It was fantastic to have parents, carers and school partners join us last night at our Awards Ceremony to celebrate the successes of our pupils both in and out of school. We presented 277 awards last night for both academic attainment and achievement. We were also delighted that Irene Ogilvie, from Haddington Rotary, was able to join us to present the awards that they have given the school. It was so nice to come together, after two years, to have this as a live event and feel that true spirit of community. Last night’s event marks only one of the ways we celebrate the achievements of our pupils and complements our termly Diligence Awards, Achievement Ties and Hot Chocolate Friday’s.
We have also had our fifteen Pupil Leadership Team interviews going on this week and feedback from those conducting these is that they have been of a very high quality. Next week is the hustings and our candidates will share their manifestos with the wider school online and this will be followed by an Open to Question session on Wednesday. Following voting next Thursday, pupils will be informed of the outcome on Friday morning at 9am. I will be able to announce the new Pupil Leadership Team in my Head Teacher’s update that day. I know whoever is elected they will have all done an amazing job in applying!
Pupils’ News
S6 Rotary Youth Leadership Award
Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) is a Rotary International project with a proven record of personal development and leadership for young people. RYLA gives young people the opportunity to expand their horizons by developing leadership skills, increasing self-confidence, in addition to obtaining new skills and developing old ones, and returning a young person with enhanced attributes to benefit their current or future employer. Participants learn to work effectively as part of a team, discover the benefits of delegation, discover unexplored individual skills and work to tight deadlines. The week is designed to take the delegates out of their individual comfort zones, to recognise and develop them as individuals and team leaders, and each day finishing with an individual and team review.
The week-long project takes place in July 2022. 17-22 July is for girls; 22-27 July is for boys. This a great opportunity. If parents/carers could encourage their young people to sign up to this that would be great. If they are interested, they should see Mr Flood ASAP. Thank you.
S3 Renewables Sessions
Some of our new S3 pupils have been very fortunate this week to have sessions with SSE Renewables and 3D to develop their plans for an offshore windfarm. Top quality presentations were given by all pupils – well done!
Manga
A group of pupils from Meadowpark and Knox Academy who have an interest in Manga got together to attend an online event in the library, where author Julian Sedgwick and illustrator Chie Kutsuwada spoke about their collaboration on the 2022 Carnegie-nominated book Tsunami Girl, followed by a session in which Chie Kutsuwada taught us how to draw a Manga figure, and in which we learnt more about this Japanese art form and culture. It was great fun and we had some fabulous pictures to show for it (By Ruth Fry, Librarian)
Parents’/Carers’ Information
SQA Results
These come out on 9 August 2022 and pupils can register to receive these by text or email at MySQA. If following these results they wish to request to be re-coursed, they should complete the Google Form Mr Russell will send out to their EduBuzz accounts after results day. This can be completed prior to returning to school. No re-coursing request can be guaranteed as this will be dependent on spaces available in subjects. We will do our best though! S5/6 pupil who request a re-coursing should follow their current timetables when they return until Mr Russell processes all requests. Thank you.
LGBT+ Pride
This week we have also been celebrating pride. The LGBT+ Allies group has tried to focus this year on supporting the LGBTQ+ community at Knox Academy and in the wider Haddington area. The group ran assemblies this week to raise awareness and to offer advice and support for the community and their allies. There were activities during registration and some subject specific LGBT+ lessons as well. Next session we are hoping to run a parent/carers LGBT+ support session and training. (By Nikki Stobie)
School Improvement – Session 2022-23
Our School Improvement Plan (SIP) for Session 2022-23 has now been finalised. Thank you to all parents who completed the questionnaire as some of the feedback from this helped direct our next steps, along with the feedback from pupils and staff in their questionnaire responses too. If you would like to feedback on our SIP please do contact the school via email. I have also produced a Parents Overview which you may find useful. Our updates on this session’s improvement plan (SQIP) can also be read here.
Pupils’ Achievements
Success Stories
If you have any success stories about your young person please send these in to our admin@knox.elc.school.org so we can share these with everyone in our school and community. Thank you.
Dates for your diary:
Friday 1 July End of Term (12.15pm)
Sue Cook
Covid-19 Update
The guidance for schools was updated on Monday 2 May. From Sunday 1 May public health advice changed to a ‘stay at home’ message replacing self-isolation for people who have symptoms or have tested positive for Covid-19. People who have symptoms of Covid-19 and who have a fever or are too unwell to carry out normal activities will be asked to stay at home while they are unwell or have a fever. Pupils and staff will no longer be advised to take a PCR test. Full information on the stay at home guidance is available here. Continuing with our approaches to good hand hygiene, ventilation, physical distancing (where possible), and recommending face coverings be worn in social areas and larger gatherings will still be a feature until the end of the summer term. Face coverings are still recommended on school transport too. Our latest Risk Assessment can be read here.
Parent Council
The Parent Council has requested a footer on my HT’s update that remains there year round and which offers quick links to remote learning resources, course choices, supported study and careers news. Clicking on these headings takes you straight to these pages.
Please also look at our website for lots of other information. Please also follow us on Twitter for up-to-date news on a day to day basis.
Please also remember to follow us at: www.ka-net.org.uk 
@knoxacademy @knoxacademyHT for the latest information and updates
