Good afternoon. It has been another busy week at Knox Academy. The Senior Leadership Team has been involved in visiting classes across the school, observing lessons and experiencing, first hand, the quality of learning and teaching our young people are in receipt of in their subjects. This has been a very positive experience for us all as we get to talk to learners about their progress and to teachers about their teaching approaches.
Staffing
We have preferred candidates for our full time teachers of Maths, Support for Learning and Technologies. We have also a preferred candidate for our Biology post.
Short-leet interviews for the Depute Head Teacher take place this Monday, 3rd September.
Pupil News
Six of our S4 pupils take to the Northumberland coast this weekend as part of their Duke of Edinburgh expedition. They will walk 25 miles over the course of the weekend and will use photography as their theme. What a great opportunity to walk in such a beautiful area and with the sun forecast to shine, i am sure they will get some stunning pictures.
I would like to offer a huge thank you to Phil Gilholm, Scott Marnoch and Lana Borwick for accompanying the pupils on this trip.
Pupil Events
Forty-four of our S5/6 pupils will attend the Fire-Up Scotland Event at the SSE on Wednesday 15th September. At this conference pupils will hear from inspirational role models challenging them to be the best they can be (as we do at Knox Academy through our value AMBITION) while proving there are a variety of pathways to reach various destinations. The role models will come from across the world of education, business, entertainment, the arts, sport and culture. It sounds like a very inspirational day and should leave our pupils ‘fired up’ at the end of it.
Parent Council
I received a very warm welcome at my first parent council meeting of the year on Tuesday evening. There was a fantastic presentation from Calum Blair, Faculty Head of Maths and Computing, which reviewed the results and where he discussed the faculty's vision/next steps for the next three to five years. The Pupils’ Senior Leadership Team also presented on their committees and key priorities for this session. Shamin Akhtar, Councillor, expressed her thanks to them for all their support of the Haddington 700 events. Further to this Stephen Wands gave an update on his role as the Active Schools Coordinator and all the opportunities available to the young people at Knox Academy before school, at lunch and after school.
It was a really interesting meeting and parents asked a number of questions about the exam results and the curriculum. If you can, it would be great to see even more parents/carers along to future Parent Councils. The next one takes place on 23rd October and will include presentations from Charli Prime (Meadowpark DHT) and Vicky Lyons (Support for Learning Leader).
Extra-Curricular Clubs/Active Schools (by Mr Wands)
The Extra Curricular Timetable can be found up at PE and around the school or on the School Website.
We are looking for pupils in S1-S6 to be part of this years Sports Council. If your keen on sport and want to help make Knox Sport great! - Pick up an Application for from Mr Wands today!
Knox Hockey Academy is looking out for a Teacher or Parent to help with Hockey (after school on a Monday) or on Saturdays. Please Contact Mr Wands for more information.
Resilience
We had a fantastic evening on Wednesday this week when Knox Academy hosted a screening of the film Resilience for almost 400 people in partnership with Loreen Pardoe (Support from the Start), and chaired by Tina Hendry from Re: Attachment. It was a great turnout, proving that our East Lothian community is committed to raising awareness of ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) and supporting those people in our area who are most in need. Our huge panel included representatives from the Violence Reduction Unit, Who Cares Scotland, Adoption UK, Emotion Works, Support from the Start, as well as individuals who have experienced ACEs themselves.
Thanks to all of the Knox staff, and in particular Susanne Fox, for making this event possible.
Aside of this, further congratulations to Miss Fox who completed the Haddington Sprint Triathlon for the first time on Sunday, 26th Aug. It was cold and rainy, but there was a great turnout of participants and supporters. Thanks also to the Duke of Edinburgh pupils from Knox Academy who helped at the event - you were all fantastic!
Congratulations to Jenny Leighton, Faculty Head of Health and Wellbeing, who completed the Tough Mudder Challenge at Holyrood Park in Edinburgh last weekend.
Lauren Jeffrey has also been shortlisted for Coach of the Year 2018 (as well as her trampoline club, City of Edinburgh' being nominated for Club of the Year (they also support the coaching here at Knox Academy and have provided trampolines for us).
Great to see our staff sharing their achievement too and it would be great if all young people (or their parents) would continue to let us know about their achievements outwith school so we can celebrate these too and I can write about them in my updates.
Dates for your diary:
- Wednesday 5th September – Senior Phase Information Evening 7-8pm
- Friday 14th – Monday 17th September (inclusive) – Holiday
- Tuesday 25th September – UCAS Evening for Parents/Carers 7-8.30pm
- Wednesday October 10th – P7 Open Evening
Have a lovely weekend and I am glad the sun is going to be shining for the Haddington Flower Show as well as our DofE walkers.
Sue Cook
