Kilsyth Academy, Balmalloch, Kilsyth, G659NF – Tel : 01236 632157

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.

Jodie Young, Emma Stewart, Jasmine Geor, Elena Walker, Finlay Sword, Jamie Stevenson and Luke Shearer, are working with Network Rail to develop a ‘station for the future’. The pupils are pictured at the recent Lanarkshire launch of the Go4SET competition, held at the University of West of Scotland in Hamilton. Go4SET links teams of S2 pupils with companies and universities, to offer a 10 week science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) experience. By providing a real and live STEM project, Go4SET aims to raise the pupils’ awareness and highlight the exciting future career opportunities in STEM. Good luck to all involved!

Technical Pupils of the Month for January have been announced. They are: S1 Amy Cameron, S2 Piotr Gacmenga, S3 Fraser Crawford, S4 Julia Fountain and S5/6 Steven Puttock. Well done!

Pupils in S1 should be making appointments with individual teachers, for our Parents’ Meeting on Thursday 5^th February, from 4.15 until 6.45 p.m.

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

S1 Tracking Reports have been issued, together with invitations to the S1 Parents’ Evening on Thursday 5^th February, from 4.15 until 6.45 p.m. It is hoped that the event will be well supported by parents, as it is an opportunity to meet with each of their child’s subject teachers.

Congratulations to Gordon Airlie, Adam Quinn, Blair Mitchell and Ross Quinn, who will be finalists in this year’s ‘Battle of the Bands’ event, to be held at Motherwell Concert Hall, on the evening of Thursday 5^th February. Tickets, priced £5.00 are available from members of the band or from Mr Russell.

Preparations are well underway for our annual Burns Supper, which is open to staff and senior pupils. It will be held after the prelims, on Tuesday 3^rd February, at 7.00 p.m. Tickets, priced £10 are available from Blair Mitchell and Gavin Glover.

All pupils should have received a copy of the Head Teacher’s Newsletter, which contains important information that affects all pupils and parents.

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

Happy New Year to all families and supporters of the school.

The prelim exams for pupils in S4, S5 and S6 will begin on Monday 19^th January and will run until Friday 30^th January. Exam timetables and instructions have been issued to pupils and it should be noted that they will be in normal classes, when they do not have an examination.

Our S3 Parents’ Meeting will be on Thursday 15^th January, from 4.15 – 6.45 p.m. and we hope that this event will be well supported. It is an excellent opportunity for parents and teachers to discuss progress and agree priorities for the remainder of S3.

A group of S1 and S2 pupils visited the pantomime ‘Treasure Island’ at the Pavilion Theatre in Glasgow, last week. The young people greatly enjoyed the show and thanks go to all staff involved in the trip.

Our S1 pupils had a visit from representatives of Gideons International, during their assembly last week. Following a talk, the pupils were presented with personal copies of the Gideon Bible.

The term rounded off with another successful Crazy Day, on Monday, with staff and pupils enjoying a wide range of fun activities in the morning, followed by the annual Crazy Day show in the afternoon. The show was judged by an X-Factor panel and two acts were selected to be finalists – ‘Get Hyper’ and ‘Haka Waka’. Following the customary audience vote, ‘Haka Waka’ were declared winners. The pupils made a donation to charity, to be involved in the day, and raised a total of £1500. This money will be split among three charities, yet to be decided by the Pupil Council.

On Tuesday morning, the pupils gathered together once again, to enjoy some carol singing, with all the Christmas favourites featuring. Congratulations to the many soloists and to everyone else who joined in at the appointed times.

Thanks are due to the staff who organised all aspects of these events, ensuring that the pupils enjoyed the last couple of days prior to Christmas.

Please note that the school will re-open on Monday 5^th January, at the usual time.

Over the past few weeks, we have been collecting groceries, to make Christmas parcels for the Kilsyth community Food Bank. With some competitive spirit among the four Houses, a total of 800 items were collected, with Colzium House collecting the most. After being packaged up, the parcels were delivered to the ACE project, in the town.

S3 and S4 Tracking Reports have been issued and there will be an S3 Parents’ Meeting, on Thursday 15^th January, from 4.15 – 6.45 p.m. S3 pupils received appointment sheets, attached to their Tracking Report.

Last week, we celebrated the successes and wider achievements of 155 pupils. Pupils were recognised for a range of successes, in sports, Heartstart, for gaining Merits, for representing the school at some events, for attainment and in the arts. Congratulations to all concerned.

The school Gymnastics Club Championships were held last Tuesday.  Sixteen gymnasts performed a floor and apparatus routine marked out of thirty points.  The event was judged by former pupil Gemma Butterly, who competes in World Championships for Cheerleading. Gemma was very impressed by the overall standard of the gymnasts.  The Senior Champion was declared as Ann Paterson, runner up Katie Cooper and in 3rd place Mollie

The whole school community was deeply saddened to hear of the untimely death of Mr Stuart Neilson, who was one of our Pupil Support teachers for eleven years. Mr Neilson had been ill for a very long time and he passed away peacefully, in hospital, on Monday 8^th December. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mr Neilson’s family at this difficult time and Kilsyth Academy will be well represented at his funeral.

Over the past two weeks, the school has been represented by a number of musicians, in the North Lanarkshire Christmas Concerts. Both events were excellent and well supported by parents, friends and staff from across North Lanarkshire. The concerts were the culmination of the work done by the various music groups, over the past 5 – 6 weeks, resulting in very polished performances. Well done!

Our own Christmas Concert took place last week too. It was a fantastic celebration of Christmas with a wide variety of vocal and instrumental performances, singly and in groups. All the performers did a superb job and the packed audience was entertained throughout the evening. Special thanks go to the Expressive Arts faculty for all their hard work on putting the event together and to the many other staff who assisted.

The annual English Premier League trip took place on Saturday 6th December in Manchester. This year there was a visit to Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium for a tour, followed by the Manchester City v Everton game at the Eithad stadium. 44 Kilsyth Academy pupils were accompanied by Mr Urquhart, Mr Parker, Mr Sexton and Mr McAllister. Everyone had a great time and cheered on Manchester City to a 1-0 victory.

Crazy Day is almost upon us once again. It will take place on Monday 22^nd December and will also be a non-uniform day. Pupils will participate in three or four activities in the morning and will attend the Crazy Day Show, in the afternoon. In return, everyone is asked to pay £3.00 which will go to the charities selected by the Pupil Council – a local, a national and an international charity. All money should now be paid.

Please note that the school will close on Tuesday 23^rd December, at 2.30 p.m. and will re-open on Monday 5^th January.

There are still some tickets available for our annual Christmas Concert, which will take place on Thursday 11^th December, at 7.15 p.m. They can be purchased from the Music department or the School Office, priced £5 for adults and £3 for concessions. This includes tea or coffee and a mince pie. We hope that a large number of people will come along to support the pupils and to enjoy an evening of Christmas entertainment.

Collections of gifts for the Kilsyth Community Food Bank are also now well underway. In particular, we have been asked to collect: Salmon, Tuna, Shloer/Fruit Juice, Chocolates, Tinned Ham, UHT Milk, Puddings, Cheese, Crackers. Butter/margarine, Toiletries. Other acceptable items, however, include: Soup, pasta sauce, tinned stew/mince/ curry, smoked sausage, Frey Bentos pies, super noodles/pot noodles, pasta ‘n’ sauce, jam. Members of the Pupil Council are happy to collect the items, in the café, every morning interval until 15^th December.

Supported Study for pupils in S4 – S6, continues to operate during lunchtimes and after school. This is a great opportunity to help pupils prepare for the forthcoming prelims, which will run from 19^th to 30^th January. Pupils sitting National 5, Higher or Advanced Higher will also be issued with homework to be completed over the Christmas holiday. This will help them with revision for these very important examinations.