ARDROSSAN ACADEMY

AUTUMN NEWSLETTER 2016

I hope you find this Autumn newsletter informative and useful. It comes with a warm welcome to new students and their carers, and shares information from staff and pupils about what has been happening since we returned from the summer break, and plans for the next term.

Rights Respecting School

THIS EDITION Ardrossan Academy have been awarded The UNICEF UK Rights Respecting School Award - Recognition of Commitment. This Personal Support……………..2 award is an acknowledgement of our school's commitment to placing the UN BGE………………………………….3 Convention on the Rights of the Child at Senior Phase…………………….3 the heart of our ethos and becoming a Pupil Leadership ……………..4 rights respecting school. STEM…..……...…………………..5

Pastoral Support………...…..6

Pupil Support…..……..……….8 Astra Base….…... ……………..9

Library…….…………...……….10

Roald Dahl Day…..………...11 Our Rights Respecting Steering Sophie Gribben.….………….12

Group: Top of the Bench …………..14

Ross Gibb, Iona Barclay, Eco committee….…………..14 Christopher Ribbeck and Matthew Inter House ……….………….15 McGowan (also Lauren Harker not Developing the Young pictured). Workforce …………………….15 Mathematics ……………….16 SQA Prize gving……….…….17 P7 transition ……….……….18 Office & Parent Council…19 Important dates …………..20 1

Personal Support

Our daily input to personal support continues to develop this session with a range of departments and staff contributing to the learning programme. As well as daily attendance checks and bulletin notices, pupils are participating in learning activities using their learning journals and other interactive activities. Pupils should be at their Personal Support Class ready to start at 8.45am every day and ensure they have their journals with them.

Personal Support Programme Oct-Dec 2016.

Week Beginning BGE Senior Phase 17.10.16 Learning Journals BGE tracking data Learning Journals

24.10.16 Achievement Tracker - Life and Ethos Achievement Tracker - Life and Ethos 31.10.16 Climate week Climate week 07.11.16 Remembrance Week Remembrance Week 14.11.16 Anti Bullying Week Anti- Bullying Week

21.11.16 Global Entrepreneurship week/Dare to dream Global Entrepreneurship week/Dare to dream 28.11.16 Alcohol Awareness Alcohol Awareness 05.12.16 Reading Week S3 - 5 Options Focus 12.12.16 Learning Journals S3 - 5 Options Focus

19.12.16 Achievement Tracker - Personal Achievements Achievement Tracker - Personal Achievements Christmas Holiday

Teagan Gordon, S3, and Lori Woods, S6, presenting during Personal Support.

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Junior House Ambassadors HOW TO STUDY SUPPORTED STUDY SESSIONS As part of our commitment to extending leadership opportunities for pupils, we have very recently launched the Junior House Ambassadors initiative. We are looking to To help support and select House Ambassadors from S1, S2 and S3. Their role will be to represent their guide our S4 pupils peers, participate in the Pupil Council, represent the school at events and be an over- all ambassador for their House and school. We have received a good response from through the National pupils and over 50 pupils have now completed an initial application form. The senior Qualifications as they House Captains will now assist staff in taking forward the next stage of the process. We hope to finally appoint the House Ambassadors by the end of October and will tackle assessments, give you an update in the next newsletter. Ad Astra! assignments and prelims for the first time, a series of Supported Study sessions have been designed to advise pupils about how to study. Two sessions have taken place so far where Senior Phase students were shown how to create study Our new Senior Phase curriculum model commenced 31st May with students from S4-6 joining in classes aimed at their level of study rather than by age grouping. timetables for themselves Although a little strange for pupils at first , they have all settled well into their new and put them in to classes. practice. During the next

Important dates: term sessions will run on topics including how to Prelim diet commences Monday 16th January 2017—No Exam Leave organise class and SQA exam leave commences Tuesday 2nd January—More information regarding revision notes effectively, exam leave will be made available nearer the time. All pupils are expected to the different styles of return to classes on Monday 5th June 2017. studying, exam question SQA Results - Tuesday 8th August 2017. literacy and handling exam stress. It is hoped Our Senior Phase Curriculum Evening takes place on Thursday 20th October and will give parents/carers and pupils information on Senior Phase Curriculum, SQA that these sessions will courses and assessment as well as the best ways to study and be prepared also be rolled out to S5/6 throughout the session. pupils later in the year. The next session will take

place on Wednesday 19th October from 3.45- 4.45pm in room BS11.

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UNIFORM

Just a reminder of the Pupil Leadership Team 2016-17 expected uniform standards for session Following a rigorous selection process our Student Leaders have been appointed for 2016-17. Plain black/white shirt. School tie (£4 from office) or senior tie (£5 from office) Plain black jumper or cardigan (no hoodies) Plain black trousers or skirts (no jeans or leggings). Plain black footwear Blazers can be purchased from the Marie Ann Wales, Elisse Porter, Kirsten McMenemy and Nicola Jamieson have already led our SQA Prizegiving, P7 Open Evening and facilitated at the recent North Ayrshire office for £20. They are annual Headteacher’s conference. a great alternative to a jumper and can be Prefects interview worn in class. “On the 9th of September, we were given the opportunity to interview some S6 pupils who would become Ardrossan Academy’s newest prefects. The S6 pupils were interviewed at the start of the morning. The meeting was attended by us the interviewers (Christopher PE Kit Ribbeck, Lauren Scott, Iona Barclay, Megan Henderson and Ben Wallace), two of our new student leaders who had been chosen a week prior to the meeting and our Head of Black, blue or white t- Year Mrs Futamata. During the two interview sessions we asked them a series of shirt or polo shirt. Vest questions including what they think would make the perfect prefect of Ardrossan tops are not Academy. appropriate. When we asked the questions we received confident and excellent responses. For example both of the groups when asked questions had quick decisive replies, most Ardrossan Academy notably when we asked "what you think the most important qualities of a prefect are?". badged t-shirts and We received a variety of answers such as "care for the young", "helping out at functional polo shirts can be events and clubs" and making themselves approachable to anyone younger years who purchased from office. need a helping hand. Black or navy shorts or The experience for us was interesting as we would quite like to become S6 prefects later on in the years coming. It was good to see the process you would have to go through to tracksuit bottoms. become a valued prefect of Ardrossan Academy, we hope that the prefects are happy with Soft soled shoes. our decisions of who we chose and are excited to see what they will plan for Ardrossan Academy next. Hoodies etc may be Overall we very much enjoyed the whole experience as it was a new way of picking the worn for outdoor prefects by letting us, the S3 pupils help in the process of picking them. If we could choose activities. three words to describe this experience it would be different, interesting and great.”

4 4 STAFFING UPDATE STEM A number of new staff have joined us at/since the start of the session: During September, 17 of our S4 pupils studying for National 5's in Chemistry, Physics or Biology attended an Industrial Biotechnology Event at Greenwood Conference Centre. English & Drama Speakers from industry, academia and the Local Authority discussed careers in industrial biotechnology, applications of science and the importance of STEM subjects in Scot- Miss Keggans land's future and global sustainability. Pupils then took part in 3 practical work shops led by Scottish Biotechnology companies. They used seaweed to make gels, tested paint Mrs Kennedy thickened with carrot extract and investigated fuel made from whisky industry waste. The workshops showcased just a few of the potential applications of industrial Mrs McColgan biotechnology and gave pupils an insight into potential future careers. Mathematics Mr Wilson Modern Languages Mrs Kirkwood Social Subjects Mr Hutchison Miss Roberts Science Miss Jeffers Computing & Business Mr Sands Design & Technical Mr Binns Health & Wellbeing Miss Muir Mr McCrorie Pastoral Mrs Colville (Barra house) We would like to wish Mrs McTaggart luck as she takes up her new role of PT Pupil Support in Largs Academy 5 5

Pastoral Support RESPECT ASEMBLIES

S1 Interviews All year groups recently had assembly based Our S1 pupils have settled in well to life at Ardrossan Academy and overall we are delighted around the theme of with effort, attitude and behaviour of our new students. Most S1 pupils have met with their Pastoral Support teacher to discuss how they have settled in, and address any questions or respect, which is one of concerns. Pastoral Support staff are also visiting out S1 pupils during Personal Support time our core school values. to check in with them and offer support if necessary. Getting to know our pupils is pivotal in We asked pupils to our endeavour to support them. think about what respect looks and Careers education sounds like. We asked them to think about Our S1 pupils enjoyed a day with the careers bus, organised by Mrs Jopp. Careers staff from the Glasgow Science Centre and SDS set up the assembly hall with four interactive how they could workstations. Pupils had the opportunity to explore career ideas through a variety of demonstrate respect activities. in school and in the Our S2 pupils are currently working on a project to be the next Scottish inventors. In class, community. To cement they have looked at Scottish inventions from the steam engine to the postage stamp. They this, we asked pupils to have been encouraged to consider all the jobs available within a large company and looked at the local labour market. Now they are inventing their own product. Class heats will take make a commitment to place in October and a school final in November will decide the winning team who will be put showing respect by forward for the Sir Tom Hunter Challenge next spring. completing a Respect Following the October break SDS staff will be running groups for S4 pupils on My World of Pledge card. We are Work and S5 & 6 pupils will have group work on Career Management. looking at ways of showcasing the S3 YPI feedback from our pupils but here is a S3 Youth Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) is well under way. We had a very successful launch sample of some of the on the 31th of August led by Isabel Johnstone from the Wood Foundation. pledges:"Respecting YPI is an initiative that aims to develop young people and its objectives are to improve tolerance and citizenship values and encourage enterprise in young people in Scotland. different opinions Our young people have been exploring their own values and identifying a social issue in instead of arguing;" our local community where they can make a change. "Doing my best in all Over the next few weeks each group will identify a local charity that they would like to subjects"; "Being more support. Throughout this project our young people will be developing leadership and a polite."; "listening to range of skills that will serve them well in the workplace. They will then research and present their findings on that charity by Christmas. The best presentations will be what people say selected for the final on 2nd February where the winning group will be awarded £3000 for more". The vast the charity that they have been working with. If you would like to find out more about majority of our pupils this exciting initiative go to ypiscotland.org.uk show respect in all that they do, but it is something that we are keen to stress to ensure that Ardrossan Academy continues to be a welcoming and tolerant place of learning.

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Pastoral Support DAY—7TH OCTOBER

As we go to 'press', the S4 Work experience school is preparing to S4 Work Experience has now been launched and this year our pupils will get the opportunity to go mark Ayrshire into the workplace on the weeks beginning: Hospice's Wear it

 7th November 2016 Purple Day on Friday  14th November 2016 7th October. Pupils and  12th June 2017 staff have been invited to accessorize their We are advising pupils sitting National 3 or National 4 qualifications to go on work experience in uniform by wearing November and pupils studying National 5 qualifications should go on work experience in June, following external examinations. Work experience provides our students with the chance to support some purple. This will the decision making process when it comes to choosing careers and pathways. It also provides them be accompanied by a with an opportunity to gain skills and experiences which will prepare them for the world of work. We small donation of no trust that pupils will be a credit to the school on their placements and we look forward to supporting more than £1. We them to gain work experience this year. hope to see as many pupils and staff getting into the spirit for such S6 House Captains a worthy cause and we are looking forward to We were highly impressed with the quality of candidates for the recent positions of House Captains. This was a highly valuable experience for all applicants as it provided them with interview experience, seeing our pupils be and allowed them the opportunity to develop confidence and skills in this area. Candidates were asked creative with their to describe their own skills and qualities and explain why these skills and qualities would lead them to accessorizing! be a successful House Captain. The following candidates were chosen to lead their House Groups and Hopefully we will be we look forward to working with them in the future: able to share some

ANNICK: Clare Monaghan and Cerys Seaton photos in the next newsletter. BARRA: Lyle Robertson and Rachael Waddell

LOMOND: Emma Brown and Karen Rodger

NEVIS: Martin Madden and Shaun Roddan

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WALL OF ACHIEVEMENT Pastoral Support

At Ardrossan Academy we UCAS & Careers Service SDS are always looking to The pastoral staff continue to work closely with our colleagues form Skills Development Scotland (SDS). We are fortunate that we have career coaches in school on a daily basis. celebrate the achievements Mrs Jopp works with Annick and Lomond houses and can be contacted any Monday, of our pupils, whether it be Tuesday or Thursday in the school. Mr Andrews is in school working with Barra and Nevis houses on Wednesday and Friday. He also has responsibility for our pupils in the first two for successes in or out years after leaving school and is available for appointments at both the office in Irvine and school, or both. We recently at Michael Lynch Centre in Ardrossan on Monday, Tuesday or Thursday. took some photographs of a The programme to support senior pupils applying to university through UCAS is well under way. Senior pupils have had the opportunity to attend the Higher Convention and number of pupils meet higher education providers from Universities and Colleges across Scotland. Some individually and in groups in pupils have attended conferences on skills development and the university interview. All pupils who have signed up for the programme were invited to a session with admission staff recognition of their from Strathclyde University who spoke on choosing the right course and achievements in a range of the personal statement. Mrs Mayes has registered pupils on the UCAS system and run two workshops on researching courses and completing the form. Pupils have been contexts. We will now be Issued with a timeline for completing forms, collecting references and writing their personal able to update our 'Wall of statement. Mr Carr ( Nevis) Mrs Colville( Barra) Mrs King (Lomond) and Mrs Mayes (Annick) will be meeting all the candidates from their house to support pupils with their Achievement' framed personal statements and check over forms. photographs which adorn the main corridor in the school. Many thanks to Pupil Support Department Gordon Cowan of the Caley Parent / Carer Drop in sessions. Centre who took the st photographs and also S1 – 1 November 2016 3:40 -5:00pm provided a practical S1 parents/carers are invited to drop in to discuss their child’s progress and any workshop for two of our concerns with learning. students, Tia Payne and S4-S6 – 6th December 2016 3:40 -5:00pm

Lyle Robertson, who were Parents/carers of pupils in S4-S6 are invited to drop in to discuss Alternative great assistants on the day. Assessment Arrangements (AAA) for this year’s SQA exam diet.

If you are unable to attend, but would like to discuss your child’s learning please contact Mark Smith in the Pupil Support Department.

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Astra Base AD ASTRA: PHASE 1

Our annual Ad Astra The purpose of the Astra Base is to help meet the very specific needs of young people in Award scheme is now North Ayrshire with ASD so that they can access mainstream education. firmly part of the school calendar. Teachers are We hope to do this by taking into consideration what is good practice in terms of supporting now in the process of pupils with autism and apply this to the individual needs of each young person. We will work awarding merits to those with all the staff in Ardrossan Academy, from class teachers, pastoral care and the Senior pupils who have Leadership Team to include these pupils in all aspects of the school. We aim to support the demonstrated young people to develop a range of skills, but with a particular focus on building strategies consistently high that will develop social skills, their resilience and life skills as well as skills for life, learning standards of behaviour, and work. effort, respect, We opened in August this year with our first first year learners. They have settled really well contribution and uniform and most are attending most classes. We are really proud of how hard they are working and since the start of the how they are trying their best every day. school session in August. Pupils will find out if they have achieved their Phase 1 'Ad Astra' at the start of November.

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SENIOR PHASE News from the Library PARENTS’ EVENINGS 2016-17 News from the Library

The first term of this session is nearly over and there has been We have recently some new developments in the Library: lettered parents/carers  We welcomed our new S1 with an induction to the Library informing them of and this has resulted in many using the Library at lunch time changes to the to read, use PCs and draw or colour in; arrangements for Senior  The Library layout has been refreshed with junior fiction now more accessible and Phase Parents' Evenings spaced out to encourage browsing;  More displays of books to catch the eye and imagination when pupils enter the this session. Parents/ Library; carers will have the  2 new members from S1 have joined the Library Development Group and so far the option of attending EI- Group have met once this session and are creating a Book Swap box to encourage THER a parents' evening everyone to bring in books they no longer want and swap it for a “new” one – ulti- on the 22nd November mate in recycling! Launching soon so look out any books you no longer want.  A Facebook page has been created for the Library with information on books, 2016 OR on the 17th events, news and so on posted there. The Facebook page also links to the school February 2017. Please Twitter account so you can keep up to date with what’s going on in the school too. contact the school if you Visit and like the page @ardacadlibrary have not already done so to inform us which option you would prefer. This will allow the school to plan Look out for Book Week Scotland events – Mon 21 – Fri 27 accordingly. November and the Scholastic Book Fair also in November.

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Roald Dahl Day S6 PROM

Wednesday 13th September was the 100th anniversary of the wonderful Roald Dahl's For the diary! birth. To celebrate, we participated in many activities across the school: The S6 Prom has been  English classes read extracts, watched the Puffin Live broadcast from the set of Matilda, drew their own Quentin Blake style pictures and took part in quizzes booked for Thursday 8th (with prizes which were Dahl's favourite: Cadbury's Dairy Milk!). June in Burnhouse Manor.

 Mrs Harkin's Maths classes read 'Esio Trot' and answered maths word questions Lots of fundraising based on Roald Dahl characters. They are planning to construct a tortoise from hexagons drawn inside circles (using compasses), too! activities to take place and arrangements made  Mrs McTaggart's Literacy Group reinvented some classic fairy stories in the style of Revolting Rhymes. throughout the session.

 Mrs Young's Science classes participated in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory growing gummy bears, making jelly worms and Skittle science. They also concocted a George's Marvellous Medicine potion.

 Mrs Monteith's Science class carried out fantastic colourful experiments.

 The Library had a lovely display of many of Roald Dahl's books.

It was a great excuse to engage with one of the world's best authors and to celebrate the fantastic life that he lived.

Ms McCready, Literacy Across Learning Co-ordinator.

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CHERNOBYL’S CHILDREN’S Sophie Gribben LIFELINE Scottish Space School and the Global STEM Alliance 12 girls aged 9 - 10 from Throughout the year last year I have been involved in several programs; 1000 Girls 1000 the Ukraine have spent a Futures, and the Scottish Space School. The work in which I have been involved with has month in Scotland with meant that I have had an amazing summer! host families. This has 1000 girls is a worldwide program, run online by the New York Academy of Sciences, as part of been organised by the the Global STEM alliance. As the name suggests, it tries to encourage more girls into STEM charity Chernobyl Chil- (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematicss) by pairing them up with a female men- dren's Lifeline. Ardrossan tor who is studying or working in these fields. There's also lessons on getting ready for Univer- Academy donated £250 to sity, communication, critical thinking and leadership, as well as discussion boards where you can post about issues or interesting articles: anything you think might be relevant. It was the the charity to help fund a Physics department that got me in the program in the first place, and I got stuck in messaging child's place. my mentor, posting about cool stuff and submitting lessons (which I found the most mun- The girls spent the day in dane). For my efforts I got mentee of the month in January, which was one of the reasons I Ardrossan Academy on was phoned to ask if I would like to go to New York for the Global STEM Alliance Summit. Wednesday 31st of I received the call from Carla Emanuele, the program director, only 2 weeks before the confer- August. ence, which meant that arranging flights and transportation was a bit of a nightmare. But we Welcomed by teaching got there (I took my mum, dad and sister) and it was everything I expected and more. As I was staff, they were then there for the conference, I attended the World Trade Centre every day, and to be honest I taken on a tour of the think I could’ve stared at the view the entire time. I met loads of interesting scientists, compa- school by staff and two S2 ny directors and entrepreneurs, and that was just the kids there: it was full of talented people from across the world. pupils - Ramoune Bauzys and Jonathon Spring. New York wasn't just an amazing experience, the panels and workshops I attended there cov- The group joined in with ered topics like ethics in STEM where we debated the use of animal testing and stem cell re- an S2 Drama lesson and search, how to achieve the global goals set out by the UN using STEM, as well as a field trip to also spent time in Art and the New York Polytechnic Institute and how to use social media to get a job in media. All of this was crammed into just 3 days, which meant I had to get up early; not that I’m complain- in PE. They also enjoyed a ing! Sadly, the conference also signalled the end of the 1000 girls program for the year, which lunch in the canteen to made leaving the Academy bittersweet. After numerous asks however, the program now has a get the "full pupil ‘Senior Mentee’ role, which I have applied for. I also got accepted to the Junior Academy, so I experience". still have ties to the Global STEM Alliance for the coming year. The girls were all given a small Scottish themed rucksack which had been filled with a few girlie gifts. The rucksacks had been made and donated by Mrs Coull, a former classroom assistant at the school. Twelve members of staff kindly filled the bags. The girls had a great time and are now safely back home in the Ukraine.

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CHRISTMAS FAYRE 2016

Ardrossan Academy's The other cool thing I did this summer was attending the Scottish Space School, run by Strathclyde Christmas Fayre takes place University’s Engineering department. Even though I applied in December, I didn’t know if I’d got in on Saturday 26th November until March: it was an agonizing wait, especially since I’d messed up the personal statement part 11am - 1pm. (You should always read the instructions!). I got accepted anyway, and got a week off school to attend lectures by NASA personnel, build a basic heart monitor, build a scaled down truss for the Venue - school assembly hall International Space Station, and my favourite: the mars rover challenge. This was where we had to & library. If any parent/carer determine the coordinates of objects below the sand using math’s, then drive the rover over as is interested in running a many of the objects as possible, then place the Rover’s cargo into a blimp, all while our mission stall, helping out or commander was having her heart rate monitored-if it went too high, we would lose points. Thank- making a donation to the fully, my team got along well and we came second, both in this challenge and overall, and needless to say I’ve made lifelong friends. The week also gave me a mentor, Marnie, who is in her 3rd year tombola then contact the of electrical and mechanical engineering, and a look into the engineering department at Strath- school office. We hope to see clyde itself. This has helped me narrow down the many fields of engineering to those which I’m as many members of the truly interested in. school community as possible on the day. After the week, there were 35 selected for interviews, to see who should go on the learning journey to Houston. The interviews were the week after, and as I was on a sea cadet course I had to take the interview by phone whilst sailing in the English Channel. We lost signal about an hour after, so I wouldn't know the results of the interview until that night. After we had anchored, the captain came in and ordered me to the front, then turned his phone around to show that I'd been selected! No pun intended, I was over the moon, and when I phoned my parents my dad told me that my mum owed him £30 as they bet on it. I'll be travelling to Houston in October, where I'll meet Gene Kranz and Fred Haise, the mission commander and lunar module pilot from Apollo 13, have dinner at Tom Marshburn’s house, attend an American Football game, get a floor tour of Johnstone Space Centre, and visit an observatory to name a few. I can't wait!

I think it’s fair to say I’ve had a great summer, and experiences I’ve had will serve me well as I move on to university, and out into the world of work.

-Sophie Gribben (S6)

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ACHIEVEMENTS Top of the Bench Competition

Aria Pascual (S5) has been The science department will be taking a team of budding chemists to the regional nominated for the North heats of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Top of the Bench competition at th Ayrshire Young Strathclyde University on 24 November. This national competition is designed to Sportspersons award, for encourage and reward high achievement in school chemistry students. Mrs Gilmour is currently gathering the names of interested students, and will be holding an in her achievements in Karate. house competition to select 4 students from across 2nd, 3rd and 4th year, that will go Vote in the A&S Herald. along to the event in November. Winning teams from the event will attend the national event at the end of the spring term. For more information on the event contact Mrs Gilmour, or visit:

Ross Jack (S6) was recently www.rsc.org/campaigning-outreach/outreach/educators/#competitions selected to represent the Ayrshire Schools Under 18 Football Team. Well done and good luck in the games, Ross!

Congrats to the U-15s football team who beat St. Matthews 5-0. Goal Scorers were Scott Struthers (3), Robbie Kirk and Conor Fegan.

The S2 Girls team won bronze at the recent NAC Cross-Country championships. Eco Committee Alexander Orderley in S3 won an individual bronze. Well done to all! The Eco Committee are off to a flying start this year. The junior committee are setting up a social enterprise that will see them use the produce grown on their allotment plot turned into products that they will sell. The group, were recently visited by Jay Lamb from the Social Enterprise Academy who helped the group to think about their social aim. After the meeting the group decided that the profits gained from their venture should be used to help tackle food poverty in their community. The business will launch at this year’s Christmas fair, where the group will be selling natural homemade products such as preserves, candles, herbal hand creams and lavender bags. As well as supporting the junior committee, our senior Eco Ambassadors are busy making arrangements to visit their old primary schools to talk to P7 pupils about the Eco Schools project at secondary. The ambassadors will also offer support to the primary eco committees throughout the session.

14 14 ACHIEVEMENTS Inter House Cross Country Competition

House Captains Clare & In the spirit of healthy competition, the PE department recently held an inter-house Cerys with some of the Cross Country team challenge. food collected on Friday for the North Ayrshire In 1st Place was Nevis house who won 100 points, 2nd was Lomond with 75 points, 3rd was Annick with 50 points and 4th Barra with 25 points. foodbank. Thanks to all who donated items. All house points won are tallied throughout the year and go toward the house cup which is presented in our June prize giving ceremony.

Next up is Badminton!

Developing the Young Workforce

Business Engagement

A business engagement meeting took place in Ardrossan Academy on 21st September. A number of potential industry links came in to the school and discussed opportunities for input to specific subject areas with teachers. Potential partnerships from this meeting include:

 DSM and Positive Pulse Scotland working with Science  SimpsInns working with Travel and Tourism  Nexus, Microtech and Booth Welsh working with Computing/Business  Army/RAF working with Social Subjects  Ashleigh Construction working with Technical

Exciting times ahead!

S2 DYW Leadership

26 S2 pupils will be working with CANI Coaching from Friday 18th November for 4 weeks. They will be working on developing skills including goal setting, motivation and resilience. Long term these pupils, as well as others, will be provided with mentoring from relevant sector partners.

Our MD revisiting old school @ArdAcademy today for @ArdAcadDYW to discuss #mentoring #STEM #workexperience #collaborationopportunities

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S3 EXAMS Mathematics & Numeracy S3 Exams will take place this session, starting in the week beginning the 31st It is our expectation that each pupil has their own Scientific Calculator October. to use in class and at home. It is essential that pupils are familiar with the model they have in order to encourage accurate use. The use of All pupils have been issued calculator apps on mobile phones is neither acceptable in class nor with an exam timetable for assessment at any stage S1-6. which details the subject, BGE time and place of the exam. Maths Club is up and running for S1-3 on Thursdays at lunch time – pupils should Teachers will be working to see Mr Clifford in MF4 if interested in participating. prepare pupils for this S1 pupils have been issued with their key skills Mathematics & Numeracy booklet. experience which will This is intended to support learning and should be used (if there is a need) to provide invaluable data for practice numerical skills, as a guide to some common methods used and for options choices and a good reference purposes. Parents/carers please take a little time to familiarise yourself indication of progress in with the content – it may save some arguments over how to do things! the Broad General Copies of the work at home booklets issued to S1 & S2 will be made available on the Education. Maths page of the school website. These contain supplementary questions to support learning taking place in class (with answers included for self-checking) and also contain official homework exercises (answers NOT provided - so we can have Subjects being examined at the pleasure of checking progress). These can also be used in preparation for any this stage are: upcoming assessments. English Senior Phase Mathematics National 5 supported study takes place on a Monday and most Tuesdays after school with Mr Clifford (MF4). Modern Languages Higher supported study is also up and running after school Art & Design (Critical) Monday with Mrs Jamieson (MF5), and most Tuesdays with Mrs Harkin (MF7).

Science Revision packs for National 4, National 5 and Higher Geography courses will also be made available on the Maths page on the school website in due course. History Competition Time Modern Studies Callum Murray, Jack Blades (S4), Christopher Ribbeck and Ross Gibb (S3), All pupils will also sit CAT4 accompanied by Mr Clifford, will be representing the school & North Ayrshire at the at the end of the Scottish National Enterprising Mathematics competition in the Science Centre th examination period which Glasgow on 15 November 2016 - Good luck boys! gives a good indication of learning styles and advice on subject choices in S4.

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SQA Prize giving

The SQA Prize giving took place on Thursday 15th of September. A large number of our S5 and S6 pupils received awards for their achievements in their SQA examinations. We were delighted by how so many of our pupils did so well in their exams.

There were several outstanding performances throughout the evening from our Music Award winners, Linzi Smith, Rebecca Sharp and Calvin Bruce. We were also delighted that Euan Galloway performed with his bag pipes to start and end the evening’s proceedings. Sophie Gribben gave the prize giving speech this year on her amazing summer and everything that she managed to accomplish in just a few weeks!

We saw 3 pupils achieve the Proxime Accesserunt Awards; Rachel Greening, Jenny Rog- erson and Ross Jack. Our Duxes were Sophie Gribben and Fraser Murray.

Congratulations to all again on your hard work and amazing achievements!

Euan Galloway S5 Linzi Smith S5

Rebecca Sharp S6 Calvin Bruce S6

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Sophie Gribben S6 P7 Transition Evening & Programme

The 2016-2017 Transition Programme was started this session with our P7 Open Evening, where we saw a large number of P7 pupils from our associated primary schools and their parents come for a talk and tour of the school.

Over the next few months our new S1s, who will be starting in August 2017, are more than welcome to join us in our various events such as the Christmas Fayre and our Christmas concert to experience what life is like at Ardrossan Academy.

Some Drama and English teaching staff will be visiting the different primary schools at the end of November to work with the pupils to start to get to know them better and for the pupils to get to know our staff. However, once the placing requests have been submitted and accepted in February we will begin to intensify our transition programme.

All pupils will be invited to a STEM event on the 9th of February; Pastoral and Pupil Support teachers will be working with the P7s and their teachers to help start the classing process; the S1 year head will also be making visits to the different schools to speak to the pupils to relieve any fears that they may have about moving up to secondary school.

The enhanced transition programme for our more vulnerable pupils will be commencing in May. This will be a 5 week programme, led by Elaine Floyd, our Area Inclusion Worker, where the pupils can come to the school to see around, ask questions and experience a number of classes with the secondary teachers.

Our P7 Transition Days will be on the 18th and 19th of May. Last year the transition days had a theme of the Olympics, this year our theme will be food for life and sustainability.

1818 Office and Pupil Attendance

From 1st April 2016, Ardrossan Academy school office hours will be:

Monday—Thursday 8.30am—4.30pm

Friday 8.30am—4.00pm

I would ask parents and carers to support us by calling the main office on 01294 461931 by 9am on the first day of pupil absence. It is vital for pupil safety that we know as early as possible when pupils are going to be absent from school. It is the responsibility of parents/carers to contact school in the event of an absence.

Absence records will be checked every morning with texts sent or calls made to parents/carers of absent pupils where we have had no contact. Please understand that in a large school it can take some time to check individual absence records, therefore your support in phoning so that we can amend absence codes is very much appreciated and helps to us to manage the flow of information. It also makes it much easier to flag up when a child has gone missing. Please also note that the text messaging service is not the best way to contact office staff about pupil absence. We would much prefer to speak with a parent/carer directly.

Please note that if pupils are coming in late to school, they will be recorded as absent until they appear. Pupils must report directly to the school office and get a late slip to get access to class and have records updated. If we do not know that a pupil is going to be late you may get an absence text.

Absence notes must be provided to ensure an absence is closed off in the electronic system.

IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE SO ON THE ANNUAL DATA CHECK FORM, PLEASE SUPPLY THE SCHOOL WITH A CONTACT EMAIL ADDRESS. WE WILL SOON BE USING A SYSTEM WHICH WILL ALLOW US TO EMAIL MUCH OF THE GENERIC SCHOOL COMMUNICATION. PARENT COUNCIL

Parent Council meetings take place in the school Conference Room, start at 6.30pm and usually last between 1-2 hours. New members are warmly invited to attend. This session the Parent Council will be chaired by Hugh Neill with vice-chair Margaret Gilchrist. The team are currently looking at new ways to consult and communicate with parents/carers. More information will be available in the new session and on the new school website.

Dates for meetings next session

5th September 7th November (change to date) 5th December 30th January 13th March 24th April 5th June (AGM)

“ArdCo” are currently developing a logo for the Parent Council which will be used on all publications from the team! 19 #excellence Important dates

Tuesday 18th October—S1-3 Tracking issued

Tuesday 25th October—S3 Parents’ Meetings 4.15 - 6.15pm

Monday 7th November—S2 Parents’ Meetings 4.15—6.15pm

Monday 7th November—Parent Council 6.30pm (rescheduled from 31st October)

Thursday 10th November—S4-6 Tracking issued

Friday 11th & Monday 14th November—Holiday school closed.

Tuesday 22nd November—S4-6 Parents’ Meeting (1) 4.15—6.15pm

Friday 25th November—S6 Photographs

Saturday 26th November—Christmas Fayre

Monday 5th December—Parent Council 6.30pm

Week beginning 12th December—Ad Astra Reward activities week

Friday 16th December—Pantomime

Monday 19th December—Concert

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