Two really fabulous (and a number of ordinarily fabulous) things happened this week: the Queen’s Baton Relay hit Haddington and the P7s hit Knox Academy.
It’s always a bit nerve-wracking organising the P7 visit. Months of preparation and consideration come to fruition for a madcap couple of days. It was great to meet the P7s – they pretty much all seem ready for the move to “big” school and were telling me that they wish that they could have stayed up for longer. They went round the school with the help of their S6 buddies, participating in classes and getting a feel for what the building is like on a day-to-day basis. They were polite, chatty and willing to give things a go, which is just what we want from prospective Knox Academicians! I would like to say a big “THANK YOU” to Ms Duff, Mr Simpson, The Guidance Team, the S6 and the Primary Schools for helping to make it such a big success. I am looking forward to welcoming the new S1 in August (and the time will fly!).
The Queen’s Baton Relay is also something for which we have been planning for a while. It was a wonderful example of the community coming together to put on an event that was definitely greater than the sum of its parts. The town was buzzing and, thank fully, the weather played its part to perfection. There are too many people to thank – but from a school perspective – Steve Wands and Laurie Daborn from Active School were marvellous, and were ably assisted by our own Mr Greenaway in the massive task of risk assessing activities and getting pupils involved. I was told that the Queen’s Baton Bus might as well have been called the “Knox Academy Bus” with the number of people carrying the Baton who had some affiliation with the school. In particular I would like to congratulate: Neil Howie, Scott Thomson, and Scott Marnoch for their Baton-bearing duties (also Demi Moffatt - even though she was representing Midlothian the day before). I was very lucky to be invited to the event for the Baton that was held at the Brunton Theatre on Tuesday night. It was an evening of drama, song and dance from around the Commonwealth and was a joy to behold. Mary-Beth McFern and Holly Meritt did us proud as part of the Baton Relay extravaganza by performing the piece they created for the National Theatre of Scotland's “Five Minute Theatre Festival”, with the theme this year of 'Yes/No/Don't Know'. They performed this balanced piece twice in front of a lively, noisy crowd and the piece was previously recorded to form part of the 24 hour online festival run by the National Theatre each year.
The County Sports also happened this week. Well done to everyone who took part and I look forward to hearing how it went in more detail. Congratulations also go to Kieran McDonald who took part in the Great North Swim Half Mile at Lake Windermere last Sunday morning. Along with over 500 others he braved the chilly water temperature of 17 degrees, completing the swim in 40 minutes and raising £180 for MacMillan Cancer Care. A brilliant effort!
Next week the New S4 go on Work Experience. I spoke to them this morning about our expectations of their behaviour and that they should get the most out of the experience as possible. I hope they have a wonderful time and come back having had a great time.
Now that the weather has perked up a bit, I wish you all a sunny and relaxing weekend.
S Ingham
