Hutchesonian 2021 - Hutchesons' Grammar School

HUTCHESONIANTHE

2021

Mrs Ross

From the warmth and kindness of Mrs McDonald in Primary 1 toMiss Lovell’s creation of an artistic utopia in the S6 art room,throughout my 13 years at this school there are many teachers

who have had a definitive impact on my personality, passion forlearning and values. I predict that their impact will become moredefinitive as the years pass.

Teachers have always been key workers. However, this year hasbeen particularly challenging so I thought it would be nice tocelebrate some former teachers and offer nostalgia in this strangeedition.

Mr Douglas Kinnaird put it nicely “The teachers responded, reactedand reassessed their teaching to ensure the current pupils get thebest they can. They will be remembered for it and thanked in manyyears to come.”

So, to any teacher reading: thank you.

And thank you to everyone who sent in messages and anecdotes,they have made for lovely reading and reinstated how valuable ourteachers really are. I couldn’t include them all here, so for furtherreading and sharing of stories you can find them on the HutchieBugs Facebook group.Molly Wilson, S6

“Happiness is Mathematics. Mrs Fotheringham was one of myfavourite teachers. She adapted Ken Dodd’s famous rendition of‘Happiness’ adding the word Mathematics to the song which shesang with gusto but entirely out of tune. She swooped up anddown between the rows of desks in her black gown singing that,while we battled with x and y, sin, cos and tan. She was deeplyempathetic, warm and was a fabulous conveyer of mathematicalconcepts. I loved her.”

Ruth MacSween C83

The teacher who had the biggest influence on me was Miss LouiseGraham (p5 and p6). She gave me self-belief, nurturing me from areserved little girl to one confident enough to play Dorothy in TheWizard of Oz (despite the fact I needed a voice double – thanksMarco Riato!)

Alison Sheils C90

Miss Ivy Scott and Miss Marian Baillie are my favouritememories… strong and inspiring women who were passionateabout the arts and so very much ahead of their time.

Elizabeth Alexander C66

When 5th year came to an end Miss Bailie gathered her mostenthusiastic pupils around her and swept us off to Stratford uponAvon to experience Shakespeare on stage at the Festival Theatre.1955 was one of the sunniest summers on record and thiscoincided with a fashion of circular skirts and frou-frou petticoats. Adifferent dress for each performance was a necessity! It was alsothe year in which Keith Michell was playing the juvenile leads in theShakespeare season. Miss Bailie’s strategy for the trip was to besure that we were all kept fully occupied – no time for hangingabout at the stage door! There were lectures in the morning andcultural visits in the afternoons before we took our seats in thetheatre in the evenings. It was a wonderful week.

Marion Baillie went to Jordanhill as Assistant Principal and Dean ofWomen. I came to know her as a colleague admiring her ready witand administrative ability, but also thinking that the new generationof Hutchie girls were missing out on one of the most brilliantteachers of English in her generation.

Sallie Coverly Moodie now Harkness C56

TJ Wilson let me go on a History group trip to St Andrews 1980.Didn’t do history. Just turned 18. His advice was: if you are 18,don’t be in the pubs the teachers are in; if you are under 18, don’tget caught.Stuart Cunningham C80

The Pedagogical Legacy, or Hutchie Memories

John McKie

James Whyte

Danielle Candice

Gordon

Sallie Harkness

Editors

Stewart Alexander andFreddy Russell

Sub-Editors

Erin CairnsShona McCallumSaad MahmoodAilsa MarshallAaliyah SandhuRhys WilliamsMolly-Jean WilsonEve Workman

Cover photography

Ailsa Marshall

Photography

From around the schoolThe School PhotographyCompanyTodd Weller Films

Thanks to

Mrs RitchieMrs BelchDr Simpson

TheHutchesonian2021 Team

EDITORIAL

FROM THE RECTORHEAD BOY AND GIRL REPORT

HOUSE

KINGARTH STREET

SPORT PRIZE LIST

CHARITY

STAFF NOTES

MUSIC

WRITING

DRAMA

S6

GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

ART

OUR COVID YEAR

AROUND THESCHOOL

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Hutchesonain 2021 1.5.qxp_Hutchesonian 2021 31/08/2021 14:34 Page 1

We don’t need thememories. As the globalcatastrophe looks to be

easing, I feel comfortable in thisassertion. We don’t need thememories. We finally have a chanceto move on from some of thedarkest times in our lives. We havethe ability to look forward now, aswell as back. In the last year, I’vefelt like just getting through eachday was its own challenge; nevermind looking ahead to tomorrow.But now, I am beginning to feel therelief of not wondering if my spirit isgoing to survive the day.

Perhaps even more importantly, wehave been returned the luxury ofthe present. Previously I felt asthough there was no real time atsome points, because every daywas the same. Crawl out of bed,open my laptop and attempt tolearn anything that I could aboutCormac McCarthy’s The Road.Slowly but surely we are meetingfriends, catching up and moving on.

The door of the world is being everso slightly nudged open day by dayas it lets in the light of this moment.

This is not to say that the past yearwasn’t valuable, far from it. What Imean by not needing memories isthat we cannot become fixated onthe past year. It would crush oursouls to constantly be reflecting onan overall dismal and grey period inour lives constantly. I do think thatthe lessons we have learned areessential to moving forward; butthese feel engraved into my skin.These are life experiences sodefining that I couldn’t forget themeven if I tried. I don’t think these arememories, they are new pieces ofour identity, of who we are.

The panic, sadness and loss over thepast year has influenced us. But itcannot define us. The future definesus. The present defines us. We don’tneed the memories.

What a year this has been.When we were sent intolockdown at the end of last

session, no-one could haveanticipated the challenges we wouldface in the year to come. The fearsurrounding this new virus, concernfor the wellbeing of our friends andfamily and an overwhelminguncertainty for the future. The roadahead was daunting, with none of ushaving been in circumstances likethese before.

In spite of these adversities, theHutchesons’ community has shownimmense resilience. We rose to thechallenge by adapting to onlinelearning through Microsoft Teams andFirefly. We made video calls to ourfriends and relatives to stayconnected and keep each othercompany despite the distancebetween us all. Our collectivecompassion shone through, bringinglight to the darkest of days for many.

Even when we returned to in-personlearning, many restrictions limitedwhat we have been able to do acrossthe school. However, theHutchesons’ family came together inthe face of great trials and personal

tragedy. We made the most of a badhand and over time, life returned tosome form of normality. In thewords of Amanda Gorman fromPresident Biden’s inauguration,“while once we asked ‘how couldwe possibly prevail overcatastrophe?’ now we assert, ‘howcould catastrophe possibly prevailover us?’”

In these dark times, I found myfriends were the greatest source ofjoy in my life. With every joke andlaugh and smile, the world seemedthat little bit brighter and I willalways be grateful for the times wehave shared. Having lived throughthe year of lockdown and isolation,we may all be kinder to thosearound us in the future and bringlight to their days. While my time atHutchie has come to an end in ayear I could never have anticipated, Ihave thoroughly enjoyed my time inschool and will remember it fondly.With the lessons we have learntabout ourselves from these tryingtimes, I look forward to better,brighter days for us all.

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Bringing light to the dark.

The image conjured up, often religious, is of onesolitary candle burning bravely, casting forth a sphereof warm-hued light into the darkness beyond. Often

there is a hand, maybe holding the candlestick, or a face,to make clearer the impact of the light on a person, on theperson.

The unit of the brightness of light is the “candela”.Appropriately for science, in its quest for replicability, theunit is originally based on a ‘standard’ wax candle, madeoriginally of sperm whale wax. (candela (cd) – NPL). Thelumen, with which you may be more familiar, measuresthe total light in all directions from a source, the spherethat I describe above.

Things get more interesting still. The candela is the onlypsychophysical SI unit (International System of units).One candela requires a brain and an eye to perceive it.The hand and the face beside the candle.

Similarly, for darkness? Darkness is surely only thecomplete absence of light, a zero on the light meter.Witness the excitement around the new paint Vantablack,the blackest black, that reflects so little light that objectsappear two-dimensional. Does darkness too require ahuman brain and an eye to perceive it?

Looking back at my last Hutchesonian article, I found itfocussed on the impact of the coronavirus and waswritten from home during the first lockdown. Who wouldhave imagined that one year later, we would havereturned to school, having been locked down a secondtime, and only just seeing Glasgow emerge from Level 3status. What a year!

And what of the hand and the face in the darkness?

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Mrs Devenney, our school archivist, tells us that the 1918influenza pandemic is covered by only three paragraphsthat she has found. I hope that future generations have towait a similarly long time until they are scouring thearchives to see what happened in the 2020-21 COVID-19pandemic. I also hope that by that time Funding Neurohas been successful, has brought light to the darknessand discovered a cure for DIPG tumours. Maybe one ofyou will be involved in that quest?

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We have been so proud of how the whole schoolcommunity has responded to the unique challenges thatthis year has brought. We know that our people havefound being locked down twice hard. We know too thatschool provided a constant throughout. It could not bephysically open for all, except those children of keyworkers and those whose essential work in school couldnot be done from home. But it had to adapt once more toprovide the highest quality education that it could, and todo it alongside providing more contact for its pupils andstaff. This is the right opportunity again to thank yourteachers, who have worked so hard to try and make yourlearning as fun, and successful, as possible. For those insenior years, you will remember another summer withoutexternal SQA exams and with the peculiar pressures thatthis brought you. The Hutchie Happy survey showed usthat the resilience shown in the first lockdown wasmirrored in the second, that while we did not exactlyenjoy working from home, we were able to cope, to findthe positives and to make the most of them. Perhaps,though, not in the face-coverings; we have all had enoughof masks.

Wherever possible we have tried to keep school eventsgoing – whether a fine Founders’ Day speech from MrPaul Clark (class of ’76), the online Canadian FP reunion,the HGSPA Annual Quiz with Wine Tasting or ourPrizegiving. We have not been able to replicatecompetitive sport and have really loved to see thissummer term bringing back cricket, tennis and athletics.

The year has brought tragedy too. The tragic death of ourSixth Former Daniel Caplan from his rare and currentlyincurable DIPG brain tumour had a massive impact on somany of us. However, bringing light to the darkness wasthe remarkable music concert, “Doing it for Daniel”, withcameo appearances from Sir Mick Jagger, Sting, EmilieSande, Gregor Townsend and Stuart Hogg to introduceour own talented youngsters and teachers as they playedand sang. What was less clear to many from theperformance itself was that the professional videorecordings, done by students at the University of theWest of Scotland, had to have our performers miming toearlier audio recordings of themselves. Why would we goto these lengths; why not just record live? COVID-19, ofcourse; another of the myriad implications andrestrictions.

From the Rector

We know that our peoplehave found being lockeddown twice hard. We knowtoo that school provided aconstant throughout.

Murray Fleming 3G


Our reign as senior prefects hasbeen unlike any other. A hugethanks must go to our

predecessors, who left a pandemic intheir wake for us to handle.

It would be remiss not to recognizethe toll this year has taken on theschool. In particular, Daniel Caplan’sdeath is a huge loss to our year groupand the school community.

And then there were those hollowedlockdown weeks. The hallways,usually bustling with life, began toquiet, left abandoned and eerily still.The echoes of a single voice in aclassroom, being filtered throughonline Teams lessons.

And those weeks of respite when theschool was open, marred by masksand one-way systems. The kind,welcoming nature of Hutchesonianscloistered by string and cloth, andalways at two metres apart. Forsenior prefects, it was a year ofunchartered territory, often deepwithin the virtual jungle. Assemblieslive-streamed, in front of sparseaudiences, and finding ourselvesmuted halfway through, drawing uplunch rotas for outdoor lunchesaround quarantine.

Despite this, however, there are twokey similarities between our time asSenior Prefects and all others, pastand future.

The first is the inspiring humanity atHutchie. The light which comes fromevery darkness. From Daniel’spassing arose the incredible efforts ofhis community, in the form of‘Funding Neuro’. From the oft-ignored struggles of BAME studentscame the earnest commitment of theSLT to make the school a moreequitable place for all.

Even in those hollowed months oflockdown, glimpses of the Hutchieethic shone through. Our keyworkers, the cleaners, the bus

drivers, the matron, the counsellor,janitors and catering staff, the ITteam, all with their increasedworkload; the school has alwaysthrived on their contributions, and willprize them now, and forevermore.

The second similarity was theoverwhelming gratitude for our schoolwhich has served each of us foryears. It may be that we lose contactwith many of the prefects, whoseengagement, resilience andfriendships were indispensable to usthroughout this trying year. It may bethat we lose our connection to thoseconscientious teachers, who workedtirelessly to make remote learningengaging and effective. So, we mustthank them now, immortalized onthese pages.

We must thank Mr Martin, who,besides guiding us into our plans (orlack thereof) and leading weeklyprefect meetings, gave us the supportwe needed to fulfil our senior prefectduties.

We must thank our Depute Head Boy,Stewart Alexander, for hisorganisational skills and speed walk,which kept us on track. We mustthank Karina Mann, our Depute Headgirl, for her ability to make those earlymeetings as fun as they were, evenalongside those 728 other sports andprojects she was balancing.

All S6s, past, present and future, willunderstand the strange, bittersweetmelancholy of these last weeks atHutchie. For us S6s, this is the end ofan era.

But besides a year group ofcompassionate students, Hutchie isalso losing Ms Valdelievre. As shebegins work at Education Scotland,Hutchie loses with her the influenceshe had on pupils and teachers alike.We’d like to thank her in particular, forher legacy in the name of equitywithin the school.

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For senior prefects, this is the end ofour quest to cure the world (given thevaccine rollout it seems like we’vedone alright). But as we know, a workof art is never finished, onlyabandoned. A final message then, toour successors, to whom we leave ablank canvas. To the next year, andindeed all years, all students andteachers who will paint over our timehere, we have to say this:

Deep in the featureless stretches ofuni applications and Firefly tasks, inamidst the labour of hauling yourbody from class to class, week toweekend, prelim to exam, there isthat bit more. Deep in the throes ofexhaustion and work, there are theplucky drumbeats of Hutchiecommunity. The Funding Neuros, theAnti-racist Clubs. the Stewarts, the

Karinas, the Tomitakas, Lovells,Simpsons and Reeces, theHutchesonian’s Hutchesonians. It isthrough them, and always throughthem, we reach that triple aspirationof the school; it is through them webelong, flourish and achieve.

Moayad Karar & Molly-Jean Wilson, S6

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From the Head Boy and Girl

Afifa Khan Annvita Gupta


Leavers

Hayley joined Kingarth Street in2018 as a temporary teacher inPrimary Three and quicklyimmersed herself in the daily lifeand ethos of our busy primaryschool. Her friendly and caringnature endeared her to colleagues,pupils and parents as she led herP3 class enthusiasticallythroughout the year. She was thendelighted to be offered a furtheryear’s contract, moving up to join the P5 year group. An

excellent team worker with a patient manner and greatsense of humour, Hayley soon built up a good rapportwith the children in her care and then as the reality of thefirst lockdown unfolded, she went on to embrace onlinelearning and guided the children and parents through thisdifficult period.

Hayley has a wealth of educational experience, stretchingfrom Glasgow to London, and beyond to America, andthis, combined with her love of travelling, will ensure thatHayley will go on to enjoy the opportunities, successesand adventures that await her.

DD & MM

Hayley Cohen, Kingarth Street

Julie Biguzzi (née Fahy) joined theBeaton Road staff in August 2003as a full-time teacher of Spanishand French. Hugely enthusiasticabout these languages and thecultures of the countries in whichthey are spoken, she enjoyed thedaily opportunity to converse withour language assistants in theirnative tongue. She organised anumber of trips to the GlasgowFilm Theatre to give our pupils an introduction toEuropean cinema and to Malaga Tapas to give them ataste of Spanish food. A talented artist, Julie regularlyused her drawing skills in the classroom to bring

language to life in an attractive and memorable way. Juliewas always keen to become involved in the wider schoolcommunity, overseeing Games lessons and attendingour Model UN group in recent years. She also co-ordinated the S6 yearbook and mentored a YoungEnterprise company. As well as teaching in Scotland,Julie spent summers teaching English as a foreignlanguage in Spain. Widely travelled before marrying andhaving her family, Julie’s interest in all things Europeanled to some lively discussion over lunch in the Base withcolleagues. We wish Julie well as she moves on to a full-time post at Vale of Leven Academy.

LB

Julie Biguzzi, Modern Languages Dept

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Mary Flannigan joined the ModernLanguages Department at Hutchiein August 1997, initially to teachFrench and German at BeatonRoad, having previously taught atLoudoun Academy in Ayrshire. AtHutchie she soon became SeniorTeacher with the remit ofoverseeing the teaching of Frenchat Kingarth Street, while continuingher own teaching role in the seniorschool. Mary’s keen interest in pastoral care saw hertake on the position of Assistant Year Tutor and laterallyYear Tutor, with her final years concentrating on thenurturing and wellbeing of our S6 pupils. In addition to

teaching Modern Languages, Mary was involved in theearly roll-out of our Thinking Skills programme, alsodelivering a CPD session to colleagues on counting inJapanese. Mary’s annual “crêperie” to raise funds for theschool charity became an institution, looked forward toand supported by many pupils and staff. A keensportswoman and singer, Mary took part in a number ofschool events, while her fitness was the envy of many apupil who encountered her during an early morning gymsession. As she moves on to the next phase of her life,enjoying time with her children and grandchildren, Marywill, no doubt, relish the opportunity to spend more timeon crosswords and her garden.

LB

Mary Flannigan, Modern Languages Dept & Year Tutor


Ian Harrow joined Hutchesons’ in1989 to teach two relatively newsubjects, Economics andAccounting. He joined MrsFrances Mitchell, who was theHead of Department at that time,and taught in ‘the huts’ for severalyears. Thankfully the department,and the school buildings,expanded and the departmentwas soon accommodated in themain building!

Ian builds relationships with pupilsquickly and genuinely cares about their wellbeing andlearning, so it was no surprise when he gained a role inthe pastoral side of the school. Ian was the AssistantYear Tutor, and then Year Tutor, for S1 and S2 pupils andworked alongside Mrs Madden, Mr Wood and MrRussell for many years.

Ian has always recognised the importance of localcommunity and knew the value a school likeHutchesons’ could offer. For many years he ran the‘Community Service’ programme in the school, alongsideMrs Bertram, where he arranged voluntary placementsfor our pupils at local care homes, schools and charities;between them they found placements for almost 100pupils. Later in his career he stepped down from PastoralCare and became the ‘Head of Community’ whichallowed him to once again ensure the local communitybenefitted from the school.

Over the years, Ian offered his time freely and was veryinvolved in extra-curricular activities. I am not sure heever taught in the department period 6 on a Wednesdayas this was ring-fenced for his second department – PE!Monday mornings would involve detailed analysis of themain rugby games that weekend, namely theHutchesons’ P6s and P7s. Ian gave up his Saturdaymornings throughout his time at the school to coach ourPrimary pupils and travelled the length and breadth ofScotland in all weathers. He went on many rugby toursand a particular highlight would be his trip to South Africawith the senior pupils in 2015. Ian often said his

favourite day in the school calendar was Primary SportsDay, and he was deprived of his last one in the summerof 2020. Perhaps a guest judge might be needed for2021? Ian also gave his time to attend school trips withother departments including China and the battlefields ofboth world wars. He also organised our owndepartmental trip to London for many years.

Ian was an engaging teacher and had lots of motivatedpupils in his classes. He knew how to make the topicsinteresting and often gave his time after school and lunchtimes to help pupils. Ian never lost his enjoyment ofbeing in the classroom and his enthusiasm for helpingpupils to learn never waned. He was supportive to all hiscolleagues and was always the first to offer his time andassistance when needed.

Ian’s dedication to his profession and the pupils wasexemplified at the very end of his career. At a time whenIan should have been taking his foot off the gas, to anextent, and enjoying a more relaxing third term, thepandemic hit. We went into lockdown and ventured intothe new world of remote learning. It should be noted atthis stage that Ian had only acquired a mobile phone twoyears earlier, under duress, when he was elected toserve as a Councillor. However, in the final term of hiscareer he was required to become a master oftechnology and he absolutely triumphed! He waspresent at TEAMs meetings, conducted live lessons,accepted and marked work electronically and even hadhis ‘leaving do’ on Zoom!

Ian has a very full life outside of school. He has beenelected to serve as a Councillor in South Lanarkshire andI hope he now has the time to give this job thededication and commitment that I know he would like tobe able to do. Ian has inspired many pupils throughouthis time at Hutchesons’. We have many anecdotes andhumorous stories which reflect his character, but thesewill have to be put to one side for now. At some point, inthe very near future, I look forward to sharing thesestories and giving Ian the farewell he deserves. Thankyou for your friendship, advice and hard work throughoutyour time at Hutchesons’.

CK

Ian Harrow, Business Dept

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Grace started work at Hutchesons’Grammar School within theCatering Department at KingarthStreet on 27th October2008. During her time as CateringAssistant in the Primary School,she was a valued member of theteam and loved working withinfants and young pupils during thelunch service period where shebecame very well known. Workingwithin the Catering Departmentallows for contact with both staffand pupils alike and this wasachieved through not only her lunch duties but herwillingness to be involved with the school hospitality andevents services.

Grace made it known through her reviews that she waskeen to progress her career and develop her skills furtherwithin the school and when a position became available atBeaton Road, she applied and was offered an admin rolewithin the School Office. Grace started work at theSenior School on 30th September 2014. She carried out

numerous duties including photocopying, reception coverand many other duties as well as assisting in the CashOffice. Grace enjoyed the variety of work within theSchool Office and at the same time, getting theopportunity to learn some new skills. It was clear thatGrace thoroughly enjoyed her interactions with pupilsand staff alike and was well-known by all. The SchoolOffice has been particularly busy in more recent timesand Grace was keen to get involved with different tasks,helping out with SMT duties and working well as part ofthe team.

Grace decided to leave her post at Hutchie when herhusband, Alan, was retiring in May 2020. Grace andAlan had plans to travel more and enjoy time togetherbut unfortunately COVID-19 put a temporary stop to that;hopefully they will make up for lost time as soon asCOVID-19 is under control.

We wish Grace well in her new ventures and hope tosee her for her overdue “leaving do” in the not toodistant future.

BY

Grace Gill, School Office

Staff Notes


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Stuart Lang was educated inEdinburgh at George Heriot’sSchool and was in the same yearand rugby team as Dr Ken Greig,previous rector of HGS. Heattended Jordanhill College ofEducation (and the famous SSPE)from 1978 to 1982. Stuart moveddown south to teach at RamsdenBoys School in Orpington from1982-1985, playing rugby duringthis time for London Scottish and Westcombe Park.

His first day at Hutchie was the 5th of January 1986 (hisfuture wife’s birthday) and he joined as an assistantTeacher of PE, allocated to Montrose House, and soonwas in charge of the rugby 1st XV and of cricket. One ofhis early 1st XV teams had an unbelievable four boysselected to start for the Scottish Schools U18 team – hewas immensely proud of this and a signed rugby ball tocommemorate this sat on his desk for many years. All ofStuart’s 1st XVs were immensely fit and he took greatpride in his “Suffer” Lang moniker. Stamina sessions onThursday lunchtimes were impressive to watch and theboys always “put a shift in”. His teams played with greatdesire and attitude and this was due in no small part toStuart’s approach and coaching. While in Glasgow, Stuarthas played for Clarkston RFC, Glasgow Southern RFCand has recently become heavily involved in GHA.

Stuart met Sheila when he started at the school and theymarried in June 1990, before Scott (June 1991) andHeather (April 1993) arrived. Soon they too wereHutchesonians and both have gone on to great success,making dad very proud.

Stuart became Head of Boys’ PE when Magnus Brownmoved across the city, and then Director of Sport when

Wendy Justice left. He has seen the department growfrom three men and three women when he started, tothirteen staff by the time he retired in June 2020. Hemoved away from cricket to be involved in primary andsecondary athletics and cross-country and brought theschool more success in these areas. He led rugby toursto Holland, England, Ireland and Wales and the boysspoke about these for years to come.

Of course, no discussion about Stuart would becomplete without mentioning his joke-telling ability … orlack thereof. Scuba-divers, telephone directories andscissors all spring to mind. And there are a fair few“Jellyisms” to note:

“White socks, rugby socks or no socks”

“..there will be no sporadic clapping..”

“Bah Humbug” (with special matching hat at Xmas time)

“Heather? That’s my daughter’s name” (while on golftour in Newtonmore)

These are just a few but, in all seriousness, the thirty-four years Stuart spent in the PE Department have beenamong the most exciting in the school’s history, and theschool name has become synonymous with success inrugby, athletics and cross-country under his stewardship.We have all had so many laughs and good times in thedepartment that it has never been a chore to come intowork; Stuart was responsible for much of this. Ross and Iboth owe him a lot; he told us we were like his extratwin sons!

We wish him well in his retirement and in his post as thecurrent President of GHA RFC and await his presidentialinvitation for hospitality at a game sometime soon!

PR

Stuart Lang, PE Department

Staff Notes

Abeer Khan S1 Adam Stansfield


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Pam Taylor joined the staff ofHutchesons’ in January 1997,initially to cover Liz Smith’smaternity leave but in the endstaying a further 23 years. Pamhad already taught French andGerman the length and breadth ofthe country, gaining invaluableexperience in a variety of schools,and she was welcomed to thedepartment as a caring andsupportive colleague. Passionate about her subjects,Pam enjoyed all aspects of teaching but particularlyrelished the opportunity to teach French and Germanliterature to our Advanced Higher candidates. Herknowledge of the culture and history of both countries

was put to good use in preparing our senior pupils forthis demanding exam. Pam was also involved withcultural visits to Germany during our exchangeprogramme with the Hans-Sachs-Gymnasium inNuremberg. Beyond the Department, Pam’s role as anAssistant Year Tutor, latterly with S6, gave her muchsatisfaction. She undertook training in various counsellingprogrammes and was involved in the YPI events and S3enrichment weeks. Her organisational and hospitalityskills were put to good use in the planning of thesuccessful school dances held each December. Pam’s“crème brûlée”, a thing of legend at departmentalsoirées, will be much missed, as will Pam. We wish Pamand recently-retired husband Brian well as they embarkon extended grandparent duties.

LB

Pam Taylor, Modern Languages Dept & Assistant Year Tutor

Linda joined the Learning Support Department atKingarth Street in 2014.

As an experienced teacher of over 20 years Linda joinedus on an easterly wind, settling into her new role withease and quickly establishing strong relationships withpupils, teachers and families alike.

Linda has been committed to supporting pupils in everyaspect of school life. In the classroom an element of funran through every lesson, and even the most stubborn ofpupils could be persuaded to believe that the impossible,was indeed possible. Her genuine kindness, anddetermination for everyone to achieve their best shonethrough. Her firm but caring approach cajoled all in hercare to do just a little bit more than they thought theycould.

As a colleague and a department stalwart, Linda will bemuch missed. She has been generous with her wisdomand her time and is a natural sharer of good practice and

teaching gems. Her expertise in our field is outstandingand she leaves behind a legacy of improved provisionand an inspired department.

‘Going above and beyond’ is Linda’s trademark. Notpurely confined to supporting pupils in the classroom,Linda could be tracked down supporting our youngesthockey players on the pitch on a Saturday, directing‘traffic’ during a Bikeability session, tuning an instrumentprior to a performance, or laying out a cream tea for astaff birthday. Linda’s involvement with school wasabout the whole community and she gave her timewillingly and with enjoyment.

It is no surprise that this energy and community spirittakes her away to pastures new. Parish life in Paisley, acaravan on the Solway coast, and new dog, Cora, are allcompeting for Linda’s attention in this next step. Wewish her, John, and her grown-up family all the very bestfor the future.

AM

Linda Murning, Kingarth Street

Staff Notes

Ishan Barnes S3 Hannah McPartlane


Joiners

Eric was born and raised inAyrshire, in the rural town ofStewarton. A passionatesportsman his love for rugby tookhim on many adventures,representing his country at agegrade level and competing inJunior World Cups across theglobe. Two summer seasonsplaying in New Zealand andcoaching youth teams fuelled hisdesire to become a teacher. He

was educated at Edinburgh University where he studiedfor his degree in Physical Education. After graduation hegained employment at St Columba’s School, Kilmacolm,as a teacher of Physical Education until he took a four-year sabbatical to pursue a carrier as a professional rugbyplayer with the Glasgow Warriors. On return to StColumba’s, he took on the role as Director of Sport at theSchool and held this post for eleven years until hisappointment at Hutchesons’ Grammar School in August.In his spare time, he continues to enjoy being physicallyactive and is an enthusiastic cyclist and skier.

Eric Milligan, Department of Physical Education

Jillian grew up in the quaint villageof Carmunnock, Glasgow. Oncompletion of her final year of highschool, she travelled Australia fora year before studying for herHonours degree in Marketing withFinance. Following this, Jillianworked in industry but lacked jobsatisfaction, leading her to pursuea career in Teaching and achievingher Postgraduate degree, atStrathclyde University. Oncompletion of her probation year at Barrhead High shewas offered a full-time position but instead, seized theopportunity to teach at The British School of Gran

Canaria. After 4 years of island life, she accepted a postas Head of Business Studies at the British School ofMalaga and performed this role for 2 years. On herreturn to Glasgow, she was delighted to be offered aposition at Craigholme, which she relished. On closureof Craigholme she took a position at Fernhill beforeproudly being offered the opportunity to become part ofthe Hutchie community.

Since age 11, Jillian has been the proud owner of herhorse Nikita. Now both in their 30s, she can confidentlysay their competing days are behind them. Jillian is anavid tennis player and spectator, she also enjoys skiingand is an ardent music fan, attending as many live showsand festivals as possible, her favourite being Glastonbury.

Jillian Moon, Economics & Business Department

Lisa Schwartz is originally from a very small village inSchleswig-Holstein in Germany, but decided to come toScotland as a German Language Assistant as part of herstudies. When not in Scotland, she lives in Bochum,where she studies English and Philosophy. Once shereturns to Germany, she will continue to study Englishand Media Studies.

Despite the current situation and travel restrictions, Lisahas grown very fond of Scotland, its coastlines and itspeople. She hopes there will be a chance to return andsee the rest of the country!

When not locked in her room for online teaching, Lisaenjoys reading, drawing, learning other languages,Taekwondo and a variety of other hobbies.

Lisa Schwartz, Modern Language Assistant

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Staff Notes

Idhant Agraharam P6M Anna Green P6W


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Challenges and opportunities, how staff and pupilshave coped, and what happens now?

The last year has been a significant challenge for us all– not more so for the pupils, staff and parents ofHutchesons’. School site closures and the

cancellation of examinations brought the immediatenecessity for our pupils to receive the same Hutchesons’education, online, whilst ensuring all aspects of school lifecontinued in a new form. A whole new model ofschooling was put in place, in a matter of weeks, built onexisting platforms such as Firefly, Snagit, Clickview andTeams for live discussion and lessons. The urgent changeand rapid transition was without precedent, but the robustonline model of education that has emerged atHutchesons’ is formidable and we know it will stand thepressure of any further COVID-19 related measures thatmay arise.

When the pandemic struck in March 2020, we werealready in the midst of an IT strategy that included the rollout of laptops to all staff and the use of a wholly cloudbased system which allows our teachers to accessHutchesons’ systems wherever they are. The plannedCPD and training – that would have been completed by2023 – had to be put in place almost overnight.Hutchesons’ owes a great deal to our IT ServicesDepartment which provided daily ‘How to …’ videos andclinics to ensure teachers could use the technologyquickly and efficiently. As a result, our junior classescontinued with their planned examination while theoutgoing S6 took on undergraduate preparation withinDepartments attached to the area of study to which theyhave now progressed. Our senior students moved on totheir next set of SQA examination classes – and as ournew S5 and S6 returned to school last August, it mighteven have been the case that they were further aheadthan they ordinarily would have been.

The School has constructed a continuum model whichallows us to respond rapidly – moving from full in schoolteaching to full lockdown home learning, or anything inbetween, as required. Mrs Smith, our Timetable Manager,may already have received her medal! It becamecustomary in this academic session to pass a classroomand see a lesson being simultaneously taught live to thepupils in school and those at home, if one or twomembers of the class had been required to self-isolate.The return to school was complex and required a detailedRisk Assessment for every facet of school life, designedto quickly secure the confidence of the entire Hutchiefamily, and we hope that it has achieved this. School hasalways been, and remains, an utterly safe place to be.

There is also much that we will retain from this periodgoing forward. The increased use of the whole schoolsite and our outdoor space has had a very positive effecton pupil well-being. The fresh air and extra exercise atlunchtime promotes even greater levels of concentrationin class in the afternoon. Although competitive gamesagainst other schools on a Saturday morning werecurtailed last session, ironically, attendance on Saturdaymornings for both girls’ and boys’ practices was up as allpupils can be involved, together in year group bubbles,striving to improve their individual skills. Parents’ Eveningstook place on Teams, with staff and parents at home, andare more streamlined with appointments.

And of course, the cancellation of the 2021 diet ofexaminations led to Hutchesons’ putting in place our ownsummer assessment period – replicating the SQAexperience for our Senior pupils to ensure they have thebest evidence available for their qualifications andpreparing them fully for the examinations they will surelysit in the future.

In essence, the future looks very positive. Hutchesons’core values have never been more important, and ourpupils have demonstrated the true meaning of resilience.What is most evident is the respect and compassion theyhave for others as well as a creativity of approach and agenuine curiosity for how we can do things differently andbetter. Our pupils are flexible and emotionally intelligent,which will hold them in good stead as they embark onwhatever comes next. We want them to know theybelong – and that the school’s curriculum is designed toallow them to achieve and flourish, whether they are in aclassroom or online. One-way systems, mask wearing,seating plans, track and trace, year group zones, packedlunches in the drizzle, windy marquees, constant hand-washing and staggered breaks – we have conqueredthem together. The only downside, perhaps, is that wemay never have another ‘snow day’ as a result. Thelessons can, and will, go on.

DC

The Impact of COVID-19

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Our Covid Year


Blended LearningWhile our lessons took place exclusively online at thestart of the new year, by March restrictions were easedenough to allow “Blended Learning” to take place.Throughout March, our year groups were split in half andwe took alternate days for in-person learning and onlinelearning. By this time, we were all comfortable with theonline lesson format. We followed our school timetableof lessons while at home, giving structure to our days,and our teachers kept in contact with us through regularTeams meetings and video lessons. However, the returnto school was eagerly anticipated by all. The chance tosee our friends in person once again helped to lift ourspirits and maintain motivation heading into our exams.While this was a strange time, the maintenance ofcontinuity in our learning allowed us to make the most ofour time in and out of school.

Stewart Alexander, S6

Purple Friday Inside Out

Online LearningOnline learning was the most unique of challenges. Thisstatement holds true for both teachers and pupils.Teachers had to figure out how to teach in a worldwhere they often could not see their pupils’ faces; andpupils had to figure out how to turn their cameras off sothat the teachers couldn’t see their faces. Lockdownmeant that so much of this year was spent in ourbedrooms when we should have been at school, posingsome obvious obstacles. Lack of motivation was themost gruelling of these, as I crawled out of my bedlimply at 9:10 every Monday with a distinct lack ofenthusiasm for the exploits of Robert the Bruce. I got onwith work even though my eyes disagreed strongly withthis prospect. Whether in S1 or S6, I can safely say thatthere is almost nothing life can throw at us that wouldrattle us more than this past year. Strange times indeed.

Freddy Russell, S6

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Our Covid Year


Key Worker Care at Beaton RoadWorking from the school library during the pandemic had,like most things, pros and cons. The school felt weird,deafeningly quiet, sad and slightly eerie. On the otherhand, I became friends with people who I hadn’t had achance to chat to in ‘normal school’. I was delightedabout that! Overall, I felt lucky to have somewhere, otherthan my bedroom, I could attend to do my school work,and a place where I could have snowball fights and playfootball with friends at break and lunch (there are only so

many hours and days and weeks and months one canspend with one’s sister!) Spotting the odd teacher wasalso strangely comforting and my parents, both keyworkers, were grateful for the facility. Altogether theexperience proved to be a silver lining for me and myfamily in the middle of a very dark cloud. Thank you onceagain to my friend the library!

Myles Macaulay, S1

Imagine a school where theplayground is virtually silent; wherethere is no music playing; noassemblies buzzing with childrenand no bags or jackets in thecloakrooms. Where the corridorsseem never ending and very still.Imagine a school where you canwear whatever you like (includingearrings!); work in differentclassrooms each week and chat topeople you never get the chance to

chat to in ‘normal school’. A schoolwhere you get the lion’s share offreshly fallen snow all to yourself;where you get all of the playgroundapparatus to yourself but where yousit on a different floor from your classteacher and talk to her on MicrosoftTeams. This school was HutchiePrimary in lockdown and I was there.

Both my parents are key workers, solockdown care at Hutchie was a placefor me to go to do my work and afacility that allowed my parents tocontinue their work. It helped myfamily a lot: I loved that I had a place,other than my bedroom, to work; aplace I could see some of myfriends; a reason to pack a schoolbag; a reason to make a packedlunch; a routine like none I’d everhad before … and a reason toget out of my pyjamas! I madememories there that I will neverforget but, having said all ofthis, I hope ‘normal’ schoolstays forever.

April Macaulay

(pandemic survivor), P6

Key Worker Care at Kingarth Street

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Our Covid Year


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Greek TheatreRecently, I have had the opportunity to attend twoexcellent online showings: Euripides’ The Bacchae(performed and recorded by RCS students) andSophocles’ Oedipus Rex (performed live on Zoom, byTheater of War). Each performance was exceptional,offering a modern take on each play and allowing accessinto ancient culture and theatre to any viewer, from thecasual spectator to the seasoned theatre buff. Of course,the performances were restricted to the Internet due tothe COVID-19 pandemic, but the efforts reflect thestrength of classical theatre itself, its worldwide interest.With the opportunity to study Classical Greek atHutchesons’, students have a unique chance to dive notonly into the ancient language itself, making associations

between the language and our own, but also to take alook at ancient Greek lives; this is done through a rangeof exercises, from translating real, ancient Greek texts bythe greatest classical tragedians, to a full-blown cultureclass. A Greek student myself, I have enjoyed this rareopportunity to study such a beautiful and influentiallanguage, and to have the ability to associate the Greekvalues and cultural aspects with real productions.Viewing, and reading, Greek plays and discussing themwith one’s teacher or classmates is a refreshing way toboost one’s knowledge of this historic world and create arelationship with it and its language.

Aubrey McCance, S5

Engineering the Future for GirlsEngineering the Future for Girls isan opportunity run by StrathclydeUniversity to encourage girls to jointhe field of engineering.

Normally this would have been agreat opportunity to visit StrathclydeUniversity and experience whatbeing a student is like whilst gainingan understanding of various typesof engineering. Due to thepandemic, we had to attend onlineover 3 half days.

We joined online lectures with pupilsfrom across Scotland. Here we hadmany guest speakers from theengineering industry as well aslecturers and current students. I feelvery fortunate to have had theopportunity to be a part of that.

We also had the opportunity to workin smaller groups through breakoutrooms where we also worked on ateam project: Designing a ResilientTown. We had to design a town that

The Month before ChristmasThis year, during the run up to Christmas, the Englishdepartment treated the S1 and S2 pupils to thewonderful gift of poetry, as they enjoyed a selection offestive delights from across the globe and representing avariety of cultures.

Miss Valdelievre read Snow Men by the Kashmiri poet,Agha Shahid Ali and Il fait froid (it is cold) by the Frenchpoet, Victor Hugo and our Spanish assistant, NoaMartinez Hipolito read Poesía de Navidad, a moderntwist on the story of the Three Wise Men where theybring him toys and dreams.

We also had a wonderfully ambitious reading by MrsReece, who attempted to read an Australian version ofThe Night Before Christmas in an Ozzy accent – almost!

Mr Spencer read Just Before Christmas by Kit Wright,Mrs McArthur read The Night Before Christmas in Gaelicand the festive feast was topped off by Mr Symingtonreading the heart -warming and endearingly humorousshort story, Father Christmas and Father Christmas byDavid Henry Wilson. How will we top it next year?

RC

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Around the School

was protected from naturaldisasters and was alsoenvironmentally friendly, spendingas little as we could. We saw manyinteresting experiments such asflocculation and the project wasgood for gathering insight on whatcareer options there are inengineering.

It is a really great course for anyoneinterested in engineering.

Harnisha Aulak, S3


Making a bookshelf InsertDuring Lockdown, I was tasked to make a BookshelfInsert about one of the books I had read, and I thought itwas a good idea because there was not much to do. Theidea to make an Ickabog themed diorama came to mealmost immediately because I had finished reading itrecently, and I wanted to base it on the 4 towns –Chouxville, Kurdsburg, Barowstown, and Jeroboam –which are in the story. Each town specialised on aspecific food, so I decided to make 4 little buildings thatrepresented them and their delicacy. To make thebuildings, I collected old medicine boxes and coveredthem with plaster of Paris. I designed wee roofs to placeon top and painted the boxes. Because it was just after

Easter, I had loads of crème eggs! So, I used thewrapper and cut it into tiny squares and covered themwith ripped pieces of plaster. Next, I painted themdifferent shades of grey, the little holes in the plastergave an accidental bumpy effect and the cobble stonesturned out great! Then I tried to make a clay Ickabog, Ihad never used clay before, except in early primaryschool so making the Ickabog was quite a challenge, butI really enjoyed the experience. Making the entirebookshelf insert was very time-consuming but definitelyworth it!

Rebecca Frain, S1

Learning The Tempest at HomeAs with anything during lockdown, school has beenvery different. We had to make the best possiblesituation out of the worst possible situation and thatwould be a challenge for anyone. Even thoughcertain things at school have been harder thanothers to replicate online, such as games forexample, I believe that one of the best parts ofonline school has been reading ‘The Tempest’ byWilliam Shakespeare. I think this because it doesn’tfeel too alien; all we’re doing is reading a play andanalysing it, just like we would be doing at school. Itis nice to have something that feels normal in suchan abnormal time. This being said, it is notcompletely the same as sitting in a classroom andthere are obviously some noticeable differences.

For me, the main difficulty was definitely the changein setting. Personally, I found it a lot harder toconcentrate and stay motivated on a task when Iwas at home; there were a lot more distractionsaround that would constantly catch my attentionand, having a new puppy at home, there was a lotmore on my mind than normal.

One of the great things about learning ‘TheTempest’ at home were the tasks that were set –they were easy to do, and the main focus was ondiscussing different factors of the play with the restof the class. It helped us both to socialise with ourclassmates and friends, and to gather a greaterunderstanding of the play by learning other people’sthoughts on the matters that we were discussing.These were two of the most important things thatonline school had deprived us of; it forced us towork seemingly alone, and the only person wecould easily consult was either the teacher orourselves, whereas at school we always had ourpeers there to discuss matters with.

Lockdown has presented us with many differentchallenges. However, for me, I have also gained agreater appreciation of school, both the educationaland social aspects. Looking back, I believe that wewill be thankful for living through such a toughperiod of time as it will make us stronger in the end.

Henry Abbott, S3

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Around the School


How We Have COVID-19 the Curriculum in History

In 1963 President John F Kennedy said, “For time andthe world do not stand still. Change is the law of life.And those who look only to the past or the present are

certain to miss the future.” Since the global pandemicbegan, we have all experienced the sharp end of hownecessity breeds innovation. In History, this came at atime when we were assessing and implementing changesto the content and delivery of our curriculum. How we didthis was accelerated; how it would affect our future,unforeseen.

With the swift closure of schools in March 2020, weembraced the opportunities provided by Snagit to createvideo content to explain new topics, provide detailedfeedback, and for revision. Following positive pupilfeedback, we are now creating a bank of these videos forpupils to use as and when required. Firefly blogs and chatforums provided the flexibility to ensure pupils couldaccess teaching materials and engage in discussions at atime that suited their individual working patterns. By theend of the academic year, we had incorporated livelessons.

When we returned to school last August, weendeavoured to include as many traditional classroomactivities as possible within the parameters of themeasures in place for COVID-19. S3 pupils created theirown solutions for the requirements of WWI trenchesusing shoeboxes, and then put them together in thedining room to explore their defensive characteristics. Wealso organised a First World War virtual conference,‘Battling germs, Fighting Germans’. Class discussions inall year groups were enhanced by using Mentimeter, anonline tool for live polls which facilitated individual andgroup evaluations of a wide variety of topics.

OneNote was an instant success with our senior classes.Not only does it provide a place where class notes andother written work can be stored safely in the cloud, theneed to quarantine pupil answers was removed, meaningfeedback was instant and therefore much more valuableto pupils.

The department also used the school’s one-way systemto our advantage. Previously, very few pupils would visitthe department unless they had a lesson with us, but the

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Around the School


Around the School

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one-way system significantly increased our footfall. Ourdisplay boards were updated to provide factualinformation on Black History, Women’s History, the legacyof the First World War, and The Crusades, as well aspromotional information on how studying History providesthe skills required for an extensive range of careers.

As the numbers of pupils self-isolating increased wefacilitated the live delivery of lessons to those at home aswell as those pupils physically in school. This meant thatwhen pupils did not return to the building in January, wehad given ourselves a head start and quickly expanded therange of tools and techniques used. Breakout rooms onTeams enabled group discussions that had not beenpossible in school, and provided an opportunity for pupilsto interact socially with their peers, vital for their healthand wellbeing. Teams could also be used for polls andquick answer questions, including using a ‘waterfall’where pupils are asked to type in an answer and not press‘enter’ until everyone is ready.

Senior classes became adept at using Spiral to write, gainfeedback, and quickly amend sentences or shortparagraphs, which were then downloaded and saved ontheir OneNote page. S2 and S3 pupils went on virtualtours of Auschwitz and Berlin to complement theirlessons on the Holocaust and Cold War. Classes were setquick, fun, challenges: from S1 pupils recreating the roundcity of Baghdad to S6 pupils designing, building, andtesting their own medieval weapons. Our AdvancedHigher pupils also took advantage of a range of online

resources made available by different libraries andarchives, so that they could conduct their dissertationresearch safely. After returning from study leave, S6pupils then got involved with the ‘Making Memories’project we organised with the school’s archivist to createa range of memories for the archive on the experience ofstudying at Hutchie during the pandemic.

We enhanced our virtual presence too. Regular updateson our Twitter (@HutchieHistory) and Instagram(hutchiehistory) pages promote the pupils and activities inthe department. Each week begins with us posting our‘This Week in History’ board and ends with an update ofwhat classes have been studying. To assist those pupilsmaking subject choices we made videos to providecourse information, the general benefits of studyingHistory, as well as feedback from current pupils. We alsoused our expertise in making videos to guide S4 pupilsthrough the process of making a documentary on one oftheir Higher topics, rather than write a formal essay.

Overall, it has been an experience full of promise andopportunities for improving the delivery of our evolvingcurriculum. We have been extremely grateful for the verypositive feedback received from parents and pupils alike.And we are sure that President Kennedy would approveof our approach; by studying the past and embracing thepresent, we are striding towards a stronger and brighterfuture.

AL


Around the School

The Independent Research Project 2020/2021Hutchesons’ Grammar School haslong recognised the crucial role thatresearch plays in education. Withthis in mind, S6 pupils are offeredthe unique opportunity to conductan Independent Research Paper(IRP) on a topic of their choosing.This year pupils have submittedIRPs on a wide range of topics from“Foreign Aid and InternationalCharity” to “Fractals and ChaosTheory”. Conducting the researchproject is entirely voluntary and assuch sits at consonance with asense of individual curiosity. Theprocess of completing the projectnurtures self-motivation andindependence of thought, affordingthe opportunity for critical inquiryinto an area of personal interestwhilst developing meta cognitivelearning strategies – all crucial skillsto take forward whether toUniversity or to the world of work.Pupils are encouraged to follow therecognised framework for academicresearch within their chosen fieldand conduct a literature review prior

Modern Studies: S3 Parliamentary workshop On the 5th March we had the opportunity to talk, learn,ask questions and even have a live debate in a UKParliament workshop. Due to the pandemic theworkshop was delivered on a Teams call. Our sessionwas on laws and debating and covered an introductionto Parliament, the chambers, their roles, and theprocess of the passage of a Bill. We chose to debatethe Bill ‘Should schools have exams?’ and lots of veryinteresting points were raised. We then followed thepassage of the Bill through the different stages in bothhouses.

This experience was very exciting, and we learned a lot.I think that the workshop came at a good time and keptus all motivated and excited to learn more aboutModern Studies. It was very inclusive and brought out alot of confidence in pupils to voice their opinions on alltopics. I can’t wait to see if there may be opportunitiessimilar to this in the future!

Bow Watson, S3

Remembrance Day

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to embarking upon the project. Theytake responsibility for sourcing amentor to guide them through theresearch and write up process andonce complete take part in a Vivawhere they have the opportunity todiscuss the highs and lows ofcompleting such a paper. Previousstudents have fed back that the

process was invaluable incounterbalancing the pressures ofthe academic work that S6 involvesand provided a strong foundation ofskills on which to build in the firstyear of University.

AL


Around the School

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From the Maths Dept

Hutchesons’ pupils are so enthusiastic about learningmathematics and taking part in competitions.Despite the lockdown, 2020/2021 has been another

wonderful year for all our pupils who have taken part inthe various mathematics competitions. Many have goneahead online and pupils have taken part from the comfortof their own homes. Whether at home or tackled inschool we have had another year of fantasticachievements.

We started the year with the Mathematical Olympiad forGirls. The competition is aimed at girls in S4 to S6 whoshow a particular aptitude for Mathematics and is takenby only around 2000 pupils each year across the whole ofthe UK. This year Arianna Agnihotri (S4), RebeccaAugier (S5), Ashmi Deb (S6), Esther Leung andDelphie Nairn (both S4) took on the Challenge. All ourpupils performed admirably but Ashmi Deb scoredparticularly well achieving one of the top scores in the UK.We were all so impressed by the performance of theseyoung women in what is an extremely challenging andprestigious competition.

Time passed quickly and it was soon November and timefor the UKMT Senior Mathematical Challenge, which tookplace online due to COVID-19 restrictions. This year ourS5, S6 and some outstanding S4 pupils took part. S5 andS6 also attempted the Challenge as part of the fund-raising efforts for Funding Neuro, this year’s schoolcharity. We achieved six Gold, eight Silver and nineBronze Certificates. Special mentions go to Ashmi Deband Brodie Knight (S6) who qualified for Round 1 of theBritish Mathematical Olympiad and Richa Kulkarni (S5)who qualified for the Andrew Jobbings Senior Kangaroocompetition. Our wonderful pupils successfully raisedjust over £700 for Funding Neuro which was a marvellousachievement.

Ashmi went on to achieve a Merit in the BritishMathematical Olympiad as did Richa in the SeniorKangaroo. The follow-on competitions are highlyprestigious competitions taken by only the best youngmathematicians in the country, so our pupils should beextremely proud of their wonderful achievements.

In February it was the turn of S3 and S4 to take part in theUKMT Intermediate Challenge, once again online due tothe second lockdown and us all being at home. However,

once again our pupils excelled achieving 16 Bronze, eightSilver and three Gold certificates. Robin Ferguson (S4)and Maoyang Li (S4) achieved Gold and went on toqualify for the Pink Kangaroo Challenge. Daniel Ogilvie(S3) excelled in the Intermediate Challenge and qualifiedfor the prestigious Hamilton follow-on round. All threeperformed extremely well in their respective follow-oncompetitions and most importantly thoroughly enjoyedtackling some interesting mathematics problems.Daniel’s achievements in UKMT competitions have thisyear secured him a place at the elite UKMT SummerSchool this July.

In April it was the turn of S1 and S2 youngmathematicians to try their hand at the UKMT JuniorMathematical Challenge. It was great to finally be able todo the Challenge once again in school and everyoneenjoyed taking part. We had another wonderful set ofresults with three Gold, 17 Silver and 22 Bronzecertificates. Rohan Deb (S1), Andrew MacShannon(S2) and Euan Mitchell (S2) went on to qualify for theJunior Kangaroo, and as I write we await their resultsfrom this competition.

The Scottish Mathematical Challenge is an annualcompetition held by the Scottish Mathematical Council.Because entrant numbers are so much smaller than forthe UK wide competitions this allows the competition tobe based on written solutions. There are three levels:Junior for S1 and S2, Middle for S3 and S4 and Senior forS5 and S6. Round 1 questions come out at the start ofthe academic year in August while Round 2 questions arereleased in January. This year we had 15 pupils take partwhich involved submitting full written solutions to 10extremely challenging problems. Together they achievedsix Gold, one Silver and two Bronze Awards. All receivedcertificates with Gold and Silver achievers receiving one ofthe much sought after ‘Mathematical Challenge mugs.

It’s wonderful to see how much all our young peopleenjoy the mathematics competitions and challenges. Aswe often say to the students, these competitions are‘challenges’ rather than tests, so achieving any marks inthem is an achievement. However, Hutchesons’continues to be one of the best performing schools inScotland in Mathematics competitions: all credit due tothe wonderful pupils of our school.

CK

... Hutchesons’ continuesto be one of the bestperforming schools inScotland in Mathematicscompetitions ...

We had another wonderfulset of results with threeGold, 17 Silver and 22Bronze certificates.


S3 Activity dayOn Friday 15 June, S3 were treated to a fun-filled day ofchallenges, games and madness. Pupils weretransported back in time as they threw axes, becamehunters in the woods with bows and arrows and gainedteam-building skills from various challenges. One of themore popular activities was the zorb-balls where thestudents bumped into each other and rolled over, playing

games like ‘last man standing’. Many pupils also enjoyedplaying frisbee golf and rounders. The day was roundedoff with a water fight and everyone got absolutelysoaked with sponges and water guns. The day wasdefinitely one of the highlights of the school year andwas a perfect day to finish S3.

Lucy McQuilken, S3

Youth Philanthropy InitiativeSince it was introduced to Scotland in 2008 by TheWood Foundation, YPI has engaged more than200,000 young people who have taken responsibilityfor £4.5m of charitable giving. YPI is the biggestindependent initiative being delivered in Scottisheducation. Each school is responsible for directing agrant of £3000 to a local charity.

When choosing a charity we wanted one we couldconnect with. That is why we chose RenfrewshireCarers’ Centre. They help support people our agewho are looking after a parent/guardian and a sibling.

We first emailed Renfrewshire Carers’ Centre andarranged a call with the Education Worker. Sheexplained to us what the charity does and how theyhelp. After this we decided to get in contact with ayoung carer so we could get an in-depthunderstanding of their life. We are delighted we wereable to win £3000 for this amazing charity. Thismoney will be able to help so many young carersreceive the support they deserve.

Hana Naveed, Drew Bunis, Grace Campbell & Aoife O’Neil,

all S3

Around the School

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British Biology OlympiadOn the 25th anniversary of the Royal Society of BiologyBritish Biology Olympiad, pupils enjoyed fantasticsuccess once more. Becca Augier in S5 received aSilver Medal. Richa Kulkarni, also in S5, received aBronze Medal. Safiyyah Ramzan in S5 was HighlyCommended and fellow S5 pupils Rayyan Khalid and

Finlay Taylor were Commended. In S6, Farwah Rushd

was also Commended.

The British Biology Olympiad is an extremely toughcompetition that is incredibly challenging and heavilybiased towards the English Curriculum. A total of 8476students from 622 schools worldwide took part this yearand to have continued success again this year with 6 ofour pupils in the award categories is excellent. Theircommitment and interest in biology through the manychallenges that the pandemic has presented them with isinspiring.

AK

Biology Silver CREST Award ProjectThe CREST project is a national research competition inwhich you choose what to research and completeexperiments to prove or disprove a hypothesis. Wechose to research plastic and its impact on plantdevelopment, and this gave us a chance to delve intomore detailed topics that are perhaps missing in thenews and build on our class topics. We learned how todevelop our own experiments and properly useequipment. Our project, along with the other groups,took us to the James Hutton Institute in Dundee wherewe learned about revolutionary ways to grow crops in an

Completing our CRESTproject has taught us howto question, how to beindependent and how to workwell in a team.

economical and sustainable fashion through verticalfarming. On this trip we learned a lot about plantadaptation in response to changing environmentalconditions. This is especially topical because of theeffects of global warming. Completing our CREST projecthas taught us how to question, how to be independentand how to work well in a team. It has made us bothever more interested in the world of biology.

Elli Greaves & Samyu Kumar, S4

CREST is the British Science Association’s scheme forSTEM project work that inspires young people to thinkand behave like scientists and engineers. The Silver levelis designed to stretch students. It is a long-term, in-depthproject that the pupils have run themselves with verylittle direction. Elli and Samyu worked extremely hard –as did all of the pupils completing a CREST project – andthey are to be commended for completing their projectduring a global pandemic. Dr McCarthy organised for theCREST pupils to visit Intelligent Growth Solutions at theJames Hutton Institute in Dundee. This provided anamazing look into the future of farming through the useof technology, growth towers and vertical farms. Thevisit really helped to give the pupils an important contextto their CREST projects.

AK


DofE – Back with StyleWhat a privilege it was to finally be backwith DofE groups on expedition after sucha difficult year with COVID-19. It wasfabulous to see the teams working sowell together as they journeyed throughthe Highlands. For the PracticeExpedition they were based in thebeautiful Loch Laggan area – those ofyou old enough might remember thiswas where the TV series, Monarch ofthe Glen, was filmed and the teamscamped in view of Glen Bogle Castle. For theFinal Expedition they started in Fort William andeither walked the Great Glen or paddled theCaledonian Canal to Fort Augustus. Theweather was gorgeous and we are one of thevery few people this year to have had a week inthe sun. Well done to everyone in S4 Silver Afor passing their expedition section and we arelooking forward to a further 4 weeks as the restof S4,5 & 6 get out.

CM

S4 pupils atHutchesons’embarked upon theirDuke of Edinburgh’sAward in August2020. The Awardencompasses fourcomponents:Expedition, Skills,Physicaland Volunteering.

This year pupils have been very creative in seeking outopportunities to complete these sections due to therestrictions imposed during the current worldwidepandemic. Particularly hard hit were thevolunteering opportunities available. The pupils felt theywanted to help the over 70s – many of whom have beenself-isolating in their homes since March. AgeUK runactivities to help combat loneliness but have beenrestricted to a telephone befriending service currently.Our pupils liked the idea of writing letters and sharingtheir stories from Glasgow. They have partnered up withAgeUK and are now helping many combat loneliness.This activity also serves as their Volunteering section oftheir DofE Award.

Six months on and the director of AgeUK Manchester,Mrs Jane Lees, said the Hutchie volunteers have been

incredibly dedicated in their efforts. She wanted toexpress a huge thank you to all the volunteers. She hasspoken to all the over 70s involved and has receivedmany positive comments. Those who were able haveresponded to the letters received by our youngvolunteers. One lady who had not spoken to anyone forseveral days went to check the door for letters. Shecould see a handwritten letter waiting for her – ‘Thisreally made my day, and it got me thinking about whatmore stories I would re-tell to Heather in my nextcorrespondence,’ she informed Mrs Lees.

DS

“Mental Health can have a huge effect on elderly people,as I understand the problems caused by mental health. Iwas very interested in bringing some happiness toelderly people during this lonely time!”

Max Miller, S4

“I wanted to volunteer because I know how hardisolation can be for the elderly and wanted to help makea positive impact”

Samyuktha Kumar, S4

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Duke of Edinburgh Letter Writing

Around the School


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The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award has been extrachallenging this year as COVID-19 meant that manyof the usual activities for Volunteering, Physical,

Skills and Expedition were cancelled. However, our pupilsshowed creativity and determination to find new ways ofcompleting these activities within the confines of theCOVID-19 guidelines. Helped by ideas from the DofE witha Difference websitewww.dofe.org/DofEwithadifference our pupils wereable to adapt and continue their Award. Some greatexamples are below:

Several pupils felt they wanted to help the over 70s –many of whom have been self-isolating in their homessince March. Our pupils liked the idea of writing lettersand sharing their stories from Glasgow. They havepartnered up with AgeUK and are now helping manycombat loneliness.

Pupils have been helping drop off food to those who areeither bed bound or living in isolation in theirneighbourhood during the pandemic.

One pupil looked through the ideas on the DofE with aDifference website and found an option that interestedher which was a diverse platform, Zooniverse, that allowspeople to help out on projects set up by experts in a rangeof fields (sciences, history, arts) by classifying images.She has been focussing on scientific projects so far.

Other pupils have been helping clean up the environmentin their local area by spending an hour a week picking up

litter, filling up a bag of rubbish. It’s great to learn of thepositive impact this is having.

For the physical section during lockdown restrictionspupils have been recording their walk, run or cycle onapps such as Strava as part of their daily exercise.

For the Skills section Mrs Breckenridge has set up anonline photography course where pupils have beenenjoying experimenting with different viewpoints andsubject matter, thus developing their skills. There is abeautiful collection of their projects on our Firefly PageOnline Photography Course — Hutchesons’ Grammar

School (fireflycloud.net)

CM

Around the School


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School Charity

In May 2020 one our senior pupils, Daniel Caplan, was diagnosed with arare form of brain tumour. He and his family were supported bythe charity ‘Funding Neuro’, who are a Glasgow based charity that arecampaigning for more research into childhood brain cancers. This session,following overwhelming support from pupils across all year groups, staff,and families in the Hutchie community, Funding Neuro was chosenunanimously as the school charity for the year.

About Funding NeuroFunding Neuro is a Glasgow based charity that aims toaccelerate the research and development of newtreatments for many of the most serious neurologicalconditions. The charity works to ensure that promisingclinical research can find its way out of the lab and tothe patient in the treatment room. It is the aim ofFunding Neuro to translate breakthrough research intobreakthrough treatments, so that the effectiveness ofneurological care can be revolutionised. FundingNeuro works with the NHS and other care providers,universities, government, industry, and philanthropistsand other charities to support developments in thisarea.

Daniel was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic PontineGlioma (DIPG). DIPG is a brain stem cancer that affectsyoung people and is the most fatal form of braincancer. There is currently no effective prevention orcure for DIPG. Due to their location in the brain stem,DIPG tumours cannot be surgically removed. Itprimarily affects children between the ages of five andnine years old. However, children and young people ofall ages have been diagnosed with DIPG. In the UKthere are around 40 new cases every year. Theaverage lifespan post diagnosis is just nine months,and most children die within 18 months. Scientistsbelieve that 1,000 or more DIPG cases are diagnosedacross the developed world each year.

Charity

DIPG is rare, understudied and as a result theprognosis for children diagnosed with DIPG has notimproved during the past 60 years, due almost entirelyto a lack of research and resources. Funding Neuro arehelping to support the work of neuroscientistProfessor Steven Gill in Bristol, England. Professor Gillis working on a trial that delivers chemotherapystraight to the tumour using a new drug deliverysystem. This approach, known as ConvectionEnhanced Delivery, has been proven to work in aseries of compassionate treatments where youngpeople who were treated survived for on average anextra precious year. Professor Gill is now raising fundsto further develop this convection enhanced deliverysystem for use in a formal trial.

Funding Neuro hope to begin a clinical trial within thenext year to treat 18 children with DIPG/DMG. Sadly,Daniel passed away in November but this trial andothers like it will give real hope to many sufferingfrom this type of tumour. It will also support vitalresearch into a largely untouched area of childhoodcancer, improving the outcome for many more. Moredetails can be found on their website: https://www.fundingneuro.com/

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Our first fundraiser to kickstartthe year was the sale ofHutchie face masks. These

proved to be hugely popular acrossboth the primary and senior sites,with pupils and staff alike. Our seniorgirls got together to organise acharity hockey match. This gained thesupport of current hockey players andeven senior girls who had hung uptheir boots in S2! Everyone turnedout to play the match, with all theplayers paying an entry fee to raisefunds. The match itself was a greatdeal of fun and ended in a penaltyshoot-out to the delight of the yeargroup spectators. This raised over£1500 and was a great start to theterm.

As the term marched on, we wereexcited to see the launch of thenewest Hutchie charity initiative withour first live Treasure Hunt. Despitethe weather, participants had a greatdeal of fun and we were pleased torepeat this experience for all familiesagain in June. Sixth Year pupilscontinued to lead the way insupporting Funding Neuro with thelaunch of an online Christmas raffle inlieu of our Winter Fair. Workingtogether with the support of theDevelopment Office we were able togather an array of impressive prizeswhich illustrate the kindness andgenerosity of the wider Hutchiecommunity. Our term culminated inour traditional non-uniform day withall proceeds going to Funding Neuro.

Pupils enjoyed a dress-down day onthe last full day of term in preparationfor the holiday.

It is fair to say that Daniel’s causestruck a chord with everyone and thewhole community wanted to showtheir support in different ways. AtBeaton Road one of our ModernLanguages teachers, Mrs Dodds,raised money from the staff bodywith a Lucky Numbers competitionwhich gave everyone an excuse tohave a flutter on the lottery.Additionally, Mrs Bertram, also fromModern Languages, has beenespecially creative during lockdownand producing a range of handmadeproducts to sell to staff and friends.In the Maths department, Dr Kilgourand pupils gathered sponsorship for aUK maths competition and weresuccessful in raising £700 for FundingNeuro with their efforts. Finally, eachyear our S6 pupils take part in theHutchie Enterprise programme.Pupils run their own company,sourcing and designing products, andtaking them to market. Pupils alwaysgive a proportion of their profits tothe school charity but this session wesaw many groups give all theirproceeds to the school charity.

As well as fundraising, we aim toraise awareness of the charity morewidely. Throughout the winter termthe Music Department were busyworking with pupils and recording

Our fundraising efforts

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Charity

tracks for our charity ‘Doing it ForDaniel Concert’. A major feature ofthis was the work undertaken by MrRhodes and Mrs Belch who workedhard to ensure maximum publicity forthe charity, as well as gaining supportfrom well-known musicians andsports stars. This culminated in aperformance in May which was ahuge success for everyone involvedand raised priceless publicity in termsof awareness of DIPG and FundingNeuro. Additionally, throughout thesession the school has linked allcharity work and efforts to socialmedia in a bid to spread awarenessof DIPG and the work of FundingNeuro further.

This has been a difficult year in somany ways, and many of the thingsthat we normally enjoy doing forcharity have been prevented byCOVID-19. What shines through all ofthis is the support and love of theHutchie community for their friend.Although we sadly lost Daniel, pupils,staff, and the wider community havebeen committed to fundraising andsupporting this charity. Daniel hasbeen at the forefront of all our effortsand his friends continue to hold himin their thoughts. Pupils recentlypainted pebbles to mark Daniel’s 18thbirthday. They came together tosmile and remember the fun thatDaniel brought to any gathering theyhad.

MW


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Fundraising at Kingarth Street Despite being unable to hold theusual Children in Need festivitiesand fundraising stalls of sweetiesand makeovers this year, P5Uwanted to continue to raise fundsfor such a worthwhile andimportant charity, especially duringthe current climate when morechildren than ever might be in needof support and companionship.Each pupil brought in £1 in order tohave a special Popcorn and Movieday treat in class. We raised over£20 and thoroughly enjoyedwatching “Spies in Disguise” andscoffing popcorn from our ownindividual cups!

The Winter Fair has been a highlightin the school calendar for severalyears at Kingarth Street. Each yearthe event has raised a huge amountfor charity, has promoted anenterprising spirit within our pupilsand been a chance for everyonewithin the Hutchie community to be

together for an afternoon of festivefun!

Although this year was very different,we still wanted our pupils to have amemorable afternoon of festivitieswhilst raising money for our schoolcharity. We had lots of virtualactivities including a raffle andChristmas Quiz. The event wasplanned, promoted and presented bythe Charity Committee.

Primary 4 worked extremely hard ontheir Enterprise topic in order to raisefunds for Funding Neuro and buysupplies for a new school naturegarden. The focus of the topic wascollaboration and the children workedeffectively in groups to completeseveral challenges. The firstchallenge required each team to pitcha product that the year group couldgo on to make and sell. FollowingThe O.M.B.R.E.Y.S successful pitchin the final, Primary 4 got to work

Missing DanielThe Daniel I knew was a noisy sixteen-year-old, spillingover the edges of a brown plastic chair, folding his legsunder the table that couldn’t contain them, stretching hisarms out to keep subconsciously lifting the edge of thedesk up and down, up and down, driving me bananas.He could have led a masterclass in how to communicatewith three of his pals simultaneously with a single glanceacross a room. Or how to encourage a teacher to drift offtopic and into a conversation engineered to take up thefinal twenty minutes of a lesson. He’s the boy desperateto get out to the loo, and to take a leisurely turn around

the school on a Friday afternoon, instead of listening tome discuss sentence structure (fair enough, Daniel, fairenough). I’ve no doubt there were umpteen classroomshe paid a visit to and regally waved in as he toured thebuilding.

He was also the first student to tell me to ‘Stay safe’when we locked down in March 2020; I won’t forget that.

Many people knew him much, much better than me – thisschool is full of his friends. Their tributes to him, andpictures of him, are full of parties, football matches andholidays, nights in and days sitting in the sun. I amtouched by their words of love and fraternity andfriendship and respect. In their photos, Daniel lookshappy, and confident of himself and where he is going,the centre of attention.

His good cheer has been noted by so many of mycolleagues. We remember his originality and humour andconfidence, a boy, and then a young man, who wasalways surrounded by friends but who also made us laugh– he was a vivid teller of stories!

Daniel filled whatever space he was in. Yes, he was bothtall and broad, but his presence was about more than that.His voice and his character filled classrooms, corridors andhalls. You knew when Daniel was on his way to yourroom; you heard him approach. And the school feelsemptier, quieter, smaller without him.

JS

Charity

budgeting the cost of makinglavender, lemon and pine scentedhand sanitisers. The pupils learnedabout the importance of marketingand advertising, creating their ownslogans and logos for their newlynamed product, ‘TreemendousHutchie Gel’. Violet Malcolm (P4P)designed the beautiful treedisplayed on the front of each ofthese super scented sanitisers.Sales have been very successfuland Primary 4 can be very proud ofall their efforts.

Our final charity event for the yearwas a Maths-a-thon. Children fromPrimary 1 to Primary 7 worked hardto learn lots of maths facts andasked their families and neighboursfor sponsors. Well done toeveryone involved. The money isstill coming in with a current total of£6631.

MS


Doing it For Daniel ConcertThis was a monumental and emotional effort by allthe pupils and staff at Hutchie. The process startedback in September when Mr Rhodes came up withthe idea to produce a concert for Daniel Caplan andraise awareness of DIPG and the fact there is no cure.Mr Scott recorded the performers and mixed therecordings with the help of staff. Pupils and staff hadto be individually recorded due to all the numerousCOVID-19 restrictions, and different microphoneswere used each day recordings were made. Songswere carefully chosen to suit the pupils and many ofthe artists who wrote the songs were approached andsubsequently offered messages of support to theschool, Daniel and the family.

The University of the West of Scotland kindly offeredtheir services to come and video the pupilsperforming to their own recordings, and we also hadHugh and Will Shiels create some amazing lighting aswell.

TR

Recorded on the 27th and 28th of March and airingtwo months later on the 28th of May, the Doing it ForDaniel Concert was a rousing success. Done to raisemoney for the school charity Funding Neuro,recording the concert was an emotional andworthwhile experience for myself and everyone elsewho did. I played bass for two tracks: Let There beLove by Simple Minds and Start Me Up by the RollingStones. Mick Jagger heard about the efforts beingmade and was one of the many artists to send amessage through. It was incredible that he tooknotice and expressed his full support of the concertas well as the Funding Neuro charity.

Other artists who left messages of support wereSting, Emeli Sandé, Travis, Biffy Clyro, to name but afew as well as a ton of Scottish Rugby stars such ascoach Gregor Townsend and iconic full-back StuartHogg. Although the sadness of losing a peer likeDaniel will always be with us all as a 6th form andschool, the amazing experience of recording,videoing and seeing us all on BBC Breakfast, thenews, as well as the radio and up on billboards allaround the country showing support for such aworthwhile cause, will live in our memories always,just like Daniel.

Freddy Russell, S6

Hockey

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Footie

Charity


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The Great Hutchie Treasure HuntOn a dull Sunday afternoon, many from within and outwith the Hutchie community– including a group fromNew York – were getting ready to compete in atreasure hunt with our online teams to raise money onbehalf of the Funding Neuro Charity. This involvedfinding 50 specific items within a time limit of 90minutes starting at 2pm. My competitive nature waskicking in as I facetimed my team and discussed astrategy. We were taking this very seriously. The listarrived and my group headed out searching for thetreasure, staying in contact throughout via ourphones. We had to take selfies with different objects,

buildings and signage. We put our shyness aside,asking strangers if we could take selfies with theirdogs as we would do anything to win. As the clockticked away, my team dashed around, scrambling tofind the remaining items whilst being lashed by therain. This activity forced us out of the house, to spendtime in the fresh air and do something fun whilstraising money. After the running around, I was sohyper. The hard work paid off as my team were thewinning group in our category and it was all for agood cause!

Tiana Aulja, S6

Charity

As the clock ticked away, my team dashed around,scrambling to find the remaining items


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We reached out toHutchesons’ partnerschools all around theworld to hear how theyhave experienced thepandemic.

Lara Morton


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Partner Schools

Chuini Secondary School, Zanzibar, TanzaniaIn order to reduce the spreading of COVID-19, ourgovernment decided temporarily to close schools.Usually we are together in school before the exams forgroup discussion but following the government stoppingpeople staying together in many places, we could notparticipate in groups.

Not only did the teachers find it difficult to finish thesyllabus at the planned time but the students found ithard to get everything they needed to know at the exacttime expected. So it was a challenge for both teachersand students to cover all topics.

The government decided to set up learning programsthrough TV and radio to help students but it was hardeither listening to the radio or watching television due tothe electricity cutting off or having no signal.

To be honest, the government took big efforts to makesure that students did not stay at home without revising,and everyone (teacher and student) appreciated it. Thegovernment also asked the people to make sure that

Hutchie’s Global Partners

Around the world, life has changed dramatically in the last year. We’ve spent enormousamounts of time at home; motorways have fallen silent; shops and theatres andrestaurants have all shut their doors.

As with all aspects of life, education has been significantly affected by COVID-19. Wereached out to Hutchesons’ partner schools all around the world to hear how they haveexperienced the pandemic. Here, we hear from them about their lives in 2020/21.

Shona McCallum, S6

Lerala Junior School, Lerala, BotswanaSchools here closed on March 23rd 2020 for nearly 3months, but they have been open ever since. The schoolwas not ready for remote learning so, during that time,the students’ education suffered, although there weresome lessons on TV and radio. I think our students’mental health also suffered badly during the lockdown.Since we have been back in school, class sizes aresmaller, we converted our Assembly Hall intoclassrooms and everyone has to wear a mask. We haveincreased the number of water stations to make hand-washing possible for everyone. We are quite proud thatBotswana has not suffered badly from COVID-19. Evennow there have been only 500 deaths. The governmentdid have to bring in a night-time curfew, however, duringJanuary. We have just received the CoviShield vaccinefrom India and we started vaccinating older people at theend of March. We should soon get more vaccines fromthe COVAX scheme.

they avoided this problem by taking some simpleprecautions, such as wearing masks, cleaning theirhands and physical distancing.

Maryam

Global Citizenship


Nitte, IndiaHutchesons’ partnership with Dr. NASM Middle Schoolin Nitte, India, is long-established and important. In atypical year, senior pupils from Glasgow and Nitte willtake part in an exchange trip, making memories andfriendships which span the almost 5000-mile distancebetween our two schools. I was lucky enough to takepart in the exchange in 2018, and it was one of the mostspecial experiences of my life. Since the trip was unableto take place this year, some friends and teachers inNitte put together an account of their school’sexperience of the pandemic year. Thank you especially toMrs. Radha Prabu, headmistress at Nitte, for helping toorganise this. Although not in person, the partnership ourschools are so proud to have continued.

Shona McCallum, S6

Since we were required to stay at home for the majorityof the time, I spent my days reading books (especiallynovels), trying out new recipes, enjoying time alongsidemy brother – playing games, sharing stories – and thelike. My online classes were progressing smoothly and Iwasn’t experiencing too many issues with them.

Our school reopened on January 1st, 2021, andeverybody was looking forward to seeing their friendsagain after a really long time. Back to school, most of usconcentrated on our studies because the tenth grade

Liwonde Secondary School, Liwonde, MalawiIt all started like news. It all started like news in a form ofrumour! If not Hollywood fiction! Little did we believethat that could be true! No sooner did we doubt than weheard that like bush fire the virus spread to a number ofrich nations. We thought, at first, the virus was meant forthe rich nations – we had our own problems! But in notime, we heard of African nations under siege. StillMalawians could not come to terms with the reality thatCOVID-19 was real. It can affect everyone and everynation.

When it was announced that Malawi was also hit, therewere many arguments about the virus. We didn’t knowwhom to believe. Then our teachers called for anemergency assembly. “We would like to inform you thatgovernment has made a communication that schoolsmust close indefinitely due to the pandemic. Please,when you go back follow the preventive measures,”concluded the Head teacher.

Namandanje School, Namandaje, MalawiWhen the virus affected our country the whole of Malawischools were closed and this resulted in a lot of studentsdropping out.

We have also seen increased poverty. Due to COVID-19businesses were not running and some people theystopped running businesses for fear that they wouldcatch the virus.

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examination is crucial since it affects our entrance into apre-university college.

This pandemic has taught everybody a valuablelesson: ‘Never lose faith in the face of adversity and keepmoving ahead.’

Smaya

In India, the first lockdown was imposed on 22nd Marchin the form of a one day public curfew. But later on, anationwide lockdown was imposed for a period of 21days. The lockdown was ultimately extended up to May.During this period the government asked everyone tostep out in the balcony of the houses to clap for themedical and other health workers and light lampsto express the country’s unity in the fight against COVID-19. The number of cases increased rapidly over time.However, the rate of recovery was much higher than thedeath rate.

Lockdown for everyone had been hard in the beginning.Especially to homeless and daily wage workers. Wewere sad as we couldn’t enjoy our summer vacation. Butit gave ample time for us to spend with our families. Weread novels, learnt new things such as cooking, painting,yoga, DIY crafts and so on.

Vaishnavi & Prerana

Life was not all that good. We stayed longer at homewithout knowing when we will meet again our friends,and our beloved teachers.

Judith, Patience, Chitsanzo, Charity, & Halima

COVID-19 has also made the transport difficult, becausebuses can only carry two people. We have also had foodinsecurity, with less food being produced and lesstourism, because people are not visiting.

The pandemic has made life difficult because we don’tknow how to defeat it.

Francis & Mayamiko

Global Citizenship


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De Amersfootse Berg, Amersfootse, Netherlands

Nearly a year has passed since the Coronavirus enteredour lives and during that period we have seen a widerange of restrictions come and go.

It all started with an “intelligent lockdown” which meantthat we all had to stay at home as much as possible,socially distance and wear facemasks while travelingwith public transport. During this lockdown, all schoolswere closed and therefore we had to follow onlinelessons. In the beginning it was quite challenging, buteventually we got used to it and found ways to keepourselves busy.

Luckily, after three months the government thought itwas safe enough to stop the lockdown and life slowlywent back to normal but, sadly after the summerholidays, the numbers went up again and new

Capellen Campus, Zwolle, The Netherlands

Dear You,

When the first lockdown began, we all had onlineclasses. This felt doable, yet truly wasn’t. I soon enoughnoticed that I was falling behind for every course, and Ialso failed the first test week enormously because ofthis. It was a major setback, but I tried to keep my hopesup.

Then, we got some news. Schools were allowed to re-open. For our school, this meant sending a class ortwo/three to school on some days, and the other dayswere online. This made it a bit easier to follow thecourses and get back on track. All exam classes areallowed to go to school. This would sound like major

restrictions had to be put in place. Even though therewas a lot of resistance, the government decided toobligate wearing facemasks in public areas. Restaurantshad to close their doors once again and this time shopshad to do so too. After careful consideration, schools hadto partially give online lessons again too. Only pupils intheir exam year were allowed to go to school to ensurethat they could be able to take their exams; it was quite asurreal experience to have the whole school forourselves.

We also have an evening curfew from 21:00-04:30,which is still in place now. Of course, we are all countingdown the days until enough people are vaccinated sothat hopefully everything can return to normal.

Iris

progress and the ability to get back on the right trail, butinstead, we decided to divide groups over threeclassrooms, and instead of 45 minutes of class, we nowhave 30.

If we look at the situation outside of school, we noticedifferences, obviously. The weird thing is, I don’t missthe shopping. I miss going to bookstores and being ableto hang out with friends. We either don’t feel up to itanymore, or there’s no use because there’s nothing wecan do.

I would love to have the old way of life back!

Megan

Dingman-Delaware Elementary, Delaware, USAWhen the coronavirus happened, it was quite rough. I was stuck at home, and the only time I went outsidewas to get fresh air. Everything was closed. In the summer, it was incredibly boring because the pool wasopen for only a month, and the two lakes my family and I swim in were either being tested or completelydrained. I guess this was the new normal. When school started, I was really eager since my mom told methere was a choice between staying at home and going into school. It was a no-brainer that I chose realschool!

Anna

Global Citizenship


Amnesty The events of the last year have once again proved theimportance of the commitments to equality, solidarity, andhumanity which are the foundations of Amnesty. Aroundthe world, people have united and campaigned for causesthey believe in: online, in the streets, and in places ofpower. Our group has found so much inspiration in themyriad causes which have found support and impactglobally, which affirm Amnesty’s commitment that “it isbetter to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” Manyof our members have had personal connections to thesemovements, and educating each other on the causes.Amnesty champions has been a very special experience,in our meetings and in our daily lives.

Although our work has been limited this year, wemanaged to hold our annual Write for Rights campaign inNovember. Our group wrote in support of the El Hiblu 3,three teenage boys who received excessive and unjustsentences in Malta following an attempt to migrate toEurope from sub-Saharan Africa via Libya and refusingdeportation. That these boys were around our age madeus particularly keen to support them. The turn out fromour members, as well as supportive teachers and pupils,made this the most successful Write for Rights our schoolAmnesty group has ever had. We also supported the

LGBTQ+ Café’s letter campaign to activists in Turkey,which was a wonderful moment of collaboration for theschool community.

Most of our members are senior pupils, and we now havethe opportunity to reflect on the progress the Hutchesons’Amnesty group has made over the past six years. Duringthis time, we have run campaigns such as the RefugeeCafé and clothing drive, we raised awareness of causessuch as women’s rights in Iran and the ‘Day of theDisappeared’ on our noticeboard, we saw the LGBTQ+Café being set up, and, this year, our membersestablished the Anti-Racist Club. We have seen ourmembership grow and change, influenced by the differentpeople who come to our meetings to share theirknowledge and experiences. We have established acommunity of people who care for each other and fordifferent causes around the world, and who are dedicatedto their activism both in and out-with our meetings.Therefore, we are incredibly proud of, and grateful for, ourmembers for working hard to build this club, and we arevery excited to see what they, and the club itself, achievein the future.

Shona McCallum, S6

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Global Citizenship

Finlay Holmes Darcy Johnston


38

We launched the Anti-Racist Club inJune last year, having been inspiredby the Black Lives Matter protests,and broader conversations occurringabout race and racism, whichoccurred across the world. As seniorpupils, we wanted to celebrate theincredible diversity of theHutchesons’ community, as well asprovide a club where pupils who haveexperienced racism can discuss theirexperiences. Our club is dedicated toa positive view that we can makeimprovements and changes in theschool which benefit both our pupilsof colour and white students, as well

Anti-Racist Clubas teachers and anyone else in theHutchesons’ community.

To this end, our core group meetmost Wednesday lunchtimes todiscuss race and racism globally, inthe UK, and in Scottish schools. Wehave members from S1 to S6 andstaff, including Ms Valdelievre whoseexpertise and passion on this topicwere incredibly valuable to our club.

Some senior pupils, including HeadBoy Moayed Karar (S6) and DeputeHead Girl Karina Mann (S6), havespoken to the Senior Leadership

Global Citizenship

Team and Heads of Departmentabout how we can reduce and dealwith instances of racism in school,and how to make the most of theamazing diversity of Hutchesons’community. Some of the solutionswe discussed are ensuring gooddiversity in our curriculum, learningabout the cultures in the school, andmaking sure racism is acknowledgedin the pastoral system.

Some of our other projects anddiscussions were around HolocaustMemorial and Remembrance Day,putting up our posters around theschool, and conducting a languagesurvey of S1-3. We discovered theextraordinary figure that 27 different

languages were spoken in just thosethree years: from Albanian andCantonese to Urdu and Yoruba.

We found setting up and workingwith this club to be one of the mostrewarding things we did with ourtime at Hutchesons’. This was acause we care very passionatelyabout: seeing the progress we madethis year and the impact we hope wehave had to pupils throughout theschool makes us feel so proud of,and encouraged by, the schoolcommunity. As we leave foruniversity, we cannot wait to hearhow our work is carried on in thefuture.

Shona McCallum, S6


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LGBTQ+ CafeThe world may have ground to a halt back in March, but forthe LGBTQ+ Café it just meant we needed to change ourthinking. With everyone working from home we couldn’t haveour normal Friday lunchtime meetings, but we managed tomake excellent use of Teams. From sharing articles toopening up about our own experiences, we established agreat line of communication. When we got back to school theTeams chat was still a useful resource for us, as we couldn’tbe back together in our usual space. We’ve had guestspeakers beamed into our classrooms from all over thecountry to talk to us, whether they were language experts orcharity representatives, we heard from many differentpeople, and learned many different things. Although wemoved into another lockdown, we didn’t let it stop us fromcarrying on with our meetings and presentations. We attendweekly virtual meetings where we raise issues that we wantto address within the school community and recently weworked on the best way to stamp out bullying and improvequeer sex education. Our community adapted to life inlockdown, and we were proud to still offer a safe, welcomingspace to anyone who needs it.

Amy Campbell, S5

J8 – MalawiWe walked a marathon (26.8 miles in total) on the 27thSeptember from Rouken Glen Park to Hamilton RaceCourse and back to raise funds to support education inLiwonde. We began at 8am, and finished much laterthat day!

Blisters began to bleed as we walked through fields,down main roads, sang a few songs, got a bit lost, and

J8 – TanzaniaAlthough this year has been really hard for everyone, wehaven’t stopped our work with J8. It’s especiallyimportant during a time like this to continue spreadingthe importance of education. Over the past three years,we have formed a link with a school in Chuini, Zanzibar,Tanzania, as well as a more local link with St Vincent’sPrimary School. A pen pal initiative was set up, sostudents in Chuini and Glasgow could trade letters aboutbooks they’ve read and other interests, to improve theirreading and writing skills. While we haven’t been able tovisit St. Vincent’s regularly, we have been sending themvideos about our reading experience to keep theconversation going.

As well as the younger pupils’ link, we also keep incontact with the five pupils who we have sponsored withbursaries. We chat about interests and hobbies andsometimes go as far as to help each other with schoolwork. It’s a really lovely connection and we’ve madesome good friends.

Chuini is a town that hasn’t been greatly affected byCOVID-19, so life has continued almost as normal forthem. Because of that, they have been able to install amuch-needed security wall around the school. This is toensure the pupils are safe when they come to school andno supplies are stolen when the school is closed. Thebuilding of the wall is being funded by local authorities,but our group will be covering the cost of one gate toshow our support. Later in the year, the students willhave an opportunity to decorate the wall and we’recollaborating on ideas to make it as lively as possible.

As difficult as this year has been, it’s been really great tobe able to do this work and help others. We look forwardto passing on our work to a new group and allow them tobe the change they want to see in the world.

Iman Malik, S6

considered getting the bus back – allin all a really enjoyable experience.The next day was painful butextremely rewarding as we knew wehad raised £561, enough to sponsorour pupils through school.

Molly-Jean Wilson, S6

Global Citizenship


40

Beaton Road

Cameron Law Amber Beckwith S5

Cecily Evans S3 Clara Campbell Evie Unkles

Esther Leung Harper Noi


41

Kingarth Street

ART

Anoushka Summan P4C Kirsty Massey 2B

Ewan Leitch

Archie Lamb 1R

Archie Lamb 1R Sophia Rosser 1H

Iona Tsang P4B


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A creative year like no other!Despite the challenges teaching staffand pupils have faced, we aredelighted to share some images ofthe truly amazing art and design workcreated remotely and during the verylimited time pupils actually spent inthe art department this year.

We have been bowled over by thecreative ingenuity, resourcefulnessand imagination of all our learners.Well done everyone!

Congratulations must go to ourtalented sixth years who havesecured places on the followingcourses.

Petra Mellentin continues with herstudies in fashion at London Collegeof Fashion, Molly-Jean Wilson hasdecided to embark on a CreativeIndustries course at City of GlasgowCollege, Hana Monib: Art andAnimation, Eve Workman:Architecture, Ailsa Marshall: ArtHistory and Spanish and Erin Cairns

(all S6): Communication Design atHeriot Watt University.

The art department is busy planningahead for the new academic yearwhich will hopefully see a return to amore normal teaching environment

where pupils can extend theircreative skills and enjoy greaterfreedom to move around theclassroom and use any materials andtechniques of their choice!

My gratitude must extend to MsLovell, Miss Drake and Ms Armourfor their unwavering professionalism,creativity and willingness to embraceso much new technology whilstdelivering exciting and innovative artlessons during two nationallockdowns!

SB

ART

Molly-Jean Wilson

Petra Mellentin Hana Monib

Eve Workman

Erin Cairns


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Lockdown choirStarting Tuesdays and Thursdays off with choir rehearsalwas a staple of many students’ – and teachers’ – weekslast year, and it seemed to be a growing trend. Numberssoared, and we regularly saw more than one hundredpeople squeezed into the Georgeson Room. Choir hasnot been the same this year, but we did put togethersomething for Remembrance Day and will hopefully beable to start back up in some form towards the end ofthe year.

Recording for Remembrance Day was an interestingexperience. A small group of S6 choir members recorded

‘God be in my Head’, singing outside and staying 2metres apart. It was an unusual way of performing, andfinding a day in late October when it was not raining andeveryone was available to rehearse and record was alittle tricky, but it felt good to be singing again withothers.

It has been an unusual year so far and music at Hutchiehas been sorely missed, but no doubt the choir will be upand running as soon as it is safe, so keep an eye out forour first performance back because it is sure to be acracker!

Lucas Myhill, S6

Manasvi Vanga


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Music

Music lessons in schoolMusic has many benefits for the health and wellbeingof children and young people. The coronavirus had a bigimpact on our face-to-face learning of music, but atHutchie, we’re fortunate that we continued to haveregular music classes in a safe way. In school, we wereable to work together as a class, get direct feedbackfrom teachers and do lots of practical work, which is animportant part of music. Having music lessons inperson makes it more engaging and a fun learning

experience. Learning music online is difficult, becausewe missed out on practical learning and not everyonehas access to instruments at home.

We are grateful that our teachers put in a lot of effortand creativity to make the lessons intriguing andinteresting for us students.

Lucas Myhill, S6

Online music lessonsPre-pandemic, remote music lessons sounded like afantastical, high-brow idea that would never work out.And yet, every week, for nearly a year, that’s exactlywhat I’ve been doing.

There have certainly been challenges, and the mainculprit here is the failure of technology. For instance,after the initial high of triumphantly nailing a particularlydifficult section for your teacher, you glance at the screenand realise they have been frozen the entire time and

that you are doomed to repeat that once-in-a-lifetimefeat. Or trying to maintain focus on playing your songdespite hearing your echo merrily playing along with aone second lag. It’s also hard for the teachers; thesubtleties in the sound are lost through the call, makingtheir job much harder.

Surprisingly, I realise I’m still progressing and enjoyingmy music-making. After all, there is something niceabout doing it from the comfort of home.

Esther Leung, S4

As a result of the pandemic, individual music tuition wasforced to move online. It has been great to have theopportunity to undertake these lessons and I realise howfortunate we are to be able to continue with our musiclessons thanks to technology. Initially, I was scepticalabout having music lessons being delivered remotely – Iunderstood that the quality of sound over the internetand delay would cause issues and I was unsure what toexpect. Of course having music lessons remotely isn’tthe same as face-to-face lessons and I looked forward tothe music tutors being back in the Fotheringay centre,but the fact that music lessons continued as nearly-normal is quite remarkable.

Daniel Ogilvie ARSM, S3

having music lessonsremotely isn’t the same asface-to-face lessons and Ilooked forward to the musictutors being back in theFotheringay centre, ...

Music 2020 StyleWhat a year 2020 has been for the Hutchesons’ MusicDepartment. It wasn’t a normal year for the department –walking into the Fotheringay there wasn’t that samefeeling of warmth hearing the music playing. It wassilent; we were silent. However, when the Founders’Day ceremony came round, a select number of S6 pupilsreceived the best news in a while: a performance. Theywere asked to perform Orlando Gibbons “Drop, DropSlow Tears.” Although having to rehearse outside in thefreezing cold in the bleak midwinter, Mr Rhodes ralliedthem together creating the performance of a lifetimewhich was wonderfully received by the schoolcommunity. The following few weeks were again silent.But another opportunity arose for the S6s in the form of

the George & Thomas Hutcheson Awards. We werelucky to have two performances that day, one from ourtalented pianist Laura Mackie (S6) playing Haydn’s PianoSonata No.7 in D followed by the newly formed PianoTrio consisting of two violinists: Glen Mouat & Lucas

Myhill and pianist Calum Murray (all S6) performing the1st movement from Shostakovich’s Five Pieces for TwoViolins and Piano. This was by far the biggest challengethese musicians have faced having to go through sociallydistant rehearsals. But again, the live performance washeartily welcomed and breathed some life back into ourmuch-loved music department.

Laura Mackie & Glen Mouat, both S6


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46

Drama

NC Drama – Anyone for BreakfastThe Drama department at Hutchie is home to someof my fondest school memories. Timetable clashesmeant I couldn’t study Higher or Advanced HigherDrama but the NC course offered an alternative. Theplay we performed is called ‘Anyone for Breakfast?’a comedy written by Derek Benfield. Our cast thisyear is tight-knit and is made up of three boys andthree girls. COVID-19 restrictions meant rehearsalswere moved to MS Teams for a duration but luckily,we are now able to be in school together on Fridaysworking tirelessly to block and film a production of

NC Drama – Hedda GablerI have always had a passion for drama and theatre. Ihave taken part in multiple performances with theHutchesons’ drama department and was thrilled tohave the chance to partake in the NC Drama coursethis year. We chose to perform ‘Hedda Gabler‘, aperiod drama piece by Norwegian playright HenrikIbsen. In a year where most creative avenues havebeen limited by the current pandemic, workingtogether with others to create this performancethrough rehearsals have become some of my fondestmemories from the past year. While rehearsals tookplace virtually initially, our small company of actorsbecame incredibly close through our time spentexploring our characters, rehearsing our blocking andeventually filming our performance for a virtualscreening. Throughout the last five months we havespent creating this show, Mrs Alderson has beenwonderful as our director, encouraging us to performat our very best. NC Drama has been a brilliantexperience and one that I will always rememberfondly.


the play instead. During this experience we haveworked closely with our terrific director Ms Queenand without her constant support, guidance andenthusiasm none of this would have been possible.Similarly, the set design and costuming definitelyhelped in bringing our performance to life andmakes it that much more convincing. The NC dramajourney has been a highlight of S6 for me and is anexperience I will never forget.

Amy Miller, S6

The Night Before ChristmasIn December, the Drama Department helped us countdown to the Christmas holidays with a whole newperformance of the classic poem, The Night Before Christmas. Read and recorded by some of Hutchie’s bestknown faces, the poem was given new life as we made our way to the end of one of the most unusual schoolterms ever.


S3 Technical WorkshopsIn November 2020, S3 Drama students took part in aseries of specialist lessons on the backstagedepartments as part of the curriculum. The topicscovered varied from Lighting & Sound and Costume andMake-Up. Susannah, the Drama Technician, and MsQueen took the opportunity to use an online streaming ofEmilia – The Play by Morgan Lloyd Malcom to study thetechnical aspects of the production with a focus onlighting. With prior lessons on lighting fixtures andterminology, students were able to identify designconcepts and key moments. What made this experienceunique was that we were able to have a live Q&A withthe lighting designer Zoe Spur. Zoe was a joy to work andcommunicate with and eagerly answered the students’questions and queries. From the knowledge andexperience gained, we continued into creating a lightingdesign of their own. Under restrictions at the time, wewere able to have small mobile lighting fixtures called‘Birdies’ and a variety of coloured gels. This equipmentwas used with a box set to create a small plot and keymoments. The class were spilt into 4 groups and createdunique lighting designs and supporting stories. Thisintroduced colour theory and basic light positioning to thestudents.

SM

“It was enjoyable and interesting to see how they usedthe stage and how they used the lights to show the riverand the general atmosphere. We got to talk to someonewho actually does this as a profession, and it wasinteresting to see the process of creativity in forming aLighting Design, and talking to her about her journey intothe profession.”

Rebecca Cobb, S3

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Drama

Makeup and costumeIn S3 Drama, we learned aboutmakeup production skills and made amood board about the character wechose to do. I chose Hagrid fromHarry Potter. We then had to make10 different designs and choose oneto develop and show to the class.

For my final design of Hagrid, Icreated a makeup look for him

coming out of battle. I used liners andeyeshadows to age and add depth tomy face. I then used a lighter shadeof foundation to give the effect ofbeing tired and ill. When doing thistask we were still in lockdown, so Iused a mix of Vaseline and flour tomake nose putty to give myself abigger nose and slash on the face. Ienjoyed turning myself into a

different person and seeing adramatic change.

For Hagrid’s costume I made a moodboard and worked out his main colourscheme. I then drew out 10 designsthen selected my favourite one. I hadto get oversized clothes and a pillowto make myself look bigger.

It was a fascinating experiencefinding out the other side of theatrethat wasn’t just acting, and seeingeveryone else’s perspective on doingstage makeup and costume. I learnedthat costume does a lot more to acharacter than just dress them. It canshow status, time period, personalityand/or age.

Overall, I feel this experience showedme a different side to drama and hasreally expanded my knowledge of thecreativity and thought that goes intoevery detail of a character from theeyelashes to a single ring on theirfinger which is something I nevertook into account before. This wasone of my favourite topics to do and Ihave taken a lot away from it.

Haniya Zahid, S3


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The House System

June 2020 brought the end to the schoolyear, lockdown, and our annual HouseCompetition. Our overall champions

were Montrose House who led most ofthe way, closely followed by Lochiel,Stuart and Argyll.

With the move to distance learning,our House Competition had to moveonline. Through the House Firefly pageand weekly blog, pupils were kept up todate with all the events they couldparticipate in from the comfort of their ownhome. Even though they were unable to attend theirfavourite clubs and societies in person, they could stillearn points by participating in weekly challenges. As wellas regular contact with their fellow Housemates, the blogalso featured tips on mindfulness and strategies to easethe frustrations of being at home.

Our S6 captains have been excellent in assisting theHeads of House and have been great role models for theiryounger peers, I would like to thank them for all theirefforts. Through their enthusiasm and creative ideas, we

have had many fun challenges that pupils lovedentering. We painted rainbows to show

Hutchie’s support for the NHS, designedbright and colourful Hutchie themed facemasks, took a moment to capturepictures of “what makes us happy”and baked some extremely impressivecakes!

We are now nearing the end of the termand into the month of June once again.

With the relaxing of restrictions we aredelighted to have some of our traditional House

Sport competitions running at lunchtimes and matches onSaturday mornings. The grand finale in the form of SeniorSports day is just around the corner. An event where thewinning House has changed hands several times in thepast, reigning champions Montrose enter in the lead. Weare all looking forward to next year and a return to normalschool life. We expect the wealth of diverse extra-curricular activities to return and pupils will be able toflourish in both their academic studies, passions andpursuits.

PM


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House

Argyll HouseIt’s been a year full of challenges for all of us. I’m proudthat, despite the change to our normal routines, all Argyllcaptains and members have fully embraced each andevery challenge. From online lockdown designcompetitions, to Maths challenges and PhysicsOlympiads, to a whole host of sports heats and finals, it’sbeen fantastic to see all Argyll members continue tomake the most of every opportunity.

Our captains Charlotte and Glen, and vice captainsFarwah and Faraaz, led the way with outstanding effortsin recording the Funding Neuro “Doing It For Daniel”concert, and taking part in online quizzes and helping tokeep form classes motivated and participating.

I know they have really enjoyed being your HouseCaptains this year.

Well done to all!

LA

Lochiel HouseThis last year has been a strange one to say the least.And we are very proud that despite the challenges faceddue to COVID-19 the Lochiel house members managedto remain positive and put high levels of effort andenthusiasm into every house event. Due to socialdistancing restrictions, this year interhouse competitionstook place mostly online, but we were still impressed tosee the various talents of the Lochiel house.

From quizzes and scavenger hunts to strava running andkeepy uppie challenges, Lochiel members demonstratedtheir various musical, intellectual and athletic abilities.

We have really enjoyed being your house captains andwe hope that you have enjoyed your year as part ofLochiel house!

A massive well done!From the Lochiel House Captains,

Elise Fitzgerald, Saad Mahmoud, Ashmi Deb and

Brodie Knight (all S6)


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Montrose HouseThis has been a school year like no other! Unfortunately,house events that would normally be held couldn’t takeplace due to COVID-19. However, we have still managedto organise a variety of inter-house challenges andcompetitions throughout the year.

One of the most popular competitions was the “BakeOff Competition” where pupils from S1-S6 baked ashowstopper cake. We picked up House points in otherareas of the school, for example, participation in sportsand music events, showing the versatility of our House.With enthusiastic involvement in special events includingthe “House Pancake Challenge” and “Pet TrickChallenge”, we secured lots of points for eventparticipation.

Montrose are currently top of the leader board for Housepoints, which is testament to the hard work which hasbeen put in throughout the year.

Thank you to Miss McGlynn, our Head of House, for hersupport, advice and encouragement this year.

Khushi, Rayaan, Lewis and I have all really enjoyed theopportunity to represent Montrose and would like tothank everyone who has participated in this year’s houseevents. Best of luck next year!

Laura Mackie, S6

Stuart HouseThis school year has undoubtedly been the strangest andmost unprecedented time of our lives. Between socialdistancing and face coverings, house events have beenfew and far between; however, we still managed toenjoy challenges this year. From face mask designing topancake baking, we have loved seeing the creativitywhich is so prevalent throughout the school.

Alongside these individual challenges, we have also seenpupils pulling together to create both small and large-scale concerts which saw many Stuart house membersparticipating and contributing to these fantastic events.

Currently, Stuart house is sitting second place in thehouse standings which is a huge achievement given thedistinct lack of point-gaining activities throughout theyear. Lucy, Iona, Seamus and I are extremely proud ofeveryone who has managed to participate. A specialmention goes to Mr Ferguson, our Head of House whohas guided us through our year as captains. I wish everyhouse member the best of luck for the future and hopethat our successors find as much joy in their role as wehave.

Calum Murray, S6

House


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The Alexander Stone Memorial Essay Prize

The essence of great literature isits ability to transform theperspective of the reader

towards the aspects of the work theyare reading; this may involve narrativestructure, characterisation, or thesubsequent relationships that thecharacters form with both readingand language in a challenge totraditional literary conventions. ItaloCalvino’s work of postmodernmetafiction, “If on a Winter’s Night ATraveler”, transforms our approach toliterature, breaking new ground in itsstyle and narrative technique, as thereader (“you”) embarks on anodyssey to find the endings tovarious novels encountered along theway.

The primary way the novel alters ourconception of the traditional narrative

is in its self-conscious, labyrinthineartifice: a work of metafiction, fictionaware of its own existence as anarrative. Calvino creates a fictionalcharacter while simultaneouslyinfluencing the reader’s beliefs,thereby transforming the traditionalauthor-reader interface and floutingnarrative tradition. He replaces it withthe versatility and plasticity of hisown literary device as the book itselfsplits into two, the first section ofeach chapter being in the secondperson, describing the readeracquiring their particular book, whilethe second section is the opening ofa new book they find.

The transformational effect beginswith Calvino blurring the linesbetween reader and protagonistwhen the second-person reader-

protagonist sits down, like ourselves,to read his eponymous work, only todiscover a mistake with their copy: aportion of the text is extant andrepeated ad infinitum (“the narrationis repeated, identical to the pages”).Calvino breaks further walls when hecleaves a split between the reader asa character and the story which theyare reading in the opening pastiche:

“a locomotive huffs, steamfrom a piston covers theopening of the chapter, acloud of smoke hides part ofthe first paragraph.”

Calvino transforms tradition by usingwords as a palimpsest, buryingmeaning under the surface, blurringthe lines between books and thetangible world. He immediately paintsan ambiguous and ill-defined

If On A Winter’s Night a Traveler

Elise Fitzgerald


boundary between our universe andthe one contained within the bookthe protagonist reads. The words onthe page become obscured,symbolising the precariousrelationship between fiction andreality.

Thus, the relationship betweenwords and their connection tosupposedly “real” things permeatesthe novel. However, the speakergoes on to suggest that words arecapable of obfuscation, as much as, ifnot more than, mere description,broadening our limited perspective oftraditional conventions:

“The lights of the station andthe sentences you are readingseem to have the job ofdissolving more than ofindicating”

Calvino seems to question his owncraft as a writer and creator of reality:instead of using both light and wordsto paint a precise picture, he subvertstheir original purpose, eschewingclarity for ambiguity, delivering amessage of substance for the readerto interpret. Similarly, the character ofIrnerio (a “lanky young man” theprotagonist encounters in theuniversity) has taught himself to‘unread’, and further alter the time-honoured concepts of reading andlanguage:

“The secret is not refusing tolook at the written words. Onthe contrary, you must look atthem, intensely, until theydisappear”

Once more, tradition is dismantled infavour of a more subversive,postmodern approach. With Irnerio,we see the emptiness behindlanguage, the void of silenceunderlying words as he remodels andrepurposes books, tombs ofknowledge filled with words, as“good materials” for his art. Insteadof reading, he “make(s) things withbooks”, in an ironic twist, creating“artworks: statues, pictures,whatever you want to call them”,rejecting their original, primaryfunctions. Language is consequentlydeprioritised, stripped of meaningand pared back to its rudiments in atransformation of literaryexpectations.

However, the author fares no betterthan the language they cultivate. Inprose or poetry, a single voice ishabitually identified as beingresponsible for the authorship of thetext. The general consensus is thatthe author has a view of reality whichis promulgated through the mediumof the text by whichever form ormeans of writing they use. Until theearly twentieth century, the historicalapproach to reading assumed thereaders’ trust, understanding andacceptance of the writer’s narrative,reaffirming the concept oflogocentrism. However, more recentdevelopments in literature, likepostmodernism, question andchallenge such outmoded ideologies:the author does more than voicewhat the reader hears, summarisedby Calvino’s variation on theCartesian dictum:

“If we assume that writingmanages to go beyond thelimitations of the author, it willcontinue to have a meaningonly when it is read by asingle person and passesthrough his mental circuits… Iread, therefore it writes.”

Calvino’s narrative technique hereevades narrow definitions with itsfluidity of meaning, compared tomore traditional logocentricstructures and methods. The narratoradopts a metanarrative form ofstorytelling, intermittently claimingthe position of the main character, inplace of the reader, and indicatingthat the author is attempting“conceal(ment)” by referring to thecharacter as “I” while endeavouringto “put into this ‘I’ a bit of himself, ofwhat he feels or imagines he feels”.In a labyrinth of pronouns toointricately woven to navigate withoutdisorientation, our perspective of thetime-worn structure of the narrativeis necessarily transformed.

Through questioning the author’sown intentions, Calvino attacks thetraditional assumption that the authorand narrator are related, drawing onRoland Barthes’ thesis “The Death ofthe Author”. Reader and writer existin a state of mutual dependence,where one cannot function withoutthe other, meaning that the traditionof complete authorial hegemony overplot, themes and characters comes at

the expense of reader passivity. Thelogical consequence is the eventualdisappearance or “death” of thewriter and the corresponding “birth”or metamorphosis of the reader intothe active figure, assuming autonomyover textual exegesis.

Acting as a final agent of change, thereader calls into question thetraditional assumptions, held by bothourselves and the protagonist,regarding novelistic structure:

“Do you believe that everystory must have a beginningand an end? In ancient times astory could end only in twoways… the hero and theheroine married, or else theydied.”

Here, the reader queries theprotagonist’s traditional views,subverting the Aristotelian concept ofplot with a rhetorical question. Whilepostmodern novels frequentlypastiche literary styles from thesixteenth century to the earlytwentieth, here we see Calvinoanalysing and delving even furtherback into ancient times. Hetransforms our views and challengesus to question the act of readingitself: is reading idle entertainment,trusting in the pen of the author, oran adventure where we break theshackles of tradition and embark onnew experiences?

Italo Calvino’s “If on a Winter’s Nighta Traveler” is a transformational workon many levels, offering freshperspectives on language andliterature, and a thoroughlypostmodern narrative structure.Calvino not only challenges literaryconventions through his artfulmanipulation of structure andidiosyncratic approach to narrativetechnique, he also requires his readerto shed passivity and engage withthe text on an active level, therebyinspiring change in our limitedexpectations and effecting the mostcomplete transformation andtranscendence of our status as thereader.

Aaliyah Sandhu, S6

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Writing


53

Our Advanced Higher writers shine some light

Writing

“The place was a mess. Wallpaper sagged fromthe plaster, sad and brown. A single bulbflickered and dimmed. I glanced across at mygraduation photo on the wall opposite. Myconfident, younger self stared back reproachfully.So much unrealized potential, it never failed todisappoint me.” Jamie Bogan

“Maybe the gentle nobility of finding some humblecorner of purpose and sanity to sit in is enough. Noneed to unravel climate catastrophe and eradicatewar. Just an effort, whilst sitting on the precipice ofdying forever, to be decent.”Moayad Karar

“Immediately recognisable with his big lips andfake tan, he deals with tears over chips, doesn’treact to being called gay boy over the phone, andon a Friday night when people come in extremelyintoxicated, he correctly guesses their order by thedrool they leave on the glass display.”Molly-Jean Wilson

“They are quilts of writing, composed of differentlayers, different chapters which can warm you upon the coldest of nights. They are stages of an artlike no other, tapestries of adventure, love andmadness”Aaliyah Sandhu

“The way I see things after this ordeal is that StuffHappens, and even when this Stuff comes out ofthe blue, completely unexpected, it’s up to youwhat you do about it. I’m not going to wallow in myown sadness about all my misfortunes (well maybeI did a bit; I’m only human.)” Holly Wheeler

“My people’s suffering was ignored then – thirtyfive million Indians died during the British Raj at thehands of the British – as it is now, when we writeessays on the benefits of the Raj. The whitewashingof our history can only harm chances forrepresentation, when all we are still seen as isbarbaric.”Karina Mann

“Suddenly, I heard the wooden gate again. And Isaw the four approaching the car. Blood-stainedblouses. Bloodied knives in hands. Haunting grinsmatching Charlie’s from earlier. I locked eyes withCharlie.” Paddy Lamont

“Pulling myself back into reality, I avoid machinegun fire, tracers across the night sky. Swervingbetween AA fire, they’re like fireworks,mesmerising, exploding in brilliant orange andblack around me. Planes fall like birds diving in fortheir prey, arrowing towards the ground.”James Bacon

“The phrase “humane slaughter” is an oxymoron;there is nothing compassionate about savagelybutchering perfectly healthy animals who are asterrified by the prospect as any human would be.” Eleanor Watson

“Reaching to his heart forthe ultimate judgement,his final action,disregarding the costsbut now it’s too late.” Ava Bryce

“The girl dancing across my screen is lithe andsexy. Big hair, big lips, big eyes. Shrouded in thegolden glow of her ‘bling filters’, she flashes herporcelain teeth and sharpened claws at me and 51.3million viewers.” Anya Sandhu

“Survey Log 9-13, 14:50 hours local time. I haveobserved a member of the dominant species on thisplanet. They didn’t notice me. They seemedengrossed by some kind of hand-held device.” Cameron Rodgers

“HALIMA- (Tenderly) My sweet girl, we continue tobetray each other – we women – at the behest ofmen. (Kneels and speaks passionately) We cut, andwe mutilate, and we betray in service to them. Likethey are Gods and we their playthings.” Eilidh Haughan

“He reminded me of the statues of Greek Gods,casually lounging. The profile of his face displayeda cold power, yet his body was nonchalantlyrelaxed. His hand carelessly slack with the weight ofthe wine glass, leaning on the table with sucharrogance.” Hana Monib


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Writing

“Deeds define us, make us.Exceptions, they are theRule. Posterity’s rule.” Lewis Dunipace

“From the few interactions I’d had with him, I couldalways tell he was out to ruin me; that smug smilehe always wore whenever he asked for the monthlysales reports, the way he would avoid making eyecontact or refuse to reciprocate a head-nod whenpassing by at least two thirds of the time.” Lewis Keates

“I can still see our brothers and sisters faces now,screaming in pain, as the US soldiers yanked themtowards that icy river. Monsters, all of them theyare all monsters. My eyes drifted from the redstained water to the rest of our destroyed land.” Miriam Akram

“I’m looking for my gun, which I’ve dropped on thefloor. I’m screaming my lungs out. My head isspinning. I feel sick. I can hear footsteps runningtowards the basement door. I’m trying to make outmy bearings. But darkness is all I see.” Rhys Williams

“The ancient fire of the stars forma window to the past, burning brilliant andeternal, yet too remote to light the night.”Stewart Alexander

“He looked a stranger to himself. He was, in a way.His life only existed in two chapters. The beginningand end. There was no middle. He was a differentperson entirely. Tired and empty.” Ria Tejwani

“The grey sidewalk is jagged and crooked, like anaddict’s gap-toothed smile; the dim street lampslight cataleptic men and women sleeping in tin foil,next to overflowing trash cans.” Tiana Aujla

“He mocks me – that Thief.Crystals sparkle on his hair, his lips,Like snowMelting to cold transparencies.” Manal Alam

“You sit as the world falls to turmoil around you,As everything on the planet spins,as you rocket through time, dimension and spaceAnd the reverberation of a fine string of tensionKeeps us together” Sifana Shahzad

“If you can’t erase something, then you have tolearn how to live with it. And if you’re not allowedto love people alive, then you learn how to lovepeople dead.” Freddy Russell

Alisha Chaudry Jock Ritchie


55

The Pin Cushion“Pick them back up and try again, Grace” came the criticalvoice from Mother. She raised her eyebrow in disprovaland let out a sigh. “You must learn this before your fathercomes home.”

“If I have so many books to carry, I ought to have a bag.”Grace shot back with a grin on her face. “ I would neverhave to do this in the real world.”

“Don’t be funny. Men won’t marry funny. Pick up yourbooks and try again.”

Grace obeyed. She stacked up the enormous novels ontoher head and began to walk up the stairs but before sheknew it, the books were back on the floor.

“Granny would have let me go play.”

“Play? Grace, you’re thirteen, you have no time to play.”

“Then I won’t play, I’ll do something else. I’ll sew.”

“You don’t know how to sew. You don’t need to knowhow to sew. You need to know how to walk properly.”

“Of course I can sew, and it’s an important skill too. Icould need that in the real world. Granny showed me howto sew. I can sew.”

“That’s quite enough out of you. You will not leave untilyou walk up the entire staircase with these booksbalanced on your head. Is that clear?”

“Yes mother.”

Moonlight peeked through the thin curtains and a springbreeze made Grace shiver in her nightgown. The smell ofrain-soaked wood drifted in the air. She crept up the stairs,and into her grandmother’s bedroom. Everything had beenleft untouched and a coat of dust laid on the delicatebedspread. Grace’s fingertips brushed a shelf holdingantiques and expensive looking objects. She moved overto the dressing table and eagerly opened each drawer andrifled through. A white lace pin cushion with a dozensewing needles and hat pins of all the colours andtextures.

She picked out one of the pins. A bright cobalt blue.Amazed by how sharp it was, she gently pushed the endinto her finger, and was mesmerised to see that iteffortlessly produced a scarlet bead that rolled down herskin. She felt vulnerable in a way she had neverexperienced before. Although she had previously watchedGranny sew, she had never been allowed to hold theneedle. She searched the drawer, but to her dismay, therewas no thread.

Grace’s morning tea had gone cold. All she could thinkabout was how excited she was to tell her mother about

Writing

Grace Gilbride Isha Mahmood


the beautiful pin cushion she had found. She finally heardthe cheerful greeting from her mother to all of the kitchenstaff. She sat down on the opposite side of theexcessively long dining table. She poured her tea andpicked up a slice of toast, humming to herself.

“So mother, you’ll never guess what I found yesterday!”

“What, darling?”

Grace could feel the cold pin in her hands under the table.

“I found Granny’s old pin cushion! The white one, youknow, with the lace and all the colourful pins.” Mother’sface looked confused at first, then angrier and angrier still.“Anyway I was thinking maybe -”

“No.”

“I just wanted to see -”

“No. I won’t have you sewing anything. You don’t need toknow how to sew anything. Besides, you don’t know howto sew and I won’t teach you.” She went back to focusingon her tea.

“I watched Granny sew multiple times. I can sew. I’msure of it. I will need these kinds of skills in the real worldwhen I grow up.” Grace fiddled with the pin cushionunder the table and muttered to herself “I can sew”.

“What do you know about the real world? I will neverunderstand why your grandmother liked to sew, but Iwon’t have you touching thread. It isn’t ladylike – youshouldn’t be using your hands. Proper women in this dayand age know it is about how you look rather than whatyou do.”

“I’m telling you, Mother, I can sew. I could makesomething really special.”

56

“Nobody cares about making something special. Go toyour room and don’t return until you have learned propervalues.”

Steaming and muttering to herself, Grace opened thecupboard door and found a whole array of colourfuldresses in a variety of fabrics and styles. She always likedher mother’s clothes but was never allowed this close.She pulled out a gold ballgown with feathers at thebottom. She had seen her mother wear it once. A dinnerwith some of her husband’s esteemed guests, she alwaysdressed up, naturally. The big jewellery and the loudmakeup paired with her favourite dress were alwaysenough of a statement that she didn’t say much herself.

Grace quickly laid the dress out on the floor and set outher pin cushion next to her. She reassured herself “I cansew”. She folded over the two sleeves to the middle ofthe fabric and pinned them together just above the finalseam. The sweet taste of vindication so close, she shakilythreaded a needle and began to sew. There wassomething oddly satisfying about the delicate threadsswimming in pools of gold silk. Grace lost herself in thebeautiful repetition of the up and down motion of theneedle. She was finished before she knew it. She pickedthe dress up by the shoulders and admired her handiwork.The sleeves of the dress were attached at the wrists, andGrace started to shake with excitement and vindication.Assessing her work, she pulled the dress over her headand adjusted the fabric over her body. Looking in themirror, she moved her hands back and forth, satisfied withthe tight grasp around her wrists. She pictured her motherstanding where she was now with her hands claspedtogether, startled, confused, incapacitated, but as gracefuland elegant as she always was.

After the struggle of taking it back off, she hung the dressback in the cupboard, careful to make it look as innocentas possible, whatever that meant. Browsing through therest of the dresses, she chose her next victim.

Delphie Nairn, S4

Writing

Annvita Gupta


57

Game Night

With bloodshot eyes, he scanned the living room, fromthe shards of broken glass bottles to the pack of fadedplaying cards. Slowly turning his pounding head to theother side of the room, he noticed an unexpected figurematerialise in his periphery. He staggered to his feet,swaying dangerously and struggling to focus.

Had he finally lost the plot?

Or was that who he thought it was?

Death.

“Took you long enough.” He said hoarsely.

Death looked amused. “Most people are terrified at theprospect of Death greeting them.”

He plastered a humourless smirk onto his face.

“I’m not here to reap you. It’s my day off.” She explained.

“Death gets breaks? Is there good pay, too? A Christmasbonus?”

Death’s amused expression didn’t waver. “Leading thedead to their afterlives is a tiring job. So yes, I get breaks.I usually spend it alone but, this time, I wanted to visitsomeone living.”

“It had to be someone who wouldn’t tell though.” Sheadded.

At this, the man furrowed his brow. “I don’t have manygames and the TV is broken.” He paused. Who was he torefuse an offer from Death? It’s not like he had anythingleft to lose. “How do you feel about poker?”

Death tilted her head inquisitively, empty socketsquestioning. “How do you play?”

A short while later, Death and he ended up sitting onopposite sides of the coffee table, each holding their handof cards while the rest of the deck and chips lay on thetable. They had decided that, considering neither of themhad money – and Death no use for it – that the man wouldbet a week of his life each round and Death an objectfrom his home that she found fascinating.

The concept that you didn’t need a face to showexpressions was one that entertained the man as, severalrounds later, Death’s pale skull was grinning widely at him,her dark hood pulled back and glimmering scythe thrownhaphazardly by her side. As they played, they took turnsasking questions.

Placing his winning cards on the table, the man finallyasked the question which he had been dying – a poorchoice of words on his part – to learn the answer to.

“Were you human once? It’s just that, you have a humanskeleton and your voice—” He broke off abruptly, thinkingthat he had crossed a line.

But Death smiled sadly. “I was human and, unsurprisingly,I wasn’t born with the name Death. That name comeswith the territory. It used to be Ava – means life. Ironic,isn’t it?”

The man listened intently as she recounted events fromher life, millennia-old memories hazy, only pausing to playher cards. Death, or Ava as she had once been called, hadbeen the first human to die, and although she wasn’t

allowed to disclose the events that followed, it was thenthat she became Death.

Pleased at winning the next round and now in possessionof the man’s Rubik’s cube, Death studied the curlingstickers with interest, slowly twisting it and listening tothe clicking of the blocks. As she fiddled with the cube,entranced, she wondered how humans could invent suchthings.

Death’s attention was pulled back by the man as hemotioned for her to play. She wanted to know more aboutthe man that had, with so much carelessness and ease,accepted her offer.

“Sorry.”

The man looked up from his cards, confused. “What for?”

“Your family.” If it was even possible, Death lookeduncomfortable.

He shook his head. “Not your fault, right? You do whatyou have to do.”

Now it was Death’s turn to look confused; people tendedto blame her for their losses.

“These were his cards. My brother’s – we played everySaturday. Haven’t touched them since he—you know. Butwho would I even play with?” He laughed dryly.

Death nodded and they quietly returned to their game.She went onto claim a yo-yo, thoroughly enjoying thespinning motions and satisfying bounce as it slowed to astop. Soon, she began to talk about aeroplanes, strugglingto form her thoughts into questions as her excitementtumbled into her words, stuttering slightly. Much to herdismay, the man was visibly unfamiliar with themechanics behind the invention.

“Why did you come to me?” The man asked, givingDeath a quizzical look. “I’m not successful or all thatintelligent. I don’t have much to offer.”

“Where else would I go?” Death replied. “My alternativesare equally as ridiculous as the next – the deceased, dyingand the knowledgeable.”

As it happened, the recently deceased weren’t willing totalk; more often than not following Death in a daze to theend (or whatever there was after death). Others werehysterical past the point of coherence. And even Deathwas empathetic enough to refrain from casuallydiscussing the intricacies of human whimsy with those ontheir deathbeds. As for the experts, well, the image ofDeath consulting a scientist was comical and if she had,the chances of them become unhinged were far higherthan the chances of them believing her.

“So I’m the only option?” He asked, jokingly, pushing hischips forward.

“Yes, actually.”

“In that case, I’ll be sure to find some more trinkets foryou.” He chuckled quietly, not missing the eager look onher face.

Hours had passed before the man was too tired tocontinue playing. His hands were limp and the cardsalmost slipping out of them. This didn’t go unnoticed by

Writing


Death who had momentarily forgotten about the conceptof sleep – understandable since it wasn’t something shehad needed for a few millennia.

“Can we play this— you called it poker?”

When he nodded, she continued. “Can we play it againnext week?”

He gave her a small smile which came out more like agrimace, but Death got the idea. “Sure. I might even findsome other card games.”

It’s not like he had anything terribly important to do, andDeath wasn’t such bad company.

From The Amazing Maurice ScriptBad Blintz in the town square guardhouse. A sound oftiny singing voices fades away, enter SergeantDoppelpunkt holding a bottle of beer. SergeantDoppelpunkt looks perplexedly at the bottle of beer for asecond and then stashes it out of sight as Corporal Knopfsteps in.

Corporal Knopf: Morning, sergeant. It’s that… (Stopsmid-sentence as he notices Sergeant Doppelpunkt’ssurprised expression lingering and his overall demeaneras though he was caught off guard by something) What’sup with you?

Sergeant Doppelpunkt: (Emphatically) Nothing,corporal! (Pauses to wipe his perspiring face) I certainlyhaven’t seen anything strange at all! (Quickly changingthe subject with the air of trying to avoid sayingsomething, reclaiming his certitude and authority) Why’reyou standing around? (Loudly; with ascendancy) Time toget those gates open, corporal!

Sergeant Doppelpunkt steps out of the guardhouse toopen the city gates. They open with the scrape of metalon hard ground, allowing the sunlight to stream through.But the golden light is blocked out by some shape – itsform not distinctly visibly as it is moving – causing a long

58

And that’s how their first meeting ended. The man hadthe misconception of having 3 weeks less to live, andalthough he wasn’t completely sober enough tocomprehend that, he wasn’t so sure he wanted that.Death on the other hand, left with a smile, a jumble ofmundane technology and the knowledge that the manwould live for longer. She had known from the start that,despite his reckless tendencies, he wasn’t ready to die.And now he wouldn’t; not soon anyway.

He had been cheated by Death.

Laibah Minhaj, S4

shadow to fall through the open gates. Quickly, theshadow is overtaken by what is now seen to be a manon horseback who rides on through the gate with somuch a second glance spared for either of the menstanding at it.

Corporal Knopf: Halt! What is your business here?The man on horseback does not stop, but continues toride to the town square, still wearing a light smile in hisexpression. The rider is solely dressed in black and whitegarments.

Corporal Knopf: All right, maybe you haven’t any actualbusiness, but it won’t cost you anything just to say whoyou are, will it?

The rider looks down at Corporal Knopf from his horse,then resumes staring straight ahead. A small covered,donkey-drawn wagon comes through the gates which anold man accompanies. Sergeant Doppelpunkt walkstoward the wagon resolutely, letting the black and whitedressed rider go while he attempts to stop the old maninstead.

Sergeant Doppelpunkt: (Decisively) Halt!

Maryam Majid, S2

Writing

Highlands

here in this sleeping realmyesterday is ancient historytomorrow is an unlikely futurean unmoving planetof trees and streamsan orbit of its owna silent symphonyof quasi-ideals and simple frames

*draw it roundthat staling sphereand start stopped time

uncork that highland springdrink its wine.

Aubrey McCance, S5

Sea storm

Waves beating and pushing the rocks with all their mightWind gusts causing stirring yet to put up a fight

With each wave the fragile ship was thrown and tossed Many sailors’ important commodities lost

The sky became darker and deeper with frightAtlas there was no light

Soon the ship broke into the deep blue Passengers afloat too

Waking up from a dreadful nightmare Crew left shaking with despair

They were lost on an island afar from realityQuestioning their only sanity

They took in their surroundings Seems as though it is quite a founding

Palm trees, heaven like sands and a sun that glows Nothing quite like this makes your heartbeat and flow likeit used to

All hope was thought forgotten Because of the tempests misbegotten

Chloe McDonald, S3


59

The last sip

The small town was abuzz with noisy familiesheading towards The Garreth, the transatlantic linerwhich would transport them to America, far from

the threat of the German bombers which darkened theskies of London. The whistling of trains arriving in thelocal train station pierced the air. Chaos surroundedpassengers who hurried, stumbling, towards the harbour.The sea glistened in the early morning sun and the saltypungent smell of dried seaweed wafted up from the bay.

As the people turned the corner at the end of the street,the children ran forwards to play on the stony beach,picking up shells and skipping stones, while from theadults a cacophony of shouts of excitement filled the airas they caught sight of the towering Garreth. The seabreeze swept through the crowd, embarrassing some ofthe ladies whose skirts flew up uncovering theirstockings and undergarments, much to the delight of thesailors on board who whistled to show their approval.

Two stewards in uniform with gold buttons sat at the topof the gangway in front of wooden tables marked ‘Cabin’and ‘Steerage’ and passengers filtered to left or rightaccordingly. Smiling, smartly dressed porters helped withtrunks and cases. ‘Move over! Out of my way!’ shriekeda dumpy sour-faced lady carrying a small white poodle ina carpet bag. The stewards looked at each other in aknowing way. Two men in bowler hats sitting on woodendeckchairs scanned the headlines of their newspapersand discussed rumours of German naval strategy in lowvoices under furrowed brows.

At 11.30am, the ship glided out into the sea leaving theharbour empty with only two cats and sleeping dog to beseen along with the two lithe suntanned sailors wrappingthe heavy ropes released by the ship. On board, thepassengers settled in, some having found the baralready, others trying to settle frightened or excitablechildren.

In the kitchen, work had already started on preparationsfor lunch. Danny the sommelier checked the Cabin classmenu cards: Oysters on half shell, Real Turtle Soup,Quail aux Muscat, Coffee with Petits Fours. Hewandered through his makeshift cellar looking for a whiteBurgundy. They would also need brandy and whisky andhe dusted off the bottles. ‘Isn’t it a bit early for whisky?’chuckled one of the chefs as Danny slid past. But Dannydid not hear him. He was too engrossed in his ownreminiscences about the bargain he had struck with hiscousin, Donald, to buy twenty bottles of Ransom whiskylooted, or ‘rescued’ as Donald preferred to call it, fromthe SS Politician earlier that year.

On deck, excited squeals heralded the arrival of a pod ofdolphins looping out of the water as if greeting the shipand her guests. The sun sparkled on the green sea and athin young boy jumped up and down pointing at a flock ofmigrating geese arrowing through the blue sky.

Lunch was served at promptly at 1pm. The percussiveclattering of cutlery complemented the soft music playedby the band. As the last child had his reluctant facecleaned by his mother, the dining room emptied andalmost everyone headed out to enjoy their afternoonactivities. Many of the passengers headed to the front ofthe boat to enjoy the views. Some children had found thedeck quoits and were noisily challenging each other tomatches. Suddenly, a harsh gust of wind slapped theguests and the sky darkened as if it was about to rain.The temperature dropped and people started to headinside. Only the ear-splitting cries of the seagullsfollowing the ship punctured the silence. One small boyin dark grey shorts and socks stood looking over therailings into the dark waters. He ran over to his father andanxiously tugged him towards the side. They peered intothe water silently. An enormous area, black as squid ink,lurked below them. It moved through the water like agiant sea monster hunting down its prey, but it seemedtoo big even for a whale. Initially the father thought itmust be the liner’s shadow, but the boy pointed out thatthe sun had gone behind the clouds. Slowly, slowly itglided off.

Suddenly, one of the sailors saw the shadow andshouted an alarm. Moments later a deep reverberationrose though the ship. For a few seconds, a snow-likesilence settled over the ship. All that could be heard wasthe gentle chopping of the waves. Then panic broke outas some of the passengers realised the ship had been hitand others struggled to understand what was happening.Parents shouted to their children, some ran to cabins torescue their most precious belongings, some ran to therailings to see what was happening. Sailors relayedshouts of ‘Starboard struck!’ Distracted stewardsdirected distraught passengers towards the lifeboats. AMayday call was sent out. Gradually, the boat started tolean to one side. Deckchairs slid across the deck andpassengers clutched on to the railings. As the lifeboatsfilled up, the stewards shouted ‘No baggage, nobaggage’ but the sour-faced lady heaved herself indefiantly clutching her carpet bag containing her caninestowaway. As the lifeboats cast off, some peoplejumped into the freezing water hoping to swim to safety.It became clear that there were not going to be enoughspaces on the lifeboats. The captain and some of thecrew stood helplessly on the listing deck. Some cried,some prayed in damp huddles of humanity. Danny feltcalm. He did not know why. The salty sea breeze ruffledhis hair. He held a bottle of Ransom whisky and twoglasses. He offered one to the captain and poured twolarge measures. He could not put into words the ironythat this bottle should be witness to two shipwrecks. AsDanny and the captain took their last sip, the Garrethheaved its last breath and sank slowly below the waves.

Millie Johnson, S4

Writing


Old

What’s it like to be old?The young girl asked

It’s like time has sped ahead of youBut yet stands stillDwelling on your years of youth knowingThat world lives only in your mindHolding onto your memoriesAs they fadeYour mind gets wiser but your bodyIs a prisonSeeing young people with abilityBut no willSoon to be trapped by the sameImminent endingAnd as each day ends you know deathCreeps closerBut as the world around you growsYou take joy, not envy,Desire freedom, and will welcomeendless sleep with open arms

That’s nice the girl yawnedAnd ran off to bed.

Rachel Leung, S3

60

Writing

From Puma

Over the mountains on whichSnow is piled high, and overThe valleys, over the banks of the rivers and the streamsFrozen by the rough winter, I set out.

At the rising of the sun, I stare out on to the skyline,The cliffs, the crevasses, and the half-broken ledges,Areas in which I had not,Dared venture before,

…

The landscape makes for a bleak picture,Painted white in its entirety,A thick sheet of snow. A once distinctive hillIs barely discernible from the others that surround it.

My paws the only marks in the otherwiseUntouched blanket that has been draped over The never-ending rolling hills, I move warily,So as not to become a victim of the winter.

Jacob Brown, S3

Haniya Zahid Siri Padmanabuni


61

YoungEnterprise


62

S6

S6 CommitteeThe S6 committee is formed of a group of pupils from S6and is led by the Head of Committee, Mrs Robertson.Our aim is to ensure the students in S6 have a smoothand enjoyable experience for their last year of school.Every Tuesday morning, we meet to discuss possibleimprovements and changes that have been brought toour attention by our fellow peers. We propose these toMrs Robertson, and she helps us put these changes intoplace. The most successful changes made this year was

Classy COVID-19 CoveringsIn October 2020, the annual S6 Young EnterpriseScheme began. We decided to make face masks andbegan sourcing the necessary materials. Mollydesigned the template for the face masks andhaving chosen three complementary fabrics, wewere able to start the project. Our sewing skills wereput to the test but we soon gained in experience andconfidence. We advertised on social mediaplatforms including Instagram and Facebook andtook orders from family, friends, the school and

Kingarth Street HelpersWorking with Kingarth Street for the past months hasbeen an amazing experience. Getting to teach, whileorganising lessons and activities for the primary school,has been very exciting and a interesting experience.

We worked in small teams to organise interactive eventsfor the primary school children which they would alsolearn and develop skills from. Some of these eventswere just learning activities or fun little videos which wethought the children might enjoy.

One of the most important parts of being a KingarthStreet helper is making sure you can relate with thepupils. To truly to get a feel to what might be of interestto the pupils, you must be able to remember back to

S6 BuddyingWe all know the transition into secondary schoolcan be particularly daunting for younger pupils. Ourrole as S1/2 buddies has been to help make thisexperience more comfortable and enjoyable,offering our support and guidance along the way.Since being allocated a Form class at the start of theyear, we have all loved preparing weekly games andquizzes for them and hearing their feedback. Despitenot being able to meet the class in person due toCOVID-19, communicating through videos has

the introduction of the S6 Friday coffee morning, whichthe students loved, and having “Tie Tuesdays” during thefirst term. Throughout this time, I have thoroughlyenjoyed being part of the committee, being able to seethe positive improvements we have made as a team isvery rewarding and I would strongly recommend it toothers thinking of getting involved.

Kate Rennie, S6

wider community. We sold 180 masks raising £670and this enabled us to support the school’s charity“Funding Neuro”. We would like to thank ourmentor, Ms Luker, for all her advice and guidance.We all loved the experience of running our ownbusiness and we had lots of fun and many laughsalong the way.

Laura Mackie, S6

when you were at primary school and think about whattype of content would have appealed to you. In a sense,helping with the pupils at Kingarth Street really brings outa nostalgic sense of childhood youth but also allows youto, in some ways, provide yourself as a sort of guide forthe pupils: to be the type of role model you would havewished to have had as a young child.

Despite the limited face to face interactions between usand the primary school children, due to the COVID-19restrictions, being a Kingarth Street helper has reallybeen an exceptional journey to embark on and was also alearning experience for me as well.

Rayaan Syyed, S6

proved to be great fun. During the lockdown manyof us have also been keeping in touch with ourdesignated class by regularly video-calling them tosee how they have been coping with the manychanges. Overall, being able to give back to theschool community by being an S6 Buddy has beenincredibly rewarding and we wish the S1/2s the verybest of luck in the years to come.

Harini Kumar, S6


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S6

PrefectsDespite the unusual circumstances of this year, being aprefect has still been a wonderful and truly memorableexperience! It has been extremely rewarding to hold thisposition of responsibility which presents such an amazingopportunity to give back to our school community.Additionally, I have found that being a prefect allowed meto meet with the senior staff and gain a deeper insightinto the smooth operation of our school. However, what Iloved the most was having the chance to collaborate withmany individuals outside my own circle, and consequently

S6’s last day of schoolIn a year where many events were restricted orcancelled, the final academic day became the highlight ofthe year for S6. We started with our shirt signing and ayear group photo before heading to Auldhouse for theafternoon. A barbecue courtesy of Mr Dewar served foodwhile Mr Scott offered live music as our DJ. As manytook photos together or sat down on the grass andrelaxed in the brilliant weather, other took part in footballmatches or threw a frisbee the length of the rugbypitches. As the afternoon continued, it came time for the

water balloons and water guns to take charge, withpupils and staff alike being soaked in good fun. By thetime we returned to school at the end of our final day,some were covered in face paint, others countedthemselves lucky to have been spared from the waterfight, but all of us left with smiles and laughter after a funfarewell to our final year at Hutchie.


build countless new friendships. What I have learned isthat there is no model prefect: every individual broughtsomething unique to our team. So, whatever your skillset, friendship group or interests I strongly encouragethose in the lower years to grasp this opportunity whichhas truly been one of the highlights of my 6th yearexperience.

Iona Symon, S6


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S6


65

Another event that has beenable to take place is SportsDay, a full day revolvingaround fun for P1-P7.

Amelia Burns


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Kingarth Street

Clubs

Science Week Innovations

Innovation is about makingsomething new and better out ofother things that have already beeninvented. It can mean puttingdifferent inventions together, usingan invention in a new way, orchanging it. It can mean makingsomething that people don’tnormally like doing, fun. Innovationmeans new ways of doingsomething so that it is easier, morefun or imaginative. It can meansparking new ideas and letting crazyideas come to life! This year, we

Pre-school

looked at innovation during ScienceWeek. The infants made their ownlockdown games using games theyalready like and ideas of their own.They brought them into school andplayed them with their friends. InPrimaries 4-7, children designedinnovations that they would like tosee at Kingarth Street. Theseincluded first aid playground robots,singing hand sanitisers and soundeffect recycling bins! We hope to seesome come to life!

Cassie Lyall, P4B

Innovation means new ways of doing something so that it is easier,...


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Kingarth Street

House

Stuart House ReportSuper Captains

Thank you to all the captains; Imogen, Felix,Daisy and Findlay for helping with all theassemblies and events.

Tremendous Prizes

Over this year many bonus points have beenwon and the quack has been awarded. Wewill know the cloak winner at the end of theyear.

Unimaginable students

Lockdown has not been easy for everyone,but Stuart house has pushed through thesedifficult times with perseverance andindependence.

Amazing effort

Thank you to all of you for always puttingyour best effort in to everything and alwaystrying your hardest.

Responsible children

Being responsible is a very important skill,and it gets more important as you move upthrough the school, but that doesn’t meanyou can’t have fun!

Terrific teachers

Thank you to all the Stuart staff for you helpand cooperation throughout the year,especially Mr McCrossan!

Argyll House

This year Argyll has not had a chance to really gettogether because of restrictions but the things we havedone together have been great. Not all of you will knowus because we haven’t had many house assemblies toget to know the House well. If you didn’t know our houseand vice captains well their names are Charlotte Savage,Nitin Karthigayan, Ella Hopkins and Michael Lenagh. Thehouse and vice captains are all very nice and will helpanyone who needs help.

Since next year will hopefully have fewer restrictions forcoronavirus, we will be able to do more things to help usearn more bonus points. We are third place, but we arestill counting. We have had some events like sports daywhich got us house points. Still, we have not won in overthirteen years, but we are hopeful we will win very soon.

We also have the best house mistress, Mrs. Waugh, whois always very supportive and helps all of us in Argyll andwe could not do nearly as much without her.

Charlotte Savage, Nitin Kathigayan, Ella Hopkins

and Michael Lenagh (all P7)

Lochiel House

Although it has been a crazy year for all of us, Lochiel hasstayed the same kind and friendly House it has alwaysbeen. This year as House Captains we have not had thesame experience as the previous House Captains, but wehave still enjoyed every minute of it. Our House Mistress,the lovely Mrs Unkles, has always been there for us andwilling to give us a helping hand.

It has been an incredible year for bonus points, and wehave done very well and have a chance of winning theHouse Cup. Our bonus points have ranged from ’doing akind act’ for example helping a teacher or holding a dooropen for someone. Or it could be as exciting as winning abig tennis competition.Lochiel is one big family and even though it was hard inlockdown we got through it and nothing has stoppedLochiel – even going into lockdown. Although we have nothad House days this year, we all remember everyone’sfavourite part that we all enjoyed when the scores on thedoors were revealed! We will miss being in Lochiel atKingarth Street, but we will always remember it.

Amelia Paton, Blake Burnett, Morgan Cleland and Rowan

Purcell (all P7)

Montrose HouseDuring this very unprecedentedyear, being captains has been a lotharder than we expected, but wepulled through together, as a Houseand most importantly, as a family.We may not have been able toorganise some of our usualactivities, however, we found a wayto make the year as much fun aswe could within the restrictions. One of the events thatwe have had is the P7 Sports Heats, a competitive Housecompetition featuring many races including a 200m race,mile cup and many more. Another event that has beenable to take place is Sports Day, a full day revolvingaround fun for P1-P7. Other than sports events, weusually have House assemblies and House days, but dueto COVID-19, we found an alternative way to show otherMontrosians what was going on in the school. We hadlots of fun creating PowerPoints and enjoyed presentingnews and activities fellow Montrosians could take part in.Even though this year has been extremely difficult formost and we were not able to do all the usual things thatwe would normally be able to do it has been a successfulyear in many ways for this House. Many of you managedto complete your Junior Dukes and receive your badgesand bonza bonus points which really helps the House andputs us closer to fulfilling our goal and winning the Housecup. Despite this hard year, we still had the Montrosespirit and rose to the challenge. The House Captains aremoving up to the senior school but we hope that you keepup the great teamwork. Good luck!

By Leo Skilling, Zara Mohammed, Daniel Sim

and Daisy Srivastava. (all P7)


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Kingarth Street

P1


69

Kingarth Street

P3

P4Chapter 1: JackJack Swift rode slowly but steadilyonto the creaky drawbridge. Hershort red hair was bouncing up anddown. Her shiny armour shone in theafternoon sun and felt heavy on heraching shoulders. The muddy moataround her was still. She had beenthere for over three exciting monthsand still no one knew her precioussecret: She was really a girl!Everyone thought she was a boy buteveryone, including the Lord, waswrong.

As she rode towards the giganticcastle the rusty wooden door camedown for her. It creaked as it fell infront of her brown silky horse. In shewent, into the stone courtyard. Jackwent around to the stables and

jumped off her horse. “There yougo,” whispered Jack to the horse,then she walked into the magnificentcastle.

She looked at the huge, colourfultapestries in the beautiful Great Hall.Jack loved them. Suddenly, the Lordsaw her. “Get to your room NOW!”He shouted. “Yes sir,” said Jack inthe gruffest voice she could. Jackhurried off to her room. It was quite asmall room. Actually, it was a verysmall room however when Jack wasin there it made her feel safe. On hertable were letters from her family,whom she missed very much. Jackwalked over to window. Outside shesaw the lush, green fields of theKingdom and busy people in the

market. She fought for them all, Jackwas proud of that.

Jack heard the screech of the darkcrows and the bustle of people in themarket, then for some strangereason, she thought of her sister.Catherine was terribly sick andneeded money for medicine and thatis why Jack had left to be a knight.Suddenly, the smell of steak pie fromthe kitchen filled her nose. Jacksnapped out of her day dream andsmiled. She loved steak and sheloved pie. That juicy meat withcrumbling pastry, she couldn’t waitfor dinner, with the Lord and Ladyand the other knights.

Cassie Lyall, P4B


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Castle Story Chapter 3: The PlotSinging and laughter filled The Great Hall andfortunately, the pleasant sounds echoed, and it wasabsolutely joyous. While servants were dashing andrunning around, nobody noticed Elsa in the corner ofthe room. Thinking and plotting a plan quietly as shewhispered to herself. “Carefully sneak into The Lady’sroom; take her evening dress, the one that she willchange into after supper, and destroy it”. Elsa had anevil smile on her face while she rubbed her handstogether. “This is my master plan! I want Hattie out! Iwant her role! I want a connection with The Lady sobadly!” Elsa cackled. Who would have known that thiswas likely or even going to happen?

Shortly after, Elsa slipped out of the room, quicklyglancing around and behind her constantly, she hurriedup the cold and narrow staircase. Trembling, she turnedthe doorknob of The Lady’s chamber and scrambled infrantically, searching for the dress. Sneakily, she pulledthe wardrobe doors open and grabbed the beautiful,elegant lace dress. She darted around peering into

cabinets and drawers and to her luck, she found a pairof scissors. Her eyes lit up viciously and then shebegan to snip! She heard noises outside and feared forher life and as the noise drew nearer, she panicked andunfortunately, knocked over a candle. “OH MY GOSH!What have I done!” she cried. Her plan had gonehorribly wrong. Just then Hattie scurried in…Shecouldn’t believe her eyes and immediately started toyell. “HELP! HELP! FIRE! THERE’S A FIRE! HELP!HELP US!” Nobody could hear them. Elsa grippedHattie’s hand tightly and shouted, “What have youdone, you wretched girl?”

Hattie froze for a while and could not fully understandwhy someone would do such a cruel thing. The firestarted to spread and both of them were screaminguncontrollably. Finally, Hattie pulled herself together,sped down the corridor and managed to raise thealarm. Hattie knew she had to fix this. Elsa was theother problem! Why? Why? Why?

Iona Tsang, P4B

Castle Story Chapter 3 – The Deserted DungeonsWith a sense of trepidation, we approached the solitaryand melancholy old castle. Somewhere in the bowels ofthe castle was our mother and we were going to get her!

“Come on Agnes we can access the dungeons throughmy chamber,” Robert whispered. “I will smuggle you inas my servant.” Robert threw me a servant’s uniformand together we slipped silently into the forebodingfortress. Robert’s chamber was richly decorated with allsorts of tapestries and embroidery. In the corner of theroom there hung the most intricate tapestry of them alldepicting the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Iinhaled sharply in surprise as Robert proudly flung backthe tapestry revealing an ancient, oak door. Creaking, thedoor swung open revealing an oppressively dark tunnel.Crawling cautiously, we felt our way through the narrowpassage. Finally, we pushed through to a dark dingyplace. We could barely see. It was dimly lit which gave ita slightly eerie look about it. The meandering maze ofgoal cells was disorientating. We jumped in shock as ablood curdling scream reverberated around the dungeonchambers. Torture, I thought grimly.

In hushed whispers we decided to split up and searchthe dungeon for signs of our mother however our searchwas to no avail. There appeared to be no femaleprisoners. We stared at each other in dismay. Whateverwere we to do next? Just then, loud voices could beheard fast approaching down the corridor. Panicked, wefled to the nearest crevice in the dungeon wall and

covered ourselves with our cloaks, listening all the while.Peeping guardedly out from our cloaks we saw two burlyguards ambling towards us. One of the guards, Irecognised as my best friend’s brother. They were soclose now I could hear clearly what they were saying.

“It’s a miracle she’s still alive down there,” muttered oneof the guards. “I think it’s beyond cruel what LordMelbourne has done to that poor woman, all alone andlocked up in the deepest dungeon. The only access isdown through the hidden staircase which no one knowone knows about because it’s hidden in the last gaol cell.No one would guess that you just need to press the brickin the back wall to reveal the staircase. We must be theonly ones and Lord Melbourne who know where thatpoor soul is kept hidden,” the other guard replied sadly.

As their footsteps echoed away, we leapt out of ourhiding place and exclaimed, “So that’s where she mustbe kept!” Frantically, we rushed towards the last gaolcell which was thankfully empty and searcheddesperately for the brick that the guards had mentioned.There was one brick which protruded ever so slightlyfrom the wall. Robert vigorously pushed the brick. Thewall moved, revealing a steep, stone, spiral staircase.Eagerly, we descended. To our horror, at the bottom ofthe staircase, we were met by the stern, sinister gaze ofLord Melbourne.

Josephine Paintin, P4B

The wall moved, revealing a steep, stone,spiral staircase.…


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King of the WorldCuriouser and curiouserI climbed upwards To the top of the world.From my perch on a fragile branchI was king of the world.Swaying in the wind The tree began to creak.Tumbling through the airI fell to the groundAnd I could feel the cold concrete on mycheek.Curiosity had nearly killed me.Good job I have another eight lives.Miaow.

Charlie Buchan

Chapter 3: The Battle of KingarthUnfortunately, Adam did not get a wink of sleep. He wasfull of excitement mixed with nerves along with the loudnoises echoing around the castle with everyonefrantically preparing for tomorrow’s big Battle of Kingarth.

Fortunately, the early morning came quickly. Adam wasall set to go so he raced downstairs to the courtyardwhere Robb’s armour and his horse were waiting to beprepared. Adam got to work immediately. As the sunrose, he heard the army of Knights heading towards thecourtyard. Adam nervously handed Robb his shinyarmour and helped him up on his horse. Adam followedbehind him. Robb was not a man of many words so henodded his head politely. Did this mean Adam did well?

As they galloped through the drawbridge headingtowards the battleground the beating of the drums gotlouder and louder and flags were wildly waving in thewind. Within minutes the battle began. Swords wereclashing, screams were roaring, and a mixture of bloodand mud were flying everywhere. Adam was always nextto his master, they both fought courageously impressingeach other.

Unfortunately, Adam was unprepared for what wascoming next.... A squire boy came up from behind toattack Adam. Adam was too quick and turned to knockthe boy flat down on the floor using his shield. The boylooked up crossly and stared at Adam and then shouted,“Arya is that you?” Adam looked at the boy and realisedit was his evil cousin Goffery. Adam felt sick and he felthis face turn strawberry red. When growing up Arya and

Goffery hated each other because Goffery was jealous ofArya. He made her life a misery so she was glad whenher family moved away from the village. She thought shewould never see him again.

“SHE’S A GIRL! SHE’S A GIRL!” he angrily shoutedfrom the top of his voice. Robb turned around and lookedAdam up and down in silence.

Ruby Rakhra, P4B

Persuasive Writing: Screen Time in LockdownAlthough not everybody would agree, I think thathaving more screen time in lockdown is helpful forchildren.

I have several reasons for arguing this point of view.My first reason is that digital devices let you keep intouch with your friends in tough times when you can’tsee them in real life. It is very important for children toplay, have fun and enjoy themselves. A further reasonis that children always enjoy screen time. I like screentime. Do you? I have loved being able to contact myfriends and family.

Some people blame increased screen time for obesity

in children, but there is little evidence to support this.Furthermore, many games or Apps make you exerciseor move. Also, it is mostly what you eat that makes youfat.

Finally, Unicef’s report, “Growing up in a ConnectedWorld”, says what children do and see online is moreimportant than screen time.

In conclusion, I think I have shown that screen timeduring lockdown is helpful for children in these stressfulworking times.

Max Lavelle, P4B

I like screen time. Do you? I have loved beingable to contact my friends and family.…


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P5

Ewan’s FUNdraising book!

Ewan Leitch of P5M wrote and illustrated his own humorous story based onone of his favourite series, “Tom Gates” by Liz Pichon, for World Book Day2021. Not only did he get creative with words and pictures, he also had theidea to sell copies to his neighbours to raise money for the school charity,Funding Neuro. Very enterprising all round!

P6

Aboriginal Art

For our Australia topic, we learned all about theAboriginal people being the oldest living culture in theworld. We liked finding out how stories have beenpassed down through the generations and how it’s quitenew that their stories have been made into art. Wethought it would be fun if we had a go at making someAboriginal art ourselves. It was very good fun. Althoughthe paint dots smudged easily, we liked using a mixtureof their symbols to create our own stories in dotty art.

“I was happy with the way mine turned out.” Rachel Jauhar, P6

“I wasn’t because it didn’t turn out the way I thought itwould.” Ellie Holmes, P6

Beantastic!

Instead of a normal Advent calendar, Mrs Waughbrought in the contents of hers for us to share.Every day, there was another bag of eight jellybeans. Some were tasty and some were disgusting.We didn’t HAVE to do it but we all WANTED to do it!

It was an event that happened every morning and,while eight of us stood nervously with a bean in ourhand, the rest of the class watched on nervously!Most of us felt quite sick at times but we were allvery relieved when we got a good bean. The worstbeans were Skunk spray, Raw fish, smelly socks andvomit!

Scott Gilmour and Idris Bhatti, P6

Ewan Leitch of P5M wrote and illustrated hisown humorous story based on one of hisfavourite series …


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Junior Bake offDuring Lockdown, everyone seemed to be baking alot and we talked about it on our Teams calls.Because of that, and because nobody was goingaway anywhere during the February week, we had aJunior Bake Off.

There were twenty-seven entries in the week with avariety of cookies, sponges, show-stoppers,traybakes. The photos were delicious!

Mrs Waugh found it very hard to judge so she madeup lots of categories and lots of us won bakingprizes! Some children found baking very satisfyingand others felt happy and excited that their bakesturned out so well.

Joshua Young and Anna Green, P6

I felt quite amazing when I found out my chocolate log cake won!Joshua Young

I loved getting to use some of the icing cutters that I got for Christmas! I

made a fairy house with lots of flowers and it won the Show-Stopper

category!Livvi Hardwick

P6 Girls’ HockeyUp until Christmas, every Thursday, after school,we went to the high school to play hockey. It wasalways really good fun and it didn’t matter what theweather was like, we still played (unless it wassnowy).

One normal day, the bus did not arrive so we had towalk! It took up about half of our hockey time whichwas annoying. Still fun though.

Anna Green, Alyssa Lavelle and Imaan Iqbal, all P6

Saturday Rugby

First Day of Uniform Junior Duke Knitting Lori


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Parachutes

When we were learning about Forces in Science, thewhole of P6 made parachutes out of different types ofmaterials. We worked out that we could only changeone thing about our three parachutes to keep it fair.We used things like bin bags, tinfoil and fabric. Weattached highlighter pens to the strings from ourparachutes as weights then dropped them off thebalcony. We worked in groups of three to drop, timeand record each drop. It was really good funespecially when the parachutes didn’t work and justfell down rapidly, hitting the ground, killing the bravehighlighter soldiers! There was lots of running up anddown the stairs!

Alyssa Lavelle and Livvi Hardwick, both P6

Best Catapult Creation 2020

Kingarth Street

VictoriansWhen we were in Lockdown number two, we did abook study to learn about a boy called Jim Jarviswho lived on the streets of London during theVictorian times. We learned that even though life onthe streets was horrible and cold and scary and thatliving in a workhouse was not nice, there were verykind people as well.

We had to work hard at home being a DomesticServant so that we could find out what it would havebeen like. Some of us didn’t do as many jobs as weshould have and some of our parents thought we

should have been fired! We didn’t like the idea ofhaving to move away from home to get a job likethat. We would not have liked to have lived in theVictorian era!

In the book, at the end, Jim Jarvis met a kind Doctorcalled Doctor Barnardo. It was a good bit of the storyand we were all very surprised when we found outthat what he did was actually true!

Louise Williamson and Arissa Iqbal, both P6

Flora Victorian Parlour Maid


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Is friendship the greatest treasure?

Dear Mrs Ritchie,

I think that friendship is the greatest treasure becausemoney can’t ever bring people as much happiness thanhaving a true, loyal and trusting friend that you may haveforever. Some people do try to use money and fame,treasure and power instead of friends but, it will never bebetter than having a friend and you will end up lonely.Friends are there when you are sad or lonely. You mayhave money and be able to buy treasure, but you willnever be able to buy a true friend because they have to beearned.

Kindest regards

Livvi

Dear Mrs Ritchie,

I don’t think friendship is the greatest treasure because Ithink my family is. Friendship is a good treasure but yourfamily is related to you and you live with them. I havemissed my friends during lockdown but I still think myfamily is more important to me.

Yours sincerely,

Kamran Saleem

Ellie’s special skill is that she has longarms! She was able to get the tennisball from through the hedge becausenobody else could reach.

Anna’s special skill is being strong andhaving a good grip because she canopen my flask when I can’t.(Hadiyah Bashir)

Dear Mrs Ritchie,

I think friendship is the greatest treasure because you canplay with it, you can go places with it, you can haveparties with it and you can laugh with it. It is just fun toget to know other people and their personalities, thethings they like and you don’t need a special treasure mapto find it.

From

Joshua Young

Kingarth Street

My dad has special building skills and hehelps my brother and me to fix tech aswell as to build dens and rafts.(Joshua Young)

I was stuck on a Music task one day inLockdown and Imaan used her specialkindness and musical skills to help me.(Anna Green)

Elouisa’s special skill is being kind andcaring because she took me to Matronwhen I fell and skinned my knee in theplayground(Ameerah)

Ameerah’s special skill is being so goodat Maths. She went on Facetime andhelped me to understand things duringLockdown.(Elouisa Kerr)

Lucas’s special skill is being so tall. Hehelped me to get a ball out of a tree!(Kamran Saleem)

Rachel’s special skill is being so small.When I dropped a pencil down the sideof the bed, she was small enough to gounderneath to get it!(twin brother, Michael Jauhar)

Scott’s special skill is being reallymathematical. He helps me with thethings I don’t understand.(Paul Baird)

Special Skills to make others feel happy

Key Worker


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Starting back after five months off schoolWe were not in school from March 2020 until Augustso going back to school seemed a bit of a shock.Coming back into the building was quite exciting anda bit nerve racking. Some people seemed quitenervous about catching Coronavirus but things weredifferent from normal in school so you could tell thatwe were being kept safe from germs. We had specialentrances for each year group, we could only playwith our own year group and each year was given aseparate part of the playground to play in, there wastape along all of the corridors and stairs so thatpeople walk in the right direction and on the properside of the tape, we had to stop off and sanitise ourhands before going anywhere and there weredifferent times we got to leave school to meet ourparents at the end of the day.

Benefits of Home Schooling

It was good to be off school because you could see yourfamily more often. Also you could get more exercise. Butwhat was REALLY good was that it was during winter andit snowed a LOT which meant that all the children couldgo outside and make snowmen, igloos, have snowballfights and even go out sledging! When we weren’t doingthat, we were doing our home schooling but, even then,we could to it in any order we wanted!

Ameerah Hanif and Elouisa Kerr, both P6

The Downsides of Home Schooling

I didn’t like having to stay at home. I found it hard tocommunicate with my friends and the rest of my family.The most annoying thing was when the WiFi didn’t workand you couldn’t get on the calls or see which work youwere meant to do. That felt stressful. I felt trapped insidemy house and couldn’t go to any restaurants. When I didgo out of my house one day on my bike, I fell off andbroke my wrist.

Hadiyah Bashir, P6

The Boy Who Biked the World

For two weeks of home schooling, we did a shorttopic on the second book in The Boy Who Biked theWorld trilogy. We learned a lot about the geography,animals, foods, clothing, glaciers and lifestyles ofSouth America. It is VERY different from our liveshere in Scotland. They don’t really have shops to buythings, they have to grow their own food!

The boy in the book is called Tom and, when thingsgot too hard for him, he changed the way hethought about things and just aimed to ride for onemore mile. It is a good lesson for us too when thingsseem really hard.

We were given about ten challenges for eachchapter and we uploaded all of our work onto a‘Padlet’ page which was cool because we could seeeverything that the rest of the class was doing.

I think it looked really exciting and I would like to goto some of those places but I wouldn’t want to cyclearound the whole world like the boy in the book!

Kamran Saleem, P6

Kingarth Street

In the classroom, things were quite normal but,instead of sitting in groups, we all had to face thefront. Also, we had to sit next to the same person inclass, in Art, in Music, in ICT and in Languages. It gota bit boring!

We thought it was very exciting that we were the firstchildren to get to play on the grass in front of theschool but, once the rain came, it got soft and muddyso we weren’t allowed on it which was annoying.

Lewis Burns and Paul Baird, both P6

James Linblade


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EarthI think back to a time when my grasses grew greenI think back to a time when each creature that livedon me was freeI think back to a time when my air was muchcleanerI think back to a time when my ice stood strongI think back to a time when my oceans were notplagued with plasticI think back to a time when I was coated with forestsI think back to a time before it all went wrong.

Eleanor Hart, P6M

From a human

Do not boss me But do not leave me with no instructionsDo not try to trick me, for I will often guess it is a lie But do not think that will always be the caseDo not forget that my bark is worse than my biteBut do not forget that I still have oneDo not assume things about me but do not ask me everytime For I am a human.

Eleanor Hart, P6M

HopeThe match that lights the fireThe spark that lights the flameThe stubborn niggle that refuses to give into despair anddefeatThe thing that spreads from person to personPlace to placeHeart to heartThe thing that can change a person a, a place a country, acontinent, the world.

Eleanor Hart, P6M

Sleep

Its warm embrace envelops you as you

snuggle in its layers

Whilst dreams dance around your head

And yet, it often seems impossible to reach.

Eleanor Hart, P6M

Holly Macintosh Leo Duman P5U

Kingarth Street


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P7

Activities WeekThis year the Primary 7 pupils did not get to go toNewlands because of COVID-19 restrictions and soinstead we had a Primary 7 activities week. On Mondaywe did team-building activities at Cartha Rugby Club.There we all had to work together in our teams totransport water from one bucket to another one or findour way blindfolded to the other end of the pitch. OnTuesday we went to Auldhouse, where there wereactivities like dodgeball and bouncy castles. Some peoplewent to Go Wild where they lit fires and built dens. OnWednesday we climbed Conic Hill together. There were

some great views, but everyone got a bit wet! OnThursday, the people who had not been to Go Wild wentthere and then we went sailing and raft building –everyone got very wet in the water. Finally on Friday wedid Taskmaster, where we had to use teamwork to turnover a rug with all of us on it, among other things. Wealso went kayaking on Friday, which was great fun.Activities Week was wonderful.

Ella Hopkins, P7S

P7 visit to Beaton Road

The 16th June saw Beaton Road abuzz with over 100Primary 7s – the new S1 had come to visit. Everyonemet their new House team – and each other – withinitial presentations on a day in the life of an S1 and avirtual tour of the school. Then to team building!Even those who looked a little shy an hour beforewere soon right in the mix of things as we challengedeveryone to get to know one another through gamesand activities. All left full of hope and excitement forthe new adventure ahead in August…

S6 Montrose Team

Bikeability Award

Kingarth Street


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CuriosityIs curiosity good for you? That is the question we aregoing to discuss today. Curiosity is the part of the brainthat makes us interested in something and we want tofind out more. Although it does sometimes have itsdownsides.

First of all, we should talk about the fact that withoutcuriosity life would never change. There wouldn’t beany inventors because they wouldn’t be curious to findthe solution to something that annoys them. Nobodywould be interested to make light for when it is dark.We would also not have any scientists because theywouldn’t be curious and trying different ideas that couldgo either very well or terribly wrong.

I would also like to touch on how dark the world wouldbe without curiosity. Nobody would ever ask questionsor be social with other people and no person wouldever ask you what you did on the weekend becausethey just weren’t curious enough. You wouldn’t be ableto learn much because if you didn’t understand it firsttime round then you wouldn’t be curious enough to askhow to do it.

On the other hand, being curious can lead to us findinginformation that we just don’t want to hear because itmakes us sad or uncomfortable about something. Thisis one of the reasons people don’t like being curiousbecause we get answers to questions that we didn’twant asked in the first place. This can be upsetting.

The other reason is about being nosy. People don’t likea nosy person because they are invading their privacy.But really we are all that nosy person inside. Forexample if you tell a child not to press the big, redbutton on a big stand that says do not touch on it, whatdo you think their first impulse will be? To press thebutton. So, is curiosity good or is it something weshould get rid of?

I personally think that curiosity is a good thing thathumans have because like I said before the worldwould be a sad, dark, boring, miserable place to live. Iam sure my first two points will back me up here. Asfor the others, well if the odds are stacked against youdon’t do it but if not then what’s to stop you taking therisk?

Callum Kerr P7M

My entire life can be summed up in one sentence:

Well, that didn’t go as planned!

Monday (Dear God, no)

Mondays are the worst! You wake up at 7.00 AM with that horrible taste of last night’s SpaghettiBolognese left in your mouth. Next thing you know, your body is as frozen as a fridge and youcan’t wake up OR move.

Ok! Ok! Maybe I’m over exaggerating. I really should try and open my heart to Mondays! NOPE!Mondays are awful and there is nothing, WE, AS HUMANS, can possibly do.

There are plenty of reasons I can’t sleep on Sunday nights, like maybe I’m scared of school orfriends or working or MAYBE my teacher marks a task as done at 3 o’clock in the morning and youget a notification on your phone, LOUDER THAN AN ELEPHANT BLOWING ITS TRUNK!

That bad night’s sleep then leads to being really tired the next day or sick and then you don’t getmuch work done. My Monday isn’t much better. I managed to get to the end of the day, thenthere I was walking to the open door, I got it slammed right into my face (IT HURT A LOT).

As I sit here writing, I can still feel the lump on my eyebrow and the dust on my BRAND NEWGLASSES! Here’s hoping tomorrow is better.

Tuesday (Getting better)

Leo Skilling P7K

Kingarth Street

I personally think that curiosity is a good thing that humans havebecause like I said before the world would be a sad, dark, boring,miserable place to live.


‘This above all, to thine own self be true.’

Shakespeare, a famous playwright, wrote the quote,‘This above all, to thine own self be true.’ This meansthat we should be true to ourselves. Shakespeare wasborn on the 23rd April in Stratford-Upon-Avon which isin England. He barely had time for his family, but hewas following his true self. In Hamlet (a play written byShakespeare) he trusted his friends and followed hisheart to kill his uncle so maybe not kill your uncle, butthis is a good quote to live by.

During lockdown there were many ups and downs,and rules that forced us to not be ourselves but therewere other opportunities that helped us to beourselves. During lockdown an opportunity to bemyself was laid right in front of me. I love baking butbecause I don’t always have the time, I don’t bake toooften but because of lockdown I got the chance tobake cakes, pancakes, cupcakes etc. which I liked.

There were times where my brother annoyed me. I wasmy true self when he came in and annoyed me!

Then there were times when you couldn’t see anyone,and you couldn’t be yourself, so you had to put on abrave face for the sake of your sibling and everyoneelse. I think there are times when you shouldn’t be yourtrue self because it can sometimes hurt other people, soyou need to be cautious of what you say and of whatyou do.

In conclusion, I think that this is a very powerful phrasethat inspires you to be more yourself, but to also becareful keeping in mind everyone else’s true self andeven though we might not agree with them we shouldrespect other people’s true self.

Daya Baryah, P7S

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Lockdown Poem

Living in lockdown is very hard!Opening our doors, is impossible to do.Covering our faces.Staying at home whenever possible.Don’t see your friends, you might have it!On your laptop doing your work.With your family, all the time!When can it be back to normal?

George Dowell, P7K

We are in LockdownPermanent padlock on doorsNo friends can come round

Rory Matthews, P7K

Lockdown

The sky is dark and grey.The moon is out so early.We are locked insideWith nothing to do.It is so terribly stressful.Our parents have workWe have schoolThey can’t keep up with it all.At least we still have Subway,Cafes and hot chocolate too.This is never ending For me, my family and you too.

Skye Finlayson, P7K

Lockdown Lockdown We’re all Bored!

Lockdown! Lockdown!Stay at homeOpen your windowsDo some choresDon’t be frightenedWe are with you allLockdown, LockdownIt’ll soon be gone!

Vibha Thorat, P7K

Kingarth Street

LOCKDOWNHAIKU


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Kingarth Street

Kingarth StreetSports Day


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For me my best memory fromrugby at Hutchesons’ has got tobe the South Africa trip. Meetingnew people, experiencing acompletely different culture,competing against 3 differentSouth African schools and justhaving a laugh collectively madethe trip one I will never forget.Noah Bateman, S6

Following the South Africatour in the summer the boyshas been reinvigorated in theirpursuit of rugby and due to thecoaching we had received we hadsome new points to focus on,specifically in defence, as wehad been taught how tointroduce more structure intothis area of our team.Toby Devenish, S6


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A Year Like No Other…

“To be a remarkable athlete, you must cultivate the mindset of a winner.There are no obstacles in sports, just challenges. Every challenge is anopportunity to develop a new strength and to find within you a power younever realised you had.”

Sport at Hutchesons’ has seen many challenges thisyear but through them, we have all had theopportunity to develop new strengths, enjoy new

experiences and learn new skills. Although this year hasbeen difficult in so many ways, I firmly believe asindividuals, as squads and as a school, we will be strongerfrom the lessons we have learned.

All pupils were welcomed along to pre-season rugby andhockey training last August and there was a genuineexcitement among the pupils and staff at the prospect ofbeing allowed to run around in the sunshine, with friends,playing the sports we enjoy. This excitement, however,was mixed with an uncertainty about whether we wouldbe able to participate in any of our scheduled fixtures, butthis did not deter pupils from working hard and enjoyingtheir time with their squads.

This uncertainty, unfortunately, became the norm aspupils turned up for training session after training sessionafter training session with a hope they would be rewardedfor all their hard work on the training pitch by playing afixture. This reward, unfortunately, never came. AsCOVID-19 restrictions changed, we again faced morechallenges in what we could and could not participate in.However, all credit has to go to the pupils who attendedevery session with a passion, enthusiasm and joy thatwas contagious for everyone involved. We didn’t look atthese restrictions as obstacles but instead groupedtogether and worked out a way to enjoy the challengeswe were faced with.

Although external fixtures were put on hold during Term 1,pupils attended Saturday morning training sessions wherewe saw a significant increase in playing numbers in ourmajor sports – this will hopefully continue as we progress

into next year and beyond. All pupils were also exposed toa range of new activities during their curricular PE lessonsin this Term with orienteering, tennigolf and rugby golfbecoming firm favourites among the pupils and staff alike.This wasn’t a traditional term by any means, but it was afun term where new skills were developed, andmemories were made.

Term 2 – what can I say? Lockdown 2 started, restrictionstightened, and the poor weather tried to derail ourpositivity, but again, none of these factors could curb theenthusiasm we were witnessing in our online lessons orin the video clips being shared. ‘Wake Up to Work’ waslaunched with staff helping prepare pupils to limber upphysically and mentally before their day of homeschooling. Mr Dewar led the charge with his ‘fact of theday’, multiple fancy dress outfits and of course his rangeof incredible wigs. Mr Sorbie and Mr Milligan were oftentrying to raise heart rates, even in the snow out atAuldhouse and our resident dance expert, Mr Williamson,assisted by Miss Lang and Miss Harkness provided dailydance routines quite often incorporating his signaturemoves – ‘the bull’ and ‘the aeroplane’. A huge thank youmust go out to all the special guests who joined us onlineon any given morning.

Weekly Bingo Challenges were launched this Term for ourprimary pupils where everyone had the opportunity to tryout different games, TikTok dances and ‘Beat the Teacher’challenges. Videos were shared weekly, and we had greatfun watching the pupils thoroughly enjoy the activities. Inthe Senior school, pupils attended online lessons andwere challenged with inventing dance routines in breakoutrooms, completing ‘Beat the Teacher’ challenges and

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working on improving their individual skill development inactivities such as Football, Hockey, Cricket and Athletics.Pupils were also encouraged to join the ‘Strava’ club andrecord miles when they were out walking, running andcycling – this became a House competition where mileswere logged, and House points were awarded. Althoughthis Term was challenging in many ways, the engagementfrom our pupils was nothing short of remarkable and Ihave to commend them all on the effort put in and theoutcomes achieved.

Towards the end of Term 2 and into Term 3, pupils werefinally welcomed back into school. I am not sure who wasmore excited, the staff or pupils. But the lessons thatfollowed were full of fun, joy and laughter. Withrestrictions easing gradually throughout our SummerTerm, we were able to offer many of the activities thatpupils missed out on during the previous summer inLockdown 1. Our cricket season kicked off with a bangand we even managed to squeeze in competitive fixturesagainst our local rivals. Witnessing the first fixture againstany opposition in over 14 months was incredible. Theexcitement, encouragement and joy on the faces of ourpupils is something that will stay with us all for a long

time and it was a timely reminder of why we encourageall pupils to enjoy sport and physical activity as often aspossible.

As the sun continued to shine in our summer Term, ourathletes were often found running around the track,throwing javelins, discus and shots or jumping into thesand or over the bar. We had fantastic numbers join us forour weekly Athletics clubs and all inter-house year groupchampionships took place. We even managed a slightlydifferent Primary Sports Day at Auldhouse where all pupilswere given the opportunity to compete against theirclassmates in a variety of events. There was even ateachers novelty race to end the final day which saw MrMcCrossan sprint to victory. The less said about MrCornfoot falling over at the first hoop the better! This wasa joyful event and a huge thank you must go out to all thestaff and S6 helpers who made this event possible.

As I stop and pause at the end of a busy Term, I look backover the last year and find it incredible how much hashappened in the sporting life of the school in PE lessons,House competitions and extra-curricular activities.Although we have faced many challenges this year, itwould be fair to say we, as a school, have groupedtogether and developed a strength to help us overcomethese challenges. A special thank you must go to all ourS6 pupils who have represented Hutchie faithfully overtheir school career. I am sure this was not the end youhad pictured for the conclusion of your school sportinglife, but, I would like to thank you for all the hard work,dedication and commitment you have demonstrated and Iwish you every success for your sporting futures.

And finally, to all in the Hutchie community – pupils, staff,coaches, referees, parents and supporters – thank youfor your support, commitment and perseverance througha long and unusual year; a year of enjoying challenges; ayear of developing strength; a year like no other – thankyou!

CS

Sport

As I stop and pause at the end of a busy Term, I look back over the last yearand find it incredible how much has happened in the sporting life of theschool in PE lessons, ...


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Senior RugbyThere was great excitement around the squad as westarted pre-season back in August; we knew we had atalented group of S5 players joining a strong cohort of S6players. However, there was also a lot of uncertaintywith regards to what the season would look like due tothe coronavirus pandemic. Regardless of this, we hit theground running and prepared in the best way we knewhow in the hope that we would be able to play fixturessooner rather than later.

Unfortunately, the 2020/2021 1st XV season was not tobe. This year has certainly had its ups but frustratinglymany more downs. From the offset at pre-season, theboys worked relentlessly in preparation, only for it all tobe snatched from our grasp as no competitive fixturestook place against another school throughout the span ofthe season. Nevertheless, training continued in the hopeof restrictions being lifted and attendance throughout theseason, especially the winter months, was maintained ata remarkable standard as we battled the wind, rain and

cold. The attitude of the team was unhindered, eventhough many obstacles had to be overcome before wewere allowed to play. We remained committed andcontinued to work on the plays and systems we wouldhave implemented into the games that should have beentaking place.

Although a disappointing season for both the 1st XV andU16 squads, the cohesion between the two teamsduring training will only go onto forge a new 1st XV teamnext season, who have the benefit of already playingwith each other. There are already strong relationshipswithin this squad that will pull them through the toughermoments in the season to come and I have everyconfidence that they will be a success.

On behalf of the whole squad, I would like to thank MrSorbie and Mr Milligan for all their work and continuedenthusiasm throughout the year.

Toby Devenish, S6

S1 RugbyRugby this year has been tricky. In August we wentinto the season with high hopes of getting a fewgames under our belts before the Summer Term.However, that was not to be the case. Despite thetough season there were a few positives. The teammorale among our squad is very high due to thetough shared experience that we all had. We have allgrown up in the past year and in doing so have muchmore intelligence about the game.

Everything in rugby has been a bit more difficult thisyear, and training is no exception. Due to thepresence of COVID-19 we have been restricted towhat we can do in training. We have mainly just beenplaying touch rugby and practicing set plays. Fromhome we have been encouraged by our coaches tostay in shape as much as we can.

I believe that those of us who are continuing withrugby next year have a massive chance of achievingour goals in the sport that we have all grown up with.

S2 RugbyRugby, as anyone knows, is a hard physical sport. Aswell as the skills of passing and running, it depends onphysical contact to create excitement. So how did wecope when we were unable to tackle opponents? Theanswer is: as well as could be expected.

In training we focused on adapting our skills, while fullyaware that we would not be able to line up againstopponents at Auldhouse or anywhere else. It became apersonal challenge to each of us to work as hard aspossible to become better players. Our coaches did whatthey could to keep us motivated whilst we were in

Sport

I look forward to what the first team has in store nextyear and am very excited for the challenge ahead.

Hamish Cornell, S1

school and also from January to March when we were athome. They would send us workout videos in order tomake sure we kept in the best physical shape possible.

It was a frustrating year, but we learnt valuable life skillsalong the way and at least it was the same for all of us.Perhaps an example of team building. Looking forwardwe have acquired many different skills which can benefitus in the upcoming season. And we can truly say thatCOVID-19 gave us a bond that will stand us in goodstead.

Kian Lonergan, Luc Hartung, Thomas Savage (all S2)

Although it was annoying that wecouldn’t do contact it meantthat the pupils that were newthis year had a chance to learnthe skills and basics instead ofdiving into the contact side of it.Murray Waugh, S1


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S3 Rugby

This year has been very challenging for anyone playingsports but particularly rugby. When we got back totraining, we couldn’t do any tackling due to COVID-19 andthis is really the main point in rugby! So, in the end wewere forced to do touch rugby as well as running drillsand walking through different plays. Saying this, a coupleof positives did actually come out of this experienceincluding – but not limited to – our passing improving byconstantly working on it; our spacing getting better as welearnt how to ‘widen’ the pitch through our positioningand our cardio getting a lot better as we were runningabout a lot during basically every session. This year hasnot been convenient by any means, but we did learn a lotand we are excited to get back to playing rugby next year,whilst taking the new skills we have learned to thephysical game we are used to.

Isaac Bateman, S3

Senior Hockey

Our senior hockey season has been a rollercoaster bothon and off the pitch. From training twice a week andlooking forward to the potential of weekend gamesresuming, to sitting at home pretending to participate inlive-streamed HIIT sessions, it is fair to say this hockeyseason has been full of many twists and turns. Despitespending a significant portion of our season at home, thetime we did enjoy at school was jampacked with variouspractises and matches.

One of these matches included both the 1st XI Girls andthe 1st XI Boys facing off against one another in a friendlygame in the hopes of allowing the teams to play togetherproperly for the first time. It also meant we could puteverything we had worked on in training to practice. The

first half of the match resulted with the girls taking thelead with a score of 2-1 with goals scored for the girls byAnais Bonner (S6) and Anna Winter (S5). However, asthe match continued, the boys were able to score anequalizer to bring the score up to 2-2, shifting momentumfor their team and giving them a good platform to workfrom as their fitness levels were able to keep them goingwhile the girls tired. This, combined with what the girlsclaim to be a couple of missed foots and unfair fouls onthe ref’s part, resulted in the final score to be 5-2 to theboys team with their scorers including: Christopher

Richmond (S6), Jamie Gambles (S6), Misha

Hildebrandt (S6), Jamie Green (S4) and Johnny

Bradley (S4). Despite such a great score in their favour,later false claims arose from the boys’ team, suggesting

Sport

Everyone really enjoyedhaving Mr Blackhall and MrMcGroarty as our coachesbecause of their enthusiasmand drive to make the teambetter.Campbell Waugh, S3


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the final score was 6-2, starting a long, light-hearted“mystery” which has yet to be officially resolved.

Along with matches, both teams were also able to traintogether to offer a wide and diverse range of skills whichwere also displayed during mixed team games and seven-aside games where an equally high level of hockey wasemulated.

Following such games, the girls’ S6 leavers werefortunate enough to be graced with the news that theywould finally be playing a match against The High Schoolof Glasgow where they were able to put their skills gainedplaying against the boys to the test. With a bounce in theirstep and smiles which rivaled the sun, the girls played thematch with exuberance and vigor, resulting in a win of 1-0to Hutchie, with the goal having been scored by Kate

Rennie (S6) from a pass by Aaliyah Sandhu (S6).

Throughout the game, Hutchie was able to keep most ofthe possession of the ball and created many chanceswhich they were just unable to finish. However, thedefence played exceptionally, especially without a goalie,with our team only conceding one chance to theopposition, which Elise Fitzgerald (S6), Georgia Coyle

(S6) and Amy Miller (S6) managed to clear out with greatcomposure.

Even though this has been a difficult year for many,everyone in hockey must be praised for their positiveattitude towards the circumstances. Congratulations are inorder for Owen Gould (S5) and Jamie Green (S4) whowere selected for the Glasgow Thunders U19s team andto Archie McLean (S4), Foster Harrowell (S4), Jamie

Green (S4), Johnny Bradley (S4) and Robin Ferguson

(S4) who were selected for the U16s team, all for theAcademy Series, on the boys side and Emma Murray

(S4) who was also selected for the Glasgow ThundersU16s team in the Academy Series on behalf of the girls.Further congratulations are required for Johnny Bradley

(S4) and Jamie Green (S4) for being selected forScotland under 17 squads. The possibilities this year couldhave been incredible with the talent coming through fromyounger years if we had an official season to play.However, unfortunately it will have to be left to theimagination.

Again, although this season has not been quite what weplanned, we are sure it will be one we will all remember.

1st XI Girls’ & the 1st XI Boys‘ teams

S2 Hockey

Going back to school in August, we were all so excited toget back and play hockey even though we weren’tallowed to play matches due to COVID-19 restrictions.Mrs. Campbell and the other coaches introduced somefun drills and skills to keep us entertained during gamesand on Saturday mornings, which kept us keen. Weloved being back together as a group even if we didn’tget to play real matches, and we didn’t mind the rainymornings at training.

At Christmas time we did a Santa dash as we had movedinto Tier 4 and were not allowed to play hockey at all. Itwas really enjoyable, and everyone had a great time

dressing up, having our faces painted, and wearing tinsel;it really got us into the Christmas spirit! As we wentback into our second lockdown, we kept our fitnesslevels high by going on lots of runs, cycles and walks.The PE department put in a lot of effort to keep us fit;

during games we attended the live fitness sessions withthe PE teachers, and this included fun workouts and keptus fit and motivated.

Next year we’re really looking forward to going back toplaying matches and playing as a team again!

Matilda Littlejohn, Issy Buchanan and Andie Gillespie

(all S2)

Sport

S6 Hockey memories

I would have to say my favourite moment of hockey at Hutchie was winning

the Scottish plate in S4 – the whole team was just great both on and off

the pitch. It is definitely my most memorable match.Elise

I have made a lot of great memories playing school hockey. From winning

both our P7 tournaments, to touring Amsterdam and now having played

senior hockey for three wonderful, if strange, years.

Aaliyah


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P7 HockeyThe Primary 7 girls were very excited at the beginning ofthe season with the prospect of being involved in schoolhockey. As with most things over the last year, theirschedule had to be adjusted to accommodate the

restrictions put in place. This, however, did not dampenthe enthusiasm of the players. New skills weredeveloped during practises, with match play being thefocus of Saturday mornings.

CricketWhat began as a period of high promise ended up withalmost no competitive games at any level as COVID19cut a swathe through the cricketing year, with fewgames to report on, limited representative games andno school games. Despite the arrival of Coronavirus,Hutchie was fortunate to have three senior pupilsselected for and training in representative squads.Aditya Mahapatra (S5), Nikhil Koteeswaran (S5)

and Owen Gould (S5) all played district cricket withthe Western Warriors and these three have beentraining with the Scotland squads, first at Under-15 and

now at Under-17 age groups. It’s a shame for thesethree that the international season was completelycurtailed. Hutchie pupils have also been playing clubcricket across all age groups, including Rohan

Banerjee (S4), Andrew Cash (S3), Robin Ferguson

(S4) and Dhruv Shenoy (S3) (U16 club cricket atClydesdale) and many others too. Faced with this levelof quality players, the future for this coming season ofHutchie cricket is bright.

Owen Gould, S5

Sport

Playing mini matches andlearning new skills.Vibha Thorat

Learning new skills is goodbecause when it comes toplaying in a match you havemore stuff to do to defendyourself.Imogen Lavelle

Hockey is fun to play because youmeet new people.Kerry Gaya

It was something that we could dothat was enjoyable and we woulddo normally. I found theHalloween tournament funbecause if you mix up dressing withhockey it makes it even more fun.Sophie Agur

S3 HockeyDespite the chaos of lockdowns this year, the S3 girlsmanaged to get in some practise before the Christmasholidays, and we were able to work keeping our skillssharp. We worked on things such as pick-ups, movingthe ball quickly, and leading into space, as well aspractising hard to improve our 3D skills and passes. Wealso practised doing one-on-ones and small-sided gamesto work on our ability to beat players whilst dribbling,focusing on skills such as left-hand drags, right-handdrags, v-drags, small lifts, and dummies. On the 31st ofOctober, we switched up our usual Saturday morninghockey training to get into the spirit of Halloween. Wedressed up, with memorable costumes being devils,

skeletons and Winnie the Pooh, Piglet and Tigger, andhad a small round-robin tournament. We all had a lot offun, despite the wet weather, and it was a great way tohave a laugh for Halloween. Congratulations should alsobe given to both Katie Dobbie and Miranda Schmulian,who were selected for the Glasgow Thunders under-16team, an amazing achievement. We are all disappointedto have missed out on so much hockey this year due tothe pandemic, but we are definitely eager to get back onthe pitch and playing as soon as we can.

Rebecca Cobb, S3


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GolfThis year has been an exceptionalone for Hutchie with regard togolfing success.

Both Aaliyah Sandhu (S6) andRosie Mcguire (S3) representedRenfrewshire County during theannual Kennedy Salver tournamentwhere they participated in a seriesof matches throughout the dayagainst other counties from thewest of Scotland. Both girls,equipped with enthusiasmandsunscreen, approached the daywith high hopes. In the morningthey were paired togetherfor afoursome where they managed towin their match on the 17th holewhere Rosie Mcguire sank thewinning 8ft put. In doing so, bothgirls were able to secure points tohelp them securea win of joint firstalongside Ayrshire, where AaliyahSandhu picked up the shieldalongside Ayrshire’s captain.

This was a wonderful win for thegirls, especially following the win

from the previous Kennedy Salverwhere, at the time, four Hutchie girls– Sophie Kyle (FP; captain), Emily

Crusher (FP), Hannah Carson (S6)

and Aaliyah Sandhu (S6) wereselected for and representedRenfrewshire where they won allnine of their matches, which hadnever happened before.

However, the achievements ofHutchie’s boys must also not beoverlooked as both Adam

Stansfield (S4) and Andrew

Corrigan (S4) representedHaggs Castle Golf Club’s juniorteam who placed 2nd in theScottish Final of the Junior TeamGolf Championship held at RoyalMontrose Golf Club. They weretherefore able to go on andrepresent both Haggs and Scotlandagainst Forest Pines Lincolnshire inthe Home Nations Championshipwhich was covered by Sky Sports.

Aaliyah Sandhu, S6

TennisSenior Boys The following boys were involved in the Scottish tennischampionships where they lost to a strong High Schoolof Glasgow team in a highly competitive match.

Gregor Adams (S6), Quasim Akrim (S6), Leo Watt(S4) and Ethan Ellor (S2)

Senior GirlsFrom the tennis season 2021 the senior girls team lost inthe first round to another very strong High School ofGlasgow team. The team consisted of Rachel Pang (S5),Brodi Cuthill (S4), Rubi Cuthill (S2) and IsabellaBuchanan (S2).

Junior Boys15U boys comprised of Leo Watt (S4), CameronAnderson (S3), Charlie Gaya (S3) and Ethan Ellor (S2).They narrowly lost 2-4 to The High School of Glasgow.They played some excellent tennis, beating GlasgowAcademy 5-1 in their final fixture of the season. Allmatches were closely contested.

13U boys had a squad of Nikhil Bollapragada, LoganJohnston, Gregor Sloan and Thomas Morton (all S1)who played both The High School of Glasgow andGlasgow Academy. Again, they played well and beatGlasgow Academy 6-0. They faced difficult opponentsagainst The High School and played some excellenttennis, losing the match 6-0.

Junior Girls15U girls squad included Brodi Cuthill (S4), LaurenEdward (S3), Miranda Schmulian (S3) and RubiCuthill (S2). They played The High School of Glasgowand The Glasgow Academy and had some closelycontested matches. They narrowly lost out on a tie-breakshoot out to The High School of Glasgow and they beatThe Glasgow Academy 6-0.

13U girls played some excellent tennis but lost on a tie-break shoot out to The Glasgow Academy and werebeaten by another strong The High School of Glasgowsquad. The squad consisted of Isabella Buchanan (S2),Ruby Pollock (S1), Eilidh Turnbull (S1) and AnnaSteele (S1).

There were also some friendly tennis matches hosted byThe Glasgow Academy on a sunny Saturday in June forpupils in P7, S1, S2 and S3. This was a successful daywith lots of tennis being played and friends being made.

At class level, our P5-P7 girls enjoyed lessons on aweekly basis at Titwood Tennis Club, and our seniorpupils likewise enjoyed tennis during games lessons.Stuart Clark, the Titwood Tennis Coach, led SeniorGames sessions on a Wednesday, inspiring all standardsto push themselves onwards. Thanks to him for all hisefforts and his encouraging manner.

HL

Sport


The Primary Sports Days this year were fun filled andexciting! Auldhouse was the venue and the childrenwere split into 3 groups with Primary 1 – 3, Primary 4& 5 and Primary 6 & 7 coming along in separategroups. After being transported out from KingarthStreet, they started with a Wake up to Work style

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warm up and ended with a House dance offcompetition. We were joined by Squirrel Hutchkinsand his friend, the Wake up to Work Chicken! Therewere stickers, novelty races, music, teacher races, fun,relays, loads of smiles and even some sunshine!

RD

Sport

Primary

– May 2021

Sports Days


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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

The Hamish C Robertson Trophyfor Excellence and Commitment inAthleticsAwarded jointly to Julia L CashZoe Flower

The Harris-Kay Cup Half-FullBen A G Philips

Rugby FootballThe Willie Wilson Memorial Awardfor Leadership in RugbyHamish C Smith

HockeyThe Watt Stevens Shield forLeadership in HockeyErica Drummond

1st XI Hockey Boys’ CaptainVarun Rana

1st XI Hockey Girls’ CaptainZara E Mason

1st XI Soccer CaptainLogan C Anderson

1st XV Rugby CaptainAlex W Marshall

Prize for Commitment in HockeyAwarded jointly toApril O TempletonKathryn M Barr

Prize for Commitment in RugbyJonathan R Good

Prize for Commitment in HockeyDavid A Tobias

Prize for Commitment in SoccerDavid Reid

The Philip Nobel TrophyAwarded jointly toS6 Rugby Players

HOUSE COMPETITION

The Junior House Shield Winning House CaptainsMontroseOlivia L YuillNicholas A Richmond

The House Cup, the W HMacdonald TrophyWinning House CaptainsMontroseJosephine A E O’BrienTrudy M McLeodMus’ab S QuayumCalum J A Taylor

Senior Pupil with the highestnumber of House Points Argyll HouseConstance S Macleod

Lochiel HouseMaryam Majid

Montrose HouseJack Wallace

Stuart HouseRebecca M J Cobb

DUKE OF EDINBURGH

Silver AwardsManal AlamSumaya A ArfanCharlotte E R BarryLance N BorlandHannah L CarsonGeorgia M CoyleAshmi DebBen J W DicksonAimee J DuncanBeth FaganEva M FennGregor W GerryOliver J HartfordFiona S HendersonMihail L HildebrandtLauren K KaneLaura J MackieSeamus M MagennisSaad MahmoodJackson M McCawleyRachel A McGettrickAmy J MillerShreya PrabhuKate O RennieAbby StansfieldYasmin S WheelerArchie J Wiewiorka

PUBLIC SPEAKING PRIZES

First YearThe First Year TrophyDaniella Gabbay

Second YearThe I G McIver Memorial TrophyDaniel J Ogilvie

Fourth YearThe John M Hutchison CupAubrey C R McCance

Fifth YearThe 1957 Group TrophyNathanael C B M Knight

THE SCHOOL CHESS PRIZE

The Autumn Chess CupSyed R Zaidi

SPECIAL PRIZES FOR THEJUNIOR SCHOOL

Primary 7 Awards for GeneralExcellenceP7MAnna G Campbell

P7ROllie J McVicker

P7SLogan J Johnston

P7UMariam A Hanif

The Terries-Neal Quaich foroutstanding contribution to the lifeof the Primary SchoolZara A Rashid

The Dux of the PrimaryThe McKie CupOllie J McVicker

The McKie cup was endowed byJohn and Lorna McKie in 2012. Werecord with sadness the passing ofJohn McKie, c1957 in March2020, proud Hutchesonian, andlong-time Head of Classics until hisretirement in 2005.

FORM IV SUBJECT PRIZES

English 3rdIsabella R G Brown

French 1st equalAubrey C R McCance

Spanish 2nd equalElliott A A Atkinson

Art & Design 2ndAliha S Ahmed

Biology 1st equalSafiyyah F Ramzan

Business Management 1st equalJemma E Young

Geography 1st equalFinlay R H Taylor

Computing 1stAtton Cheung

German 1stKaan Comlekci

Graphic Communication 1stTarah Atrah

Modern Studies 1stJayden D Groden

Music 1stOwen G T Gould

Spanish 1stNayan S Bedi

Economics 2nd, English 2nd2 prizesGail K Stewart

Mathematics 2nd, Physics 2nd2 prizesJames T Garven

Chemistry 2nd equal, Greek 1st2 prizesHasneen M A Shakoor

Chemistry 2nd equal, Latin 1st2 prizesSara K Ahmed

Business Management 1st equal, Geography 1st equal2 prizesZoya K Ahmad

Mathematics 3rd, Engineering Science 2nd, Modern Studies 2nd3 prizesNikhil K Koteeswaran

Chemistry 2nd equal, Engineering Science 1st, Physics 1st3 prizesSamuel J Oades

Spanish 2nd equal, Drama 1st, History 1st3 prizesErin Frew

History 2nd, Biology 1st equal, French 1st equal, Chemistry 1st4 prizesRhona A Logie

Biology 3rd, French 1st equal, Art & Design 1st, Economics 1st, English 1st, Mathematics 1st6 prizesSowparnika Gopalakrishnan

FORM V SUBJECT PRIZES

English 3rdSifana S M ShahzadMathematics 2ndAaliyah K SandhuModern Studies 2ndMustafa Atrah

Chemistry 1st equalNathanael C B M Knight

Chemistry 1st equalDavid Reid

Biology 1st Saad Mahmood

Computing 1stAdvay R Iyer

Drama 1stTiana K Aujla

Engineering Science 1stStefan Vuckovic

German 1stHolly I Wheeler

Graphic Communication 1stNoah T Bateman

Latin 1stKarina K Mann

Modern Studies 1st Lewis J Dunipace

Music 1stCalum J Murray

Religious, Moral & PhilosophicalStudies 1stSaarah I Mohammed

Spanish 1stEve E Workman

Biology 2nd, Geography 1st 2 prizesIona A Symon

Geography 2nd, Greek 1st2 prizesShona McCallum

Business Management 1st,History 1st2 prizesMohammed S N Khan

Chemistry 3rd, English 2nd,Physics 1st3 prizesMoayad K A Karar

Mathematics 3rd, Art & Design 1st, French 1st3 prizesMolly-Jean Wilson

LIST OF PRIZES AND PRIZEWINNERS JUNE 2020


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History 2nd, Physics 2nd, Economics 1st, English 1st, Mathematics 1st5 prizesAshmi Deb

SCHOOL PRIZES, DONATED &ENDOWED PRIZES

The School Prize for Accountingand FinanceAnna Rea

The School Prize for AdvancedHigher ArtMarcus L Arbon

The School Prize for BiologyVarun S Rana

The School Prize for ChemistryShreyas Gupta

The School Prize for BusinessManagementEva C Murray

The School Prize for NationalCertificate DramaAnna Rea

The School Prizes for CitizenshipAwarded to theDepute Head Boyand GirlArun D UttamchandaniOrla A Young

The School Prize for EconomicsElla D Bryant

The School Prize for ItalianStephanie A Armour

The School Prize for AdvancedMathematicsAlex R Hyman

The School Prize for MusicTechnologyM LouisJ Fitzpatrick

The School Prize for Higher P.EHannah J Stewart

The School Prize for HigherPhotographyMatthew G Wilkie

The School Prize for PsychologySophie E Barnett

The Alexander Stone FoundationEssay PrizeFirstCharlotte J M AdamsSecondTrudy M McLeod

The Alyssa Bentley Prize forSingingCharlotte E Wallace

The Asgher Mohammed Cupforcontribution to the Muslimcommunity of the SchoolOmar A Arfan

The Gillian Tooth Prize forPhotographyAlicia M Brooks

The 1957 Group Margaret DuthieArt AwardRory J McLachlan

The Dr Iain Galbraith Prize forOutstanding Expressive Work inArtElise B Fitzgerald

The Dr Iain Galbraith Prize forOutstanding Expressive Work inMusicCalum J Murray

The William W Murray Prize forPoetryEmily S R Cowie

The Pamela and Martin LivingstonSalver for Service to the Jewishcommunity of the SchoolDaniella Gabbay

The Dr J A McCallum Prize forPhysical Education and theMatthew CupZara E Mason

The Dr Spence W AlexanderMemorial Award for CommunityServiceAwarded jointly toSaad MahmoodMus’ab S Quayum

The FP Club London Section 350thAnniversary CupAwarded jointly toSomrupa R BanerjeeAshmi DebCraig C DunipaceStefan Vuckovic

The Freda Brown Award Awarded jointly toSomrupa R BanerjeeKatya A JohnsonAnna Rea

The International Rescue CorpsTrophy for outstanding charity workRayaan A Syyed

The Jan and David Dobson Awardfor service to the musical life ofthe schoolMeganne J McCartney

The John Marco Memorial Prize forCitizenshipSeniorMuhammad U Imtiaz

The John M Biggar Memorial Prizefor EnglishM Louis J Fitzpatrick

The Lesley Anderson MemorialPrizeMegan C Brown

The Mary Y Adam Prizes forcontribution to theChristiancommunity of the schoolLucas R Myhill

The Magnus Houston Prize forSportsStruan R I Walker

The Peter Howie Memorial Prizes ViolinJuniorShiladitya R BanerjeeSeniorKatya A Johnson

The Robert Hillman Memorial Prizefor LanguagesPragna L Challapalli

The Rouken Glen VeterinarySurgery Prize for the mostimaginative and innovative projectin the sciences in Form 6 Awarded jointly toPujitha KommuriStanley J Hickey

The W B Henderson Prize forGreekShona McCallum

The Webster Trophy for CitizenshipAwarded jointly to Pupils of S2C

The Independent Research PaperAward with DistinctionSomrupa R Banerjeewith MeritMehreen A Khan

Bruce Haggerty Family Prize forthe best student going forward toVeterinary MedicineAwarded jointly to

Natasha K DickMorgan D Whiteford

The Alexander Stone Scholarshipfor the best student going forwardto Law Pragna L Challapalli

The Baird Salvers and the FP ClubPrizes for Leadershipawarded tothe Head Boy and Head GirlCraig A GeddesMegan C Brown

DUX AWARDS

Dux in Art & DesignCara J Hamilton

Dux in BiologyThe Gillian Macpherson PrizeSaketh V Jampana

Dux in BusinessThe Linda Russell Memorial PrizeHannah J Stewart

Dux in ChemistryMus’ab S Quayum

Dux in ComputingLeonid Lesyk

Dux in DramaThe Class of ‘86 PrizeTrudy M McLeod

Dux in EconomicsAdithya Mohan

Dux in English The Sandy Strang Memorial PrizePragna L Challapalli

Dux in FrenchPragna L Challapalli

Dux in GeographyThe Duncan Fletcher Prize forGeographyElla D Bryant

Dux in History The Old Boys’ PrizeSomrupa R Banerjee

Dux in Mathematics The Baillie PrizeCraig C Dunipace

Dux in Modern StudiesThe Peters Family Prizeand theMcLennan QuaichHannah J Stewart

Dux in MusicKatya A Johnson

Dux in PhysicsThe John M Biggar Memorial PrizeCraig C Dunipace

Dux in SpanishThe J D Pearson Memorial PrizePragna L Challapalli

Proxime Accessit to the Boys’ DuxThe Fairweather PrizeAdithya Mohan

The Girls’ DuxThe Mary McMillan Kerr Prize andGold MedalAwarded jointly toPragna L ChallapalliSomrupa R Banerjee

The Boys’ DuxThe Rector’s Prize and 1829 SilverMedalCraig C Dunipace

Recent Dux Medallists

2009-2010Girls’ DuxMatilda L GreigBoys’ DuxRussell L Park

2010-2011 Girls’ DuxCharlotte U BrowningBoys’ DuxTimothy J Heelis

2011-2012Girls’ DuxLara M R GilmourBoys’ DuxScott Meenan

2012-2013Girls’ DuxGrace E M CheahBoys’ DuxPranav B Manoharan

2013-2014Girls’ DuxCatherine SutherlandBoys’ DuxAlexander R Peters

2014-2015Girls’ DuxElaine M DuncanBoys’ DuxDewi S W Gould

2015-2016Girls’ DuxKelly A MacInnesBoys’ DuxAnish V Amin

2016-2017Girls’ DuxEve E ThomsonBoys’ DuxJ Daniel Boulton-Jones

2017-2018Girls’ DuxFlorence E SharkeyBoys’ DuxMax D Rodney

2018-19Girls’ DuxEmily J Boulton-JonesBoys’ DuxTarun K Kooteswaran

Prizes and Prize Winners 2020


My History teacher, Mr Paterson “The Skull”, once told us “I amnot here to get you through exams, I am here to educate you.” Awonderful sentiment which would get him sacked now as thepressure from parents and league tables requires exam successabove all else.

Wee Roy, also known as ‘the pocket rocket’, was without doubt themost respected, liked and loved teacher we had. He ran PE as atight ship but was interested in all and dispensed life skills andawareness just as much as fitness. He retired and returned and Iwell remember in primary gym he told us he was 60 thatday...ancient to a 10 year old. He said this is what you should do onyour 60th birthday. He went into a handstand then walked on hishands twice the length of the gym ( now the library).

John McKie taught classics and presented himself as a venerable“classic” but was in fact only 27 when he started. I still rememberthe cartoon posters on his wall for “Mens Sana in corpore sano”and “tempus fugit” and I often sign off letters to FPs with“Gaudemus igitur juvenes dum summus”.

Mr Douglas Kinnaird C72

Dr Kenneth Allan classics was my form teacher for three years S3-S5, he allowed us to create our own mural in our form room. I canonly guess at the institutional hurdles he overcame to allow us todo this.

Joe Wilson C81

My guiding star in history was Josh Whyte (Mr James Whyte). Heit was who taught me to study Scots history through the eye ofEuropean history. At age 77, I still do. He was possibly my firstmentor in internationalism.

Gordon Casely C61

Hated history with a passion but when Josh came to the girls’school in third year he was a breath of fresh air. History came alive.I even considered for a hald minute continuing history instead ofgeography which I loved. I still think of Josh’s remarkable pale blueeyes when I see just the right shade of sky.

Sally Horton C62

Hope Ross made every lesson fun. Every lesson was like a showand we were all in the cast. She, of course, was the star. She didn’tdo things by the book, in fact I remember one time we werelooking at an exercise in Le Français d’aujourd’hui. She asked us ifwe were bored. Polite Hutchesonians that we were, we replied,“No.” She then said, “Well I am,” and proceeded to chuck thetextbook across the classroom and burst into a French song. Shetaught us so many songs, which I remember much more than anytextbook lesson. I still know Les Misérables better in French than inEnglish, thanks to her.

When I became involved in raising money for the school charity, Idecided to stage an episode of Blind Date in the Assembly Hall.Who else would we possibly ask to be Cilla Black, but Mrs. Ross?She was spectacular, as always and raised a lorra lorra laughs anda lorra lorra lolly.

I loved Mrs. Ross and, apart from my parents, she had the mostinfluence over why I am doing what I do today.

Jane Ritchie (McKie) C88

I would like to remember Mr Yacoubian, who was the most patientand kind mathematics teacher. His encouragement and positiveenergy made what might have been a very stressful class, a weeoasis in my week. In spite of a horrible track record in maths, hetreated some friends and I to a strawberry tea in Pollok House onour last day of school. He was my role model when I became ateacher myself… oh and I passed higher maths!Linda Tudball C82

Wee Roy Smith

Mrs Fotheringham

Miss Ivy Scott

When day comes, we step out of theshade aflame and unafraid.

The new dawn balloons as we free it.

For there is always light, if only we’re braveenough to see it.

If only we’re brave enough to be it.

Amanda Gorman, ‘The Hill We Climb’

Hutchesonian 2021 - Hutchesons' Grammar School

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