School News
Sporting Success
The start of the session has seen two girls achieve success in the Scottish Athletics Championships Under 15 category.
S3 pupil, Tehillah Okonkwo, has won gold in the 100m , and S2 pupil Aleshia O’Connor has won bronze in long jump.
Tehillah competed against people a year older than her in this race.
She said “It was exciting to see what I could do to push myself more.”
Aleshia added that she would love to progress to the Olympics in her event.
We wish them both well in their sporting careers.
Lunch time sports clubs
St Aidan’s lunchtime sports clubs are being led by the new S6 sports leaders, offering basketball, netball, badminton and indoor football.
S6 sports leader Orla Conlon runs one of these lunch time clubs; she thinks it will help her gain confidence and have experience leading a group as she wants to work in the sports field later in life.
She said: “A sports leader is someone who can take charge in a sporting environment and is able to be a good role model to others in a club or a class.”
With restrictions gradually easing, the younger pupils have many new opportunities and exciting activities to look forward to this year. S2 pupil Erin McLaughlin was excited to talk about the basketball club.
Erin said what she liked about the clubs: “I like it because you get to do sports or things, you’re not able to do in primary and you get to see people you’re not in classes with. You get to socialise with them, and you get to learn the sport better.”
Future Friday’s at St Aidan’s High
Natalie Dunn, a Modern Languages teacher, has recently been appointed to the role of Principal Teacher of Friday Enrichment.
High schools across North Lanarkshire have transitioned into a half day system on a Friday to allow an afternoon of social interaction, sport involvement, creativity and skills development. As a result, St Aidan’s have implemented a new strategy called ‘Future Fridays’, which Miss Dunn will develop. Her role is to plan and promote the activities through consultation with pupils.
She said: “Future Fridays has recently been created and introduced in schools in order to offer pupils a chance to develop their skills in a variety of different tasks or different sports.”
Mrs Keeney farewell
St Aidan’s staff and pupils recently said a sad farewell to Mrs Kathleen Keeney, who has left St Aidan’s to join St Ambrose High School in Coatbridge as a Depute Headteacher.
Mrs Keeney came to St Aidan’s seven years ago as a member of the Pupil Support team and Spanish teacher. She progressed on to a variety of roles in Senior Leadership, and over recent years has had responsibility for S1 and the Pupil Equity Fund.
Reading Ambassadors
Miss McDowall of the English Department and a group of S2 pupils recently presented to a Scotland-wide audience at the Scottish Learning Fair.
They were speaking about the Reading Ambassadors intervention along with Dr Navan Govender of Strathclyde University, David McCrory of Education Scotland and Angela
Noble from East Ayrshire. The online presentation was very well received, with many commenting on the confidence of the pupils in speaking to such a wide audience.
The Reading Ambassadors initiative encourages pupil to stay engaged with reading through small groups where they have autonomy over choosing their books and discussing them, making connections to other types of texts. Ms McDowall said
“The pupils who took part in the presentation were brilliant. They stole the show.”
The initiative has taken place both in person and online, allowing student teachers to work remotely with pupils.
Working with Education Scotland, Miss McDowall plans to partner up with other schools and involve a wider range of pupils.
St Aidan’s Feast Day
The school was delighted to welcome Bishop Toal and Fr Kieran Hamilton to celebrate mass in honour of St Aidan’s Feast Day.
A small group of S1 and S6 pupils joined the Mass in the oratory, with other pupils watching in their classes via Teams.
Mrs Elizabeth Fagan returned to St
Aidan’s to be presented with the Diocesan Medal for her services to Catholic Education. Mrs Fagan retired from her post as Depute Headteacher in June, and the Mass was a perfect opportunity to recognise her contribution to the school.
Mrs Connelly said “It was wonderful to see the bishop back in the school to celebrate our feast day. I can’t wait for restrictions to be gone, so that we can celebrate properly.”