“ASPIRE TO INSPIRE” Headteacher`s Report

Issue 84
“ASPIRE
TO INSPIRE”
July 2014
Headteacher’s Report
As another term draws to a close we can reflect on another busy and successful few months.
Our senior pupils have finished their SQA examinations and we hope they will receive the awards that reflect their
true potential in August. Our fourth year students were presented for the new National 5 qualifications this year
and reassuringly our young people told us that they felt well prepared for these examinations . This is indeed a reflection on the hard hours of study put in by our pupils and the expert guidance given by our staff. Our young people received much praise from Invigilators for their time keeping, behaviour and attitude during the examination
period.
A hugely varied programme of activities was offered to all S1 – 3 pupils on 29th and 30th May. They included dinghy sailing, trips to Aviemore, horse riding, rugby, cycling, gardening, camping, complementary therapy and much
more! The pupils not only found these very enjoyable and were able to learn new skills but such experiences also
allowed staff and pupils to build on their relationships which undoubtedly help when they are back in their classes.
Many of our pupils have completed Duke of Edinburgh expeditions not to mention the many sporting activities our
teams have been involved in. I am sure you will get a flavour of many of these experiences as you read through
the rest of this newsletter.
We have thoroughly enjoyed the two induction days with the young people who will be joining us in August as our
new S1 pupils. I would also like to thank parents for their supportive and positive feedback during the P7 Parents’
Information Evening earlier this month. S6 Buddies carried out their duties extremely effectively, receiving much
praise from our new S1 students.
Many of our new S6 pupils have taken up the opportunity to become Prefects. Sixty two students in total will take
on extra responsibilities across the school next session. Our S6 students will have further opportunities to contribute to the life and work of the school and community as part of their sixth year. A new S5 Induction programme
this year included inputs from Accunostics, Skillforce and Live ‘n’ Learn all of which were well received by students.
As a staff we have been reviewing our developments this year and deciding on our priorities for next session. Our
development work continued during the two In-service days in May when all staff were given the opportunity to review current practice across the Broad General Education, reflecting on and planning how this can be improved to
make pupil progress and next steps more explicit to our learners. We also continued our work on new courses for
S4 – S6 students. I will be issuing the Standards and Quality report at the beginning of the new term. This will provide a summary of the progress we have made this session as well as details of our future planning priorities.
You will be aware from the article in this newsletter that we have a number of staff changes but I would like to say
a very special thank you to several long serving members of staff
who are about to leave. Robert Maxwell will retire next week
Dates for your Diary
after 38 years in the PE department and Isabelle di Sotto will
retire after over 22 years of service in the Additional Support for
Learning department. Dougie Conners retires after 19 years as
August 2014
Principal Teacher of Business Education and Glynis Smith is
Monday 18th
Term begins - staff
retiring after almost 24 years as teacher of Chemistry. Finally Liz
Tuesday 19th
Term begins - pupils
Gordon, Principal Teacher of Art who has been in the Art departMonday 25th
Human Rights
ment for 37 years, will retire at the beginning of next session. I
Assembly
wish to thank them for their commitment, dedication and loyalty
Friday 29th
S6 Charity Walk
to our school over so many years.
As I said at the Prizegiving ceremony last week, we have all
been learning our way through change, accepting nothing but the
best and having the humility to accept that we are all still learning. We should be proud of our students’ achievements this year
as well as what we have achieved as a school. I would like to
thank you all for your continued support and wish you a very relaxing holiday.
September 2014
Friday 26th
October 2014
Tuesday 7th
Friday 10th
Monday 27th
Thursday 30th
Forres Academy, Burdsyard Road, Forres, IV36 1FG
Email:[email protected]
School Photographs
S1 Parents’ Evening
Human Rights Day
Term Ends
Term begins
S5/6 Parents’ Evening
Phone: 01309 672271; Automatic message and answering
service: 0870 054 9999 Pin No. 031030
“ASPIRE TO INSPIRE”
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STAFF CHANGES
At this time of year we always take time to acWe thank our Newly Qualified Teachers – Kirsten
knowledge the valued contributions of our staff
Webster, Scott MacDonald and Erin Woods - and
who have left or are about to leave us as well as to wish them all the best in their future careers.
welcome new members to our school.
We have of course welcomed new members of
This year several long serving members of staff
staff to the school over the past year. Nadine Wilhave left or are about to leave. After 33 years as a liams has joined the Art department and will be
teacher of Art, Bob Kenny retired in December.
Acting Principal Teacher from August. Dharma
Evan Cameron had been a Depute in the school
Luchooman has joined us in the Physics departfor almost 9 years before retiring in May. At the
ment and Joanne Shepherd is a new member of
end of May we also said farewell to another long
the Guidance Team. Mr Mike Burchell has reserving member of Staff, George Anderson who
cently taken up the post of Depute Head teacher.
retired after 26 years.
We also welcome back three members of staff
Robert Maxwell will retire next week after 38 years who are returning from Acting Principal Teacher
in the PE department and Isabelle di Sotto will re- posts this year - Mark Riddoch who is returning to
tire after over 22 years of service in the Additional the Mathematics department, Chris Horton who
Support for Learning department. Dougie Conners has returned to the Social Subjects department
retires after 19 years as Principal Teacher of Busi- and Dayna Dickson who returns to the Additional
ness Education and Glynis Smith is retiring after
Support for Learning department.
almost 24 years as teacher of Chemistry. Finally
Liz Gordon, Principal Teacher of Art who has been In August we will welcome three newly qualified
in the Art department for 37 years, will retire at the teachers: Helen Beaton who will be joining the
beginning of next session. We are immensely
English department, Michael Thornton who will
grateful to these members of staff for their
join the Physics department and Kaela Stewart as
commitment, dedication and loyalty to our school a new member of the Social Subjects department.
over so many years.
We will also welcome Jacqueline Bissett who will
take up post as Principal Teacher of Business
Hilary Adamson will be leaving us from the Modern Education. Two new members of staff will join the
Languages department at the summer to take up a PE department, Mhairi Henderson and Eilidh Calnew post as will Emma Harris who will be moving der.
closer to home in Inverness. Angie Keil is moving
back to the Central Belt to take up a post as
As you can see there have been many staff
teacher of History and Modern Studies in
changes! Whilst we are certainly losing much exGlasgow. We wish them all well in their new ven- perience with the members of staff who are leavtures and thank them for their contributions to the ing, we look forward to the new ideas and fresh
school both within and outwith the classroom.
insights our new members of staff will bring to the
school.
Young Enterprise
The following pupils have passed the Strathclyde
Business School exam as part of the Young Enterprise programme.
Each will receive a certificate for their efforts.
Cameron Chase
Callum Westley
Paige Leach
Sam Welch
Grant Stephen
Lucy Massie
Vaila Hornsby
Andrew Barr
Elizabeth Bathurst
Passed with Merit
Suzie Clark
Miriam Scott
Chloe Newlands
Catering Job Opportunities
Relief staff are needed for the school
canteen when a member of staff is off ill.
The hours would generally be from
12.00 to 14.00 on an “as and when required” basis. The rate of pay is £8.24
per hour paid a month in arrears. Duties
would typically involve serving the children and clearing up the kitchen.
If you are interested please make enquiries to the school Catering Supervisor
on 01343 557086
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New FANG Group Under Pressure
By Heather Prentice and Erin Thomson
A new group of budding journalists have taken the opportunity of joining the Forres Academy News
Group (FANG).
As part of the Wider Achievements course at Forres Academy, students have the opportunity of writing
articles to feature in the School News section of The Forres Gazette.
Former FANG member, Conner Ladley said: “It was good to learn more about writing. Before the journalism course I could hardly write an article”. Conner also spoke about English teacher and leader of the
course, Jacky Davidson, and how her encouragement helped him: “She is a good teacher and, although
she nagged us, it was just to make sure we got everything done”.
New member of the FANG group, Helena Young, is already enjoying the course. She said: “It’s really
interesting and fun to find out what’s going on”. Many of the other students have high hopes for the rest
of the course and are looking forward to reporting on school events to the public of Forres.
One person who appreciates the work of FANG is Depute Head, Anne Smith, who shared the pupils’enthusiasm for the course. She said: “It’s a wonderful opportunity to improve reporting skills, people skills
and the skill of meeting deadlines, all of which are important skills of life”. She also spoke about the publicity for the school which FANG provides saying: “FANG has done a huge amount for the school, bringing our news to the community”.
Hopefully throughout the year FANG will be bringing the most important and up to date news of Forres
Academy to the community, reporting on the events and achievements within the school.
Literacy Links
By Conner Ladley and Harrison Walker
The S1 Literacy Links is a programme which has been designed to help expand and develop reading
skills which are very beneficial when it comes to accessing different areas of the curriculum. The pupils
go to the library four times a week with two periods on Electronic Library, a computer software programme which develops reading and comprehension skills and two periods on developing strategies for
reading. Ms Julie Michael, who runs the programme, said: “It helps pupils who have gaps in their reading as they may have moved schools
and lost certain reading skills”.
Benn Waters, a pupil who has attended Literacy Links, said: “I have
really enjoyed Literacy Links and it has given me confidence in my
reading”.
The final pupils have graduated and were presented with a certificate
by Head Teacher, Mrs Carol Stuart.
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Clore Duffield Poetry Workshop
Ellie Greenhorn and Josie Sturrock
The Clore Duffield Foundation has given funding to 6 secondary schools
across Moray to help promote poetry within their communities. After a very
engaging workshop with Scots author and poet, Matthew Fitt, English
teacher, Jacky Davidson’s S3 class visited a P7 class at Applegrove to share
their knowledge of Scottish poetry. The pupils presented a workshop on two
Scottish poems and then asked the P7 class to write their own version. The
poems will be collated and published in an Anthology and there will also be a
presentation of them in Forres Library at the end of May.
The whole workshop was enthusiastically received. P7 pupil Mia Bremner said: “I loved working with the
S3 pupils. It was so exciting and I felt I had no writing limits”. Tegan Gregory, one of the S3 pupils who
took responsibility for part of the presentation said she really enjoyed working with the P7s: “They
seemed quite shy at first but once they warmed up they really enjoyed it”.
Mrs Diane McGregor, P7 teacher at Applegrove said: “It has been an exciting project for our pupils. The
children really enjoyed working with Forres Academy pupils who introduced and taught their subject with
confidence. It was lovely to see both primary and secondary pupils enthusiastic about writing, especially
poetry”.
Putting the Scores in for Forres
By Gregor Miller
Forres Academy regained their Moray Schools Golf Championship title on
the new course at Moray Golf Club in Lossiemouth on Thursday 24 April.
Forres collected every one of the three shields on offer.
The Schools’ prize was won by a clear nine shots, with scores counting from
Jake Carpenter(S3), Thomas Bell(S3), Gregor Miller(S4) and Jordan Stirrat
(S5). Lossiemouth High School finished second, followed by Buckie High
School in third.
Katie Miller(S6) collected the shield for girls’ handicap which she won by a considerable margin with a
net 67, 5 under par.
Jake Carpenter won the individual championship with a score of 75, winning by five shots. He started off
better than anyone could have expected with four birdies in the first five holes and he managed to retain
a very good score considering the wind. He said: “I don’t know what happened - everything just worked
and the putts kept dropping”. Second place was won by Innes Mckay from Buckie, with third place going
to Thomas Bell from Forres Academy.
There were a record number of entries, with 41 students playing. Thanks must go to School Sports Coordinator, Anne Rossiter, who did a great job in organising the event and recording the scores.
Silence Makes Money!
William Muir and Leah Curtis
The Religion Belief and Values Wider Achievements course, taught by Lisa Folly, held a sponsored silence as part of the course where they had to raise awareness and money for their chosen charities. The
charities chosen included Macmillan Cancer Support and Mind which helps to provide support for people
with mental health.
The five pupils who took part had to stay silent for a whole school day and they raised an amazing total
of £133.50. Each pupil who took part was given a white board to communicate with others.
When speaking with Miss Folly she said: “The purpose of this course is to encourage students to think
about their own actions, morals, values and learn to act on them”.
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Lucy Proves She Has Entrepreneurial Skills
By Conner Ladley
Young business men and woman went head to head at the Regional
Finals of the Young Enterprise Company Programme at the Iron
Works in Inverness. The Forres Academy team ‘Drift’ picked up plaudits for the key holders they made and also bird feeders made from
natural materials. One team member Lucy Massie (S5) won the Special Entrepreneurship Prize which is sponsored by the Moray and
Keith Branch of the Federation of Small Businesses. Pupils were
asked to submit a letter which explained their skills and entrepreneurial skills which Lucy did. From this she was short listed along with
another two people. She was then invited to attend an informal interview which she passed with flying
colours. The organisation donated an I-pad Air to Lucy and £150 worth of book tokens to the school
which they hope will be spent on business type books. Lucy was delighted with her prize and said: “I
was very surprised; I never thought I would win and I am chuffed with my I-pad”.
Business Studies teacher and also link teacher for the Enterprise Group, Jan Maclean who encouraged
the pupils in the group to take part in this competition, said: “I’m very pleased with the whole Drift Company’s effort and particularly delighted that Lucy has won this award”.
The prize was handed over by Chairperson of the Moray and Keith Federation of Small Businesses, Mrs
Pearl Hamilton who said: “We believe youngsters are our future and as a leading business organisation
we want to encourage young entrepreneurs”. She also added: “I would love to see more Moray Schools
coming on board to show off their skills”.
Linda Thomas, Chair of the Highland and Moray Board said: “As ever our judges were overwhelmed by
the hard work and dedication shown by the students who took part in this year’s programme. They displayed amazing creativity, financial acumen and an ability to overcome some considerable challenges
which we are sure will stand them in good stead in the future”.
King Harry and his Three Men Strike Gold
By Conner Ladley
This year’s Badaguish challenge had a team from Forres Academy competing in it. The team, made up of Harry Hurst, Johnstone Macpherson
Stewart, Gillies Munro and Fraser Scott called themselves ‘King Harry and
His Three Men’, literally hit the ground running and finished with an amazing time of 45 minutes and 40 seconds. They beat the 2nd place team by 1
hour 9 minutes and 55 seconds which meant they carried home the trophy
for the fastest team.
The event which was held at Speyside Trust’s Badaguish Centre near Aviemore encourages teenagers
to take part in an outdoor challenge using skills such as navigation and camping. The team had to raise
a minimum of £60 to enter the event. The money raised goes towards giving adults and children with
special needs respite care.
Team member, Harry Hurst said: “The Badaguish challenge was a great opportunity to challenge ourselves both mentally and physically while having a laugh at the same time- not to mention Gillies cooking”. Johnstone Macpherson Stewart added: “The rings over the pond offered a great chance to practise
our swimming skills at the same time and next year Forres Academy better win”.
Gareth Wignall, Physics Teacher, who marshalled at the event said: “The weather was fantastic and it
rained before and after the event. The boys were back in top form, raising the bar and looking to cut their
own time further”. He added: “It is certainly going to be hard to replace their speed and character”.
Another teacher, Jane Oag, who also marshalled at the event, had lots of praise for the team: “They excelled themselves and were a credit to the school. They showed fantastic competitive spirit and it will be
difficult for another team to beat their times”.
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Commonwealth Opportunity
Keen sportsman and (future) journalist, Alan Ironside (S6) has
found himself in the enviable position of being one of the volunteers at this year’s Commonwealth Games. He originally applied over a year ago and had to go through quite a lengthy
process before learning, in October, that he had been accepted. He said that the interview part was the most challenging as he was asked some very testing questions. This has certainly prepared him for any future job interview. Alan will be
working with Press Operations inside The Sir Chris Hoy Veledrome and some of his duties will be to escort athletes and take
results to the Press Office. He will also be able to attend the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Alan,
who has been accepted to study Multimedia and Journalism at Glasgow Caledonia University said:
“This is an amazing chance to see the world’s best athletes and get involved in the world of Press Operations. I’m so excited about the whole experience and it will be great opportunity for me to get involved in my chosen career path”. Scott Fraser, Principal Teacher of PE said: “Alan epitomises the values and work ethic that Forres Academy P.E Department aspires to promote amongst its pupils. He
has always been a pro-active lad with the confidence and ambition to make things happen for himself. I
have no doubt that this positive mindset and his willingness to meet challenge head on are the key reasons that Alan has struck a chord with the Commonwealth Games organisers.”
Alan Finds He Can Write the Right Stuff
After entering a writing competition S6 pupil, Alan Ironside, was given the opportunity to attend a Future
News Conference in Glasgow. The competition run by the British Council in conjunction with the Aye
Write and Glasgow Life Groups was seeking to inspire and inform young and up-and-coming journalists
from around the Commonwealth. He said: “It was a chance to acquaint myself with citizens from countries such as Jamaica, India, and Trinidad and Tobago and, perhaps less exotically, England”.
The chance to enter the competition came through Alan’s Guidance Tutor, Andrea Stevenson. She was
delighted when she heard that he had won a place on this Conference and said: “Alan is someone who
is so focused. This was extremely well deserved given all his hard work and determination.”
The organisers of the event certainly pulled out all the stops when it came to gathering professional journalists and broadcasters to give an insight into the world of journalism. The list included Pulitzer prize
winner and editor of Reuters , Paul Ingrassia, and distinguished broadcaster James Naughtie, representatives from the Sunday Herald, Reuters, STV, the BBC and South Africa’s Mail and Guardian were all in
attendance to give the group the benefit of their experiences. To accompany the speeches there were
workshops for journalistic skills where participants were able to use industry standard equipment to write
reports and record as well as edit video reports.
Alan, who hopes to pursue a career in Journalism,
thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. He said:
“The highlight of the week was most definitely the
guided tour of BBC Scotland and all its studios. At one
point we had to keep absolutely silent as Jackie Bird
was signing off the 18.30 edition of Reporting Scotland
next door to where we stood. The whole experience
was invaluable and it gave us all a great advantage
when it comes to competing in the world of journalism.
It was also a fantastic opportunity to connect with the
people from across the Commonwealth”. Alan also
took some time to pop in to speak to FANG to inform
them of his trip and also made them aware of a website where their articles could be published.
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S1 Pupil takes to the Stage
By Conner Ladley
A Forres Academy schoolboy is making his big stage debut at Eden
Court in Inverness. Ben Avery (S1) is taking part in the production of
‘Lord of the Flies’. The play which is an extraordinary adaptation of William Golding’s classic novel will run at Eden Court Theatre from
Wednesday the 28 May to Saturday the 31 May 2014.
Ben decided to audition after his dance teacher encouraged him to
have a go. He was one the lucky ones to be successful and was chosen to be part of the cast. When asked about how he felt he said: “I am
excited but nervous at the same time because of all the people who will
be watching me but I think it will be fun”.
Thinking Outside the Box
By Michael Neilson
Moray Council is encouraging all teachers and Early Years Practitioners across Moray to have a think
about how they could integrate Outdoor Learning into their classroom practice.
The Moray Outdoor Learning Festival ran their inaugural ‘Get Me Out Of Here’ in Lossiemouth Community Centre on Wednesday 14 May. The event was introduced by Head of Children’s Services, Laurence Findlay, with key note addresses given by Aberlour Nursery (through a video link), pupils from St
Geradine’s Primary, Lossiemouth and Forres Academy Biology Teachers, Jane Oag and Jan Grigg.
There were multiple workshops available for
students and teachers alike. The participants had plenty opportunity to take part in
workshops such as ‘Rocket Poetry’ which
had a curricular link between English and
Physics and practical activities run by the
Forestry Commission, Outfit Moray and
Duke of Edinburgh.
Wednesday Night Group
By Conner Ladley
The Wednesday Night Group, an activity based social group for young people of school age with additional support needs in Forres, meets fortnightly in the Academy. The group, run by Senior Social
Worker, Lesley Mawhinney allows the youngsters to have fun but also focus on various social skills.
Recently the group were very fortunate to be treated to a visit to Eden Court Theatre to see the National
Theatre of Scotland’s production of “Dragon”. The cost of this trip was donated by the ‘Give Them a
Sporting Chance’ charity.
In turn, the group did a bit of fundraising themselves and
managed to raise £114.50 through a ‘Guess the number of
sweets in the jar’ which was kindly donated by the Cooperative Store in Forres.
This money was donated to the ‘Out of Darkness Theatre’
group which is based in Moray which involves a group of
adults with additional support needs. As a special thank you
the Theatre group has offered to run a free workshop for the
Wednesday Night Group during the summer holidays.
Volunteer, James Hanton (S6), said: “I’ve been coming to this group for close to ten years. To see the
difference we make to the happiness of these kids is fantastic. They all thoroughly enjoy it and have
great friendship with all the adults”.
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Scotland Gets a Taste of Ghana.
By Kira Stephen and Cameron-lee Griffiths
The school enjoyed a visit from Seth Acquah, an English
Language Teacher from Ghana, who was spending a
week in Scotland visiting a number of schools in order to
encourage links between the children in Ghana and Scotland.
Mr Acquah said: “It is very important that children in
Ghana and Scotland know that the decisions they make
in life have an impact on each other”.
He commented that life here is very different from Ghana
and he found it amazing how many facilities we have in
school. He hoped that pupils took full advantage of them and used them to their benefit. He also talked
about how busy our lives seem to be and that he thought people seemed to have less time to talk with
others, whereas Ghana is a more relaxed place to be. Despite this, he knows the children have the
same hopes of achieving their dreams.
Principal Teacher of Home Economics, Liz Stewart, had prepared Mr Acquah a lunch of fufu, Malawian
Bean Stew, Tamarind and Green chilli chicken with rice which he really enjoyed, saying that it was very
similar to the food that they would eat back in Ghana.
Primary Sevens Get a Buddy
By Tegan Gregory and Liam Brown
S6 pupils eagerly buddied Primary seven pupils around Forres
Academy to introduce them to their, soon to be, new school. Pupils visited on Wednesday 18 and Thursday 19 June. Deputy
Headteacher, Ainsley James, said: “Guidance tutors ask S6 pupils
if they would like to volunteer to be primary seven buddies and the
S6s eagerly volunteered. S6 Buddy, Billy John Gregory, said: “It
is good to show the new pupils around the school”. The buddies
not only help to ensure the new pupils don’t get lost but are also
there as support to those who feel out of their depth or nervous
about coming to the Academy. The buddies have to give up valuable class and study time to help the primary sevens and their
help is invaluable to the pupils and the school.
Malawi FLAG in Tesco Wonder
By Aimee Riddell, Emily Brown and Helena Young
The Malawi FLAG group took Tesco customers by storm on the 31st
May when they offered to help pack bags.
In total the group raised £423 which will go towards the “Wonder Bag”
which will help citizens in Malawi to cook and transport their food.
S4 pupil Shannon Mair said: “It went really well and it was a great experience”.
The Malawi FLAG group would like to thank all the members of the
community for being so generous in their donations and helping them
achieve the money that will change so many people’s lives.
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S5 Pupils Get a Taste of Senior Life
By Felicia Fyvie And Cerys Whyte
S5 pupils at Forres Academy were given an induction day to introduce
them to their senior stage of education. On Friday 6 June, a motivational speaker from Live-N-Learn, Skillforce Instructors and Staff from
Accunostics visited the school to give the pupils a variety of different
experiences. Pupils were split into three groups and each group
worked on different skills for learning, life and work. One activity required the students to create a company where they had to produce a
product to sell to others. Ben McCann (S5) said: “This was a valuable
team building activity because we had to work under stress and depend on each other to complete the tasks.”
All of the activities that took place throughout the day were to
build the students’ teamwork and leadership skills and the
whole year group was encouraged to get involved in the tasks.
Depute Head, Sandra McCulloch, said: ‘I spoke to pupils
throughout the day who seemed to really enjoy the activities
and challenges they were given.’
This was the first time Accunostics, based in the Enterprise
Park in Forres, had been involved in the S5 induction day. The
students who took part really enjoyed their input and hope that
they will be able to work with staff from this inspiring company
again in the future.
New Students Have an Easy Transition
By Heather Prentice and Erin Thomson
P7 pupils of schools in Forres and the surrounding area have visited Forres Academy on their first transition day on the journey to S1. The new first year pupils are getting their first taste of life at Secondary
School spending two days at the academy. These days were a chance to meet Guidance teachers, subject teachers and meet new classmates who will be joining them after the summer.
They are excited to experience life in the Academy. One of the new pupils from Altyre house, Jack
Christie, expressed his excitement: “The teachers are really helpful and I’m enjoying all of the space and
freedom”. He also spoke about how some of his other classmates are feeling about their time at the
Academy saying: “Everyone says they are scared but there is nothing to be scared of”.
The P7s spent the first half of Wednesday meeting
their new Guidance Teachers and Head of House.
They engaged in a series of ‘Getting to know you’ activities and found out more about the year to come.
The second half of the day and Thursday was spent
attending their classes from their new timetable and
experiencing the style of learning they will get to know
when they return after summer.
Overall the pupils really enjoyed their first day of secondary school and can’t wait to come back after summer. Glen Wodzinski said: “After the tour I felt more
confident about moving into the first year.” The transition day was an overall success and really helped the
pupils to settle into the school and make their transition
from Primary to Secondary as smooth as possible.
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Academy Pupils are ‘Game On’ for Commonwealth Games
By Jodie Hunter and Orla Oates
Lorna Gourley from Education Scotland visited
the school on Tuesday 17 June to present the
‘Game on Scotland’ plaque to Forres Academy
This is being presented to schools across Scotland who have engaged with the Commonwealth
journey.
S2 pupils from the HE department have been
working in pairs looking at different countries
from across the Commonwealth and studying
their food. Aaron Peat and Callum Grant who
chose Nigeria are creating a savoury rice dish
from that country. Emma Newlands and Jamie
Riddick chose Australia and are cooking up delicious shrimp pasta.
Members of the FLAG Malawi group are also participating in the Commonwealth 6 Hill challenge and
used this opportunity to raise money through sponsorship for a sports project in Malawi. The group carried the Malawi Flag up to the top of Califer Hill .
School Sports Coordinator, Ann Rossiter said: ‘It is great to see our pupils engaged in so many different activities allowing them to develop their skills through helping each other whilst learning, being caring and supportive and inspirational to their peers and others in the wider community – well done to all.’
Megan Philip member of the FLAG Malawi added: ‘It is great to see the poorer countries getting the
same opportunity to participate in this sporting event.’
American Exchange
By Ellie Pearce and Chloe Hunter.
We can’t lie and say that we weren’t a tiny bit disappointed
when the American exchange students didn’t jump on the tables and belt out their rendition of High School Musical like
they do on the majority of American films. However, the pair
soon made up for this with their polite, genuine and generally
really nice personalities.
They arrived in sunny Scotland on Thursday 12 June for their
month long visit to the Highlands. Robbie Simpson and Claire
Epaillard have come to experience Scottish life and culture,
staying with S6 students, Jessica Hall and Paige Leach.
Whilst they are here they will be visiting Edinburgh, Loch Ness (to find Nessie) and even taking part in
the 6th year football game. Robbie said: “We all messaged each other on Facebook and other social
networks to get to know each other before our trip”. And it was clearly obvious that they got on very well
together.
During their time in school, they will shadow Paige and Jessica’s timetable and get a taste of Scottish
education which is very different to life in an American school. This includes wearing school uniform,
something they are not used to doing. The lessons are also much shorter here as they only have four
lessons a day instead of our six. They also remarked on how motivated and eager the pupils were.
The experience will be reciprocated when Paige and Jessica go to Mount Dora in Florida later this year
to get a taste of American life.
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“ASPIRE TO INSPIRE”
ISSUE
Pupils swim FAST at the championships
By Ellen Boyd and Anna Macfadyen
It was an early start for Forres Academy Swim Team (FAST)
as they headed to Edinburgh to compete in a National event.
Three teams, accompanied by Coach Grant McPherson,
teacher Alan Hunter and Sports Coordinator, Ann Rossiter,
were entered in the Scottish Schools Team Relay Championships held on Wednesday 11 June at the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh. Leaving at 4:30am and coming
home at 10:00 pm meant an 18 hour day for the enthusiastic
swimmers.
Ellie Newlands of S4, who was in the Open girls team, stated: “It was an early start but it was definitely
worth it for such a fun day”.
Other teams competing were S1/2 girls and open boys with the S1/2 girls just missing out on the finals.
For some in the team this was a big step, having never swum in such a big competition before.
Each team competed in the freestyle and medley relay and although no one won any medals they all
performed well against stiff opposition.
The team were lucky to have the support of Commonwealth Games, Scotland and team GB swimmer
Andy Mayor, who now works for Sky Sports, who mentored the team for the day.
Moray Chef Stirs up a Treat for
Forres Students
By Erin Thomson, Lea McRitchie &
Lauren MacDonald
Craig Wilson, a
Moray College
Chef,
visited
Forres Academy
to give pupils a
flavour of the
courses available in College
and to raise
awareness
of
the opportunities of working
in the hospitality business. He
p rep ared
a
three
course
meal with a selection of dishes including a fantail
of Galia melon, a ginger and thyme soup, vegetable stir fry with sesame oil and a fresh fruit pavlova with cream. Depute headteacher, Ainsley
James said: “It is a life skill and is what real life is
all about.”
Craig presented his demonstration to the National 4 and 5 Hospitality class where they joined
in with the preparation of vegetables using chef
skills they had learned that day.
Tomas Shines Through
By Helena Young, Orla Oates and Felicia Fyvie
It’s award season at Forres
Academy and
one lucky boy
was happy to
receive
the
S u n b e a m
Award. Tomas
Davidson, 17,
was very excited when he won the special award
which was for improvement in communication
skills, interacting with others and attending registration. Presenting the award was Ainsley James,
Depute Headteacher who said: “This was a huge
achievement for Tomas and I am absolutely delighted to present the award to him!” Accompanying Tomas when he received the award was mum,
Wendy Davidson, dad, Kevin Davidson and
auntie, Marion Normand. Wendy Davidson said: “I
know how hard he tries and to get recognition is
great. To Tomas, praise is everything.” Catherine
Ogilvie Richards, PT of Additional Support for
Learning Department added: “It’s a fantastic
achievement that Tomas has been working towards throughout his school career. Well done
Tomas!”
After the presentation had finished, Tomas
rounded it off by saying a big thank you to everybody.
PAGE 12
“ASPIRE TO INSPIRE”
ISSUE
Praise for the Skilled
By Ross Tulloch and Heather Prentice
This year’s successful SkillForce students attended their annual awards evening on Thursday 19 June at Moray College
in Elgin where Skill Force pupils from all across Moray received awards.
Forres Academy students who were present at the event
were: from S4 Shelby Davies, Kylie Greig, Aaron Robertson,
Kelsey Masterton and Amy Waples and from S5/6 pupils
were Robert Jenkins, Ewan McPherson Howard, Shannon
Sanderson, Andrew Murphy and Ruairidh Smiley.
Some of the awards that pupils received included ASDAN Bronze and Silver awards, Emergency First
Aid, SQA Leadership and ASDAN Personal Finance. One pupil from S4 and one from S5/6 received a
merit certificate, which was awarded by the instructor and was given to the pupil who contributed
strongly to the class. Kelsey Masterton and Andrew Murphy received a £25 gift voucher each, sponsored by Accunostics, as well as their certificates. The awards were presented by Angus Robertson, MP
for Moray and Simon Hall, the Operations Director for SkillForce.
S6 pupil, Ruiridh Smiley, was delighted with his award and feels that it will serve him well in his future
career. He said: “SkillForce brings people together”.
Depute Head, Sandra McCulloch, who attended the event was extremely impressed with the pupils. “It
was good to see so many pupils achieving success across a wide range of qualifications. Pupils are always enthusiastic about the skills they learn with their Skill Force Instructors.”
Sum-ming up the Maths Competition
By Ellen Boyd, ElliePearce and Anna Mcfadyen
Pythagoras theorem, SOHCAHTOA and algebra: these words bring dread to many. However, for four
enthusiastic Forres Academy pupils, it brought an exciting day. Kyla Michie (S4), Liam Edwards (S4),
Joshua Cunningham (S3) and Jordon Shek (S3) attended a jam-packed day of Maths at Elgin Academy.
The day consisted of four different rounds: origami, questions, stations and relay. Seven teams took part
from all over the area with the top two teams qualifying for the finals in Glasgow. Forres stayed consistent throughout the day which paid off as they finished with a comfortable lead on the rest of the
schools. Liam said: ‘I enjoyed working with the other
team members and it felt really good finishing first’.
Now they look forward to a trip to Glasgow to compete in the finals. Kyla Michie said: ‘I am really excited but nervous about the final’. This pretty much
sums up the whole team’s emotions about the day
ahead. Maths teacher, June McIntosh who accompanied the group said: “I am extremely proud of them.
They were a real credit to the school and we are all
looking forward to the next round in Glasgow.”
With the final in November, the team are all taking
the time to brush up on their Maths skills to hopefully
bring home a prize.