It was great welcoming our prospective S1 pupils at our Information Evening on Wednesday of this week. The hall was packed full and there was a real buzz of excitement around the school as pupils and their parents/carers visited departments and tried their hand at various tasks and challenges.  We really enjoyed their visit to the school and look forward to continuing our links throughout the year to keep the transition between primary and secondary as seamless as possible.  A huge thanks to all who attended and made the evening a great success.

Staffing

We are currently recruiting for two Biology teachers (one full time temporary and one part time temporary). 

Also advertised is a full time English post.

New staff started/about to start:

Alicia Coyle started in Maths this week

Andy Johnstone (Physics) and Trish McLeod (Biology) both start after the October break

Leaving – Manus McGeehan – we wish him all the best in his retirement and thank him for all his years of service at Knox Academy.

Dress Down Day

We had a dress down day today to raise funds for UNICEF. This is one of our selected charities as we work towards our Rights Respecting School Gold Award and we hope that our work with them will help our young people understand a bit more about citizenship.  The amount raised has not yet been totalled but I would like to thank pupils, staff and parents/carers for their support of this charity.

Macmillan Coffee Morning 

This was held at the school on Thursday.  Staff were treated to an amazing array of cakes and goodies and all in aid of a fantastic cause. The total raised was £152.49.  Well done to all those who baked for the occasion and helped us raise so much.

Drama Pupils

Congratulations to our talented N4/5, Higher and Advanced Higher pupils who presented their Drama Skills pieces to an invited audience on Thursday 11th October. Excellent effort and commitment to create interesting work that gave the audience lots to think about. We look forward to inviting them back for our Production Skills presentations in November.

Thanks!

Eco-Committee Logo Competition

The deadline for the Eco-Committee logo competition was Monday 8 October.  This week the group met to agree on which logo would represent us.  The Eco Committee received an amazing variety of logos (which can be viewed on Twitter) and loved the range of ideas and the level of creativity in all of them.  The winning logo was designed by Niamh Brotherston in S4 and she received a reusable coffee cup and reusable bamboo straws as her prize. Thanks to all students who participated in the competition! (by Miss Laudi)

Young Enterprise

We have one Young Enterprise Company running in the Lothian competition this year consisting of nine S6 girls.  Their product idea is to sell tote bags which they will personalise with a range of designs. The team name is 9Designs. The team was represented by one member of the team, and their Business Advisor, at the Young Enterprise Training day last Saturday.  The event was hosted at the RBS offices at  Gogar and the participants were involved in workshops and talks which gave them an insight into what would be required to run a successful YE company and proved to be very informative.

Last night, Thursday 11 October, they held a quiz night in the Food Court which was very well attended by around 60 people including staff, parents and S5 and S6 pupils.   The only S5 pupil team did really well by beating the 3 adult and 3 S6 teams involved.

The whole event was extremely well organised by the YE team with questions well suited to the audience.  Lots of delicious home baking and refreshments were available and there was a range of great raffle prizes.  There was a lovely atmosphere in the food court, good natured competition of course, and ultimately everyone commented on how much they enjoyed the evening.  

The young people involved in the organisation and running of this event and those who participated on the night are a credit to our school and I was proud to be part of it.  The final amount raised to help them on the Young Enterprise journey is around £380! (by Dot Ferguson)

I would like to wish the Knox Academy staff, pupils, parents/carers a fun and relaxing October break and time to recharge your batteries for what will be a very busy term when we resume.  Pupils return on Tuesday 23rd October.

Best wishes

Sue Cook