I hope everyone had an enjoyable February mid-term break despite the weather. Time is racing in now in terms of preparing our senior pupils for their SQA exams. Please encourage your young person to attend supported study for their subjects and to use google classroom and online resources such as Scholar UK and SQA Understanding Standards Understanding Standards. If doing past papers at home, parents/carers can support this by ensuring a quiet space away from interruptions and by helping encourage timed assessments when completing past paper questions as this mimics exam conditions and the pressures associated with them. This should mean when your young person comes to sit their exams they are prepared for these conditions. A range of Study Support Sessions are available in addition to a variety of other study skills documents to help prepare for exams
Recruitment
- Advertising - Temporary teacher of Music
- Business Support Assistant – part-time permanent – interviews next week
Pupil News
Golf
Congratulations to Niall Holman (S6) and Annie Wilson-Rumney (S5) who were part of a group of East Lothian Junior League players who visited Pinehurst, in North Carolina, for a golfing experience during the mid-term break. Both found the courses they played (one being the USA Open Course no.2) very challenging but felt the experience had brought on their own play. What an experience!
Bowls
Congratulations to Beth Riva (S5) who was selected to play for Scotland in the under 25’s bowling team.
Holocaust Memorial Day (27 January 2020)
"Don't be content in your life just to do no wrong, be prepared every day to try and do some good." (Sir Nicolas Winton who rescued 669 children from Nazi occupied Europe via the Kindertransport.) Pupils in core RMPS class have been remembering Holocaust Memorial Day for the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the largest concentration camp during WW2. The aim of the lessons is to remember the past to create a fairer future. The theme of HMD this year is ‘Stand Together.’ Pupils learnt about two survivor stories - Ivor Perl Bem and Mindu Hornick who witnessed the most terrible of atrocities but managed to survive to share their incredible stories.Pupils produced work on the theme which is displayed in the RMPS department. Thanks to all pupils who engaged with the lessons. (by L Montgomery, RMPS)
Parent/Carer news
HMIe Inspection
The letter prepared by HMI following their inspection of Knox Academy, in December 2019, will be published on Tuesday 25 February 2020. I will send out the letter to parents/carers by email on this date and it will also be placed on our website. The letter and summary inspection findings will also be available on Education Scotland’s website on this date. Thank you to all parents/carers and pupils who completed questionnaires or were involved in speaking to the inspectors during their visit.
Resilience Group Friday 27 March (led by Parent Council)
As part of next year’s School Improvement Plan Knox Academy is looking to work with a group of parents/carers around the theme of resilience and how the school and parents can work together to develop our young people’s resilience. The first meeting will take place on Friday 27 March from 9.30-10.30 at Knox Academy. If you would like to be part of this group please email Lesley Pirie, Parent Council, at lesley_pirie@hotmail.com
S3 Broad General Education Graduation Ceremony – save the date
Broad General Education (BGE) – S3 Graduation Ceremony
Every transition is important in a young person’s life but the transition from the BGE to their Senior Phase is a very significant one. This is an exciting stage with lots of new opportunities and challenges ahead. As a school whose values are ambition, respect and community, we want to continue to work together with parents/carers and our partners to build upon these values and recognise the great work of our young people. If you have a child(ren) in S3 we would like to invite you along to a Graduation Ceremony to celebrate your child’s achievements over the last three years at Knox Academy and to help prepare them for the next three years in Senior Phase. The date is Friday 5 June at 11am. I will be writing out to all parents/carers after the Easter holidays but wanted to give you lots of warning so you can save the date in your diaries now - thank you. We will look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible (or an extended family member/friend if you are unable to make it).
New York City Trip
Last week we had the pleasure of taking 39 of our S5/6 pupils on a Modern Studies trip to New York City. Over the course of the week we were able to squeeze in an enormous amount of activities including tours of the UN Headquarters, Ellis Island Immigration Centre and NBC Studios; we also visited the Empire State Building, took in a Broadway Show, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and many more activities including some of the pupils taking in an Ice Hockey game at Maddison Square Garden. Each and every pupil on the trip were excellent ambassadors for Knox Academy. The youngsters were an absolute pleasure to be in the company of and the maturity and responsibility they showed throughout the trip made the teachers' jobs for the week extremely enjoyable. I would also like to thank the staff - Miss Bulloch, Mr Miller, Miss Stobie and Ms Borwick - for all their efforts in ensuring the trip ran so smoothly. As ever with pupils from Knox Academy, it was an absolute pleasure to be part of their experience and they were a credit to the school! I'm sure the pupils have managed to make some memories that will last them forever - it most certainly was an experience the staff will never forget! (by Alex Redford, Modern Studies and trip organiser).
A huge thanks to Mr Redford too!
Dates for your diary (please also refer to the CALENDAR on the school website for all events across the year):
- 24 March – Parent Council Meeting – 6.15-8pm in the Library
- 25 March – Spring Concert – 7pm
Sue Cook
