It was absolutely amazing to get news this week that we have achieved our LGBTQ+ Silver Charter Award. The final comment in the report read: ‘Great to see such a high level of LGBTQ+ visibility in Knox Academy, as well as a focus on mental health & wellbeing.’ There was lots of feedback about what the school has done so well and what we still need to focus on in our journey ahead to enable us to go from strength to strength.
A huge thank you to Nikki Stobie, the LGBTQ+ team, LGBT Allies and the wider school community for helping us to achieve this award. We are looking forward to celebrating our LGBTQ+ community as part of our Diversity Evening on 9 February 2023.
Tomorrow, 10 December our "Festive Fayre" will take place in the school from 10 am - 12 noon. S1 Business and Administration classes, as well as other groups including S6 Young Enterprise, will be presenting stalls offering a variety of festive products and gift ideas as well as some fun activities. There are no tickets for this event and parents/carers and pupils are invited to come along on the day to browse items and hopefully make some purchases too
Next week is going to be a very busy week with both our Christmas Lunch and Christmas Concert on Wednesday 14 December. Tickets are still available for our concert please do come along to support all of our young people at this. On Thursday 15 December it will be the turn of our Senior Pupils for their Christmas Dance and we are looking forward to an evening of dancing.
Staffing
A warm welcome to Kathryn Zhong, our new Mandarin teacher at the school who started with us last week
Welcome back to Mr Andy McSwan who will return to his computing teacher post on Thursday 5 January 2023.
Parents’ and Pupils’ Information
QGC Tree Planting
We were very lucky to be blessed with sunshine on Monday for planting of our stunning Hornbeam tree as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy, ‘Plant a tree for the Jubilee.’ A huge thank you to our Head Pupils for reading a poignant poem about trees, spreading their roots and flourishing. Thank you to our younger pupils who also helped plant the tree, to the Provost and Lord Lieutenant Roderick Urquhart for their words, to all who attended and to Mike Foy and his team for bringing the tree and preparing the ground for planting. We hope to see this special Platinum Jubilee tree, in memory of HM The Queen, flourish over the years to come.
S1-S3 Christmas Dance
It was brilliant to have our Christmas Dance back for our S1-S3 pupils and they all looked amazing all dressed up for this occasion. They seemed to have lots of fun and danced until they dropped! Glad to see they still all made it into school on Wednesday morning! A huge thank you to all staff and senior pupils who came along to the dance to support it. Thanks to Mrs McBride and Mrs Borwick for organising the dances and to Liam Morrison for being our DJ for the evening. Thanks to all the parents who came along to run the tuck shop and cloakroom. I appreciate without staff/parental/senior pupils’ goodwill these events would not be possible. A huge thank you to also goes to our janitors and cleaners for getting the areas prepared and cleaning them up afterwards to get the school ready for action the following morning. Teamwork in action!
S4-S6 Christmas Dance
If your young person is attending this dance please can they bring lots of change or their debit card (we will have a card reader) so they can purchase refreshments. Our PTA is very kindly running this aspect of the event.
On the evening of the dance pupils should arrive no earlier than 7pm and enter by the main doors. They should also ensure they have transport home available at the end of the dance, which finishes at 9.30pm.
No payments for admission can be taken on the night, and admittance is only available for those who have paid in full by the closing date. Please do not attend if you have not already secured a place.
Careers Evening
This will take place on Wednesday 18 January 2023. S1-S3 6-7pm and S4-S6 7-8pm. The event will be held in the Assembly Hall/Social Area and at the moment we have 46 organisations being represented across a wide variety of sectors. You may be interested to look at the local labour market intelligence in advance of the evening. It's a very informal evening where you can have a wander round each of the stalls and have a conversation with the universities, colleges, businesses, organisations and training provider representatives including a few apprentices and recent graduates. They will explain more about their business and the employment pathways, skills and character traits required for the jobs and sectors that might be of interest to you. A number will also be bringing some handouts for you to take away and mull over and reflect upon together as a family. After a long day at work you will also be pleased to hear that tea/ coffee will be available and thanks to the PTA for supplying this - a donation is always welcome!
In due course more information about the specific representatives will be made available to you and pupils will be talking about it during PSE - for S2 to S5 this will be part of the Course Choice process (By Calum Blair, CL Numeracy and Computing).
Borrowing Library Books (changes)
East Lothian libraries are moving to a new system and Young Scot cards or library cards will be needed when borrowing books. If pupils do not have their cards with them when coming to the library, books they have chosen can be kept aside for them. If anyone needs a replacement card without the new travel concession, forms for this can be picked up from the school library, school office or local library (John Gray Centre). If a new card with travel concession is needed, please apply either at the John Gray Centre or online.
S4, S5 and S6 Reports
These will now be issued on 12 January 2023. This is to allow time for all prelims to be marked and these results to be incorporated in to these reports.
Diligence Awards
Our diligence awards will be issued to pupils next week.
Christmas kindness
During this month we are asking registration classes to bring in items of non-perishable food, toiletries or a donation which will be collected and distributed to the local food banks including the Lammermuir Larder in Haddington. With the ongoing cost of living crisis this is an important way of coming together and helping our local community. We appreciate all your generosity at this time of year.
Parents’ Information
Free School Meals/Clothing Grants
We are aware that some parents/carers circumstances may have changed over the past few years. The cost of living has also spiralled. I would encourage families to see if they are eligible for Free School Meals and/or a Clothing Grant. Please visit the Free School Meals and Clothing Grants area of the East Lothian Council website for further information and the relevant forms. If you need help completing these forms there is support available on the website, or alternatively please contact your young person’s Pupil Support Leader (Guidance teacher) who should also be able to help you via a telephone call/email.
Support
Please do not hesitate to contact our Pupil Support Team by emailing your young person’s House Team garleton@knox.elcschool.org.uk, lammerlaw@knox.elcschool.org.uk, traprain@knox.elcschool.org.uk if you would like to discuss any support we can offer.
Pupils’ Achievements
Rugby- U16s
A huge congratulations to our U16s Rugby Team who got through to the final of the National Bowl against Berwick Rugby Club. It was great game to watch and the score, 60-22, didn’t reflect the energy and effort our boys put in to the match. They gave it their all – lots of creative passing, tackles and some great tries. You did us proud and gave it your all right up until the final whistle blew – showing our value of ambition in action! Great to take our other SoR teams along to cheer them at the side and also to see so many parents/carers cheering our team on from the sidelines. A young team (many only 14 in this team) with great prospects ahead. The Team will play Duns tomorrow and we wish them all the very best in this match.
Football
Congratulations to Leo Harrison (S6) who has been signed to the Under 20’s at Dunbar United – a great achievement at 17 years old!
Dates for your diary:
Monday 12 December – final day of S4/5/6 Prelims
Wednesday 14 December - Christmas Concert
Thursday 15 December - Blitzen's Ball Senior Phase (S4-S6): 7pm-9.30pm
Tuesday 10 January – S4 Parents’ Evening (online) 4.30-6.30pm
Monday 16 January – Course Choice Information Evening S2-S5 (online) – 6.30-7.30pm
Wednesday 18 January – Careers Fayre – at Knox Academy – all year groups – 6-8pm
Thursday 9 February – Diversity Evening – 5-9pm – at Knox Academy (tickets £5/£3)
Our school calendar is updated regularly and should be used to access all information throughout the year and allows you to plan ahead too.
Sue Cook
Parent Council
The Parent Council has requested a footer on my HT’s update that remains there year round and which offers quick links to remote learning resources, course choices, supported study and careers news. Clicking on these headings takes you straight to these pages.
Please also look at our website for lots of other information. Please also follow us on Twitter for up-to-date news on a day to day basis.
Please also remember to follow us at: www.ka-net.org.uk 
@knoxacademy @knoxacademyHT for the latest information and updates
