Marr College: 13 february 2009

Feb 13 2009

CONGRATULATIONS to Lloyd Smith, Ramanjit Basra, Hannah Grant, Rachel Revie, Lucy Broomfield and Cally Nicol, who all have work displayed at the Rozelle Gallery as part of a display of excellent school art and design work.

MRS Cooper organised a trip for 20 S1 pupils to Domino’s Pizza in Ayr. This was a prize for pupils who were successful in the Marr College Pizza Challenge to design their own pizza. Mrs Cooper was assisted on the visit by Mrs Fishera.

Everyone at Marr College would like to express huge thanks to Dave and Louise at Domino’s for their assistance on the day. Dave demonstrated how to spin the pizza bases, add toppings and bake pizzas in the pizza oven.

All students then got to make their own individual pizzas.

Everyone had a fantastic afternoon and this was mainly down to Dave and Louise, who were very funny with the students.

MS Drauz-Brown organised a trip to the Poetry Live! event at Glasgow City Halls. A group of S4 and senior pupils and staff benefited from seeing poets perform and discuss their poems live.

The event involved well known Scottish poets such as Liz Lochhead and Carol Ann Duffy who gave readings and took questions from pupils on their work. This will be of benefit to pupils as it allowed them to relate to these poets as people and as performers, instead of only having the words on the page to work from.

Pupils were also exposed to poetry written and performed in Scots and varieties of English throughout the day. Liz Lochhead performed her famous poem about starting school – Bairn’s Sang/ Child’s Song. The most impressive, entertaining and funny performer in Scots was Tom Leonard. He shambled on to the stage like a slightly confused uncle in his favourite cardigan and proceeded to reduce the audience to tears through the humour and poignancy of his poetry.

Leonard’s contribution prompted questions about his distinctive poetical voice. This part of the day was valuable for pupils because it helped them understand that poetry can be written in the ordinary voice that we use everyday. Leonard explained that he chose to write in this way because he felt it was the natural way to express himself in many of his poems.

Another brilliant dialect poet, John Agard, provided a lively finale to a fantastic day. Agard, a poet from the Caribbean, writes and performs in Caribbean English. He encouraged the audience to get involved in the performance through the use of call and response techniques in his poetry. I’m sure that Agard’s entertaining performance would have made pupils readdress their attitude towards poetry.

The other poets who spoke and performed on the day were Robert Crawford and Imtiaz Dharker. As with all the poets who performed, Crawford and Dharker were engaging and made their poetry come alive for the audience.

The pupils also benefited from two presentations from an English senior examiner. Although he did not have experience of the Scottish exam system, he did provide pupils with an insight on what examiners are looking for when marking poetry answers.

All pupils were a credit to Marr College throughout the trip.

CONGRATULATIONS to the Marr College first year boys’ 7-a-side football team who qualified first from their group in the Ayrshire heat of the Coca Cola 7s tournament. The boys won every game in the tournament and beat Kilwinning Academy, Ayr Academy, Arran Academy, Cumnock Academy and Queen Margaret Academy on their way to qualification.

Mr McPhee would like to congratulate the boys on a wonderful performance and commend them for the exemplary manner in which they represented the school. The squad for the tournament comprised of: Scott Stenhouse, Martyn Shepherd, Morgan Brown, Mark Brown, J J Harris, Colin Martin, Scott Gallacher, Alistair Frew and Jamie Agnew. A special mention must go to Martyn Shepherd who performed heroics as stand-in goalkeeper.

MARR College second year girls’ football team, not to be outdone by their male counterparts, also qualified from the Ayrshire heat of the Coca Cola 7-a-side tournament. The girls beat Arran Academy, Queen Margaret Academy, Prestwick Academy and Ardrossan Academy on their way to qualification.

The squad for the tournament was comprised of: Poppy McCue, Jennifer Black, Katy Graham, Briony Johnstone, Erin Wardrope, Nicky Smyth, Callie Dorward, Paige Wright, Kimberly Reid and Rachel Alexander. Mr Robertson would like to commend his squad on their performance.

THE PAST three weeks have seen eight matches for the Marr junior rugby teams. Against Wellington School, the S2 A team won 32 - 6, the S1 A team won 36 - 0 and the S1 B team won a very close match by 18 - 14.

Unfortunately, three matches against Queen Victoria School were cancelled in Dunblane because of bad weather, but on Tuesday, February 24, a team from S2/S3 beat a very strong Girvan Academy team by 25 - 17 and a team from S1 beat Girvan by 53 - 0.

Last Saturday, all four junior teams (56 boys) travelled to Millerston to play against St Aloysius’ College. Always very difficult matches, these were again all well contested and very physical. The S2 A team lost by 14 - 18 but scored impressive tries from Mill and one from 70 yards when Wallace fielded a kick, passed to Kelly who made 50 yards before popping the ball to A Johnston who dived over in the corner.

The S2 B team lost to a bigger side by 7 - 15 in a close match which the home team were very relieved to win. Tries for Marr, Campbell and James.

The Marr S1 A team lost by 10 - 11 and again the home team were happy winners, particularly because Marr were pressing for the winning score for the last five minutes of the match. Tries by Anderson and tackles from McCutcheon and Morgan impressed those on the touchlines.

The S1 B team stuck gamely to their task against a much more experienced team, and although losing by 0 - 30 the Marr boys tried all the way to the end.

One last note. Parents from St Aloysius’ commented on how smart the strip and uniform looked on the Marr boys and on their attitude even when losing the match.

MRS Adams will be running two trips to the Aye Write literary festival in the Mitchell Library.

On Tuesday, March 10, she will be leading a group to see the acclaimed author, poet and playwright Benjamin Zephaniah. His work has been described as fun, thought provoking and political and I’m sure pupils will be inspired by his performance.

On Friday, March 13, it is the turn of Cathy Ford, Catherine McPhail and Julia Donaldson to entertain pupils. These authors have written some of the most celebrated teenage fiction of recent times and pupils will benefit from hearing them discuss their work.

DATES for your diary: Thursday, February 12 – S5/6 prelims complete; Friday, February 13 – school holiday; Monday, February 16 – school holiday; Tuesday, February 17 – in service day (pupils on holiday); Wednesday, February 18 – Parent Council visit to Belmont Academy (7.30pm at Belmont Academy). Friday, February 20 – Parent Council Burns Supper (7.30pm in Marine Highland Hotel, Troon).