St. Ninian's High School

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All the students at St. Ninian's have been given an email account by the Department of Education, using a service called FirstClass. This service provides students with an email account that cannot send and receive external emails, unless this has beens set especially for them by an Administrator (or requested by a teacher). FirstClass also provides email conferences where they can discuss work, share resources, and using the Education module, even submit work for marking and receive feedback.Students wishing to access this at home can use the Isle of Man Education website, and log in via their web browser, or alternatively download the FirstClass application and install on their computer. The second option is much better in terms of full functionality of the website is available and it is recommend for all students to go for this option. The software is available for Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems.
The video below explains how to install FirstClass on Windows XP.

http://www1.sch.im/snhs/InstallFirstClass.mov
or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZqemigr7Dg

Students from St. Ninian's High School helped to present an image of the future earlier this week when they took part in a major technology exhibition in London.

Be Very Afraid is an annual gathering at which ingenious students from primary to university age talk about the extraordinary things they are doing with new technology in their learning.

The sixth annual event took place alongside the Learning and Technology World Forum at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre (which is hosting the Iraq inquiry).  One of its main sponsors is Bafta (the British Academy of Film and Television Arts).

Guests at the event included education ministers from countries around the world, including China, Australia, the USA and Canada.

Robert Leece and Mduduzi Mtshali, Year 8 pupils at St Ninian's High School, told the high-powered delegates about the school’s Pompeii Project.

The Year 7 cross-curricular project explores the eruption at Pompeii in 79AD in a creative and imaginative way, including through ICT.

Students work in small groups, structuring their own learning with peer and staff support, to produce visual presentations to share with others.

Alex Townsend, an ICT teacher with the Department of Education, who accompanied the students to London and made a film for screening about the pioneering work going on in ICT in the Isle of Man, said, "The boys were fantastic and many of the visitors were full of praise of their confidence and eloquence."

The boys were interviewed by TV crews and podcasters.  As a result of their attendance at Be Very Afraid, a lecturer at a university in Australia has invited Mduduzi to take part in a video conference with her students.

Be Very Afraid organiser Professor Stephen Heppell, who has followed the progress of ICT on the Island for many years and is responsible for its attendance at the last three events, is a prominent member of Bafta and invited the Isle of Man party to an exclusive visit to its premises in London’s Piccadilly on Sunday.

Pictured (l-r): Professor Stephen Heppell; Mduduzi Mtshali; St Ninian's ICT teacher Mr Long; the school’s head of English Mrs Withington; Kyle Withington; and (seated) Robert Leece.

St. Ninian's High School is unique on the Isle of Man in that it offers Secondary Education on two sites that are approximately a mile apart. Many parents and students see this as a great advantage as it offers a stepping stone from Primary into Secondary Education. 

The Lower School offers year 7 and 8 a sheltered transition as the site caters for those two years only. The number of children on the site is around 450 which is the size of a large Primary School. The result is a compact site which is easy to find your way around and supportive staff together with an education tailored to the needs of 11 - 13 year olds. Older children do not come into Lower School (apart from those who want to help in a number of aspects of school life)  and so the Lower School students can concentrate on their learning, having fun and developing at their own rate. They also have the sole use of their own dedicated facilities.

St. Ninian's offers a full range of subjects at national Curriculum, GCSE and Advanced level. Both sites of the School are fully equipped to ensure that all students have the resources required to help them achieve their very best. Indeed the School's examination results stand up to close scrutiny. Recent years have seen some of the best GCSE and A level results in the school's history. A good school however is not about exam results alone so please do read on!

The School offers a great many extra curricular activities to help develop your children towards their full potential. The School has a complete range of sporting activities for both boys and girls. In the area of performing arts students take part in Dance and Drama clubs through to Art, Ceramics, Choir and even a Folk Music Group. Finally there are many general interest and subject based activities such as Dr Who Club, Games, Drama and Science Club. The list is very long indeed with lunch times at Park Road boasting over 25 clubs throughout the week alone!

There are always new initiatives in education to help students perform to their best and we at St. Ninian's have worked very hard in a number of areas to ensure students get the most out of their education. We can not go into all here but some are :-
Kick Start - where students who may not be hitting their targets are helped by a member of staff who acts as a coach to help them along the way.
Counselling - where students can speak to a trained member of staff should they have problems that perhaps are getting in the way of progress.
Helpers - where students are empowered as a form of junior prefect to help in the running of the School on a day to day basis.
Student Forum - where students are able to have an influence on some of the big decisions that are important in our School.
Gifted and Talented Programme - where our most able students are given imaginative and exciting projects to mentally stretch them and to stimulate their enthusiasm, under the guidance of a dedicated tutor.

This year we have appointed Junior Prefects at Lower School to further add to the help and support in our caring school community.

Other initiatives include exam revision support programme in School, help given by the Learning Support Department, mentoring with particular emphasis on GCSE students, and the investigations into the effect of gender on academic performance and how we can buck UK trends. If you are looking for a caring school that will also challenge your child to achieve their full potential then St. Ninian's may well be the school of your choice. 

To find out more come to the Y6 Open Evening on Thursday 28th January, search this website further, or ring either School office to make an appointment to see a senior member of staff or simply ask your question. If you are unable to make it to the open evening then we have designated 2 afternoons when the Lower School will be open for you, whilst in session, to be taken on a guided tour - Tuesday and Wednesday the 2nd  and 3rd. of  February. Just ring the office and let us know on which day you would like to come along to view the Lower School. You will not get a better offer than that!