To help celebrate Book Week Scotland Mrs Hammersley’s S3 Business Studies class are helping Miss McGill run a Scholastic Book Fair in the Library during the school day from Friday November 22^nd to Wednesday November 27^th 2019. The fair will offer over 200 books from 60 publishers with prices ranging from £2.99 upwards.  A selection of stationery will also be on sale. A taster leaflet can be downloaded from the Library News webpage.  

Parents & carers – tell us what you think of our career services for the chance to win £50 of Love to Shop vouchers http://bit.ly/2KFI5NvIt

Right of the month for October at Auchinleck Academy has been Article 6 (life, survival and development). To encourage our young people to take action in support of this right, Auchinleck Academy has been participating in UNICEF’s annual OutRight Campaign. This year part of the campaign has involved encouraging young people to put pressure on the UK government to commit more spending to vaccination campaigns. In PLP classes last month, pupils in all year groups learned about the importance of vaccines and the fact that 5.4 million children die before their 5th birthday, usually because they don’t get the health care and life-saving vaccines that they need. Pupils also learned that the UK government is hosting an important event in the summer of 2020, called GAVI: the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation. At this event, the UK Government will pledge how much they will donate to vaccinating children around the world.

In PLP time our pupils wrote postcards which will be sent to the Secretary of State for International Development, stating how important it is for the government to commit a substantial spend to vaccines. This is an excellent example of the young people in Auchinleck Academy making their voice heard and influencing decision makers to do more in support of each child’s right to life, survival and development.

Auchinleck Academy, Cumnock Academy and Supported Learning Centre, Barshare Primary, Greenmill Primary and Hillside ASN will all be closed to pupils on Thursday 25 June and Friday 26 June 2020

The new Barony Campus including Robert Burns Academy and SLC, New Loch Norris PS and New Hillside ASN will also be closed to pupils on Tuesday 18th August and Wednesday 19th August 2020.

Right of the Month for September at Auchinleck Academy is Article 42: Knowledge About Rights. To promote and uphold this right, staff and pupils at Auchinleck Academy have produced their very own film about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and what it means to be a Rights Respecting School. The film contains important information to help our pupils learn about the nature of their rights. It also highlights the role of Duty Bearers in ensuring that all of our young people know about their rights and can enjoy them. Well done to all of the pupils and staff who starred in the film or helped to produce it! Thanks in particular to Aarran Whitfield in 2B1 who was amazing as our lead actor, and to Mr McGlynn in the Art department for his excellent work in directing and editing the film.

Members of the Rights Respecting School group have also created an inter house quiz to test everyone on their knowledge of rights- all classes will take part in this over the next few days during PLP time and there will be a prize for the winning class! Why don’t you test your own knowledge of children’s rights? You can find the quiz in the Rights Respecting school section of the website.

In addition to all of this there is so much going on again this session to promote and support children’s rights at Auchinleck Academy. Last week, for example, several pupils took part in a community litter pick in Auchinleck to improve the local environment along with residents and pupils from the primary school. Our pupil run Fair Trade stall is also still going strong and selling lots of chocolate, biscuits and jelly babies to pupils and staff. We are also continuing the campaign that S2 pupils started last session to reduce plastic consumption, and have now sold lots of our reusable water bottles with the slogan ‘Save the Oceans’.

Our School Community Worker, Mary Gladwell, and Home Link Worker, Ashley Robertson, have also been doing lots of great work to support children’s rights and empower our young people to stand up for their rights. They are working with pupils to run a food bank, uniform recycling project, and a shop and swap clothes exchange initiative. Mary has also been running a Young Carers group and an LGBT support group, and she has recently started a Youth Forum group which pupils can attend to discuss matters that are important to them, and campaign for changes that they want to see in the local community. Recently in PLP time all pupils had the chance to vote on issues which they would like to be raised at the Scottish Youth Parliament- this was an excellent example of pupils exercising their right to voice their opinion and have a say in matters that affect them.

Please note that this academic year there will be two additional In-Service days for staff.

They will be as follows:

• Tuesday 24th September 2019
• Friday 3rd April 2019

Pupils should not attend school on these days.

PC Alison Baillie and Angie MacDonald CAMHS are planning to run a few evening workshops for parents. They hope to raise awareness on online safety, drugs/alcohol, bullying, mental health etc.

The workshops will be in the format of small groups to discuss any concerns.

If interested please contact PC Baillie on 01290420617

Sheppard Robson have now chosen the winning entries for the competition they ran for pupils to design panels for the bridge on the new campus. They have chosen one winner and another entry which was ‘Highly Commended’ from each school, both will receive a £10.00 book token from Sheppard Robson. The winning design will be incorporated into the final design of the bridge.

The entries from Auchinleck Academy that were chosen were as follows;

• Kirstie Hunter – Winner – Title of Design ‘Miners’
• Andrew Sutcliffe – Highly commended – Title of Design ‘The past of East Ayrshire

Click on the link below to see the designs

kirstie-Hunter Andrew-Sutcliffe

There has been lots going on at Auchinleck Academy this month to promote and celebrate children’s rights and the Global Goals. Last week some senior pupils delivered an excellent assembly on what it’s like to have a Hearing Impairment. This was one of several assemblies that pupils have led over the course of the session to raise awareness of the different needs that young people have in our school, and to promote tolerance, respect and understanding.

Groups of S2 pupils also delivered assemblies this month to promote their ‘ideas for change’ to support the Global Goals of ‘Climate Change’, and ‘No Poverty’. One group produced their own reusable water bottles and are selling these around the school to encourage pupils and staff to reduce plastic consumption. They delivered a really informative presentation to highlight the environmental damage that plastic waste can cause. Other S2 pupils delivered a presentation about Fairtrade and are now running a Fairtrade stall for staff and pupils every Tuesday at interval and lunch break.

Another Rights Respecting School event which will be taking place before the end of term is a non-uniform and fun day on Thursday 27^th June to celebrate our right of the month, which is Article 31, the right to leisure, play and culture. There will be a range of leisure activities happening around the school, and pupils can pay £1 or bring in a donation to our foodbank to wear their summer clothes- the forecast if for sun!  Any money raised will go towards our Rights Respecting  School fund and sponsorship of Jebbeh Kiazolu school in Liberia.

Liam Armstrong, MSYP for the above constituency has designed a small survey for young people from aged 11 to 25, to choose the next campaign topic for the Scottish Youth Parliament.

Closing date is Thursday 27^th June.

The link is https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/X75B2Z2  It is accessible from smartphones and may be easier to put on your social media pages.