| Kilmarnock Academy - News Archive Aug 2007 to June 2008 |
June 2008 |
| REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL? ..........WE ONLY NEED ONE! The happy faces below were pictured on the morning of Friday 27th June 2008, with only a few hours to go till the start of the summer break. Were they looking forward to the holidays? What do you think? Photos by Euan McIlvanney (new S4) |
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STAFF RETIRING THIS SUMMER From the end of this month some of our more experienced staff will be retiring. (Clockwise from right) Mr Partridge, Mrs Cairney, Mr Hill, Mr McCormick and Dr Neilson will all begin a well-earned rest. Everyone at K.A. wishes them a long and happy retirement. |
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SCOTTISH YOUTH THEATRE SUMMER COURSES Scottish Youth Theatre will be running summer courses during the month of July in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. The courses are aimed at young people aged 12-15 who are interested in the performing arts or are interested in learning and developing new theatre skills. The courses last two weeks and cost
£250 - funding advice is available. |
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REMINDERS..... Dance Summer Courses – Kilmarnock (Mrs Miller) Competition (Mrs Ford) Uniform (Mrs Ford) |
 PRIZEGIVING 2008 |
PRIZEGIVING CEREMONY 2008 The Kilmarnock Academy Prizegiving Ceremony took place on Monday 16th June 2008. For details of the event and the list of pupils who received prizes and certificates click here. |
WHAT A SHOW! This year's school show was performed on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of last week, starting at 7.30pm each night. All of the preparation and hard work put in by the cast, the production team, the technical support team and the band paid of as the show was a colourful and spectacular success. |
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SQA RESULTS ONLINE
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EAST AYRSHIRE READERS' CUP On Monday the 9th of June, the final of the East Ayrshire Readers' Cup was held at Cumnock Academy. This competition was established by East Ayrshire school librarians to promote reading. It is now in its fourth year. The quiz consists of five rounds of ten questions each and this year's themes were Lucky Dip, Fantasy, Philip Pullman, Books as Films and Book Covers. At the end of the Fourth Round, we were in second place but, alas, Book covers were too difficult and Cumnock Academy just pipped us by half a mark. The end result was that we were fourth as we have been for each year of this competition. This year, the winners were Auchinleck Academy with a resounding 45 out of 50 marks and they will host the competition next year. Report by Dr Neilson |
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PRIZEGIVING 2008 |
PRIZEGIVING CEREMONY 2008 The Kilmarnock Academy Prizegiving Ceremony will take place on 16th June 2008. For details of the event and the list of pupils who will be receiving prizes and certificates click here. |
FAMOUS FORMER PUPILS Three suggestions for possible addition to your famous former pupils page - Andrew McLellan - HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Scotland, and a former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Andrew attended the Academy from 1955 to 1960/61. John Miller, another former Moderator of the General Assembly, and a distinguished parish minister in Castlemilk until his retirement. John is now in Zimbabwe. Coincidentally, both John's father and Andrew's were ministers in the West High Church. And thirdly, Davy Brown artist - see his website for details. Davy left the Academy in the late 1960's. Yours, Stewart Roy (Kilmarnock Academy, 1955 to 1961). |
May 2008 |
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KIDS GOT IN FOR A QUID Kilmarnock v Falkirk, Sat 17th May, Rugby Park - 3pm KO In a bid to bring the kids back to Rugby Park to cheer on the team in the last game of the season, Kilmarnock FC cut their prices to £1 admission for all children under 16. Those who took advantage of the offer saw Killie beat Falkirk 2-1. Supporters also enjoyed pre-match entertainment behind the Moffat Stand - including fastest shot, face painting, balloon modelling and much more. |
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EXAM TIME FOR S4, S5 & S6 With S5 & S6 now on exam leave and S4 exams already underway, we would like to remind all our senior pupils that there are various resources on the website that can help you revise and increase your chances of success. (And don't let the sunshine - or the football - keep you from your mission!) We would also like to say Good Luck! to all those pupils who will be leaving us this summer and wish them All the best for the future! |
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FORMER PUPILS' NOTICE BOARD Apologies to all concerned for the delay in updating the Former Pupils' Notice Board. Our recent additions to this page include Jim Gilmour (Ayr) who sent us some great photographs of life at K.A. in the 1940's, Brother Andrew (South Africa), Graham Stuart Brown (Germany) and, from recent times, Christopher Duthie (Australia). Thanks to all of the above for getting in touch with us. You will also find some interesting new content on the recently updated Feedback page. |
MSP WILLIE COFFEY ANSWERS QUESTIONS - S1 MODERN STUDIES - FRIDAY 3rd MAY |
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EXAMS 2008 - REGISTER FOR E-MAIL OR TEXT RESULTS The registration system for emailed or texted results is now open • Go to www.mysqa.org.uk • You need your candidate number and an email address • You must register again even if you registered last year |
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A VERY SPECIAL PIECE OF HISTORY Our thanks to Julia for sending us this special piece of K.A. history. |
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CONGRATULATIONS TO FRANK DONNELLY Congratulations to our former Head Teacher, Frank Donnelly, who is one of two new Deputy Lieutenants for Ayrshire & Arran. We wish him well in his new post. Since retiring in 1997, Frank has kept himself busy and is an active and well-known member of the community. He is currently chair of the Darvel Improvement Group Heritage Committee, vice-chair of Darvel Community Council, editor of the Irvine Valley Times and a member of Loudoun Valley Trust. In between times, he manages to fit in a few rounds of golf, some hill-walking, a spot of gardening and journeys to foreign lands. (But what do you do in your spare time, Frank?) As well as attending K.A. as a pupil, Frank taught at K.A. from 1964 to 1977 and was Head Teacher until 1997. |
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DR JAMES GILMOUR'S PHOTO PAGE
If you have any old photos of life at K.A. then please get in touch. We recently received an e-mail from Dr James Gilmour, offering us some pictures taken during his time at Kilmarnock, from 1936 - 1944. Needless to say, we accepted Dr Gilmour's kind offer as we were keen to get a glimpse of life at K.A. during that period. The pictures he sent us are so good that we have put them on display, for the world to see. You can view them by clicking here. We would like to thank Dr Gilmour (pictured left),who now lives in Ayr, for his very special contribution to KA Web. N. McIlvanney |
 The Awards Ceremony |
WELL DONE, CASEY! Casey McDaid of 3S2 has scooped a national poetry prize for her poem highlighting the evils of racism. The competition, organised by Show Racism the Red Card and the Educational Institute of Scotland, is an annual event open to all schools in Scotland and Casey's poem has won the Secondary section. She has netted £750 worth of prizes for the school and a football- related prize for herself, to be awarded at a grand prize-giving ceremony at Hampden on Wednesday, 19 th March. As well as having the chance to meet football stars, she and her invited guests will be given a tour of Hampden prior to the ceremony. |
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THANK YOU! There are a number of things to thank pupils for this week. Many thanks to the performers and organisers of last week's alternative Easter concert, especially to Amy Bromley and Rachel Tesfaye. It was a great night. Thank you to everyone who helped with the P7 Open Evening. Parents were very impressed with the helpers in departments and the tour guides. Thanks also to the performers in this week's Easter concert. It was excellent. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the Malawi appeal, either by bringing in materials, donating money or both. Your generosity is much appreciated and will make a difference to people's lives. Mrs Ford |
JIM WYLIE - "A MASTER'S CLASS" BY FORMER PUPIL, JAN PATIENCE She started her writing career on Business Scotland magazine in 1986 and quickly became Scotland's youngest-ever female editor. Spells on staff at the Sunday Mail , TV Quick and Business am followed. She was editor of the Daily Record 's award-winning Saturday magazine and was also launch editor of the wedding magazine I do! She has also been a part-time editor of a national monthly magazine about the paranormal, Beyond . Currently freelance, she is a regular contributor to The Herald and Homes & Interiors Scotland , specialising in writing about Scottish contemporary art. The following article appeared in The Herald Arts supplement on 15 March 2008. It is reproduced here with permission gratefully acknowledged.
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Portpatrick Sunset |
Jim Wylie |
Flow Country |
LOCAL HEROES EXHIBITION |
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YOUNG ARTISTS BRIGHTEN UP THE GALLERY Local art pupils were recently given the chance to display their work to a wider audience. Councillor Iain Linton, Spokesperson for Lifelong Learning, formally opened East Ayrshire Schools ' Art and Design Exhibition in the Dick on February 1. He praised the quality of the artwork and the creativity of the young artists from schools across the authority: Kilmarnock , Grange, James Hamilton, St Joseph 's, Loudoun, Stewarton, Cumnock, Auchinleck and Doon Academies and Park School . He also highlighted the work done by pupils who attended art and design summer school in Kilmarnock Academy and who created the theatrical masks and head-dresses on display. The young artists and parents attended the opening. Invited guests also included MSP Willie Coffey, Depute Provost John Campbell, Leader of the Council Douglas Reid, Cllr Jim Roberts, Clllr Kathy Morrice and Cllr Jim Todd. Also present were Executive Director of Education Graham Short, Head of Schools (Acting) Kenneth McKinlay and Creative Links Officer John Wilson. The exhibition was co-ordinated by Cultural Co-ordinator Elaine Scott (Creative Minds). Excellent paintings, ceramics and head-dresses created by the young people will remain on display in the Young People's Gallery in the Dick until May 2008. Thanks to Elaine Scott for report & pictures |
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March/April 2008 |
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EASTER STUDY SCHOOL In order to provide support during the run up to the May exams, an Easter Study programme will be running again this year. Click here for details. Also, check out the following resources: English Higher/Int. 2 Study Guide Helping your child to Revise at Home S4 Revision Schedule S4 Standard Grade English - A Study Guide |
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HOPE YOU HAD A HAPPY EASTER! |
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HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY, MR REID! |
 Jim as a baby (he really hasn't changed much) |
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 Jim relaxing at home |
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MARTIAL ARTS EXHIBITION |
S3 INDUSTRIAL AWARENESS DAY The S3 Industrial Awareness Day was held on Thursday 6 th March. Advisers from the business world came to help and there were 14 groups coming to grips with “What is Industry?”. The first activity was making a poster and naming their company. The second activity was the Mini Burger Extravaganza. Both these activities were done in classrooms and each group had to present their work to another group. In the afternoon all the groups met in the Hall for the JotPad exercise. Each group had a contract to fulfil and try and make the most money. Fortunately this year, nobody ran at a loss and the winning group was group I. The winning pupils were Shaun Gouck, Jordan Miskiw, Jack Mair, Aimee Parnaby, Bernard Dorrans, Bradley Craig, Daniele McIntyre and Scott Dobson. Each pupil won a certificate, allowing free access to the end of term activities. Well done! The advisers were very positive in their feedback and one wrote “the pupils were a credit to themselves, their teachers, the school and the community” Great stuff! I would like to thank all who helped on the day. The Ayrshire Chamber helped get advisers and Claire and Sam came as Buyers for the JotPad exercise. Former teachers Paul Crankshaw, John Harris and Jim Lawson joined us as Buyers too. Many thanks to them. A big thank you to Carol Armstrong for her work leading up to and on the Industrial Awareness Day itself. |
EAST AYRSHIRE SCHOOL LIBRARIES' BOOK FESTIVAL - SPRING READ |
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MARY MITCHELL MUIR BADGER What a fantastic website! Well done! I feel I know such a lot more now about the school my Grandmother attended as a pupil and then as a teacher. Her name was Mary Mitchell Muir Badger (born 1885) and her strength was in English. In fact she once bought a book (written by a prominent politician) specifically to correct his grammar in red pen and then sent it back to him! She was obviously well taught!
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EAST AYRSHIRE SCHOOL LIBRARIES' BOOK FESTIVAL - SPRING READ This year is the Second Spring Read festival set up by the secondary school librarians of East Ayrshire in order to promote reading and to celebrate the World Book Day. The librarians secured funding to allow four Scottish authors to visit our schools. From our school, some S3 pupils went to the Grange Academy on the 4 th of March to hear Janet Paisley deliver her dramatic monologues, present her poems and talk about her writing. |
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READERS' CUP SECOND ROUND FOR S1 The school librarians of East Ayrshire established the East Ayrshire Readers' Cup in 2005 in order to promote reading by means of a children's' literary quiz. Each participating school sends a team of 4 pupils drawn from S1 and S2 with a mixture of boys and girls. The school teams are chosen after a series of rounds held in each school. The First Round was held around Christmas time when each S1 and S2 pupil took part in a literary quiz of twenty questions. The best four of each class formed the team for the Second Round. On Tuesday March the 4th the Second Round was held in the Assembly Hall amongst S1 pupils. Each class had a team of four pupils who had to answer ten questions on four themes. This year, the themes were Comics/Superheroes, Roald Dahl, Sports and Lucky Dip. 1P3 won after leading from the beginning. The quiz mistress was the school librarian who asked the questions. Whilst S6 pupils marked each round, children's' literary questions were put to the audience for spot prizes. On Friday March the 6 th , the Second Round was held amongst the S2 pupils. Their themes were Crime/Detective Stories, Scottish Connections, Darren Shan and Lucky Dip. |
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THANKS JANA! |
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GLOBAL GROUP - MALAWI APPEAL Textbooks – primary/secondary; children's library books – fiction or non-fiction (not ones that should be returned to Dr Neilson); pens, pencils, jotters, wax crayons; sports equipment inc. football strips (clean); blackboard chalk; blackboard paint; solar powered calculators; counting Materials. Mr Ramsay (29.02.08) |
February 2008 |
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BACK TO SCHOOL |
S4 PARENTS' NIGHT -6TH FEBRUARY 2008 |
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STAFF TRIP TO WARSAW The party of sixteen travelled from Prestwick courtesy of Whizz Air airlines, arriving in Warsaw late on Friday night. Driving in taxis through the streets of Warsaw at 110km/h in a 50km/h zone was an exciting introduction to the city. On Saturday morning we headed for the Old Town , an amazing replica of the original town which was entirely destroyed by the Nazis during World War II. Its streets are lined with old houses, bars and restaurants, and interesting shops. On the main square, the rynek , the Warsaw Museum traces the history of the town from Neolithic times through to the present day. The exhibition on the Warsaw Uprising was particularly moving. To the north of the Old Town , the Marie Curie Museum was also of interest, at least to those of the group with an intellectual bent. Between us we ... (to read on, click here) |
REVEREND JAMES BROWN MIRRILEES (1909-2008) Kilmarnock Academy is sad to announce the death of our oldest known former pupil, Rev James Brown Mirrilees, who died peacefully on Thursday 17 January. The Rev Mirrilees has been a faithful correspondent of the school since 1997 and has sent us good wishes and Christmas greetings on an annual basis. We are very sorry to hear of his death and send our condolences and best wishes to his family and friends. James Brown Mirrilees attended Loanhead Primary School and transferred to Kilmarnock Academy in August 1921. He left at the end of S3 in June 1924. He returned to school in 1928 and completed his school education in 1930. As a former dux, he involved himself fully in the life of the school, acting as sports editor of The Goldberry magazine in session 1929-1930. He remained sharp witted and lively until the very end, quoting Shakespeare to his nurses. Kilmarnock Academy is very proud to have been associated with the Rev Mirrilees and to have been instrumental in enabling him to pursue his career in the ministry. |
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MRS FORD ADDRESSES THE NATION! |
January 2008 |
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THE CLASS OF 43! |
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THE PRELIMS ARE HERE! |
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HEALTHY EATING DRIVE The “Scottish School of Sport ”, based at James Watt College in Largs has received funding from the Scottish Funding Council to drive a major health initiative across Scotland . In so doing the college is able to offer a Certificated programme called “Health for Life” to staff in schools. The programme is free andhome-study therefore doesn't infringe upon work-time and covers key topics relating to health , wellbeing, diet , nutrition and exercise ? The programme is also open and free to family and friends. |
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HEALTH AND SAFETY IN SCHOOL - LETTER TO PARENTS
Health and safety is a high priority issue in schools, for the benefit and well being of pupils and staff alike. Rules and procedures in school are carefully thought out, to minimise any risks to everyone involved. In particular, there are specific rules which govern behaviour and procedures in classrooms to which pupils must adhere. These are explicitly explained to pupils, and repeated at times throughout the year. Carefully following these rules will result in as safe an environment as it is possible to provide in a mainstream school setting. I enclose a copy of the rules and procedures in relation to health and safety in school. I would be grateful if you could emphasise to your child the need to adhere to these. If you have any specific concerns in relation to these please feel free to contact me to discuss them. Yours faithfully |
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SCOTTISH YOUTH THEATRE Scottish Youth Theatre is seeking aspiring stars of the future: |
A HARDY RACE! While most people were enjoying the comforts of home on Boxing Day, a brave and enthusiastic group of volunteers charged into the Firth of Clyde to raise funds for Malcolm Sargent House in Prestwick. The school raised £2,714 and the total sum raised was over £34,000. |
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December 2007 |
| CHICAGO CALLING Former pupil Elaine McCulloch e-mailed us: It's been almost a year since I wrote my last blog from the states and so much has happened I felt an update was necessary. I now work with the University of Chicago at the Center for Urban School Improvement. I teach PE and Wellness (Health) to over 320 students. I also moved to a wonderful new home close to downtown Chicago and more importantly close to school! The best part about my new home is the British Bar around the corner owned by a Celtic fan that shows all Scottish games so I can keep up with good old Killie, which is great no matter how bad they play! Despite two major sports injuries this year (fractured elbow March thru May and fractured ankle August thru November) I have found two great teams to play Volleyball and Football with. So that keeps me out of trouble for the most part. I have also been lucky to be involved with the Olympic Development program for Soccer (Footie) and the University of Illinois for Volleyball development. So all in all it was an eventful 2007 and I am hopeful 2008 will be the same minus the injuries! :) All the best for 2008! Elaine McCulloch Good to hear from you Elaine and I must say that I am impressed by your devotion to Killie. I think you should start a Chicago Kilmarnock Supporters Club and hold your meetings at Carnegie Hall. It's also good to know that you are doing so well at work and that you have taken another step up the property ladder. Stay in touch and be sure to have a happy and injury-free New Year. Neil McIlvanney For more Former Pupils news, click here. |
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CONGRATULATIONS MRS FORD! As of 16 November Head Teacher Carole Ford was elected Vice President of the Headteachers' Association of Scotland. HAS represents the majority of headteachers and depute headteachers in Scotland . Mrs Ford has been a council member of the association for four years and joined the executive last year as convenor of the education committee. In this role she conducted a survey on Higher English results which has resulted in an undertaking from SQA to review this very important examination. She was nominated as Vice President in September of this year and appointed in November. HAS represents the interests of senior managers in education and, more importantly, plays a significant role in influencing educational developments. Mrs Ford will work to uphold the best interests of pupils and staff in the Scottish education system. |
CELEBRATING SUCCESS! For the second year in succession Kilmarnock Academy held a Celebrating Success! event on 29 November. Pupils and staff were acknowledged and rewarded for their many and varied achievements in school. From charity work to chess, from artwork to army work experience, achievement and success received recognition. The event included the parade of Perfect Pupils – those pupils with both perfect attendance and a perfect track record in school, no latecoming, no punishment exercises, all homework in on time, always in full uniform. No mean feat to achieve, yet a large number of pupils made the grade. At the end of the afternoon a cheque for £1225 was presented to the Ayrshire Cancer Trust, money raised on Pink Day by Mrs Noreen Lyon and her band of volunteers. The ceremony was attended by parents, former staff, health, enterprise and social work colleagues, friends and associates of the school. Afternoon tea was served by Mrs Morag Young of the Home Economics Department and the senior Hospitality students. Musical entertainment was provided by the senior choir and vocal group. It was a very successful afternoon, thoroughly enjoyed by participants and audience. Report by Carole Ford |
November 2007 |
ENTERPRISE CHALLENGE FOR S1 On Monday 26 th November all S1 pupils took part in an interactive enterprise challenge on Litter and Recycling. Pupils worked in teams to form ‘marketing companies' for the day and were asked to come up with a campaign to tackle the growing problem of litter and waste. The companies created a poster, a slogan, a badge and a presentation which outlined the problem and the reasons why their company should be employed to implement their campaign. Rather than teachers coming up with the best campaign, pupils were the judges and scored the companies under various criteria. Apart from learning about litter, recycling and waste; pupils enjoyed themselves thoroughly. |
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S4 PRELIM TIMETABLE If you are in S4 and you really want to have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, then we strongly recommend that you consult your prelim timetable now (not the night before the exams start) so that you can get yourself organized and properly prepared for the exams that will help to determine your future - no pressure, you understand. Click here to start planning your journey to the land of Brainy. EXTRA-CURRICULAR TIMETABLE If you are not in S4.... just chill, click here and enjoy the activities on offer. Thanks to Mr Bryden for collating the information. |
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2007 TRENCHES TRIP You can now discover the secrets of the 2007 Trenches Trip on the Kilmarnock Academy website. You can read first hand accounts of the journey, activities and the fun experienced by all concerned. Photos submitted by the participants are also included. To check it all out just click here. Thanks to Amy Bromley (S6) for organising this article. Mr Reid |
ENTERPRISE - FIFTH GEAR Fifth Gear involved the whole of S5 in an enterprise event. The aim was to design car templates in such a way that the buyers would purchase your company's product rather than the other 11 companies. The company who made the most money was the winner. The S6 Events Working Group also took part and in fact raised the most money but since it was a S5 competition.......... they got the glory, See picture of S6. The competition for S5 was tied and the winning group was decided by Brian Chapman beating Mark Rodger to the winning post by collecting the most group letters. ( To read on and for more photos click here) Report by Lesley Hamilton |
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MAKING THEIR MARK S4 pupils - Erin McKenzie, Lyndsey Templeton, Lauren Conway, Fraser Kerr, David Don and Lewis Campbell took part in the national enterprise competition "Make Your Mark", They did very well and were the only Ayrshire representatives at the regional final at Hampden Park, Glasgow, where they made their presentation . Thanks to Miss Templeton in the English dept for preparing the pupils and travelling to Glasgow with them. S5 girls - Ola Smith, Lauren Eyre. Claire Wilson, Ashleigh Lindsay and Laura Mack took part in the East Ayrshire enterprise challenge. They were runners up despite making the most money. Well done girls! Mr McGougan and Miss Christie travelled to Prestwick with the team. |
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| AUTHOR ZOE STRACHAN LEADS THE WAY Recently local author Zoe Strachan ran a couple of creative writing workshops at the Dick Institute in Kilmarnock. Zoe has written two novels, Negative Space and Spin Cycle (both are available at www.amazon.co.uk ), and she teaches on the Glasgow University creative writing MLitt course. She is a former pupil of Grange Academy – well, nobody's perfect! The Kilmarnock Academy Advanced Higher English class attended and found the afternoon stimulating and enjoyable. Zoe got the class to choose a work in the Dick exhibition by the graphic artist Robert Brownjohn and to use that as inspiration of a piece of creative writing of their own. Here you can see the how total the absorption of the pupils was in their work. They even forgot the other talents that were on show! |
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| AUTHOR KEITH GRAY VISITS KILMARNOCK On Friday the 9th of November, Ms Fullerton's S3 English class, Ms Fullerton and Dr Neilson were invited over to the Dick Institute for an Imprint session - part of the first East Ayrshire Book Festival. Our students were very lucky as the author in session was Keith Gray -who is very difficult to book - and because K.A. was the only school present at that session. Keith Gray kept the class completely enthralled for three quarters of an hour with tales of his writing, his inspiration and the qualities needed to be able to write - mainly inspiration and experience. His talk was followed by a successful question and answer session. On the way back, the pupils were talking about him keenly. Report by Dr J Neilson |
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SCOTTISH INVENTORS - QUICK QUIZ Thanks to all who took part in our Scottish Inventors quiz at East Ayrshire's Family Open Day at the Grand Hall on Saturday 3rd November. The quiz was won by Roisin Brown from Ochiltree. Well done Roisin! Report by Mr G. Kerr (currently developing the one-page novel) To test your knowledge of Scottish Inventors click here. |
'TIMES ED' PHOTOSHOOT On Tuesday morning, the Old Academy Hall was the scene of a professional photoshoot when Times Ed photographer, David Gordon, visited the school and took photographs to accompany a story about the Rolls of Honour being featured on the school website - the story should be in the Times Ed this Friday. The main subjects of the photo session, taken next to the War Memorial, were Liam Baillie (Prefect), Beth Wilson (Prefect), Dr Neil Dickson, Neil McIlvanney and Mrs Ford. Look out for the results - in full colour - on Friday. |
 David Gordon - Times Ed |
 Dr Neil Dickson |
 Head Teacher - Carole Ford |
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WELCOME TO NEW VISITORS As the addition of the Rolls of Honour to our website was covered by the Times Ed last Friday, we are expecting to get a few new visitors to our site. If this is is your first visit then you can access some of the highlights of KA Web by clicking here. We hope you enjoy your virtual visit to Kilmarnock Academy and come back again soon. Neil McIlvanney |
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ROLLS OF HONOUR GO ONLINE In order to mark Remembrance Day, the Rolls of Honour of former pupils and staff of Kilmarnock Academy killed in both world wars have now been made available online - and they make poignant reading. There were 142 former pupils who died in World War I and 68 who died in World War II. The booklets were scanned by Dr Neil Dickson and the Memorial section of our site was created and uploaded by Neil McIlvanney. (click here ) |
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QUESTION TIME AT K.A. Kilmarnock Academy held its own motivational Question Time for 6 th year pupils recently. The panel was made up of former pupils who have been successful in their professional lives in a number of ways. The pupils were invited to ask questions in an attempt to find out the way to success . The panel was Helen Sayles formerly of Fenwick who is now vice president of Liberty Mutual Assurance, a large American company, and she is based in Boston. (Read on click here) |
October 2007 |
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TRIP TO GOATFELL A 7 am departure from Ardrossan saw MV Caledonian Isles off Brodick some 45 minutes later. Unfortunately it remained there for a further 30 minutes, as the wrong kind of tide meant we had to wait for higher water before the ferry could dock. |
encounter between a boulder and a tooth, it reached the summit in around two and a half hours. As last year, a toast to Stuart was drunk at the top. And just like last year, we were deprived of any kind of view, with cloud well down on the mountain. An attempt to paint a verbal picture of the view for Mrs Armstrong, who has still to see anything from the top, was only partially successful. The return to Brodick was broken only by a visit to Arran Aromatics from which all the female members of the party emerged with rather expensive-looking packages! The one disappointment for your correspondent was that Arran Blondes proved to be quite elusive in Brodick this year, but all was put right aboard MV Caledonian Isles. Report by Carol Armstrong, Senior Clerical Assistant, Kilmarnock Academy |
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GEOGRAPHY CLUB STARTS UP Thursday lunchtime from 1.00 to 1.30 in H2. The Geography club will be starting up on Thursday lunch times for all S1 and S2 pupils! The club will involve Geography challenges, world Geography news, Craft time and a chance to find out what geography is all about! This will also be a chance to do Geography homework with the help of a Geography teacher. Any questions come and ask Mr Lang. |
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BONJOUR!, ¡HOLA!, GUTEN TAG!, BUONGIORNO! On Tuesday 25 September and Wednesday 26 September, Kilmarnock Academy celebrated “European Day of Languages” in style! The Assembly hall was decked out in the flags of all the European Nations and First and Second year pupils has loads of fun dancing to French and Spanish music, singing one or two songs and playing some musical games such as Corners and Simon Says – in French, of course! Necole, Alice and Ryan from 1B all did very well singing two different versions of the alphabet song! The third and fourth year pupils enjoyed a Euroquiz with great prizes provided by East Ayrshire Council. |
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| CHESS CLUB STARTS UP AGAIN K.A. Chess Club has started up again for the new session. The club is one of the longest-running extra- curricular activities at Kilmarnock Academy and is run by one of our longest-serving and most popular members of staff, Mr McCormick of the Physics Department. The club meets in C3 at 1.10 pm on Wednesdays (for S3 to S6) and at 1.10pm on Thursdays (for S1 and S2). Go along and check it out. The trials for this year's house teams have just started. |
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September 2007 |
| JAZZ BAND PLAY AT CAMERON HOUSE The school jazz band played at Cameron House Hotel on Saturday night for a business event. They were talent spotted when they played at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow. |
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| CHESS CLUB STARTS UP AGAIN K.A. Chess Club has started up again for the new session. The club is one of the longest-running extra- curricular activities at Kilmarnock Academy and is run by one of our longest-serving and most popular members of staff, Mr McCormick of the Physics Department. The club meets in C3 at 1.10 pm on Wednesdays (for S3 to S6) and at 1.10pm on Thursdays (for S1 and S2). Go along and check it out. The trials for this year's house teams have just started. |
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CALL OF THE WILD
Mr Reid's S3 English class - who have been reading the Jack London classic, "Call of the Wild" - had a special visitor on the afternoon of Tuesday, 11th September: Reno, a six-year-old Siberian Husky. While being given a talk on the Klondyke Gold Rush, Siberians and sled dog racing, the class took notes and asked questions. They were also directed to read Footprints in the Snow, a history of the Siberian Husky, prior to writing a report on sled dogs. Read The Call of the Wild online. |
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ART & DESIGN SUMMER SCHOOL Their creations will go on display in the Schools Art & Design Exhibition in the Dick at the end of Jan 2008, along with other artwork from schools. |
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God of Wine by Louise Mitchell |
Goddess of Love |
Goddess of the Sea by Collette Donnelly |
Goddess of Love by Ashleigh Lindsay |
August 2007 |
EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL Dr. Neilson, Ms. Fullerton, Mr. McGougan and Mrs. Rodger took a party of nearly 50 pupils to the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Tuesday the 21 st of August. In spite of the rain and the bus arriving late and getting lost, we arrived in time for our first author event, P.R. [ Pearl ] Morrison. The author comes from the Orkney Islands and her books reflect the Orkney weather and mystery. She showed her audience a series of photographs of fantastic creatures and ran a quiz about fantastic facts. Then, she produced a giant paper clip and asked the pupils to use their imagination as to what this artefact could be transformed into to give a person strength. Some unusual ideas emerged including one from our own pupil, Vanessa Wilson of 2S who thought that the clip could be bent into a map to enable a person to go where they wished. The session ended with a reading of the first chapter of her book The Wind Tamer. Some of our pupils were inspired to buy her book and get it signed. We ate our picnic lunch in the Square whilst sheltering from the showers of rain and had time to browse in the wonderful Children's Book Tent. After lunch, we went to hear Graham Joyce. He was quite a provocative speaker asking the pupils many questions such as what is the greatest fear for a teenage girl? The answer is to be in a car which is driven by their boyfriend. Again, there was just time for book signing before returning to the bus for the journey home. |
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STAFFING A number of staff left us at the end of last session. Mr Paul Crankshaw retired as Principal Teacher of Business Studies. We send him all good wishes for a happy retirement and thank him very much indeed for his long years of sterling service. Mr Alan Stewart retired as Depute Head Teacher, formerly Principal Teacher of Guidance. He contributed enthusiastically to many areas of school life and will be missed. Good wishes to him too for a happy retirement – and keep your mobile switched on, Alan, in case we cannot find anything! A number of probationer teachers, with us for one year only, also left us to continue their careers elsewhere. Thank you very much and good luck to – Mr James Carrigan in Mathematics, Mr Alistair McDougall in Modern Studies, Mr Chris Kilpatrick in Modern Languages, Mrs Rhona James and Mrs Amanda Walton in Biology. |
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SUMMER'S GONE... BACK TO SCHOOL! The holidays are over. Pupils returned to school on Wednesday 15th August and the pictures below show some of our new faces (and a couple of old ones). We would like to offer a special welcome to all our new pupils at K.A. and wish all of our pupils - new and old -good luck in the coming session. (Although you should remember that success is more to do with having a positive attitude and a healthy workrate than it is to do with luck). |
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DR NEILSON LAUNCHES LRC BLOG Be sure to check out (and contribute to) the new LRC blog launched this month by Dr Neilson. Click the picture on the left. |
July 2007 |
| FORMER PUPILS NOTICEBOARD There has been a recent flurry of activity in this area over the past week. We have recently heard from Kirsteen Wright (in Tokyo), Clifford McMillan (in Korea), Elinor Kerr (in Kilmarnock) and Scott Bell (in Norway). Click here to check them out. |
| THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS ARE HERE! The holidays are here - time to explore. Don't worry if you don't manage to travel to foreign shores - you can always travel to Ayr shore. And if you don't manage to climb the Jungfrau, you can always mount an expedition to conquer the East Face of Loudoun Hill. Whatever you do and wherever you go - have a great holiday! And even though BHS will have 'Back to School' banners up within a week or so, just relax - we don't return until August 15th. |
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