Katy Hegarty Head Teacher
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Katy Hegarty Head Teacher Inside this issue: I am delighted to announce that Roisin Craig is our DUX Head Teachers 1 –11 for 2017/18. comments ATA Championships 12 A fantastic weekend for Stewarton Education Group – 2018 Queen’s Badge-Boy’s 13 The P7 Community Band was awarded a Gold Award, Brigade the Junior Band was awarded a Silver Plus Award, the Young Athlete of the 14 Intermediate band was awarded a Gold Award and the Year/RTA Award Senior Band was awarded a Gold Plus Award at the National Scottish Concert Band Festival in Perth. Social Subjects & NEC 15 Card We were successful in securing Participatory Budgeting Awards at the PB event on Saturday morning including PE Dept. & Dick 16 Duke of Edinburgh, Gymnastics and Flex, thanks to our Institute Art & Design Parent Council, pupils and supporting staff. Exhibition. Stewarton Academy exhibitors. We had pupils competing in Curling and Gymnastics on Parent Council 17 Saturday and Sunday. members 2017-18 Parent Council. 18- Daniel Glasswell performed in the RCS West of Scotland (Various) 20 District Final of the Rotary Young Musician Competition in Glasgow. Stewarton Academy 21 Glow blog and twitter. Page 2 “WORKING TOGETHER CREATING OPPORTUNITES FOR ACHIEVEMENT AND SUCCESS” I do hope you enjoyed the recent Easter break and I look forward to another successful term. Last term was a very busy one for the school and the school newsletter, blog and tweets summarise some of the many exciting activities our students have been involved in. Each week I continue to be astonished by the quality of learning, partnership and success I see across all aspects of school life. SQA Qualifications Well done to all of the pupils who have completed National 3 and 4 qualifications. These qualifications do not have final exams and are internally assessed by class teachers and verified by the SQA. Many pupils have worked hard to complete units and full qualifications which will appear on their SQA certificates in August. Well done to the pupils who have also completed N5/Higher Units and SQA Awards such as the Wellbeing, Employability, Leadership & Personal Finance. The focus on supporting pupils to achieve the highest qualifications possible has meant that many pupils have achieved additional qualifications as part of the curriculum. The National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher examinations have now started and I wish S4-6 pupils every success in the weeks ahead. Their preparation and approach has been very impressive and I know that they have been working hard alongside their teachers in order to be fully prepared for the Senior Phase examinations. Well done to our Science, Language and Expressive Art Baccalaureate pupils who presented to staff and their peers last month. They spoke about their project, research and how they had changed as a learner because of the qualification. Well done to all of the pupils and staff involved! Page 3 PARTNERSHIP WORKING—PARENTS/CARERS Stewarton Academy is fortunate to enjoy strong partnerships with all of our parents and carers. I would like to thank all parents and carers who continue to volunteer their support and help for our school. It really does make an enormous difference! All parents and carers are encouraged to share their views, via GLOW Forms, on the improvement priorities of the school. We are focused on improving outcomes for all pupils and I would like to hear your thoughts on how we can best take the priorities of the National Improvement Framework forward. The primary purpose of the National Improvement Framework is to drive improvement for children and young people. The plan has 4 priorities - raising attainment; closing the poverty-related attainment gap; improving health and wellbeing, improving positive school-leaver destinations. It hopes to achieve the ambition of excellence and equity in Scottish education. During 2017/18 we focused on the following – Page 4 Our 2018/19 Improvement Plan will place the 4 priorities at the centre. Your ideas and suggestions helped shape improvement priorities this session and I would like to build on this in 2018/19. BUSINESS PARTNERS I would like to take the opportunity to thank all of our business partners who have supported the school at Careers Events by facilitating mock interviews/discussions and by providing work placements for our young people. At Stewarton Academy we are committed to securing positive destinations for all of our young people. I would like to thank our Pupil Support Team and Robyn Calderwood, our Skills Development Careers Advisor for the fantastic support that our pupils receive. We were all delighted with our positive destination figure of 98.62%, which was released in February. This is an excellent achievement and we are all very proud. A real Stewarton Community effort! Page 5 Page 6 AYRSHIRE COLLEGE We have also been working in partnership with Ayrshire College to provide a Barista qualification for some our young people. Staff have been working hard to develop other courses for 2018/19. Watch this space! DEAN PARK RANGERS Some of our S3 pupils had the opportunity to stay at the new Dean Park residential facility last month. The pupils planted trees, made a fire pit and a wild flower bed for the community to enjoy during their time at the park. The pupils were supported by Stewarton Academy staff and Dean Park Rangers. The pupils completed their John Muir Award while they were there as did Mrs Smith, our Classroom Assistant. Well done everyone! Page 7 CELEBRATING ABILITIES CONFERENCE Stewarton Academy hosted another very successful Celebrating Abilities Conference last term. Our pupils were fortunate to be working in partnership with Elaine Cramond on a Dyslexia Friendly Play. The pupils performed the play in front of their peers during the event and highlighted the views that some people can have towards children with additional support needs. The pupils performed brilliantly! Page 8 LEARNER PARTICIPATION In April Education Scotland published a document relating to learner participation. The guidance was initially developed in response to research that was commissioned by the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland and carried out by the University of Stirling. The research demonstrated that schools who were performing higher than expected in attainment had a strong focus on learner participation. Page 9 There are ‘Four Arenas of Participation’ which provide a framework for schools. Some suggested examples of where learner participation can have an impact include: • School building and estates design • Human rights awareness • Links between school and community • Staff appointment processes • Violence prevention initiatives • Learning, teaching and assessment At Stewarton Academy we continually look for ways for pupils to share their views and participate fully in the life of the school. Recently our pupils took part in 2 Participatory Budgeting events run by Vibrant Communities. Page 10 They set up stalls and spoke to members of the community to try and secure funding for their group. Participation in action! STAFFING Mrs Holligan, Teacher of Food & Textile, said farewell to her pupils on the last day of term. We wish Mrs Holligan well in her new post. We will be recruiting for a permanent Principal Teacher of STEM & World of Work, Principal Teacher of Curriculum Support and Principal Teacher of Pupil Support before the end of term. These posts currently exist within the school management structure but are being filled on a temporary basis at present. We look forward to filling them on a permanent capacity to drive forward the school priorities. We will be recruiting an Acting Depute Head Teacher (maternity leave) before the end of term. The successful candidate will lead of Pupil Support issues across the school and will work closely with our Inclusion Team. Finally, we will also be recruiting a Music Teacher and a Librarian Assistant before the end of term. We’re going to be busy! Page 11 NEW S1 PUPILS We have had some very successful transition events over the last few weeks. P7 pupils participated in a Curriculum for Excellence Day at Nether Robertland Primary School. Pupils took part in activities which promoted leadership and group work. The pupils and staff had a great time! I hope you enjoy reading about the other achievements and successes within the Newsletter. Yours Sincerely Mrs K Hegarty Head Teacher Stewarton Academy Page 12 ATA EUROPEAN TAEKWONDO CHAMPIONSHIPS 2018 Three local martial artists enjoyed a successful trip to Barcelona recently. Competing in the ATA European Championships brothers Jamie and Campbell Mitchell from Kilmaurs and Maria McCaffrey from Stewarton all returned with medals. The training camp and Championships attracts athletes from Spain, Portugal, Holland, Italy and the competition this year was extremely strong in all rings and age groups. Campbell won bronze in Traditional Forms and Maria bronze in Traditional Weapons. Jamie also took bronze in Traditional Weapons and in a hard fought final was just pipped for European Gold in Combat Sparring but was still content to take the Silver medal. The 2019 Championships will take place in Rotterdam and all three are already looking forward to competing and representing their country again in the Netherlands next spring. Page 13 THE BOY’S BRIGADE—QUEEN’S BADGE Well done to Zak Francis who was awarded with his Queen’s Badge at a recent Boy’s Brigade ceremony. The Queen's Badge is the highest award that may be gained by a member of The Boys' Brigade. A young person wishing to work towards their Queen's Badge must first have completed their President's Badge. The Queen's Badge offers the chance to engage with the local community, take on responsibility, set personal goals, build self-confidence and experience a sense of achievement.