Cumbernauld High School prizewinners celebrate success

And that’s exactly what Cumbernauld High School did last week in an impressive awards show which recognised the endeavours of the school’s first, second and third year pupils.

The main hall was packed last Wednesday with guests, hundreds of pupils, and proud parents as the school gave a tip of the cap to what was an industrious year for its junior students.

Head teacher Walter Muir said: “You can see what this means to people by how packed the hall was.

“Unfortunately the hall itself isn’t big enough to accommodate every award winner but that just shows you how well the school has done.

“It’s nice to recognise those pupils who have not only achieved, but have put in a great amount of effort as well.

“We tried to do something different this year so instead of me standing talking at everyone before the awards, we decided to play a video and a slide show of the pupils actually doing what they do. I think it went really well.”

Among the guests were members of the School Parent Council. Council member Ann McEwan, whose two children Luke (12) and Georgia (15) received awards, congratulated the school for its hard work and thought the ceremony was a success.

Ann said: “I thought the ceremony was really nice. I think it’s important for the pupils to get recognition for their efforts as well as their achievements.

“I thought the speeches, music and videos showed the individuality of the pupils and their own personalities.

“It was also nice to see so many faces at the ceremony.

“It helps to build the school as a community.”

Rep-resentatives from North Lanarkshire Council were also at the ceremony and Councillor Tom Johnston, who taught history at Cumbernauld High, also praised the ceremony.

Councillor Johnston said: “It was very nice to be invited to the awards. It’s been seven years since I taught there but I was taking note of the award winners and recognised a few family names.”

He added: “I thought the ceremony was a very slick production.

“The slide shows and videos were even more meaningful than the speeches and it was very well organised.

“Modern education is all about confidence building and if you can build that up then pupils can achieve both within education and outwith school.”