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Garnock Academy Parent Bulletin No. 71 December 2007 Also at the Garnock Academy website www.garnockacademy.org
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Winter Weather (Emergency Arrangements)
We are now at the time of year that the school could be closed because of bad weather, in particular a heavy fall of snow. The decision to close is only taken after consultation with the Police, bus contractors and North Ayrshire Council staff. It is important that you discuss with your child where they should go if there is no one at home and the school closes early. Perhaps there is a relation, a neighbour or a friend they could go to until you return.
Every effort will be made to keep you up to date with school closures using the school website and Westsound Radio, but sometimes it is necessary to close the school at short notice.
This information is also relevant if your son/daughter takes ill at school and has to be taken home early. Please ensure that we have your current contact details - remember the school should be informed if you move or change a mobile phone number.
Parent Council
There have been several meetings of the new Parent Council. In order to involve more parents in the life of the school, the Parent Council is hoping to arrange a “showcase” evening sometime in February, to allow departments to present pupils working at some aspect of their coursework, with parents being able to attend, watch, walk round, discuss the work with teachers, etc. We will obviously provide more details once this has been finalised.
The Harris Charity Event
Pupil Activities
Pupils have recently been involved in a wide range of activities. The following represents a sample of some of these:
A charity concert was held on 27th November, periods 4 and 5, which was organised and run by prefects for younger pupils, This took the form of a “talent competition” and raised over £600. Prefects also raised £155 for the Earl Haig fund by the sale of poppies in November. Prefects also organised and supervised, along with staff, an S1 “reward” disco for S1 pupils whose behaviour has been exemplary. This took place on 12th October and was enjoyed by all there. Senior pupils followed this up by arranging their own Halloween Disco on the evening of 26th October in D4, which was also very successful.
School football teams have been in action many times, mostly with success, against a variety of local opposition. The U15 boys’ team, the S1 boys’ team, the junior girls’ team and the senior girls’ team have all played in recent events. The junior boys’ rugby team has also played on several occasions. Many pupils took part in the inter-house Cross Country which was held in October.
The school U19 and U14 badminton teams took part in the Ayrshire Schools competition, both coming second overall. The school was represented in the Scottish Schools show jumping event, and will again be represented at the Scottish Schools swimming championships in January.
Eighty five fourth year pupils took part in a valuable week’s work experience recently, mostly within the Garnock valley area. Several pupils also completed a week’s work experience further afield with the Army, which they seemed to enjoy.
Robyn Caldwell was third in the national Short Story competition, and Katie Rennie was successful in designing the “NAC Access” logo. Dylan Stewart was nominated Artist of the month for November. Pupils have participated in the North Ayrshire Youth Conference, and David Long has represented Scottish pupils as an “MSP” in the schools Scottish Parliament. Breandan McElhill (S5) was successful in the Rubik’s cube championships held in Birmingham several weekend ago. Breandan was the fastest British person, and second overall, with an average time of 14.6 seconds. You may have seen Breandan on Scottish TV news after the event – and the camera was not speeded up. Breandan also holds the British record for solving the Rubik’s cube with one hand, currently at 30.2 seconds.
Breandan McElhill with Mr McNaught
A group of pupils has formed an eco group, calling themselves “eco-a go-go”. The members spend a considerable amount of time considering how they, and the school, can be more beneficial to the environment. At present they are heavily involved in recycling waste paper, of which the school has rather a lot, but they are also looking at other activities.
Two senior pupils (Callum Crow and Zoe Hassler) along with Mr Auty (Principal Teacher of History) recently visited Auschwitz Concentration camp in Poland, as part of an initiative run by the Holocaust Foundation. Higher Geography pupils recently visited Arran for a field trip weekend, looking at various geographical and geological features. The Art department recently travelled with approximately forty pupils to the National Gallery in Edinburgh to appreciate the fine Art work on display.
S4 prelims begin on Friday 7th December and run for the next eight days or so. For S4 pupils this is a very important set of exams, since they are used to estimate the grade the pupil is performing at, and to produce quality evidence of a pupil’s performance in exams, should it be required.
The school concert band gained a silver award at the Scottish finals held in the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama on 18th November, which was an excellent result. The school junior band and junior choir performed at the Kilbirnie “switch on” ceremony for the Christmas lights, and Mr Campbell of the Art department, with assistance from Technical staff, prepared the “Santa’s Grotto” on display in Kilbirnie library. The junior choir is performing for the Hansel charity at the Rivergate, Irvine at lunchtime on 11th December. Our senior school choirs are again performing extensively at Princes Square in Glasgow, entertaing Christmas shoppers. They are performing on the evenings of 29th November, 6th December and on 24th December at 11.00am. Pupils are also performing – playing or singing – in a multitude of North Ayrshire events, and at various venues in the local area. The school Christmas concert takes place on the evening of Tuesday 18th December.
Parent Volunteers
As can be seen from the above, the school is involved in many, many activities. Parents are encouraged to become involved in the school community and we would appreciate it if you could give up an hour or two per week to help in any of the above areas. However, we are particularly keen to get parent help in sporting activities, teams, etc., as this would be of great assistance to us. If you have a particular interest, or expertise, or would merely like to help eg driving the minibus or helping with kit management, please contact the school on 01505682685. We would like to hear from you. If your interest is specifically sporting, get in touch with Mrs Hercus, our Active School Co-ordinator at the school number (01505682685) who will discuss this with you.
Please note that there are guidelines for, and various checks made on, all persons working with children, but we would assist you with these.
Pupils participating in Design Day
Internet Advice
We should all be wary of the potential for online pupil bullying and other internet issues. The following extract is taken from an article on “Good Advice to Parents” which I hope you find useful.
Bebo
Bebo is a website that anyone can sign up to - free of charge - with a username and password, and create their own web page. On it, they leave information about themselves, such as their age, school they attend, location in the UK, and they can insert music and video clips and use it a means of communicating by leaving messages for others. Youngsters often boast of recent drinking activities or sexual encounters.
Over half of Bebo’s UK users are under 18 years old. Users can be added to someone else’s Bebo page, and are shown as contacts by their photograph and name. This gives rise to the term social network, as a user can display a large group of contacts or friends on their own web page.
It is also common for users to become members of groups. Bebo originally intended this to be for legitimate communities such as genuine friendship groups, or followers of bands similar to those on MySpace, another social networking site. What has emerged from this, however, are a series of groups who have a common interest in, not bands, but the hatred of certain individuals, sometimes pupils in a school. Hooligan groups and youth gangs, each with their own “tag” or identifiable logo, use Bebo to communicate between their members and plan their next fight with other groups.
Youngsters know that their parents are unlikely to see their Bebo page, and often make explicit references to others, which can take the form of personal insults, threats and sometimes obscene photographs. Many parents would be horrified to find their own child gesturing to the camera, attempting to hide their faces, and leaving offensive comments about other individuals, whether youngsters or adults.
Accessing Bebo sites for a parent is easy. Even if your child offers up their Bebo username, the chances are they have more than one. Be aware that the one they offer you may not necessary provide you with anything to be concerned about. If you wish to gain a better understanding of what Bebo is all about, go to www.bebo.com and register for a free account. You will need to have a valid email address, which can remain hidden should you wish. Make up a username which won’t lead you to be recognised as your child’s parent. Bebo will then send you an e-mail confirming your username and password. Once you log in, you can do a search for your child’s name, school or anything else you think could identify them. You may have to go through the first couple of pages before finding them, or alternatively, locate one of their friends and use the contacts on their Bebo to trace your child. Sometimes reading the content of your child’s friends’ pages can be an eye-opener.
Some parents may not wish to know what their children have been up to with others or at the weekend. It must be said that Bebo have a large community of users who are responsible and respectful in the way they use the site. However, the Police nationally have already taken action against several Bebo users, using print outs presented to them by victims in relation to bullying and breach of the peace. Parents would undoubtedly rather know about this first, and have the opportunity to deal with it, before the police appear at the door to interview their child.
MSN
Parents will also be aware of MSN which is software allowing users to chat to others online by typing messages to each other in the same window. Unlike Bebo, where users have to wait for their contacts to be logged on to respond to a message, MSN operates in “real-time” which means that all users are logged onto the chat at the same time.
Users are involved in a live conversation. Despite this, there are still programs which allow parents to monitor their child’s chat and who they are talking to. An internet search for “MSN tracker” will show a list of programs which can be installed by parents to log their child’s session on MSN. The programs operate unseen in the background can only be configured and uninstalled by password, preventing them being disabled while the child is online.
What To Do If You Have Concerns
The school is occasionally approached by parents asking what they could do monitor their child’s use of the home computer. The sites given at the bottom of this page offer helpful advice. If you want to prevent your child using sites such as Bebo or MSN, internet filtering software can be configured to block specific sites and alert you when inappropriate content has been accessed. There are many such programs available to do this, and most are very easy to install and customise. The school’s internet service provider blocks a large number of sites deemed inappropriate for pupils, including Bebo and MSN.
If you do come across offensive material written by your own child, this suggests that they are not making the correct use of the facility and perhaps should have their account closed. Some parents have already banned their child from using MSN and Bebo based on what they have read in other sources. If you find anything offensive or inappropriate towards your child, contact the site responsible to have the author’s account and page closed. Print out the evidence and present it to the police for further investigation. Computer users can always be traced. Your Internet Service Provider (eg BT, Wanadoo) and sites such as Bebo and MSN can help police identify users who have published offensive material, just as mobile phone users can usually be identified when inappropriate text messages have been sent.
Further Information
Many children behave sensibly and appropriately on the internet and stick to the advice given by parents and teachers. Parents who wish to find out more about keeping their child safe can do so at:
http://www.parentscentre.gov.uk/usingcomputersandtheinternet
http://www.bbc.co.uk/chatguide/parents/parents_websites.shtml
http://www.ispa.org.uk/press_office/page_110.html
Seasonal Wishes
The staff of Garnock Academy
wish all pupils, parents and carers
a Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year.
Brian McNaught Rector
