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Newsletter All the latest news from in and around the school... December 2015 - Issue 34 www.stranraeracademy.org.uk

Stranraer Swimming Success In National Competitions!

Parasports Scottish National Swimming Championships! Five young people from Stranraer Academy qualified to represent and in the Scottish National Championships held at Tollcross Commonwealth Pool in on Wednesday 18 November. The swimmers representing Stranraer Academy were Sean Palmer, Dejay MacLeod, Cameron Hunter, Ellie Edwards and Shannon McCusker. All pupils represented the school very well and enjoyed the experience of swimming at the Parasports Nationals. The most successful participants were Shannon McCusker who won a Silver Medal in the 25m Freestyle and Ellie Edwards who achieved a Gold Medal in the 25m Breast Stroke! Congratula- tions to all the pupils involved! Grateful thanks to the members of staff who accompanied the pupils to the competition! More photos are available to in the Sports Section and on the website (Photo Galleries Tab).

Regional Qualifiers—Josh Mitchell Sets 3 New Records! Josh Mitchell capped off an excellent day for Stranraer Academy swimmers at the Regional Qualifiers last month by setting 3 new Regional Records. The 2013 Scottish Schools 100m Breaststroke Champion was in imperious form as he led the way for Stranraer Academy with the swimmers bringing home yet another impressive haul of 39 medals along with 5 new Regional records being set! With so many fast times recorded, many Stranraer swimmers have achieved consideration times for the Finals that will be held at Tollcross International Swimming Centre—the venue that hosted swimming events at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. We are waiting official confirmation of those who have qualified and will keep you up to date via the school App and social media pages! Congratulations to the following swimmers who set new Regional Record Times: Josh Mitchell – 200m Individual Medley, 100m Breaststroke, 200m Breaststroke. Lewis Macleod —100m Backstroke. Spencer Bullivant —100m Backstroke.

10 swimmers achieved consideration times in a variety of events or the National Finals with Qualification to be confirmed: Lewis Macleod, Spencer Bullivant, Adrianna Bullivant, Sam Mitchell, Josh Mitchell, Kalle Hoad, Rachel Beswick, Cerys McDowell, Cameron Allison, Lachlan Caulfield.

For detailed results, please look in the Sports News pages of the Newsletter.

Some of the swimmers who attended the event are pictured on the right.

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School News

Book Week 2015 Book Week was a celebration of reading that featured a series of events organised by the Literacy Group involving many pupils and staff recently. Highlights included the 'Design A Book Mark' competition, with some amazingly creative ideas coming from S1 and S2 pupils. 'Favourite Quotes' was a success with pupils and staff selecting their favourite quotes from books to appear all over the school. Finally we held a very successful Book Sale and Coffee Morning, which raised £148.10 for the World Literacy Foundation, to provide books for children in refugee camps. Thank you to everyone who was involved and who donated to this worthwhile cause.

Wigtown Book Festival 2015 Book Festival – this year, 45 S2 pupils spent an enjoyable afternoon in the Festival marquees, listening to best-selling authors Cathy McPhail and Phil Earle describing where they find inspiration for their stories, and how they create characters. Pupils volunteered to step up on stage and asked lots of challenging questions. We came back to school full of creative ideas that we are using in class.

S3 pupils had an action-packed session in school, with visiting spoken -word poets Rally and Broad (aka Rachel McCrum and Jenny Lindsay) where everyone wrote and performed their own poems - from getting the first idea to standing up and speaking out in under an hour! Some great work emerged – humorous, scary, touching – and impressively performed too!

Columba 1400 Workshops Last month, S1 pupils participated in workshops presented by S5 Columba 1400 pupils. The workshops focused on the positive principles and values that make up the Columba 1400 programme and were delivered through leadership & teamwork activities. Galleries have been placed on the school website (under Display of Work

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School News

2015 Calendar - Duke of The Gold DofE 2015 calendars and are ready for sale. The calendar features many local photographs of the Rhinns and Galloway region.

Former pupil and Caroline McQuistin and staff member Mr Lane have contrib- uted photos for this years edition. The Calendar has proved popular in recent years and a copies are available from Mr Lane or DofE pupils.

Calendars are priced at £5 and all proceeds go towards funding the annual Gold Expedition to Morocco in the summer of 2015.

Rag Bag Recycling Scheme The Parent Council are participating in The Rag Bag textile recycling scheme.

The Rag Bag scheme accept donations of "good quality clean and dry clothing, paired shoes, handbags, wallets, ties, belts, hats etc."

Items that unfortunately cannot be accepted are "soiled or wet clothing, uni- forms, pillows, cushions, duvets, carpets of rugs."

Donations should be placed in bags that are dry. Bags are available free of charge from the school. Please enquire at the office for more information.

The collection point in the school is located between the school kitchen and AIRD unit as you go around to the rear car park. The metal collection container is clearly marked with Rag Bag logos just inside the fence / gate.

For more information, please visit: http://www.rag-bag.co.uk/

Royal Scottish National Orchestra Visit to Glasgow On Thursday 3rd December Orin Bailey, Jack Dunn and Kieran Dodds travelled by train to Glasgow to meet Martin Gib- son the timpanist with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and to attend rehearsals of the orchestra during the day at the Royal Concert Hall.

This was a fantastic opportunity for the pupils to see behind the scenes at a top orchestra but to also learn about the skills needed to maintain top quality instruments.

The pupils had a brilliant day and would like to thank Martin for spending his time with them.

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School News

Erasmus+ Christmas Fayre The Erasmus+ group would like to thank everyone who attended the Christmas Fayre last Saturday! We are glad everyone enjoyed the stalls, food, activities and live music that was on offer!

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School News

Cream O’ Galloway Visit The National 4/5 Health & Food Technology class spent an enjoy- able day developing their own flavours of ice cream on a visit to Cream o’ Galloway. The pupils were given an interesting talk on how the business has developed and how they produce a high quality product from locally sourced ingredients. They were also shown the manufacturing process and had a short walk around the farm visiting the cows, calves and the milking parlour.

Higher Crichton Farm Visit The Higher Health & Food Technology students visited the Crichton Royal Farm at Dumfries. The trip was organised through RHET and the students were given an interesting talk from farm manager Peter Little on the work carried out at this research facility. The students were then taken on a tractor and trailer ride around the Crichton Campus and were given a social history lesson on how the estate used to work. The trip ended with a visit to the robotic milker which is the latest technology to be introduced on the farm.

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School News

Lessons From Auschwitz 2015 Article by Ellie McQuistin, S6.

"On the 28th of October 2015, Iona Young and I participated in a one day visit to the Nazi concentration and death camps in Oswiecim, Poland as part of the Lessons From Auschwitz programme. Our visit consisted of four parts: firstly to the village of Oswiecim then onto Auschwitz 1 and Auschwitz-Birkenau where we finished with a memorial at the ruins of the crematorium with Rabbi Marcus. The day was very draining, both physically and emotionally as we had to view the horrors that these people went through at the hands of other human beings. It was a very harrowing day and very difficult to comprehend the immense scale of what happened where we stood. It was a very poignant experience because unlike the victims, we had a chance to leave the camp. Iona and I would highly recommend that anyone, everyone should visit the camps at least once in their life is possible. It is an indescribable experience that can only be fully understood and absorbed upon visiting. We feel so privileged to have been chosen to take part in it."

If you would like to find out more about Ellie and Iona's experience, please visit The Holocaust Educational Trust website: http://www.het.org.uk/lessons-from-auschwitz-programme

Below are some photos taken by Ellie & Iona on their trip. A full gallery is on the school website and Facebook page.

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School News

Sports Leaders Boccia Festival On Tuesday 15th December, Senior pupils from the Community Sports Leaders course organised and delivered a Boccia Festival for pupils as part of a Disability Sport intitative. Over 40 children from the Learning Centres at Penningham Primary, Park Primary and Belmont Primary, as well as the Learning Centre and Aird Unit from Stranraer Academy, gathered to take part in the event. They were treated to a welcome introduction and Boccia drills before taking part in a series of Boccia games, where all the participants mixed with each other. To finish the day they all received certificates and juice and snacks in the school canteen. The event meets the Sports Leaders course criteria for the planning and delivery of a Community event and follows on from a unit whereby they learned about Disability Inclusion. Staff and visitors from the participating schools complimented the students on the success of the event and on their excellent organisation.

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School Initiatives

Numeracy - Pupils Supermarket Survey Pupils from Stranraer Academy have participated in the school's Numeracy initiative by visiting local supermarkets to carry out some research. Stranraer Tesco and Lidl allowed the pupils to participate using their stores willing customers were briefly interviewed as they left the store on the following topics:

1) Bag usage. 2) Total cost of shopping. 3) Whether they bought brands or non brands. 4) Whether they were buying food/toiletries etc.

The pupils found notable results: The survey was conducted on a Tuesday morning and most shoppers spent less than £20. Customers used their own bags and were buying food items with many being supermarket own brands.

The pupils are interested in doing a follow up survey on a different day/time during the week and are looking into the possibility after the holidays. With all results collated, the pupils created some posters that are on display in the school. Photos of the displays will be sent to the supermarkets to show them the findings.

Numeracy Week—1st - 5th February 2016 Number Gym Software Additionally, Stranraer Academy Numeracy Week will run from http://www.numbergym.co.uk/ Monday 1st February - Friday 5th February Please note that the school has an online licence During that time, S1 pupils will be involved in lessons across all allowing free home access to a suite of Numeracy faculties that have a specific focus on numeracy within each software. subject of the school `Online Access' - Login details are: curriculum. It is hoped that this will reinforce the important and relevance of Numeracy as a life skill that permeates all aspects Username: stranraer of every day living. Password: mathematics There will also be a raffle with proceeds going to NSPCC.

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Fundraising News

Pupil Bake Sale for McMillan Cancer Support Some members of 3PL Leadership class (Ryan McGhie, Reece Proctor, Andrew Lowe, Anton Simpson and Sam Keery) organised a bake sale on Friday 20th November in aid of McMillan Cancer Support. They raised a total of £23.75. Well done and thank you to everyone for your contributions!

Children In Need 2015 The Charities Committee would like to thank everyone who contributed to the fundraising for Children in Need. Whether it was buying the merchandise, taking part in the netball / football or being part of the great crowds of spectators who donated - it has all helped to contribute to the fantastic total of £607.65 from Stranraer Academy! Netball Result: Staff win 25-1. Football Result: Staff Win 1-0

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Fundraising News

Basketball Fundraiser - S3 Pupils vs Staff On Wednesday 16th December, register group 3CD took on a team of teachers in a fundraising game of basketball. The group aimed to raise funds for the Neo-Natal Unit for premature babies at Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary. This is a very worthwhile cause that means a lot to pupils and teachers involved in the match who have benefitted from the excellent care that the unit provides for babies born too soon. The game was played in a great spirit with everyone having fun. A great crowd enjoyed the match and the group are thankful for all donations. The final result was a 22-4 win for the teachers and the total amount raised was £127.13! Thanks to photography students Jan-Jan Sasil and Daniel Ellis for the photos. Well done to everyone involved!

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Police Scotland Youth Volunteers

Hello, I am the School Campus officer at Stranraer Academy and also the Coordinator for Youth Volunteers (PSYV) - Stranraer. PSYV Stranraer is the first one and only one in at the moment; the group has now been up and running for 8 months. The group has 24 youth volunteers aged be- tween 13 years old and 17 years old, all are students at Stranraer Academy. The group is supported by 9 adult volunteers. The group have been very busy since we were created; the group completed a 12 hours training course to begin with that involved radio training, notebook training, drill, teamwork, First Aid etc. The group began volunteering out in the local community as well as attending larger regional events. Below are some of the events the group have been involved in:

Armed Forces Day in Stranraer – assisted with the logistics and safety of the event. Stranraer Charity Football Day – collected on behalf of Marie Curie as well as assisting with road safety. Stranraer Show – assisted with the safety of the show, making sure young children were reunited with parents etc. Wickerman Festival – gave out wristbands to small children that had parents/guardians details written on. Over 800 were handed out in 2 days. Lifeboat Week – assisted with point’s duties at road junctions for the family fun run and also road safety du- ties at the raft race. Youthbeatz Dumfries – assisted with getting all entrants into the event safely, they also assisted Young Scot doing ques- tionnaires with young people. Parkfest – assisted with entry duties as well as the safe running of the event in Agnew Park over the 2 days. The group also assisted in the fund raising at the event. 10k and Santa Dash – the group assisted at checkpoints and handed out water to runners during the event. This again was a local charity event. Lowland Gathering – assisted with the parking duties as well as carrying out questionnaires with visitors on behalf of the organisers. The group also escorted the pipe bands around Stranraer Centre. Run 4 Health – assisted with safety at the event by organising parking as well as being at checkpoints throughout the run making sure everyone was okay. Some of the group also ran the event and all of the group raised funds for the event. Our group raised £1,132.50 for Marie Curie Cancer care. Primary School Triathalon – the group assisted with this event during which time about 800 primary school children at- tended throughout the day. The group made sure all the children knew where they were supposed to go and acted as escorts. Remembrance Sunday Parades - at various locations throughout . Stranraer 10K - the group assisted at checkpoints as well as giving out medals and t-shirts to the competitors after they had completed it. Stranraer Christmas Lights Event - the group assisted with stewarding as well as assisting with the 10 pin bowling and the cartoon photo boards.

We are attending another forthcoming Christmas Event in Stranraer and are already planning for next year.

We have also began fundraising to raise funds for a Defibrillator for Stranraer Academy. All of our group has underwent First aid Training and some of them will go on to become instructors so they can deliver the training in Primary Schools.

Constable Ronnie Boyce School Campus Officer Stranraer PSYV Coordinator

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Sports News

Regional Dance Championships 2015 Three dance groups from Stranraer Academy competed in the D&G Regional Dance Championships at Dumfries on Wednesday 2nd December 2015. All pupils performed well in what is always a tough event with a high standard of dance on display. The senior girls did particularly well after coming in second place with an energetic performance routine based on themes from The Great Gatsby. The two junior teams also performed well but were up against some strong performances and unfortunately did not place in the event. A special mention has to be made for Beth McCulloch of the senior group who won an award for 'Best Senior Individual Dancer' Well done to Beth for her fantastic achievement in what is a tightly contested category. Well done to all the girls who were involved!

Adam in Scottish Schools Football Success! Congratulations to Adam Kirkwood of S5 who has been selected for the Scottish Schools FA squad. Adam impressed in his first trial and backed it up with another fine performance in the final trial on Friday. Adam clearly impressed the selection panel and it is a remarkable achievement for an S5 pupil competing against older pupils for selection. Adam and two other Dumfries & Galloway players have been selected to form the final squad of 18.

Adam will now be looking forward to representing his country and gaining a Scottish Schools cap in matches against England, Wales, and the Republic of Ireland. The aspiring young footballer has come through the age groups of Stranraer FC and has cap- tained the school team for his age group over the years. He has won many league titles and Regional cups - with highlights including lifting the Hunter Shield in S3 and winning the U16 league unbeaten last season in S4.

Adam now joins the list of Academy players who have represented their country at Scottish Schools FA Level such as Kevin Kyle, Alistair Parker, Stuart McColm, Dean Agnew and James Hilton. Mr Steele of the PE Department has also had the honour of playing for the Scottish Schools team in the past when he was a pupil of Dumfries Academy.

Well done Adam!

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Sports News

Matthew McCulloch in US Golf Scholarship Success!

Stranraer Academy pupil Matthew McCulloch has been successful in gaining Golfing Scholarship at Oakland University, that is located in the northern state of Michigan, USA. Matthew will be attending the University next year after his studies finish at Stranraer Academy. The scholarship is a great achievement and Matthew is delighted that he is able to take up the opportunity.

Netball League Results! Stranraer Academy vs Stranraer Academy vs Douglas Ewart H.S. Dalbeattie H.S.

17-11-2015 23-11-2015

SA Junior (A) 2 SA Junior A 4 DEHS (A) 7 DHS Junior A 3 MVP: Molly McLean SA Junior (B) 0 DEHS (A) 9 SA Seniors 5 DHS Seniors 20 SA Junior (A) 4 MVP: Caitlin McClorey DEHS (B) 2 SA Junior B 4 SA Junior (B) 1 DHS Junior A 10 DEHS (B) 4 MVP: Rachel Reid

SA Seniors 3 SA Junior A 6 DEHS Seniors 20 DHS Junior B 4 MVP: Ellie Arnott

SA Junior B 2 DHS Junior B 12 MVP: Ellie Arnott

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Sports News

Swimming Regional Qualifiers — Full Results Below are a list of the full results of Stranraer Academy swimmers... Josh Mitchell Lewis Macleod Gold 200m Individual Medley Gold 200m Backstroke Gold 100m Breaststroke Gold 100m Backstroke Gold 200m Breaststroke Silver 200m Individual Medley Gold 100m Freestyle Silver 100m Freestyle

Adrianna Bullivant Rhian Cowie Gold 100m Butterfly Gold 200m Freestyle Gold 200m Individual Medley Silver 100m Backstroke Gold 200m Butterfly Bronze 200m Individual Medley Gold 100m Freestyle Bronze 100m Freestyle

Spencer Bullivant Rachel Beswick Gold 200m Backstroke Gold 200m Breaststroke Gold 100m Backstroke Silver 100m Breaststroke Gold 100m Butterfly Silver 200m Individual Medley The National Finals will be held at Tollcross International Swim- Gold 200m Freestyle ming Centre in Glasgow on 30th January 2016. Cerys McDowell Sam Mitchell Silver 100m Butterfly Gold 200m Individual Medley Silver 200m Individual Medley Gold 100m Freestyle Bronze 100m Freestyle Gold 200m Breaststroke Silver 100m Breaststroke Cameron Allison Silver 200m Breaststroke Lachlan Caulfield Bronze 200m Individual Medley Gold 400m Freestyle Bronze 100m Breaststroke Gold 200m Butterfly Gold 400m Individual Medley Kalle Hoad Silver 100m Freestyle Bronze 100m Butterfly Some of the medals that the Stranraer Swimmers won at the event. Bronze 200m Freestyle

Parasports Scottish National Swimming Championships — Photos

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S5/6 Digital Photography

Here are some examples of the S5/6 Digital Photography classes’ best work! Other galleries are available on the school website and Facebook page.

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HMIE Follow Up Report

Below is a summary of the actions which the school community have undertaken to address the recommendations of last Year’s HMI visit:

Continue to improve the consistency of the quality of learning and teaching and to raise expectations of what young people can achieve. • The delivery of quality Learning & Teaching has improved • Increased expectations of what young people can achieve. • Improvement in standard of pupils written work. • Importance of literacy and numeracy for all. • Altered curriculum – all S3 now study French, interdisciplinary learning introduced in S1/2, increase in vocational courses in senior school. • Improved health & wellbeing program delivered by Principal Teachers of Pupil Support. • Better curricular links with primary schools. • Review of classroom expectations.

Develop effective ways of tracking, monitoring and reporting young people’s progress and achievements across the curriculum, to ensure they attain as highly as possible. • More focus on tracking and monitoring young peoples’ progress and achievements across the curriculum. • A reporting group, which includes parents, has been set up to look at the format of reports. • An effective system has been developed to gather and record information relating to wider involvement and achievement. • Increasing numbers of young people are now successfully having their skills recognised through participation in recognised, certificated awards. • School leavers identified as being at risk of not entering a positive destination have been working with Dumfries and Galloway Employability Partnership.

Improve the impact of self-evaluation on the quality of the curriculum and young people’s learning and achievement. • Considerable progress has been made in relation to developing systems and procedures to take forward and improve the impact of self- evaluation across the school and its community. • The head teacher chairs a self-evaluation group and has in its membership a wide range of stakeholders including all other members of the SMT. • A self-evaluation policy and a calendar are now providing a more focused approach to self-evaluation and helping to align activities across the school. • All staff have engaged in the past year in a range of professional learning activities to support the implementation of the new qualifications and aspects of Curriculum for Excellence in the Broad General Education phase. This has included assessment and profiling, development of courses and programmes and engagement with the progression frameworks. This is having a positive impact on classroom delivery.

Improve teamwork and leadership of senior managers to provide a clear sense of direction. • Streamlining of roles and remits of the senior management team allowing for clear roles and responsibilities for each member to be identified. • Five temporary promoted posts at Principal Teacher level. • All staff involved in working groups which is improving teamwork across the school. • all teaching staff have received local authority input into Professional update and are maintaining their career long professional learning. • Opportunities to increase pupil voice across the school continue to be developed. Young people have been consulted and have commented on a number of new initiatives alongside learning and teaching. Some young people have led on a number of the identified developments.

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Information for Pupils, Parents / Carers

SCHOLAR Information Guide Information regarding SCHOLAR is now on the School App and Website (under Curriculum tab) at the following links. SCHOLAR is a useful tool for parents who have pupils involved in Nat5/Higher/ Advanced Higher courses.

App: More > Files > SCHOLAR Website: http://www.stranraeracademy.org.uk/scholar.html

What is SCHOLAR? SCHOLAR provides free access to high quality learning materials on the web. The content is written by experienced teachers and is strictly aligned with the new SQA CfE curriculum. Over 30 subjects at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher are available to students and teachers in Scottish schools.

Try SCHOLAR! If you would like to see a sample of our interactive materials on the web, please visit our website: http://scholar.hw.ac.uk/Scotland or request a parent password by emailing: [email protected]

SelfieCop—Safer Mobile Phone Usage for Young People Thousands of kids in Dumfries & Galloway will get their first smartphone this Christmas. Yet, ongoing cases of Sexting show how impulsive children can be when using such devices. In response, a new app called SelfieCop has launched that teaches kids to Stop-&-Think before taking or sharing photos.

It works in 2 ways: 1. Every time the camera is activated a message appears to remind kids that their photos could (ultimately) be seen by anyone. 2. 2. SelfieCop can also send parents a copy of photos taken by the camera, so they can be reviewed for safety (until their children are older).

By deterring Sexting the app also helps to: •Reduce cyberbullying •Restore discipline in the classroom •Prevent the criminalisation of kids

SelfieCop has the widest image detection capability of any parental control app and can take copies of photos or videos via such popular apps as: - WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, MessageMe, WeChat, Kik & many more.

SelfieCop is FREE until January 2016 & takes just 3 minutes to set-up. It is currently available for Android phones and an iPhone version is due in 2016. For more information, visit the website: http://www.selfiecop.com

S4/5/6 Prelim Exam Timetable All S4/5/6 pupils were issued with a timetable recently that contains information regarding the prelim exams that begin on Thursday 7th January 2016. The timetables have also been placed on numerous noticeboards around the school.

The information is available on the school website and app. If a pupil loses their timeta- ble, they can download and print a copy from both of these resources. The links are supplied below:

Website (Curriculum tab): http://www.stranraeracademy.org.uk/s456-prelim-exams- 201516.html

App: More > Files > S4/5/6 Prelim Exams

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Information for Pupils, Parents / Carers

School Uniform– Additional Items Available

Additional items featuring the school crest to accompany the school uniform are now ready to order. Samples are available to try for sizing purposes. The items are affordable and can be purchased or sized by contacting the school directly. Alternatively, plain black school trousers/skirts, V-neck jumpers/cardigans, shoes & white shirts may be sourced else- where and are acceptable provided that they are plain and do not feature logos/brands.

***Please note that the school Blazer and Tie must be purchased via the school and is not optional.***

The Uniform Policy and Expectations are available to view on the school App, website (Information tab) and Facebook page using the following links. If you have any queries or are unsure of anything regarding the school uniform, please contact the school directly for clarification. School App: More > Files > Uniform Policy & Expectations Website: http://www.stranraeracademy.org.uk/school-uniform.html

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Information for Pupils, Parents / Carers

Contacting the School…. Can I remind pupils, parents/carers that they can contact the school in different ways:

 By phoning 01776 706484  By e-mailing [email protected]

The e-mail account is checked at least twice a day and any e-mail will be forwarded to the relevant member of staff.

Usually, when contacting the school with any issue concerning your child you should ask to speak to their Pupil Support teacher – don’t worry if you don’t know who that is, just give the office staff the pupil’s name and they will get the correct person. As all teachers, Pupil Support included, have a teaching commitment they may not be available instantly. It is also possible they are not in school. They should, however, get back to you as soon as possible.

If the Pupil Support teacher is not available when you phone and the matter is urgent, please ask for the duty manager – that will be one of the Depute Headteachers or myself. We will try to take the call immediately, but will certainly get back to you as quickly as we possibly can.

Mr N. Dawson Headteacher

Drinking Water In School We would like to remind pupils of the following points….

Pupils are permitted to drink bottled, still water in classes / subject working areas when and where it is appropriate to do so without compromising the safety of pupils and equipment in these areas.

The school office will no longer be handing out plastic cups to pupils who ask.

We have always encouraged pupils to bring their own water bottles as they can be refilled at numerous drinking water dispensing units all over the school.

Carbonated water / fizzy juice is NOT PERMITTED for drinking in class or on the Street AT ANY TIME.

Eating is also NOT PERMITTED in class or on the street AT ANY TIME.

Please use the canteen / outside areas to consume food / drink.

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Information for Parents / Carers

Show My Homework Show My Homework can be accessed through an icon on the top right and footer area of the school website or by saving the following link to your favourites: https://stranraer.showmyhomework.co.uk/ All pupils have a gradebook and homework calendar that is automatically linked to their subjects, class and teacher. Parents/Carers can also have an account set up and linked to their child/ward’s account to assist in the management of homework from the school.

For more information, please visit the Show My Homework page on the school website: http://www.stranraeracademy.org.uk/show-my-homework.html

Parent Council Meeting Dates Please note that dates for future Parent Council Meeting have now been published. They are available to view on the left and also on the school website and Parent Council Facebook page.

Search for: Stranraer Academy Parent Council

The next meeting of the Parent Council will be on Thursday 14th January from 7pm to 9pm in the Conference Room of the school. The Parent Council would like to thank everyone for their support so far and hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

School App & Social Media The Stranraer Academy school App is completely FREE to download. It works on all Apple iOS, Android and Windows Phone devices. Please search for Stranraer Academy in your App store or visit the school website for details.

Our Social Media Pages...

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/StranraerAcademy Twitter: @StranraerAcad

Change of address or Phone STRANRAER ACADEMY All newsletters are available in colour Number? McMasters Road from our archive on the school website. Stranraer They can be viewed / downloaded Please remember to notify us if you move DG9 8BY from the Information menu tab. house or change phone number. Please also notify us of any other changes, Phone: 01776 706484 Newsletters from May 2014 onwards such as for Emergency Contact Information. Fax: 01776 704748 are also available on the school App E-mail: [email protected] files section. www.stranraeracademy.org.uk

DO YOU HAVE A STORY OR SOME EXCITING NEWS RELATED TO THE SCHOOL? PLEASE LET US KNOW! WE’D LOVE TO PUT IT ON THE APP & SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES!

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