HOUSE PUPIL SUPPORT ADDRESS

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1 SkyeLines An cèitean 2017 may 2017 Ard-sgoil Phort Righ Portree High School Viewfield Road Portree Isle of Skye (01478) Absences: Earbam Let Me Trust This is the last week of the SQA exams and the new timetable begins on the 5 th of June We will move to the new timetable (published on page 13) finishing at 1.15pm on Fridays. It is hoped that this will allow us to offer more subjects in the Senior Phase via the Virtual School to other Highland schools who will offer the same subjects at the same time as ours. More information will follow. In this age of falling roles it is important that we keep our options open and take advantage of digital technology. It is hoped that by the end of 2017 all of our pupils will have Chromebooks. This issue offers highlights of shinty, swimming, athletics as well as a Poetry Workshop, Gourmet Challenge, Maths Challenge and our Outward Bound adventures. We truly are a busy community. Miss C MacDonald, Headteacher HOUSE PUPIL SUPPORT ADDRESS Blaven: Mrs C Waddell cathy.waddell@highland.gcsx.gov.uk Glamaig: Mrs S Cormack shona.cormack@highland.gov.uk Marsco: Mr N Burrows neil.burrows@highland.gcsx.gov.uk Tianavaig: Mrs D MacLeod dawn.macleod@highland.gcsx.gov.uk Inside this issue: Sports Junior Maths Challenge Gourmet Challenge S3 Geography Fieldtrip Poetry Workshop Outward Bound New Timetable SQA Exams Finish: 2 nd June 2017 New Timetable: 5 th June 2017 Duke of Edinburgh Silver Practice Expedition: 8 th and 9 th June 2017 Parent Council Meeting: 12 th June 2017 Highland Games: 12 th June 2017 Senior Athletics: 13 th June 2017 Rowing Festival: 13 th June 2017 S1-S3 Prize Giving: 14 th June 2017 S4-S6 Prize Giving: 15 th June 2017 STEM Busking Day: 16 th June 2017 S2 and S3 Success Assemblies: 19 th June 2017 S4-S6 Success Assemblies 21 st June 2017 P7 Induction Days: 21 st - 23 rd June 2017 Duke of Edinburgh Qualifying Expedition: 22 nd - 24 th June 2017 New S4-S6 Football Trip departs: 23 rd June 2017 New S2 Meanbh Fhèis Àrd-Sgoil Phort Righ: 27 th June 2017 New S4-S6 Football Trip returns: 30 th June 2017 Last Day of Term: 30 th June 2017

The weather was perfect for the shinty competition with the girls playing on the astro pitch and the boys on

2 Somhairle MacLean Quaich Competition The annual Somhairle MacLean Quaich Competition was hosted by Plockton High School. The weather was perfect for the shinty competition with the girls playing on the astro pitch and the boys on the grass pitches. The girls won confidently against a less experienced side. The boys worked hard to win with a final score of 4-1. Players of the match were John Gillies 6M and Christina MacDonald 4G1. 2

MacBean Cup S1/2 Shinty Tournament This is a nine-a-side competition which took place on Wednesday 3 rd of May at An Aird in Fort William. Schools from throughout the Highlands participated.

3 MacBean Cup S1/2 Shinty Tournament This is a nine-a-side competition which took place on Wednesday 3 rd of May at An Aird in Fort William. Schools from throughout the Highlands participated. The standard was high and Portree High School was well represented by: Kerry Henderson, Liam MacQueen, Lachlan MacPherson, Taylor Matheson, Archie MacAskill, Calum Nicolson, Jamie MacKay, Cameron MacKay and Holly MacLean. They played with grit, determination and skill to reach the semi-final stage where they were eventually defeated 3 2 by tournament winners Kingussie. It was a very good effort by all involved. Robertson Cup Well done to the Portree team that won their group in this competition. They progressed to the semi-final beating Kingussie 1-0. Unfortunately they were beaten 2-0 in the final by Glenurquhart. 3

Evan Beaton won a silver medal for his 100m run. The other athletes were able to experience competing on a 400m track.

4 A small group of nine pupils attended this event at Queens Park, Inverness. This year pupils took part in both track and field events. Ester Strachan won a gold medal for 60m walk with Fiona MacDonald picking up the silver medal in this event. Evan Beaton won a silver medal for his 100m run. The other athletes were able to experience competing on a 400m track. They worked hard to achieve their best performances. Pictured from left to right:- Back: Garion McCrimmon, Ali Lamont, Michael Jones and Dean MacInnes. Front: Owen MacDonald, Ester Strachan and Fiona MacDonald. 4

Athletics Championships S1 Athletics Girls Winner: Niamh Coughlin Runner Up:

Girls Winner: Holly MacLean Runner Up: Ceitidh Smith 3 rd: Mia MacGillivray

Athletics Girls Winner: Abby MacLean Runner Up: Isla Macleod 3 rd : Ella

5 Athletics Championships S1 Athletics Girls Winner: Niamh Coughlin Runner Up: Jennifer MacDonald Boys Winner: Ryan Grundy Runner Up: Sam Grundy S2 Athletics Girls Winner: Holly MacLean Runner Up: Ceitidh Smith 3 rd: Mia MacGillivray Boys Winner: Calumn MacKay Runner Up: Joe Jones 3 rd : Eachann MacRae S3 Athletics Girls Winner: Abby MacLean Runner Up: Isla Macleod 3 rd : Ella MacFarlane Boys Winner: Callum Musgrave Runner Up: Cameron Campbell 3 rd : Matthew Culbertson 5

6 UKMT Junior Maths Challenge Well done to all pupils who participated in the recent UKMT Junior Maths Challenge. Congratulations in particular go to the following pupils who performed particularly well: Archie Maclean 2T - Best in School, Best in Year S2 and Gold Award. As well as achieving a Gold Award, Archie also goes forward to the next stage of the Maths Challenge Junior Kangaroo. This will take place on Tuesday 13 th June. This is a fantastic achievementwell done Archie! Silver Awards go to Iona Towers 2M, Ruairi Lates 2G and Isabelle MacLeod 2B. Bronze Awards go to Gemma Taylor 2G, Erin Badmaeva 2T and Abbie Clark 2M. From S1, Seumas Campbell 1G was the best in the year getting a Bronze Award. Also receiving Bronze Awards are Jack Evans 1T and Matilda McKiggan 1G. WELL DONE TO ALL! Gourmet Challenge The elimination rounds of the S2 Gourmet Challenge took place last week in the Home Economic Department. There were 5 groups taking part with the best out of each class going through to the final. Watch out for the winners in next month s Skyelines! Below is pictured one class s dishes. 6

All S3 Geography pupils enjoyed a morning in Portree to complete fieldwork to investigate What evidence is there that Portree is a tourist destination?

7 All S3 Geography pupils enjoyed a morning in Portree to complete fieldwork to investigate What evidence is there that Portree is a tourist destination? They enthusiastically interviewed people on the streets to collect information first hand, surveyed vehicles parked in the car parks and looked at the different land uses in Portree, which they recorded on maps. In class they will use this information to write up their own fieldwork projects and, in the process, develop skills that they will need to complete coursework in S4. The weather was kind and some pupils took the opportunity to disguise themselves as tourists by buying ice creams! All in the name of hard geographical research, of course. 7

8 (Thanks to Mrs. Lamont s S2 English class for the contents of this article and their comments.) On Friday 26 th May we were delighted to welcome MiKo Berry back to Portree High School (along with his adorable dog, Kira, who stole the show and reduced several of our S3 boys to gibbering, gushy wrecks). MiKo is a performance poet, who became the Scottish Slam Champion in 2014, and then came 4 th in the World Slam Championships. He also won the European Slam Finals in MiKo spoke to all of our S1 and S2 pupils in assemblies held in the school s gym hall. During these assemblies he spoke to pupils about his own experiences in school where he was bullied and suffered from mental illnesses (Depression, Social Anxiety, ADHD and Body Dysmorphia). MiKo didn t know that he had all of these conditions until adulthood, and so for years he struggled to understand why he felt what he felt. A lot of his poems are based on the experiences he had when he was younger, and he performed two of these called Tongue Tied and Body Image (check them out on YouTube). MiKo also spoke about how he first discovered performance poetry through seeing a video of the rapper Mos Def hosting a Def Jam Poetry event. He then discovered the Canadian spoken word poet Shane Koyczan (who left him wondering what had happened to his face as he was crying and laughing simultaneously whilst watching one of his performances!). 8

9 The assemblies were really interactive, as MiKo regularly invited questions from the pupils in the audience. Following the assemblies, MiKo then spent time working with smaller groups of pupils and doing some activities with them which convinced them that they do have imaginations and original ideas lurking within, and hopefully convinced them that EVERYONE can write! As MiKo explained: If you don t like poetry, then you have not found the right poetry. It s like listening to a song and not liking it that doesn t mean you don t like music! Here are comments from some of the pupils who spent time with him: MiKo brings awareness that poetry isn t just Ye Olde Time written drivel! He showed us that poetry can help when you need to get your feelings out, because that is what he did. He told us what poems really are and they aren t all boring. I wish I could say thank you to MiKo cause I like poetry now. I suddenly like poetry! I have taken interest in his, and a few more people s, work as well. My favourite works from him are Body Image, Piggy Bank, 150 and Tongue Tied. 150 was my favourite poem because it was timed perfectly. You can follow MiKo Berry on social media look on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. 9

Outward Bound Trip In May, S2 and S3 pupils spent a week at the Loch Eil Outward Bound Centre.

Below, Joe Jones (S2) describes his experience At nine o clock on the first of May, the bus left Portree High School for the Outward Bound Centre.

We were shown our rooms before going out to our clan rooms, where we were told in more detail what we were going to be doing over the week.

10 Outward Bound Trip In May, S2 and S3 pupils spent a week at the Loch Eil Outward Bound Centre. As well as building on their leadership and teamwork skills, they had the opportunity to go kayaking, camping, on a speedboat, ziplining, gorge-walking and much much more! Below, Joe Jones (S2) describes his experience At nine o clock on the first of May, the bus left Portree High School for the Outward Bound Centre. We arrived just before twelve and eat our packed lunch and waited until one for us to get split into two clans, the Campbell clan and the Mackay clan. We were shown our rooms before going out to our clan rooms, where we were told in more detail what we were going to be doing over the week. We started with Jog and Dip; it is pretty much what it sounds like: we jogged down to the loch and jumped in. As we jogged down we stopped at a wooden beam; it was thin and we were on it in a random order. Our instructor then told us to arrange ourselves height order (without coming off). That was very difficult, because many people were at the completely wrong side, but we came up with some ideas on how to get past each other and in the end it worked. Then we were told to rearrange into shoe size order without jumping off or talking. This made it even more difficult, and we had to use hand signals to get us into order. Then we jogged down to the loch and jumped in. It was cold but it was very nice when you were in, and everyone, teachers and pupils from both clans, went in. After dinner we set out to do two more activities, the first one was the spider s web. There were ropes tied together and held up by a tree with gaps in-between. We had to get our entire clan through to the other side without using a hole that someone else had already used, or touching a rope. For much of the start we didn t think or coordinate about how we were going to do it until we decided that we had to lift the lighter people through the smaller and higher holes. In a process we called Plan, Do, Review, we adapted our plan to get all of us through. The second activity was the zip line, which is about roughly one hundred fifty meters long. We all did it and got up to some very high speeds; it was seen as one of the best things that we did the whole week. On Tuesday morning we had breakfast and set out to do some rock climbing. We drove for twenty minutes or so and 10

arrived at a mountain that had lots of steep rocky peaks. We got our harnesses on and when we are at the first peak we were taught how to attach our harness to a rope that lead up the peak.

After that we went back down via a flatter route, then we got into the van and drove back to the Outward Bound Centre.

11 arrived at a mountain that had lots of steep rocky peaks. We got our harnesses on and when we are at the first peak we were taught how to attach our harness to a rope that lead up the peak. It only took us about fifty seconds for us to get to the top of the first peak, and from there we went up five more. After that we went back down via a flatter route, then we got into the van and drove back to the Outward Bound Centre. When there we had lunch and then walked down to the coast where we put on wet suits, specially designed shoes and a buoyancy aid. The wet suit was really tight and that made it hot - really hot! We drove to a river not far from the centre and then got in, we started walking up it and it was really fun. We had to climb some waterfalls, help each other, and get the whole team to the end. At the finish it was deep enough to jump off the waterfall into the water, which was definitely the best part. On Tuesday night we packed for the expedition that we would begin on Wednesday afternoon. We took tents, sleeping bags, food, stoves, pans, torches, whistles and some other equipment. It wasn t very fun, but we needed to do it to go on the expedition. When we woke up we had breakfast as usual, took our expedition bags, and then we were going to go sea kayaking and then go straight off on our expedition. But after about ten minutes of driving our instructor was worried that if we stopped the mini bus would not start again! We had to go back to the centre to get a different bus. We had to wait for about two hours for another one to come, and then we drove down to a different part of the loch. From there we paddle off to a small set of islands; we all got wet as we got onto one of them (some more than others). We had a packed lunch on that island before paddling back to the mainland. We then got ourselves ready for the expedition. Once we were ready it was about five o clock and we set out to walk about five miles. Just as we started a dog ran out to see us - it was really cool and we all really loved it. We must be really nice people because it followed us for a long while and we just thought it would soon go back to its croft. Getting back on track five miles may not sound like a lot but it wasn t at all flat and the bags were really heavy, but the camp that we arrived at was beautiful. It was in a valley right next to a loch with a river running along the area we were in. We soon set up our tents which didn t take very long and then we got water from the river and began to cook some 11

12 food in stoves that we had taken with us. The food was surprisingly (they really aren t paying me to say this) really good. We got some wood that had fallen off a tree and used it as fire wood to, well, light a fire! The fire was really cool (well not cold, but nice), and we sat around it just talking, and by that time it was really cold because the sun had just set behind the mountains. After that we went to sleep, and the dog was still with us but we were hoping that it would go back to its home over night! The next day we woke up, had breakfast and very quickly left. The first part was on relatively flat ground before we hit a huge hill, ouch! There was a lot more walking that took up most of the day, but once we got to the top of the hill, it truly was all downhill from there. We had lunch at the top before making our way down and driving back to the Centre. After a good night s sleep we drove back to the High School. It was a great trip and I would recommend it to all! Joe Jones 2T 12

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