Parent Newsletter
End of Term
The annual Prizegiving took place on the evening of Tuesday 12th June. Over 140 pupils received awards for excellence in a wide variety of achievements. Photographs of the event can be viewed on our school website. Congratulations to all our prizewinners: continue this success into your future and you will do exceptionally well.
On Saturday 9th June, our junior girls football team played in the Scottish finals at Hampden Park. Although the girls did not win, they played extremely well, as they have done all season to reach this level. Well done.
On 25th June pupils and staff involved in the Music Department’s trip to Germany and Italy leave to tour and perform in various venues in these countries. There is a pre-tour concert at 7.30pm on the evening of Monday 25th June, in the school hall, which will be of a very high quality since the pupils are well rehearsed for performing on tour. Particular thanks are due to those parents who have made tremendous efforts over the session to support this venture in many different ways.
Also on 25th June, after school, we will be trying out a new venture for the school – a graduation of sixth year pupils who leave to take up fresh challenges after completing six years at Garnock Academy. This will be marked in a graduation ceremony at which parents and staff will be present.
Mrs Brennan, Marc Thomson, Mr McNaught, Laura Bell and Mr UrquhartOn Tuesday 26th June there are a number of reward trips for pupils who have shown a good attitude to their work and conducted themselves well. These trips range from an excursion to Alton Towers to cycling round Cumbrae, with many other activities in between. This continues our theme of rewarding pupils who have behaved well, and there have been quite a number of such activities over the session, from discos, video afternoons and smaller treats to encourage good behaviour. Prefects similarly took part in a “mystery” tour on Monday 11th June which encompassed a visit to the Edinburgh dungeons followed by ten pin bowling to thank prefects for their hard work over the session.
Seniors are looking forward with great anticipation to their prom which this year takes place on Friday 22nd June at the Marriott Hotel in Glasgow. Highland dress, ball gowns and stretch limos are the order of the day, for pupils (and staff.) Photographs will also appear on our school website in due course. Seniors are also busily engaged in selling their “Yearbook” which is entirely a pupil production, and the final edition of the school magazine “GAP” is currently on sale throughout the school.
Congratulations to David Long (S3) who has successfully been elected as a pupil “MSP” to represent Scottish pupils in a Scottish schools parliament in Edinburgh. This has representatives from all over Scotland, and operates on a very similar manner to the “real” parliament. It will raise and debate issues of direct relevance to Scottish pupils. David is one of two pupils from North Ayrshire – the other is from Arran – elected by pupils in a national pupil election, which took place on Thursday 7th June. Well done David!
Staffing Changes
Mrs J Brennan and Mr P Urquhart, both Principal Teachers of Guidance, retire in August. I would like to thank them for their many years of excellent service given to pupils in the school and wish them a long and happy retirement. (Mr and Mrs Brennan and Mr and Mrs Urquhart presented the awards and prizes at the Prizegiving ceremony on 12th June.)
Miss J Muir has been appointed Principal Teacher of Guidance and will take up this position in August.
Mr Halliday (PE Department) and eight Probationer Teachers who have been with the school for one year, also leave at the summer. These are Ms Birch (Chemistry), Ms Kelt (Geography), Ms Murray (Geography), Ms Eadie (Mathematics), Ms Sim (Art), Ms McCormick (Art), Mr Whyte (Chemistry) and Mr Forster (Physical Education). On behalf of staff and pupils I would like to thank them for their work, their energy, their enthusiasm and their contribution to the school. We all wish them the very best for the future.
In August we will be joined by eleven new Probationer Teachers who will be with us for session 2007/2008.Expectations
This session has seen a great improvement in pupil support for wearing the school uniform. This was good in previous sessions, but this year it has been almost 100%, and I am very pleased that the feeling of being “part of the school” is so well displayed. I fully expect this to continue to develop next session, and I attach details of the school dress code, for your information. One particular area, which we intend to focus further on next session, is the wearing of appropriate footwear, since this is an area where rivalry between the “latest” trainers can still be observed. In essence, we will expect footwear for school to be black – either school shoes, or plain black trainers. This should allow pupils (and parents) the opportunity to escape from peer pressure and high pressure advertising to purchase fashionable items of dubious quality.
We will also expect pupils to carry a school bag, for books, writing materials and PE kit. This simple task of carrying of a school bag illustrates that a pupil is serious about the business of learning, and I will expect all pupils, regardless of age or ability, to have a school bag with them. These need not be expensive, and there are very reasonably priced models for sale in most shops. All pupils will be issued with a homework diary (for years S1 and S2) or a work planner (for S3 to S6). Teachers will expect pupils to have these with them at all times, and indeed in S1 and S2 there are regular spot checks, with house points to be gained by classes with the best weekly record. Please check these reasonably often to encourage discussion about school work.School Board / Parent Council
The School Board had its final meeting on Thursday 7th June at which the School’s Leadership and Citizenship award was decided by interview. This year Laura Bell (S6) won this award, with Marc Thompson (S6) winning the DSM Award for Community Service. The School Board has served the school well during its seventeen years of existence and made a significant impact over this time. Improved pupil toilet facilities and our super ICT suit in Computing are two areas which were pursued by the School Board, as well as many others. Particular thanks are due to the chairpersons of the School Board over this time – Mrs J Dippie, Mr R Maund, Dr S Madsen, Mr G Williamson, Mr I Broughton and Mr J Hair, all of whom gave up much of their own time to ensure business ran effectively and smoothly. As you will probably know, Schools Boards across the country cease to exist on 31st July 2007. They are being replaced by the new Parent Councils.
In May, at the first meeting of parents interested in becoming part of the Parent Council, it was decided to invite all parents who might generally be interested in playing a greater part in school life, to an informal meeting in the school on the evening of Tuesday 28th August to discuss how this might be taken forward. Tea and coffee will be available. I will write to parents again as a reminder nearer the time.School Plan 2007-2008
The school plan for next session can be viewed in full on our school website, under “Information for Parents.” It is quite a lengthy document, but the main focus of our work is still based on the recommendations of HMI in their report of August 2006. These are:
• Improving attainment in Standard Grade – particularly the number of pupils who gain levels 3 and 4. Fewer pupils should be gaining grades 5 or 6, and more gaining grades 3 or 4 (or better).
• Continuing to improve curricular continuity between P7 and S1. There has been a lot of communication between our associated Primary Schools and secondary subject departments to make the change between primary and secondary as “seamless” as possible. This will continue next session.
• Improving pupil and staff expectations of what can be achieved. Too often our young people, who are as able as anywhere else in the country, settle for giving their second best. We must get away from an “anything will do” attitude and move towards an attitude of mind which says, “I have to give this my best effort.” We have some truly marvellous achievements in some areas of the school, but we would like all our pupils to have the same outstanding achievements in all areas of the school and school life.
• Meeting pupil needs in curricular terms. Much work has been done by departments to ensure that courses provided for pupils, and the materials provided within these courses, are best suited to the needs and abilities of pupils. In some instances this has meant introducing new levels of courses or re-writing materials for class use. This will continue next session.English and Mathematics:
Reduction in Class size, S1 and S2
From August, class sizes in S1 and S2 Mathematics will be twenty pupils or less. This is part of a national initiative to reduce class sizes in English and Mathematics in S1 and S2. This should benefit teaching and learning and improve attainment in English and Mathematics. In August S1 pupils will be allocated to English and Mathematics in classes of twenty pupils or less. Since the new S2 classes are operating in larger class sizes this session, when they were in S1, these S2 sections will need to be redistributed to bring class sizes down to twenty. Instead of eight sections in Mathematics and English, there will be eleven new sections. This will mean that S2 pupils will find themselves in smaller sections in English and Mathematics in August than they were last session. This is not a “change of class” although some pupils may think it is. This alteration in S2 is inevitable given that class sizes have to be reduced in English and Mathematics.
SHAW Award
The school has recently been successful in gaining a bronze award in the Scotland’s Health at Work (SHAW) initiative which encourages organizations to take steps to improve and maintain the health of their workforce. Professor Stevely of the Arran and Ayrshire Health Board made the presentation to the school on 11th June 2007. Next session this will be extended to the pupil population and to our associated Primary Schools by adopting and working towards the “Health Promoting Schools” initiative.
Professor Stevely presents the SHAW awardPupil Behaviour – Good News
One reads much in the press about deteriorating standards in pupil behaviour and conduct across the country. There is no doubt that children appear to pose more challenges to authority than previous generations appeared to do, which in turn offers challenges to schools and teachers. In May 2006, after a year of planning, Garnock introduced a new pupil discipline policy, which has now run for one year. It was well publicised at the time it was introduced. Since this has now operated for one year, the whole staff were surveyed to gauge opinion on how things had altered, if at all. I am pleased to say that staff felt that there had been a considerable improvement in pupil behaviour, and this was particularly noticeable amongst first year pupils who had experienced no other system. This is good news, which we hope to build on next session, with the continued support of parents.
Parental Survey
Enclosed with this newsletter, is a parental survey. I would be grateful if you could find time to complete this survey and return it to the school. This serves two purposes. It allows us to compare the views of parents now compared to what those views were in previous surveys, and it allows us to assess which areas of our practice we need to improve. Please take the time to complete the short survey and return it to the school office either by pupil, by post or by handing it in.United Nations Representative Visits Garnock
We were delighted to welcome Lise Grande (shown below) to the school on Friday 15th June. Lise is Head of Integration at the U.N. mission to the Republic of Congo in Africa, working mainly in the Eastern province of Kivu. She has the daunting task of managing the deployment of many thousands of UN troops attempting to bring peace and stability to this enormous region. Lise described her work to senior pupils and how she managed to work her way up through the ranks to such an exalted position in the U.N. She also led seminars in the Modern Studies department on Peacekeeping. In the afternoon Lise met with senior pupils and had a very stimulating discussion on the role of women in organisations which are often very male dominated.
Business Awareness Course
Jim Turnbull ran a very successful Business Awareness Course over 2 days in the Library of the school on 5th & 6th June for 5th & 6th year students. The group found the speakers informative and enjoyed the experience of promoting their own team products.
The speaker from Stagecoach PLC (shown below) had their full attention with a superb collection of model buses on display.
Dates for Next Session
Important dates for planning next session’s activities, in and out of school are as follows:Term ends at 1.00pm on Wednesday 27th June 2007
Pupils return at 9.00am on Wednesday 15th August 2007
Pupil holiday (In-service day) Monday 24th September 2007
October holiday week, Monday 15th October
to Friday 19th October 2007
Pupil holiday (In-service day) Thursday 8th November 2007
Local holiday, Friday 9th November
and Monday 12th November
School closes for Christmas, 2.30pm on Friday 21st December 2007
School reopens 9.00am on Monday 7th January 2008
February holiday break, Monday 11th February, and Tuesday 12th February 2008
Pupil holiday (In-service day) Wednesday 13th February 2008
Easter long weekend holiday*, Friday 21st March
and Monday 24th March 2008*
School closes for Spring holiday, 2.30pm on Friday 4th April 2008*
Pupil holiday (In-service day) Monday 21st April 2008
Pupils return after spring holiday at 9.00am on Tuesday 22nd April 2008
May day holiday, Monday 5th May 2008
Local holiday, Friday 23rd May
and Monday 26th May 2008
School closes for summer at 1.00pm on Friday 27th June 2008
Pupils return Thursday 14th August 2008
(*Note that the 2008 Easter weekend break lies outwith the Spring holiday period)
Brian McNaught Rector June 2007
Garnock Academy
School Road
Kilbirnie
KA25 7AX5
Telephone:01505 682685
Email: contactus@garnock.n-ayrshire.sch.uk
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