Hillside's Journey to Excellence

Easter 2012 was a very special occasion in the House Unit at Hillside School, as Unit Manager Dave Marcus set off with trusty sidekick, Donald Wall-e, and boys from school for a four day adventure in the faraway realm of Flamingo Land.

After weeks of mounting excitement, anticipation and preparation, 10 O’clock on Friday the 30th of March finally arrived. Champing at the bit, Kenneth raced Dave Marcus to the car, and without further ado, the entire crew set off with a breathless Dave Marcus at the wheel. Having just a few stops en route to satiate their enormously ravenous appetites, they crossed the Border and arrived at Flamingo Land, raring to go.

Kenneth, first to the car, was first out. Like a gazelle in the spring, he bolted to the rides, leaving his entourage of JC and Wee Marcus eating dust as he sped away on the motorbikes.

Sitting at the Jolly Sailor, their minds free of care and worry, Unit Manager and sidekick Wall-e glided gracefully into an ersatz philosophical journey, pondering the mysteries of the universe and paradoxes of human existence, while sipping delicately on frothy Lattes and milky Mochaccinos.

The days passed in a blissful, balmy haze. Kenneth, exuberant, exhilarated and ecstatic tried every ride in the park, but mostly ended up on the motorbikes. JC and Wee Marcus bounced around from ride to ride, with thrills and spills a’plenty.

“Like watching Hegel ’wrestle’ with Abelard“, as one passer-by described it, Unit Manager and Sidekick philosophised; theologised; pushed dialectic to hitherto unheard of depths and traversed the hermetic labyrinth together. A lofty sublation was reached, namely: that the Name of The Rose was merely a blip on an otherwise uninterrupted downward trajectory.

As for the boys, well they just had a good time.

I was approached on the day of the games and was asked to play for our school team.  Without hesitation I said yes.  As I was getting changed into my kit I noticed that we did not have a very strong team so I got half-hearted about the game and I did not even think that we would get through the group stages to be honest.

We pulled up outside the Clyde football stadium where we would be playing on the astro pitches beside it.  I put on my training top and walked over to pitch B where the organiser of the whole day ran through the rules and regulations for the day.

Hillside’s first game was against Gorgiemills and I did not think we would do anything special so as Captain I decided to stay back and defend our keeper and our goals. We were on the back foot right from the word go. Don’t get me wrong most boys put in an immense effort but some other boys where getting tired which is understandable.  It was tough even for the greatest of athletes such as myself but that’s another story.   As we were getting pinned back a spark of genius play helped us win the game. A swift pass from me to Sean and then to Corey.  The smallest boy on the pitch ran through 2 players to get a shot on goal.  He composed himself perfectly and fired away and with one swift shot Corey won the game.

Our other couple of games did not go too well but I could tell that we were just getting ourselves ready for the games that counted.  The last game to decide whether we got into the semi’s or went home early was against Ballikinrain which is always a hard game but we had to try.   We all decided if this was our last game we would go down swinging.  The ref blew the whistle and we all played our hearts out and we were relentless.  We had Ballikinrain on the back foot but unfortunately there were moments when we lost focus.   Ballikinrain quickly noticed this and took advantage and went up the park and scored. Hillside also quickly regained focus and went up the park to score by a great individual goal by young Sean.  The whistle went we were all delighted by our performance to make it a 1-1 draw which took us to the semi-finals.

We had Kibble in the semi’s now. They are always a hard team to play but now the pressure was doubled.  The whistle went and we decided to play the way did to get ourselves into the semi’s and to be honest it went well for us because yours truly scored the first goal but as we were celebrating our goal Kibble quickly countered and scored their own.  There must have been about 3 mins left of the game. I had to defend against a lot of painful shot’s fired in by the Kibble players but I was willing to do this for the team. Unfortunately one got under my foot and the score was now 2-1 Kibble. The worst thing happened. The final whistle went.  I was not upset or angry at all at my team. The last couple of games they played their socks off for their school. We were put out by the eventual winners of the tournament so that felt even better.  So once again I just want to give every boy who played in the tournament a big shout because you all played brilliantly. 

Thank you for reading.

Liam T

Seven young people along with three staff put on the appropriate war paint (along with a few kilts) and headed for the mighty Murrayfield to see Scotland take on the new look England team. Although England had beaten Scotland in the World Cup just months before, Scotland started favourite.

The boys had not long left the school before the first photo opportunity arose, with a young England fan asking to get his photo taken with the Hillside ‘Warriors’. Once on the train the France v Italy scores were constantly being checked and the young people got their first sign of the fans gathering as the train passed by an already busy Murrayfield Stadium.

All arrived at the stadium with time to watch the Scotland team warm up before a performance from The Red Hot Chilli Pipers and the introduction of both teams. The anthems were sung with ‘the Flower of Scotland’ evoking real pride in all the Scottish fans.

The first half was a relatively cagey affair with both teams kicking for territory and both looking dangerous on the counter attack.  England had the best of the first 20 minutes before Scotland muscled their way in through the forwards to get a foot hold.  A few handling errors letting the attacking prowess go to waste. By half time Scotland had a 6-3 lead with both teams unable to get across the try line.

Staff and boys alike were beginning to lose their voices after cheering on the home team.

As soon as the second half started, Dan Parks took an age over a clearing kick, only to be charged down and to let England in for the only try of the game, it was a soft one to give away and it brought the score up to 6-10 after the resulting conversion. England looked unlikely to break through the Scotland defence after that and Scotland began to press on.

A few more handling errors and mistakes in the breakdown let England off the hook.  Scotland did manage to get through and touch the ball down and after an eternity watching the video replays the try was disallowed – a topic that will be debated for a long time to come.

Scotland had another chance with Ritchie Gray breaking through however his decision to offload rather than go to ground again cost Scotland a potential try.  Another few attacks down Scotland’s left wing looked hopeful but no rewards came and as Scotland pressed on they gave away a penalty which was then converted to take the score to 6-13.

No further scores meant that England picked up the first silverware of the Six Nations, being presented the cup by HRH Princess Anne.

As a consolation, the Hillside troops headed off to get their dinner and the train home for an evening of washing off the face paint and reliving missed opportunities.

Hillside were back on the glory trail after their bitter disappointment last week of losing the match in the dying seconds of the game, determined this time to fight to the end on their hallowed home turf.

It was yet another wild and windy Wednesday afternoon, with the Kingdom of Fife suffering post Hurrican Katia blues. Hillside School, playing in red and yellow, opted to play into the wind and uphill in the first half.

Kick off was at 12:55 am, and immediately the visitors poured the pressure on, aided by the wind. With just under a minute of the game played, the Tans attacked down the right wing and slotted an air assisted ball high into the top left hand corner of the net well out of the keeper’s reach. A stunned Hillside couldn’t believe they were restarting the game so soon.

Gielsland were quick to congratulate themselves and announce they were going to give the home side the tanning of a life-time, fully convinced of their own hype. Having quickly purloined the ball, Gielsland piled on the pressure, pummelling and pinning the home side into their own half, with change in game play looking unlikely.

Keeper Ardle, mustering all his agility and athletic prowess, dived upon ball after ball, saving Hillside from a red-faced humiliation.

Hillside’s luck changed when player-manager Craig Logie’s kick at last found the distance to new signing Jordan, who running passed an over confident defence, levelled the score for Hillside. The young lad’s promise of the previous two games coming to fruition at last. By now just over five minutes of the game gone.

It was now Gielsland who looked shocked at the restart, their bubble burst, and fingers pointing at one another, a pattern which would later send the Tans spiralling out of control. But that would be later. In the here and now, the Tans attacked again, and again, using the wind, the 6% slope of the pitch and their physical size to great advantage.

But Hillside’s defence held, but out of nowhere a seemingly innocuous punt put the visitors 2:1 up. With smiles and congratulations, Gielsland were again quick to predict the final scoreline and boast of an impending rout of Hillside. But Hillside held fast.

Keeping calm, cool and determined to play football, they looked very much like the Kibble team of the week before, supporting each other, keeping quiet and just playing football. The visitor’s could not capitalise on the advantages, as their game-play descended into anger and frustration.

The more Gielsland played in anger and fury, the cooler Hillside remained. At half-time it was 2:1. But now Hillside had the slope and the wind, factors about which player-mananger, Craig Logie, was quick to remind them.

Taking the half-time talk to heart, erstwhile defender, Dylan, launched a one man attack from deep in his own territory. Few would have given him much chance of success with such a distance to traverse, but he delicately danced and weaved his way passed the defence to put the ball cleanly in the back of the net, with barely a minute of the second half played. Screams and howls of rage bellowed from the visitors that their entire team could be so easily beaten by a lad two years younger than the average age of the Gielsland squad.

Inspired by this performance, the two Aberdeenian forwards, James and Jordan, took them on in their own half, their effort converted into two goals for James, leaving the visitors heads reeling and spinning. With just 7 minutes of the second half-played, Hillside found themselves 4:2 up and now the rout was looking good from the other side. But, the Tans were not finished yet.

Mentally they collected themselves, reminded themselves of their early promise to each other, and channelled their energy into charging uphill at keeper, Ardle, who was once again faced with making save after save. But not even the mighty Ardle could hold this onslaught at bay forever, and in a mirror image of James’ goals, the Tans scored two in just over three minutes.

The score now stood at 4:4 with the match up for grabs and 7 minutes to play, plus two for extra-time for the ball getting lodged in the nettles behind the goals. Thanks to young Adam for braving the stings and barbs to rescue the balls and ensuring a degree of continuity.

The air thick with tension, both teams knew that the next goal would likely be the decider as they nervously attacked and defended. Hillside attacked from the restart, pouring into the box, and to Hillside’s good fortune A Gielsland defender handballed in the box, but hoped no one saw it.

But … unlike last week’s game, where four penalty handballs went noticed, Tam Young, in semi-retirement from professional sports but acting as volunteer linesman, raised the flag, his eagle eyes spotting the infringement even though the goal area was not marked by lines, relying on the impressions in the grass from endless seasons of play at Hillside School. After a quick chat with the ref, a penalty was awarded. James wasted no time in tapping the penalty passed the seemingly injured keeper to secure his first hat trick for Hillside School since the 2008-2009 season.

Cries of delight mixed with protests of wrath as the visitors challenged the linesman and ref on their decision. The stalwart referring team were having none of it and called for a return to order and to the game. An enraged Gielsland were unable to penetrate the calm Hillside defence. The score remained thus until the final whistle of a very eventful, emotional and enjoyable match, giving Hillside their first win of the season. Final Score: Gielsland: 4 Hillside 5 Man of the Match: Ardle Goal of the Match by: Dylan

Hillside’s away match against Kibble was always going to be a tricky one for the aspiring youngsters. A busy morning of intense learning in the ivory towers of Hillside,  followed by an epic journey to a destination unknown in the depths of Glasgow, left the squad a tad weary before a single ball was kicked on the Renfrewshire astro-Turf, on a  wild and windy Wednesday afternoon.

Young pretender, Andrew Skinner, assumed team responsibility, assisted by Colm Allen, defence coach, and Peter Thow, football analyst and strategist. Andrew quickly set to work organising the squad with a 4:4:2 formation.  Aaron and super-sub Wee Corey served as replacements.

The game kicked off at 2:03pm sharp and both sides immediately threw caution to the wind and piled on blistering attack after attack; Hillside’s passion versus Kibble’s training and discipline.

The game soon settled into long periods of sustained pressure. First, Kibble turned the screw on Hillside. Fortunately, keeper Ardle, whose biorhythms were firing on all cylinders, played the game of his life, making save after spectacular save, diving all over the astro-turf,  neither skin abrasions nor injury worrying the young person.

Defence and midfield, aided by super-sub Wee Corey, absorbed the pressure, threading the ball forward to new signing Jordan and stalwart James, who turned the tables on Kibble and put Hillside in the driving seat. Despite all the chances, the Kibble keeper was having just as good a day as Hillside’s, and nothing was getting past him. In case anything did get through, the Kibble defence were ready to punch it out of danger, which they did on three occasions. The strong cross-winds evidently affected the referee’s eyesight and Hillside were denied their penalties.

At half time it was 0:0.

Back in the changing rooms, the managers and coaches talked their squads through a hurried analysis of their opponents’ game play and alternative plans discussed in a fraught attempt to get that elusive goal.  With barely time to draw breath, both teams were back out, ready to cross swords.

A repeat performance followed with alternating passages of pressure, but with no break in the deadlock in sight. As the final whistle drew close, up and down the sidelines rationalisations were being readied with the customary clichés  of  ‘a draw is fine’, ‘a fair result’, ‘we’ll settle for that’, ‘no-bad’  and the ubiquitous ‘it’s the taking part that counts’.

The two teams of youngsters had different ideas.

James launched a series of fiery one-man attacks deep into Kibble territory, causing the management consternation and expectation in equal measure, but not troubling a fit and well drilled Kibble defence. His best solo-efforts efforts easily nullified, James had to make the occasional pass to fellow forward, Jordan. Working together, at last, they punched through the defence.  Sadly the ref., who did not spot any of the Kibble’s penalty hand-balls, had no problem spotting James offside and quickly dismissed his ersatz goal. Dismayed, defeated and dejected, the Aberdonian lad’s lungs and legs caved in with oxygen deficit and he crumpled onto the astro-turf, gasping for breath. Meanwhile, the Kibble boys launched a last minute assault on the Hillside goal.

It was obvious that the Hillside squad were running out of steam, but the Kibble boys looked as fresh as they had done almost 60 minutes before. In grim desperation they tried to hold on, but tired legs betrayed then.  Hillside lost ball after ball to Kibble.

Frustration etched itself deep into a heavy frown that scarred  Hillside manager’s face, downcast with his squad’s fitness and burdened with the knowledge that there was only two subs to rotate. Not even the mighty Pete Thow could devise a winning formula for Hillside School at this point; defence coach, Colm’s direction to the backs fell on deaf ears as their defence dissolved into disarray.

With everyone clock watching and praying for the final whistle, Kibble pushed seven up front and one into the back of the net.

Hillsides saw their dream of a draw dissipate before their very eyes in the dying moments of the match.

After the restart, Kibble wrenched possession of the ball from the war-weary midfielders and were back into the attack zone, down the right wing. A precisely positioned pass, and an unchallenged cross led to an easy header that pushed the ball beyond the keeper’s grasp to put Hillside out of the game with less than a minute to go.

Final score:   Kibble 2 Hillside 0

Man of the match:  Matty

CC image by Robert Burdock

Both teams arrived at the venue raring to go, and after a quick setting up of nets and flags the game kicked off at 2:07 pm.

Hillside’s fears of being overpowered by the visitors were quickly quelled in the first moments of play as the ding-dong battle took shape up and down the park.

A three-way clash of bodies, and a couple of high boots, forced a hasty substitution for the Reds and Hillsidewere quick to apply pressure to a weakened defence. But it was the Reds who drew first blood on the break, after Kyle decided it was too early in the game to score and so launched the ball into orbit over the crossbar with just the keeper to beat.

As the game resumed, Hillsidewere looking good to equalise as St Philips keeper was unsure what to do in a pass back. Two free-kicks in quick succession helpedHillsidemaintain the pressure.

Then at last, Aberdeentransfer, James slotted one into the back of the net, pulling the Blues even.

St. Philips were clearly stunned at Hillside’s display having expected an easy victory, even asHillsidestarted to believe they could win the game.

Hillside’s hopes were further raised whenCraig Logie cleared the ball as it was about to cross the line.

The Red’s pushed forward, but the Blue’s stood fast, and the game was once again up and down the park, the ball bouncing around like a balloon in the wind.

At half-time it was 1:1.

The reds launched an all-out assault on Hillside’s goal as the second-half began, but fortunately for the Blues, St Philips kept straying offside. Each infringement was spotted by eagle-eyed Pars fan,David Nobletaking his responsibilities as Linesman very seriously, having to pass on his position as referee having failed the S.P.L. referee fitness test.

With 20 minutes to go, Hillsideeased off the pressure and counter-attacks, seemingly content with the 1:1 score line and numerous infringements from St Phillips. A few of the boys decided to play referee and football pundit, instead of football itself, with one Hillside player getting ‘red-carded’ and receiving a suspension.

The Reds took advantage of Hillside’s temporary disarray and blasted on into the back of the net.

Hillside quickly brought on super-sub, Wee Corey, to shore up the defence. He immediately made his mark preventing the Reds from going 3:1 up with a blistering goal-saving header, and securing his future within the team.

Now just 10 minutes of the game remained.

Midfielder James sensing that Hillside were grasping defeat from the Jaws of victory gave a rallying cry to his troops and led the counter-attack deep into the Reds’ territory. Within no time, the Aberdeenian smacked one into the corner of the net to keep Hillsidein the game.

As the game entered its final phases, it was once again James who led the way and was looking good to score his hat-trick when he was called offside in a highly controversial decision that will keep the pundits, critics, and experts busy for months to come as they carefully scrutinise the video tapes, over and over again.

At the final whistle it was 2:2.

Man of the Match: James

Special mention: Matty for impeccable work rate, attitude and enthusiasm.

Videographers: Tom and Leah

Unanswered questions:

1. Why was James called offside?
2. Why did Kyle kick the ball over the crossbar?
3. Did Craig Logiescore an own goal?
4. Why is Dunfermline Athletic Football Club called the ‘Pars’?

We are linking what we are learning about electricity to our bodies and health. We are starting with a bit of chemistry and learning more about what everything is made of. This includes atoms and the chemicals in the periodic table.

Some important elements are Hydrogen, Oxygen, Carbon and Nitrogen. We learnt the elements by listening to The Element Song by Tom Lehrer. Afterwards, Mr Walker showed us when and how to wear safety goggles, and how to light a Bunsen burner safely. Mr Walker then let us burn Iron and Magnesium. These metals are also used in fireworks. The Iron sparkled like a sparkler and the Magnesium became a very bright light once it was lit.

We also tried an experiment that one of our boys asked to try. We learnt how to do this experiment safely, though we nearly jumped out our skin!

Mr Walker put Calcium in a test tube and added water. He then told us to hold our thumb over the top of the tube. We thought this would be another boring old lesson, but how wrong we were!

Almost instantly, we felt the pressure of the gas building up until it became almost too much to hold. Mr Walker gave us the lit splint to hold over the test tube and as soon as we took our thumbs away it popped. It was a wee bit scary, but funny at the same time.

Then, Mr Walker put a balloon over another test tube and built up the gas. He proceeded to put the lit splint next to the balloon and held it there until the balloon exploded!

We had made some hydrogen and the occurrence was similar to when the Hindenburg Air Ship blew up.

This was the funniest and most enjoyable lesson of my two years at Hillside School.

Written by Liam T

The week started-off quite busy, with a number of boys ducking and diving about the place. There was a fair amount of transporting, getting boys home, bringing boys back.

However, for the boys who did not get much ‘home leave’, there was a wee surprise organised for the end of the week.

I packed our three boys into the car and headed up to Landmark, Aviemore. On arrival, monkey-man Liam got straight into a harness and went on the sky dive, followed by Kenneth and myself. Unfortunately, Kenneth has not yet overcome his fear of heights and had to climb back down, at least he tried. Lee disappeared on the rope section while we were being supermen!

Kenneth, undeterred, kept the harness on and went over to the Tarzan rope maze, however he could not step off the platform, so off with the harness and over to the rollercoaster. This he enjoyed over and over. Then he found the water slides! Up and down he went; absolutely loving it.

Then we went for a walk around the treetop trail, where the boys found out some amazing facts and saw a tree that was hit by lightening in 1982 (it still has the burn scar!). Finally, it was back to the climbing frames for a game of tag, while I had a cuppa.

As with all good days out, you have to head home (bummer!). Never mind. Dinner in Pitlochry was great too.

Raymond

Class 4 have been busy learning about propagating plants for their Rural Skills course with Bruce Robertson from Elmwood College.

This is the group potting up small plants into bigger pots – Bruce assured them this would make a 99p plant into one worth £3.99 with a couple of months growing on.

Here the group are learning how to make more plants by taking stem and leaf cuttings.  This is something for nothing apart from a bit of time and patience.  The cuttings should be rooted and ready for potting on after 8 weeks.  The lads all thought this would make a great enterprise project.

This is a close up of the finished tray of cuttings.  The group were amazed how many they could get from one plant.  The trays now go into a warm, steamy atmosphere to encourage them to root.

Preparation also started on the orchard in the walled garden.  The area needs cleared, dug over and turfed before the apple trees can be planted.   So the group got a chance to use the strimmer and rotovator one week.

The boys also visited Elmwood College.  They were very impressed with the facilities the college could offer.  They were even more impressed with the variety of tractors, grass cutters and rotovators they would get a chance to play with.

We all sat around the table. Dylan welcomed us in and Matty read his poem. We ate our haggis, neaps and tatties. We also got to drink Iron Bru. I read my poem and then had shortbread, then we had a class picture. Finally, I went to my unit. It was a good period.

By Liam T

We all read stuff and we all ate lots of Scottish food.  Liam read a poem, then Kyle read his poem. We all enjoyed this time.

By Liam H 

Me and Miss Birss took the haggis out of the oven. Then we took it to the class. We all had a toast and a drink to the bottom of the glass. Liam read his poem. After, we had our neaps and tats.

By Danny