Author: Mr Docherty

The annual Primary Athletics competition took place last week. Athletes accumulated points for being placed in the first three in each field or track event.  Schools then had the opportunity to gain double points in the 4×50 metres Relay.  After some very close results, Balmalloch Primary was awarded the trophy for best overall school.  Craighead Primary was the runner up.  The event was organised and run by this year’s Sports Leaders group, as the final part of their coursework.  The individual results were are follows:

 

Event	Boys	Girls
80m	Hamish McMillan (Balmalloch)	Sophie Bridges (Kilsyth)
200m	Robert Lang (Balmalloch)	Zara Smith (Balmalloch)
600m	Connor Robertson (Balmalloch)	Alana Thompson (Craighead)
Shot Putt	Aaron Lindsay (Kilsyth)	Rebecca Wilson (Balmalloch)
Cricket Throw	Logan Thompson (Balmalloch)	Kathryn Henry (Lennoxtown)
Long Jump	Mark McCann (Balmalloch)	Maya Devlin (Lennoxtown)
4×50 Relay	Ballmalloch	Balmalloch

 

Congratulations to our 3xl group, on the completion of their Arts and Employability project. The pupils made a film about the dangers of knife crime. Last week, they joined pupils from other schools across North Lanarkshire for a film premiere and Celebration of Success event.

Tickets for ‘Disco Inferno’, on the evenings of Tuesday 2^nd, Wednesday 3^rd and Thursday 4^th June are now on sale from the Music and Drama departments. It promises to be a great show, packed with all the favourite 1970s songs. The tickets are priced £7 for Adults and £5 for Concessions – they are likely to sell quickly, so please don’t delay.

Our three Uniform evenings will take place on Tuesday 19th May, Monday 8th June and Wednesday 17th June, each from 5.00 p.m. until 8.00 p.m. There will be a number of special offers available at each of these events. At each one, our Parent Council will be selling tombola tickets and we hope parents will take time to support this and to chat to the Parent Council about their work. Donations for the tombola would be most welcome, in the run up to these events. These can be handed in at the school reception or passed to any member of the Parent Council.

Please remember that Thursday 7^th May will be an in-service day, but SQA examinations will run as scheduled.

Congratulations to Carly McLaughlin (1B) on being selected as the Chamberlain for this year’s Kilsyth Civic Week. Carly took part in an interview and performed a reading, prior to being selected from a field of candidates. We are delighted for her and wish her every success in the role.

Pupils in S4, S5 and S6, who are sitting SQA examinations, will be on Study Leave from Wednesday 29^th April until Friday 29^th May (inclusive). Pupils who have no examinations should continue to attend school throughout that period.

School show rehearsals are gaining momentum, as we prepare for our production of ‘Disco Inferno’, on 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th June. Tickets will be going on sale very soon, so please hold the date.

The Parent Council will be running a tombola at each of the Uniform Evenings, during the summer term. They would be grateful for any donations, towards prizes, and these can be handed in at the school reception desk, by 8^th May.

The Parent Council will meet on Thursday 30^th April, at 7.00 p.m., in the school.

The school will be closed on Monday 4^th May and then Thursday 7^th May will be an in-service day.

Plans for Easter School, from 13^th to 16^th April, have been communicated to all those who have enrolled. Tutorials are now full. Pupils in S4, S5 and S6 have received individual exam timetables, where appropriate and all pupils have received a letter outlining arrangements for Study Leave. Pupils who are not sitting examinations will not be entitled to Study Leave.

The Junior and Senior Inter-House Quizzes took place last week. In the Senior Quiz, Balmalloch and Dumbreck were 1^st equal, Antonine were 3^rd and Colzium was 4^th. In the Junior event, 1^st place went to Balmalloch, Antonine and Colzium were 2^nd equal and Dumbreck took 4^th place. Well done to all participants.

Congratulations to the many pupils whose achievements were recognised at our Celebration of Success Assembly, at the end of term. These successes were many and varied, highlighting the breadth of talent we have in Kilsyth Academy.

Happy Easter to all pupils, parents and friends of the school. We will re-open on Monday 20^th April, at 8.55 a.m.

Congratulations to our Dance squads who represented the school at the North Lanarkshire Dance Championships. After two days of competition, Kilsyth Academy was delighted to come away with a total of seventeen medals.  The S1 Juniors, dancing to Circle of Life, were delighted to win gold in the Jazz category. The dancers involved were Ailsa Deans, Hollie Currie, Megan Currie, Eilidh Dunsmore, Bethany Lyall, Ellie Andrews and Hannah McFarlane.  In the Senior categories, the girls were awarded second place in the hip hop section and third in the contemporary category. The dancers in this group were Mollie Kiernan, Connie McFarlane, Nicola Wilson, Mairi McLean and Mhairi McFarlane. The dancers were also very appreciative of the efforts Connie Kirwan (S5), who did an excellent job in applying the junior dancers’ stage make up, for their performance as jungle creatures!!

Well done to Murray Gallagher (S6), who took part in the Scottish Civic Trust’s ‘My Place’ photography competition. There were almost 500 entries in total and the panel of judges was very impressed with the quality and range of submissions. Murray’s image, ‘Harbour Walk’ was selected by the jury as a Highly Commended photograph within this year’s secondary school category.

Our annual Primary K’Nex Challenge took place last week and the schools were well represented. As always, the young people came up with some very imaginative designs and worked well as teams. Following the judging, Craighead team 2 were declared the runners up and Chapelgreen Team 2 were the winners. Well done to all concerned and thanks to Mr Turnbull and his S3 helpers, for laying everything on.

Last week also saw the annual Rotary Club Public Speaking Competition, within the school. The eleven competitors had prepared excellent speeches for the judges, who came from the Rotary Club of Kilsyth. At the end of the event, the winner in the Junior competition was declared as Harry Thomson (S1) and the runner up was Ross Chalmers (S2). In the Senior competition, the winner was Sean Climie (S6) and the runner-up was Adam Boyd (S4). Well done to all!

All pupils should have received a copy of the Head Teacher’s Newsletter, which incorporates a copy of the Progress Report from the school’s HMIe Inspection, in 2012.

Plans for the Easter School, from 13^th – 16^th April are now all in place, and those pupils who have opted in have been provided with details about tutorials, study time and transport. Pupils have also been issued with individual timetables and detailed instructions for the forthcoming SQA examinations.

The school will close for the Easter Break on Thursday 2^nd April, at 2.30 p.m. and we will re-open on Monday 20^th April, at 8.55 a.m. Thursday will also be a non-uniform day and pupils wishing to participate in that should pay £1 towards yearbook fundraising.

Pupils from S2 travelled to Hamilton on 19 March to take part in the Lanarkshire finals of this year’s Go4SET competition. This competition links teams of S2 pupils with companies, to offer a 10 week science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) experience. Work-related learning within an industry and enterprise context is the basis of the project, and our team had been paired with Network Rail. Our team consisting of Jodie Young 2D, Jasmine Geor 2B, Emma Stewart 2B, Finlay Sword 2A, Luke Shearer 2A, Jamie Stevenson 2A and Elena Walker 2D had been working very hard to produce a new design for Croy railway station. Their task was to produce a proposal for a sustainable station with improvements in energy consumption, passenger comfort and efficiency.
On the day the team made a presentation to the judges, demonstrated their excellent model of the design, and had their project report scrutinised by the judges. Although not winning the competition, the judges were very impressed with Kilsyth’s proposal. The feedback to our team praised the range of ideas generated, the focus they made of the station being used as a community resource, and their effective teamwork. Well done to all the pupils, and thanks to Mr Dudman and Mr Turnbull and to their mentors at Network Rail for all their help.

Pupils in S4, S5 and S6 have been issued with information about the forthcoming Easter School, from Monday 13th to Thursday 16th April, during the second week of the Easter holiday. We would encourage all those who will be sitting exams to take advantage of this opportunity to attend subject tutorials and to study in a quiet environment. All returns must be made by Tuesday 24th March, so final arrangements can be put in place.

All S2 pupils should now have returned option forms to their Pupil Support teacher and we have now moved to the options process for pupils in S4/5. There was a fantastic turnout of parents at the recent S2 Parents’ Evening and we hope that it was a valuable experience, at this time. S3 Tracking reports will be issued next week.

Immediately after the holiday, on Tuesday 21st April, S3 pupils will be faced with extended assessments in all their subjects. The style of assessment will vary from subject to subject and pupils will have no more than two assessments/day, during class time.

Study Leave, for pupils in S4/5/6 who are sitting examinations, will be from Wednesday 29th April until Friday 29th May, both dates inclusive. Pupils must be in classes up to Tuesday 28th April, as there is still work to be completed. Pupils who have no examinations will not have Study Leave and will be expected to attend school, during this time.

The school will close for the Easter Break on Thursday 2nd April, at 2.30 p.m. and we will re-open on Monday 20th April, at 8.55 a.m.

Kilsyth Academy selected thirty five pupils to take part in the North Lanarkshire Cross Country Championships at Airdrie last week. The weather conditions were less than favourable and every athlete put in a huge effort, just to complete a very challenging course.  When all results were collated the S2 girls’ team of Jessica Curle, Morgan Ross, Rebecca Love and Kayleigh Craig finished in a very impressive 2nd place.  All four girls finished in the top twenty five out of over a hundred athletes giving them a very solid team score. Congratulations to them and to all other members of the team, for their contribution.

A group of S1 and a group of S5 girls participated in the North Lanarkshire Dance Championships, also held in Airdrie last week. The girls gave an outstanding performance but results of the competition are not yet known.

Our S2 pupils have been considering the courses that they will specialise in next session and have been attending interviews with Pupil Support staff, as part of that process. There will also be a Parents’ Meeting on Tuesday 17^th March, from 4.15 until 6.45 p.m., when parents can meet with class teachers to discuss progress and preferences for next session.

Our S4 xl Club paid a visit to Hampden, to attend the ‘Welcome to your Future’ event, which was an opportunity to access information from employers and Further Education establishments.

Well done to the S5/6 Beauty Therapy group who organised a Pamper Day, with donations totalling almost £130. The girls have now donated this sum to ‘Children in Need’.

 

The annual Rotary Technology Competition took place last week, once again hosted by Kilsyth Academy. There was an amazing turnout from schools throughout Lanarkshire and it was a challenging day for the teams who participated. Kilsyth Academy won the Advanced category, for senior pupils, and congratulations go to Kathryn Marshall, David Bauld, Josh Wood and Calum Baird. Also, sincere thanks to the Rotary Club for organising the event.

The fundraising Race Night, in aid of the forthcoming Rwanda trip, was a great success and raised over £1400. A group of senior pupils and two staff will be heading to Rwanda in June.

Higher French pupils attended an immersion day this week, at the Alliance Française. This will be of great assistance to the pupils, as they prepare for their forthcoming examinations and those involved enjoyed the day.

Elections for members of the Scottish Youth Parliament have been taking place across Scotland this week. In Kilsyth Academy, pupils voted for their preferred candidate, on Wednesday. We look forward to hearing the outcome of the event.

Some of our Mark Scott Leadership for Life candidates have organised Heartstart training to enable pupils to teach first aid. The next step will be to put this learning into action!

Senior pupils, studying Geography and History, took part in a field trip to Glasgow last week, where they were able to undertake some focused research linked to their course work. Despite the chilly weather, everyone involved had an enjoyable day.

Once again, we are indebted to the Rotary Club of Kilsyth, for carrying out mock interviews with S4 pupils, as part of their Enterprise and Employability award. The pupils themselves felt that this was of real benefit and were pleased to receive feedback on their performance.

We were delighted to welcome Oliver Blomfield and Laura Pearson, from the Outward Bound Trust. They spent a day in school, visiting classes and seeing how Curriculum for Excellence operates in schools.

Chanelle Gallagher (S5) and Ross Chalmers (S2) spent a morning at the Lanarkshire Business Show, networking with employers and encouraging them to engage with schools. We hope that some of these contacts will engage with the school, in the months and years ahead, and enhance opportunities for our young people.

Pupils in S2 have started to consider choices of subjects for S3, which will allow some deeper learning, together with personalisation and choice. There was a good turnout of parents at the Information Evening, linked to this process. Each pupil will have a one-to-one interview with their Pupil Support teacher and there will be a Parents’ Meeting with class teachers, on Tuesday 17^th March, from 4.15 – 6.45 p.m. In advance of that, S2 Tracking Reports will be issued, together with appointment sheets.

Pupils in S4, S5 and S6 recently sat prelim examinations in many subjects and Tracking Reports will be issued this week. With them will come advice from teachers, regarding priorities for the next few months, prior to the SQA examinations. Supported Study continues to run in many subjects, at lunchtime and after school. It is vital that pupils grasp this opportunity, in an effort to consolidate their understanding of various topics.

During this week, pupils will be given the opportunity to vote in the Scottish Youth Parliament elections. One of our S5 pupils, Caitlin Mayhew, is standing as a candidate and we wish her every success.

Once again, Reel Time Music has been working with our S4 xl group, making a music DVD, in and around the school.

The Parent Council will meet on Thursday 5^th March, at 7.00 p.m., in the school.

Parents of pupils in S2 have been invited to an Information Evening about subject choices, on Thursday 26^th February, at 7.00 p.m. We hope that a large number of parents will attend this event, to find out about how the options process works and how best to support their child.

Last week our girls’ team played in a football festival at St Margaret’s HS, displaying fantastic performances. We played 6 games, winning 3, drawing 1 and narrowly losing twice. Results and scorers are as follows.

Kilsyth Academy 4 – 0 Our Lady’s HS(Samantha Coe Patrick x 3 and Rachel Stewart)Kilsyth

Academy 4 – 0 Caldervale HS (Samantha Coe Patrick x 3 and Amy Smith)

Kilsyth Academy 0 – 1 Airdrie Academy

Kilsyth Academy 1 – 0 St Margaret’s HS (Samantha Coe Patrick x 1)

Kilsyth Academy 0 – 2 Braidhurst HS

Kilsyth Academy 3 – 3 St Maurice’s HS (Samantha Coe Patrick x 3).

Congratulations to Samantha, who played some amazing football, but massive credit to the whole team who worked extremely hard, particularly after the first 2 games when we were playing into strong winds and heavy rain. All the girls contributed massively and were excellent ambassadors for the school. The improvements the girls have made since the start of last season really has been incredible.

The squad; Lauren MacDonald, Aimee Paterson, Mhairi Paterson, Rachel Stewart, Abigail Shaw, Beth Milne, Karis Abercrombie, Cara Robertson, Amy Smith, Jodie Young & Samantha Coe Patrick.

Our annual Burns Supper, as always, was a great success and the event was well supported by senior pupils and staff. School Captain, Gavin Glover, coordinated the arrangements and recited the Address to the Haggis, after it was piped in by Luke Shearer. Blair Mitchell chaired the evening, the Selkirk Grace was recited by Scott Dickson and the Immortal Memory was proposed by Mr Reilly. The company enjoyed a range of entertainment – musical items from Connie McFarlane, Gavin Glover and Kirstin MacLaren and a poetry recitation of ‘To a Mouse’, by Sean Climie. This year’s toast Tae the Lassies was proposed by Ross Leonard and Adam Quinn and the Reply came from Lauren McArthur and Rebecca Frew. The evening was rounded off with some ceilidh dancing. Well done to all concerned.

Our Rock Band performed in the finals of the Battle of the Bands competition, held in Motherwell Concert Hall. They were unlucky not to be placed, having performed to a high standard. Congratulations to Gordon Airlie, Blair Mitchell, Adam Quinn and Ross Quinn.

The senior pupils, in S5 and S6, formed the audience for a ‘Question Time’ style debate, last week. We were delighted to host Gregg McClymont MP, Jamie Hepburn MSP, Patrick Harvie MSP and Meghan Gallacher, who is a parliamentary candidate for the forthcoming general election. The questions focused on election promises, tuition fees, teacher numbers in schools, illegal drug use and child poverty, with each panellist having an opportunity to express their opinions. The panel was chaired by School Captain Gavin Glover and the event was organised by Mrs Wilson, our Modern Studies teacher. Many thanks to the politicians for supporting the event and to Mrs Wilson for all her organisiation.

Our second group of twelve S3 pupils has now completed a superb week at the Outward Bound Centre, at Loch Eil. The young people enjoyed the winter conditions, despite the cold, and all participated in outdoor challenges, which involved pushing themselves as individuals and working as part of a team. Everyone achieved the John Muir Discovery Award and the Outward Bound Adventure and Challenge Award. Well done to Aiden Cannon, Ben Cullen, Aaron Foulner, Liam Jack, Leanne Kimmet, Olivia Laing, Beth Milne, Connor Munro, Martin Murphy, Aimee Paterson, David Steven, Chloe Stevenson and Sam Taylor; plus a big thank you to Magi Hamilton, who accompanied the party.

Pupils in S1 and S2 attended a band performance and workshop, focusing on Cyber Bullying and the event was greatly enjoyed by the pupils.