First years settling in to life at academy
New S1 pupils are settling in well to secondary school life.
Parents and pupils attended an information evening where they met key members of staff and heard first hand school experiences from junior pupils Graham Lawrie, Christie Telfer and Eilidh Wright in addition to new school captains Rebecca Watson and Calvin Mossie.
New school captains for session 2015/ 16 are – Calvin Mossie ( Head Boy), Rebecca Watson ( Head Girl) and to our four vice captains Taylor Dante, Lauren Bowie, Erin Hastie and Callum McFarlane.
Congratulations also to Nicole Wills and Rebecca Smith who secured Enhanced Responsibility positions; they will work closely with the captaincy team and have already delivered prefect training to new S5 prefects.
New members of staff are Mr J Fleming ( Chemistry), Mr A Sloss and Mr C Crookston ( both PE) and Mrs G Morrison ( PT Home Economics) .
S4 pupils accompanied by guidance teacher Mr McGuigan joined pupils from other Focus West school at Strathclyde University. Pupils participated in activities designed to develop key skills which will be required for higher education. Pupils worked in groups and were challenged to develop their ideal learning environment and create a presentation demonstrat i n g t h e i r own preferred learning techniques.
Mr McGuigan also accompanied seven S6 pupils ( Tia Kemp, Rebecca Smith, Amy Wilson, Chelsea Nicholson, Joseph Brown and Kirsten Logan) to Glasgow University on Monday, August 31, as part of the Reach Programme. This programme is for S6 students hoping to study primary teaching, accountancy or engineering. Pupils completed group tasks and challenges relevant to the application process and the content of their course.
Tia Kemp, 6G, said on behalf of the group: “We had a great day at the Reach programme and found it really helpful to speak to mentors from all subject backgrounds. It also gave us a chance to network with other schools and has built up our confidence for applying to university.”
Congratulations to S4 pupil Taylor Johnstone who has been accepted for the British Racing School in Newmarket. Taylor travelled down to Newmarket for an interview during the summer holidays and has been accepted to begin the BRS Foundation Apprenticeship programme in July 2016.
Sixteen Higher Geography students travelled to Dolphin House on September 1 to collect fieldwork data for their Higher assignment. Pupils visited beaches at Culzean and Maidens to compare the differences between the two landscapes.
Led by Neil Smith from Dolphin House, the group carried out beach profiling of both areas as well as studying the geology of the area. The pupils will now use this data to produce an assignment comparing the two beaches which will account for one third of the marks for their course examination.
S6 pupils Natalie Docherty, Chloe Duthie, Tia Kemp and Rebecca Watson of the peer education group ( Platinum Youth Award) attended a team building/ confidence day at Dumfries House, Cumnock. Pupils were accompanied by guidance teacher Ms Donoghue. Act i v i t i e s included rock climbing, trust exercises, an assault course and learning team building/ leadership skills. Students were split up into groups and had to work together through various challenges and assault courses.
The group are currently creating their Personal Development Plans detailing their hopes and goals for the future. They are also researching PSE topics with a view to delivering inserts to junior school classes.
The parent council AGM was held in school. New office bearers were appointed for the new session including brand new chairperson Mrs R Wilson. All parents are warmly invited to join any of the meetings this session, dates will be published in due course.
S2 pupils, accompanied by Miss Thomson, enjoyed a trip to the Edinburgh Book Festival where they had the chance to browse a wide range of books and listen to a talk from author David Almond.
The school choir have started their concerts by performing at Annbank Daffodil Tea. The next concert is on October 7 at Castlehill Church Guild. The choir have been delighted to welcome many new S1 pupils and continue to grow in numbers and in strength.
All pupils S1- S6 are currently gathering sponsors for our annual sponsored walk on Thursday September 17. This is a house event and pupils are encouraged to get into the spirit by donning their house colours.
Staff are busy preparing for the annual P5- 7 Open Night on Monday September 14 – all
P5, 6, 7 parents of associated primary schools are warmly invited to attend. There will be opportunities to meet staff, look at pupils’ work and to study plans for the brand new school.