Page Content ARDROSSAN ACADEMY 1 Welcome 2 Charities SUMMER NEWSLETTER 2017 3 SQA Welcome to the final edition of the school newsletter for session 2016-17. It has been a busy and productive year, with great 4 P7 Induction learning happening within and out with classes. Wonderful inputs 5 Prom 2017 to support the interests of young people have taken place this session including Champions for Scotland, Skillsforce, Digital 6 Prize giving Photography, Nail Art Tasters and Barista training. The support of 7 DYW partners really helps to bring the curriculum to life. If you have an interest in supporting the delivery of the curriculum or skills 12 development, have some real life experience which would benefit 13 young people as we prepare them for life after school or know of 14 someone who can, please get in touch with us. 14 I would like to thank the school community for giving me the 15 opportunity to work in Ardrossan Academy alongside wonderful 16 young people, families and colleagues. I know that the school will continue to thrive and build upon the fantastic ethos, which is 17 already evident. I will very much miss being part of Ardrossan 18 Academy and wish you all health and happiness for the future. 19 20 Have a wonderful summer! 21 Lisa Chalmers 22 Important Dates Headteacher Sagrada Familia, Barcelona Mary’s Meals—Can you help? CHARITIES Ardrossan Academy Charities Committee have been fundraising this year for Mary's Meals, a charity which aims to provide meals and support to the worlds poorest communities. The Backpack Project is a scheme run by Mary's Meals, in which they provide children with a filled backpack equipping them with the learning tools they need to progress in education. At this time of year when people are buying in school uniform and supplies for the new term, the committee would like to ask parents and carers to support this cause in any way they can. Firstly, if your child's schoolbag from this session still has a bit of life in it, then we would be extremely grateful to receive it so that we can fill it with supplies. Alternatively, when you are purchasing new stationery, are you able to buy an extra pencil, pencil case, or any other stationery? If you would like to contribute to this in an even greater way, then you may want to fill a backpack with supplies, ready to be collected by Mary's Meals. Any donation, no matter how big or small, can be handed into the school office and will be greatly received. Many thanks for your continued support of the school Charities Committee. A recent coffee morning and bake sale raised £202.20 for Mary's Meals. This is enough money to feed 14 children for an entire school year. Thanks to everyone who supported these events. Nail Art Group A number of S2 girls have been taking part in a Nail art group each Tuesday morning with Stephanie Lynn from Royalty Salon. They have been working with gel polish, applying colour and allowing the nails to cure under a UV light. They have also been gaining experience in working with a variety of nail art tools such as nail dotters, brushes, glitter and acrylic powder and have been applying their creativity to create beautiful nail art designs. The girls particularly enjoyed creating ombre, marble, holographic and duo chrome designs. The girls had great fun and learned many new skills. They were able to show off their new found talents by holding a charity fundraiser in support of Ainslie Mitchell. Ainslie is an 18 year old local girl, with an incurable rare sarcoma cancer in her lung. She and her family have been told of other treatments abroad that may help including climavax and stem cell therapy, as her condition is incurable in Britain. This may give Ainslie a better chance and better quality of living. The charity session took place on Tuesday 13th June 2017 and was very successful with many members of staff coming along, making a donation and 2 enjoying being pampered. In total we raised £47.50 Thank you to all involved, it is much appreciated! ADVANCE NOTICE The Ardrossan Academy Winter Fayre will take place on Saturday 25th November 2018. SQA Examination results will be Clerical check—which involves Stalls can be hired for issued on Tuesday 8th August. the mark allocation being £20 from Pupils can elect to have their check ed by SQA. Mrs MacPherson of results texted to them, or wait for Marking review—which the Computing the brown envelope to drop involves the paper being Department. through the door. re-marked. This is always a great Some young people may not Very few changes are made as a achieve what they were hoping for event and very busy! result of Clerical Checks and in this diet but there will be help Marking Reviews and it is on hand on Thursday 10th and therefore important that the Friday 11th August in school. criteria set regarding estimated Depute Headteachers will be in grades and grade boundaries are school on these dates to review adhered to, as results can go down options and give advice as to as well as up. whether the post-results service is Pupils can call the school office available to them. Remember, from 8th August to arrange an there is no longer an appeals appointment with a Depute process. The options available are: Headteacher . 3 P7 Induction Days—May 2017 TOP ATTENDANCE On the 18th and 19th of May we welcomed 151 P7 pupils for their S1 Induction Days. Over the two days they worked in their practical classes and Haseeb Afzal met several teachers from different departments across the school to get a Nabihah Afzal real sense of what secondary school life is really like. Each year we have a different theme for our P7 pupils and this year the theme was “Food for Freya Barclay Life” in conjunction with The Scottish Soil Association.Each lesson took a subject specific look at this theme. In Science pupils were testing food for Daniel Bell starch, protein and sugar. In the social subjects department the pupils were Hannah Black- learning all about Fair Trade food via RMPS, food poverty and the Foodbank in Modern Studies and rationing and the importance of reducing waste in wood History. In Technical the pupils were making wind turbines out of a variety Joy Brotherhood of materials to promote environmental awareness. The pupils had a fantastic time and thoroughly enjoyed their two day visit. A representative Andrew Buchanan from The Scottish Soil Association joined some of our pupils over the two day induction and was really impressed with our prospective pupils and the Sarah Cannan student leaders who supported them through the school. The pupils Janet Cheung completed their “Food for Life” Passport and were presented with a certificate at the end of their second day. All of the teachers were very Caryn Findlay impressed with how well all the pupils settled over the two days. We are really looking forward to welcoming you all in August. Ross Gentleman Nicole Giffney Andrew Jack Joshua Kilpatrick Alix Kirkwood Victoria Lees Catriona McNairn Molly Mitchell Stewart Morgan Lucy Muir 4 Prom—Class of 2017 TOP ATTENDANCE On Thursday 8th of June there was a fantastic turnout of family and friends for our S6 pre-prom drinks reception. It was Rebecca Murphy great to see our pupils turned out in all their Gemma Nix finery for their final farewell from Ardrossan Academy. We had a fabulous Dionne Palmer night of dinner, drinks, dancing and good old -fashioned Karaoke to celebrate all of their Louise Ribbeck wonderful achievements at the Burnhouse Ethan To Manor in Beith. We wish them all the best for their future and look forward to hearing Ben Wallace how well they have all done in their examinations. Iona Barclay Aaron Berryman Danielle Cameron Stewart Carnachan Ethan Ferguson Calum Murphy Naomi Myers Christopher Ribbeck S1-S3 Prize Giving SIR TOM HUNTER CHALLENGE Another great S1-S3 prize giving took place on Tuesday 13th of June. Over 100 awards were issued to our wonderful pupils who have done so well this year. The Sir Tom Hunter Pupils in S1 and S2 pupils received awards for Excellence and Distinction in a Challenge invites number of their classes. Our S3 pupils received Subject awards and we had numerous special prizes for pupils from S1-S6. These prizes were for our School schools across of Sport pupils, Athletic champions and to our pupils who have been Ayrshire to compete contributing so much to our community in so many ways. Our Astra Base for funding, which Buddies were awarded for their contribution to supporting our pupils in the will support Autism Base. A group of our S3 pupils who took part in our Youth Philanthropy entrepreneurial Initiative event, but were unsuccessful, also received the first ever Parent activity. Council Active Citizenship Award. These pupils were so moved by the charity they were working with that, in their own time, decided to go and work in the On Monday 19th garden of the South Beach Care home to try and make it more pleasant for all June, a team of S2 the people who live and work there. Aria Pascual, once again, received the pupils from Colthart trophy for all of her achievements in the world of Karate. Ardrossan Academy The prize-giving was run by our great House Ambassadors and the evening was competed against St. made just perfect by four S3 pupils who performed beautiful musical pieces.