\Balfron High
London Trip Last week we travelled to London with 20 fellow pupils on a Business, Design and Technology trip. One of the many highlights of our trip was visiting Wimbledon. We had a business talk about the branding and funding behind Wimbledon, as well as a tour of the ground to see sights including the BBC studio, interview press room and Centre Court. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed this. As well as Wimbledon, we visited the Warner Bros Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter which was a magical experience, especially as it was decorated for Christmas. We were given the opportunity to take part in a workshop based on the graphic design in the films and see some of the actual props used in the movies! The Shard was another stop on our itinerary. We had to take two elevators to get to the 72nd floor and the sights of London from the top were amazing. Another informative part of the trip was our visit to the Museum of Branding, Advertising and Packaging. This educated us on the transformation of packing throughout history and reminding us of products from our childhood. We also visited the London Eye Christmas Markets, The Victoria and Albert Museum and The London Dungeons, all of which were interesting. On the final evening of our trip, we saw the West End show Aladdin. This was a great show and everyone thoroughly enjoyed all the costumes, singing and acting! The return journey was eventful, to say the least, due to flooding on the tracks, but we would like to say thank you to Miss Vickers, Mr Scott and Miss Quinn for making it such a memorable trip. By Jennifer MacDonald, Iona Patrick and Oxana McGuigan Cooking Competition Sam Wheeler and Lucy Henderson represented Balfron High School in the Forth Valley heat of the Future Chef competition. It was a fantastic opportunity competing in FVC kitchen with all competitors doing very well. Both Sam and Lucy did well and Sam received a highly commended award. his $12 million Stradivarius cello to a target audience of orchestral players and NQ music pupils. He answered questions from pupils and everyone who went along to listen to him play were enthralled by his music. Clay heads In S2 Art and Design the Clay Head Unit is under way and pupils are starting to see their little characters emerge and they are looking great! “Novel” Advent Calendar Donations As part of the continued effort to engage young people with reading the a whole school Advent Calendar using novels has been created. Each day of Advent a pupil’s name will be picked out of a hat and that pupil will receive the gift of a novel. In the bid to promote reading as a shared enjoyment the school would like the novels to be for the pupils of McLaren from the McLaren community. Staff, parents, carers, former pupils are invited to donate a second-hand or newly-purchased copy of old favourites to this project. If you would like to donate a novel to the MHS advent calendar hand it into the school ei- ther at the main office or via an English teacher. Include an inscription of a Christmas 2017 message and details of who it’s from on the inside cover. The school is looking for a range of donations suitable for teenagers from contemporary novels to the classics to graphic novels and audio books. Careers Fair The school is holding a Careers Fair on January 18 from 2-6pm in the school. This event will run in conjunction with the S3 Parents Evening and Option Choices, and will allow both pupils and parents the opportunity to speak to external agencies in order to inform their positive destination decisions. The school is looking for a variety of careers to be represented - from medical professionals to journalists, farmers, pilots and everything in between. Would you be free that afternoon to attend? Or do you know anyone who might be able to help? A light dinner will be provided for anyone who has an information table on the day. Please contact Mrs Dunn at the school by email in the first instance to register your interest at dunns04s@glow.sch.uk.