A bit of a bumper week at Knox Academy. We were off to a great start with the success of the Knox team in the finals of the East Lothian Young Chef competition that took place for S4 pupils on Friday 2nd October at Preston Lodge High School. The wining team of Andrew Lund and Abbie Lindsay created a fantastic meal of chargrilled tarragon chicken with roast beetroot and crisp pancetta followed by chocolate mousse on a shortbread biscuit base. Congratulations to Andrew and Abbie and thank you to Miss Hossack of the Home Economics Department for her support.
On Monday, the seniors of the School Council, accompanied by Ms Bulloch, attended the Eco-schools Conference at the Scottish Parliament. This proved to be an informative and enjoyable day and the seniors will be reporting back to the council during the training day in early November.
Yet another theatre visit! A group of senior pupils studying Drama attended a performance in Edinburgh of 'The Dark Things', organised by Mr Campbell. There will be follow up discussions and a workshop with a member of the cast.
The Head Boy (Alasdair Brown) and Head Girl (Alexandra Muir) were part of a group who travelled to Poland on Wednesday to visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. This was under the auspices of the Holocaust Educational Trust and formed part of the 'Lessons from Auschwitz' Project. This day visit was exhausting but Alasdair and Alexandra have provided very thoughtful and perceptive feedback on their trip and will be organising assemblies to make presentations to the rest of the school. Also, they will be part of the East Lothian programme for Holocaust Memorial Day in January.
All week we have been celebrating National Poetry Week with various events (and riddles) organised by the English Department. There has been a daily poem and the opportunity for everyone to nominate their favourite poem.
This week it was the turn of the S1 pupils to undertake the 'Live'n Learn' Seminar and, if that wasn't enough excitement for one week, the Friday ACE AM reached something of a crescendo today with a Q&A with a visiting speaker in the RMPS classes, an African drumming workshop with the 'Destination Africa' group and learning how to surf (virtual surfing in the Games Hall) for the Health and Well-being section.
Congratulations to all pupils who have participated in the various activities and it is a pleasure to report how well the pupils represent the school at events. Many of the events and activities of the last 2 months will be covered in detail in the 'Knox News' that will be distributed next week.
Just a reminder: the school breaks for the October holiday week on Friday 16 October at 12.05 pm and term resumes for pupils on Tuesday 27 October at 8.44 am.
Best wishes,
JB Craig
