Month: November 2016

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Children from our associated Primary schools joined us last week, for the annual Primary Maths Challenge. As always, it was a hard fought event, but lots of fun at the same time. For the second year in succession, Lennoxtown Primary School were the outright winners. Well done to them and to Miss Rae for organising everything.

Tickets are now on sale for our Christmas Concert and Pantomime ‘Cinderella’, to be held on Thursday 15^th December, at 7.00 p.m. The tickets are priced at £5.00 for adults and £3.00 for children. They are available from Music, Drama or the school Reception. We hope to have a large turnout, for what promises to be a very entertaining evening.

Congratulations to Eilidh Brown 1B, who has designed this year’s school Christmas card. Her design, based on a snow globe, is very eye-catching and was a unanimous winner from the panel of judges.

This Christmas we will be collecting food items to distribute to the Kilsyth Community Food Bank. Pupils are asked to bring items to school between Monday 28th November and Friday 9th December and hand them in to representatives of their house, who will be in the café, every day at the interval. In particular, we have been asked to collect: Salmon, Tuna, Shloer/Fruit Juice, Chocolates, Tinned Ham, Cheese/Crackers, Mince Pies, Steak Pies, Christmas Crackers, Shortbread.

Thanks to Kieran McCann and Luke Shearer for, once again, accepting a bagpiping engagement at the launch of the Transplant Games, which took place at Colzium House last week.

More than thirty senior pupils participated in a whole-day Urban Land Regeneration workshop, led by industry professionals. This was a great day and a fantastic opportunity for the pupils, to work with such a high calibre team.

The Parent Council will meet on Thursday 1^st December, at 7.00 p.m., in the school.

S5 and S6 tracking reports were issued last week and acknowledgement slips should be returned by Thursday 24^th November. Our S5/6 Parents’ Evening will take place on Tuesday 29^th November, from 4.15 – 6.45 p.m. This is a really important event, prior to the prelims, in January. It is an opportunity for parents and teachers to discuss any issues and to set targets for the months ahead, at this vital time. Supported Study is taking place at lunchtimes and after school, across a range of subjects, and S4, S5 and S6 pupils are encouraged to take full advantage of these opportunities.

Pupils have been raising money for Children in Need, through the sale of wristbands and a Pyjama Day for S6. Altogether £210 was raised. Well done to Jack Rennie and his team, for coordinating this, as part of the SQA Leadership Award.

Two debating teams took part in the first round of the Donald Dewar Debating Competition. Craig Melvin, Archie Grant, Iona Brownlie and Amy Smith gave outstanding performances but, against very stiff competition, did not progress to the next round. Congratulations to St Maurice’s HS and Our Lady’s HS (Motherwell).

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We were pleased to welcome the Geobus to the school last week. Staff on the bus provided a workshop on fossils and rock formation, which is part of the Environmental Science course.

The Senior inter-House football tournament took place at the all-weather pitch in Kilsyth. Antonine won all three games, to finish first, followed by Balmalloch in 2^nd place, Colzium 3^rd and Dumbreck 4^th.

The Parent Council will meet on Thursday 1^st December, at 7.00 p.m., in the school.

We had a great evening with P6 and P7 pupils and parents, last week, at our annual transition event in Kilsyth Academy. There was an amazing turnout and, in particular, everyone found the tours to be very enjoyable. It was great to see so many people and there was a great buzz around the school. Many thanks to Kilsyth Academy staff and pupils who gave up their time to come along and help, to the Parent Council for looking after teas and coffees and to the Primary Head Teachers, for their support.

Our Parents’ Evening for S5/6 will take place on Tuesday 29^th November, from 4.15 – 6.45 p.m. This is a really important event, prior to the prelims, in January. It is an opportunity for parents and teachers to discuss any issues and to set targets for the months ahead, at this vital time. Supported Study is taking place at lunchtimes and after school, across a range of subjects, and S4, S5 and S6 pupils are encouraged to take full advantage of these opportunities.

Three pupils represented the school at the first meeting of the North Lanarkshire Pupil Council, held in Airdrie last week. Well done to Mark Donnelly, Eve McTiernan and Grant Douglas.

Throughout the last two weeks, pupils have been donating money to The Poppy Appeal, following presentations from members of S6, at assemblies. The collection has been a great success, this year, and culminated with the whole school marking the national silence, at 11.00 a.m., on 11^th November.

Congratulations to Lucy Laggan, Katie McDowall, Aimee Paterson and Robyn Shaw, last session’s YPI Winners, who will receive the prestigious Diana Award, at a ceremony to be held in The Emirates Arena, next month. This is in recognition of the work that the girls did for Chris’s House and we are delighted that they will be recognised in this way.

Rehearsals are well underway for our Christmas pantomime, Cinderella, which will take place as part of the Christmas Concert, on the evening of Thursday 15^th December. Tickets will be on sale soon, but please save the date, meantime.

Monday 21^st November will be a staff in-service day and so the school will be closed to pupils.

The S1 Parents’ Meeting will take place on Tuesday 15^th November, from 4.15 until 6.45 p.m. This is an opportunity to meet class teachers and Pupil Support staff, to discuss how the young people are settling in at Kilsyth Academy and to agree targets for the remainder of the session. In the meantime, pupils in S1 and s2 have been issued with tracking reports.

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P7 pupils from our cluster Primary schools enjoyed a very full morning of Science at Kilsyth Academy, delivered by our senior pupils. The senior pupils were mentored by Science staff, on the experiments that the primary pupils would be carrying out, over a period of time. Pupils completed a record book of the experiments they carried out, with seniors helping them to complete the questions. The day was very successful and enjoyed by all involved. A big thank you to everyone involved.

A group of S5 pupils spent a morning working with representatives from the University of Glasgow, as part of the Reach and Access programmes. This was the start of a series of workshops, designed to support pupils with entry to their chosen university courses.

Representatives of our peer mentor group attended the national ‘Children in Scotland’ conference, held at the Westerwood Hotel, last week. The group led a workshop on the ‘Mentors in Violence Prevention’ scheme, which was very well received by the professionals concerned, and the pupils received very positive feedback. Well done!

Natasha Riddel and Olivia Anderson participated in a meeting of the Rotary Club of Kilsyth, to give a presentation on their recent Challenge Enterprise experience, which was funded by the club. The girls provided an excellent insight to their experience and entertained the members. Well done!

Monday 21^st November will be a staff in-service day and so the school will be closed to pupils.