Liz Lochhead to be part of North Edinburgh’s Big Night Out

Scotland’s national poet Liz Lochhead will be among the participants at a major community event to be held in North Edinburgh later this month. ‘The Big Night Out’, an evening of songs, fun, poetry and protest, is being organised by the local Power to the People group.

The programme is yet to be finalised, but the event will also feature a photography and artwork exhibition.

CLD worker Lynn McCabe, who supports the group, explained: “There’s going to be a couple of exhibitions on the history of protest (one is a photographic exhibition, the other is being put together by arts students from Edinburgh (Telford) College. The main part of the night will be in the theatre and will include protest poems and protest poetry. We have just had word that Liz Lochhead will be doing a turn which is great, and it’s likely that some pupils from Craigroyston High School will also be participating in the event – I’m meeting with their teacher to discuss this further. There’s still a lot to organise and confirm but the Power to the People group are very excited about The Big Night Out.”

Power to the People’s Big Night Out will be held in

North Edinburgh Arts on Friday 29 November from 6.30 – 9.30pm.

Tickets £3. All welcome.

What’s The Matter now?

Matters 2us invite

North Edinburgh Young People’s Forum would like to invite you to the launch of the second edition of their version of The Matter: Matters2Us, and this issue will focus on Anti-Bullying.

In July 2013, the Young People’s Forum were successful in their application to the Respectme Anti-Bullying fund to produce a second edition of their newspaper, this time asking the question:

How would you like to be supported if you were being bullied or see someone else being bullied?’

The group then consulted with over 100 pupils across two primary schools in North Edinburgh, going into classrooms over two days, spending time with the young people and finding out their thoughts on bullying.

The Young People’s Forum would now like to share what the young people who they met with said and would like to invite you to attend the launch of this second edition.

This will take place on Wednesday 20 November at Craigroyston Community High School at 5.30pm.

There will also be an opportunity to hear from a local parents group on how they have made a user friendly guide to their schools Anti-Bullying Policy to support parents, young people and the community to understand it.

We would be delighted if you could attend.

Clare Gibson (Youth Work Organiser, CEC Community Learning & Development) on behalf of North Edinburgh Young People’s Forum

Scottish champions Craigroyston compete in USA

F1 in Schools Scottish champions Craigroyston Community High School are currently competing at the World Championships in Austin, Texas. They flew out last Thursday and have spent the past few days settling in and preparing to do battle with teams from around the world.

The team comprises of Ciaran Harrison, Joe Dudgeon, Gavin Singleton, Stephen Ramsay and Thomas Paget (pictured below) supported by staff Ms Carrie Anderson and Mr George Thomson. The news is that the boys are doing the school, Edinburgh and Scotland proud!

See what happened on Day 1 Sunday 10^th November – at the Opening Ceremony & Time Trial Racing <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6fwl8cnqqc>

Day 2 yesterday saw the Reaction Racing <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBZzqK4sIVs>

The team now competes in the Knockout Competition, and we will keep you posted as news wings its way from the USA.

If you would like to see more about the F1 in Schools Competition then follow this link: www.f1inschools.com<http://www.f1inschools.com>

Desmond Spiers

Craigroyston Community High School

Craigroyston marks Remembrance Day

Craigroyston Community High School commemorated Remembrance Day by holding two special assemblies led by the pupils. A selection of words, hymns, songs, and poetry, along with a moving video featuring the stories of a variety of veterans were presented to pupils and staff.

At 11am precisely the whole school came to a standstill as everyone stood for the two minute silence. The wreath laying was carried out by two representatives from each year group accompanied by a piper playing Flowers of the Forest. Honoured guests included local councillors, veterans, parents and council officials.

Desmond Spiers, Craigroyston Community High School

What does ‘home’ mean to you?

The city council is running an art competition for schoolchildren from Muirhouse, Pilton and Pennywell to mark the start of construction of new homes in West Pilton Crescent – and the closing date for entries is fast approaching.

‘What does home mean to you?’ is the appropriate theme of the competition which is open to pupils of Pirniehall, St David’s, Craigroyston and Forthview, Oaklands and Craigroyston Community High School. Entries can be drawings, paintings, a collage or photographs – but your artwork must be submitted by the closing date of next Friday, 25 October.

Winners of the various categories (see the attached poster) will be announced on

Thursday 21 November. Good luck!

Author Matt Cartney enthralls Craigroyston

Author and adventurer Matt Cartney (pictured below) visited Craigroyston High School on Friday (4 October) to talk to the S1 pupils.

He entertained us all for 90 minutes with tales of his adventures to Morocco and Norway that were the inspiration for his first two novels in the Danny Lansing adventure series: ‘The Sons of Rissouli’ and ‘Red, White and Black’. Matt gave us an insight into how his love for adventure has been with him since childhood, and that he wanted to write the sort of books he loved reading as a boy.

The pupils sat enthralled for an hour, before quizzing Matt with a series of penetrating questions – we found that Tin Tin was his favourite book at school, though he also loved books by H. Rider Haggard and Arthur Ransome. It can take him a year of researching and travelling before he starts to write a book. He has also taken some of his childhood friends and used them as the basis for Danny’s friends. We found out that of all the countries in the world that he has visited, his favourites are Morocco, Tibet and New Zealand.

His next novel due out in 2014 will be set in a tropical jungle and the fourth Danny Lansing adventure – which he has just started – will be set in Russia.

Well, we can’t wait to read these when they are published!

Craigroyston Community High School

Congratulations, Craigie!

New Head Teacher plans to build on best ever exam results

Craigroyston Community High School has once again produced an excellent set of exam results – the results this year are the best ever achieved by the school.

New Head Teacher Steve Ross puts this down to a real commitment in the school towards attainment: ‘My predecessor, Margaret Russell, encouraged and motivated pupils and staff to aim high – and this is exactly what they have done.’

There were twice the number of Higher passes this year compared to 2012 and 100% of the S4 cohort achieved the minimum standard set by the Scottish Government of 5 passes at Access 3 or Foundation level, a figure that will be the envy of many other schools in the region and beyond.

Steve Ross is excited by the positive momentum this has created within the school: ‘What a fantastic position to be in! I have to say that I have been genuinely impressed by the standards in my new school. In my career I have taught in, and visited, many schools. The teaching and learning that is going on here is of a very high standard indeed. I am so fortunate to have a staff (teaching and non–teaching) that want the very best for the pupils.

“I would like to pass on my appreciation to parents and carers for their commitment to the school uniform – on the first morning the pupils returned to school I was blown away by the standard of dress – as good as any other school and better than a fair few.’

As well as having high expectations for all pupils in the school, Steve is keen to listen to the pupil voice: ‘One of the first things I’ve done is set up meetings between myself and pupils and asked them three questions:

What’s good about the school?

What’s not good about the school?

What would you like to see changed?

I’ll be feeding back replies to all pupils, staff and parent council and from there we’ll construct an action plan to address issues raised. It’s very important to me that the young people here feel they have a role in driving the school to even greater success in the future.’

‘I plan to hold an open evening in the school in the near future and will be inviting all parents, carers and community members to come along so we can talk about the way forward for Craigroyston Community High School and it’s young people.’

Good luck in your new post, Steve

For one night only: Alice at Craigroyston

Craigroyston Community High School will be staging ‘Alice in Wonderland’ TONIGHT at 7pm.

Marie McGarrol, drama worker at Craigroyston Community High School, said: “Craigroyston Community High School’s senior Drama club is putting on a public performance of Alice in Wonderland at the school tonight at 7pm, adult tickets £2, children’s tickets £1.50. The students involved would really appreciate any external support as the school as not seen a performance of this nature for many years. Please could you pass this email on to your colleagues that work in the area”.

For further information contact Craigroyston Community High School:

Telephone:      0131 477 7801
Email:         Admin@craigroyston.edin.sch.uk
Web Address:      www.craigroyston.edin.sch.uk

Fire at Craigroyston High School

Craigroyston High School will open as normal this morning despite a fire at the school last night.

The fire was reported at 9pm last night and 35 firefighters, with six pumping appliances and various special appliances, tackled the blaze.

No casualties were reported but there is some external damage to the building, which first opened in May 2010.

The old Craigroyston High School building was demolished following a major fire in July 2010 (pictured below).

Emergency services personnel are still at the scene and the cause of the fire is being investigated.

Car boot sale at Craigroyston this Saturday

CAR BOOT SALE Poster

Craigroyston Community High School are holding a car boot sale on Saturday. Susanne Mackay, Curriculum Leader of Health and Wellbeing, explained: “Our car boot sale is to allow us to add to our ongoing fundraising efforts for the school, and also to continue to develop the community links and services which we have in place”.

The details:

Saturday 1^st June 10am – 1pm (9am arrival for anyone selling)

£10 entry for anyone wishing to sell goods, tables available to hire for £3 each.

Indoor area set aside for bad weather alternative.

Anyone interested should contact the school on admin@craigroyston.edin.sch.uk

or telephone 0131 477 7801.