The year’s first European Youth Cup for young climbers was held at EICA Ratho, Edinburgh, over the weekend of 18 – 20 May. William Bosi in 1N1 competed and was delighted to finish in 6th place. As he qualified for a European final he is now an elite GB Team member. William then successfully defended his Scottish Youth Bouldering Champion title during the weekend of 26-27 May in Glasgow. Well done William! Watch his final climb here.

Sean Hughes, who is about to join the Edinburgh Music School at Broughton High School, has been chosen to sing at St Paul’s Cathedral for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Sean is the only boy from Scotland selected for this prestigious occasion. We are delighted for him and for his family.

We have two pupils in the final of ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ today.  This is a stadium event, at Hampden Park, for raising young people’s awareness of racism on and off the football pitch.  They are Amy McDonald and Anna Djordjevic, both in S3.  We are very proud!

S4 Pupils have been working in teams to research the needs of their community and identify a local charity they believe is best placed to make a positive change.  They have been learning how to assess the charity’s management, strategy, staffing arrangements and services.  Possibly the most important aspect of YPI is the site visit pupils have made to their chosen charity.  By visiting a charity, the pupils are developing a real understanding of some of the challenges facing the community and will, we hope, be inspired to work to change society for the better.

S4 pupils will present their chosen charity to a panel of judges.  One team will receive a cheque for £3000 to be given to their charity.

The final presentations from S4 pupils will be on Thursday 22nd March from 2pm-3.30pm.  If you would like to attend this event please contact John Cudlipp at Broughton High School.

Just a note, about S4 Katie Messer, and her recent approach to the Parent Council for help with a remarkable world peace project.  She came with John Cudlipp, the project having germinated in a paper in his RMPS class.  She calls it ‘The Impossible Peace’, averring that peace is in fact not impossible.  She envisions 40 t-shirts, emblazoned with pictures of their wearers’ personal peace heroes — e.g. Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. — and each wearer speaking a line from these individuals’ most famous speeches.  These spoken lines Katie means to film, and edit them into a composited single speech on the very real possibility of peace.  The PC was delighted to help.  What lies ahead for this film-in-the-making?  With luck, a screening at the Fringe, which has a special category into which this should fit.  Last year Katie mounted a very successful charity film festival at the school, single-handedly.  We’re optimistic about her latest plan, to say the least.