Dragon in to save Woolies

At last one of my predictions look like they are coming true.

The Dragon who has a knack of bailing out poor performing companies and turning them into hits is Theo Paphitis, the Cypriot born millionnaire who once was Chairman of Millwall. In fact students will see his brilliant episode of Back to the Floor in the very near future.

Theo seemed the ideal man to take on the failing Woolworths company. I hope he does save at least some of the famous stores, if only because it is a name symbolic with British childhood. Woolie's pic and mix is legendary.

30,000 staff could be made unemployed if Woolworths were to go under. Including a current S6 pupil of mine, and what a terrible Xmas that would be for everyone.

How will Theo turn it around?

Some analysts have blamed Woolworths poor positioning as their main problem. They were slow to react to the 'One-stop shops' like Tesco and Asda where you can buy stationery, chocolates, DVDs and CDs... many of the items Woolies stocks. They were cheap but not cheap enough. And they couldn't rebrand into being a pricier store, because public perceptions would not change overnight.

Theo may well streamline the less profitable stores and cut down on employees, stock and the products offered. He obviously could use his own Stationery stores to supply Woolworths and perhaps even some of his Dragons' Den investments.

Can he turn it around? I think he could do, but one thing is for certain. Woolworths will be a different and smaller outfit this time next year if it is to be saved.

S4 Prelims

Good luck to our Admin and Accounting pupils sitting their first 'real' exams.

If you need any study help or advice feel free to contact me via school email or post on the SG Admin blog, and I will get back to you ASAP.

I will make available online the topic by topic questions which will be good for final exam revision, and I have some other study aid resources that I will print off for you and put online.

Next up will be the Practical Projects. With that in mind, I intend to create some more screencasts to aid your own learning.

In particular, I know I haven't put much up for Databases, so I will go through the Arrangements document for SG Admin and my best to create screencasts for each of the skills that could be asked.

I will obviously try and complete the WP and SS too, but I guess you can appreciate that it is a lot of work and it does take time. But I aim to make 3 a week, and over Xmas do at least 1 per day. That hopefully will mean a mountain of valuable online resources that can be viewed in class and even at home.

Try your best in the Prelim and answer every question. Remember the KU question really comes from the book and the notes, whereas the PS question really comes from you applying your understanding of the theory to a real problem and using common sense to come to the solution.

Good luck!

Senior School Ceilidh at Hamilton Grammar 2008

Congratulations to everyone involved in the Senior School Ceilidh tonight.

There were a few mix-ups when it came to ticket sales early doors with our intrepid sales force being twice (yes, not once but twice!) locked out of the Hatch and the tickets were inside!!!

Craig Morrice did a sterling job in giving the Senior School the patter... I mean sales pitch to come to what was a fun event.

S5 really got into the spirit of things, though we were a bit disappointed with the turnout from the current S6. But hey-ho that's the gamble you take when introducing a new event to a busy school calendar. I just know next year we will have double the people.. but then again it is all about atmosphere and enjoying yourself. I even got up for a dance!

Well done to the Young Enterprise group for providing the usual refreshments and we have found a Willy Wonka style product to send the wee S1 and S2s into dreamland at the upcoming Xmas Disco.

The performers did a fantastic job led my Mrs MacLeod and a former pupil John McCulloch. Also hats off to Mr MacLeod for doing his compere and getting everyone up dancing and involved. It could have been a tricky gig to pull off, but I think we can all say it was a job well done.

Now, as you sip your Horlicks and snuggle up to read the latest Martina Cole, you can give yourself a big pat on the back.

And I know even those people who perhaps were a bit embarrassed at the start... c'mon we all know you enjoyed yourself. And even though life has many pressures, you need to enjoy yourself too. When you get a wee bit older you stop worrying about what other people think and don't even think about getting a 'riddy' as we say in Glasgow, but you just go and enjoy yourself.

In my opinion it is events like this that make a school and a community. It is good to see them supported by the pupils.

Dunoon Visit

I visited Mr Paul Gallanagh, PT of Business & Computing, at Dunoon Grammar on Friday. Paul showed me the technical wizardry used to develop and publish his Blast From The Past video show.

It was amazing! And even better I got to meet the pupils who are filming DGS TV, a weekly pupil-led school news and magazine show. I originally was a bit worried that Mr Gallanagh's team of pupils could pull it all off in a lunchtime, but once the classroom was cleared, up went the stand and the greenscreen... I thought I was at 20th Century Fox Studios!

The kids did it all themselves and that is what I intend to do at Hamilton Grammar. There is so much that could be done with the technology and will be a valuable whole school resource.

I was also witness to the World Premiere of the DGS TV Main Titles. An incredible piece of editing and imagination. I don't want to spoil it for you, but there is one part I just love... and I am thinking already of how I can rip it off in our 'Octopus'!

Mr Gallanagh, who is also an LTS Development Officer, also shared some ideas about CfE. And I am glad to say that much of what we are doing in our school already with Blogging and Podcasting is similar. I even had a wee chuckle to myself when we had a look at our SG Admin Schemes of Work - they had quite a few similarities too. We also showed each other some great websites that can be used for work with pupils.

Another excellent resource Mr Gallanagh showed me was using an online poll site that can be used for self-evaluation. This could be used with our kids giving their view of how we teach in the classroom. I think I will be binning my old Excel Questionaire (as displayed to me as a young Probationer many years ago by the former Headteacher of St Luke's, John Fitzpatrick) and moving into the digital age. Paul assures me that the charts and stats are all done for me online, rather than having to do it myself! I think it is important to get pupils, parents and colleagues views on how we are teaching in the class and most importantly acting on their views.

I would just like to thank once again Mr Gallanagh and his wonderful staff and the talented pupils of Dunoon. Mr Gallanagh even had me helping out in one of his Admin classes... what a cheapskate! Dunoon is set in beautiful environs and the kids and staff are lucky to have such an inspirational setting. I look forward to seeing their DGS TV shows in the future. It certainly has inspired me and I know it will inspire our students.

HGS Digital - Pilot Video

As part of the HGS Digital scheme in the school, I have started filming and uploading teacher lessons. Hopefully in time pupils will be recording and uploading these vids for the school.

I did a short demo (the one on Donald Trump) but it was rather embarrassing!!! I have added more screencasts also to Teacher Tube for you guys to use in class. It is really a great learning resource for Administration at all levels.

To branch out a bit I have approached some enthusiastic teachers who have some great ideas to show the world.

First up was Miss McAree in Science. Her video explained about Chemical Reactions and had some cracking examples in it. My favourite bit is with the magnesium and the Bunsen burner. The flame was very, VERY bright!

Next up will be Mr Bowen (History) who will tell us a bit about the Iron Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck.

Future tutorials/vids will include (fingers crossed) Mr Anderson (PE) and Mr Cunningham (French). With more to follow.

I want the student's feedback on this, and you can tell me what lessons/demonstrations do you think would be most valuable.

At the end of the day we are doing this to help you study at home and improve your grades. But we also hope it will be fun. And most importantly we want you to get in on the act by writing scripts, filming and editing.

Yearbook Deposits

The Yearbook team are now taking in deposits. It will be £5 for the deposit and the chance to reserve your 2009 copy of HGS Yearbook.

Please contact myself, Miss Jackson or Mr Currie and we'll make sure you're on the list!

Fifa Tournament 2009

Tuesday marks the start of the much awaited XBox/PS3 Tournament to be played at lunchtimes.

64 entrants are battling for the prizes and to become Hamilton Grammar's Fifa 2009 champion.

Who will win?

Higher Admin News

I have added Letter Layout as a revision tool for those who wish it on Higher Admin 2009.

Also remember to make use of my screencasts. Follow the link to Administration ICT Skills and then select the appropriate MS Office package i.e Excel.

I will put more screencasts up soon.

Halloween Discos

A great couple of nights were had by all at the S1/S2 disco run by Mr Dyer and the Eco Group (DJ was Mr Ferguson, who was dressed up as Obi-Wan Kenobi - I was impressed!!!) and also at Hamilton Rugby Club for the S6 disco.

The S6 disco is run by the Yearbook Team (myself and Miss Jackson) and the pupils turned out in some amazing costumes.

There was only one winner however. A pupil who shall remain nameless dressed up as Mr Colin Stewart, our Headteacher! The Headie took it in good spirit and even posed for a pic with the rascal.

Perhaps in the future we can get the picture up, as it was brilliant.

I joined in the spirit of things by dressing up as an old, weathered teacher - no, not Mr Arthur, but Indiana Jones.

Can't wait for the Xmas discos!

SBEA Conference 2008

Just back from Perth and was funny to bump into quite a few familiar faces.

The Key Note speaker was Colin Temple, MD of Schuh and his presentation was interesting as it gave us an insight into the timeline of Schuh's ups and downs and reasons/explanations for them. He was also an advocate of reducing his firm's carbon footprint, so perhaps he may be a useful contact for our Eco Group. I made sure I got his card!!!

I also attended the Higher/Int 2 Business Management Command Words seminar, and again there were some useful ideas which I intend to put into practice with my class next week. I attended a similar Higher Admin programme run by Pamela Brown and Karen McLeod of South Lanarkshire which was pretty helpful. It gave general examples of how to answer questions with the different command words eg COMPARE Madonna and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. The kids loved it when I tried it. I held off doing one for Higher BM since I know there are slight differences between the subject's command words even though they are under the umbrella of Business Education.

Mr Paul Gallanagh, PT of Dunoon Grammar - and an old school friend of mine - displayed some aspects of aCfE in action with an innovative use of greenscreen technology (ChromaKey as it is called) with History pupils creating a show investigating the Wars of Scottish Independence. The kids wrote, presented, edited and produced the show on their own. Paul was an award winning project leader at Our Lady and Saint Patrick's in Dumbarton and created the UK's first school TV station - OLSP TV. I am currently working away in the shadows on a few ideas of my own which will be revealed in the near future. In the meantime, just keep your eyes on TeacherTube. (BTW congratulations to Alva Academy who have created quite a few vids on TeacherTube). Pity my own wee vids never made it to Reporting Scotland, but then again give me time people of Hamilton....

Financial Education was the last port of call in a busy day (the lunch was pretty good at the Dewar Centre!!!) and Jim Lally talked us through some ideas to help us nip our Headie's head until they get Business Education (and not Maths, Home Eccies or PSE) back at the forefront of financial ed.

Lastly, with everything that is going on in aCfE, it really has made me wonder whether some of the sterling work that our own Faculty has done over the last couple of years could indeed be adapted for aCfE. Though personally I have some good ideas of my own which I am keeping to myself just now. But all I am saying is that I believe there should be more of the National Priorities and Transferable Skills embedded into the S1-S3 course which we will ultimately end up having to write.

But it HAS, it MUST contain some elements of Business Education and not just be a vehicle for ICT or else the Faculty system will have failed teachers, parents and most of all our pupils.

So let's have a S1-S3 curriculum that can educate, inform and entertain BUT it has to also be relevant. I am afraid to say it could spell the end of the weemee culture we have in our school!!!