All posts by Mr Anderson

Spanish Friends

Mr Arkley in the Modern Languages department has set up a link with a high school in Cuenca where he used to live  in Spain. The school is called “IES Pedro Mercedes “and they teach English as we teach Spanish and French.  Second year Pupils in Mrs Murphy’s and Mr Arkley’s class have written letters to the pupils in the school using the vocabulary that they have been learning on the topic of ‘school’.

Mr. Arkley notes ” I am impressed with the level of language the pupils have used in writting these letters as they only started learning Spanish at the beginning of the school year.

I have attached a photo of the learners with their letters”.

Well done to all pupils involved!

 

 

ASDAN BRONZE AWARDS

Congratulations to the S3 pupils listed below who achieved the ASDAN Bronze Award this week. Moderation took place on Friday last week – thanks to Elaine McGuire for her attendance at the event and her superb support for this group. Pupils are now planning to work towards Silver Award which will be a first for Airdrie Academy. Well done to all of them!

Lewis Rowatt

Amber Rowatt

Matthew Lawton

Aimee Hill

Robyn Milligan

Jonathan Logan

Kendall Harold

Kiera Young

Chloe Porter

Rayhan McCrone

Another great success – well done!

 

S4 Prelim Exams

Our S4 pupils will be taking prelim examinations from Monday 26th November to Friday 7th December inc.

We wish all pupils taking these exams every success and all pupils who are completing important course tasks every success with completing these during this time.

Good luck to everyone

Mr Anderson

HT

Numeracy Festival

We have had a fantastic two days in the school with a whole school focus on “Numeracy”.

Pupils thoroughly enjoyed the range of experiences that our Principal Teacher of Numeracy, Mrs McClelland, had organised for them.

Pupils took part in “Skills for Bills” a very innovative budgeting exercise that was delivered by parent members of the parent council. Great to see pupils thinking about the real life context that numeracy plays in everyday decisions.

Construction skills and numeracy were part of the problem solving “tower of straws” task – lots of great ways to build the tower from basic materials and have it support the weight of a tennis ball. Great team skills on show in this task.

We had professor Adam McBride from the University of Strathclyde talk to pupils about his work and life working with numbers.

Throughout the school numeracy challenges and puzzles were posted in corridors and on screens (as were some really bad numeracy jokes) to challenge pupils and staff.

An excellent two days looking at Numeracy across learning.

Well Done!

 

Give a Festive Gift Appeal

Possible Gift Ideas

In Airdrie Academy, we know the true meaning of Christmas – spending time with loved ones and the spirit of giving.

To share in the Christmas spirit, we are delighted to support North Lanarkshire Council’s ‘Give a Festive Gift’ appeal. This means that we are looking for donations of items that can be used as gifts for young people in North Lanarkshire. Please click the “possible gift ideas” link above for suggested gift ideas.

Gifts will  be collected by Miss Smith and her team of volunteers. If you would like to help us make sure ALL can enjoy the upcoming festive period then please send your donations to the school between Monday 19th November and Wednesday 28th November.

As always, your support is greatly appreciated.

 

 

Thank You

S1 Parent’s Evening feedback

Our S1 parents evening turnout was 68%, 140 families attended from our 206 S1 pupil roll. Great to see so many of you and share with you how your children are progressing. Your views are always listened to and I personally read every single survey and take on board parental views. Thank you for taking them to complete this survey. All responses to surveys shape our improvement agendas.

Please find below the very positive feedback that you shared with us last night. Many thanks Mr Anderson.

s1 parental data 2018 19
13th November 2018 Strongly agree / agree % SA/A Disagree/Strongly disagree % D/SD Don’t Know Total responses
Q1 The school helps my child to be more confident. 91 95.79 4 4.21 5 95
Q2 My child enjoys learning at school. 92 96.84 3 3.16 1 95
Q3 My child’s learning is progressing well. 93 97.89 2 2.11 3 95
Q4 My child is encouraged and stretched to work to the best of their ability 92 96.84 3 3.16 2 95
Q5 The school keeps me well informed about my child’s progress. 93 97.89 2 2.11 3 95
Q6 My child feels safe at school. 91 95.79 4 4.21 1 95
Q7 My child is treated fairly at school. 92 96.84 3 3.16 3 95
Q8 I feel staff really know my child as an individual and support them well 89 93.68 6 6.32 2 95
Q9 My child benefits from school clubs and activities provided outside the classroom 71 74.74 24 25.26 6 95
Q10 The school asks for my views. 71 74.74 24 25.26 11 95
Q11 The school takes my views into account. 62 65.26 33 34.74 3 95
Q12 The school is well led. 89 93.68 6 6.32 1 95
Q13 Overall, I am happy with the school. 93 97.89 2 2.11 0 95

Sports Leaders make an Impact

The leadership roles of pupils in the school is an important aspect of who we are. Our Senior Sports Leaders work with associated primary pupils and lead them in a range of sporting activities. This partnership alongside Active Schools has produced notable success within our local cluster. Stephen Hughes our Active Schools Coordinator writes:

“The following schools in the cluster have achieved the national gold school sport award from Sport Scotland;

Tollbrae PS, Victoria PS, Golfhill PS and Rochsolloch PS the last 3 receiving it for the first time this year.

The award covers 8 different strands of sports and physical activity across the school. A big contributing part of the schools applications has been the sports leaders from Airdrie Academy delivering regular extracurricular activity in the schools, support at the primary sports days and the volunteering aspect as well as acting as role models to the primary pupils”

Massive well done to all of our Senior Sports Leaders and all of our associated primary schools who have achieved the gold award.

Well Done!

School Improvement Plan 2018/19

As a school we set and review our improvement targets on an annual basis. In our plans this year – all – of our targets are well underway; thanks to the support and hard work of pupils, parents  staff and partners.

We continue to develop our strategies and collaborative work on a range of initiatives. Updates will appear here throughout the school year on our progress and successes.

Teamwork!

Halloween Disco

The Halloween Disco will take place Tuesday, 30th October, from 7pm – 9.30pm in the school for all S1 to S3 pupils.

This promises to be an evening of great fun and I am sure that the staff coming along to support this event will get into the spirit of the evening and enjoy dressing up  – There is a prize for the staff member with the best costume !

Be great to see as many pupils and staff there as possible.