Rachel Morris is one of Britains’s top Paralympians. She has a condition known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) which has resulted in her having both legs amputated. Rachel competes in handcycling road events, and has won gold medals at the World Championships, and at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games.

STEMNET and Cisco challenged 11-14 year olds from across the UK to raise the profile of Rachel Morris by designing an interesting, informative and educational website.

Fifteen S1 pupils have spent the last six weeks researching and designing (with the help of Global Web) websites which would not only raise Rachel's profile but educate people about CRPS and inspire and motivate young disabled people to choose sport. 

For further information on the Stem Club and to view their presentations - click here.

Third year pupils at Knox Academy have spent the past seven months working on a short documentary film called ‘It Gets Better’.  The film focuses on homophobic bullying in schools and gives hope to young Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender people that ‘It Gets Better’.

The pupils were part of the Panasonic Kid Witness News project, a Global contest, which asks young people to create an engaging short film with Global importance. Pupils and staff had travelled to the Panasonic awards ceremony in Derby on 4 May 2011 and the Knox Academy KWN Team were awarded the ‘Best Global Citizenship’ Award.

Out of the fifteen schools involved in the UK, the Knox Academy team were one of only two Scottish representatives.

To see the award-winning film and read more about the KWN project - click here.

Some comments about the film can be read below...

'The judging team was deeply impressed by the commitment of the Knox Academy students in bringing such a loud and proud message to the competition. Their film encapsulated the spirit of KWN through placing citizenship at the core and leading the audience through a challenging, yet optimistic, narrative. We loved the film. Well done! We will ensure that this film reaches as wide an audience as possible. Panasonic supports KWN in 679 schools across 26 countries and we will ensure that this film reaches as wide an audience as possible.'
Gill Brigg, Education Director for KWN

'I hope this team of motivated and intelligent young people will inspire others around the world to speak out about homophobic bullying; a problem that destroys lives. I was delighted to work with such a passionate group and I’m thrilled that the panel have recognised their efforts.'
Laura Ferguson, Education Officer at Stonewall

‘It’s been such a fun day; we didn’t expect to get any award. Some of the final films were really good. I was just pleased that our work has been recognised. I’ve learnt so much about film production from doing this. It’s a great project.’
Maura Drew, S3 Pupil and KWN Member

‘This has been an amazing opportunity for our young people and I am so proud of them. Homophobia is a serious issue in schools and I want to thank these young people for getting the message heard that ‘It Gets Better’. This is our first year in the contest and to come away with the Best Global Citizenship award is really special, I’m truly honoured to work with so many inspirational people.'
Mr Campbell, Drama Teacher at Knox Academy

Knox Academy would like to congratulate Sophie Lawrence 2L3 and Charlotte Smith 1T2 and Zenith (Rock/Punk Band) who entered the East Lothian’s Got Talent competition and were succesful at the auditions.  The members of Zenith are Alexa Hay 1L1, Gregor Syme 1G3, Lewis Bunting 2L3 and Roisin Kennelly 3G1.

The final will be held on the 28 May 2011 in the Corn Exchange, Haddington and the winner will be decided by the public vote on the evening.

For further information about the final, please click here.

The Art Department were highly excited to be working with artist Gemma Coyle in association with the Peter Potter Gallery in Haddington.

Two S2 classes worked with Gemma to produce an animation which is now on show at the gallery until 11 June 2011 as part of their 'Art and Landscape' exhibition. S4 pupils have also been given the opportunity to exhibit their work in the gallery, and their work can be seen in the space just outside the cafe area on the first floor.

We would like to say a big thank you to Gemma and all of the staff at the Peter Potter Gallery, as well as a huge well done to all of the talented S2 and S4 pupils who took part!