September 2014
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@BellahoustonAc
Welcome to the first Bella
Newsletter
of
the
new
Session. I’m pleased to say
that everyone is up and
running and that our new
intake of 1st Year pupils are
getting fully into the swing of
things. You’ll be able to read
about the huge variety of
things happening in the
school, a variety which makes
Bella the type of school it is.
Of course, the Commonwealth
Games provided the platform
for 12 of our current or former
pupils to show just what they
are made of and the haul of 2
Silver medals would have
placed the Glasgow School of
Sport 26th in the medal table.
We were also the site for
the full cast rehearsals for
the Opening and Closing
Ceremonies as well as
responsible for the number
‘3’ which appeared as part
of the Games countdown
and which was seen live by
over a billion people. Inside
you’ll be able to read about
these events as well as
many
others,
including
plans which our Senior
pupils have for whole-school
initiatives, news from our
Anti-Bullying Committee and
much more. I hope that you
enjoy this edition of our
Newsletter.
Hello everyone! The captaincy team have
been pretty busy since we started in
August. At the Senior Induction day we
asked the seniors for ideas/changes they
would like to see us action. We have
started working through those. We are
underway with the Prom Committee and
this year we are looking at the possibility of
a year book! We will keep you up to date
with our progress in the bulletin, twitter and
on the website!
Zahrah, Sean and the team 
The Anti-Bullying Committee
Miss Kennedy and Mrs Kerr are working with our new
members of the ABC. This year the team are aiming to:
 Support all pupils
 Host assemblies
 Help build positive relationships throughout the school
community
Keep an eye on the daily bulletin on the school website for
our ABC quote of the week:
“Treat others as you want them
to treat you”
Senior Captaincy 2014
Girl Captain
Boy Captain
Zahrah Khan
Sean Neil
Vice Captains
Head Prefect
Nathan Kevan
Rebecca McIlroy & Ami Sheridan
Sport & Health Captain
Connor McKay
Sport & Health
Vice Captains
Emma Mathison & Sharon Jakisa
Prefect Team
Saffron Dickson
Alexandra Kontou
Sana Sakander
Callum Rennie
Jack Murphy
Abubaker Mehr
Yasmin Sadiq
Aisha Ahmed
Juneed Khan
Amna Emtiaz
Sofia Mohamad
Laiqa Umar
Sofia Abdul Rehman
Amina Yusuf
Ammarah Tanveer
Fraser Ward
Kainat Nisar
Halima Ahmad
Fundraising Committee
Bilaal Ahmed
Humza Qadeer Ali
Vasilica Matei
Laeebah Ali
Shawnie Wright
Yusra Nasoor
Cara Kennedy
Zubia Asif
Bilal Mahmood
Arza Izzadeen
Kyle Morrison
Kaiser Saeed
Sabah Sattar
Rabia Ali
Bushra Ali
Meghan Mullen
Rabia Mohammed
Hira Khan
Kristina Waddell
Zahrah Khan
Sean Neil
Humza Qadeer
Bilal Ahmed
Halima Ahmad
Kainat Nisar
Ammarah Tanveer
Amina Yusuf
Rabia Mohammed
Meghan Mullan
Sabah Sattar
Shawnie Wright
Laiqa Umar
Saffron Dickson
Bushra Ali
Rabia Ali
Commonwealth Countdown Artists
A very talented group of first and second year pupils were invited by
the organisers of the commonwealth Games (Jack Morton
Worldwide) to create an artwork for the opening ceremony of the
Games held in Glasgow this summer.
The pupils designed and painted a mural of Glasgow old and new
and had to incorporate the number Three. The company then came
to the school to film the pupils in front of their mural. Not only did the
pupils have to give up a lot of their spare time but also had to keep a
big secret until the opening night. No easy task! The mural was to
be used for the actual countdown to the opening ceremony. It was
seen by at least a billion people around the world. It was a wonderful
opportunity for our young people and as a reward they were given
tickets to see the dress rehearsal of the opening ceremony.
Panto Preparations
Tickets have already been booked
for this year’s whole school annual
festive theatre trip: ‘Peter Pan’ at
the King’s Theatre, Glasgow.
As always the seats are the best in
the house - and there will be free
ice-cream! Tickets cost £12. You
can pay for them in one go or in
instalments - £1 being the minimum
deposit.
Tickets will go on sale after
the October Holiday.
Thursday, 18th December
A HUGE thank you to our
friends at the Rotary Club of
Govan who are helping us to
invest
in
the
Music
department and enhance
opportunities for the young
people of Bellahouston 
What’s going on in
Humanities?
Seniors Quiz Referendum Reporter
Evening Times and Herald reporter Hannah Rodgers came to
Bellahouston on September 5th as part of a report she was writing
about first time voters. She spoke to Sixth year pupils Cameron Bell,
Scott Greig, Zahrah Tayyub and Hira Khan.
She chatted with the pupils who will be voting in the referendum for
the first time, and took photographs of the group. Hannah was
interested in their views on what issues are important to them, if they
felt they have been listened to, what aspects of the campaign they
thought had been good, or not good, and generally what they thought
of the referendum.
FREE MAPS!
The
Humanities
Faculty
subscribes to Digimaps which
allows anyone at school or at
home to look at and print OS
maps for free. Give it a try!
Cameron and Hira in action
WEBSITE
http://digimapforschools.edina.
ac.uk/
Username
G415QE
Password
lurfed20
(should be typed all in
lowercase, last digit is 'zero')
KELVINGROVE
For the fifth consecutive year, all First year pupils at our school will be
spending a day at Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery. Visits will
take place between the 6th and 10th October. And the trip is free to
pupils.
Pupils will take part in a workshop entitled ‘What is Scottish?’, which
places an emphasis on pupils gathering information and using
museum objects and art to explore past and present concepts of
Scotland’s identity.
Pupils shall also visit ‘The Centre of New Enlightenment’ which uses
new technology to help young people navigate the museum using
computers, digital cameras and a variety of other IT resources.
LOUGHBOROUGH
Jonathan Duckett, a PhD Research Student in the Department of
Geography at Loughborough University visited the school on
September 4th. His research project is into how representations of
Scotland presented at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games
resonate with young people’s
understandings
of
Scottish
identity, particularly in the context
of the upcoming independence
referendum. He spoke to a variety
of our Senior pupils and was
impressed by their ability to
express their views and opinions.
WW1 Project
In June 2014, 40 pupils and 5 members of staff visited the cemeteries
and battlefields of Belgium and France. The entire trip was fully funded
by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Historic Glasgow, Bellahouston Bequest,
Scottish Government and the Glasgow City Council International
Office. Later this year a touring exhibition, funded by the Ministry of
Defence Community Covenant scheme, based on the lives of ex-pupils
and teachers of Bellahouston Academy who died in the Great War, will
be launched at the school. The following stories are the experiences of
two of our pupils…
The journey to Belgium took almost 19 hours and we arrived straight
into our first event. We participated at the Last Post Memorial
Ceremony at the Menin Gate, Ypres. Afterwards we had a look at the
names on the gate of soldiers whose bodies were never recovered.
Then we got some free time and returned to the Salient School Hostel,
Ypres.
The next day we had an early start. We walked along to the In
Flanders Museum which was very interesting. We got the bus along to
Tyne Cot Commonwealth Memorial Cemetery and looked at graves.
Our guide found a former pupil from our school! Then we hopped back
onto the bus which took us to Langemark Military Cementary of
German troops killed in the Great War. It was interesting to see the
other side of the war, after all Germany had lost thousands of men too.
Later, we went to a re-creation of the trenches where the soldiers lived
and fought. Essex Farm cemetery was next and our guide told us
stories of the war including one of a 15 year old soldier who died. We
headed back to our accommodation for bowling and dinner 
On day three we left with our packed bags and headed to France. We
visited the Thiepval Memorial of the missing, an arch filled with names
of soldiers. Then Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial were we
walked through old trenches which have now been overgrown with
grass. On our last night we met a German group of pupils who were
also in Belgium to visit the war memorials. We had a game of football
on a field next to where we stayed…Germany won. The trip was
fantastic…I would definitely go again!
Wiktoria Busko 4B
In June 2014 a group of 40 Bellahouston Academy pupils travelled to
Belgium and France as a part of the project to commemorate WW1
and those lost their lives. One place we visited was Ypres, where we
went to the ‘Flanders Field’ museum. Amongst the exhibits were
photographs of men who died in the war. It was a sad experience to
think of the number of young men who lost their lives especially as we
knew that some ex-pupils of Bellahouston Academy had died.
We visited the Menin Gate, which was next to our accommodation.
We took part in the ‘Last Post’ ceremony.
We visited trenches and saw what it was really like for men who
fought in this war. Visiting the war graves gave us a lot to think about.
We should never forget those who died and hope it never happens
again.
The hotels were great and we had very entertaining drivers. The
teachers decided we needed a treat too and organised a bowling trip
and we had a short trip out on the local area.
We got feedback about our excellent behaviour and hope we did our
school proud.
Alex McAlaney 3F
YOUR CHANCE TO BE A DIGITAL
CREATOR
BECOME A
RESPONSIBLE SAVER
WITH BELLA’S CREDIT
UNION
Bella’s Credit Union is
now up and running and it
encourages our young
people to be Future
Savers.
Pupils
can
join
by
collecting a form from Ms
McLaughlin in room Bus
Ed 1.
Forthcoming
Collection
dates - Lunchtime in the
Fuel Zone:
Friday 3rd October
Friday 24TH October
Following on from Bellahouston
Academy
being
awarded
the
Prestigious Title of Lead School of
Computing Science there are a
number of exciting activities to look
out for, encourage our young people
to become Digital Creators.
Computing Science staff are setting
up a Minecraft Club, for all the young
gamers out there interested in
programming for computer games.
In addition, out Computing Science
staff will be involved in a project
called Determined to Animate, in
conjunction with staff in Art and Home
Economics.
For more information on either of
these activities, please speak to Mr
Brown, Mr Vanni, Mrs Wilkie or Ms
McLaughlin.
THE BREAKFAST CLUB – NEW MEMBERS WELCOME!
This is a highly successful initiative putting the needs of our young
people to the fore.
Our ICT Breakfast Club has been running for just over 2 years and
provides the opportunity for pupils to access computers every morning
to complete homework, print off assignments, read the newspapers
online and have the time to socialise with friends.
Pupils are also provided with a Healthy Breakfast in order to help them
get a good start to the day, and aid concentration in class. This helps
our young people ‘be all they can be’.
The club has been supervised by Technologies/ Health &
Wellbeing/Science staff. Senior Prefects have had a great part to play
in the organisation too.
Please come along any morning at 8.15 am to access this facility and
to ensure you are not hungry during the school day.
Three of our senior pupils and Mr Coyle embraced the fantastic
opportunity to attend the Global Entrepreneurial Leaders’ Summit
held at the Headquarters of the Royal Bank of Scotland in Edinburgh.
This summit was an inspiring way for our pupils to find out more
about setting up in business. Our senior students were able to
engage first-hand with the experiences of successful entrepreneurs.
These pupils will now lead on a project to develop entrepreneurial
spirit in some of our younger pupils.
Commonwealth Games by Bella
This summer, thousands of people from all around the globe headed to
Glasgow for the 2014th Commonwealth Games, and what a summer it
was. With lots of different events and sports going on, it was inevitable
that Bellahouston Academy and Glasgow School of Sport had to get
involved. Some of our pupils, and staff were rather busy during the
holiday as many of them helped out at the various different activities.
Bella stories…
Kate Johnston of Bellahouston Academy was lead chaperone for part
of the Legacy of the Commonwealth Games. She was in a group of
12 adults, only 4 of which were residential. They had to look after 72
children aged between 16 and 24 years old in the lead up to the
opening ceremony. The children were part of the opening ceremony
as they were flag bearers, each of them in turn took a flag from the
flag bearer from each of the countries. It was a new experience to
Kate, she was used to spending time with children due to her position
in the school but this experience was highly different. All the children
had come from different parts of the country and some had never
been to the city before. There was even one child who hadn’t even
been on the mainland before. It was a huge experience for them and
for Kate as well. During the free time the children had Kate would
take them to see tourist aspects of the city and would do some
shopping with them. After finishing with the children she was wishing
she was still doing it but she said that she is really proud of what she
did and would do it anytime again.
“It was a fantastic opportunity …
I’m still talking about it
whenever I see my friends.”
Kate Johnston
Formal Depute
Ms Logan, as you may have seen, was a baton bearer for the Queen’s
Baton Relay. We caught up with Ms Logan to get an insight into the
Glasgow 2014 experience. She said “Some tremendous folk have
taken that baton around the world so it was a tremendous honour being
asked to be a baton bearer by the president of the Netball Association.”
Ms Logan went onto to say “For the last forty years I’ve been involved
in umpiring for netball, I’ve had great experiences myself as an
international umpire and I’ve also had great satisfaction from being able
to support young, aspiring umpires and see them develop into
international umpires.” Ms Logan got a bit of a pleasant shock when
she saw who she was giving the baton to. “I didn’t realise that I was
passing the baton on to a former pupil of the school, Gary Hannah, so
that was an extra special surprise!” Ms Logan’s involvement in Netball
umpiring as an official is an outstanding achievement, “I went as a
selector as part of the umpiring appointments panel, so it meant a lot of
concentration and a lot of hard work, but to be able to support other
umpires from other countries was a great experience.” Overall our star
teacher had a great time at the Games, “It was a tremendous
atmosphere, and to have it on your home nation was great, and
Scotland did exceptionally well. I’d love to do it again”
Another former pupil, Jock Breckenridge took part in the ball patrol
team at the National Hockey Centre at Glasgow Green. He told us, “I
really enjoyed being part of the games! The whole atmosphere at the
hockey was great, seeing the players and just getting the chance to be
so close to the action. It was also great seeing all the well known
hockey players and the level of hockey being played.” He told us that
“being part of the volunteering programme was a once in a lifetime
experience. I’m proud to say that I was part of such an exciting event!”
Daniel Campbell of S4 was lucky enough to secure tickets for the
closing ceremony. Here is Daniel’s experience…
When I was at Hampden at the Closing Ceremony of the
Commonwealth Games, I experienced some amazing events like the
fireworks and star appearances by Kylie Minogue and Lulu.
It lasted for about two and a half hours and the time flew by. I went
there with my Dad, my Aunt and my Grandmother. We all had a
fantastic evening. When me and my Dad got back home, we both
discussed what we liked the most. I said my favourite was Kylie
Minogue and my Dad’s was Lulu. What an amazing end to the
Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games!
GSOS in the Media
The Evening Times captured 1st year School of Sport pupils on their
first day of training and interviewed several pupils about their sporting
ambitions. Can you spot our pupils in Hello magazine’s feature below?
Bella’s Annual Freshers’ Fair
S1 Freshers’ Fair was a great success. It was an opportunity for all
our S1 pupils to join the various clubs and committees we have in
school.
So many different stalls were there to represent
opportunities. Here are a few to give you a flavour of the afternoon:
• Iona – a trip we run every year
• Comenius – our links with Europe
• Active Schools – all our sports clubs
• Pupil Council – for pupils to have their say in the running of the
school
• Breakfast Clubs – where to go before school to meet friends and
have breakfast in our Technologies Faculty
• Music – learn to play an instrument
• Merit Scheme – our positive behaviour incentive scheme
• Buddies and Peer mediation – to help us get along with each
other
• Humanities – displaying all the wonderful work they do and the
trips they take pupils on
• Credit Union – a saving scheme run by the Council where every
child gets £10 to start saving. This is organised by Technologies.
Remember to keep an eye on the S1 page on the website for all the
updates and important information for S1.
We also presented the
awards for most merited
pupils in S1 – we are very
proud of you!
The joint S1 boys prize
goes to Rehan Kaleem
and Tabish Yousaf, the S1
Girls prize to Zeenat
Ahmed. Well Done!
S4
WORK
EXPERIENCE
During week beginning
20th October, all of S4
should be out on work
experience. This is a
really
exciting
opportunity for them to
be able to find out what
it will be like in the
‘world of work’. This
also enables them to
add useful information
when
they
begin
completing CVs for
jobs/further/higher
education.
If your son/daughter
does not have a
placement yet, please
contact Mrs Patterson,
or Miss Anderson at
school on 582-0030.
All pupils have been
issued with usernames
and
passwords
to
access
the
WorkIt
website to book the
industry of their choice.
https://www.workit.info/
Community Involvement
The short course Community Involvement
class have decided that their project for the
year will be based around the idea of
peace.
They went to the Hidden Gardens at the
Tramway looking for inspiration, and they
found it…
The class will be
creating
and
maintaining
a
“Peace Garden”
in the grounds of
the school. This
project is now
underway!
Cricket Glory for our boys!
On a glorious day for Cricket, the Sun shone as did the senior cricket team.
Competing for only the second time in the Glasgow Schools Cricket Tournament,
the Bellahouston team put on a thrilling display of individual excellence and
determined team work. Having won the toss and batting 2nd they managed to
dismiss Prestwick Academy, who had put up a magnificent batting display, all out
for 176 runs.
Owais Shah, batting 1st scored 102 and had to retire under the rules of the game
for breaking his century. He was replaced by Hassan Rafiq and partnered the
team captain, Bilal Haider, who himself was on 70 runs at this point. Only 8 more
runs were required for victory. Tensions were running high and the first bowl was
a wide. Then on receiving his second bowl, with a majestic swing of his bat,
Hassan found the boundary and his ecstatic team mates ran on to the pitch to
celebrate.
Congratulations to the whole team for a tremendous performance on the day.
Special mention must be made of Owais Shah who was voted man of the match
by the umpires and given the match ball.
Bilal Haider (captain) 70 not out, 1
wicket
Humza Qadeer 3 wickets/1catch
Owais Shah 102 not out, 2 catches,
man of the match
Hussan Rafiq 8 not out, 1 wicket
Hamza Amir
Adeel Yaqub
Zain Azhar
Mazhar Ahmed
Sheroz Mahmood (team manager)
caught 14 wasps.
Jack ‘Judo’ Murphy
Jack is currently ranked number 1 in
Britain. He is competing at the Sainsbury
school games this month and is looking to
improve on last year’s 3rd place.
Good Luck Jack
http://www.2014schoolgames.com/
aboutus_galleries.php