December 2016

Published: 22 December 2016

The latest edition of Knox Newsletter is now available for viewing and downloading on this website in the News section: News > The Knox Newsletter.

Published: 22 December 2016

The S6 school magazine team have been working hard over the past few months to produce a new edition of The Bleater in time for the Christmas holidays. To read our Autumn/Winter edition, click here

Published: 16 December 2016

Immunisation helps protect our young people and communities from a wide range of illnesses.

The NHS Lothian school nurse team carries out an annual immunisation programme, which includes:

  • The HPV vaccine for girls in S1 and S2 to protect against cervical cancer (and also for any girls in S3-S6 who have not completed)
  • The teenage booster (Diphtheria, Tetanus and Polio) and Meningitis ACWY for S3 pupils and any in S4 –S6 who have not received this in S3

If you receive a consent form pack please ensure you read this and discuss vaccination with your parent or carer.  Please make sure you return the form as soon as you can (within 7 days please), signed by yourself and your parent/carer.

The HPV vaccine, given to girls in S1 and S2, protects against certain strains of the human papillomavirus which cause cervical cancer. It is important that you get this protection early enough for it to be effective.  So, you should have all the required doses as soon as they are offered at secondary school.

More information about the HPV programme can be found on the Immunisation Scotland website, alternatively you can call NHS Inform on 0800 22 44 88 (8am to 10pm, every day).

Published: 13 December 2016

The 5 week project in collaboration with the ever growing Haddington Table Tennis Club has been a massive success with youngsters mastering the fundamentals of Table Tennis, improving their skills and technique week on week as well as developing their basic coaching skills; leading parts of sessions, evaluating performance and undertaking self-reflection of their own development. 

This incorporation of the Young Sports Leaders with our Princes Trust group has worked remarkably well giving youngsters a chance to develop their social, communication and organisational skills and give insight for each group into the working of the other course.
Princes Trust have used this 5 week block to contribute towards their "Participation in Sport" Module (Individual Sport section) which will add with other courses and build towards a National 5 Qualification. The group hope to work with Haddington Table Tennis Club In January to return something back to the community by volunteering with their Additional Support Needs Community Class and Over 50's group as part of their "Helping Others In The Community" Module.

Feedback from Lead Coaches at the Club,  Martyn and Pete,  has been extremely positive, with them commending Knox Pupils on their engagement, attitude and impressive skills development with lots of talent identified in the group who will hopefully access the local club sessions in future.
We thank Haddington Table tennis club for their time and support. The Club have also offered to donate some new bats and balls to the school so we can increase table tennis participation further - THANK YOU!!

We hope to continue this partnership working with this local Club in future and thank Knox Academy staff Members L. Jeffrey (Geography/Princes Trust), J. Watters (PE), S. Wands (Active Schools) for their involvement. Any other community Clubs or Groups keen to get involved, please contact Miss Jeffrey at Knox Academy.

Published: 10 December 2016

The National Improvement Framework has been introduced to provide better information about how children and young people are progressing and how well schools, councils and the Scottish Government are supporting their learning. That information will help teachers and others who work to support children and young people to understand where improvement is needed. It will also help schools, councils and national government to see which learning, teaching and assessment approaches are working well, and where changes need to be made.

The Scottish Government has published the following documents with information for parents/carers:

Published: 06 December 2016

A reminder that our S1 Parents' Evening is this Thursday 8 December 2016 from 5 pm - 7 pm.  

S1 Pupils have been collecting appointments from their teachers over the past week.

Should you be unable to attend Parents' Evening and would like some feedback on your son/daughter's progress please contact their Guidance Teacher in the first instance via the School Office.

Published: 06 December 2016

Fiona Robertson has issued a letter to parents/carers concerning the Achievement of a Level in Literacy and Numeracy.

Published: 05 December 2016

On Tuesday 13 December S4 - 6 pupils are invited to attend a meeting from 1330 - 1355 to find out more about Torness Power Station, EDF and the  apprenticeship opportunity below. Pupils have been asked to let Mr Blair know about their intention to attend the meeting by the end of the week.

Here is some information:

 

If you’re looking to be part of a better energy future, our Engineering Maintenance Apprenticeship will give you the skills, confidence and qualifications to join our industry’s next generation.

Our four-year apprenticeship focuses on the skills required to maintain our power stations. This could be one of our coal, gas or nuclear plants situated around the UK. As well as the technical skills, we’ll also help you develop the attitudes and behaviours essential to the safe operation of our power stations.

Your first two years will be based at HMS Sultan and HMS Collingwood Royal Naval bases, where you’ll have access to excellent training facilities as part of our academic and workshop training programme. You’ll then spend your final two years on whichever one of our power stations you applied to. Here, you’ll work alongside and learn from fully qualified professionals, developing your knowledge and skills at the same time as completing your academic and vocational qualifications. As you learn, you’ll also get paid and if you apply yourself, you’ve got a good chance of securing a permanent job at the end of it all.

What you need to apply:
• Five GCSEs at grade C or above, National 5 or equivalent, including Maths, two Science (or 1 Science and a Technical subject) and English Language
• A talent for practical subjects
• The desire to learn and develop your skills
• A willingness to relocate as required

For more information and to apply, visit edfenergy.com/apprentices

Published: 02 December 2016

The Young Enterprise Christmas Market takes place tomorrow at Central Halls, just off Lothian Road, in Edinburgh, from 10 am until 3 pm.  If you are in Edinburgh for any reason, please come along and support the Knox Academy teams.  A great chance to buy some unique hand-made gifts for Christmas!