Hutchie Art Exhibition June ‘09
Originally uploaded by jmmcdgll
Attended our school’s excellent art show this evening. The range and quality of art, fashioned in many media, was fantastic. There was great use of colour and quirky ideas, showing everyday items like railway tickets and plastic bottles in a new context. I loved pouring over the Sixth Year portfolios and seeing how ideas germanate from simple sketches to fully fledged concepts. Deft pencil lines became costumes or sculptures. Annotations revealed astonishing insight and knowledge.The corridors and stairways are overflowing with work, all carefuly framed and positioned, juxtaposing the abstract with the everyday. Bobbins of thread cluster arrestingly against a pink panel while butterflies made of tissue paper dance against the window, seemingly superimposed against the trees beyond. Giant, many coloured geckoes crawl across a wall and everywgere there are sculptures made of pieces of card or paper or plastic. The Colours of the Clyde theme was there, too, with images of brooding cranes, black against pastel sunsets or river scenes, or unfamiliar views taken at river level, looking up to the compelxity of arches under a gloomy bridge. Art departments are essential in every school. They allow pupils to let off steam, to be themselves, and to discover and play with ideas; art develops thought; the ability to see objects afresh, to deconstruct and then to build anew. Like almost no other subject pupils can express themselves, be emotional and respond to images in powerful ways. Art is fun, it’s bright and colourful, laden with imagery and imagination. Yet it is also a discipline; the work shown tonight was not good because it was done by pupils; it was good because there was a rigour and structure to the teaching and hours of hard work and thought by the pupils that led to the kind of exciting, challenging and vibrant displays we saw tonight.
We have raised over £34 000 for the Childrens Hospice Asociation of Scotland (CHAS). This has been a team effort with all classes from the Primary and Secondary getting behind this fantastic charity. We liked CHAS becuase they were local, and we wanted to support a charity that was working with young people in the west of Scotland. We were struck by the work being done at Robin House, a hospice for children with life limiting conditions, set in beautiful countrtside outside Balloch. we felt that the launch DVD was very arresting, and immediately captured the attention of our pupils. We saw how much the hospice meant, not only to the patient, but the hard pressed families and carers. We were keen to find out as much as we could, so a group of Sixth Year pupils visited Robin House to have a special guided tour. The pupils saw the facilities, such as the sensory room and the swimming pool, and the specialist equipment they use just to help the children with everyday tasks. Just as important, we were shown the rooms which the mums and dads and brothers and sisters can get, to let them stay over. Everything is designed to make life as straightforward and normal as possible.
Back at school we got to work. Encouraged and cajoled by many dedicvated form teachers and year tutors, pupisl embarked on a series of big set piece events, such as the annual cross county fun run and the Talent Show. In both we were delighted to be joined by DEbbie Traynor and Grace Wilson of CHAS. Indeed, one of the hallmarks of this Appeal has been the ongoing link with the charity’s fund raising team Grace and Debbiealso turned up to listen to one of our new events, the eagerly awaited Sixth Year curry karaoke, while not to be outdone, staff band Teach That put on a concert in early June. First Year forms combined forces under the guidance of Mrs Smith to put on a highly professional Burns Supper, while Fourth Year had a monthly elimination quiz in the Hall. Special mention must go to the heroic eforts of the school’s marathon man, Steven Russell, who, along with his wife, ran the Loch Ness marathon for CHAS, and then did the Edinburgh marathon a few months later. A running money earner was the shortbread which sold extremely well at Parents’ Evenings, thanks to a well trained sales team.
Over the year, we have also donated books to the library at Robin House, and w eare delighetd that the money we raise will go to developing a garden.
The School also supported the Intensive Baby Unit at the RAH, Paisley, while making regular donations of clothes and toiletries to the St Rollox Asylum seekers centre in Springburn. Former pupils Fiona Shaw and Andrew Watson are both climbing Kilimajaro for Childreach, a small charity which is focused on providing help for children in East Africa. We have been delighted to help them with their fundraising; Andrew tells us he collected more in Auldhouse on one Saturday morning than in all the pubs in St Andrews, while both our mountaineers have been shaking cans at evening performances of the Hot Mikado.
ON Sunday several members of staff will take part in the East Kilbride Half Marathon, again for CHAS, and further proof of how much the Hutchie community have taken this deserving cause to our heart.
Today was my 20th markers’ meeting for Credit/General Geography. The time seems to have flown since the 1990 paper, when Standard Grade was in its infancy. Scripts arrived in a hessian sack, and had to be posted back to Dalkeith envelope by envelope, each one stuck down by lurid yellow labels. Now they are sent off in two batches of high tech plastic bags, using ultra sticky irreversible gum. It used to give you some kudos to get hold of a marking scheme, as they were formerly strictly embargoed. Now they are online and at the back of the Past Paper books. Some questions have endured; old favourites like describe the course and features of a river, or explain the changes over time of a British Farm landscape are hardy annuals, almost. Other questions reflect recent changes in the UK economy; in 1995 we had a question on Chungwa Picture Tubes in Lanarkshire, which was a reflection of new investment in Scotland; now that is gone. Major international themes have remained fairly constant; deforestation, urbanisation and trade inequalities. Some questions from the early ’90s could easily be recycled for 2010; synoptic chart is a synoptic chart for example, and a corrie or ox bow lake is pretty much a banker for any year.
Being on the Geography exam team has been one of my best times in teaching. I liked the debates we had when putting together the papers and sharing ideas for questions at the “shredding meetings”, where questions were torn up and rewritten, but most of all the chat afterwards over a few pints. My favourite night was a celebrated Burns Supper at Keavil House in 2002, where each of us on the team had to do a turn, or perhaps the impromptu piano duet in front of Welsh rugby fans one February evening. Marking’s a grind at times, but it’s a great way to meet colleagues from other schools and parts of the country, and keep up to speed with your subject.
