To all parents of S4 pupils - the S4 Work Experience – deadline is fast approaching!

Friday 16 September is the last day that we will be accepting forms for pupils who are finding their own work placement for the Work Experience week, 21 – 25 November this year.

Pupils have been busy approaching employers and getting their Self Found Forms completed in plenty time so that all placements can be Health and Safety checked, but time is running out fast!

This is a plea to parents to discuss Work Experience with your S4 children and make plans together.

There is a database of placements that pupils will be allowed to book from in 2 weeks’ time and you can have a look at the placements now that are on offer by going to: www.workit.info  Your child has a unique username and password. (Please note you cannot reserve placements on the database in advance of the booking week.  Bookings will be done in school.)

Please be aware that there are fewer database placements this year reflecting the current economic situation and choice will be severely limited.  If you and your child would like your own choice of placement then I urge you to be looking for places out with the database.  The relevant forms have been on offer in classes since June, but if you need to request a Self Found Placement form then please contact Miss Easson at school (01620) 823387 or via email.

Thanks to all the pupils and parents who have already submitted forms.

Miss Easson

The UCAS presentation evening planned for the 7th of September has now been changed to Thursday 15th at 6.30 pm.

The evening will have presentations from various universities and agencies involved in student life, including info on student finance.

Pupils hoping to apply for university, and their parents are encouraged to attend.

K MacDonald

Former pupil, Rory Turvill, developed an interest in sailing after an Activities Week trip in S3.  Rory has kindly provided his diary entries for his time with the Tall Ships 2011 for all to enjoy.  As Rory says, he hopes that other pupils "get the chance to participate in something similar in the future as it may change your life!"

Miss McPhee, Activities Week Excursion Leader for the Ocean Youth Trust Adventure commented: "I am delighted to see that Rory had such an amazing time onboard Alba Endeavour! The Tall Ships race really is an experience of a lifetime and I am very proud of his achievements with Ocean Youth Trust and hope that he will continue his love of sailing with the Trust as a volunteer."

My Time with the Tall Ships 2011

Day 1
We arrived in Greenock on Monday the 11th of July at 11.30 am after travelling for 3 hours by train from my hometown in Haddington. From the station the main event and harbour was a 20 minute walk. Greenock was one of the host ports for the Tall Ships and welcomed crews from the first leg of the race - Waterford in Ireland to Greenock.

The streets were mobbed with people all making their way towards all the tall masts which dominated the skyline from where they were. When I arrived there was a lot to see and people were milling about from stall to stall and ship to ship. In the whole fleet there were 62 boats of all shapes and sizes. I made my way towards the harbour, following my map which told me where to go. I arrived at the harbour wall and looked down at two Ocean Youth Trust, 72 foot challenge racing yachts. Both were identical in everything except name.  I spotted mine quickly ‘Alba Endeavour’ and quickly descended down the ramp which took me onto the pontoon on which my boat was tied alongside.  Although I had been on two trips on this particular boat before, I was still anxious because I had never been on a long voyage.  I stood on the deck and soon was greeted by some of the crew I would be spending the next 12 days with. They were all friendly and welcoming and wanted to get to know me more.

At that moment preparations were well underway for setting sail the following day. I was soon helping out and very quickly got a feel for the boat again. By the time the whole crew was on board it was nearly 4 o’clock and preparations were nearly completed. We sat at the table and had a drink and a chat. Later on we were allocated bunks which were not at all spacious but I didn’t expect anything more when there were 18 people living in a confined space like this. As time pushed on to late evening the whole crew were briefed on the safety of the boat. Soon it was bedtime and I climbed into my 2x1 bunk and crashed out. 

Day 2
We were woken at 7.00 am to get dressed, have breakfast and cleared up for 8.00 am. Today was the Parade of Sail and our boat was chosen to be first out and lead all of the other boats out of harbour. Before this we had to ‘prep the boat’.  This meant we had to get the boat ready to sail which meant stowing our kit safely, preparing the anchor ready to be dropped if anything did go wrong and making sure we were all on deck to get ‘...

This event is being held on Wednesday 31 August in the Brunton Theatre from 9 am until 12 noon.  It is being run by East Lothian Council in conjunction with the Police and other interested bodies.  Every S6 pupil in Mid and East Lothian will be invited and the aim is to tackle the carnage on our roads and the increasing number of accidents involving young drivers.

Please help us to encourage all the S6 to attend by signing the consent form and returning it to school in advance of next Wednesday. There is no cost to you or your child as it is fully funded.

Jayne Easson