News: Lent Term 2009

Week 11

Final week of term events included our folk group travelling north to give performances in Ullapool and Inverness, accompanied by Ms Cohen and Mr Campbell, who reported that as well as entertaining their audiences, the group's playing had also benefited. Other trips departing this week included a CCF Camp for members of Shell, and the ski trip to Austria departed on Friday.

Meanwhile, back at school, the annual cross-country race took place in beautiful weather, with virtually the whole school taking part.

The Lent Term ended at midday on Thursday

Week 10

Monday saw a 'Memory challenge' event for a group of pupils. Another group (chosen randomly by the Scottish Executive) was involved in a national test on Friday, along with groups of pupils all over the country. On Wednesday, the U16 Sevens team won a victory. For many senior pupils, Thursday morning brought news of their performance in January's AS and A2 module exams. Pringle's termly concert was held on Thursday. The week ended with the annual Merchiston Sevens Tournament on Sunday, and the Colinton and Merchiston Choir performed Cherubini's Requiem in C minor in the evening.

Week 9

All the Lower Sixth spent the weekend away from school on an outward bound course at Loch Eil. We welcomed children from local schools to the Maths Fun Day on Thursday. The library ran its termly 'Bag-a-book' event at the end of the week. 381 books were sold, which is our highest number ever for this event! On Friday, 'Green Day' the Juniors wore their own clothing, mostly with a 'green' theme to raise money and heighten their awareness of environmental issues. We will be buying essential equipment such as bins, litter pickers, gloves etc to help our Eco Schools project move forward.

Week 8

On Tuesday, our IV Form team for the Go4Set challenge attended an awards day. Many of the Juniors were giving presentations to the ESB judges during the week, on a wide variety of subjects.

The week ended with the Choral and Instrumental concert, attended by the whole School and a number of parents, in which around 160 pupils were performing.

Week 7

The start of the new half-term heralded the start of the 'Summer' Timetable - and we were at least rewarded with rather less cold weather which allowed all this week's planned fixtures to go ahead. Lessons now take place in the early part of the afternoon, with games or activities following them. Some of the Juniors left for the north for a short rugby tour on Friday evening.

Half-term

During the half term break, an article which may be of interest concerning Frank Hadden and Phil Godman was broadcast as part of the Six Nations Rugby coverage: it is currently available via BBC iplayer. The Headmaster joined a debate on Radio Five Live about whether team sports should be compulsory in Schools.

Week 5

The week started with snow, to the delight of many pupils. The School Bull went to auction on Tuesday, accompanied by Mr King and a group of Young Farmers from the Fifth and Sixth Forms.

The Fourth Form were in northern France all week; despite the potential for weather disruption, their trip was, after a delayed arrival affecting the itinerary on Monday, largely run according to plan, though in extremely cold conditions - a fitting reminder of First World War soldiers' life. The planned 4th XV rugby tour to Yorkshire at the end of the week had to be cancelled, however, owing to the freezing weather.

Members of the Sixth Form attended a talk on drug use on Thursday; a session was also run for parents the previous evening.

Week 4

On Tuesday we held the annual Scholars' Dinner, now in its 11th year (the speaker is pictured on the left). The Chinese New Year dinner was the following day.

Two of our senior musicians performed in the Rotary Club's annual Schools' Instrumental Competition which they held in our Hall: Marco(V Form) took second place. Other boys competing in events outside school included some rowers.
The Fifth Form were sitting their mock GCSE exams all week (and continue next), and Shell exams also began on Friday.

On Saturday, the latest round of the Rugby Cup resulted in a draw against Watson's; as George Watson's were the away team they progress to the semi final which is to be drawn next week. Several teams travelled to Aberdeen for their fixtures. At the whole School service on Sunday, the theme was 'Vision' and included a short video made by the boys.

Week 3

A variety of Burns-themed social events took place during the week, both here and with girls at their schools, ranging from J4 to the Sixth Form; we also supplied musicians for some similar events in the local community. A large group of senior pupils studying English went to the Royal Lyceum Theatre on Thursday. After a week of cold and often unpleasant weather, most rugby fixtures went ahead on Saturday, and those at Colinton were played in bright conditions. On the academic front, Fifth Form pupils attended a meeting where they were introduced to available Sixth Form subjects which are new to them, such as Economics, instead of attending activities on Monday.

Week 2

Some Sixth Form pupils have been taking module exams this week, and Fifth Form got their first taste of mock exams with GCSE language mock-aurals. On Tuesday, Frank Hadden came to help launch a fundraising appeal for the Hearts and Balls charity. Pringle boys had their first fixtures of the season in swimming and rugby midweek; for others Saturday saw the first matches, though some were cancelled owing to wet weather in the west. The first cup match for the 1st XV of this season against Gordonstoun resulted in a very convincing victory for Merchiston, playing at home.

Christmas Holidays and Week 1

At the start of the holidays a group of Shell boys studying German went to Cologne to spend time in a German school and visit the Christmas markets. The 2nd XV went to Belfast and played a match against the Royal Academical Institute - this was the second time it has been played under the title of the 'Dave Stranock Memorial Match', and it resulted in a 7-all draw.

The returning members of the Sixth Form were finally able to move into the new Laidlaw House this week. At the start of term service, Dr Abigail James spoke to the School about the way boys' brains develop, following on from her talks to staff and parents on Wednesday.

After a period of freezing weather before term started, we were fortunate that the temperatures rose enough for boys to be able to use the playing fields this week. Sunday saw a whole School service to mark the start of term, in which the Headmaster spoke on the theme 'Do something'.