Friday 27th November 2009

Movember!

After intensive effort growing and grooming moustaches and beards in support of Movember! the several members of Nairn Academy staff with attractive facial hair have now reached the peak of their achievement. Mr. Lisle, Mr. Baird, Mr. Caddell, Mr. Hay, Mr. Mackenzie, Mr. Durkin and Dr. Gregson have made considerable sacrifices. The appeal for funds to help the work of Movember! in raising awareness of prostate and testicular cancer, goes on, and there will be a collection at the end of the month (this week).

Dress Down Day

The next Dress Down Day is scheduled for Friday this week (Friday 4th December). The event is being organised by the ‘Dreams and Teams’ group, who will be raising money for Help the Aged and the forthcoming trip to Malawi. Pupils will receive further details this week.

Communication

The next Parent surgery is scheduled for Thursday this week (3rd December). This is a drop-in surgery when no appointment is necessary. Rector Julie Macdonald will be available to meet parents between 4.30 and 6.00 p.m. to discuss general school matters.

The December Newsletter will be issued on Friday 4th December. The Newsletter will also be available on the school website at http://www.nairn.highland.sch.uk. All parents should ensure that they get hold of a copy of this issue, as this one will contain important information regarding adverse weather arrangements.

A Curriculum for Excellence

Current P7 pupils will be breaking new ground next school session, when the first year of whole-hearted activity through A Curriculum for Excellence really gets under way. The growing range of inter-disciplinary and innovative work will be assessed using new criteria, and teachers are beginning to make sense of the vast array of Learning Experiences and Outcomes published earlier this year. Exciting times.

Highland Literacy Project

The school’s involvement with the HLP takes on a new face for the remainder of this term, as a major focus on Paragraphing skills gets under way across the curriculum. HLP Co-ordinators Michael Gregson and John Chalmers are keen to see the whole school work together in raising standards of literacy. Watch this space for news of the Paragraphing prizes later this term.

Duke of Edinburgh’s Award – Royal visit to Inverness

On Monday 23rd November, S6 pupil Mark Bain represented Nairn Academy at a reception with HRH Earl of Wessex. The event was held in Inverness Royal Academy and was attended by Duke of Edinburgh’s participants from the Inverness area. The Earl spent 45mins with the participants, discussing the different areas of the award and what they had learnt by undertaking it. He spent several minutes talking to Mark about some of the activities he has undertaken and also about his involvement in Dreams and Teams, his trip to Malawi and other community projects. Mark was accompanied on the trip by Miss Gray. A great day was had by all.

Highland Youth Voice

Nairn pupils Aimee-Lee Stewart, Bethany Goodwin, Stuart Davidson and Zoe Finlayson all attended the Highland Youth Voice Conference at Badaguish last weekend. The feedback from the event was enthusiastic and the mini-Parliament agreed on a host of new initiatives, including lowering the voting age to 16. Our thanks go to Christie Fullerton and the team at the Nairn Youth Café, as well as to Audrey Anthoney, Rebecca Raynes and all at Youth Development who did so much to make this and the other young Citizenship events happen.

Staffing

We bid farewell to Mrs. Robertson of Business Education, who leaves us to take up a post at Culloden Academy. We also welcome back Mrs. Millsopp to the Modern Languages Department. Mrs. Millsopp returns on Monday 7th December following her maternity leave.


Murrayfield Trip

A large party of rugby-loving pupils played their part in Scotland’s famous victory over Australia at Murrayfield on Saturday. The 9-8 triumph was cheered enthusiastically by the crowd and Nairn’s support was whole-hearted.