Uddingston Grammar School

Extra Curricular Activities

The department runs a wide range of extra curricular activities suitable for different age groups.

Mr Dunsmore runs a registration paired reading group and lunchtime library club for S1/2
Mrs Mac Aloney and Mrs kelly run lunchtime drama groups for S1/2
Mr Harvey runs a lunchtime Laurel and Hardy comedy film club for S1-3
Mr Lennon runs the S2 boys football team
Ms Houston and Mrs Mac Aloney run the Scholastic Book Club for S1/2
Mrs Bradshaw runs a film club for seniors one lunchtime per week.
There is a large range of Supported Study on offer during the diets in November, January and over the Easter break for S4-6.
Mrs Bradshaw along with many other members of the department are heavily involved with the school show which involves S4-6.
Mrs Riva along with many other members of the department are heavily involved in the school Dance Committee.

What can you do to support your child?

By supporting what happens in school at home you can vastly aid the learning process:

research indicates that positive parental attitudes to homework can have a marked impact on performances so take an interest in what your child is doing, encourage them.
Monitor what they are doing and look at their homework diary where there may be notes from the teacher and where you can communicate a response.
Actively encourage them to read for a minimum of ten minutes per day. You can help them to set and review reading targets.
Discuss what they are reading with you- the plot, characters, what they liked or didn't like and why, how the text made them feel, what it reminded them of or made them feel about.
Check their work and encourage them to take pride in it.
Encourage regular study habits particularly in the senior school- ensure they take rsegular study breaks too!
Encourage them to discuss tehir strengths and weaknesses and to come up with positive next steps e.g. supported study.
Help their exam preparations by ensuring they revise regulalry and have a carefully prepared study schedule.

Encourage them to see failure as an essential part of the learning process!

Above all, if they are stuck, ensure they ask their teacher for help!

PT Message

It's better to try and fail than fail to try.

More about your teachers

Mr Dunsmore

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Mrs Riva

Most recently enjoyed read: 'On Chesil Beach' by Ian McEwan and 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy

Favourite book: The classic 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee and John Irving's 'A Prayer for Owen Meany'

Favourite text to teach: 'To Kill a Mockingbird' (obviously), 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Harry Potter'

Favourite author: John Irving

Favourite poem: 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' by Wilfred Owen

Favourite film: It differs with my mood - 'The Shawshank Redemption', 'Life of Brian', Atonement' and 'To Catch a Thief'

Mrs Bradshaw

Most recently enjoyed read: 'The Post-birthday world' by Lionel Shriver

Favourite book: In non-fiction 'An Evil Cradling' by Brian Keenan - the most moving, harrowing and funny book made all the more powerful by the fact it is real. In fiction 'Sunset Song' by Lewis Grassic Gibbon and 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy - an important novel and an instant classic

Favourite text to teach: 'A Tale of Two Cities' - i love to watch sceptical classes becoming engrossed in Dickens plots. I always cry at the end as it's so moving - resurrection and redemption.

Favourite author: William Boyd, PG Wodehouse and Charles Dickens

Favourite poem: 'Sea Fever' by John Masefield, 'The Collar' by George Herbert and anything by John Donne

Favourite film: It depends on my mood - 'Life of Brian' and 'Groundhog Day' for comedy, 'It's a Wonderful Life' and any film starring Daniel Day Lewis or directed by Michael Mann or Peter Weir

Mr Murphy

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Mr Harvey

Most recently enjoyed read: 'The Great War for Civilisation' by Robert Fisk

Favourite book: 'The Tin Drum' by Gunther Grass

Favourite text to teach: 'Kubla Khan' by S T Coleridge

Favourite author: Ian McEwan and Philip Roth

Favourite poem: 'Book Ends' by Tony Harrison and 'The Windhover' by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Favourite film: 'The Ascent' , 'The Jerk' and 'Land and Freedom'

Mrs Macaloney

Most recently enjoyed read: 'Notes on a Scandal' by Zoe Heller

Favourite book: 'The Sea' by John Banville

Favourite text to teach: 'Skellig' by David Almond - it always amazes me that S1 pupils can tap into the spiritual/philosophical aspects of the book. They arent self-conscious about relatingissues raised to their own lives and experiences

Favourite author: Margaret Atwood and Ian McEwan

Favourite poem: Anything by WB Yeats - beautiful imagery and a sadness and vulnerability behind much of what he writes

Favourite film: i liked 'Lost in Translation'. Others include 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory', 'The Snowman', 'Cars'... do you spot the common theme?!

Ms Houston

Most recently enjoyed read: 'One Thousand Splendid Suns' by Khalid Hosseni

Favourite book: 'The Wasp Factory' by Iain Banks - great ending - and the No1 Ladies Detective Agency series for setting and dialogue

Favourite text to teach: Got to be 'Dracula', Shakespeare and Shaw for drama and 'O Caledonia' and 'Holes' for fiction

Favourite author: Skaespeare and Alexander McCall Smith

Favourite poem: Shakespeare's sonnet which starts 'In loving thee thou know'st i am foresworn'

Favourite film: 'The Wicker Man' - so sinister - and 'The Lost Boys' because it reminds me of my teens and because of the the twist in the end

Mrs Kelly

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Mr Lennon

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Mr Stewart

Most recently enjoyed read: 'Half of a Yellow Sun' by Chmamanda Ngoli Adichie

Favourite book: 'The Master and Margarita' by Mikhail Bulgakov

Favourite text to teach: 'Sunset Song' by Lewis Grassic Gibbon

Favourite author: Saul Bellow

Favourite poem: Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake

Favourite film: Recently enjoyed 'Syriana' and 'The Road to Perdition'

Mr Browning

Most recently enjoyed read: 'The Kite Runner'

Favourite book: 'Lord of the Flies' by William Golding' and McIlvanney's 'Docherty'

Favourite text to teach: 'Hamlet' because he's like me

Favourite author: Wilbur Smith for the pace of his novels

Favourite poem: 'Incident' by William McIlvanney

Favourite film: 'The Shawshank Redemption' - brilliant character and structure

The English Department

Welcome to the English department webpage.

This will keep you up to date with what's happening in the department and help you support your child at home.

The English Staff

The English department staff are:

Mr J. Dunsmore (P.T.)
Mrs M. Riva (P.T.1)
Mrs H Bradshaw (C.T.)
Mr J. Murphy
Mr A. Harvey
Ms E. Houston
Mrs B. MacAloney
Mrs S. Kelly
Mr G. Lennon
Mr R. Stewart (D.H.T.)
Mr J. Browning (D.H.T.)

More about your teachers

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More about your teachers