Oban High School Welcome to Oban High School

Argyll & Bute Council
Science
SCIENCE DEPARTMENT
 
The Departments have visited and had visits from a variety of scientific organisations:
 
Taynuilt and Kilchrenan ‘Floating Structures’ Transition Project  
 
The recent ‘Floating Structures’ project between OHS and Taynuilt and Kilchrenan primary schools was a great success with both pupils and teachers experiencing fulfilling, enjoyable and productive days. Quotes from pupils like, ‘I can’t wait to come to high school next year’ and ‘can we come back next year?’ showed that the P6/7s from Taynuilt and P7s from Kilchrenan really enjoyed their day. Staff and pupils involved in the project also said that the experience was exciting and fun which made all the effort worthwhile.
 
Big thanks must go to the OHS staff in Technical (Mrs C. Durkin, Mr A. Munro) as well as the Science staff (Miss L. Smillie, Mr B. Sigerson) who organised and ran a very successful ‘build and float’ day. A very big thanks goes out to the Primary staff (Mrs C. Boyle, Mr M. Skelton, Mr G. Dickie, Mrs V. Black, Mrs J. MacMillan) for their much appreciated efforts to make the two day project a success. However, the pupils were the real stars of the show and special thanks must go to them for creating a vibrant, energetic and highly enjoyable experience.
 
A final thanks must be offered to Mrs T. Pupillo (Primary/Secondary transition projects co-ordinator) and Mr P. Bain (OHS Head Teacher) for taking the time to hand out the pupils certificates at the end of the ‘build day’ which was a fitting way to show appreciation for the pupils efforts.
 
Well done to all the teams: E.M.S.T.R (Most Stable Structure); The Dolphin Boat (Most Buoyant Structure); Floating Designers (Most Visually Appealing); Rollin Rapids (Best Teamwork); Killer Kayaks (Excellent Effort); Oompaloompas (Excellent Effort) and Silly Sinkers (Excellent Effort).
 
Lab in a lorry comes to Oban High School
  
All S1 science classes recently visited ‘Lab In A Lorry’ when it came to Oban High School as part of the Festival Of The Sea celebrations organised by SAMS.
 
The lorry is an interactive mobile science laboratory which gave S1 the opportunity to explore science through hands on experiments.
 
Pupils experienced 3 investigations:
 
  1. energy efficiency in the home
  2. sound waves and resonance frequencies and
  3. made, used and discovered how pinhole and digital cameras work.
  
   
 
The Great British Elm Experiment - Oban high school plants its special tree
 
Oban High School has been chosen as one of the first 250 schools to take part in The Conservation Foundation’s Great British Elm Experiment.   Successive generations of pupils will be monitoring and caring for an elm tree over the years from sapling upwards in an experiment to unlock the mystery of why some trees survived Dutch elm disease which killed 25 million elms from the 1960s onwards.
 
The school will be asked to log the elm’s progress over the years on the Conservation Foundation. Height, girth, biodiversity and any signs of Dutch elm disease will be recorded and it is hoped that with time – and luck - a new generation of elms will become established throughout the country and a new generation will be encouraged to have an interest in elms and biodiversity.
 
Physics
 
Standards remain high and are improving in the Physics Department. Behaviour and discipline are excellent with referrals down on previous years. Attainment and achievements have also shown an improvement, based on an analysis of this year’s prelim results.
 
Course
Average Grade/Band
S-Grade 2009
S-Grade 2010 (predicted)
H-Grade 2009
H-Grade 2010 (predicted)
3.30
2.72
4.25
3.75
 
Pupil views and suggestions for improvement were also surveyed covering:
 
1.       Classroom ethos/learning environment
2.       Lesson content/teaching
3.       Course content covered
4.       Teacher explanation/interaction/support
5.       Pupil materials
6.       Homework quality
7.       Assessment & Reporting
8.       Experiments & ICT
9.       Pupils confidence
 
The Department achieved positive ratings from pupils in all of these categories and has again enjoyed a healthy uptake in number of pupils opting for Physics this session:
                                              
 
S-Grade  74
Higher                                  38
Intermediate 1 & 2 19
Advanced Higher  9
 
 
The Department has been heavily involved in developing units of work for the new curriculum including 2 interdisciplinary projects:
Windfarms – with Geography, in partnership with Ali Energy and Skills Development Scotland
Heat Transfer – with the Food Technology Department
 
Some S1 pupils were also involved in an interesting project celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the transatlantic cable from Gallanach Oban to Canada, in 1959. This involved links with British Telecom and the National Museum of Scotland plus a live weblink with Canada.
 
Mr Morrison led a group of 6 young engineers to success in the national final of the ROV (Remote Operated Submergible Vehicle) competition at Aberdeen University. They won the prize for ‘Best Newcomers’.
 
The Department is expanding its extracurricular activities next session with the launch of the ‘Big Bang Club’, looking at big issues in science plus music technology, engineering and science workshops.