Xmas Newsletter 2015 - Glow Blogs

Stewarton Academy
Christmas Newsletter
Dear Parent/Carer,
Points in this issue.

Poetry Competition

Pupil Voice

Prelims

Celebrating Success

Careers Exhibition

NHS Information Day

Heartstart

Basketball

Dance

Ayrshire Cross Country

Girls Gymnastics

S1 Inter house Badminton
Tournament

Music Dept (Various)

Social Studies Dept

Maths and ICT

Art & Design Dept

Scottish Schools’ Ski
Slalom

S1 Football

RME

Paragraph from Senior
Pupil

Parent Council
Yet another term has flown by and as you can see from the Newsletter it has been an action
packed few months in our school. The school continues to be an exciting centre of learning
with pupils, staff and parents demonstrating their considerable talents in a wide range of
activities. In particular, the School Wind Bands and participants in sport continue to excel.
I would like to draw your attention to the Standards and Quality Report for session 2014-15.
I think that it makes impressive reading and gives a real flavour of the progress we continue to
make in the school. If you are interested in reading the full report, it is available on the school
BLOG or a paper copy is available by request from the School Office.
As you may be aware, we carried out a major consultation on the Broad General Education
with a view to improving our curriculum. The process of evaluating and reviewing the S1-3
Broad General Education curriculum is crucial to ensuring that there are clear achievement
pathways through to the senior phase. As pupils progress from S1-3, it is important that skills
in subjects deepen and that learning becomes more challenging across the third and fourth
level Experiences and Outcomes. It is also important that the curriculum provides young
people with the knowledge, skills and attributes they need for learning, life and work in the
21st century. During the October In-Service Day, staff worked together to review curricular
models based on ‘Excellent’ practice as identified by Education Scotland (HMIe). Parents of
S1/2 were consulted by letter and 2 Parental Focus Group events took place, facilitating rich
discussions. S1 – 6 pupils were also consulted and Focus Groups gave many the opportunity
to put their views across. The results of the consultation will be published on the school Blog
on Monday the 21st of December along with the new S1-3 Curriculum Map.
At Stewarton Academy we are always looking for ways to improve, not only for our pupils, but
right across the school community. At Parents’ Evenings you are always given the opportunity
to complete a questionnaire to share your views on the work of the school. I am delighted with
the level of parent satisfaction so far but we must never become complacent. We will be
launching a ‘You Said, We Did’ approach in the New Year and there will be plenty of
opportunities for all stakeholders to have their say so please keep an eye on the school Blog.
We have also launched a school twitter account to keep everyone informed of events and to
highlight the great work going on across the whole school community (@Stewarton_Acad).
As you know, Mr Arnott sadly passed away this term and we will be collecting for Marie
Curie in his memory at the end of the Christmas Assemblies on Tuesday the 22 nd of
December. Mr Arnott was a much loved Maths Teacher and contributed greatly to the whole
school ethos by coaching football teams and participating in trips. He will be greatly missed
by his friends, colleagues and the pupils that he taught over the years.
Finally, the school closes at 2.30pm on Wednesday the 23rd of December
and we re-open at 8.45am on Thursday the 7th of January 2016. I would
like to wish parents, pupils and everyone associated with the school a very
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Katy Hegarty
Head Teacher
Poetry Competition
Congratulations to Stewarton Academy pupils: Jessica Sharp, Erin Rowley, Murron Kirkpatrick, Zoe Gemmell,
Sara Roxburgh, Amber McPherson, Megan McCall, Katrin McNaught, Ellie Freel, Ian Harkness, Joanna Niven
Niamh Anderson, who were awarded medals at the Stewarton Peace Park on Monday 28 th September. 60
pupils from S1 – S6 pupils wrote a poem about the United Nations and some pupils chose to write their poem in
French. All entrants received a certificate for their poem. The competition and medal ceremony was organised
by Mr Phillips and sponsored by the Kilmarnock and Loudoun Trades Union Council and CND.
Pupil Voice
24 pupils from S1 – S6 represented Stewarton Academy at two East-Ayrshire Youth Conferences in November,
organised by Vibrant Communities. The pupils contributed to discussions and workshops on this year’s topic
which was “Young People’s Wellbeing”. The pupils will now prepare presentations to feedback to their year
groups during PSE and assemblies.
Following the Provosts attendance at the Stewarton Academy Pupil Senate last month, the Provost has invited
12 Academy pupils to attend and observe the Council meeting to be held on Thursday 10 th December in the
Council Chamber.
The Provost will also be inviting the pupils to lunch with the Head of Schools, the Leaders from each political
group and Councillor Primrose, Cabinet member with responsibility for Skills and Learning. This will be an
opportunity for the pupils to chat with the Councillors about their respective roles and the Councils democratic
processes.
Last session S6 pupil Ewan McCall was elected Scottish Youth Parliament member for Kilmarnock and Irvine
Valley. The Parliament is made up of 150 young people aged 14-25 from across Scotland who represent
constituencies and national voluntary organisations.
Pupil Voice
The Scottish Youth Parliament represents Scotland’s young people. Our democratically elected members listen
to and recognise the issues that are important to young people, ensuring that their voices are heard by the
government and formal decision makers. Their vision is of a stronger, more inclusive Scotland that empowers
young people by truly involving them in these decision making processes
In November Ewan attended the UK Youth Parliament annual Commons debate chaired by Speaker John
Bercow in the Houses of Parliament, London.
The topics debated included the living wage, work experience, the voting age and other issues chosen by a
ballot of 876,488 young people.
Prelims
Prelims for S4 – S6 pupils will commence on Monday 11 January 2016. Pupils will be issued with timetables prior
to the Christmas holidays. Pupils should have a study plan in place and be accessing the support offered in
school at lunchtime and after school.
Page 2
Stewarton Academy Christmas Newsletter
Celebrating Success
Calum Sharp has been awarded the Higgs Prize for Advanced Higher physics which was presented at
Dynamic Earth on 8th December. As part of the Higgs Prize, Calum will travel to Switzerland to give him an
opportunity to see the cutting-edge of international physics at CERN. Calum is now studying mechanical
engineering at the University of Strathclyde. He was also awarded a prize by Kilmarnock Engineering and
Science Society which was awarded at their meeting in November. He achieved the highest mark in Scotland
for Advanced Higher physics in 2015 SQA examinations.
Congratulations to Martyna Wojtowicz S6. Following a rigorous interview and successful selection process
Martyna has been chosen to represent Scotland at the February 2016 Euroscola events in Brussels or
Strasbourg. Martyna will join other young people from across the EU to take part in a day of presentations,
questions, discussions and voting on issues relevant to them. The day is multi-lingual with the expectation that
all participants can communicate in French and English. The day is hosted by the European Parliament and is a
prestigious event with the young people being treated very much as MEPs: sitting in the main debating chamber;
using electronic voting etc.
The main focus of the five day project is the Euroscola debate and all other activities will reinforce and
complement the aims of the project. Martyna will have opportunities to use her French in Strasbourg through
visits to school/institutions/tourist activities and via market research questionnaires.
These are to encourage Martyna to develop her: French language skills, to help develop European awareness
and to encourage to build on self-confidence and presentation skills.
Careers Exhibition
Around 45 senior pupils attended the recent careers exhibition at the SECC in Glasgow. This is organised by Skills
Development Scotland and is a valuable experience for those planning for their future. The pupils appreciated the
chance to chat to representatives from local and national organisations as well as further education establishments,
and came home with lots of resources and information.
NHS Information Day
In November we took a small number of pupils to Crosshouse Hospital for a very informative session, looking at
various careers open to young people within the NHS. These opportunities range from cleaning and catering staff,
to working with prosthetics, to nursing. The pupils found this very beneficial.
Heartstart
Stewarton Academy was awarded a certificate in recognition of our contribution to Heartstart Ayrshire & Arran and
our achievement of training 440 pupils in Emergency Life Support. This is something that all staff and pupils
involved should be very proud of!
Page 3
PE
Basketball
A fantastic start to the season has been made by all 3 teams – 12 games unbeaten!
Results
Seniors
V Kyle 51-26
V Johnstone 98-27
V Park Mains 83-75
V St Joseph’s 81-20
V Queen Margaret 86-23
V Williamwood 85-29
V Gryffe 77-76
S2 U14/15
V Williamwood 40-18
V Ayr 57-9
S1
V Kyle 41-25
V Ardrossan 59-15
V Hillhead 21-20
The senior team have now qualified for the knockout stages of the Scottish Cup. The S1 and S2 teams still
have 2 more games each to play in the group stages to get through. All the teams have shown excellent
commitment towards training and games and it is great to see all this hard work paying off. We wish the boys
well for the rest of the season.
Also a massive thank you to Arnold Clark who have supplied us with a brand new set of basketball strips for
the season. This is after we entered a competition to come up with a fun photo involving our team. Our winning
photo can be seen below.
Page 4
PE
Dance
We were delighted to welcome YDance to the school recently to deliver a dance leader award. Those taking part
worked really hard and produced a fantastic Dance display at the end of the day! A number of the girls taking part
have been selected to continue with their Dance Award in the future.
Participants - Becca Burn, Jade Monk, Miriam Gill, Jade McGaw, Zoe Devlin, Brooke Heron, Colleen Graham,
Shona McBean, Kaitlyn Elliot, Courtney McKay, Abbie Morton, Robyn Janikowski, Rachel McClure,
Natalie Cashmore, Nicole McKay, Kayleigh Graham, Emma McDade, Anjay Sherry, Lauren Collins,
Ainslie MacDonald, Zoe Gilliland.
Ayrshire Cross Country
Well done to all those pupils who competed at the Ayrshire Cross Country in October. 42 pupils from
Stewarton attended this event. There were 27 schools represented with over 1000 pupils from across Ayrshire
taking part.
Results
Individual
Keir Miller S1 - 7th
Johnny Houson S2 - 4th
Leonie McCutcheon S2 - 4th
Austin McDougall S3 - 8th
Shona McBean Seniors - 5th
Team
S1 Boys - 15th
S1 Girls - 11th
S2 Boys - 12th
S2 Girls - 7th
S3 Boys - 13th
S3 Girls - 9th
Senior Boys - 8th
Page 5
PE
Girls Gymnastics
The girls’ gymnastics club were given the opportunity to attend the opening ceremony and first round of qualifying
of the World Artistic Gymnastic Championships 2015. We now have two squads who will be hoping to compete for
the title of S-Factor champions 2015 in the finals at Christmas.
S1 Inter House Badminton Tournament
Well done to Kieran Trimble, Katie Brown and Eiryn Milligan, S6, who recently organised the S1 Inter House
Badminton Tournament, as part of their Leadership Award.
The results were as follows
S1 BOYS
1st - Boyd 10pts
2nd - Stewart 8pts
3rd - Cunningham 6pts
4th - Montgomery 4pts
S1 GIRLS
1st - Cunningham 10pts
2nd - Stewart 8pts
3rd - Boyd 6pts
4th - Montgomery 4pts
Page 6
Music
Alzheimer Scotland Concert
Ms Watson and Ms Donnelly accompanied a group of senior pupils to St Columba’s Church to provide some
entertainment for the Alzheimer Scotland Stewarton Music & Mix Club. The group thoroughly enjoyed a nice
mix of songs old and new, and some instrumental performances on trumpet and piano.
World War II Event
Ms Watson and some senior pupils contributed some wartime music and songs at the recent Parent Council
Fundraising event. The pupils got right into the spirit of the night, with clothes and hair styles from the era.
Well done, all.
Loch Head Court
There was lots of Christmas music and songs performed at Loch Head Court, a local sheltered housing
complex in Stewarton. A group of pupils from the school, accompanied by Ms Mallan and Mr Keachie,
entertained the residents with a selection of well-known Christmas favourites and set the mood nicely for
their Christmas lunch later that day.
Kilmarnock Rotary Young Musician Competition
Rachel Lindsay and Jenny Morton represented Stewarton Academy in this year’s Rotary Young Musician
Competition. Rachel sang two songs and Jenny performed two pieces on her trumpet. There was tough
competition and although they did not win, they received very favourable comments from the adjudicators.
Well done, girls!
East Ayrshire Gala Concert
Well done to Beth Mackenzie who performed a beautiful flute solo at this year’s Gala Concert. Also performing
were the Senior Band, who took to the stage, giving a tremendous performance of Declaration Overture.
Wind Bands
Congratulations to all the bands who took part in the regional round of the Scottish Concert Band Festival at
the start of this month. They all performed to a very high standard and impressed the adjudicators with their
performances. The results were: Junior Band – Silver; Intermediate Band – Gold; Senior Band – Gold Plus.
The Intermediate and Senior bands will now move onto the national round in March.
The Senior Band also took part in the regional round of the National Concert Band Festival and were awarded
Gold; we await to see if they will progress to the national round next year.
Yuletide Festival
Well done our group of S4 girls who tackled the wind and rain to do some carol singing round the shops in
Main Street at this year’s Yuletide Festival.
Christmas Concert
This year’s Christmas Concert is on Monday 21st December in the Games Hall. The concert starts at 7.00 pm
and tickets are available from the school office priced £5/£3. This includes light refreshments during the interval .
Page 7
Social Subjects
Modern Studies pupils visited HMP Low Moss High Security Prison in Bishopbriggs in November. This was to
help them with the S4 Course which looks at Crime and the Law in the UK. Pupils had the chance to speak to
prisoners about their experiences and find out about the rehabilitation programmes operating in the prison. It
was a very informative trip that was enjoyed by all.
S1 History pupils visited Stirling Castle and The Wallace Monument. Whilst in the Castle they experienced a
tour and Active Lessons imagining life in Medieval Society.
S2 Geography pupils enjoyed an interactive lesson on predicting volcanoes and this was hosted by Geo Bus
from St. Andrews University.
Maths and ICT
Several activities have taken place this term.
Zoe Gemmell of S3 attended Maths Masterclasses at the University of Glasgow. This was an early introduction
to university Maths lectures and over the 5 week period Zoe developed her knowledge of Maths and its many
interesting applications.
In September Roisin Craig and Francesca Millar of S3 and Joe Taylor and Billy Brazier of S4 participated in East
Ayrshire’s Enterprising Maths Competition. They finished an excellent 3 rd.
In October some Higher Maths pupils visited the National Centre for Orthotics & Prosthetics at the University of
Strathclyde. As well as meeting students and learning about the career prospects, pupils also visited the labs to
learn more about the prosthetic and orthotic devices produced by the department.
Construction was another career area promoted this term. There is a skills shortage in the construction industry
and to address this shortage, the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) visit schools to involve pupils in
practical activities that introduce various disciplines within construction e.g. building itself, finance, law and
planning. Thanks to Irene Lang from the CITB who worked with some S3, S4, S5 and S6 pupils.
There is also a skills shortage in the UK IT sector. To promote IT as a career 6 software developers from BT
visited the school to work with 20 S2 pupils. The task involved teams of 4 building a robot then writing and editing
software so that the robot could find its way out of a maze. Wonderful! Brilliant! Different! These were some of
the words used to describe the morning.
Page 8
Art & Design
In October this year, a number of senior pupils ventured to Paris as part of their Art & Design education. We
toured the Louvre, Musee D'Orsay and the Musee de L'Orangerie. Much fun was had by all and to top it off, we
got to go to Disneyland Paris - Roll on next year's trip to Rome!
Scottish Schools’ Ski-slalom
Both our novice and experienced teams did very well again this year. The novice team were very narrowly beaten
in a ski off in the qualifier to come third and just miss place in the finals. The experienced team won the event at
Newmilns ski slope to qualify for the finals at Xscape where they put up a very creditable performance against
some very experienced school teams. The novice team was Chris Walker,Krista Gallacher and Angus Busby and
the boys in the photo are the experienced team of Johnny Walker, Euan Gallacher, Tom Partridge and Andrew
Partridge. Well done to both teams!
Page 9
S1 Football Team
This year sixth year students Jamie Lochhead, Ross Hamilton and Andrew Sibbald have taken on responsibility
for coaching the first year football squad.
The commitment of the squad has been excellent so far, as has their attitude and effort while taking part in the
rigorous training sessions set up by the senior students.
So far the team has played two games; firstly drawing 1-1 at home to a strong Grange Academy side in a match
the home side were unfortunate not to win.
The second fixture, away to Loudon Academy, again saw the Stewarton Academy side dominate the match but
after missing a number of good chances, ultimately slip to a 1-0 defeat thanks to a fortunate long-range effort.
The team will be looking to learn from these hard lessons as they go forward into the second half of the season
with 4 further league fixtures to play and an entry into the Ayrshire Cup to look forward to. With continued effort
and by trying to play an enjoyable and expressive brand of football that the sixth year coaches promote, the squad
should look forward to a successful year overall.
RME
In the run up to Christmas, the Fair Trade group were very busy making selection packs of Fair Trade
chocolate and hand decorating photo frames which were sold in the school and at the Dunlop Christmas Fair.
The group are delighted to have raised over £250 which will be donated to Fair Trade and other charities.
Senior Pupil
Four sixth year pupils have this year been busy taking part in the Mark Scott Leadership for Life Award. This is
an award run by the Outward Bound Trust that helps to bring together pupils from local schools, in an effort to
promote confidence and teamwork. They went on a 5 day residential trip where they undertook activities and
challenges with their team before planning and executing a 3 day community project. This year’s participants
from Stewarton Academy are Adam Lyon, James Matzka, John Foster and Katie Wallace. Adam and James’
team are attempting to collect as much food from local primary schools as possible before taking this to the
local foodbank where it will help to feed local people in need at Christmas. John and Katie’s team are
spending time with local care home residents at Christmas while playing games and talking to them. Both of
these projects will heavily benefit the local community and hopefully more pupils will undertake the award from
the school next year.
Adam Lyon
Page 10
Parent Council
70th Anniversary Concert & Coffee Morning
The 70th Anniversary Concert was held on Friday November 6th in St Columba’s Parish Church Hall. As
imagined by Reverend Lind the hall was transformed into an atmospheric setting for the audience to enjoy the
sounds, songs and readings from the Stewarton Academy Pupils. Home baking courtesy of Staff and Parents
was served up by the Parent Council. Before the concert guests could also enjoy memorabilia and artefacts
from Stewarton Historical Society and a show reel provided by the History Department. A Coffee Morning was
also held the following day. Thanks to all involved, profits going directly back to benefit the School pupils with a
donation to Poppy Scotland as well.
Parent Council Meetings
Parent Council meetings are open to all members of the Parent Forum. They are held in the Academy between
1900 and 2030hrs. The dates for all remaining 2015/16 meetings are:Monday 14th December
Monday 8th February
Monday 14th March
Monday 9th May
Monday 13th June (AGM).
Parent Council Vacancies
We have vacancies for Parent Representatives in S3 (mid-term), S5 and S6. Contact me if you are interested
in joining the Parent Council.
Parents Feedback
Let us have your comments and feedback. If there is something that you would like information, have
suggestions for improvements or have any questions then we would like to hear from you or even better come
along to one of the PC meetings.
Sub-Groups
We have two sub-groups running; one for Fund-raising and the other working on PE facilities improvements. If
you would like more information on either of these or would like to get involved then contact Debby Wason (PE
Sub-Group), Elaine Smith (Fund-raising) or myself.
Have a great Christmas and New Year and if you would like any more information on anything that the Parent
Council is involved with please contact myself or anyone from the Parent Council.
David Mitchell
Stewarton Academy Parent Council Chair
07910814975
Page 11
Parent Council
STEWARTON ACADEMY PARENT COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVES 2015 / 16
Maria Cumming – S1
Paul McCaffrey – S1
Fatima Somedian – S1
Jennifer Cunningham–S2
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Elaine Smith –S2
David Parker – S2
[email protected]
07576900026
[email protected]
07817026969
David Clark – S3
Debby Wason - S4
[email protected]
07771921077
David Mitchell – S5
[email protected]
07534323466
Maureen Reid – S6
[email protected]
07403295374
Louise Campbell–S2
[email protected]
07852526937
Jennifer Murray – S4
[email protected]
Will Morton – S6
Georgina Richmond–S3
[email protected]
07595880201
Mairi Martin – S4
[email protected]
07972594856
Laura Lyon – S6
[email protected]
07443624173
[email protected]
07910814975
George Lind
[email protected]
Ellen Freel
[email protected]
Parent Council
[email protected]
[email protected]
07872051432
[email protected]
07910814975
Page 12
KEEP UP TO DATE
Stewarton Academy GLOW Blog
Keep in touch by logging onto the Stewarton Academy GLOW Blog for all the latest news about the Academy.
I would also encourage you to log onto GLOW. GLOW is the national online community for Scottish schools.
The site is excellent and it provides links to all the main websites concerned with Scottish education.
In addition you will have access to a part which is concerned with Stewarton Academy. To access GLOW you
must have a user name and password. Your child will have been given one and this is what you should use.
However to access Stewarton Academy’s GLOW Blog you can use a search engine to search for Stewarton
Academy GLOW Blog. You do not need a password for this.
Please note the undernoted link to Stewarton Blog.
The blog is a website which is almost instant and is updated regularly
https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/ea/STEWARTONACADEMYBLOG/
Or Twitter: @stewarton_Acad