Queen Margaret Academy: 25 February 2009

Feb 27 2009

ON Thursday, February 12, South Ayrshire Schools Orchestra gave a wonderful recital in the Citadel.

Two talented pupils performed, Rachel Home on violin and Rebecca Shields on flute. Rebecca and Rachel are experienced musicians who play with a variety of orchestras. Rachel is trained by Wallace Galbraith and Rebecca by Sheila Hay.

FIVE young brass players will compete in the Ayrshire Music Festival this year: James Magee (S1) and Rebecca Gallacher (S2) will play coronet; Jennifer Park (S5) will play trumpet; Thomas McKay and Claire Law (both S1) will play tenor horn.

ONCE again pupils will be competing in the World Maths Day Competition which takes place on Wednesday, March 4. This is a competition in which all the pupils pit their wits against youngsters from all over the world to prove their skills in basic numeracy.

ON Wednesday, March 11, pupils from associated primary schools will visit Queen Margaret Academy to undertake the Mathematics Challenge. Miss Brewer will be working closely with Mr McGugan and colleagues from the primaries to make sure that the day is a great success.

THE HOME economics department, ably led by Siobhan Douglas, is once again driving forward in Curriculum for Excellence.

A GROUP of talented fifth year students have just completed their prelim examinations in hospitality. Mrs Douglas reports that their work is of the highest standard and that this course opens real opportunities for young people who wish to undertake careers in catering and hospitality industries, which make up a huge part of the economy of Scotland.

S2 pupils are working hard on their recipes to design an original pizza or pasta dish that will be sold for one week in Frankie and Benny’s in Ayr. Each group will prepare a dish based on set ingredients and each recipe will be prepared by Frankie and Benny’s chefs. The winning dish will be chosen by a panel of judges and the winning group and their families will be invited to taste the dish.

ALL second year students are on target to gain the REHIS Certificate _ The Royal Environmental Health and Institute of Scotland elementary food hygiene certificate. Every pupils has the opportunity to gain this certificate in food safety training. Forty pupils, however, have undertaken extra work which will enable them to be assessed externally for a more advanced certificate by representatives of REHIS.

AT a recent meeting of South Ayrshire Dyslexia Association, Queen Margaret Academy was cited as one of the best schools in South Ayrshire in terms of provision of support for pupils with dyslexia. All staff must take credit for this, particularly the Learning Centre, managed by Nicol Fleming, and the Supported Learning Centre managed by Jane Happs. On Saturday, March 8, in Ayr Hospital, a presentation and talk will be given by Dr Schnieder, a specialist in the field of dyslexia. Contact the school on 01292 268379, or the hospital directly.

THE TECHNICAL department are running a lunch club on Wednesdays and Thursdays for pupils interested in playing pool, table tennis and darts. Pupils interested in jewellery making should also come along to this club. If pupils are interested they should speak to Mr Devlin, Mr McKay or Mrs Malakoty.

THE ART Club continues to meet on Tuesdays at lunchtime. Miss Smith and her enthusiastic pupils create beautiful felt jewellery and the felt is made from scratch from merino wool. What a skill to learn!

Boys and girls are very creative in their designs, but those who do not wish to make jewellery come along to improve their painting and drawing skills.

S1 and S2 pupils are busy preparing for the Young Brits Art Competition and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival poster competition. Big prizes are available for the winners!

Next month, senior art students from QMA will attend the Glasgow School of Art Fashion Show, and Advanced Higher students will attend a workshop at Glasgow Museum and Art Gallery. During the workshop they will work with an artist to refine their techniques.

DUKE of Edinburgh students continue to work hard to attain their certificates at bronze, silver and gold levels.

Louise Speedy, who is a national development officer for this scheme, visited QMA last week to find out how successful this project has been. She conducted an evaluation with groups of pupils who have taken part.

The results of this evaluation will be made public, but signs are good that the students wholeheartedly support it and want it to continue.

ON Monday, March 9, some of the pupils will attend the School Analyst Competition. This takes place in Heriot Watt University. Three teams of sixth year students take part in a competition during which they carry out a mini-project, the success of which is judged by members of the university.

ELEVEN senior pupils from our Supported Learning Centre spent Thursday visiting The Marine Hotel in Troon. This was part of their enterprise access course.

During the day, pupils were allowed to observe staff in the hotel as they conducted their business. This gave them a clear insight into how a hotel functions.

IT is with great regret that the decision was taken to cancel the Burns Ceilidh. Although many parents and pupils expressed interest in this event, ticket sales were very slow. Any parents who have purchased tickets will be given a full refund.

YET again a ski trip has been arranged by Mrs Logan, principal teacher of physical education. Mrs Logan, an enthusiastic and skilled skier herself, has inducted many pupils, past and present, in the skills and thrills of the ski slopes.

The trip is planned for Saturday, February 28, to Saturday, March 7, and 20 children will take part.

THE S1/S2 junior netball team were unsuccessful in their game against Belmont and were beaten 11-3. Mrs Logan was philosophical about this. She states that they had many scoring chances but failed to capitalise on these.

SARAH Cassells, S3, has been invited by the Scottish Schools’ Athletic Association – following her recent performance at the Indoor Track and Field Championships – for a coaching day at Pitreavie Stadium on Sunday, March 15. The focus for the day will be on middle distance running.

THERE was much excitement last week as the ten acts going through to the grand final of the annual talent contest were revealed before a large crowd in the English open area. Mr Devlin (craft and design) and Mrs Walker (French) were unveiled as the hosts of this year’s show. They opened proceedings by announcing that the contest will take place on Friday, April 3, with rehearsals taking place on Wednesday, April 1, and Thursday, April 2.

Reigning champions Andrew Miller and Chloe Simpson drew out ten coloured balls containing the names of the acts going through, determining the order in which the will perform on during the contest. They are: 1 Robyn Brown, vocal performance; 2 Swear on Cities, solo acoustic and vocal performance; 3 The KSKs, Trio vocal & acoustic performance; 4 Katerena Nowosad, solo vocalist; 5 The Dirty Apes, band; 6 Carlie, solo vocalist; 7 Paul Mooney, guitar performance; 8 Alan and the Chipmunks (Racoon Redemption), band; 9 Retrograde, band; 10 Rince Shamrock, dance act.