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February 2010 - News Stories | |
St Leonards celebrates a special anniversaryPicture: the new Shackleton penguins A very special guest has helped St Leonards School to celebrate the anniversary of a treasured moment in its history. One hundred years to the day after the legendary Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton opened the Science department at the St Andrews school, his granddaughter, the Honourable Alexandra Shackleton, paid a visit to St Leonards to mark the occasion. Ms Shackleton toured the School and spoke to the students about her grandfather’s achievements and enduring legacy before accepting a commemorative bowl from Headmaster Dr Michael Carslaw. On his visit to St Leonards, Sir Ernest had been greeted by schoolgirls wearing penguin costumes, a sight by which he was apparently not particularly amused. However, when youngsters from the junior section of the school greeted Alexandra in similar style, the reaction was more positive! “It’s lovely to see the children dressed up as penguins,” she said, before informing the youngsters that there are 17 species of the flightless bird. Picture: Shackleton speaks She continued, “I’m delighted to be here to help St Leonards celebrate the centenary of the opening of the Science wing. “The Headmaster had the strange idea of inviting me along!” Alexandra, who, in her role as President of the James Caird Society, works to preserve and honour the remarkable feats of her grandfather, revealed why she thought his exploits continued to provide inspiration the world over. “The leadership skills he displayed were the cause of an upsurge of interest in the 1990s. “He got to know each of his men very well and encouraged them to show loyalty to each other and to the expedition as a whole. “My grandfather got to within 97 miles of the South Pole. It must have been hard to turn back but his priority was his men. He thought that life was the most important thing.” Picture: penguins 1910 Dr Michael Carslaw, said, “It’s great to be able to welcome Alexandra to the School, 100 years to the day since her grandfather’s visit. “Back then the opening of a science department for girls was a pioneering move but, of course, things have moved on in the century since, not least with St Leonards moving from being all-girls to being the fully co-educational school it is today. “The boys and girls were extremely interested to hear Alexandra talk about her grandfather. His achievements and leadership qualities resonate as strongly now as they did in the past and are a great inspiration for young people.” St Leonards-New Park pupils raise over £4000Picture: CLIC Sargent cheque The hard work of pupils at a St Andrews primary school has paid off for a children’s cancer charity. Students at St Leonards-New Park recently handed over a cheque for a whopping £4135.32 to CLIC Sargent after working up a sweat in their annual sponsored fun run. All 167 pupils in Years 1-7 completed circuits of the School playing fields with some of the kind hearted young fitness fanatics clocking up distances of up to five miles. Hamish Alldridge, CLIC Sargent community fund raising manager for Fife, Lothian and the Borders, accepted the cheque at a special assembly. He told the youngsters, “It’s amazing and a brilliant achievement. “The commitment that some of smaller members of the School community put in was fantastic and I’m very grateful to you all.” CLIC Sargent provides care and support for young people with cancer and their families and as Hamish explained, the money raised by St Leonards-New Park will make a real difference. “It will make it possible for families to continue to use our home-from-homes so they can be right beside their children while they are in hospital and it will also be used to provide after-care services. “We receive lots of thanks for the work we do but so much hard work is put in by people like you.” This year’s donation takes the total raised by the School for CLIC Sargent over the last five years to more than £20,000, an achievement which Andrew Donald, Headmaster of St Leonards-New Park, is understandably delighted with. He said, “I’m thrilled that the children have shown such determination to help others who are less fortunate than themselves. “As always, this year was a whole-school effort and we are pleased that Hamish was able to come in and show how much the children’s hard work is appreciated by CLIC Sargent.” Pupils influencing our understanding of the world...Picture: SLNP research St Leonards-New Park pupils as young as five are already influencing our understanding of the world! Students in Years 1-3 (P1-3) have been helping Gavin Revie, a research fellow from the University of Dundee’s Psychology department, with a study aimed at unlocking the secrets behind the development of counting skills in young children. Gavin visited the St Andrews School and set the pupils tasks involving the reading of numbers and words on a touch screen device. He explained, “A lot of research has been done on the mental number line which people use to conceive numbers and count, with one of the key findings being that adults count along it from left to right. “I watched the direction in which the pupils counted along a physical number line and read words in order to explore whether, as hypothesised, the working of the mental number line comes from reading.” Under the study, Gavin has also visited other local schools and after he has analysed all of his data he will use his findings to contribute to a research journal piece. He added, “The children at St Leonards-New Park were all clamouring to have a go and they seemed to thoroughly enjoy it.” St Leonards-New Park Headmaster, Andrew Donald, said, “The children were delighted to be able to play an important part in the research.” | |