It is beginning to feel very festive here at Knox Academy. Last night’s Glitter Ball was a great evening and the pupils danced the night away in their stunning outfits.  I would like to particularly thank the PTA, Mrs Ball and Mrs Smith for organising and supporting this event.  We have the Christmas Concert on Tuesday 18th and the S6 Pantomime on Wednesday 19th December so please do come along to these events as they are going to be spectacular and both give the opportunity for our young people to showcase their talent.

Staffing

• English, PE and Physics (full time permanent) – interviews are taking place for these three posts next week
• Home Economics – this post is being re-advertised but we are very hopeful of having a specialist supply teacher in this area until we appoint
• Biology posts (full-time and part time temporary) – adverts close this Sunday
• Faculty Head Expressive Arts and Technologies – this post will go live today
• Pupil Support Worker – we appointed Gail Fraser to this post last week and she will take up this position in January

Finally, on the staffing front, on behalf of all at Knox Academy, I would like to wish Louise Steenson, HE teacher, all the best for her new role as St Augustine’s, Edinburgh. Thank you for all your hard work and commitment during the time you have been with us.

Adoption UK

On Friday 18 Jan (0930 -1230) Adoption UK are delivering attachment ambassador training to key staff in the school.  If any parents/carers would be interested in coming along please email Steven Illingworth to book your place.   A further opportunity exists to come along to ‘Life in the Classroom – Attachment awareness on the Feb In Service (18 Feb 9-12). Again, please contact Mr Illingworth if you are interested in attending.

Cycling (by Archie Goodard in S6)

I spoke recently at a Spokes cycling event about inclusivity, I was representing young people and gave a short five minute speech about why young people should be encouraged to be part of the cycling community.  I was then part of the Q&A panel and participated in answering questions as to what is currently done to help young people in cycling.  I mentioned things such as the bikeability and bike maintenance scheme currently running at Knox Academy and used it as an example. I also talked about the weekly GoRide sessions run by Edinburgh Road Club.  It was a great opportunity to be able to speak and to be able to voice the opinions of young people within the community.

Swimming - East Lothian Swimming Championships

Excellent achievements from Knox Academy pupils, a few weekends ago, at the aforementioned championships.  Four medals were won by Louisa in (S2), one by Owen in (S2) and an excellent early season swims from Aidan in (S3) too! Well done to you all.  The sprints and middle distance championships have yet to take place.

Drama

Congratulations to the N4/5 Higher and Advanced Higher pupils who presented their Production Skills scenes to invited audience a week past Thursday. Thank you to the supportive audience who helped the performers to reflect on their work through completing audience evaluations. 

S5 and S6 learners also attended a performance of Mouthpiece at the Traverse theatre in Edinburgh on Wednesday evening; which I believe was a very moving and thought provoking play.  S1-S4 pupils attended a performance of the eagerly anticipated production of Wendy and Peter Pan at the Lyceum theatre in Edinburgh and seemed to have really enjoyed it too.

Thank you to Ms Whitfield for organising all of the above opportunities. 

S6 Panto

This will take place on Wednesday 19 December at 7pm in the school hall.  A suggested donation of £3 per entry can be made on the night.  Please come along to support this if you can as they have written and directed it themselves, which demonstrated real leadership.  I am sure it will be a great night!  

Star Awards

The Online Payments Team won the One Council’s Star Award for Team of the Year last night.   Both Bev Skirrow (our previous Business Manager) and Emma Maguire (our office team) were involved in this. Congratulations to both of them.

Young Provost

Louise Allan, one of our S4 pupils and Sports Ambassadors, is also the county’s Young Provost.  Her application to become the Young Provost involved her in outlining policies she felt would make a difference to young people’s lives.  Her entry talked about nurturing uniqueness in the Year of Young People and she talks about her own experiences of support. You can read the full article in last week’s East Lothian Courier.  Louise is a tremendous ambassador for the school and is involved in so many leadership activities both in and out of school.

Rugby

Great news that the Haddington/ Knox School of Rugby has finished second top of the Outlander Conference League. What a great effort from all of our age group players. Thank you also to the coaches, supporters and our sponsors for making this happen.

Parent Council

Tuesday night’s meeting focused on the school values and the Parent Council was involved in an exercise to help the pupils, staff and parents in working together to look at the rights and responsibilities within our value of RESPECT. Much of our work around our school values fits directly with our quest to become a Rights Respecting School.

Further to this task the Senior Leadership Team presented our proposed Curriculum Architecture and Rationale for next session.  Both  of these will be available soon on the Parent Council’s section of our website.  Comments on these would be most welcome and should be sent to Mrs Falconer.

Learner Pathway/Course Choice information for S2-S6 parents/carers will be early on in January and Mrs Falconer will be sending out a letter very soon with the date and format of this evening.

Key dates for your diary:

11th December - S1 Parents’ Evening - 5-7pm

18th December - Christmas Concert - 7pm

19th December - S6 Panto - 7pm

20th December - End of term - 3.50pm

7th January 2019 - Start of term - 8.44am

Have a great weekend

Sue Cook