S2 STEM Project Success

Congratulations to the twenty S2 pupils who completed a two day intensive investigation into carbon capture and storage (CCS) by doing hands-on experiments. 

Lots of countries are actively researching and investing in CCS as a way to reduce their impact on the environment and address issues surrounding climate change so it was great to see the pupils really involved in this task. The group also researched and debated issues surrounding climate change.  This was an interdisciplinary project created by the Science and Geography departments to challenge the pupils and raise awareness of STEM careers. Thanks also to Professor Mercedes Maroto-Valer from Heriot Watt university who gave a great talk on her team's CCS research. 

The winners with the best final poster and presentation were Becky Anderson, Adam Cooper, Beth Mollison  and Josh Brock. The prize for the best contribution to the climate change debate went to Benedict Tan. All 20 pupils will be awarded a Bronze Crest Award for their outstanding contribution and work on this project.

S2 pupils involved: Becky Anderson, Armina Berber, Lara Byers, Rowan Foulner, Jodie McDonald, Amy  McGaff, Beth Mollison, Jodi Robertson,  Rebecca Russell, Kirsten Sanders, Josh Brock, Adam Cooper, Anthony Housego, Michael Li, Cameron Littlejohn, Andrew Overstone, Andrew Skinner,  Fraser Smith, Benedict Tan,  Fraser Angus

Great work by all! 

One World Show!

This lunchtime we had an amazing One World Show in the assembly hall. Over 180 pupils and staff came to watch. There was an exhibition of art work from all years S1 to S6. 

S3 mirror and clock designs made out of recycled materials

Senior fashion designs inspired by the natural world

S4 corsets inspired by nature and made using recycled materials

S4-S6 eco architecture. Sustainability focussed and nature-inspired....

John and Jenna were our comperes for the event

Two S1 classes had African dance lessons in PE today, alongside live drumming, and some brave volunteers gave a public performance of the Kpanlogo dance from Ghana that they'd learnt

Elaine O'Donnell read her powerful poem 'What is?' that she submitted for the John Byrne Award competition

The Junior Drama club did short sketches they'd developed on the theme 'Its Not Fair!'

More from the Junior Drama club

The Fair Trade group did a presentation on why Fair Trade matters

Pupils modelled some amazing fashion designs inspired by our world and nature, created for Higher and Advanced Higher. 

Many thanks to everyone involved in making it a fantastic event!

Earth Hour 2015 at CCHS

This year the Eco-committee wanted to mark Earth Hour in a special way. WWF came up with an idea to create bunting to help us remember the things we appreciate most about our natural world. The brief asked us to use the phrase ‘For the love of…’ and complete the sentence about your favourite place, animal and anything that is special to you in our precious planet. WWF encouraged over 4500 schools across the UK to make the bunting in an attempt break a world record. 

Currie High School approached this challenge and the Eco-committee meetings were spent cutting out bunting out of recycled fabric to be transformed into wonderful bunting. Pupils in Art and SDE classes helped to create the design on the bunting. We are displaying our part of the bunting in school before the end of term and then it will be shipped to London to be put together with the bunting from other schools in a huge display.  We also plan to have all lights off in school P1 on Friday 27 March, before the global Earth Hour on Saturday 28 March.

By taking part in this challenge we are hoping to raise awareness of climate change and other environmental issues in our school; as well as to help support WWF raise awareness of climate change globally. We also celebrated all things eco at the One World Show on 26 March which showcased eco art, drama, music, poetry, dance and design.

By Sophie McVinnie and Abigail Odetayo, Eco Committee

The Eco Committee ripping up our donated old bedsheets

and cutting up the flags

to be decorated beautifully!

Our foyer looks great!

Food for Life celebration at the Scottish Parliament

 Scotland’s real food heroes were celebrated at a recent parliamentary reception to recognize those working behind the scenes in schools and communities across Scotland to improve our food culture.  Staff and pupils from CCHS were there, celebrating  the success of the school over the past two years with the Food for Life Scotland programme.  Ministers spoke in glowing terms of the work carried out by Currie Community High School.

Laura Stewart, Director of Soil Association Scotland said:  “Food for Life Scotland is working to ensure more people can access fresh, healthy, tasty food, and increase local, seasonal and organic ingredients and, in turn, helping our natural world to thrive. Our aim to ensure 'good food for all' and these Food for Life champions are working hard behind the scenes to make this a reality.”

At the event our pupils and staff presented to around 200 guests, including ministers and MSPs, and were interviewed live by STV!  Currie is the only mainland secondary school to have been awarded the Bronze Food for Life Catering Award, serving food that is better for pupils and better for the planet.   Currie CHS has been selected as a “pathfinder” school in Edinburgh to develop four key action areas for food: Culture, Catering, Curriculum and Community.   

 

Our pupil team in one of the committe rooms at the Parliament

Speaking front of around 200 delegates

 On the 3^rd February, after school, three 3^rd year pupils (Mairi Mitchell, Katie MacBeth, Abigail Odetayo) and one 2^nd year pupil (Gregor Menzies) went to the Scottish Parliament accompanied by Mr Pache, Mrs MacKinnon, Miss Stuart, Ms Avery and Julie and Anne (from the Dolphin Café). This was to celebrate the Food for Life Award and schools serving fresh healthy food for pupils.

When we arrived we learnt about the bees that are kept at the parliament and how they are monitored. We then got to taste some lovely food that was made for us. The recipes were designed by a committee of people who work in school cafes across Scotland. The food included Carrot and Coconut curry, lentils in filo pastry, less beef beef burgers and beetroot and chocolate muffins and much more. After we got to listen to amazing talks given to us by schools across the country who had Food for Life Awards. We also gave a talk about the wonderful things our school has done to promote Food for Life and our hopes for achieving the Silver award and we are thankful to everyone who made it possible.

By Abigail Odetayo

The school teams, with Scottish Ministers. Our pupils are at the back!

Mr Pache and Mairi Mitchell being interviewed live on TV!

With our MSP in the debating chamber

In one of the 'think pods' 

Holocaust Memorial Day

Holocaust Memorial Day was commemorated at school today with a very powerful assembly for all S5 and S6 pupils, put together by pupils and staff. Holocaust Memorial Day is a chance to remember the millions who were killed during the Holocaust and also all those whose lives have been lost or marked by genocide since then and to this day.The theme of this year is ‘Keep the memory alive”.

 

Sophia Purcell and Robbie Forbes spoke movingly about their recent trip to Auschwitz. Haris Brder gave a very powerful speech about his own family’s experience of the recent Bosnian conflict.  Rachel Birrell read out a prize-winning poem she had written in P7 for Holocaust Memorial Day ‘Because we were Jews’.  Catherine Park and Lynsey Pearson gave accomplished performances on the piano, and Anna Schmidt sang an unaccompanied version of ‘Tears in Heaven’.

We had also had two visiting speakers, facilitated by the Edinburgh Interfaith Association. Irina Winfield spoke movingly of her great grandmother’s experiences in the 1915 Armenian Genocide and a music producer from Rwanda, Patrick, sang a powerful song in his own language of hopes for peace after the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.

At the end of the assembly, everyone lifted up an image of a burning candle in silent commemoration and remembrance.

“A light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”

John Byrne Award Entry

I recently took part in the John Byrne Award, reaching the final ten places.  Our brief was to produce a creative piece in response to two stimuli: an Oxfam briefing paper and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation paper, both dealing with the themes of poverty and wealth.  I  decided to build on my creative writing skills and wrote a poem entitled ‘What Is’.

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of the whole project but meeting Peter Capaldi and John Byrne at the Awards Ceremony was definitely a highlight.  I would encourage anyone to really think about entering as it is a very rewarding experience and I gained a huge amount of experience and confidence from it!

‘What Is’

Poverty: the state of being extremely poor.

Poverty: the state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount.

Poverty: the burning pit of hunger at the bottom of your stomach that grates the insides into a thousand screaming mouths.

Poverty: the roof over your head a cool sweep of stars that welcome your plight and send it out into the void, unheard.

Poverty: the filthy black liquid oozing from the tap, a regular sight you have come to crave.

Poverty: the lack of sufficient contraceptives, leaving the life of a young girl in the hands of a nation who do not see any other way.

Poverty: the opposite of wealth.

Wealth: the choice of cereals becoming a game in the morning.

Wealth: the plush new blanket matching the curtains very well, thank you.

Wealth: the heat of the water on your back as you scrub the day away.

Wealth: the comfort gained from a single touch.

Wealth: the lies and corruption from the politicians snatching the tax from innocent workers.

Wealth: an ‘abundance’ of knowledge.

Knowledge: a saviour.

Knowledge: a pathway into the most fruitful wonders imaginable.

Knowledge: a key to power, and passage to happiness.

Happiness: improving, sustaining, accomplishing.

Happiness: a product of empathy, a partner of humanity, an integral aspect of love.

Wealth: love, knowledge, happiness.

Elaine O’Donnell, 6K2

Whole-School Visions and Values

Since the appointment of Mrs MacKinnon as Head Teacher of Currie Community High School many significant changes have been introduced. There have been much stricter school uniform rules introduced in terms of school dress code, and also punctuality and attendance to school.  This has resulted in almost an entire sixth year wearing blazers every day to school, and is just one of the many recent changes to Currie Community High School.

On the week beginning 17 November, in one of their weekly study periods, S6 students were asked to go about the task of contributing to a short piece of writing in any format that would be used to promote and advertise the school’s key values.  Other schools, such as Royal High School and Firrhill High School, have recently undertaken the same process and produced a mission statement type summary of what they believe are their vision for the school and the key values they hold as a secondary school.  I, along with the rest of my year group, was responsible for     coming up with ideas for our own vision and values statement, based on ideas from a whole-school exercise done earlier in the year.  The four groups assigned to this task each have two pieces they submitted to be Currie Community High School’s statement.

The best out of the many submissions was decided by a vote within the school in December and submissions chosen by voters will have the glory of having contributed in a very significant way to the values which underpin the life and work of the school for many years to come.

Fraser Munro, 6K3

CCHS Visions & Values

Following the whole school ballot we are delighted to announce the new Vision and Values of our school.

Our Vision Statement:

‘DON’T LIMIT YOUR CHALLENGES, 

CHALLENGE YOUR LIMITS’.

Our Values:

Confidence

· To perform to the best of your ability

· To seize every important opportunity

· To try something new

· To accept others and yourself

· To be enthusiastic and motivated to learn

Unity

· Supportive to others

· Unified commitment to improvement

· Appreciating achievements of all kinds

Respect

· Those around you

· Differences

· Yourself

· The Environment

Responsible

· For freedom of expression

· Being safe and making good choices

· Your own actions

· For participating in the life and work of our community

 Initiative

· Mistakes are okay as long as you learn from them

· Achieve your own goals through developing skills for life, learning and work

· Show determination, resilience and ambition

Equality

· Accept all aspects of social and cultural life regardless of personal belief while developing your own beliefs and values

· Treat others as you would wish to be treated

· Show care towards those who may need help

The BFG takes over CCHS

All our S3 pupils had three days off timetable at the end of last term to take part in a cross-curricular learning project.  They went to see the show of Roald Dahl's classic novel the BFG at the Lyceum Theatre and then came up with their own creative responses based on three themes; That's not Fair, Visions and Values, and Taking on Giants.  Each group had to generate their own ideas and then work together to see the project to fruition, often with limited resources. Groups performed their presentations to parents and other guests at the end of the third day.

One group created an art installation in the corridor outside Art & Design, inspired in part by Martin Luther King's speech ' I have a dream'. Half of the corridor was poorly lit, with art work and slogans respresenting the nightmarish reality some people face in their daily lives. The other half was brightly lit and highlighted the group's wishes and dreams for an ideal world of equality and justice for all.

Another group used a news report format to look at the lives of asylum seekers coming to the UK to seek safety, and highlighted the inequality between food and water resources of people living in different countries around the world.

Another group tackled giant multi-national food companies, often encouraging us to buy food that is bad for us.  The group showed the difference between this type of food and drink and healthy alternatives made with local or ethically traded produce. Everyone was given a taste of the dishes they'd been creating over the 3 days, and was encouraged to think about their own shopping and eating habits.

One group chose to tell the story of Malala Yousafzai, the girl from Pakistan who was shot by the Taliban for campaiging for the right to education and who recently was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Whilst the pupils were working on their installation, Taliban fighters killed 141 children and teachers in a school in Pakistan, showing the vital and urgent need to protect everyone's right to an education.

One group chose to tackle the 'That's not fair' theme by creating a Wheel of (Mis)/Fortune game show to illustrate the inequalities between rich and poor in this country.  The wheel could land on education, health care, Christmas or life expectancy, and in each case the likely scenario was acted out for both a rich, fortunate contestant and a poor, unfortunate contestant.

It was a very thought-provoking event, and so inspiring to see what the pupils had come up with in only 3 days. Well done to all our S3s!

Citizenship session for new S6 pupils

All of our new sixth year pupils spent this morning thinking about citizenship as part of their S6 induction. They discussed the benefits of real-life pupil-led case studies that have led to positive changes, locally and globally, and then came up with their own ideas of projects that could improve the school or the local community.

Doing a flow chart of benefits stemming from a real-life case study

Envisaging our 'ideal school' and local community

Sharing ideas with members of other groups

Prioritising our different ideas for improvements

Signing up to lead, or participate in, groups to make change happen

Ideas prioritised for action include refurbishing the gym equipment and making it accessible for pupil and community use, working more closely with pupils from Woodlands school, promoting gay rights within school and creating a cycle path to make it safer for pupils to cycle to school. Groups have been formed to make these and other ideas happen. Watch this space for great stuff next year from our new S6s!