September 2012

MARINE BIOLOGY ASSOCIATION VISIT
Published: 28 September 2012

Knox Academy was visited by the Marine Biology Association UK who held workshops for S3 pupils.  The workshops focused on the use of offshore windfarms to generate electricity. 

Some pupils were asked to build a model turbine to investigate the best possible design of turbine blades.  Other pupils were asked to debate and present information on the consequences of placing windfarms close to environmentally sensitive areas. 

Pupils found their experiences beneficial. 

Resources used during the workshops will be available from the Marine Biology Association's website.

RECRUITMENT: SEPTEMBER 2012 - NO. 2
Published: 28 September 2012

Knox Academy is pleased to announce the following new vacancies:

Applicants interested, in the following positions are invited to apply through myjobscotland, where further details can also be accessed. The closing date for applications is indicated below:

Closing Date: Sunday 7 October 2012:

Closing Date: Sunday 14 October 2012:

Current vacant posts can be viewed on this website under News > Recruitment

CURRICULUM FOR EXCELLENCE DOCUMENTATION
Published: 25 September 2012

Curriculum for Excellence is raising standards of learning and teaching across Scotland, preparing young people with the skills they need in a fast and changing world.

A Guide for Parents and Carers has been prepared by Education Scotland and can be viewed here.

A letter and Question and Answer document (both from Education Scotland) may also prove to be useful explaining the broad and general educational aims of a Curriculum for Excellence.

SCHOOL COUNCIL MEETING - 24 SEPTEMBER 2012
Published: 24 September 2012

Today we had our first School Council meeting of the year and there was plenty to talk about! Our main area of discussion was S1-S6 issues which included: improving the queuing system to the food court at break times particularly for S1's, increasing recognition of the Sports Council, Common Room furniture and forming a routine to empty classroom recycling bins. We will work on these issues over the following weeks.

We were also the first set of pupils to review the new "School Aims" and I am pleased to say we are all very happy with them and hope the rest of the school will be just as pleased.

Miss Mackinnon and Miss Duff came to speak to us about School Ethos. On our training day we discussed some ideas about improving ethos and we saw that they took our ideas on board and we are keen to work alongside them on this issue. It will be a very exciting few weeks with the introduction of mascotts for each house, competitons to come up with house slogans and more use of the notice boards to boast the achievements of pupils. The House Captains are getting heavily involved with all of this.

Our Librarian, Mr Plain, also came and spoke to us about a "New Charter" for the library which he and the communication faculty have been working on. This is to ensure we can make the library more accessible to all members of the school and create an even more pleasant environment to work in. The New Charter will come into place in the next few weeks. 

Five pupils from our School Council are going on a school exchange to the Czech Republic. Preperations for this are underway for the S3-S5 pupils who are all very eager to go. We will provide more information about this trip at a later stage.

A group of us will also be attending the Haddington Town Centre Vision Evening on the 1st October at 7pm to represent the school and our place in the community and also to hear about the new plans for the future of Haddington. We hope a large number of the commuinty are able to attend this event.    

Our next meeting will take place Period 1 on Tuesday 9th of October.

S1/2 DRAMA CLUB
Published: 19 September 2012

Drama club runs after-school on a Monday from 4 – 5 pm. In Drama club we play games and complete small tasks to improve our skills in drama whilst having fun! We present our work to one another to show off what we can do, and to receive feedback on our dramas.

During drama club we will look at working with small scripts and will work towards performing before the Christmas Show at the end of term. 

Please come along to help us have fun and improve our drama skills! We would love to have as many members as possible to create something fantastic to perform at Christmas!

Miss MacKinnon and Drama Club members

UCAS PERSONAL STATEMENTS
Published: 14 September 2012
Following requests from S6 students, you can now view Mr Edward's UCAS Personal Statement guidelines here.  We hope they help you!

WORK EXPERIENCE - 1 STEP CLOSER!
Published: 14 September 2012

Today, Friday 14th sees the first work experience deadline and pupils produced self found forms from the recesses of their bags in their 100s - well quite a few anyway.  We have over 60 pupils who have handed in forms for placements outwith the database and this is a fairly good number.  A few people have asked for extensions and if the form is with the employer then I am happy to accept the completed form on Wednesday when pupils return.  Gateway can then get to work and ensure all the placements meet the health and safety requirements. 

Pupils without their own placements will then be asked to make 3 selections from the database during their next Work Experience class.  After all classes have put in their selections, placements will then be allocated.  All pupils relying on the database need to be flexible as we can only allocate one pupil to each space, so if there's one joinery place and 50 requests, 49 pupils will, unfortunately be disappointed.

Please give me a call at school if you are waiting for a form to be completed and let me know when to expect it.

One last point, if you child is intending to do their placement away from home, please give me a call as we will need a note from yourselves agreeing to accept responsibility for travel, accommodation and health and safety outwith working hours.

Thanks to all pupils and parent who have been discussing this endlessly and worked hard to meet the deadline.

Miss Easson

WELCOME TO SCOTLAND POEMS
Published: 14 September 2012

East Lothian Multicultural Day is on Sunday 16 September 2012.  As part of the celebrations for this, the S3 Social Subjects classes were given a home learning assignment where they were asked to write a poem entitled ‘Welcoming Scotland’.

Examples of these from 3G1 can be viewed below…

William Syme
Welcome to Scotland,
A land so diverse.
Something for everyone,
So why not immerse.

Ours lochs, our mountains,
Our wildlife, our glens.
Miles of rugged perfection,
You’re luck never ends.

Walking through forests,
Flowing, vibrant, wild.
Seeing all the creatures,
Reverting to a child.

Our national dress,
The glorious kilt.
Made out of tartan,
Like a beautiful quilt.

Haggis, neeps and tatties,
The favourite of many.
Roll up, help yourself,
We always have plenty.

Cities of culture,
Modern, majestic, free.
History at each corner,
Look and you’ll see.

We have writers a plenty,
Rowling, Raleigh, Burns.
Their words will lull you,
Though sometimes quite stern.

Our history, a picture,
A tapestry flowing.
Our castles, our stories,
Constantly growing.

We have historical heroes,
Such as Robert the Bruce.
Battling the English,
Rejecting all truce.

Scotland the inventive,
Notably penicillin.
Made in a late renaissance,
Along with the television.

Our capital, Edinburgh,
A city of beauty.
Visit it, be enthralled,
You’ll feel it’s your duty.

The largest city Glasgow,
A city for many.
It’s quirks and its charms,
You’ll find them a plenty.

Scotland’s a gem,
Shining in the light.
A cultural beacon,
Burning, so bright.

In my poem a message,
To visit us come and explore.
If you already live here,
Open your eyes, see some more.

 

Chloe Forrest
Welcome to Scotland we hope you enjoy your stay!
There are lots of things to do here every single day!
Welcome to Scotland, the people are the best!
Now you’re in Scotland there is no need to be stressed!

Go over to Glasgow, all you’ll do is shop,
there are so many shops there, you’ll be shopping non-stop

Or you could go to Edinburgh to see St Andrew’s Square
You will have so many memories, there’s loads to do there

Welcome to Scotland, we hope you enjoy your stay!
There are lots of things to do here, every single day!

 

Jason Hogg
Scotland is a good place to,
Come for a couple,
Of days to do,
Things and to stay,
The hills are beautiful,
In the winter too,
So come along with,
Hats and gloves and enjoy the view.

 

Natalie Forrest
Scotland is famous for kilts you might of guessed,
You’ll see cities and landmarks, expect nothing less,
You might see Nessie, our famous monster,
Though for years and years no-one could find her.

You could come and try our Irn-Bru,
Go to the Castle, there’s loads to do,
Glasgow’s famous for its sense of style,
Edinburgh’s scenery will make you smile.

 

Bethany Whitaker
Haggis and Cows,
Irn-Bru and Kilts.
But there is more to be found,
About these little towns.

Snare drums rattle and bag-pipes blare, a common sight,
But it is hard not to stare.

Aberdeen to Dunbar,
Edinburgh to Wick.

Tradition is spread far,
From the busy streets to the incredibly cold sand.

All that is left to say is…
WELCOME TO SCOTLAND

 

Cameron Black
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
I live in Scotland,
How about you?

 

SCHOLASTIC BOOK-FAIR
Published: 14 September 2012

The annual Scholastic Book-Fair arrives in the library on the 24th of September until the 1st of October. The Book-Fair offers pupils the chance to purchase current fiction and selected non-fiction titles at discounted prices. Posters and stationery items are also available for pupils to purchase.

Selected titles available in this year's fair include Hunger Games Book Box Set at £9.99; the latest Artemis Foul in an exclusive paperback edition for the fair at £6.99 and the Mercy Falls trilogy box set at £12.99.

Scholastic gives the school 20p from every pound to help purchase books for the school library to assist in keeping the literacy and reading activities of the school current.

Your purchases from 2011/12 Book-Fair allowed the school to purchase a set of Michael Morpurgo novels; a pack of Jacqueline Wilson hardbacks; a set of Cherub novels by Robert Muchamore and all the current published novels by David Walliams.

UCAS EVENING - THURSDAY 20 SEPTEMBER
Published: 12 September 2012

All pupils, parents and carers, are invited to attend this years UCAS information evening. The event will take place in the assembly hall at Knox Academy on Thursday 20 September from 6.30 - 8 pm.

There will be presentations from Edinburgh University, Queen Margaret University, Skills Development Scotland(careers) and the Student Awards Agency.

Topics covered will be, applications, personal statements, finance and competitive entry.

The floor will also be open for questions.

The evening has proven to be very popular and informative, and we look forward to seeing you there.

K Macdonald

CHINA EXPEDITION BROCHURE
Published: 10 September 2012

Those interested in the China 2014 Expedition, who were unable to receive a hard copy of the Expedition Brief at the launch meeting last week can view/download below.

Also available is the Pupil/Parent brochure.

Website email readers should click here.

WORK EXPERIENCE...
Published: 10 September 2012

...is nearly here!...

…well, at least the organisation of placements is well underway for our fourth year pupils.  All of the S4 pupils now have usernames and password for www.workit.info.  This is the database that contains the details of all the placements available for our placement week of 19 - 23 November 2012.  This is available for pupils to look at and see what’s on offer whenever they like as it’s online.  There are currently around 80 places – and we have 160 pupils in fourth year.  Thankfully a large number have taken away forms so that they can organise their own placements out with the database – in fact I have copied and handed out over 200 self-found placement forms!  The completed paperwork is due in on Friday 14 September by 12 noon and so far we have had around 20 returns.  If you have followed this so far, you will realise that we need the self-found forms returned to the school so we can process enough placements for all pupils.

If you and your child have been discussing finding a placement out with the database, I urge you to get the paperwork signed off and back to the school in time for the cut-off date (click here for a copy of the form and letter).

If your child is intending to book from the database then class time will be given to making selections after the September holiday.  All pupils without a self-found placement will be invited to make 3 choices and places will be allocated thereafter.

In summary – if you want control over your placement choice, then complete a self-found form for a place NOT on the database.

If you’re happy to take a chance with what’s on the database, then start looking at what’s on offer and make your choice when asked to.

 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the school and thanks to all the parents and employers who offer unending support to our young people during work experience.

 

J Easson

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