

The conference looks at and shares good practice from around the country with fellow professionals from different sectors. The invitation is in recognition of the work done in the base at Duncanrig and our successful model of inclusion.

Duncanrig Secondary School1 November 2012 Newsletter