People’s views are being sought on East Lothian Council term dates and holidays for the academic year 2013/14

A consultation is underway into two alternative options because the ability of all Lothian councils to set the same holidays will not be possible.

The Department of Services for People each year carry out a consultation on the draft school session dates.  Following the consultation exercise the views submitted are taken into account and a report based on the consultation exercise is submitted to Council Committee for Education for approval.

If you would like to comment and indicate your preferred option i.e. should East Lothian Council go with the draft proposed dates which align with Midlothian Council school session dates or mirror the City of Edinburgh Council? 

Access to Appendix 1 and Appendix 2 containing the revelant proposed dates can be viewed here.

Please send your comments stating which of the proposals you prefer to Susan McNaught, Admin Officer, Business Unit (e-mail smcnaught@eastlothian.gov.uk) by Friday 21 September 2012 at 12 noon.

Haddington Festive Lights And Promotions Group presents “Dance For Your Lights”, a Sponsored Dance Workout on Sunday 2 September in the Haddington Corn Exchange from 10 am - 4 pm.

ANYONE Can take part!... choose to do a one hour, two hour or three hour session: Zumba, Line Dancing, Belly Dancing, open to all from children to adults.

Alternatively... Special Open Sessions - £5 per session, choose to do a one hour session in aid of this year's Haddington Festive Lights

• 11 am - 12 noon - Zumba
• 12.30 pm - 1.30 pm - Belly Dancing
• 2 pm - 3 pm - Line Dancing

Sponsorship forms can be collected from The Health and Beauty Centre and The Toy Box in Haddington.

Altered Sky with support from Vacant Life, Burning Bridges and Faint Hearted will be playing at The Bridge Centre on Friday 24 August 2012.

Doors open at 7 pm - Tickets £3

Further information is available within the Community News section of the website: News > Community News

The School Improvement Plan for 2012-2015 is now available to view or download: [School Info > Publications]

On Friday 10 August 2012, Knox Academy's KWN Team celebrated continued success at the Panasonic Global KWN Awards, held at The Grand Connaught Rooms, Covent Garden, London.  The Team were presented with the Award for Best Documentary for their documentary on Knife Crime.

STOP PRESS: Reporting Scotland - 13 August 2012 - Knox KWN TV Debut - available until 6.30 pm Tuesday 14 August

This is a fantastic achievement for the Team with Global recognition.  Full results and details of the 6 finalist schools (from China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, the United States and the United Kingdom) along with each entry can be viewed on the Panasonic website.

Detais of the Knox KWN 2012 Team's journey can be viewed here.

Janina Calder-Petrie, Becky Cole, Owen McHugh, Eilidh Munro, Rhona Taylor, Saimah Uddin, Andrew Waddell and Caitlin Wright
Mr Bristow, Mr Dempster and Miss Duff

Last week was Panasonic KWN Winners' Week, representatives from each of the 6 finalist schools from across the world were welcomed on Tuesday with a full programme of events, culminating in the Global Awards Ceremony on Friday.

Rhona and Owen accompanied by Mr Dempster were given the opportunity to attend the Olympics (Track and Field, and Syncronized Swimming), a visit to the Panasonic Pavillion to see clips of the Olympic Opening Ceremony in 3D, Matilda at the Cambridge Theatre, Sightseeing in London including entry to The Tower of London and the London Eye experience in the evening.

Being the host country for the Panasonic Global KWN Awards this year it was brilliant that the remaining members of the team along with Miss Duff and Mr Bristow were able to attend the Global Awards Ceremony on Friday.  The Ceremony was an amazing experience for all, taking the format of the Television Awards with red carpet, invited guests and the press.  Afterwards at the Farewell Party everyone enjoyed a cultural exchange between schools around their table and presentations from each country.

Before retiring for the evening at The Park Plaza County Hall (2 minutes from Westminster Bridge), we took a late night walk along the Thames to see the The Houses of Parliament with Olympic projections on the side of the Palace, and the London Eye with spectacular lighting.

On Saturday, as a bonus for Knox Academy, we were invited to participate in a Video Conference with Toho Girls' Junior High School in Japan.  We were treated to an interactive lesson on Origami, which was facinating and challenging!  This was held at the Panasonic Pavillion in the Olympic Park, afterwards we were able to watch the 3D experience and summary of clips of the Olympic Games this far as a whole group.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to Panasonic for their hospitaliy across the week.

The group returned late on Saturday evening to Edinburgh in high spirits - a credit to both themselves and the school.

C Dempster