The Instrumental Music Service will be showcasing the talent of young musicians in East Lothian through concerts on Tuesday 10th and Wednesday 11th October at St Mary's Kirk, Haddington.
Knox Jazz Band will be performing on Wednesday 11th October.
Tickets can be reserved and paid for on the door - all details in the poster below.
Following their recent success as members of the East Lothian Senior String Ensemble S4 Brodie Wallace (violin) and S4 Isabella Gold (violin) have now teamed up with S3 Matthew Scott (viola) and S5 Freya Maycock (cello) to launch the Knox String Quartet.
Knox String Quartet are currently rehearsing every Tuesday after school in the Music Department and we look forward to hearing great things from them at our school concerts in the future!
Listen again to the Spring Concert which was held on Thursday 30 March 2023 on the concerts section of our website. Previous concerts are also accessible on their individual pages.
Thanks to Nuala Kirkham, Beatrix Haydock and Elle Davies for filming the concert.
Almost all the Tempest proofs have been delivered to pupils after the photography session last Thursday. Should you wish to order photographs or gifts, please order promptly to receive free delivery from Tempest to the school.
All S1 present on Thursday 7 September 2023 should have a photograph, all Meadowpark students, all S6 and also those who did not have a current photograph on school records eg absent last session or a new student at the school.
Scottish jazz pianist Fergus McCreadie hosted a truly inspirational workshop on Wednesday 6 September 2023 for the Higher/Advanced Higher Music students as well as members of Jazz Band, Goats' Toes and Knox pianists.
Fergus was the Winner of the SAY Award 2022 and Jazz FM Instrumentalist of the Year 2022. He is an excellent communicator and engaging, emotive performer with an infectious enthusiasm for his craft.
The Music Department would like to thank Lamp of Lothian for sponsoring this event.
You may be aware of an additional feature of Google Classroom which is designed to help Parents/Carers gain an overview of the set tasks and assignments. This feature is called Guardian Summaries and it enables Parents/Carers to receive e-mail updates about:
As a parent/carer you will be able to control the frequency of these updates or decide to opt-out of receiving them at a later date.
Setting up Guardian Summaries
To setup Guardian Summaries your child will need to follow these steps. This must be done by each child in your household for whom you wish to receive e-mail updates.
With your child use the link: knox.is/guardiansummary which requires your child to log in via Edubuzz.
We will use the main contact email we have on record but there is an option in the form to add a second email address. It is therefore essential that the pupil record is accurate so please contact us if you wish to make any changes to your stored information.
Please also note that, due to GDPR regulations, your child may choose to opt out of sharing information with you and if they decline permission we will not be able to set up the summaries for you.
Activating Guardian Summaries is a manual process which needs to be carried out by the school once the form is completed.
We look forward to welcoming Tempest Photography to Knox Academy on Thursday 7 September 2023 to take another series of individual photographs.
These will capture our new S1 students, Meadowpark students, new enrollments over the past few months, and also update school record photographs for those without or only a primary school photograph on record.
There will be an option available for our new S6 to have a formal S6 individual photograph, should this be desired - school record photographs were updated in November 2022.
The photographer will start with all students at Meadowpark from 8.45 am, followed by a session in the school library from 10.45 am.
A schedule will follow for exact timings, and teachers will release from class as appropriate. Everybody should return to class promptly after their photograph has been taken.
As usual all students are expected to attend in full dress code including shirt/tie.
Parents/Carers will be given the option to purchase photographs and a range of gifts from Tempest afterwards.
The Music Department would love to welcome all the wonderful new 1st year students to Knox Academy.
Please pop along and see us if you would like to find out about any of the following music groups at Knox:
Monday: Knox Jazz Band (3:30pm)
Tuesday: Knox Junior Voices (lunchtime)
Wednesday: Knox Guitar Club (lunchtime)
Thursday: Goats' Toes Folk Group (lunchtime) Knox Orchestra (3:30pm)
Mrs Middlemiss (Monday-Friday) and Mrs Loughrey (Mon, Thurs, Fri)
On Friday 23 June 2023 a number of our students are doing a Golf Challenge to raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust. They are calling it the Longest Golf Day and will play 4 rounds starting at 4 am at Castlepark Golf Course. Please support this charity via the Just Giving Page setup for this event.
Archie was diagnosed in October 2022 with Ewans Sarcoma a rare Bone Cancer and has an inoperable tumour on his spine.
This was devastating for him and us as a family and the last 8 months have been awful for him being in and out of hospital on a weekly basis. Archies treatment plan is brutal with 14 rounds of intense chemotherapy as well as 6 weeks in Manchester at The Christies centre having Proton Beam Therapy a type of targeted radiotherapy directly to the tumour which Archie completed at end of April. Archie has 2 more cycle of chemotherapy to get through.
Teenage Cancer Trust are just one charity that do everything they can to try and keep teenagers going through these awful experiences. They have dedicated support workers that not only offer someone to talk to but also organise trips, pizza nights and social get togethers whilst in and out of hospital with other teenagers going through Cancer. They understand teenagers and their needs and try where possible to bring much needed joy and a listening ear. They have been invaluable to Archie with staff like Connor up here at Edinburgh Sick Kids and also Angie and Steve at The Christie Centre in Manchester. They really are worth their weight in Gold.
On the 23 June 2023 myself, friends, Archie's good pal Rory and other friends of Archie will play 4 rounds of golf in one day to try and raise vital funds and awareness of Teenage Cancer Trust.
We will start at 4 am at Castle Park Golf Club playing 18 holes moving onto Haddington Golf club at about 8.30am followed by a trip to Gifford Golf Club at 1.30 pm and finishing back at Castle Park at about 5 pm. All in all about 16 hours of golf covering about 20 miles. Let's pray the good weather holds up or it may not be as much fun dripping wet for 16 hours!
A new approach to smartphone use will commence in August 2023. This will allow us to focus on learning, teaching and working with others, rather than smartphones distracting some of our learners. Mobile phones should be out of sight during class and between class changeovers. Pupils can use these at break and lunch in the social area (not the lunch hall) and if parents/carers need to contact their young person in an emergency to do so via the school office, otherwise pupils can pick up their messages at break and lunch. Many thanks to parents/carers for their support with this.
