News from Goodacre's House, Glenalmond College 

Goodacre's: diversity of talent:

The Lent term is always a busy one, with exams for most year groups along with a lot of sports, music and arts to pack into a short period of time. The highlights for the 50 boys in Goodacre's were:

Winning the senior inter-house football

Inter-house steeplechase - individual winners in second and fifth form (Kaleem Barreto and Angus McCance) 

Archie Farquharson won the house cup for his performances in the 1^st XI hockey, piping and also his academic excellence

Tom Galbraith continued his development and progress within Scottish cricket

Three U6th gain Art College offers for next year

Goodacre's Sporting Success by Ben Whittle

This term Goodacre's House has had some very impressive sporting performances: as a house we finished 3rd in the school steeplechase with some blistering efforts from Angus McCance (3rd in Senior Boys & 1^st in fifth form) and Kaleem Barreto (1st in 2^nd Form). Despite some impressive talent from our rivals every Goodacrean ran hard and did the house proud. The seniors won the senior house football competition at the end of term with some very impressive individual and team performances. Having beaten Skrines, Mathesons and Reid's we drew to Patchell's to give us the most points and claim the first house sporting prize of the term. Niclas Schmidt was awarded the 'Freddie Campbell' golden boot award for being the top goal scorer. Junior house football was also held earlier, although we didn't finish quite as well as the seniors, special congratulations to Walter MacAulay who smashed four goals past Matheson's - despite two of them being 'debatable'! Three Goodacreans competed in the 1st XI that defeated Loretto in the Scottish Schools Hockey Cup at Peffermill: Fritz Spieth, Archie Farquharson and Tom Galbraith all represented the house in the victorious match where we won 4-0. Congratulations must go to all three of these talented sportsmen on this tremendous achievement. Tobermory-Mackay Champion also finished 3^rd in the Scottish national swimming trials over Easter and is now ranked 8^th in the U.K.

'Walter MacAulay tries out goal-keeping

And finds a hidden talent, making his mark

as goalkeeper for the U15 A hockey team…..!'

Chain-saw; Food Hygiene & First

Aid Certificates

A number of the sixth form boys have now passed chain-saw, first aid and or food hygiene courses organised by the Sub-Warden. Such courses show the diversity of activities that the boys can engage in and at the same time gain formal qualifications for life. This term's passes were:

Rory Farquharson; Ben Whittle Tim Webster, Henry Gray, Archie Winnington-Ingram

House Drama competition:

Charlie Braithwaite and Ben Whittle directed an outstanding house entry: an abridged Shakespeare version of 'The taming of the Shrew'. As with last term's house play, the boys provided a most impressive display of acting. Callum Harvey-Crawford again impressed with his stage presence, and Tim Webster played an amusing land owner. Pride of place though must go to a rather feminine Archie Winnington-Ingram (in dress) and a rather aggressive Charlie Braithwaite. Well done!

Form orders

In order to stimulate healthy academic competition, each set of form orders is compiled into a House "effort league". The highest ranked boy in each year group is shown below. The star denotes top of the House.

LENT FORM ORDERS

Year       Name

III Form    Tobermory Mackay-Champion*

IV Form    Illya Lazorko

V Form     Archie Farquharson

L6             Charlie Braithwaite

U6            Grant Woodhouse

Hugh Rettie, this years' head of house was also asked, like his predecessor George Smith, to become the schools' pipe major and he has already proven himself to be an excellent leader in both these roles.

The new academic year has, as always, been busy. Our seven new third form and one second form boy have added much to the spirit of the house with, for example, the non-stop table tennis at break times showing no sign of waning! Our fourth form has increased by three with some very good sportsmen in Andrew, Jon and Nacho.

Our new matron Karen McNamara has also been a breath of fresh air this term and provided a much needed improvement to the domestic arrangements for the boys: she cares about the boys' welfare and is an ever present and positive support for them.

 Some of the new Third Form pupils

The house has continued to be upgraded. We have invested in new carpets for and painting of a number of the third/fourth form dorms as well as a new carpet for the main stairway; the sixth form has had new showers and the momentum has been continued with the sixth form boys also re-painting their corridor. In addition, the new fitness suite and trunk room was completed with the help of Mrs Golden and yours truly. This term our drying room has also been upgraded to incorporate a shoe cleaning station. Mrs Golden made curtains for the sixth form corridor from curtains that she had bought and cut and tailored to fit; she also made up curtains for several of the junior dorms. This was a big undertaking, but she managed to finish the work on the day of the boys' arrival! Over the Christmas break two new replacement showers are being put into the top corridor, along with the head of house's room getting a refurbishment to the shower area. Next year we hope to achieve some further improvements in the fifth and sixth form rooms.

The first new Skills Club for juniors was held the hour before prep one Monday: it was set in the house kitchen with Mr Golden at the helm. Mrs Rettie had very kindly donated four partridges and we thought it would be a good idea for the fifth form to see how to pluck, prepare and eat them! Needless to say the kitchen had feathers everywhere.

Wendy the Labrador was having great fun watching all the activity and finding feathers sticking to her nose. We then cooked the meat in garlic butter and served with fresh crusty bread. All the fifth form who took part enjoyed the experience and hopefully will be able to use this skill in the future. The next useful skill being set is a simple one which is how to tie a 'proper' bow tie,  in which the prefects will instruct the juniors.

Partridge  plucking 

After the white-water rafting house outing on the first weekend of term the boys settled into normal routines very quickly. They also performed brilliantly in the 'House shout' and claimed runners-up spot. Harvey Strachan took lead role in organising practices and was ably supported by Bonnar Fulton. Pizza for the whole house was provided to mark a good night for the house. In the inter-house swimming the juniors came first, and Tobermory MacKay-Champion won the Victor Ludorum cup, as best junior swimmer. There were a number of piping events this term in which Goodacre's boys were present in significant numbers, and I particularly enjoyed the 'A' bands melodic performance at the school concert. Three times out of 12 occasions we were also winners of the Pavarotti cup for the best singing house at Friday's chapel this term, and this summed up the very enthusiastic output from the house this term. The first house play in many years was performed this term. 'The Clouds' by Aristophanes was an outstanding success, with so many of the boys being involved and with great support from parents and tutors: many thanks to Archie Winnington-Ingram, who directed this high quality production, as well as taking a leading role as Strepsidies. The other main actors were: Callum Harvey-Crawford; Bonnar Fulton; Oli Russell and Charlie Braithwaite- but for all 18 involved it was a great house event and shows that cultural activities can play a part alongside sport in developing a good house spirit! Callum was awarded the House cup this term on the back of a superb performance in the play and for his general positive attitude at all times. In the last week of term there was a house outing to see 'We will rock you' in Edinburgh, which was enjoyed by tutors, matron and boys alike: a great end to a good term's work.

The House Shout