I never really need an excuse to be proud of the pupils of Knox academy, but this week has provided me with a plethora of opportunities. On Sunday I was struck by the number of pupils from the school who were involved in the Remembrance Sunday events. Not only was the school officially represented by the Head Girl, Head Boy and their deputies in the parade, but numerous youngsters turned out in the uniformed organisations and along the route to support. Also, in S3 the pupils have been studying, and making presentations about, the First World War. A number of them had made replicas of trenches, which have been on display in the Library. It’s great to see so much attention to detail and pupils putting so much work into their creations. I was asked a long (along with other members of staff) to judge the trenches and our unanimous winners were Emily and Kate Wilson. Other pupils were highly commended and I would like to thank and congratulate all the pupils who took part in the project.

On Wednesday evening four of our pupils presented to the Haddington and Lammermuir Area Partnership Meeting about life for young people in the area. My, but they were impressive. They got the group to talk about issues of safety, opportunities, and transport (to name but a few). Their questions and observations were well considered and challenging. Everyone at the meeting commented on their positivity and creativity. So, well done to Hamish, Abbi, Emma and Lois.

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the performance of “Yellow Moon”. Whilst, it was a relatively short piece (only an hour long) it managed to pack in a huge number of issues: love, loss, anxiety, self-perception and much, much more. The acting was impressive and the staging cleverly done. Congratulations to all the company – actors and crew for an enjoyable evening. Special mention should go to Ms Whitfield and Ms Mackinnon for their hard work.

Yesterday saw the final meeting of the S2 Decipher-Assist Group. This group of pupils have been working with health and education representatives to help decrease smoking in school. We are the first secondary school in Scotland to take part in the programme that asks pupils to have conversations with their peers about health and healthy habits. This deceptively simple approach has garnered great results in other parts of the UK, so fingers crossed that it will lead to healthier pupils in our school.

Congratulations to all pupils who have taken part in sporting activities this week. We had girls dashing off to Netball, Rugby competitions, and swimmers doing what they do best – winning medals at the Haddington swimming championships – congratulations to Fraser Samuel, Brigid Hay, Andrew McKnight and Fiona Dickson.

The priority tickets for the Christmas Concert go on sale next week until the 28th November. These are for the family members of those performing. Once we have those tickets settled we can offer the rest for general sale. Make sure that you don’t miss out.

Lastly, apologies if you have been accosted today by S6 pupils decked out in all manner of costumes. It is our usual Children In Need extravaganza and the pupils, as ever, have embraced the opportunity for dressing up and raising money.

Have a good week.

S Ingham