ARBROATH ACADEMY

Newsletter for Parents & Carers

Summer 2014

Arbroath Academy “Together – With Pride!”

The learning and the achievements of young people are

at the heart of our vision for Arbroath Academy.

Arbroath Academy is a learning community, integrated

into the wider community, where relationships matter.

This learning community has been shaped and continues

to be reshaped by the interactions between young

people, teachers, parents/carers and everyone

connected to the school. This is what makes Arbroath

Academy such a warm, caring and dynamic place. It is

this vision that needs to drive the direction of the school

so that it will become much more fully a learning

community where all young people are supported and

challenged to develop and grow; and where they are

encouraged to be ambitious and successful.

Dear Parents/Carers

I would like to thank all parents/carers for their continued

support. Arbroath Academy continues to grow from

strength to strength. We have focused this year on

improving attainment and all the signs are that this will

be the case. We have also focused on wider

achievements and have a growing number of

opportunities both within school and in the community

for pupils to develop their leadership skills.

Staff have worked extremely hard to deliver the new

National Qualifications and also in preparing for the new

Highers.

An increasing number of pupils are keen to wear school

blazers, so we are making it possible for all pupils to

purchase blazers through the school.

Please note there is an additional In-Service Day from

the Scottish Government, to prepare for the new Highers.

This means that pupils will return to school on Wednesday

13 August 2014 after the Summer holidays.

We continue to value your support in encouraging good

timekeeping, attendance and smart school uniform.

As a school we are keen to hear views on how we can

continue to improve.

This Summer newsletter can also be viewed online

through our website http://www.arbroathacademy.angus.sch.uk)

Wishing you a happy Summer holiday.

Doreen Redfern

Head Teacher

Mon 11 August In-Service Closure Day 1

Tue 12 August Extra In-Service Closure Day

Wed 13 August Pupils return to school

Sat 4 – Sun 19 October Autumn Holiday (pupils return to school Mon 20 October)

Thu 27 November In-Service Closure Day 2

Fri 28 November In-Service Closure Day 3

Mon 1 December St Andrew’s Day Holiday

Tue 23 December Last day of Winter term – school finishes

at 12 noon

Wed 24 Dec – Tue 6 Jan Christmas Holiday (pupils return to school Wed 7 January 2015)

Fri 13 – Mon 16 Feb Mid-Term Holiday

Tue 17 February In-Service Closure Day 4

Fri 3 April Last day of Spring term – school finishes

at 3.40pm

Sat 4 – Sun 19 April Spring Holiday (pupils return to school Mon 20 April)

Mon 4 May May Day Holiday

Mon 25 May In-Service Closure Day 5

Thu 25 June Last day of Summer Term – school finishes

at 12noon

HOLIDAY DATES FOR THE CALENDAR 2014-15

� Mr Scott Brown started with us as Depute Head

Teacher at the beginning of June 2014.

� Mr Gerry Austin joined the Business, Computing and

Technical Education department in May 2014.

� Mrs Audrey Simpson joined the Language &

Communication department in May 2014.

� Mr Garry Reeve has joined the Business, Computing

and Technical Education department to cover Mrs

Russell’s maternity absence.

� Mr Joe McGalliard returned to his post of Principal

Teacher Social Subjects & RME.

� Mrs Diane Smith returned to her teaching post within

Social Subjects & RME.

� Mrs Sheila Anderson moved department to join the

Business, Computing and Technical Education

department to teach Business Studies.

Some members of staff have moved on to pastures new

and we wish them all the best in their new post:

� Mrs Fiona McIntosh has moved to Arbroath High

School.

� Mrs Nancy Croall has moved to Carnoustie High

School.

� Mrs Gillian Cunningham has moved to Buckhaven

High School.

STAFFING UPDATE

A reminder of the school meal prices:

Primary Secondary

Pupils £2.00 Pupils £2.10

Staff £3.00 Staff £3.00

Twitter

Keep up-to-date on the lastest news from Arbroath

Academy via our Twitter account:

https://twitter.com/ArbroathAcad

Web Site

We continue to work on the Arbroath Academy’s web

page. http://www.arbroathacademy.angus.sch.uk

SCHOOL MEALS FOR 2014-15

ARBROATH ACADEMY COMMUNICATIONS

Thu 19th June P7 Induction Day

Fri 20th June P7 Induction Day

Tue 24th June S1-3 Celebration of Achievement Evening

Wed 25th June S4-6 Celebration of Achievement Evening

Fri 27 June Last day of Summer Term – school finishes

at 12 noon

September 2014 S4-6 reports issued

October 2014 S1-3 reports issued

Tue 4 November S2 Parents’ Evening

Thu 20 November S3 Parents’ Evening

November 2014 S4 reports issued

Thu 4 December S5/6 Parents’ Evening

Tue 13 January 2015 S1 Parents’ Evening

February 2015 S2-3 reports issued

Wed 25 February S4 Parents’ Evening

March 2015 S5-6 reports issued

May 2015 S1 reports issued

Wed 17 June P7 Induction Day

Thu 18 June P7 Induction Day

DATES OF INTEREST 2013-14

DATES OF INTEREST 2014-15

Arbroath Academy’s colours are BLACK and GOLD.

Pupils are expected to wear:

� A white or black blouse/shirt

� Black cardigan, v-neck sweater or plain black

sweatshirt (no hooded tops)

� School tie (available from the school office)

� Black trousers or skirts (no shorts or leggings)

� Black shoes

� Dark coloured jacket (no denim jackets)

All outdoor garments and anything that is not uniform is

to be removed in the classroom.

For P.E. and sports activities in school, pupils are

expected to wear:

� A plain white t-shirt/polo shirt (no football tops)

� Black shorts/tracksuit trousers

� Training shoes or a change of shoes.

In cold weather you might also like to wear a tracksuit or

warm top.

For health and safety reasons pupils will asked to remove

jewellery and piercing in P.E.

OUR UNIFORM

P.E KIT

Easter School

The Science Faculty ran a successful 2 day revision

school during the Easter holidays where a good number

of students came in for extra support and 'fine tuning' in

preparation for their exams.

nPower Scottish Energy Competition

In March, Eilidh Kelly, S4, Ceri Saddington, S4, Connor

Troup, S4, and Aayush Bashyal, S4, represented the

school at the National Museum in Edinburgh, at an

engineering competition which focused on the feasibility

of different options in terms of raising the amount of

electricity which Scotland generates from renewable

energy sources. As well as Physics, Maths and Business

Knowledge being used, the team had to give

presentations and answer field technical questions

about their decisions.

The Academy has pupils working through their Bronze

and Silver Duke of Edinburgh Awards, along with pupils

from a range of other local schools, who all meet at the

Academy regularly and go on expeditions together.

Duke of Edinburgh is run and coordinated by the Angus

Community Learning Unit, and supported by a small

number of teachers from the participating schools.

SCIENCES

DUKE OF EDINBURGH

Graphic Novels Talk

In a series of visits to Arbroath Academy in May and early

June, local librarian David Robertson introduced S3

pupils to the graphic novel as a storytelling form. Pupils

then had the opportunity to explore comic panels and

storyboarding, creating their own narratives from

scratch. This was an extremely interesting experience,

enjoyed by all S3 pupils. We take this opportunity to give

thanks to David for his inspiring visit. Pupils really

appreciated this introduction to storytelling through a

visual medium.

S3 pupils listening to David Robertson

LANGUAGES & COMMUNICATIONS

Arbroath Academy S1-S3 girls Football Team:

Back row

L-R:

Allana Mason, Sydney Cairns, Sinead Watson,

Demi Dickson, Chloe Guthrie

Front row

L-R:

Chloe Morison, Ellie Cook, Katie Boyd

Arbroath Academy S1-3 Girls football

The S1-3 football team have been successful in two

competitions this term. They competed in the Angus

Schools Festival at Arbroath High School finishing overall

2nd place. In addition, the team also made it through to

the East Regional finals for the 7 a side tournament. The

girls competed against schools in Angus and Dundee

winning 4 games out of 6.

The scores were as follows:

• Arbroath Academy 2 v Monifieth High School 0

(Kirsty Robertson 2)

• Arbroath Academy 3 v Grove Academy 0

(Sydney Cairns 2, Sinead Watson 1)

• Arbroath Academy 1 v Montrose Academy 0

(Chloe Guthrie)

• Arbroath Academy 3 v AHS 0

(Sydney Cairns 2, Sinead Watson 1)

• Arbroath Academy 1 v St Johns 1

(Sydney Cairns)

Unfortunately the final fell on the same day as the school

Sports Day which had a huge effect on their

performance as well as standard of the other teams

being high resulted in the girls being knocked out of the

competition.

Signal Tower Museum Visit

Following on from David’s talk on graphic novels, S3

pupils visited the Arbroath Signal Tower Museum, where

they uncovered the town’s rich and dramatic maritime

heritage. As they received a guided tour of the

museum, pupils took notes and sketches that would later

inspire their own illustrated stories and comic strips.

Everyone really enjoyed this visit, and pupils left the

museum feeling inspired by the maritime history and

folklore of Arbroath. We would like to thank the Signal

Tower Museum staff for taking the time to help us

develop our storytelling ideas while learning more about

our local area.

S3 pupils taking notes at The Signal Tower

Tartan Treasures Competition

Congratulations to Jamie Clarke, S1, whose poem “What

Scotland Means to Me” was Highly Commended in this

year’s Tartan Treasures Poetry Competition. The

competition sets out to discover first class modern day

poets who have been as inspired by Scotland as Robert

Burns himself. Jamie attended a special prizegiving

ceremony at the House of Dun during the Tartan Day

Scotland festival, part of Homecoming Scotland 2014.

Jamie, S1, proudly showing his certificate

S1-S3 pupils enjoying the Annual Athletics competition

Athletics Competition

The annual athletics competition took place in May this

year with pupils from S1- S3 taking part to become the

overall athletics champion for their year.

Pupils could sign up for 1 or all events and every event

they signed up for they got points for their House as well

as extra points if they finished in the top 8 positions. The

pupil with the highest points at the end of the

competition won the overall athletics champion.

It was a very close competition and the PE department

commended all pupils on their effort and behaviour

during the two days. Pupils who excelled in the events

will be asked to be part of the Arbroath Academy

athletics team to compete at the County Sports at Caird

Park in Dundee on the 10th of June.

The results are as follows:

S1 GIRLS S1 BOYS

1st Kirsty Robertson(56)

2nd Chloe Guthrie (39)

3rd Shauna Chisholm

& Lauren Anderson (30)

1st Leon Gibson (55)

2nd Kaysai Richardson (39)

3rd Bruce Donaldson (37)

S2 GIRLS S2 BOYS

1st Rachel Wallace (44)

2nd Taylor Buick (41)

3rd Morgan Spence (34)

1st Adam Caird (45)

2nd Ronan McAllan (38)

3rd Aarambha Bhattarai (36)

S3 GIRLS S3 BOYS

1st Sydney Cairns (59)

2nd Jorge Cullen (45)

3rd Stacey Dell (30)

1st Alex Gibson (46)

2nd Logan Napier (44)

3rd Robbie Greenhill (43)

Dundee Art Society Summer Open Exhibition

Dundee Art Society holds a Summer Open Exhibition in

June at the Roseangle Gallery in Dundee. One of the

aims of this is to encourage young people with a talent

for drawing and painting. The Society invites pupils from

S1-S6 to participate in this exhibition. The entry is limited

to two works per school. The Roseangle Cup is awarded

to the winner plus a gift voucher and certificates for the

runners up. The judging is by a panel of professional

artists who, of course, take into account the ages of the

pupils. This allows for a level play field between pupils

regardless of age and is an opportunity for young talent

to display their work alongside adult professional and

amateur artists.

Our chosen entries this year come from two outstanding

S4 pupils, Erica Low and Rowan Small. The girls were in

our first cohort of pupils to sit the new National 5

qualification in Art & Design this year and have

demonstrated an extremely high level of ability and

creativity in all aspects of their work as well as excellent

observational skill in their drawing. Erica's study of a

cowboy boot titled 'Lone Star' uses dip pen, ink and

wash technique and shows her use of line, pattern and

tone. Rowan's work came under the same mexican

theme and is a study of a tequila bottle titled '3 Amigos'

shows her excellent use of the pointillist technique in fine

line pen.

Both Erica and Rowan have been invited, along with

parents and friends to attend a private viewing at the

Gallery on Friday 6th June when the Roseangle Cup will

be awarded to the winner. I look forward to spending

the evening with them to celebrate their success.

Mrs Brown, PT Expressive & Performing Arts

EXPRESSIVE & PERFORMING ARTS

created by Rowan Small, S4

Royal Scottish Conservatoire

Mike Prokop, S2, has recently being accepted into the

Royal Scottish Conservatoire in April 2014 and has just

recently gained a distinction in his grade 3 clarinet exam

after playing for little more than 9 months.

As Mike is only in 2nd year he will be attending the

conservatoire as a part time student in order to continue

his education at Arbroath Academy.

Basketball Summer League

Arbroath Academy and Arbroath High School pupils

have been participating in a Summer League for

Basketball run by Colin Mcevoy.

The schools were mixed together into teams at the start

of the league and trades have been made each week

to ensure the teams are fair.

The schools compete in competitive games each week

and also a free throw competition. Senior pupils from

Arbroath High School are assigned as coaches to gain

coaching experience as well as the pupils being

scorekeepers and timekeepers.

The league has been very successful in encouraging

pupils to keep playing basketball and has allowed

players from both schools to develop their skills further.

To recognise pupils’ wider achievements the school is

working closely with Volunteer Angus and there are now

over 50 pupils registered to do the Saltire Award.

12 pupils have achieved their Approach Level Saltire

Award (10 or 25 hours) and 7 pupils have achieved their

Ascent Level Award (50 hours and above).

Arbroath Academy would like to say a big well done to

all pupils for their hard work and a big thank you to all

their partners.

Nuffield Placement

The Pupil Care and Support department organised for

Frances Chapman from the Nuffield Placement scheme

to visit the school and speak to all S5/6 pupils.

The Nuffield foundation offers pupils the opportunity to

work with scientists, technologists, engineers or

mathematicians on a research project in one of these

areas. Pupils get hands on experience of a professional

research environment to help them decide if they wish to

follow a career in this area. Once pupils apply they are

interviewed and then, if successful, given a research

place for 4-6 weeks during the summer holidays.

This year, Zoe Killoh, who has just started in S6, has been

successful. She has met with Dundee University and is

looking forward to starting her research project.

Well done Zoe.

PUPIL ACHIEVEMENTS

created by Erica Low, S4

The 3 short-listed titles for this year’s Angus Book Award

were launched to two S2 English classes in March when

the pupils found out a bit about each of the authors and

their nominated book. The books had been part of

rigorous elimination process carried out by secondary

school English teachers, librarians and pupils across

Angus schools culminating in the final three titles: Heroic

by Phil Earle, The Night Sky in my Head by Sarah

Hammond, and The Savages by Matt Whyman.

Following the launch, the pupils read each of the titles

and embarked upon a series of activities such as

designing alternative books covers, writing their own

book blurbs, and animating aspects of their favourite

book. The culmination of participating in the activities

and reading the books was to vote for their favourite

book, experience a visit to the school by one of the

short-listed authors, and the evening ceremony where

the winning author was announced.

Matt Whyman, author of The Savages, visited pupils at

Arbroath Academy in the morning of the 20 May just

hours before his book was revealed as the overall winner

at the evening ceremony held at Monifieth High School.

Matt gave an enjoyable talk on how he spent his time as

a writer and also how he came to develop the ideas for

his novels, including his latest work. In an activity

designed to encourage the pupils’ view on their own

ability to write, Matt also described the 12 steps of any

piece of creative work which had pupils discussing the

similar attributes between film, books and computer

games. The pupils contributed with enthusiasm and

showed their appreciation by giving the author a

preview of the animation they had been involved in

making about Matt’s short listed book.

ANGUS BOOK AWARD

Part of the development of the Leadership Programme

has also included the promotion of the Pupil Councils in

partnership with Community Learning and Development.

The pupil councils have been active in the school and

have been involved in speaking to S1 classes, delivering

assemblies and ascertaining the views of their peers on

certain issues. Based on feedback from their peers, the

pupil council representatives created a wall design to

promote the school values. (pictured below)

Working with Miss Cheryl Parker, Secondary School

Assistant, the reps. painted the design on the wall. They

then supervised their peers putting their handprint within

the design. Assemblies were held the first week in June

to recruit new pupil council representatives for each

form class.

Christine Watkin (Arbroath Speaker’s club) with S3 monitors

Pupils in S3 have also been given the opportunity to

develop their leadership skills through the S3 monitor role.

32 pupils have been appointed as a school monitor and

spent a morning being trained. Part of this training

included working with Christine Watkin from the Arbroath

Speaker’s club to develop their presentation skills. All the

pupils did very well and are looking forward to using

these skills. To recognise the hard work of the monitors,

pupils have been given the opportunity to study for the

SQA Award in Volunteering Skills and 25 pupils are now

working on this on a Friday Form Time with Dr Thomson, PT

Raising Achievement.

At the ceremony, S2 pupil Justyna Butkiewicz was

announced as joint winner in the alternative book covers

competition for her design of Sarah Hammond’s The

Night Sky in my Head. Justyna won a signed copy of

each of the short listed titles.

Justyna Butkiewicz, S2, pictured above

Three Arbroath Academy pupils, Rachael Smith, S6,

Morgan Ann Soutar, S3, and Emily Leslie, S3, attended

the TayPlan Youth Camp on Saturday 26 April at Abertay

University. Twenty One pupils from schools across Tayside

attended the event to look at the future plan for the

development of Tayside.

During the course of the day the pupils split into groups

and each group was given one Main Issue from the plan

to discuss their ideas and have their say. They then had

to prepare a presentation on the Main Issue. Morgan

and Emily worked with pupils from Dundee High and

Monifieth High school to look at the issue of city and

town centres and Rachael worked with pupils from St

Paul’s school in Dundee to look at healthier lives.

All pupils worked hard and demonstrated excellent

presentation skills and team work skills. Well done!

pictured above is Morgan Ann Soutar, Emily Leslie, Mrs Hunter &

Rachael Smith

TAYPLAN

Arbroath Academy has continued to build on the Pupil

Leadership Programme, coordinated by Sara Hunter (PT

PCS), which was put in place in August 2013.

This term, a group of 10 S5/6 pupils trained the rest of

their year group during Lifeskills in the Heartstart course.

71 pupils successfully completed the course and

received certification in Emergency Lifesaving

techniques.

In addition to this, the school has formed a partnership

with Malcolm Finlayson from Radio North Angus and

several pupils have been receiving training in radio

presenting. Lakisha Carnegie, S5, and Frankie Kirkcaldy,

S5, have completed their training and are currently

practicing with a view to commencing programming

within two weeks. Gill Glass, S4, and Ceri Saddington, S4,

have almost completed their training and Aayush

Bashyal, S4, and Jack Masson, S4, are going to start their

training after their exams.

The school is working closely with the community to build

links such as this. Luke Cargill (S2 pupil council

representative), Sarah Ross (S5 pupil council

representative, paired reader and prefect) and Keir

Ritchie (S6 Sports Ambassador and Saltire Ambassador)

visited the Rotary club to speak about their leadership

experiences and the skills they have developed.

PUPIL LEADERSHIP