There’s so much that I am proud of this week, so let’s get started. Firstly, huge congratulations to Paul Cunningham in S4, who has been selected to play for the Scotland U16 Rugby Team at the Conwy International Rugby Festival in Wales. Steve Lawrie, head coach of the team says: “As a coaching group we are under no illusions that playing against Wales and France at this age is a tough test; however, it is vital we take our players out of their comfort zone and challenge them under test match pressures.” I know that Paul will rise to the challenge and give his best – we will be cheering him all the way. Paul’s selection is the result of a lot of hard work, dedication and resilience, and we’re very proud of him.

Congratulations to everyone involved in the U14 hockey tournament at Ross High last Friday. The Knox team turned out to be the team to beat having won the S1 event last year. While we started slowly against Ross High in the first match, the team improved game after game. Following a close victory over the ever-strong North Berwick, the Knox team went on to win all their matches and thus won the event. Mr Wands writes, “It should be mentioned that each and every player contributed to this win and that they all should be very proud of this achievement. I hope that is spurs them on to continue to work on their game and enjoy every bit of it along the way!” Thanks must also go to Chris Hargreaves who has coached this squad for 2 years and has put in countless hours of time into coaching and encouraging the squad.

On Wednesday a number of our pupils headed to Torness Power Station for a visit. By all accounts they had a great time (see out Twitter feed). On Wednesday another group of youngsters were feverishly working to finish our BBC School Report film. They have worked really hard to pull together a thought-provoking report on housing in Haddington and how that might impact the town. You can access the film via this website. Congratulations to the whole team.

Yesterday we welcomed the Children’s University into school to celebrate the out-of-school achievements of some of our younger pupils. The pupils gain credit for learning outside of school, be it through visits to local attractions, learning a musical instrument or playing a sport. Hearty congratulations go to: Dylan Glass, Harry Thursz , Holly Cameron, Eilidh Graham, Liam Fairbairn, Sarah Greenwell , Louise Allan, and Andrew Graham. Special mention must go to Dylan Glass who has accrued over 400 hours of participation, he is surely a fabulous example of what people can achieve outside of school.

Last night I had the real pleasure of attending the East Lothian Showcase Concert at the Brunton Theatre. It’s an opportunity for our pupils to show off just how proficient they have become. Knox Academy was very well represented, with a number of pupils playing in multiple ensembles. The quality of the music was outstanding and was testament to the hard work of both pupils and instructors. It was a capacity audience who were all left in no doubt of the enormous musical talent that there is in East Lothian.

I believe that there is a rumour amongst the pupils that we will be finishing at lunchtime on the 24th March for the Easter Holidays. Please note that this is NOT the case – school will finish at 4pm that day, as normal.

Have a great week.

S Ingham