Parents’ Evenings
Parents’ evenings will take place in the school from 4.30pm to 6.30pm on the following dates:P7 Parents Evening Monday 14th May 2012
S1 Parents’ Evening Monday 19th March 2012
S2 Parents’ Evening Thursday 19th April 2012
S3 Parents’ Evening Tuesday 27th March 2012
S4 Parents’ Evening Wednesday 2nd November 2011
S5/6 Parents’ Evening Tuesday 29th November 2011
School Uniform
Since the summer, the response to our revised school uniform policy has been tremendous. It is very clear looking at our pupils in class, in the playground and on the school buses that the wearing of our recommended school uniform is 100% successful. We believe that this is important since it improves pupils’ self esteem, improves the school as a community and ultimately how pupils view their work in school. This success is entirely due to parental support for which we are extremely grateful.New Campus Police Officer
Our campus based Police Officer, PC Jim Brown, has been in post since August, and has become a familiar face to most of our pupils. PC Brown spends a considerable time in school interacting with pupils in a proactive, positive manner. He has taken PSE classes on the qualities of good citizenship, whilst highlighting the dangers of alcohol, substance abuse, knives, etc. Pupils relate particularly well to this, because it is an operational Police Officer with first hand experience discussing these problems. PC Brown also takes part in work with pupils eg in the Work Experience programme, and links with our associated Primary schools as well.
PC Brown is primarily in school to build good working relationships between the Police and young people, and not to discipline pupils, which remains the duty of the school. Obviously, the school based PC is always an operational Police officer, and consequently manifest breaches of the law will be dealt with appropriately eg substance abuse, assault, vandalism, etc. These would always have resulted in the Police being contacted, but with an officer on site, the matter is dealt with immediately.
(Our former Campus Police Officer, PC Harkin, who had been based in Garnock Academy from August 2008, left at the summer to take up a new Police post elsewhere. We all thank PC Harkin for his contribution to the school and wish him all the best for the future.)
Parent Council Update
The Parent Council AGM took place in the school on Thursday 8th September. Mr Brent Norris was appointed as chairperson, and eleven parents appointed as Parent Council members.
The Parent Council is considering a major fund-raising exercise to replace the school mini-bus. Look out for further details.Curriculum for Excellence Update
The Curriculum for Excellence initiative has now been operating for a year and three months. Our first year electives continue to engage pupils, and these have been extended into second year. These cover subjects like World War Two, Narrative Computer Gaming, Phame Academy, Girls Health, Football Management, Fairtrade, Music Pop Star and Consultation re the New School.New School Update
The site for our new school is still under consideration by the Council. Once the decision has been made we hope to see rapid progress through the planning stage. The Council is still confident that our new school will open as planned in August 2015.
After-school activities
Various after school activities take place on Tuesday or Thursday afternoons. The school provides a 5 o’clock bus, which makes a circular trip through Kilbirnie, Glengarnock, Beith and Dalry, dropping pupils off in the town centres. This allows after school sports, musical activities, supported study and other clubs to operate.
Exclusion Criteria from School
It would be brilliant if all pupils conducted themselves in school in an exemplary manner at all times. This is what staff would like, and I am sure as parents, this is what you would like also. In these circumstances, we would have no temporary exclusions from school at all, which is our aim.
However, despite all our best intentions, things happen which lead to temporary exclusion, and I normally share these with parents each year so there are no surprises. Certain types of anti-social or disruptive behaviour will lead to temporary exclusion from school. The criteria below are aimed at improving safety and maximising effective teaching, without disruption. These are:
(i) Threatening behaviour or violence towards a member of staff. (Verbal or non-verbal)
(ii) Obscenity directed at a member of staff. (Verbal or non-verbal)
(iii) Unprovoked assault on another pupil or pupils.
(iv) Fighting with another pupil, or pupils.
(v) Persistent, deliberate, disruptive behaviour.
(vi) Criminal actions. (Drug taking or selling, theft, arson, carrying weapons, etc.)
(vii) Persistent intimidation of another pupil, or pupils.
There may be other exceptional cases depending upon individual circumstances.
In case (vi) our Community Police officer, PC Brown, will be involved and possibly other agencies.
In the other cases, particularly (iii), the Police or other agencies may be involved.
Parents have always supported the consequences of accepting these criteria, in the best welfare interests of all pupils and staff in Garnock Academy.
Hopefully the numbers of pupils being excluded from school this session will be minimal. It is our ultimate aim to have no exclusions at all.
Going down Town
North Ayrshire Council has a policy on pupils leaving school grounds at intervals and lunchtimes. This policy states that pupils who are younger than the school leaving age should not leave school grounds at intervals or lunchtime. This is primarily to ensure pupil safety.
In Garnock Academy we have pupil rules which state that only pupils in S5 or S6 have permission to go into the town at morning interval. Pupils in S1 to S4 should therefore remain in school during morning intervals. At lunchtime, only pupils in S4, S5 and S6 are allowed into the town. Pupils in S1 to S3 should remain in school during lunchtimes.
Please discuss this with your son or daughter to ensure that they are aware of the above restrictions to “going down the town.”Winter Weather – Reminder of Arrangements
Over the past few winters, the weather has closed the school on a number of occasions. It is likely that this will happen again in the next few months. It is therefore a good time to go over our winter weather arrangements.
The decision to close the school because of bad weather is ultimately made by the Head Teacher, although this decision is usually made after consultation with North Ayrshire Council staff, the Police, the bus contractors and the weather forecasters. Any decision to close or not to close the school has to ensure the best welfare interests and safety of pupils. The risk of sending pupils home early to possibly unsupervised situations has to be balanced against the risk of having pupils stranded in school if the weather becomes really bad. The decision is not always easy, particularly if the weather forecast is for bad weather at 11.00am but for a much improved situation by 3.30pm.
It is therefore important to discuss with your child where he/she should go if the school has to close early and there is no one at home. Hopefully there will be a relation, a neighbour or a friend he/she can go to until you return home. You will be notified of any decision to close the school in a number of ways: our SMS messaging system will text a message to your mobile (provided you have given us your number), the school website will carry up to date weather issues, North Ayrshire Council website will carry up to date weather issues and West Sound radio will give updates on all NAC school situations.Senior Pupils Driving to School
Over recent years, S6 pupils who have passed their driving test, have occasionally driven their own (or parents’) car to school. This did not happen to any extent until about three years ago, maybe it is a sign of the times. This combination – young and relatively inexperienced drivers in a busy school playground crowded with pupils and buses – is not a healthy one and we have had several “near misses” over the last few years. Consequently, on safety grounds, senior pupils cannot bring cars into the school playground.School Plan 2010-2011
- The main themes in this session’s school plan are as follows:
Continue to prepare for National Developments in Curriculum and Assessment. We intend to continue to develop our young people as successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors through the continued development of a curriculum which is dynamic, innovative and flexible to meet the needs of all our learners – in line with the national development of a Curriculum for Excellence. In particular we plan to implement and consolidate S1/S2 courses and plan for the third year of the programme.- Developing people and partnerships. To further improve leadership capacity across the school to the extent that it impacts even more positively on the quality of learning and teaching and on outcomes for learners and their families. We plan to do this by sharing good practice between existing Principal Teachers and developing skills and knowledge in aspiring faculty leaders.
- Teaching for Effective Learning: Improve P7/S1 transition. We plan to improve the transition experience for pupils moving from P7 in our associated Primary schools to S1 in Garnock Academy. This will be done by much closer partnership working between primary and secondary staff, and an extended induction period for P7 pupils in their final term in P7. We plan to improve continuity of experience and consistency of methodology.
- Planning for New School. We intend to take a full and active part in the consultation exercise with regard to the design and planning of our new school. This will entail close partnership working with faculties, pupils, parents and the community.
- Improving Provision of S1 homework. We plan to improve the delivery of homework to S1 pupils by introducing eight substantial open ended homework projects, based on the main curricular areas, at monthly intervals. This will allow pupils to research and explore areas of the curriculum which may not have been well covered in conventional curricular models.
Past Papers
In preparation for prelims and final examinations, pupils often seek out past paper questions to practice their knowledge and skills on. This is excellent preparation, so you may wish to note that the SQA wesbite allows the free download of, not only past exam papers, but also making instructions. The marking instructions give answers and details of how marks are allocated, which students should find very helpful in assisting their studies. The SQA website can be reached at www.sqa.org.uk Thereupon follow the link for Services for Learners. The SQA exam timetable, and much more useful information can also be found on this site.
Students and parents may also care to note that SQA Past Papers are also available, free of charge, from local libraries.Comenius Visit - November
Garnock Academy has been involved in a Comenius project which involves partnerships with a school in Poland, a school in Spain and a school in France. This is funded by European Comenius project funding. Pupils and staff visited our Polish partner school in April 2011 and staff visited our French partner school in November 2010.
It is now our turn to host approximately sixty pupils and staff from Poland, France and Spain who will be with us from Saturday 5th November to Thursday 10th November. There is a varied programme of events planned for these visitors, covering sightseeing in Edinburgh, visits to the Burns Heritage Centre, visits to Kelvingrove Art Gallery and the Transport Museum. Two of the days will be spent in school Assembly Hall rehearsing the themes of the project, which is to learn choral music and poetry from each of the countries involved, and represent this poetry in an Art form. There will be a concert in the Walker Hall on Tuesday 8th November followed by a ceilidh. Some of our pupils and staff will be involved in this project from 7th to 10th November.
The final event of the project – a performance involving pupils from all the schools involved, will take place in Lorca, Spain at Easter 2012.Brian McNaught Rector October 2011
Garnock Academy
School Road
Kilbirnie
KA25 7AX5
Telephone:01505 682685
Email: contactus@garnock.n-ayrshire.sch.uk
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