Scottish School of Co-Operation

Scottish School of Co-operation

Hillpark Secondary has gained the award of Scottish School of Co-operation from the Co-operative Education Trust Scotland. It is the first secondary school in Glasgow to have been given this award for adopting co-operative values and principles and striving to develop our young people as enterprising individuals and active citizens and is in keeping with Glasgow City Council’s drive to become a co-operative council. It is also a fitting accolade as it is ten years since Hilpark established a Young Co-operative in the school in response to pupils who wanted to promote Fair Trade. It is a priviledge to receive this award and we would like to thank all pupils, staff and parents/carers who have contributed.

International Day

Hillpark’s International Day was a great success giving staff and pupils an opportunity to appreciate the fantastic diversity we have in our school.

During a very colourful lunchtime, we were entertained by MCs Rhodany Makumba and Engracia Freitas who impressed us with facts about the 24 countries and 30 languages represented at Hillpark. Phile Bhule performed her

own rap and ‘We Will Rock You’ star, Connor Resin, sang and played guitar. Spontaneous dancing from Angola and an improvised set from

Mr Wark’s dance crew saw the natural Scottish reserve binned as the audience whooped their encouragement.

There was similar enthusiasm for the range of food to be sampled: samosa from Bangladesh; perogi from Poland and a massive chocolate cake from Iran. Thanks to local restaurants Curry on the Hill, the Jasmine One and Toni’s pizzeria and of course to all the parents and carers who donated food.

The event was organised for the most part by senior pupil Suely Mateus and was attended by representatives from the Scottish Women’s Convention, our Chaplaincy team and local MSP James Dornan as well as Mary’s Meals, for whom £300 was raised on the day.

At Hillpark we believe that our pupils should not leave their home culture at the door when they come to school. Instead, we recognise that our diversity is strength to be enjoyed and learned from.

Prizegiving

Our annual Prizegiving Ceremony took place on the8thJune,whenwecelebratedthe achievements of a large number of pupils. We had a fantastic evening and were delighted that so many parents/carers were able to celebrate with us. Congratulations to Emily Watson our Dux, and to Mohammad Ashraf, Elizabeth Hunter and Louise Reilly who each shared the Proxime Accessit.

STEM NEWS

Money Week 6th -10th June 2016

Hillpark Mathematics Department ran a very successful Money Week this year, with S1 pupils participating in money related activities across all subjects and developing an awareness of numeracy across the curriculum.

One of the highlights was the Numeracy in the World of Work event, where representatives from the business world interacted with pupils to give them an insight into the relevance of numeracy in the real world. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed the event and their feedback was very positive

Another highlight was the Maths Numeracy Relay Challenge where teams of four pupils worked co-operatively to complete problem solving questions with a money theme. The pupils engaged well with this activity, which required them to use their brains and brought out their competitive spirit!

Primary 7 Mathematics Challenge May 2016

The Mathematics department hosted a very successful Primary Mathematics Challenge for P7 pupils in the learning community. Each primary school sent a team of four pupils to engage in some brain challenging activities which involved team work and problem solving skills.

The winners of the coveted PMC shield were the team from Tinto Primary School with Merrylee Primary School the runners up.

It was very encouraging to see so many pupils enjoying a Mathematical Challenge and having fun in the process!

Glasgow Maths Challenge 2016

All Glasgow Secondary schools were invited to participate in the GCC Junior Maths Challenge at Lourdes Secondary School. Teams of four S1 pupils from each school took part in a series of challenging activities designed to increase confidence when problem solving and to encourage pupils to develop collaborative skills. The Hillpark team came second and were awarded silver medals, coming closely behind the winners! Well done to Ethan Conaghan, Sean Price, Aimee Hughes and Sara Herbert-Ruiz.

S4 Energy Sector Employability Day

20 S4 pupils took part in a pilot scheme from Skills Development Scotland and Energy and Utilities Skills. The day was spent looking into the different fuels that we use and the future of fuels. Pupils pitchedto the dragons about their group’s ideas for Scotland energy future.

Strathclyde University

CfE Higher Chemistry pupils enjoyed a practical experience at Strathclyde University on the 15th of June. The pupils had the opportunity to improve their confidence with laboratory equipment along with experimenting with some exciting materials.

Chemistry at work 2016

Twelve S2 pupils attended Glasgow University Chemistry department to take part in laboratory activities. The pupils enjoyed working in groups and they certainly showed off their excellent organisational skills. The session finished with a talk from Dr Price who amazed the audience with his experiments highlighting the wonders of Chemistry and the Chemical Sciences.

S2 Outdoor Learning Week

Fortunately, we avoided the energy sapping weeks of June’s heat-wave, holding Outdoor Learning Week under familiar grey clouds and drizzle instead.

Jackets donned, S2 pupils spent the best part of a week learning outside of the classroom. In Maths they measured perimeter and area, in Technical they repaired playground furniture, in HFT they identified herbs and vegetables and in English they ran around the school grounds trying to solve Ms Kane’s legendary treasure hunt.

The week culminated in a trip to Pollok Park where almost all pupils in S2 participated in conservation activities across the park. Their experiences and efforts allowed pupils to work towards a John Muir Discovery Award, which can be achieved by exploring, discovering, conserving and sharing a wild place.

Hats off (and umbrellas up) to the positivity of Hillpark’s pupils and staff for their willingness to roll up their sleeves, give new ways of learning a try and make a difference in the process.

Drama News

The cast of We Will Rock You officially rocked Hillpark Secondary.The show was a huge success with a full house both nights. The cast thoroughly enjoyed being a part of this fantastic wider achievement activity. Two of our lead characters have now gone on to study drama and performance at college and we wish them the very best. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our cast, staff, parents and carers for all of their help and support along the way.We hope you enjoyed the show as much as we did!

Dog Whisperer

Our Nurture Room had a new visitor last week when we were joined by Jenna a therapy dog who, with her owner and friends, conducted 4 workshops with our pupils getting them to look at all aspects of dog safety, handling and training. This was a pilot project and it is hoped that in time pupils may be offered the Personal Development Award SQA unit around understanding dogs. Certainly all pupils were fully engaged in the workshop activities and all agreed it was a very enjoyable and rewarding morning.

Austria

28 pupils from Hillpark and Knightswood Secondary enjoyed a fabulous 10 day ski trip to Zell am See in Austria during the Easter holidays. The weather was glorious and the ski conditions were pretty good too!

You don't need to be able to ski to sign up for the

trip, but you need to commit to attending lessons at Bearsden prior to going so that you can make the most of the opportunity to ski in the amazing Alpine surroundings of Schmittenhohe and Kitzsteinhorn.

This is the 29th year that the trip has been running and if you would like to take part in the landmark 30th trip, information is available now from Miss Guild in the Maths Department.

Mr Philbin is leaving us

Mr Philbin DHT finishes his school career this summer. Mr Philbin has beenwith us in Hilpark since1994andhasdemonstratedhis commitment to our pupils in so many ways.

I am sure you will join with me in wishing

Mr Philbiin a long and happy retirement.

End of Session

School will close at 1pm on Friday 24th June. Please make arrangements to receive your child home early. I have included in this newsletter the holidays for session 2016/17 and also information about our school uniform.

And so farewell

Thank you again for all of your support over the last 16 years. It has been both a priviledge and a pleasure to serve our local community and to have worked with such wonderful young people, staff and parents/carers. I am truly grateful to have had such a rewarding experience as Head Teacher and wish the school every success in the future.

H I L L P A R K S E C O N D A R Y S C H O O L

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS AND IN-SERVICE DAYS 2016/2017

TEACHERS’IN-SERVICE DAY 1

TEACHERS’IN-SERVICE DAY 2

PUPILS RE-OPENING DATE

SEPTEMBER WEEKEND

IN-SERVICE DAY 3

FIRST MID-TERM

CHRISTMAS/NEW YEAR

SECOND MID-TERM

IN-SERVICE DAY 4

SPRING BREAK (Easter)

MAY DAY

IN-SERVICE DAY 5

MAY WEEKEND

SCHOOL CLOSES

Thursday 11 August 2016

Friday 12 August 2016

Monday 15 August 2016

Friday 23 September 2016 to

Monday 26 September 2016 (inclusive)

Friday 14th October 2016

Monday 17 October 2016 to

Friday 21 October 2016 (inclusive)

Thursday 22 December 2016 to

Wednesday 4 January 2017 (inclusive)

(Return to school Thursday 5 January 2017)

Friday 10 February 2017

Monday 13 February 2017

Tuesday 14 February 2017

Wednesday 15 February 2017

Monday 3 April 2017 to Friday 14 April 2017

(inclusive)

Easter Monday 17 April 2017

(Return to school Tuesday 18th April 2017)

Monday 1 May 2017

Thursday 4 May 2017

Friday 26 May 2017 to

Monday 29 May 2017

Tuesday 27 June 2017

School Uniform

Our school uniform promotes a real sense of school identity, shared values, self-confidence and a shared sense of community. The uniform is actively supported by our pupils, parents and the Parent Council and is of great benefit to our young people.

The school uniform consists of the following items:

• School blazer
• White shirt
• School tie
• Black trousers
• Black skirt
• Appropriate school footwear (black)

Please note that the shirt, tie and blazer are compulsory. Polo shirts and sweatshirts are available for PE and extra curricular activities. Jeans are not acceptable school wear.

Pupils in the lower school wear a blue/gold/black tie and their junior blazer has a gold trim. (see above)

Pupils in the senior school wear a blue tie and their senior blazer has a blue trim.

The school tie is available from the school office. All uniform items can be purchased at the Trutex Shop 35B Argyle Street Station, Glasgow G2 8AH.

Price List

Blazers-28” to 40”£37.99

Blazers-40” & above£39.99

V-Neck-9-10 to 13yrs£12.99

V-Neck-Small & Medium£13.99

V-Neck-Large & XL£16.50

Junior Ties - £5

Senior Ties - £7