Ayr Academy: 3 December 2008

Dec 5 2008

ON Friday, November 14, the Senior Charities Committee organised a leg waxing, hair straightening and nail painting event in aid of Children In Need. Pupils got the opportunity to buy raffle tickets, giving them the chance to pull the wax strips from the legs of senior boys Hugh McQueen, Calumn McKay, Graeme Dunn, Mark Smith and Ruaridhi Anderson! A total of £165 was raised.

A slave auction involving senior pupils was organised for Friday, November 21, which raised another £100 for the same cause. The popular slaves, sold for £22.50, were Stephen Simpson and Jason Slattery – bought by S3 pupils Laura Imrie, Amanda Woodside, Shannon McCroskie and Nadine Robertson.

A GROUP of pupils along with Mrs Kelly of the music department were involved with the world’s largest simultaneous singalong on Thursday, November 27. It was a requirement of Guinness World Records that every participant should sing for a full five minutes, and this was witnessed by PC Brown, campus police officer, and Mr Paul Holmes, ICT technician. The singalong started at 2.45pm with everyone performing You Gotta Be.

THIS is traditionally a busy time of year for the ever popular choir! They sang at Debenhams on Saturday, November 22, and raised £120 for their chosen charity. Their official Christmas calendar of events begins on Monday, December 3, at Princes Square in Glasgow. They also performed at Castlehill Church on Sunday, December 2. The choir would like to express their thanks to Mrs Spreadbury for her continued support and accompaniment. The music department would also like to express their appreciation of parents’ support at this busy time of year.

THE CHOIR will also be performing at the school annual Christmas fayre on Saturday, December 6, to which all pupils, parents and staff are warmly invited. The Senior Charity Committee are organising a Santa’s grotto and there will be lots of stalls selling a variety of Christmas fayre including home baking, books, gifts/crafts and tombola.

The grand Christmas tree will be up along with other festive decorations in the school’s main hall, courtesy of Ms Climie and the art department.

NOVEMBER’S Piece of the Month for art is by Allyson Murphy of 1G1, entitled Fossil Fish. Allyson made a relief panel, using strawboard to draw with shape and layering the shapes up to create a raised surface. She applied foil and a layer of drawing ink, before rubbing the ink off to create an old worn effect. Allyson made good use of her research work to help her create lots of surface details.

ON Friday, November 21, school vice captain Kirsten Russell was invited to an interview at the Horizon Hotel alongside fellow pupils from South Ayrshire schools, all of whom studied French at Higher level last year. The purpose of the day was to select two pupils to take part in a EUROSCOLA trip to Strasbourg in February 2010, and was organised by the Rotary Clubs of Ayr and Alloway. The trip involves a visit to the European Parliament, and provides an opportunity to develop communication skills and French-speaking abilities, as well as the chance to meet with other young people from across Europe. The outcome has yet to be decided, so fingers crossed for Kirsten!

ON Wednesday, November 12, Buddhist monk Ocne came into school to talk to the Intermediate 2 and Higher RMPSE classes about Buddhism. Pupils enjoyed their first meditation lesson and Ochre was available to discuss issues and answer pupils’ questions.

COLIN from Tree of Knowledge was in school on Friday, November 18, to work with S4 pupils. Colin worked with pupils on motivational techniques and study skills. Pupils benefited greatly from Colin’s entertaining delivery and input. Tree of Knowledge will be back in on Monday, December 15, to work with S5 on similar themes prior to their forthcoming prelims at the end of January. S4 study leave begins on Monday, December 4, and runs through until Friday, December 19. S5/6 interim reports should be with parents shortly ahead of the S5/6 Parents’ Evening on Thursday, December 11.

ALSO on Tuesday, November 18, a member of The Scottish Ballet Company visited the school to give a short lecture and video presentation on the work of the company. The senior pupils who attended the presentation will now have the opportunity to see the ballet company perform in their pantomime production of Sleeping Beauty.

CONGRATULATIONS and very best wishes from all pupils and staff to Mrs Bethany Kelly of the social subjects department and her husband on the birth of their first baby daughter! Other staff news includes a fond farewell to classroom assistant Lesley Hannah who has been with the school for the past seven years. Lesley has been a real asset to pupils and staff alike. We wish her well in her new job! A warm welcome to her replacement Mrs Lisa Fisher who started on Monday, November 24. A warm welcome also to Fiona Wallace who joined the clerical team in the office recently. Everyone hopes both ladies enjoy their time at Ayr Academy.

ON the weekend of Saturday, November 15 and Sunday, November 16, S6 pupil and MSYP Brian Borland attended the Scottish Youth Parliament’s November general meeting in Aberdeen Town Hall. 150 MSYPs attended this event. The theme for the weekend was Being Young Is Not a Crime. Pupil representatives were involved in a series of discussions, presentations and workshops. One of the important debates was “should there be a mandatory sentence for individuals found carrying a knife?” 35% of members agreed, 49% disagreed and 14% abstained. These results will now be presented to the Scottish Parliament for further debate.