What an amazing last few weeks of term it has been. We had our annual Sports Personality of the Year Awards Evening (SPOTY) last Friday night, with many of our young people recognised for their sporting achievements throughout the year at school, regional and national levels. It was great to have Lucy Lanigan, Scottish hockey player, and Gemma Gibbons, silver medallist in Judo at 2012 Olympic Games, to present prizes and be our guest speakers. A huge thank you to Louise Allan and Charlie Gates (new S5) who organised the whole evening. What tremendous leadership skills they showed in doing this and we are very proud of them for this. Thank you also to the PTA for supporting the event and to Allan McDougall Solicitors for sponsoring the event.
Evening of Celebration
It was another great night on Wednesday when we gathered together as a community to celebrate our young people’s academic and wider achievements across the year. The evening started with a film that gave an overview of some of our main achievements at the school this year and this was followed by Maria Lyle, our guest speaker for the evening, talking about being a Paralympian and the challenges she has faced throughout both her school and sporting careers. She spoke from the heart and her key messages were based around resilience, self-belief and the power of community. Pupils were then presented with certificates for hard work and commitment throughout the year before moving on to subject awards, named awards and finally S3 and S5 Duxes.
Congratulations to all of our young people who received awards at SPOTY and our Evening of Celebration.
International Trade Summer School
A team of five pupils attended the International Trade Summer School on Tuesday 25 June in Edinburgh. The event was organised by the Department for International Trade and Liam Fox, the Minister for this Department, sent a personal message to all the teams, wishing them luck.
The team were up against six other schools from East Lothian, Edinburgh and Fife. They were faced with three challenges throughout the day which included creating an export strategy for selling bicycles to Morocco and making decisions about production and resources to maximise profitability. After much hard work, determination, good negotiating, excellent team communication the team presented their ideas to the rest of the competitors and judges; Knox Academy came out on top! They have been rewarded with a visit in July to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London where they will have the opportunity to meet school teams from England and present their winning ideas. They will also have the chance to find out about the role of the DIT and career opportunities in the civil service. Congratulations to all five of you and wish you all the best in London. (By Dot Ferguson)
Exam Results and Re-Coursing
First of all, I hope that all our young people do exceptionally well in their exam results when they receive them in August. However if they do not perform as well as they had hoped, here are details from Mr Russell regarding the process for S5/S6 re-coursing.
If, after the SQA results are issued on 6 August, any pupils feel they require to be re-coursed, the procedure will be as follows:
From 14 August, re-coursing forms will be available from the school. Pupils who wish to be re-coursed should fill out the form, detailing the reasons for requesting a change as well as the change itself and getting forms signed by Curriculum Leaders. The completed forms should then be handed in to the school office by Friday 16th August at latest. Once all forms have been submitted, the changes will be investigated and as far as is possible implemented. No changes will be made before Friday 16 August and the aim will be to have as many as possible processed by Monday 19 August. In the meantime, pupils should continue to follow their June timetable. Staff will also be consulted as to any changes that they feel are beneficial/ necessary. Parents/ carers will be informed of any course changes so that they are aware of the courses/ levels being followed. These procedures are designed to make the process as equitable as possible.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation and patience with the process. If you have any questions about it after the 19 August, please contact me – drussell@knox.elcschool.org.uk
Dates for your diary:
Wednesday 14 August - School resumes for all pupils at 8.30am
Tuesday 3 September - Parent Council Meeting (6.15-8pm) School Library
Have a lovely summer break
Sue Cook