S1 Weather and Environment Fieldwork

Today a select group of S1 pupils made the most of the fine weather and headed out with Mr Goodfellow to study the grounds of the school. They looked at the different weather conditions around the school, including the changes in temperature, wind and pressure. They also surveyed the environment at various locations around the grounds. The results were then processed and an excellent poster was produced. This was all done in under 60 minutes. A big well done to everyone!!

The poster is now on display in the Social Subjects corridor for you all to see. There is also a picture of it attached below.

Keep an eye on the blog for some future follow up work on this fieldwork.

S2 Montserrat Volcanic Eruption Role Play

On Wednesday 18th March 2GE2 took part in a role play, based around the events of a volcanic eruption. This lesson is based around the excellent idea and resources produced by Noel Jenkins through his Juicy Geography website. Mr Rafferty was kind enough to video the events and the edited highlights and his comments can be seen below.


Montserrat Volcanic Eruption Role Play from Neil Goodfellow on Vimeo.

Mr Rafferty said afterwards, "In Geography I saw an excellent lesson where pupils worked in groups on a
real-life scenario challenge. Mr Goodfellow was good enough to let me record the
lesson. In the video you will see an excellent lesson showing examples of cooperative learning/collaborative team
work. Pupils worked in teams of 3, as vulcanologists, to come up with
real-life solutions to the threat of an imminent volcanic eruption. The
learners were certainly active and worked with a real sense of urgency, and
purpose. Pupil engagement was kept very high by an excellent balance of
activities. The lesson was thoroughly prepared and well-organised
throughout. Mr Goodfellow's use of IT to enhance learners experience was also very
effective. Mr Goodfellow's mild mannered approach to de-escalating issues is also
very interesting to watch."

You can view some of the work done during the lesson below. Feel free to add any comments

S4 Revision Posters

Mr Shabangu Visit Strengthens Gracemount – Ogwini School Partnership

Following a successful application for a British Council grant, Gracemount was fortunate to host Mr Shabangu, Head of the Social Subjects Dept from Ogwini High School, our partner school in Durban, South Africa, recently. The main purpose of the visit was to strengthen working relations with Ogwini not only in Social Subjects, but also through a variety of projects across the school focussing on poverty and development, diversity, environmental issues, health, multiculturalism, prejudice, music, dance etc.

During his visit, Mr Shabangu learnt about the Geography, History and Modern Studies curriculum at Gracemount, contributed to lessons focussing on the Geography of South African and the history of the South Africa’s struggle with racial discrimination and apartheid. He was able to observe lessons across the school, attended assemblies and forged links with staff taking forward future partnership projects involving music, dance and environmental issues.

We’d like to thank staff and pupil’s for the very warm welcome that Mr Shabangu received and we are sure that our pupils gained much from meeting and working with him. During his stay with us Mr Shabangu learnt much about Scottish culture through visits in the local community, attending a Ceildh visiting the historical sites around the city including the Scottish Parliament and City Chambers, a visit to South Queensferry, Pittenweem and even an afternoon in Dundee as an honorary Hearts supporter attending a winning match versus Dundee United!

Mr Wyllie will be visiting Ogwini for two weeks in May to further department and whole school links. Look out for future articles.......

Sponsored Walk for Ogwini

Sponsored Walk

On Friday 13th March 24 pupils from Gracemount High School took part in a Sponsored Walk for the school’s Africa Week. Gracemount High School is linked with Ogwini High School in South Africa and the idea of the walk was to raise awareness of the length of time it takes many pupils who attend Ogwini to get to school every morning. Every morning and evening many Ogwini pupils walk over 3 or 4 miles to school, often staying on late after school to work by themselves on their school work. This morning the Gracemount pupils got a small taste of this when they walked 3.5 miles around the Gracemount and Mortonhall area. Many pupils were also sponsored on this walk, raising money for the Care Centre in Ogwini that helps to provide for the less well off Ogwini pupils. It is a worthy cause and all pupils who took part would have realised that walking that distance every morning takes commitment and energy, two traits Ogwini pupils obviously have in abundance. Overall, very well done to all those involved in the Sponsored Walk-it was a great morning to do it and it was wonderful to see so many enthusiastic and cheerful faces at 6.50am!

8.10am and all done!

Outward Bound Adventure Weekend for Gracemount Pupils

Outward Bound Adventure Weekend for Gracemount Pupils

Article by Gracemount Pupils: Lewis Watson & Stephanie Ho. Photos by Mr Wyllie


In the last weekend of February, 8 Gracemount High school pupils along with 3 teachers - Mr Wyllie, Mr Goodfellow and Ms Sinclair made the long trip north to take part in an outdoor education course at Loch Eil, near Fort William. This was run by the Outward Bound Trust (Scotland) who run adventure and personal development courses. The aim of these courses is to help young people of all backgrounds develop self-confidence, leadership and teamwork skills.

The purpose of this particular trip was for us to evaluate the outward bound experiences on offer and to help us as a pupil body to plan future trips for other Gracemount pupils in the future. We decided which activities we liked and which activities would best develop important skills needed by Gracemount High School pupils. Through contacts developed by the school we have been very lucky to gain funds from a benefactor to allow further trips to happen.

The weekend was really action packed and included activities such as rock climbing, abseiling, parachute style jump from a high platform, sailing and rowing. The highlight for many was when we arrived on Friday night. This is when we did the “jog and dip!” activity that involved jogging to the nearby loch and then jumping in from a floating pontoon 75 metres from shore. The water, as you can image in February, was freezing! On Sunday morning we were all tied together and climbed an enormous tree, 35 metres high, nicked- named ‘Boy George’.

From the weekend we learn’t many valuable things about ourselves and others. These included that teamwork was essential to complete many of the activities, that we should be more confident in our abilities and what it takes to be an effective leader of a group.

Quotes from pupils on the course:

“My favourite part of going to Loch Eil was having the experience of many great and adventurous activities, especially the jog and dip.” - Daniel Carr

“I love going out and doing all the activities and it helped me to develop my leadership and teamwork skills.” - Ellie Meikle

“The thing I enjoyed the most was learning how to sail. It was a great experience and I would love to go back again.” - Hannah Mitchell

“I enjoyed doing all the activities and everything I experienced at Loch Eil. It helped me to develop my teamwork and leadership skills.” - Connor Pontone