March 2010 - News Stories

Seamus Heaney at St Leonards

Picture: Seamus in grounds

Its buildings have played host to Scottish royalty in years gone by and now St Leonards can lay claim to have welcomed Nobel Prize winners too!

Seamus Heaney, Nobel Laureate and arguably the most well known poet in the English speaking world, visited the St Andrews school as part of StAnza 2010, Scotland�s international poetry festival.

In the inspiring surrounds of the Green Room, Heaney delivered an intimate �Round Table� reading of twelve of his unpublished short poems to a dozen lucky attendees who had managed to secure tickets.

StAnza Education Assistant John Taylor, who is also Head of English at St Leonards, said, �The poems, relating Roman mythology to the birth of his granddaughter, were beautiful and sparked reflective discussion among the small audience on the relation of myth to real life, on the 'sparkling' quality of Heaney's work and on poems about his childhood.

�Heaney's canny personality really shone through the event as he regaled stories of readings and amusing occasions, making the reading interactive, funny, and incredibly enjoyable.�

St Leonards Headmaster, Dr Michael Carslaw, said he was thrilled to have been able to welcome such a renowned guest to his school.

He said, �We were delighted to host this unique StAnza 2010 event and it was inspiring for our pupils - many of whom study Heaney�s work � to know that he was at their school.�

The School also acted as a venue for a further two �Round Table� readings by Matthew Sweeney and Douglas Dunn, whilst St Leonards pupils got a piece of the action when they took part in a workshop with the Festival�s poet in residence, Kei Miller.

�It has been great to be able to play a part in the Festival,� said Dr Carslaw.

�I think the poets found the Green Room to be a great venue for the intimate nature of their readings and I�m delighted that the pupils were able to get involved with the workshop.�

Picture: Seamus Heany event

Students you can really count on

Picture: Maths Challenge

Pupils from St Leonards School can be counted on to succeed in rigorous academic challenges.

That�s the lesson to be learned from the participation of Year 9 and 10 (S2&S3) students in the UKMT (UK Mathematics Trust) Intermediate Challenge.

An outstanding set of results in the prestigious problem solving contest saw 19 out of the School�s 20 candidates score higher than the national average, with 18 pupils gaining certificates, eight gold, seven silver and two bronze awards amongst them.

As if that wasn�t enough, four students performed so strongly that they have been invited to sit more advanced papers. Yijie Shen and Trisha Chin are two of only 500 UK wide candidates who have qualified for the Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad whilst Ewan Anderson and Katie Overend have qualified to sit the Intermediate European Kangaroo papers which are taken by candidates from over 30 countries.

Paul McDonald, who teaches Maths at St Leonards, prepared the young mathematicians for the Challenge which is taken by more than 180,000 school pupils each year and is designed to stimulate interest in maths.

He said, �The results really are pretty phenomenal and the achievements of the students are outstanding.

�Yijie and Trisha�s results are in the top 0.2% in the UK and Ewan and Katie�s are around the top 1%.

�I�m delighted with the achievements and the way the students have lapped up the learning.�

At the Olympiad event, Yijie and Trisha will be in with a chance of gaining an invitation to attend a special summer school at Cambridge University. Regardless of whether the girls achieve that ultimate aim though, Mr McDonald is confident that all 20 of his candidates have gained from taking part.

�The competition acts as a catalyst for advanced maths thinking,� he said.

�Maths problem solving is an essential tool in the wider world and can be used in a variety of real life challenges in areas like engineering and architecture.�

Showing the Six Nations how it's done

Picture: SLNP U9 rugby team

Schoolboys from across the country headed for St Leonards-New Park to prove that the future for Scottish rugby is rosier than the present!

As the national team continues to toil in the Six Nations, squads from Lathallan, Craigclowan, Clifton Hall, the Compass School and the host school gathered for the St Leonards-New Park U9 Rugby Tournament.

Now in its 13th year, the 8-a-side, round robin competition lived up to its reputation of being a free scoring, entertaining affair, with Clifton Hall taking home the silverware.

Andrew Donald, Headmaster at St Leonards-New Park, said.

�It was another great day with lots of tries being scored and lots of rugby lovers enjoying themselves.

�I hope that the Scottish Six Nations team will be inspired by the boys, rather than the other way round!�

With the host team�s preparations being badly hampered by the weather, Andrew says that his young charges were delighted to be able to get out on the field.

�Unfortunately they hadn�t had much chance to play competitive rugby as all of our matches this year had been cancelled.

�However, the boys had put in some dedicated training and were delighted to be able to play the other schools.

�The tournament has built up a great reputation and it�s a real highlight of our sporting year.�