Events
It’s a bumper update this week, covering the activities of the last fortnight in school. (There was no head teacher’s update last week as my son got married - school work had to take a backseat.)
Senior pupils studying RMPS (religious, moral and philosophical studies) recently learnt more about the Buddhist way of life on a visit to the Tibetan Buddhist temple in Dumfries and Galloway. The group were given a tour by nun Ani Duklar, who showed them around the peace garden, the stupa and inside the beautifully ornate temple. There was then an opportunity to try some meditation and to sit in on traditional Tibetan prayers, followed by some delicious vegetarian food.
On 30 November, a group of senior French pupils and staff travelled to Aubigny-sur-Nère, Haddington’s twin town. There were plenty of opportunities to practise their French speaking skills, including staying with host families, visiting the local school and meeting members of the community. The group also explored Chambord Castle, the nearby town of Brouges and the local market, as well as visiting Paris to see the sights. From the Twitter updates, it was clear that food played a big part, too, with many French delicacies being tasted throughout the trip. Thank you to Ms McBride, Ms Laudi and the Haddington and Aubigny Twinning Associations for ensuring that the trip was such a great success.
Another member of the Knox Academy school community has been travelling in Europe recently: Ms Jeffrey is a trampoline coach and she travelled with the Great Britain delegation to the World Age Group Championships, held in Sofia, Bulgaria. The team came home with a clutch of medals, including two World Champion titles. Ms Jeffrey is immensely proud of the team!
Senior pupils studying biology have been busy recently. Advanced Higher pupils attended a conference on the Global Biodiversity Crisis, and they also joined Higher pupils on a DNA workshop at the National Museum of Scotland. Both these events gave pupils the chance to put their academic studies into a real life context. At the workshop, they used cutting-edge equipment to carry out the modern laboratory techniques of DNA extraction, PCR, restriction enzyme digestion and gel electrophoresis, as well as analysing their own DNA.
There have been some impressive achievements from individual Knox Academy pupils recently. In music, Tristan Swan, 3T1, scored an outstanding 92% in his Trinity College Grade 4 guitar exam. Dylan Pearman, 1T2, recently won the Under-13 boys squash championship at Edinburgh Sport Club and we believe he is now number 2 in Scotland in the category. Angus Langlands, 4G1, impressed our Head of Education when he met with her as part of his Scottish Youth Parliament duties. Angus engaged Fiona Robertson in discussion about a number of pertinent issues, and he has now been invited to design the logo for the East Lothian Youth Summit 2018. We look forward to seeing Angus’s design promoting this excellent event next year.
Following the S4 assembly this week, Mr Elms and I had the pleasure of presenting certificates to our Sky Sports Leadership team. Each pupil had logged over 20 hours of voluntary service promoting healthy active lifestyles, while also developing their own leadership skills and confidence. Starting in S3 and carrying on into S4, pupils have contributed to health & wellbeing and PE activities here at Knox and at local primary schools. With over 30 pupils receiving certificates, this contribution has been hugely valuable.
There are some very enjoyable tasks in a head teacher’s remit and one of these occurred this week: along with DHT Mrs Slowther, I was asked by Mrs Rankine to judge the work of her S3 English class biscuit production teams. Each team had to: create a recipe for a Christmas biscuit and bake it in home economics; research the market for the biscuit; work out production costs and likely profit margins; design and make the packaging; pitch the product to their classmates and the judges with a group presentation. Mrs Slowther and I were hugely impressed by the work of the teams and the judging was not an easy task. In fact, we had to try each of the delicious biscuits a few times before we could reach a final decision.
Last Saturday, our S6 Young Enterprise teams had the opportunity to promote and sell their wares at the YE Christmas Market, held at Central Halls in Edinburgh. Knox Academy fielded three teams and the All Is Bright team, selling handmade candles, won second place in the Best Sales and Marketing category. It seems we have some budding entrepreneurs in our S6 year group!
This Saturday night was undoubtedly the coldest night of the winter so far, with temperatures well below freezing. Yet that was the night an intrepid group of senior pupils, Ms Fraser and Mr Murray joined around 8,000 people in Princes Street Gardens for the Sleep in the Park. The event was to raise awareness of the plight of the homeless here in Scotland, and to raise funds to provide shelter. A massive well done to the Knox team for lasting the whole night, and thank you to everyone in our school community who donated to the cause.
4 Key Priorities
In a previous head teacher’s update, I outlined the 4 Key Priorities for Knox Academy:
• deliver high quality teaching and learning;
• support the needs of all learners;
• foster an ethos of ambition;
• provide leadership opportunities for all.
If you are in school do have a look at our display board beside reception, which is being regularly updated with progress on the actions towards achieving our 4 Key Priorities. It’s not just staff who are working on the 4 Key Priorities: our Pupil Learning Team is also focusing on these. At last week’s meeting of the school’s Extended Management Team, the S6 leaders of the Pupil Learning Team gave an update on how they are working on the Priorities with teams of pupils in every year group. PTs have commented on how impressive this presentation was, and I am delighted that our pupils are playing such an active role in leading school improvement.
Parent Council
Our last Parent Council meeting of the year took place last Wednesday. Topics discussed included benchmarking assessments, the timing of the lunch break (see below), communications and the S6 leavers’ dance. Our next meeting is on Wednesday 17 January at 6.15 pm in the Library. All parents and carers are very welcome to attend.
Timing of Lunch Break
We are proposing to shorten the lunch break and finish the school day slightly earlier, and I would very much welcome comments from parents on this. Currently, lunchtime is 55 minutes long and in the last 15 minutes or so, pupils can become restless and begin to behave inappropriately around the school corridors. This can have an impact on the period 5 lesson when pupils may be slow to settle. There are activities and clubs taking place at lunchtimes, but teachers feel that they can adapt these accordingly to fit a shorter timescale. The school buses could leave five minutes earlier so pupils would not have long to wait for the bus to depart. We have shared this proposal with staff, Parent Council and the Senior Pupil Team, and we will be asking pupils for their thoughts, too. If you would like to share your thoughts, please email me on the address at the bottom of this update.
Lost Property
The PE department has amassed an abundance of kit which has been left behind by pupils in PE lessons or extra-curricular clubs. If any pupil has lost an item of kit they should go along to the department on the last Friday of each month, where items will be laid out ready for collection. Any items not collected at the end of the month will be donated to charity or recycled. Please encourage your child to look after their belongings, and to write their name on items, just in case they are left behind.
Lauren Rodger
Head Teacher
lrodger@knox.elcschool.org.uk
