All posts by s. aberdeenshire

Kemnay Academy

European Netball Championships

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A small group of S1 and S2 girls attended the European Netball Championships at Aberdeen Sports Village on Friday, 31 May. This was their chance to see top class netball and get a few autographs from some of the best players.  Louise Dorrington, Caitlin Robbie, Tricia Kelly, Hannah Power and Xenoa Campbell-Ledgister watched 3 matches and said: ‘’We really enjoyed it!  They were really skilful and it was very fast!  The netball was entertaining and exciting – the best match was Wales against England!’

Kemnay Academy, Uncategorized

RGC/Albyn Invitational Athletics Championships

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On 16 May a team of 30 S1 – 3 pupils competed in the inter-school Athletics Championships at the Sports Village. This was the first occasion a team from Kemnay competed at these championships and with some outstanding individual performances the team achieved 8th place out a total of 19 competing teams. S1 pupils: Alix Still achieved 1st place in both the 100m and the long jump; Laurie Allardes achieved 2nd place in the high jump with Caitlin Gray winning points for the team in 8th place; S2 pupils: Caitlin Robbie and Louise Dorrington won points in the shot and the 1500m respectively, achieving 6th place while Mason Reid was narrowly beaten into 4th place in his 1500m race; S3 pupils: Douglas Young had an outstanding meet by achieving 2nd place in the 1500m and 5th place in the shot; Cara MacKenzie came 3rd and Emily Cossar 5th in the 100m and Emily also came 4th in the long jump. The relay teams all performed well with both the S3 boys and S3 girls winning points. All pupils were a credit to Kemnay Academy in their attitude and behaviour – well done to all the team! Following her outstanding performance in the long jump, Alix was selected to represent South Grampian in the inter-district team championships.

Kemnay Academy

Rock Challenge Scottish Final

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The thunderous cheering begins to blow the roof off the Dundee Caird Hall.  Arbroath High has been awarded yet another prize, one of a string of prizes they go on to win.  Chatting and laughing with my friends, I am not paying a lot of attention to the stage: after all, we were at the Rock Challenge Scottish Finals not to win, but to show the schools what Kemnay Academy was made of, and to have a good time.  We had had such fun during the day, dancing with other schools in the Morning Production Meeting, munching on pizza together before our final show preparation; we weren’t overly focussed on winning the most amount of prizes.  Being the lighting director and working on the administration side of Rock Challenge, I had never felt I was overly important in the scheme of things; there was dancing, choreography, set, costume all of which I believe were more important than me.  So when an award-presenter on-stage announces that the Lighting Design Award has been given to Kemnay Academy, our school erupts with screams and cheers of surprise and joy – and I was in utter shock.

I had won an award, completely off my own back, and it lifted the school’s spirits infinitely. Knowing we had made our mark at the Rock Challenge Scottish Finals was a great achievement, and furthermore knowing that it was me who had made that mark, boosted my self-esteem.  I realised then that no matter what role you play in a Rock Challenge performance, whether you are the main character such as the Dictator, or if you painted one tree on one piece of set: every single member is important, and without the joint effort of everyone we could never pull off the performances that we do.  Rock Challenge is and will continue to be a staple in the diet of the pupils of our school, from S2 up to their final days at school.  If nothing else, Rock Challenge helps you to take part in something great, learn new skills, and most of all, to make life-long friends.

 Eilidh Maclachlan

Kemnay Academy

S3 History Fundraising Success

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S3 History pupils have been studying the topic of Genocide and in particular the country of Cambodia.  Part of this study involved looking at the work of Handicap International and how they help landmine victims.

The pupils created a raising awareness campaign and were involved in presenting at school assemblies.   Across the three S3 History classes, various fundraising activities were carried out including an Easter hamper, sponsored silence, guess the birthday, guess how many sweets are in the jar and a Landmines Challenge.  The Landmines Challenge was a success in particular as it gave both the pupils and teachers who competed an idea about how everyday life can be a challenge for landmine victims.

In total £302.21 was raised across the various activities.  Thank you to all the staff and pupils who contributed as this money will help many landmine victims in Cambodia.

Meldrum Cluster, Old Rayne

Old Rayne Retains its Fairtrade School Status

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 Old Rayne School were delighted to find out that they have retined their Fair Trade Status by organised the events below;

Ran Fairtrade stalls at our school Harvest, St Andrew’s Day, Burns Day, Fair-trade Fortnight and Easter Community cafés. We also serve Fairtrade tea, coffee and sugar at these cafés.

Ran two school stalls at the Old Rayne Christmas Fair in the Lawrence Hall, one for Christmas Traidcraft products and the other sold Fairtrade Chocolate Brownie mix in jars and Fairtrade cookies and truffles that we made. They were very popular!

 

Celebrated Fairtrade Fortnight 2013

Created Fairtrade art work – necklaces and banners

African Drumming workshop with Chief Chebe

A lady who represented Traidcraft visited each class

A man from a company called Koolskools gave us an assembly about Fairtrade cotton

We baked all helped make a Fairtrade cake and put it in a competition called The Fair Bake.

We recycled our Fairtrade wrappers to make a sculpture. We uploaded a photo of the sculpture to the Fairtrade Foundation website and we won 3rd prize.

We had a healthy Fairtrade tuck shop everyday in the hall for all the pupils and staff in the school

This evidence from the session was collated and submitted to the Fairtrade Foundation and last week the school heard news from the Foundation that Old Rayne School have retained its Fairtrade School status.

 

Mrs Fiona Eaton
Head Teacher

Well done to all involved 🙂

 

Anna Ritchie, Burnhaven, Peterhead Central, Peterhead Cluster

Rugby Festival in the Peterhead Cluster

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P6 athletes from across the Peterhead Network got together on Wednesday 15th May for the Active Schools P6 Rugby Festival supported by Scottish Rugby Development staff.  The event was held at the all-weather pitch at Catto Park and everyone was thankful that the rain stayed off for the morning!

 A great day was had by all and some fantastic Rugby skills were displayed with Burnhaven School P6s being crowned the winners of the tournament and Peterhead Central School Team 2 coming in as runner ups.  A special Fairplay award was also presented to Peterhead Central School Team 1 for highlighting the best example of sportsmanship on the day through respecting their team mates, opponents and referee’s decisions.  Young Leaders from Anna Ritchie School were also present on the day to help the referees and each leader did an excellent job and will receive a certificate for their hard work.

 The Rugby Festival was the climax of a four week block of rugby coaching that was delivered to all schools by Ross Finlay, the Ellon Rugby Development Officer.  Active Schools Coordinator for the Peterhead Primary Network area Caitlin Dudley was delighted with the turnout of schools and the standard of play and sportsmanship throughout all teams and added:  “Our thanks go to the Ellon Rugby Development officer and his colleagues for making today possible.  It is fantastic to see so many pupils in Peterhead getting involved in sport and having fun!  The effort of the pupils was a great reflection of the ongoing work by Active Schools & SportScotland to not only improve participation levels but to also promote competitive sport in a positive manner.”

Well done to all involved 🙂

Peterhead Academy, Peterhead Cluster

P6 Pupils from Peterhead – Young Leaders of the future

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P6 pupils from across the Peterhead Network had the exciting opportunity to complete the Young Leaders Award this term which focuses on developing leadership skills such as organisation, communication and teamwork, as well as helping to develop confidence and self-esteem. The P6 Young Leaders will be able to use these skills in the playground and during PE lessons to coach games to younger pupils, helping Active Schools with their fundamental aim – to provide more children with the motivation and opportunities to adopt active and healthy lifestyles Active Schools Coordinator for the Peterhead Primary Network, Caitlin Dudley said “The P6 pupils have all really enjoyed the training and are looking forward to developing their coaching skills and confidence when teaching the younger pupils. This award is a great tool for teaching the pupils a range of skills that they will be able to use during their transition into Secondary School and in later life as well as getting them involved in helping the younger pupils become more active. Congratulations to all of the Young Leaders that passed the award!” She also points out that this opportunity would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication from the S5-6 Sports Leaders from Peterhead Academy who delivered the training to the P6s as part of a peer-education scheme, “Having the S5-6 pupils deliver the training really gave the P6s a level to aspire to”. Malcolm Grant Active Schools and Community Officer for Buchan also said “The senior pupils who have been involved in the Community Sports Leaders programme at Peterhead Academy will benefit from their coaching experiences well beyond their time at the school. The skills they have developed in relation to communication, planning, assessing and delivering the Young Leaders programme to the Primary pupils will serve them well as their future careers develop.”

Well done to all involved 🙂

Kemnay Academy

Writers’ Group Reading @Kemnay Academy

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Several of our writers showcased their talent at a reading held in the school library on Tuesday, February 5th. Featuring members of various year groups, the event included both  poetry and prose pieces. Ailie Keddie, Lee Aitken and Ewan Guild entertained with poems they’d written, whilst Rebecca Newman read one of her short stories.

Ewan, who also contributed to the reading with the prologue to a longer piece of his, later reflected on the day: “It was an excellent opportunity to share our work with others – an opportunity I will gladly seize again.”

The group continue to work on new projects and are enthusiastically welcoming new members to their weekly meetings. Our next focus is to post our pieces on Kemnay Academy’s Writers’ Blog, which can be accessed through Glow at https://wikis.glowscotland.org.uk/0002985/English.                             Miss Hall, English

Kemnay Academy

Kemnay Academy Glow Team Update Christmas to Spring 2013

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“Lead by Excellence”

Recently the academy pupils undertook a small survey to see how the Academy Glow Team could benefit the learning of each person in the Academy.  The surveys were filled in during registration and were collated into the GLOW REPORT SESSION 2011-12.   A  PowerPoint of the responses can be viewed on the Academy website.  The team hope to get feedback from pupils on the changes that have be made to Glow in this session 2012-13 by the national team.  The Academy was commended by the Cabinet Secretary recently as a “credit to the education system.  The work by Kemnay Academy Glow Team shows the stellar leadership of the group and shows the next generation making great changes in education and Glow“.  All stakeholders along with Dr Hunter and staff should be encouraged by this. 

As pupils are aware, the Scottish Government are looking at ICT in Education and how they can support it.  The Cabinet Secretary asked Professor Muffy Calder to conduct a review process into the use of ICT in Education. Her report had been submitted and parents and pupils across Scotland can view the report on the following site: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/Schools/SSDN/ExcellenceGroupReport.

Kemnay Academy Glow Team has given feedback on the recommendations of the report.  The new Glow portal, Stage One, was rolled out to all Aberdeenshire schools in early December.  The Glow team is currently training pupils on it.  We encourage pupils to get involved and help us make this a good resource for the next generation.  

Finally, the Academy has great resources for exam revision and and I encourage each pupil to have user names and passwords to allow use of them at home. Updates of the Academy’s work on Glow will be included in future newsletters. The next few moths will see us conduct our second annual Glow report.

I would like to thank the Academy’s faculty PTs, staff, pupils, SMT and Dr Hunter for the continued support they give the Team.

Kieran Swanson (S5), Head of Glow Team.

Kemnay Academy

Poppy Scotland Video @Kemany Academy

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In the closing months of last year my S3 RMPS class entered a competition to make a film/storyboard about ‘What does remembrance mean today?’.  First we watched the videos that won the competition last year then we discussed ideas for our video.  Everybody from the class made a storyboard and it was compiled together to make a single video storyboard with some music.  Once a script was written and confirmed we filmed the video and edited it together.  The competition was sent off to Poppy Scotland in a last minute hurry and we waited for a reply.  On Tuesday, 12 March, we learned that we had got through to the finals for the competition; in the coming weeks the film will be remade by professionals and it will be uploaded to the Poppy Scotland website for a public vote.  We hope that you enjoy the video and vote for us when it is uploaded as we had a great time making it.                                        

Max McKay 3D