Big Schools Birdwatch

Pupils from Science and Biology classes participated in the RSPB Big School’s Birdwatch over the last few weeks, along with pupils from thousands of schools across the UK.  We watched birds coming to the feeders outside the canteen in shifts for a whole hour, and recorded the maximum number of individuals of different species seen at the same time.  

We saw a large variety of birds, including 23 beautiful Goldfinches with bright red heads and golden wings. They seem to particularly enjoy the niger seeds we put out for them.  

We also saw a small brown bird with a red forehead that we were able to identify as a Lesser redpoll, a relatively uncommon species and a new record for CCHS!  

Our final results have been submitted online and will help RSPB monitor populations of birds across the country. 

Bird species	Max number seen at any one time
Chaffinch	26
Goldfinch	23
Magpie	7
Blackbird	2
Woodpigeon	2
Collared dove	2
Crow	2
Lesser redpoll	1
Bluetit	1
Dunnock	1

    

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!

Cooking up a treat

The S3 xl group harvested some of our school veg recently and made some delicious snacks.

Some of our school-grown beetroot and brilliant multi-coloured carrots!

Preparing the beetroot

Grating carrots to go in the muffins

The beetroot pancake on the left was amazingly sweet - with no added sugar!

Carrot muffins ready to go in the oven

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