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Am giblean 2015
april 2015
I hope you had an enjoyable holiday. Senior pupils had
only one week at the beginning of this term until study
leave and the SQA exams begin on the 28th April with
Drama. I wish all our pupils the very best.
School is open as normal for all S4 to S6 pupils with
dedicated study rooms at all times to help with last
minute revision and exam preparation.
This edition of Skyelines contains an update on our eTwinning arrangement with College Saint
Jacques la Forêt in La Mothe, France with our S3 French class who have been corresponding this
session. We also feature a report on our FilmG success and photographs of our Spring dance.
There are two anti-litter poems and an update from our John Muir Award class.
The Victoria and Albert Dundee Design Museum are holding a free event at Portree High School
on Friday the 1st of May. They are touring with their Design in Motion bus and will be at the school
during the day on Friday; in the evening there is a Textile in Motion talk given by Dr Sarah
Robertson. For more information about this event please follow the link below.
http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/va-museum-of-design-dundee-dr-sara-robertson-textiles-in-motion-tickets15326076708
May Day Holiday: 4th May 2015
Pupil Council and Learning Council Meetings: 6th May 2015
Parent Council Meeting: 11th May 2015
House Events: 13th and 20th May 2015
S1-S3 Athletics: 21st May 2015
S1 Reports Issued to Pupils: 27th May 2015
You can find the school term dates at the following address:
http://www.highland.gov.uk/downloads/file/7281/school_term_dates_-_2014_to_2015
http://www.highland.gov.uk/downloads/file/7282/school_term_dates_-_2015_to_2016
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Success Assemblies
S4
Anna Insch (4M2) Bronze,
Donald Fraser (4M1) Gold
and Allison MacDonald (4M1) Silver
S5
Katharine McKee (5T2) Bronze,
Margot Smith (5B1) Silver
and Stephanie Harper (5T1) Gold
S6
Garrow Wilson (6B) Silver,
Seumas Mehan (6G) Gold
Missing from picture is Anna Hodgetts (6B)
Bronze
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The annual Somhairle Maclean competition Portree High School V Plockton High
School was held this week.
The girls won their competition (5-0) and the boys lost (3-0).
Anna Macdonald and Will Cowie were named Portree 'players of the tournament'.
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Pictured below is the E4U (English for You) class at College Saint Jacques la Forêt in La
Mothe, France which is twinned with our S3 French class..
S3 French class from left to right:
BACK: Bethany Pearce, Laura Grieve, Isla Campbell, Raymond Cameron, Kirsty
MacLean, Edna Moran, Ethan Tickle and Cailean Campbell.
FRONT: Gaia Jones, Jasmine Parker, Hamish Morrison and James Fox.
S1 French class
VERY BACK: Kyle Dick and Arran MacKinnon.
BACK: Samantha MacLean, David Broughton, Fergus Rhodes, Joseph Moller and Finlay
Turner.
CENTRE: Teal Dobie, Sarah MacLeod, Colin MacPhie, Ben Miles, Callum Musgrove,
Molly Partington, Jennifer MacLeod, Jim MacKinnon and Freia Morris.
FRONT: Ella MacFarlane, Rose Moran, Laura Crainet and Natalie Harper.
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Over the past few months my class (3rd year French) along with three S1 classes
from Portree High School have been actively taking part in exchanging letters
with a 1st and 3rd year class, all of us ranging from ages 11-16, from a school
called "Collège Saint Jacques la Forêt" situated in a small town in France called
"La Mothe Achard".
To encourage everyone on both sides to speak and write as much French and
English as humanly possible, we all wrote one half of our letters in French and
the other in English.
I, some might say being perhaps an overly enthusiastic French learner, was over
the moon when we received Christmas cards from the French pupils telling us in
great detail how they individually spend Christmas. In my opinion the letters
really put our differences as nations into perspective.
While we feast on turkey with all the trimmings, golden roast potatoes etc., they
devour salty creatures from the depths of the ocean!
Another example of festive differences is that whilst we anticipate Santa
squeezing down the chimney to fill our stockings, hung above the fireplace, with
presents and goodies, in France "Le Père Noël" fills up their shoes with sweets
and tiny presents! However in contrast we found Halloween to be much the
same!
As the months went by and letter after letter was exchanged I discovered more
and more about my pen pal on a more personal basis. All of a sudden I found
myself calling her Marine instead of just referring to her as "my French friend".
It has not only been an enjoyable opportunity it has also been very interesting
learning about things such as the extremely controversial "Foie Gras", to finding
myself asking my teacher if it was normal for French people to sign their letters
off with a temperature of 3°C! Not a temperature one might expect of France!
Maybe of Scotland.... It turns out that's how the French write what year group
they're in. In Marine’s case this is 3rd year.
Personally I think one of the most pleasurable things about the whole experience
was actually just receiving a hand written letter. Receiving or writing letters
nowadays has become sadly such a rarity, so receiving them on a regular basis
was fantastic!
Overall I think all of my class would agree that we would all love to one day
exchange more than just a letter!
Edna Moran 3G1
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An Geam
Eoin Urquhart and Jonathan Smith (both 2G2) were at the FilmG Awards in Glasgow
last month to represent Portree High School for the film An Geam and picked up the
prize for the Best Production. This award is for entrants that have made a big effort with
the creative elements of their film including camera shots, lighting, sets, props, costume
and make-up. It was clear to the judges that the Portree High School’s film stood out in
this category.
The award was presented to Eoin and Jonny by Katie Morag stars, Cherry Campbell and
Barbara Rafferty. As well as picking up their prize they took part in interviews for a
FilmG promotion. We are all very proud of the way they represented the school.
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A Spring in our Step!
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Although bad weather plagued our attempts to host the Christmas Dances all
winter, we eventually managed an S1-S6 Spring Dance just before the Easter
holidays.
As predicted, on Tuesday 31st March, the weather didn’t look too promising but
once everyone got into the mood with some toe-tapping tunes from our musical
stalwarts Ross MacPherson on the accordion and Donald John Campbell on drums,
there was no holding them back. Ross came all the way from Oban to entertain us
and we are very grateful to him for his support over the years. The PE department
had ensured earlier in the year that everyone knew their Strip the Willow from their
Canadian Barn Dance and excellent footwork in each year was rewarded with some
special Easter prizes. A visit from the Easter Bunny and a dancing Easter Chick with
nifty footwork rounded things off nicely. With old favourites like Hillbilly Rock
getting an airing in the interval, everyone agreed that the dance was worth waiting
for.
Many thanks to the S6 prefects who helped with the organisation, the selling of
tickets, DJ-ing duties on the night and in the preparation for dances that didn’t go
ahead. We had a great night but nothing can beat the atmosphere of the Christmas
Dances and they’ll be firmly back where they belong on next session’s calendar –
weather permitting, of course!
P
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Rosie MacLeod 5B1 has been accepted for a Nuffield placement over the summer holidays. She
will be working with Prof Ian Hunt in
Napier University in Edinburgh for four
weeks. She is currently deciding what she
would like to research but her options are
all Engineering based and are either in
renewable energy or with the oil
industry. I am absolutely thrilled for her
and I am especially pleased as Rosie made
the contact with Prof Hunt herself and has
arranged her own placement.
By Miss K Donnelly
(Principal Teacher, Science)
Brigadoon Boat Trip
On the 21st of April, (John Muir Day), we went on a boat trip to try and
find a White-Tailed Sea Eagle. We motored around an old village
called Scorr. It used
to be inhabited
before
the
Highland
Clearances by the
MacLeans
and
the Mackenzies.
After we sailed
around there we
saw some sea caves. They were filled with
birds like Cormorants, Rock Doves, Black
Guillemots and Shags. After that we spotted
a Sea Eagle near a huge boulder. It was a 7 year old male. He flew away and landed where we
had came from. We tried to tempt him down from another cliff with a frozen fish but he didn’t
come down. On the way back he flew away again. This is a picture of our group.
By Miles King and Aodhan Stoddart (3B1)
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Below are two of S1’s litter poems which are now displayed around
the school.
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