Every year, the pupils of Largs Academy take part in Maths challenge. The Intermediate UKMT Mathematical Challenge is a UK wide problem solving competition, involving around 250 000 pupils in S3 and S4 from over 4000 schools across the UK. The Challenge consist of 25 progressively difficult mathematical problems which stretch the pupils beyond the demands of the normal curriculum – really making them think!

Harry achieved full marks – 135 out of 135. This is a remarkable achievement.

Harry’s maths teacher, Mr Stevenson, told us about the magnitude of the event: “To put it into context, a Gold certificate, an achievement in itself, is awarded for a score of 78 and above. This Challenge is sat by the more able pupils in each school and only 6% of these achieved a Gold certificate. Only 80 pupils out of the 250 000 pupils attempting the Challenge achieved full marks. This puts Harry in an elite group of very talented mathematicians.”

Harry has now been invited to take part in the Mathematical Olympiad Hamilton competition. Look out for news of how he gets on!

Massive well done, Harry!

It’s been a busy time at Largs Academy recently, and this week’s ClassChat really resonates the school values of Community, Ambition and Achievement. Our pupils and staff have been working hard, and this week’s edition brings news from the Science, Maths and Expressive Arts Faculties.

Firstly, an upcoming event, hosted by our Faculty of Science, that might be of interest to our readers… To celebrate British Science Week 2017, Largs Academy are hosting a café science evening on the subject ‘cancer changes everything’ when two CRUK scientists will answer science questions on the subject.

The event takes place on Thursday 16th March at 7pm in the school library and  the school’s barista group ‘The Bean Stalk’ have been engaged on their first commercial venture to provide tea and coffee and cake gratis to those attending.

Local cancer help groups will also be on hand and there will be a display on Higher science pupil research into the effectiveness of sunscreens.

If you wish to submit a science question for the CRUk scientists please e-mail gw09scottcaroline@ea.n-ayrshire.sch.uk.

Over in Maths, the start of 2017 has been steeped in pupil achievement, as our pupils have entered – and performed commendably – in National competitions. The school entered the National Sumdog Maths competition recently and the results were as follows:

S1 finished 299th out of 865 schools and S2’s finished 258th out of 865 schools. A special mention should go to Karys Allan (S1) who managed to get into the top 50. Karys finished 36th overall (out of 20284 students who took part) with a score of 970 (out of a possible 1000). Well done Karys – what an achievement!

The achievements of our ambitious pupils have also extended to expressive arts. Over the past 6 months three S2 girls, Daisy Wilson, Fern McIntyre and Emily Bell, have given up a lot of their own spare time during lunch and after school to create a dress purely made out of recyclable materials for the competition Junk Kouture. This competition is based in Glasgow and had over 350 entries from all different students in Scotland ranging from s1-s6.

The girls worked extremely hard over the 6 months and got listed down to the final 80, where they had to perform in front of four judges at the SECC in Glasgow. The judges they had to impress were Louis Walsh, Una Healy, Rhys Ellis and Katie Brill. Students spoke about their work to the judges backstage and then Emily Bell took to the catwalk for a minute to perform. Among the finalists were amazing designs and the girls were completely overwhelmed by the whole experience.

Daisy and Fern stated: ‘It was an amazing experience and have already started thinking of our next design for next year’s competition’. Emily also enjoyed the valuable experience: ‘I had a great time and would love to do it again next year’.

Finally, it’s only a couple of weeks now until our primary transition concert, ensemble showcase and junior show – Something Nuts – which will take place in the Assembly Hall on Thursday 23^rd and Friday 24^th March.

Rehearsals have been underway for quite some time and as the finishing touches are put to the performances, the school extends our invitation to the local community to attend.

The Thursday performance – which will take place in the afternoon – is reserved for primary 7 parents only, and will feature all primary 7 pupils from Brisbane, Cumbrae, Fairlie, Kelburn and Skelmorlie primaries. This event will be free of charge, and will be followed by a special advance performance of “Something Nuts” for the P7 pupils. Primary colleagues will notify parents of the arrangements.

The transition concert has been arranged by Miss Lawson, in the music department, who has been working with the primary sevens since the start of the year. Each primary seven class will have the opportunity to perform.

On Friday 23^rd March, the show and ensemble performances will take place at 7.30pm in Largs Academy Assembly Hall. Tickets are £5 and available from any performer or by contacting Miss McCarron at Largs Academy.

The junior show is an entirely original piece, written and composed by Mr Smith in order to demonstrate the talents of our S1 and S2 pupils. It will be lots of fun and a little bit crazy – it is, after all, Something Nuts!

The night will also feature the talents of the various bands and ensembles in the school. We look forward to welcoming you along!

Last week our S3 pupils worked with a range of businesses and organisations on starting to prepare themselves for the world of work. The event ran in a speed networking format with pupils meeting briefly with a range of employers. They also took part in entrepreneurial workshops working with the Prince’s Trust and corporate volunteers from RBS.

Following this successful event, Largs Academy will be hosting a Careers Evening from 6.30pm – 8pm on Thursday 16th February. This event is open to all pupils, parents and carers who will have the opportunity to drop in and meet with employers, universities and colleges. It is hoped all our pupils will start making plans for their future and have the chance to tap the expertise of our partner organisations in order to help them make information choices about their career pathway.

We look forward to seeing the local community at this event, please contact Mr Colville if you have any questions. Up to date information will be posted on our Twitter feed, @largsacademy.