Elgin Academy Newsletter December 2013

Issue 19- Monday 16 December 2013
www.elginacademy.co.uk
Welcome
Farmers’ Market
As always, we approach the end of term before Christmas at
great pace, with students in the Senior Phase (S4-S6) preparing
for their prelim exams after the holidays, younger students
benefiting from a wide range of experiences, and staff working
extremely hard to develop and deliver the new courses in S4,
whilst looking ahead to the delivery of the new Higher courses in
2014-2015.
On Friday 6 December 2013, Elgin Academy’s S2
pupils hosted our fourth annual Christmas Farmers’
Market, selling all sorts of produce from gifts to fresh
vegetables alongside other farmers’ market retailers. It
ran from 10.00am – 2.30pm in the Assembly Hall. All
the produce made by the pupils used locally sourced
ingredients. A large number of visitors to the school
experienced an excellent event, and saw how our
youngsters have been developing their understanding
of where food comes from, having visited Pitgaveny
Farms Estate earlier in the year. The entire event was
organised by the S2 students, including running a café
on the day, and doing the accounts. Several
organisations, including the Scottish Rural College and
Moray Coast Veterinary Services also had stalls at the
market.
At the same time, a number of major events have taken place in
the lead-up to Christmas, many of which are covered in this
newsletter. The school is a busy place with an excellent ethos.
The many visitors to our school continue to comment extremely
favourably on the calm, purposeful atmosphere, and the good
behaviour and manners of our students.
This term, we were visited by Bill Geddes HMI, who is
undertaking a national review of the impact of technologies
within CfE. This was a very positive visit, with comment made on
how we should be pushing for excellence. This certainly
matches the vision for the school, and we look forward to
continuing working towards excellence in learning and teaching,
leadership and teamwork and relationships.
On behalf of everyone at Elgin Academy, I would like to wish
you and your family a very happy Christmas and a peaceful and
prosperous 2014.
David Barnett, Head Teacher
Cross Country Success
Elgin Academy was represented by 27 pupils who travelled to
Lossiemouth High School on Wednesday 6 November for the
Moray Schools Cross Country Championships. All pupils were a
credit to the Academy and performed exceptionally well. Elgin
Academy won overall for the S1/S2 category. Congratulations
to: Sophia Green (S2) who came 1st with a time of 7.34;
Charlotte Bevan (S2) who came 3rd with a time of 8.17;
Cameron Main (S3) who came 2nd with a time of 9.18; and
Oscar Heald (S3) who came 3rd with a time of 9.38
Contact us:Tel: 01343 543485
Email:admin.elginacad@moray–edunet.gov.uk
Book Week Scotland
We celebrated Book Week Scotland from 25 – 29 November when the whole school was
engaged with books in a variety of ways which helped us all generate a buzz about
reading.
There was a Yuletide book fair in the library all week, courtesy of Yeadon’s of Elgin.
Many got ahead with Christmas shopping and bought books, including biographies of
Alex Ferguson, David Jason and Andy Murray, as well as bestselling titles such as The
Hobbit and The Hunger Games.
Cullen-based writer Rory Mackay was in school over two days to talk to S1 RME pupils
about writing skills, mythology and his fantasy novel Eladria.
S1 pupils entered the Design a Bookmark Competition with gusto and created amazing bookmarks, aimed at
encouraging others to read.
1st prize went to Thomas Stratton 1.5
Runners-up were Niamh Collins 1.6 and Cameron Howie 1.1
All bookmarks are now on display in the library.
2 classes, during library periods, took part in hot seat interviews.
Charlotte Bevan writes: On 25 November, during Book Week Scotland, S2.1 English class did book interviews in
the library. An interviewer from the class asked another member of the class about a book they had read. It was
an interesting, insightful and fun experience for all.
I got interviewed by Nio Trujillo and I spoke about the book ‘My Sister Lives on The Mantelpiece’. He asked me
questions like the summary of the book, a rating and if I enjoyed it or not, which I did. We then got a sweet for
being interviewed by Nio.
Ellie Duncan
I got interviewed by Morven Cumming about a book I‘d recently read. I was questioned about the main story line,
genre of the bookand a personal opinion of the book. It was interesting to hear all the different views about
different books.
Anais Bliault
I got interviewed by Aaron Quinn about the book I had read. I talked about the book Glass House. I got asked questions like
who was my favourite character and what genre the book was. I gave the book 8 out of 10. I enjoyed it a lot because I like
reading!
Julia Balczynska
The book talk was great fun. We got to tell the class about books we have read. I enjoyed it because I got to give my opinion
on a book that I had read recently. Watching other people being interviewed was very funny as some of the books that were
chosen were hilarious.
Gaby Black
Visit us on the web: www.elginacademy.co.uk
Book Week Scotland
Staff entered into the spirit of Book Week and displayed posters ‘I am currently
reading…’ Pupils asked their teachers about their books and this was one of the
ways in which the whole school got talking about books.
The Staff Book Group’s memories of favourite childhood books were written about
and displayed. We read about Anne of Green Gables, King Arthur and The Famous Five amongst others.
BWS Finale : The Battle of The Books Quiz
4 teams of pupils and 1 team of staff battled it out on Friday 29 November in the
Library between 1.00 and 1.30pm to win over two rounds of quick-fire questions.
The winning team was The Hunters, who were Sarah Snedden, Stephanie
Whelan, Adam Watson, Scot Hunter and Lewis McCafferty. A great result and a
great win. The staff team, YOLO (Your Old Literary Opponents) was runner-up.
Music was provided by Elgin Academy Fiddle Group and clarsachs were played by Eilidh MaCalman in S1 and Kirsty MacLean in S4, shortbread and tartan were in abundance and this Big Book Bash was a fantastic finale to our
Book Week Scotland event.
S6 French Students Teaching P7s
As part of our Advanced Higher French course, in
November we went to each of our ASG Primary
Schools to teach P7s pupils some French. After
giving us some pointers about language teaching
Mr Lestienne left us to organise and prepare a
lesson made up of a series of fun exercises so
they would engage even more in French.
We felt that, for them to meet senior pupils using
their French and to observe what we can do after
a few years in French would put the P7s in good
stead for starting their S1 French course next
year.
Personally, not only were we able to leave
knowing that the pupils had learnt or revised some
useful vocabulary, but this experience was also
very rewarding for us: we had the opportunity to
improve our self-confidence, practise our spoken
French and develop our organisational skills.
Freya Thirkell and Holly Carter, AH French
Contact us:Tel: 01343 543485
Email:admin.elginacad@moray–edunet.gov.uk
Modern Languages: business and life-long opportunities
On Friday 29 November, the Modern Languages department hosted
several presentations by 5 speakers from various backgrounds. They
talked about their own experiences with languages and their
importance in their day to day life:
Jennifer Proctor from Glenfiddich
Uses languages regularly in her job - German most confidently,
French well and is now learning Spanish. She pointed out that
employers are very keen to employ people who are able to speak
languages. Particularly in her line of work, where whisky is exported
all over the world, it is vital that employees can converse in another
language. She gave examples of places her language skills have
taken her, from Germany and France, to South America and pointed
out that she was chosen to go simply because she had the languages and her colleagues perhaps did not.
Seb Welsh – language student at St Andrews University
Former Advanced Higher French pupil at Elgin Academy talked
about his experiences of living in the south of France for the summer
between S5 and S6, before taking a gap year between S6 and
starting at University. He talked about his travels in South America,
how he worked teaching English and in bars and hostels to earn
enough money to move on to the next country. He talked a little in
Arabic and Russian which have just joined his portfolio of languages.
He now hopes to travel to Brazil next to learn Portuguese. His
message was that languages have opened the door of the world to
him.
Angus Robertson MP
Member of Parliament for Moray, Angus Robertson, talked about his
life before becoming an MP. His mother is German and therefore he
was brought up bilingual. He spoke about his first job with a radio
station and that the only reason he got the job was because he
spoke German. Now as an MP, he is also an employer and when
choosing the correct candidate for a role, he explained that
candidates who speak a foreign language automatically have an
advantage over the others to help with international links. He also
talked about the wealth of leisure possibilities another language
brings: being able to watch foreign movies, bands, TV programs.
Sport Moray Awards
Congratulations go to Mr Pete Kelly, PT Physics, who
has won the “School Sport Volunteer Award” at
the Recognition Awards held on 26 November. In addition, several of our students were nominated in a variety of categories: Josh Cruickshanks in the Junior
Sportsman Award, Callum Alexander in the Junior
Sportsman Award, Bradley McNairn in the Junior
Sportsman Award; Jodi Henderson in the Heather
Alan Campbell from Walkers
Stanning Award (Junior Sportswoman), Chloe McIntosh
Doesn’t speak any foreign languages and said it was one of his
in the Heather Stanning Award (Junior Sportswoman).
biggest regrets. He works in exporting and because of his lack of
Well done to all.
language skills, he has to employ people who can speak languages
and they get to go with him all over the world to help him with sales
etc. He also said languages are useful because you know what
people are really thinking when they are talking in their language but
don’t realise you know what they are saying! Yet again, he pointed
out that candidates who have languages on their CV are at an
advantage.
Christian Allard MSP
The first French MSP, Christian Allard explained that he didn’t enjoy
and stopped learning English at school. He got a job but always had
a yearning to travel. His boss did not want to lose him and so offered
him a move to Glasgow to set up an office there for the company.
However, Mr Allard had to learn English while living and working
here, which was extremely difficult - especially the differences in
Scottish accents. But he loved Scotland so much he decided to stay.
His message was that learning languages opens up so many
possibilities and he regrets not having learned one whilst at school.
He added: “This goes to show: NOT EVERYONE SPEAKS
ENGLISH!”
Visit us on the web: www.elginacademy.co.uk
Higher Biology Highland Wildlife Park Visit
As part of the Higher Biology course, students are expected to have
knowledge of the process of natural selection and speciation. In order to
support students in this learning and give them some meaningful context to their learning, the Biology Department decided to take them to
the Highland Wildlife Park. This is the first time that this trip has taken
place and was all in all a great success. While there, the students had
the opportunity to have a guided tour of the park by the Ranger, Jasper
Hughes, who was able to show them specimens taken from animals in
the park and explain some of the adaptations of the animals that they
have in the park. The pupils were also given an insight into conservation
and the role of wildlife parks and zoos in captive breeding programmes,
another aspect of the curriculum in Higher Biology. We were also given
an interactive lecture from Jasper about the evolution of the Polar Bear
and its future if the effects of Global Warming are to continue at the
present rate. Their future does seem rather bleak but then the Polar
Bear has had problems such as this in the past and has evolved with
the changes in climate by breeding with Brown Bears, so perhaps we
will just have to accept the hybrid Grolar or Pizzly Bear instead?!
Overall, regardless of a bit of snow, students seemed to find the day
very interesting, informative and thoroughly enjoyable. We will certainly
return with successive year groups!
St Andrews Day Celebrations
To mark St Andrew’s Day, last
week’s house Assemblies had
a Scottish theme, with the
history and background of
St Andrew explained to all.
Several musical items were
performed to an excellent
standard (see page 8 for a list
of performers). On Friday 29
November, all students and
staff were encouraged to wear
a “Touch of Tartan”, and make
a small donation to charity.
Christmas Concert
Elgin Academy’s annual Christmas Concert took place
on the 9th December 2013 in the school hall. Joined by
an audience of more than 200 friends and family,
pupils provided a variety of musical and drama
entertainment showcasing the many talents in the
school. The school orchestra gave their first
performance under their new conductor, Acting PT
Music Miss Macphail, the newly formed school swing
band performed for the first time and S2 pupils
Bethany Quirie, Alex Scott and Jade Russell sang a
song they wrote themselves. This was in addition to
fantastic performances from the school string group,
woodwind group and vocal groups. Solo performances
from Laura Thom and Fiona Milne showed the range
of talent in the school and senior Drama pupils helped
to create the Christmas spirit with a brilliant reading of
a Christmas poem. A fantastic night was had by all –
thank you again to everybody who supported the
event, over £645 was raised for school funds.
Contact us:Tel: 01343 543485
Email:admin.elginacad@moray–edunet.gov.uk
Electrolabs Workshop
Festive Fun in Music
Pupils in the Music Department were delighted to try
their hand at being professional sound engineers when
Dave Martin and Steve Gasgarth from Electrolabs
came to work with them on 3 December. The pupils
were able to create their own music electronically using
software which is used in professional studios and mix
and manipulate tracks to produce their own work. A
thoroughly enjoyable day was had by all who attended
and
their
work
can
be
heard
at
http://soundcloud.com/electrolabs/sets/elgin-academy2013.
Brass Group
Once again, the brass group have been spreading the
festive cheer in the community. They entertained the
public at the school Farmers’ Market as well as playing
carols at Andersons care home in Elgin and Dr Gray’s
Hospital. They will finish their festive programme with
more carols at WH Smiths on the last week of term. All
the youngsters in the group are part of Moray Concert
Brass who will be playing at Elgin Cathedral on 18
December for their annual carol concert – they look
forward to seeing some of you there!
String Group
The string group have also been out and about
performing a mixture of traditional Scottish music and
Christmas pieces in Spynie Care Home. They are also
playing in the Christmas Eve service in St Giles which
promises to be a great evening of entertainment!
Callum’s a Fencing Champion!
Elgin Academy pupil Callum Sutherland, a member of Elgin
Duellist Fencing Club, has fulfilled his dream by winning at all 3
weapons at the recently held Scottish Secondary Schools
Fencing Championships. Callum competed against over 30
pupils from schools around Scotland to win the under 16 boys’
foil, epee and sabre titles at the School Championships held at
Linlithgow Academy on 23 and 24 November. Being the best in
his age group category also resulted in Callum adding the Master
of Arms Trophy to his silver ware for winning the most individual
points in his age group category.
Callum, who is coached by Mark Lauchlan and Robin Paterson at
the Elgin Club, joins an elite group of only 5 fencers who have
won at all 3 weapons in this age group category since 1975.
Callum added, “I was pleased to win the foil final 15-3 and the
epee final 15-9 but was quite shocked to come in narrowly ahead
by winning the sabre title 15-14 in my second only sabre
competition. I was proud to represent my School and next year I
look forward to trying to win the senior boys’ epee title that one of
my coaches, Robin Paterson, won way back in 1988 when he
was a pupil at this school.”
Although Callum was the only representative from Elgin
Academy taking part in this competition, his domination at his age
group category single handily meant that Elgin Academy
finished a respectable 3rd in the best boys’ school category.
Visit us on the web: www.elginacademy.co.uk
Photographic Success
Catching Fire
Congratulations to Andrew Robertson, has won
the S1-S3 category of the Dynamic Vision
photography competition, with the photo below.
The competition theme was "Nature in Moray".
Part of the prize is a cash donation to Elgin
Academy. Well done, Andrew!
After school on Wednesday 27 November, we went, with Mrs
Toonen, to see the film Catching Fire at The Moray Playhouse.
We felt that it stayed true to the book and it made the scenes
in the book really come to life. The film was emotional in some
parts and some parts were scary, such as when the baboons
launched their attack and led to one of us having to leave till it
was over! We enjoyed comparing the book with the film over
pizza in Scribbles afterwards and now we can’t wait for part 3
of The Hunger Games trilogy.
HMI Visitor
As part of a national initiative entitled
“Technologies Impact Review”, Mr Bill
Geddes, a school inspector (HMI) with
Education Scotland spent the day in
Elgin Academy on Wednesday 4
December.
He focused on three departments Business & Digital Learning, Design &
Technology and Home Economics. He
observed lessons in these departments
and had the opportunity to meet and
discuss relevant issues with staff from
those departments. He met with focus
groups of pupils, and also with staff
from the whole school ICT Strategy
Group.
At the end of the day, he gave feedback
to the Senior Leadership Team, and
offered much in the way of very
favourable comment, whilst also
highlighting one or two areas for us to
have a closer look at.
This was a very positive experience,
and was certainly very helpful to us as a
school as we move forward in our journey towards excellence.
Prelim Exams
Students in S4, S5 and S6 have now
been issued with their prelim exam
timetables. This year reflecting the new
nature of “The Senior Phase”, there is
only one prelim diet, starting on Monday
13 January 2014. S4 students will not
have study leave, and, when not in an
exam, will be expected to be in their
normal timetabled class, where they can
undertake revision, or perhaps benefit
from advice from the teacher or
consolidate earlier work. S5 and S6
students will have study leave, starting
on Monday 13 January. Letters have
been issued to parents of students in
S4, S5 and S6 on this topic, and Mr
Scott (Depute Head Teacher) has held
assemblies on this theme to explain the
exam timetable and expectations
around exam-room standards and
behaviour.
Also joining us after the holidays will be
Mrs Morag McLuckie as Teacher of
Physics. Mrs McLuckie is currently
working at Gordonstoun School.
Before the end of term, we will be
interviewing for the permanent positions
of Teacher of English, Technical
Assistant and (two posts of) Education
Auxiliary. The closing date for four
promoted posts was Friday 13
December, and we therefore look
forward to interviews for the posts of
Depute Head Teacher, PT Support for
Learning, PT Guidance and PT History
after the holidays.
On Friday 6 December, we said farewell
to Mr Ruairidh Ross, PT History, who
has been promoted to the position of
Depute Head Teacher at Grantown
Grammar School. We thank Mr Ross for
Staff Update
A number of changes have occurred in everything he did for his department
our staffing, and recruitment is ongoing and for the school and wish him all the
best for the future. Congratulations go
in a number of areas.
to Suzanne McNeil, who has been
Ms Morag Ingram will be joining us from appointed as Acting PT History.
Lossiemouth High School after the holidays as Acting PT of PE. Also joining On Monday 16 December 2013, we
us after the holidays will be Mrs Jennifer welcome Mr Jan Pellegrom to the TechDodd as Teacher of Support for nical Department, and thank Mr John
Learning. Mrs Dodd is currently working Farquhar, who has been covering the
at Mintlaw Academy in Aberdeenshire. vacancy in the meantime.
Contact us:Tel: 01343 543485
Email:admin.elginacad@moray–edunet.gov.uk
Individual Student Achievements
Individual student successes and achievements were celebrated at House Assemblies in the last week of November.
Gordon
Randolph
Badminton - Mhairi Maclean and Shona Cumming both of
S1 - Highland U12 champions. Shona was runner up in the
U12 singles tournament.
Swimming North District Championships
Oscar Heald S4 - 50 metres freestyle 4th
50 metres butterfly 5th
100 metres individual medley 3rd
Oscar has been selected to represent the North of
Scotland at the British Gas ASA County Team Championships in Sheffield.
Rhys Gorman 6R
Royal Yachting Association Power Boat Instructor
Seat Cadet Rowing Instructor
Granite City Grand Prix – Bronze Medal - Judo
Kirsty Shand 6R
Passed her driving test
Andrew Mitchell 6R
Passed his driving test
Moray
Innes
Conan Smith 1/6M – U15 Club Badminton Competition –
reached the quarter final
Rhona Masson 2/2M – Passed grade 4 Violin
Lynsey Boag – Passed grade 4 Violin
Dylan Jackson 3M – World Kickboxing Championships –
placed 3rd
Megan Sutherland – Passed grade 5 Violin
Kelly O’Donnell 5M – Secured a place to play trumpet in
The Grampian Youth Orchestra and has been selected to
play alongside the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Side-bySide Project)
Lorna Taylor 6M / Jana Williamson 6M – Passed Driving
Theory Test
All Moray Concert Brass Members – Silver Award at The
Scottish Youth Brass Band Competition – invited to The
European Brass Band Championships next year.
Jodi Henderson, S5, achieved her Adult black belt and was
a finalist in the Sport Moray Recognition Awards
Sophia Green, S2, achieved first place in the Cross Country
championships and her time to run a mile was 7 minutes
Logan Simpson, S2, won a national cheerleading event
held in Glasgow for the North of Scotland. Logan and her
team of 16 others performed one routine that won the competition.
Bradley McNairn, S4, competed in the Tuscans World
Championships kickboxing competition.
Ethan Hew, won a gold medal at the Taekwondo Scottish
Championshoips in the 12-14 age group.
Seafield
Performers at the House Assemblies
S1 Georgia Ettles - Kick Boxing Champion
S2 Bethany Quirrie - Raised over £500 for Children in need
by getting her hair shaved off. She was interviewed by
Jackie Bird to explain all her endeavours.
Chloe McIntosh nominated for young sportswoman award
S3 Cameron Main - has been selected for the Scottish
Triathlon Team
S4 Callum Sutherland - won three categories in recent
fencing tournament winning the overall position of Master
of Arms
S6 Josh Cruickshanks won In his first adult category
Taekwondo, also nominated for Young Sportsman Award.
The following pupils performed at the week long St
Andrew’s Day House Assemblies. The performers were
from across all house and year groups and gave fantastic
individual and group performances which were very well
received by both staff and pupils.
They were:
Pipers and Drummers
Accordion
Sean McHugh S5
Lewis Shanks S3
Jason McRae S5
Molly Anderson S6
Singers
Douglas Miller S3
Chloe Tomlin S1
Emma Hyndman S5
Catherine Simpson S1
Zoe Hale S3
Scott Hale S4
Dancer
Innes Stone S1
Lewis Smith S2
Fiddle Group
Lorna Taylor S6
Rhea Fraser S1
Laura Thom S4
Mhairi Maclean S1
Rhona Sword S3
Megan Sutherland 3M
Emily Morris S1
Katrina Raine S3
Megan Reid S3
Key dates for your diary
Monday 6 January 2014 - First day of term
Monday 13 January 2014 - Start of S4/5/6 prelims
Friday 31 January 2013—Last day of S4/5/6 prelims
Thursday 13 February 2014 - Mid-term holiday
Friday 14 February 2014 - Mid-term holiday
Monday 17 February 2014 - Mid-term holiday
Monday 10 March 2014 - P7 Information Evening
Friday 28 March 2014 - Last day of term
Monday 14 April - First day of summer term
Contact us:Tel: 01343 543485
Email:admin.elginacad@moray–edunet.gov.uk