The Clydeview Academy annual prizegiving ceremony was held in Old Gourock and Ashton Church earlier this month and so I’m writing this article to tell you all about the occasion.

The church was very busy that evening as parents and carers came to congratulate their children on their fantastic achievements. I was there myself and, as Head Boy, I was asked to deliver the opening words to the ceremony alongside the Head Girl, Sophie. We were both quite nervous when we stood up to the lectern but it all went very well.

You’re probably wondering what kind of prizes were awarded at the ceremony, so I’ll tell you a little bit about each of them:

 

One of the main prizes awarded at the ceremony is the Subject Awards. Each subject offers this prize and it is awarded to the person who achieved the highest marks in a subject’s exam at the level they were studying it. I was able to speak to Lauren, who won the Higher Human Biology award, and Zak, who was given the prize for Higher RMPS. They each told me about how they felt about their awards and what they thought of their subjects:

“It feels quite good to have won the Human Biology award, my hard work paid off. I actually quite liked the subject because I found it quite interesting. I’m currently taking Biology as an Advanced Higher course but it’s different to Human Biology as there are more plants and it’s a lot more difficult. I plan to do healthcare when I leave school so Biology and Chemistry, which I also study, are perfect for that.”

– Lauren M, 6E

“I’m pleased, I’ve definitely put some solid work in and I’m glad to have seen the results of it. I loved RMPS, it’s the absolute best thing I’ve ever done! I really like that it tests you, not just on how much you can remember but actual critical thinking skills. I don’t think you see enough in schools of being able to be tested on how you evaluate information using just your own thoughts and I thought it was really good to have the opportunity to do that through my RMPS. I hope to do Law after school so RMPS will certainly be valuable in pursuing that.”

– Zak B, 6D

 

Another one of the main prizes awarded each year is the Academic Excellence Awards. This prize is given to any S5s who achieved 6 As in their fourth-year National 5 exams or any S6s who achieved 5 As in their fifth-year higher exams. I had the chance to speak to Paul and he told me about how it feels for his hard work to have paid off:

“I’m definitely proud of what I’ve achieved, it was a lot of hard work, especially English where I was sort of lacking behind so I’m glad I was able to put in the effort. My other subjects were Chemistry, Computing, Maths and Physics and my favourite out of them would have to be Physics. I plan to do Mechanical or Electronic Engineering when I leave school so Physics and Maths will be great for that.”

– Paul N, 6F

 

There are many more prizes that were awarded so I’ll try to mention a few of them:

There is an S4 Merit and Achievement award which is given to anyone in that year group who always worked hard throughout the school year. The Leading the Learning of Others award is given to those who showed leadership skills and helped out with groups younger than them. Additionally, the Commitment to Extra Curricular Activities prize is given to those who were a member of and consistently took part in any clubs or groups.

 

Furthermore, there were several special awards for the unique achievements of some of Clydeview’s pupils and multiple awards for sports as well. One of these was for Xanthe who was given her Gold Award for Duke of Edinburgh. I met up with her and she told me a bit about what she had to do to succeed in this excellent achievement.

“In Duke of Edinburgh, you do three levels, bronze, silver and gold. For the gold award, you have to spend five nights and five days in the wild. I was the only girl in my group and also the youngest. The other members of my group were three older boys from other schools but it was very good because I met new friends. The walking was alright, but it was 23 degrees while we were climbing the steepest hills I’ve ever walked up before. You also have to carry a 13kg backpack and we were camping every night in our own tents in the wild. I feel really good after completing it because of the fact that I’m the youngest from Clydeview Academy to complete this and have that award. If young people get offered this opportunity, I would say 100% go ahead and do it as you’ll develop great life skills.”

– Xanthe T, 6C

 

This is just a flavour of some of the many successes had by the pupils at Clydeview Academy. There were so many other prizewinners who I didn’t get to mention in this article but you may be able to find out more about their achievements on the school Twitter account.

Congrats to all our prizewinners!

Article by Jack Ramsay, Head Boy