ST AIDAN’S HIGH
Coffee Pod A small café has been set up in the social area of St Aidan’s High school, simply named ‘The Coffee Pod’.
The innovative modern dining module has been running at full speed to serve a variety of meals to both students and staff.
Employed by the North Lanarkshire Council, the pod is run by two catering assistants with a can-do attitude - Alison Ingram and Elaine Kerr.
They said: “Business is booming. We go the extra mile to keep the kids happy, serving freshly prepared food at a good price.
“We’re a healthy alternative to what the kids can get on the high street and at a better price too.”
“It seems that the pupils at St Aidan’s are going crazy for the coffee pod, with lines stretching across half of the social area at points.
“We asked coffee pod connoisseur Nathan Stevenson for his opinion on the pod, he enthusiastically told us: You can always trust the pod, the two of them (Alison and Elaine) are really nice women I prefer it to the traditional school lunches because it’s what I like to eat.”
From what we can see the sentiment given by Higher pupil Nathan seems to be shared by the wider school community.
For just £1.95 the students can get a meal deal which includes a warm panini, wrap, ciabatta or baguette, a cake and juice.
Kitchen manager Sandra Gardner says she is delighted by the success of the coffee pod, and is happy that it is such a positive addition to the lunchtime atmosphere. Not too bad for such a small pod. Queensferry Crossing visit On October 10, students taking part in the Higher computing course visited Edinburgh to see the massive construction project that is underway to build the Queensferry Crossing.
Thirty pupils, accompanied by Mrs Morag Telfer, Principal Teacher of Business and ICT made the trip eastwards to the River Forth.
The aim of the trip was to encourage students towards education and careers in STEM- science, technology, engineering and mathematics- by showcasing an impressive example of engineering and technology in action.
They set off at the beginning of the school day and arrived at the Contact and Education Centre of the Queensferry Crossing.
This facility provided the students with information about the ongoing construction of the bridge and also provided magnificent panoramic views of all three bridges: the Forth Rail Bridge, world heritage site in itself; the busy Forth Road Bridge and the new crossing.
The information and presentations about the application of technology in these vast and complex structures really captured the attention of the visiting students.
Kyle Colquhoun commented that he: “Learned multiple bridge related facts.” But, more importantly, he added: “I got to see the real-life applications of engineering technology, which is useful as I want a career related to technology.” Dogs Trust On Tuesday, October 11, St Aidan’s High School received a visit from the Dogs Trust Educational Workshop.
The event was held in the school library and featured Dogs Trust Scottish Youth Trainer for Glasgow, Alison MacLachlan and five and a half year old collie cross-breed, Alfie.
Star of the show, Alfie, is a specially trained educational dog, which means it is safe to bring him into school without the fear of any faux-paws.
He was used to teach young people about how to look after dogs and to encourage students to be responsible dog owners.
The visit focused on showing the students how to meet a dog’s needs and how to be safe around our canine friends.
The workshop featured Alfie prominently as the students learned how to care for a dog while playing with him.
Fourth year student Tony Rooney thoroughly enjoyed the visit and really liked meeting with Alfie the collie.
He said: “It was enjoyable because you get to interact with the dog rather than just looking at a PowerPoint”.
This hands- on approach was certainly met with rounds of appaws from the students.
Caitlin Shear of first year added: “I liked giving the dog a treat and clapping it. It was great to see Alfie do all his tricks!
“He would roll over, spin around, stay and give you a paw.
“He is a friendly and intelligent dog and likes being around kids.” This entertaining and educational event was organised jointly by Tracy Keating, Principal Teacher of Learning Support and Andrea Hyslop the Home School Partnership Officer who gathered the students together.
School Librarian, Marie McGough called in the Dog’s Trust and provided a great venue for the event and then left it up to Alfie the collie to round everyone up for a great experience on the day. Interfaith Conference On October 6, St Aidan’s High School were in attendance at the interfaith conference at Strathclyde Park in Motherwell.
The event was held at the Alona hotel and was hosted by a number of representatives from various religious communities.
The purpose of the conference was to give students, who came from all over Scotland, a chance to learn and to understand about a variety of religious practices.
This event was held in preparation of Interfaith week which takes place from November 13-20 and serves the purpose of uniting different ethnic and religious communities for at least one week per year.
The event has received a lot of praise from students of St Aidan’s High School.
Fourth year student Jamie Cruickshank said that they felt closer to religion. He added: “It drew my attention to the similarity of different religious communities and helped me to understand them”.
When asked about what she thought was her favourite part of the conference Alex Waugh said: “Hearing a lot of the different opinions on ethnic communities and their religious practices”.
The group which visited the conference really felt that they had served a purpose to their community and related to the people at the conference by communicating and getting involved in different