Belmont Academy: 12 November 2008

Nov 14 2008

CONGRATULATIONS to the Under 15 Squad who beat St Josephs Academy, Dumfries 34 -10 in the Third Round of the Scottish Cup with tries scored by George Wyllie, Scott Aitken, Lorn Shanks and Josh McGilvary.

The lads will meet Marr College in the next round and we wish them every success.

PROVOST Sloan and other elected members visited the school on Monday to talk to first year modern studies pupils on the role that councillors play in representing their constituents. The visit is part of the first year course looking at democracy and citizenship and everyone found it very worthwhile. A special thanks to the elected members who found time in their busy schedules to visit and talk with the young people.

SALES began last week of the Creative Writing Club's magazine which contains a wide range of original work written by pupils in second, third and fourth year and also featuring prize winning poems and stories. The quality of the writing is particularly high and, for the contribution, it is great to see their work in print.

ON Friday, October 31, all members of the school community were encouraged to wear something pink and make a donation to Breast Cancer Research. The response was tremendous and over £1,200 was raised and will now be forwarded to this very worthwhile charity.

WITH Portfolio Carrier Councillor Hyall Davis in the chair the P.P.P members - office group met at the academy last week.

After a tour of the new school building led by head boy and head girl Fraser Kerr and Joanna Wilson and their deputed Graham Tait and Alexandra Bradley the group met to review the current status of the P.P.P initiative which South Ayrshire based on a report provided by Mr Roddy MacDonald the head of Service for P.P.P.

In the discussions that followed the Belmont pupils were asked for their opinions and they greatly appreciated the opportunity to make an input.

THE SIXTH year of Belmont welcomed their counterparts from Kyle Academy to the traditional joint Halloween disco, a great time had by all and special thanks to all the staff who supported the event and to Mr Chris Flannigan for his work on the disco equipment.

A LARGE team of runners travelled from Belmont to take part in the Ayrshire Schools Cross Country Championship held at the Beach Park in Irvine.

In the events a number of pupils did particularly well: S1 girls - Carolyn Harvey 1 Craig B took 4th place, S1 boys - Alex McKee 1 Bute B took 3rd place, S2 girls - Jemma McShefry 2 Bute B took 2nd place, S2 boys - Finlay Rae 2 Bute B took 1st place, S3 girls - Caroline George 3 Cum A took 3rd place, Senior boys - Allan Cherry 6 Lom A took 2nd place, Andrew Rae 4 Bute B took 4th place, Senior boys - 1st team - Allan cherry 6 Lom A, Andrew Rae 4 Bute B, Tom Andrews - 5 Kin A, David Carter - a Ar A. Thanks to Mr Tom Reid for organising the Academy's team.

A GROUP of senior pupils led by Richard Pugh of our English department were in Glasgow to take part in a series of workshops and to see a performance of Romeo and Juliet. The production was placed in a modern context with the rivalry between the Montague's and the Capulet's being portrayed as conflicts between two mafia families. An entertaining idea which initially took some getting used to. However for everyone it was a great chance to see live theatre and professional actors at work.

A LARGE number of parents attended the S1 parents night where they got very positive feedback on how our first year have settled into not only the new school but secondary education. The quality of pupils work in this year group is extremely high and it was good to see how well everyone is doing.

WE all know that the 5th November is a time for fireworks. However Belmont's physics department went one better when the Intermediate 1 class went to the Old Racecourse to launch the rockets they had built.

Using compressed air as the propellant the rockets went skyward and travelled over an impressive 150 feet which delighted our young rocketeers. Particular thanks to their physics teacher Michelle Tufft for organising and leading this initiative.

ORGANISED by our Pupil Citizenship Group Third Year pupils took part in a citizenship day when they looked at issues which impact on them and the wider community. For the planning group this proved to be a success and for the third year participants it expands them to new ideas and approaches.

AS part of their programme of taking aspects of the work of Parliament out of Holyrood and into the country the Finance Committee met in the County Hall at County Building on Monday and a group of Belmont pupils were present and engaged in debate with other schools and the MSP's. The party was led by modern studies teacher Barry Kerr. Pupils were Alexandra Bradley 6 CrA, Fraser Kerr 6Cu A, Natasha Szmidt 6 Lo, Graham Tait 6 Lo and Joanna Wilson 6 Lo.