In case you missed our Remembrance Day Play...

Jennifer has prepared an excellent synopsis of it for us:

The one act plays were put together by the drama group and Ms. Miller to honour Remembrance Day. It was predominantly to allow pupils from transitus to S3 to showcase their talents to their parents. The first play, "An Old Woman Shows Her Medals" by James Barrie, was the more serious and sentimental of the two. Set during WWII, it is about a lonely old woman and a soldier from the war who find happiness in one another’s friendship. The purpose of the second, Anton Chekhov’s "The Proposal", is the one I performed in and was for comic relief. Ivan Vassiliyitch Lomov, attempts to propose to his neighbour Stephan Stepanovitch Chubukov’s daughter Natalya (my character). Things get completely out of order as the couple-to-be are a little too argumentative for their own good. Not only did the play relieve the audience's mood, it was a fun and relaxing performance to give. The characters were very over the top, so we could really express ourselves and have fun with it. Also we didn't have copious amounts of dialogue to learn; it was an off-the-script reading. Another thing I liked about it was the set up - there was no stage or lighting, just a ring of seats around a small makeshift scene. This made the performance more intimate and less intimidating for the younger actors. The evening was also accompanied by the choir, so everyone got involved. A lot of effort and dedication was evident on the night, it was enjoyable for both the performers and the audience.

The Twelve Most Anticipated Space Missions of 2012

Space.com (a brilliant website, by the way) has published a list of exciting developments to look forward to in 2012. It's a nice pick-me-up after NASA's recent closure of the space shuttle program -- truly, the end of an era.

Commercial spaceflight has been generating loads of buzz for what seems like ages now, and these vehicles are soon to visit the International Space Station, which is going to keep operating even if NASA is not (and China's personal space station is well underway). You've probably heard the most about Virgin Galactic, though, which aims to create and dominate a suborbital spaceflight tourist industry.



Plus, LightSail-1, which relies on sunlight as its sole source of fuel, is due to be launched this year.

It's not all about exciting, new developments, however. NASA is sending (massively expensive) probes to the Moon and Mars to collect further data and we expect more information from long-running probes that are currently sailing to the outer reaches of the solar system.

My favourite update: human presence has been constant in space since 2000 and the ISS intends to keep it that way until 2020, with a constant rotation of astronauts performing experiments in the only existing microgravity laboratory.

Read the full article here.

Auditions Today for J6 Assembly next week

On the afternoon of Friday the 27th, our J6 class will be putting on an assembly themed around tolerance and understanding. Some of our students will be performing as punks, geeks and other types of people which are readily stereotyped, to convey the message that we should never judge others based on their outward appearances.

Ms. Smart has composed a piece which combines rap and song to put forth this message of respect for others and students will be auditioning for the rap parts this afternoon. I'll be posting photos and more information about the assembly after it happens.

Belmont Boys are Ready to get Risky

Andrew and Douglas, under the supervision of Mr. Lee, are gearing up for the UK’s premier investment competition for students, the ifs Student Investor Challenge!

Our young investors discuss strategies.

They have £100,000 to invest in a set of stocks chosen from a list of FTSE 100 companies and need to grow their wealth and generate a winning portfolio for February 2012, when the top teams go head-to-head in the regional finals. Fortunately for them, the website has a great deal of extra information to assist them in making good investment decisions and try to outperform their “share Guru” for a virtual cash bonus.

The boys stand to win several prizes if they do well enough, including an all-expenses-paid trip to New York and prize money for Belmont House School.

For further details on the rules and ins and outs of the competition, please visit the ifs website!

Christmas Recipe Swap

Not being an expert on preparing a traditional British holiday roast (Thanksgiving's more my speed...), I was put in charge of all of the baking this past year.


First, I did a round of common American cookies to consume during the Christmas period....not to mention that they were all by popular request from last year, as well!


Fat, Fluffy Snickerdoodles.  Wildly sought-after in spite of the fact that they're a simple cinnamon sugar cookie!


Classic Peanut Butter Blossoms.  A Hershey's Kiss melting into the center of a sweet and savoury cookie.


Oreo-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Enough said!


The following day, I moved on to making a round of brownies and cupcakes for smaller, more manageable treats after the Christmas feast. Everything was well-received but I'd say people were most excited about the festive brownies.


Triple Chocolate Peppermint Brownies.  Decadently chocolately, melt-in-your-mouth brownies with a layer of peppermint buttercream between chocolate layers.


Chai Spiced Cupcakes with Snickerdoodle Frosting.   Legitimately taste like chai tea buried under creamy cinnamon frosting.


Funfetti Cupcakes.  Vanilla cake, vanilla frosting. For the fussy relatives. I substituted hundreds and thousands for funfetti.

 My pièce de résistance, however, was the cake I made for Boxing Day.


Spiced Chocolate Rum Cake. A delicious chocolate cake spiced with rum, allspice and cinnamon, slathered in a decadent chocolate buttercream and covered with Maltesers. I added extra Hershey Kisses to mine, and it looked like this after I coated it with an edible golden spray:



Not too shabby!

 
I'd be very interested in doing a recipe swap and seeing what you cooked or baked during your holidays, so please click on the comments and link to me some new ideas. I hope you like what I posted, as well -- let me know!

Belmont's Seasonal Concert -- In Pictures

Junior and Senior Choirs prepare to perform!

The Little Cherubs relax and watch the older students take centre stage.

"Hey, Jingle Belmont!"

"Silver Bells".

"It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year".

Olivia & Jackie

Struan

The Orchestra perform "Palladio".

"Celtic Christmas".

"Basil Belmont".

"Santa Fever".

"The Night Before Christmas" -- Nairne & Jack

"Hallelujah" -- Ashleigh

"When You Wish Upon A Star" -- S3

"Where You Lead"

"Marry You"

"Moving On Up"

"Showbiz Snowman".

"Mr. Grinch".

"Dinner Bell" -- Staff & Senior Choir

"Now In Bethlehem"

Hey, Jingle Belmont!

 

Belmont House School recently held its annual Christmas extravaganza, “Jingle Belmont”, hosting a diverse range of stallholders and a plethora of fun activities for the children: from mini golf to meeting Santa and his elves!

Adults paid £5 for entry and refreshments and were serenaded on arrival by Belmont’s own string ensemble, the Celtic Group, performing an array of traditional holiday songs.

Adults browsed the stalls, getting in some early Christmas shopping for goods including children’s books, handcrafted scarves, ornaments and traditional holiday gifts, Scottish cheeses, oatcakes and jams, decorative holiday cupcakes, toys and novelty items for children, handbags, all-natural soaps and bath products, candles....But by far the most popular item for sale was jewellery and kids’ jewellery. Let's take a look at what was on offer!

Ken Reid Photography. He generously donates £25 to the school if you mention Belmont when you book a session.

Maggie, a former PTA member and Hamish, a former pupil. Maggie studied Textile Design at the Glasgow School of Art, where Hamish is currently working towards a degree in Jewellery and Silversmithing.

On top of this, manicures, eyebrow waxes and spa treatments were available all night along with home-pampering gift sets.

Our most ambitious students skilfully managed their stalls alongside their experienced competitors.

Girls from the Junior School’s Raggy Dolls club applied hard selling strategies with great profit (much to the envy of the stallholders around them).

The Fair Trade group had ethical and affordable snacks on offer.

The Enterprise Group presented a variety of sweets and odds and ends.

The aforementioned Enterprising lads.

Inside Santa's Grotto.

Our younger pupils were delighted to meet Santa, a former member of our Board of Governors, and discuss their particular requirements for this holiday season.

Last year, the PTA donated £4000 to the School for the purchase of portable staging. We’re aiming to smash last year’s total and obtain a sound system for the school hall by next summer. We managed to raise close to £2,000 from this year's Jingle Belmont, which gives us a great start for this project!



Principal Melvyn Shanks on the left and Allan Gibson (Board of Governors) on the right.



This blog is going on a brief holiday hiatus with the rest of us but be sure to watch this space in early 2012 as we'll be discussing our Seasonal Concert and Junior School Christmas Play as well as working through some more of 2011's important news while keeping you up-to-date with exciting, ongoing Belmont events -- like our week-long ski trip to Italy!

 

Merry Christmas from all of us at Belmont!