Hello

As we fast approach the Christmas break we would like to take a little time to reflect on the successes and achievements of our whole school community. Many of our children, young people and colleagues have received recognition for their creativity and hard work. A special congratulations should be made to Dr Allan for his international work. Well done also to Joan Murray at Primary who received Public Servant of the Year award, and also to Howard Tolliday for his recent recognition in the UK Salters' National Awards for Science Technicians. Finally, I would also like to extend a special thank you to our brilliant librarian, Fiona Macleod, who is always looking for new and creative ways of engaging children and young people in reading. The atmosphere in the library is wonderful and it is great to see so many young people interested in books. Fiona’s work has been complemented by our primary school teachers who have been presenting lively and engaging assemblies over the last few months. The children are developing their confidence in public speaking and this will support their studies and aspirations later in their school and career pathways.

It was great to see so many of you at the recent family event and we welcome your feedback on how we can continue to develop events and activities which support our partnership and learning at home. If you are interested in presenting or running an event please do not hesitate to contact us.

In S3, we hope to meet many of you on Tuesday 3 December during our Learner Journey Review Event which will run from 9.00 am until 7.00 pm. Appointment sheets have been sent home. We would welcome your feedback on our current curriculum and information will be sent out to you in the new term to enable us to gather your views.

This is also a busy time for our seniors as they are about to begin their prelims and we wish them well with their studies. I will be interviewing the seniors in the new term, along with my Depute Head Teachers, and feedback will be sent home following the interviews.

I hope you enjoy the range of achievements from our children and young people.

Kind regards

Dr T Stones Head Teacher 3-18

Head Teacher 3-18: Tina Stones, Academy, Evelix Road, Dornoch, IV25 3HR Tel: (01862) 810246 E-Mail: dornoch.academy@.gov.uk www.dornochacademy.com Parents should telephone 0800 564 2272 for updated information using the school PIN: Bonar Bridge Primary/Nursery (041550); Dornoch Academy (041020); Dornoch Primary/Nursery (041890). Information will also be available at: http://www.highland.gov.uk/schoolclosures, https://www.facebook.com/highlandcouncil, and https://twitter.com/HighlandCouncil.

I should like to invite you to join us at our Carol Service in on Friday 20 December at 12.00 pm (secondary pupils), and 1.00 pm (primary pupils). Each service will last approximately 30 minutes.

- P5 visited the Academy library where pupils listened to the first chapter of a book read to them, followed by time to choose a library book to take home. P3 visited the library on three occasions, to be read Kitty and the Moonlight Rescue, undertake Kitty mask decorating, and choose a library book to take home.

- Children visited for stories, songs and rhymes and to commence the Bookbug Challenge. This will become a regular visit, where pupils will visit the library for a Bookbug session and exchange their book and get their Bookbug card stamped each time. Once they have collected six stamps, they will receive a certificate for all their reading.

- Neil Lancaster gave an interesting and informative presentation to S3 pupils and N4/N5/Higher English pupils about his book, Going Dark, and how his career in the police, investigating serious and organised crime, inspired his work. Neil talked about writing what you know and emphasised how important it is to read yourself.

On Thursday 28 November, P4-P7 and S1-S3 were treated to a session each with author, Alex McCall. Alex read from his award winning book, Attack of the Giant Robot Chickens, and then talked about the requirements of plot, description, characters, etc. He encouraged pupils to use their imaginations and they put together hilarious stories. Pupils were engaged and found the sessions fun and were reminded that stories do not have to be serious. Alex wrote his first book aged 14 and was a published author by the time he was 19.

We had a visit from the author Alex McCall. He talked to us about plot, characters and description. While talking about these things, we were allowed to put our hand up and suggest anything we wanted. He has a great personality and is fun to work with. Everybody enjoyed taking part in this talk, suggesting ideas for book plots,

Head Teacher 3-18: Tina Stones, Dornoch Academy, Evelix Road, Dornoch, Sutherland IV25 3HR Tel: (01862) 810246 E-Mail: [email protected] www.dornochacademy.com characters, and more. For example, Lewis the 50 foot turkey-fish, who liked to eat turkey and Cameron, the wheelchair that Lewis sometimes sat on. We had a great day and everyone had fun. (Leah and Lucy, S2)

Both author visits were different, but equally excellent and inspiring. One showed how real life stories and work can become the basis of a story, and the other showed that you can let your imagination run riot and write about anything.

The Committee met on 13 November to discuss events and future activities.

S1 English classes have been visiting the library for several weeks to work on information literacy and research skills. They are working to finish off their presentations on local topics which they will present to their classmates in their final session.

- Both classes read books suitable for their age group, which the school library had sourced from publishers. Excellent reviews were returned to publishers from both classes along with photographs of a fantastic display created by the P1 class.

This year, the pupils dressed up on Friday 1 November to take part in some fun Halloween activities throughout the school day. The Early Years class were invited to the Bradbury Centre to join in their Halloween party and had a great time playing games with the members and enjoying some of the fantastic party food on offer. The primary pupils took part in a House team STEM challenge to construct a haunted house out of marshmallows and cocktail sticks. The canteen was decorated by the catering staff, who also served up a spooky alternative to the school meals that day and each pupil received a special treat for taking part in the games, lunch and activities.

Head Teacher 3-18: Tina Stones, Dornoch Academy, Evelix Road, Dornoch, Sutherland IV25 3HR Tel: (01862) 810246 E-Mail: [email protected] www.dornochacademy.com - Bonar Bridge Primary were delighted to hear that Joan Murray, the school’s Facilities Assistant had been shortlisted as a finalist in the Scottish Provincial Press, Highland Heroes Awards 2019. Joan was nominated in the category of Public Servant of the Year and was delighted and overwhelmed to have won the award on the night. The awards ceremony was held in the Kingsmills Hotel, at the beginning of November and showcased many deserving and incredible nominees in each of the categories. Joan had the full support of the school community and we feel she is extremely deserving of her award for the love and care she shows towards the whole school and everyone involved in it. Well done Joan!

We recently took part in a workshop with RoKZkool and it was brilliant! The best thing was getting to play lots of different instruments. We pretended we were in an orchestra and the conductor had to tell us when to play and when to be quiet by using a special stick called a baton. We were very good at it. At the end, we sang a song about a sleeping lion and we played our instruments at the same time. It was like we were in a rock band!

Head Teacher 3-18: Tina Stones, Dornoch Academy, Evelix Road, Dornoch, Sutherland IV25 3HR Tel: (01862) 810246 E-Mail: [email protected] www.dornochacademy.com – Pupils have been engaged in Interdisciplinary Learning on the topic of ‘Minibeasts’. They had begun by looking at pets and gardens, and this soon led into their interest in all the creeping creatures they discovered in the outside world! In keeping with their Learning for Sustainability, the pupils spent some time in the school gardens, looking for minibeasts. Pupils were very interested and engaged, and were able to relate their learning to several areas of the curriculum. Writing tasks focussed on their favourite minibeast, whilst several experiences in our science curriculum were covered. Even maths was visited – when the pupils were able to look at the idea of symmetry, seen in the wings of butterflies. In reading, the class was able to spend some quality time looking at Julia Donaldson’s fantastic book ‘Superworm’. We are delighted with how much our pupils enjoy learning about the world around them.

Pupils have recently been learning all about the human body. This has been part of their learning in Health and Wellbeing, and in Science. As part of the topic, they have been finding out about the human skeleton, how it is put together, and they had to learn to identify all the main bones in the human skeleton. Using themselves as templates, the pupils took over the corridors outside the classroom and created giant life sized posters. Once they had drawn a human-shaped outline, they completed this by drawing in all the main bones. They were than able to correctly name and label these bones. Their posters are on display outside the P4 classroom.

We made electricity games because we were learning about electricity in science. We made them for the P2s to learn to match up words and sums. We got a piece of paper and hid wires underneath, then stapled a piece of paper on the back so they could not see the wires. Then we made our circuit so the bulb would light up if they got the answer correct. The P2s were very excited to play our games. When they were playing them, they were so close to getting all the answers right! When the P2s came into our class, they said they really enjoyed them and they were super fun. (Anya and Emily)

For six weeks, Carrie came on a Tuesday to teach us Scottish songs and music tunes. We were practising for a concert we were having later on. We were playing lots of different instruments, including keyboards, violin, xylophone and guitar. We did two tunes and four songs in our concert. Our favourite song was “Ye Cannae Shove Yer Granny Aff a Bus” because it was funny. We played lots of songs, but that was our favourite. Carrie taught us how to play different notes on instruments. We really appreciated Carrie’s help and we enjoyed doing the concert. (Alivia, Jennifer, Joanna, Leigha)

Head Teacher 3-18: Tina Stones, Dornoch Academy, Evelix Road, Dornoch, Sutherland IV25 3HR Tel: (01862) 810246 E-Mail: [email protected] www.dornochacademy.com - Under the careful direction of their teachers, P6 and P7 have been learning lines, places and movement on stage, and some excellent musical numbers. This year, it is the turn of our older pupils to entertain and dazzle us for the festive season. Last year, our infants had the task and rose to it with their nativity play ‘Hay Ewe’. This year, our pupils are undertaking a performance of ‘Panto Pandemonium’, a magical mix of panto stories that include a mysterious disaster in Pantoland that has affected pantomimes everywhere. Only the children can save the panto . . . Our pupils have been throwing themselves into rehearsals, and are getting fully into the spirit of all things Christmas. We look forward to seeing friends and family at our performances during the last week of term.

On Wednesday 20 November, four members of P7 travelled to Lairg Community Centre, where they competed in the annual Rotary Quiz for Sutherland schools. Fergus, Holly, Martha, Scarlett and Tieve put up a spirited defence for the trophy – and were successful in keeping it in Dornoch for a third year running! Congratulations to all the competitors – they had to deal with questions on topics from the First World War to Mary Quant. They represented themselves and their school with politeness and enthusiasm.

- Pupils recently participated in the East Sutherland Schools’ Basketball competitions at Golspie High School. We were lucky enough to have so much enthusiasm from the children that we managed to send an A and B team to both the girls’ and the boys’ competitions. Competition was fierce at both events, but the teams coped brilliantly under pressure. All participants were an absolute credit to the school, their families and themselves through their behaviour, team spirit, sportsmanship and enthusiasm. The girls A team were victorious, coming first in an incredibly hard fought competition. Well done everyone and thanks so much to all parents and friends who helped with transportation and support. We really could not do it without you!

Our reading assemblies continue to showcase the reading abilities of our young learners. By the end of this term, we will have seen all our classes holding their own assemblies, with an excellent and much appreciated response from our parents. This year, to highlight our participation in the First Minister’s Reading Challenge, we have focussed on the effect reading has on our pupils. P6 and P7 focussed on the excellent content of what they had read, as well as their personal response to their chosen texts. P4 and P5 focussed on how their chosen texts made them feel, all showing insight and enthusiasm. We have seen imaginative posters, brilliant wall displays and amazing costumes – this really highlights how much our young people enjoy reading. Thank you to all the pupils and staff for their ongoing hard work – and thank you to our parents for continuing to support our children by coming to our reading assemblies.

- On Friday 27 September 2019 we went to Inverness to see the unopened Justice Centre. We were invited to go there by Robertson Construction. When we went in, we walked through the little cabins and went into a meeting room where we were given a brief 30 minute talk about who Robertson are, when they started and what they do. We then got kitted up in gloves, hard hats and boots and went into the Justice Centre building itself. We were taken in through the back door, shown around the cells and courts. We were taken round all the hallways and then into reception. It was huge. We only had an hour and a half so we did not get to stay that long. The trip was very good and I enjoyed seeing inside and out of the building. (Lewis, S3 Modern Studies)

Classes from Dornoch Academy travelled to inverness to be taken on a tour of a Robertson’s Construction site: the Justice Centre. We made this trip to primarily explore job opportunities and get an insight to the massive amount of work and varied roles within construction. It was interesting to see the way they were going about building a £20,000,000 structure. The way in which it was to be designed was modern and smart. For example, the cells within the building led straight to the courtrooms for obvious reasons. This was an interesting experience and my group

Head Teacher 3-18: Tina Stones, Dornoch Academy, Evelix Road, Dornoch, Sutherland IV25 3HR Tel: (01862) 810246 E-Mail: [email protected] www.dornochacademy.com and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Robertson Construction were very friendly and happy to answer any of our questions. (Cameron, S3 Modern Studies)

- Dr Allan attended the Science on Stage (SoS) Europe Festival in Cascais, Portugal from 31 October to 3 November. He was one of the delegates selected to represent the UK with his project “Be a Magician - Using Magic Illusions to Teach Science”. This was coordinated by the Association of Science Education (ASE). Founded in 2000, on the basis that the best way to improve science teaching and to encourage more school children to consider a career in science or engineering, is to motivate and inform their teachers, the not-for-profit SoS Europe Festival brings together science educators from across the continent to exchange best practice and teaching ideas and concepts. This year’s event saw 400 plus teachers from over 30 countries come together to present and exchange their innovative teaching concepts at a fair, workshops and in short lectures – with the UK represented by 13 primary and secondary teachers, plus an additional support team.

Dr Allan was one of two UK teachers chosen to deliver a workshop at the conference and one of three UK teachers that were selected to be part of the highlights package shared on the main stage at the end of each day. His project showed how magic illusions can be used to teach science and how he taught pupils how to do science magic performances to develop communication skills and confidence. He had previously represented the UK in 2017 in Hungary presenting a project showing how the school developed a partnership with Whyte and Mackay to teach and promote chemistry to students. Whyte and Mackay, who are also one of the partners for the N5 Lab Science course, generously covered his travel costs to Portugal to enable him to attend the conference.

UK SoS representative Stuart Farmer said: "The Festival brings together educationalists from across Europe in a way that allows them to share ideas together and break down borders. It is really interesting to hear the perspectives of teachers from other countries – especially coming, as we do, from a country where we have an extremely proscribed curriculum in comparison with most places. "The whole festival was really well organised – it was a great venue and it was by far the best team spirit we have had as a UK delegation at the festival."

Head Teacher 3-18: Tina Stones, Dornoch Academy, Evelix Road, Dornoch, Sutherland IV25 3HR Tel: (01862) 810246 E-Mail: [email protected] www.dornochacademy.com Dr Allan will be part of a team that will share teaching ideas from the festival with UK teachers at a “Best of Science on Stage” session at the 2020 ASE Conference in Reading next year. The pictures show Dr Allan presenting a workshop, demonstrating science at his stand and performing magic illusions in front of 400 delegates.

- Our school technician, Howard Tolliday, has won one of four UK Salters' National Awards for Science Technicians and will travel to the Salters' Institute in London on 6 December to receive his award of £1,000. These awards are run by the Salters’ Institute in collaboration with both CLEAPSS (Consortium of Local Education Authorities for the Provision of Science Services) and SSERC (Scottish Schools Education Research Centre). The aim of the awards is to highlight the importance of technicians in enabling high quality practical work in science in schools and colleges, with the emphasis on promoting and supporting the professional learning and upskilling of technicians and teams.

After being nominated by the school and making the shortlist of nine technicians, he was visited by two members of the judging committee. After talking to them and demonstrating the resources he has developed, he was soon informed of his success.

Since arriving in the school in 2016, Howard has provided excellent technical support to teachers to enable the pupils to have the opportunity to benefit from high quality practical work as part of their lessons. He has also provided work experience once a week with S6 pupils. He plays an active part in science week activities; interdisciplinary projects, rural skills trips and assisting pupils with geography projects. He has taken part in extracurricular STEM trips to Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow and the Highland Wildlife Park. He has also even showcased his creative talents by participating in stage performances at school by playing the guitar in a band with staff and pupils, as well as, participating in a comedy magic show. He will use the prize money from his award to attend professional training courses and meetings. His win is well deserved, and we look forward to him receiving his prestigious award!

- After competing well at the qualifying rounds, the girls S1-S3 team finished top of the North small schools group, having won all but one game (which they drew). Their campaign continued into the final where they played a convincing semi-final against Kilchuimen Academy, winning 8-1 to gain their place in the final of the small schools football competition. After this win, the girls were excited and ready to face a strong opposition of Ullapool High School, who had some very talented players, and who had won their semi-final against Ardnamurchan High School 4-0. The standard of football was very high with both teams going into the break even at 0-0. A strong

Head Teacher 3-18: Tina Stones, Dornoch Academy, Evelix Road, Dornoch, Sutherland IV25 3HR Tel: (01862) 810246 E-Mail: [email protected] www.dornochacademy.com performance in the second half, however, saw Mikayla score the opening goal to put Dornoch ahead with eight minutes left. After some impressive teamwork from the girls, they won a corner which was slotted home by Hope to make the final score 2-0. A very promising performance from the girls, with a huge amount of potential and a lot of talent. They now have the trophy to defend next year.

Congratulations to Ullapool High School, Ardnamurchan High School and Kilchuimen Academy for making it to the finals day. Thank you to Glenurquhart High School for being so accommodating and hosting the event and, finally, to David Lees from Ullapool High School for organising such a great event.

- Dalnamain is a small pre-Clearance settlement on the Lochbuie Road (about three miles from the junction at the Mound). Historylinks know that around the beginning of the 1800s, the people who lived in the settlement were moved to the coast and eventually many emigrated to America and Australia. At that time the house, which survives on the land, was built for a shepherd and his family and the second building may have belonged to an assistant. People probably lived there until the 1950s when the site was abandoned. Staff from Historylinks accompanied S2 pupils to the site to introduce them to methods of historical and archaeological recording.

I really enjoyed my time at the historical village of Dalnamain. I learned lots of important things and also what our past holds. I was intrigued by how many villages there were in and around Dalnamain. I was also interested in the architecture of this old building that our guide explained to us. Overall, I thought the trip was a good experience and I would advise other people to go too. (Luke, S2)

- On 7 November 2019, a group of higher/advanced higher art students, along with students from and Golspie, were invited to Skibo Castle to take part in an art workshop with their resident artist Peter Stanyer (known as Stan). Stan showed us his gallery of art work and we all joined in sketching some arty things, and enjoying the provided snacks. Stan was a great teacher, not only in terms of art skills, but also in the ways to progress in the art world beyond school. We are very grateful to The Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle for providing us with this opportunity. (Anton, S5)

Head Teacher 3-18: Tina Stones, Dornoch Academy, Evelix Road, Dornoch, Sutherland IV25 3HR Tel: (01862) 810246 E-Mail: [email protected] www.dornochacademy.com - My friends and I all really enjoyed the Step into STEM event because it was filled with fun activities. There were a lot of cool and interesting things to do, such as testing virtual reality headsets, designing equipment for army soldiers, modelling a house, creating circuits and much more. My friends and I all agreed that the virtual reality headsets were the coolest. When you finished an activity, you got a stamp on a piece of paper; once you got six stamps you would then be entered into a prize draw for a £25 Amazon gift card which was very cool. None of my friends or myself won the prize, but we still had a blast! (Matthew, S2)

- The S3s participated in a learning activity on 27 November based on Foundation Apprenticeships. They attended a presentation on the advantages of Foundation Apprenticeships and what they are, and were also given the chance to talk with a student currently doing a Foundation Apprenticeship. After the informative presentation, the pupils were divided into small groups and rotated around the displays. Each display was represented by a company or charity along with Special Forces, such as the Army and Navy. The displays were interactive and informative. The S3s found it to be an interesting experience and wished for more time at the event. (Caitriona, S3)

Term 2 (Monday 28 October – Friday 20 December 2019) Thursday 21 November – Friday 22 November (Inservice) Monday 23 December 2019– Friday 3 January 2020 (Holiday)

Term 3 (Monday 6 January – Friday 27 March 2020) Monday 17 February – Tuesday 18 February 2020 (Holiday) Wednesday 19 February 2020 (Inservice) Monday 30 March – Monday 13 April 2020 (Holiday)

Term 4 (Tuesday 14 April – Thursday 2 July 2020) Friday 8 May 2020 (Holiday) Monday 1 June 2020 (Inservice) Thursday 2 July 2020 (School Closes 12.30 pm)

Head Teacher 3-18: Tina Stones, Dornoch Academy, Evelix Road, Dornoch, Sutherland IV25 3HR Tel: (01862) 810246 E-Mail: [email protected] www.dornochacademy.com