Welcome to Duns

So February turned out to be a mixture of quieter and non stop madness! One of the drawbacks of having times of less intensity is that, while they are a gratefully received times to recover, it is easy to forget about other deadlines which loom on the horizon. Point in case: it was a complete shock to discover that we only have two weeks before our weekend away to Alltnacriche, having planned out in my head a week away, then an extra fortnight to finalise the program for the week away.
So, it just means a bit of mental readjustment, and much more than panned to look forward to next week. For the time being, the week away has been in the diary for several months as I visit Mark, the Associate Worker in Berwickshire, to help out with his Christian Focus Week. Great to see another high school, working as I do only in Plockton, and see how other Trusts operate. But of course the biggest draw for me was the chance not only to see, but also to work with Sarah Strang who left S6 last year is now working with Viz a Viz ministries working in schools across the UK. As the work in Plockton perhaps is beginning to enter a new tough phase it is just brilliant to see one of our young people so ably exercising and discovering her gifts. The girl who left us six months ago stands before me on stage as I type, a young woman fully committed to working out her faith as God has allowed her.




Of course, although I was coming for all those reasons as part of my staff development, and being able to show our continued support to students beyond their time in Plockton, as well as sharing in the blessing of experiencing the fruit coming partly from the work of COOL, I'm not allowed to get off without doing any work. An easy start this morning sitting in on an S1 assembly followed by an S1 social education class led by someone else, but I have to look forward to leading Soc. Ed. for 100 S6 on Wednesday. Whilst I can be thankful that I wasn't in at the deep and today, it has been disappointing that all our input to the S4 and 5 students has been curtailed due to curriculum pressures. So two lessons I had prepared were missed today but well hopefully be able to work with the other years throughout the week.
Although twice the size, I'm struck over the similarities with Plockton, especially at how open the kids are to talking, and also their engagement with the lessons we've been in so far. All good, but we're currently praying for the success of the planned concert on Thursday evening, as there has been some doubt over whether it will go ahead.

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Location:Berwickshire High School