12th March 2010

Nairn Academy School Notes, Friday 12th March 2010

Dress Down Day – Friday 19th March 2010

This term’s Dress Down Day will fundraise for Cystic Fibrosis. A group of S3 Girls (Ashley Patterson, Stephanie Ross, Jade Willox and Aileen Rochford0 will co-ordinate the day along with S6 helpers.

Pupil Achievement
S1 Swimmer Adam Scott carried home a Bronze and 2 Silver medals at the British Disability Swimming Championships in Sheffield last weekend. In doing so Adam also achieved personal best times in his events. Adam’s impressive success assisted the Scottish team in achieving 2nd place at this National event.

Youth Voice/ Scottish Youth Parliament

Rowena Carlton 5S will be shadowing Councillor Sandy Park, Highland Council Convener, throughout Wednesday 17th March as part of the Youth Development Service’s ‘Apprentice Day’ programme.

In the Scottish Youth Parliament meeting in Airdrie last weekend, Rowena’s motion on the subject of compulsory political education in Scotland for all young people was passed with flying colours. Congratulations to her and to all who have helped with the work on this motion. The initiative will now become a key policy of the Youth parliament.
Another confident young citizen, Amy Riley of S5, has also become very engaged locally, by being added to the membership of the Community Council. We hope the insight she will gain into the workings of local democracy will serve her well, and we in the school will be pleased to develop closer ties with the Community Council.

Musical Creations

Nairn Academy Pianists, currently working on a 6-month composing project with the ensemble Pianocircus, spent Thursday morning in school working with composer Duncan MacLeod. Pupils in S3 and S5 have been studying contemporary arrangements for Piano Ensemble with Pianocircus, the London-based six piano ensemble. Duncan MacLeod complimented the pupils on the pieces that have been composed so far. New works, written by pupils of Nairn Academy, will be premiered at a concert with Pianocircus in the Beach Ballroom, Aberdeen on Sunday 25th April.

Coffee Morning

The annual Support for Learning Coffee Morning will be held on Wednesday 24 March at 11 am in L11. Monies raised will be given to the Riding for the Disabled Association.

Car Boot Sale

On Saturday 24th April there will be a car boot sale from 11.00 am – 3.00pm.
Cars will be able to enter at £10.00; all Traders £15.00. There will also be Stalls, Raffle, and other attractions.
For a booking form contact:- Tom Heggie (Telephone via the school 01667 453700)
(All funds to support pupil activities and development)

Quiz

Pupil activities will also be the better supported because of the success of Emma Slade’s Quiz, held at the school last Friday. Teams of intelligentsia and others battled away in rounds on 80s cartoons, Musical album covers and History among other topics, and the eventual winners, Kathleen’s Boyz, were dark horses, fooling many with their apparent ineptitude. A fun evening was had by all.


P7 Transition Project

Last Friday saw the culmination in a series of excellent presentations and project models of the P7 Science/ Technology/ Geography/ Literacy Project, in which teams from Cawdor, Rosebank, Millbank & Auldearn primarty Schools have worked to produce workable scenarios for human communities settling on Mars. Well-known Academy experts on the red planet, Andy West, Steve Cullen and Andrew Allardyce, have enjoyed working with primary colleagues to develop this project, and they were joined last week by Academy Literacy Co-ordinator Michael Gregson in evaluating the success of the primary pupils’ efforts: “Suffice to say, the primary pupils were fantastic, showing co-operation and ingenuity and a high level of literacy among other skills,” was his comment that morning. Well done to all.

No Smoking Day, Wednesday 10th March

The school saw a strong focus on Smoking Prevention this week, in tune with the National No Smoking Day on Wednesday. The school’s Health Promoting School efforts have been aided by the incisive and thought-provoking work of Denise May, NHS Highland Smoking Prevention Officer, whose Assembly work has been much appreciated this week.

Staff Success

Congratulations to Elizabeth McDonald, who has been elevated from her successful role as Active School Co-ordinator to Acting Area Adult & Youth Services Officer. The indefatigable Elizabeth has done the work of many and we hope her legacy is appreciated.

Fairtrade

Our very active Fairtraders are organising a Coffee Morning in St Ninian’s church this Saturday 20 March, from 10am to 12 noon in aid of our link with Mount Fletcher in South Africa. Please come along and enjoy a fairly traded cuppa!