This morning I had the great pleasure in speaking to some of our outstanding S1 Geographers. Sophie Milne, Gregor Naysmith, Alicja Malek, and Sarah Turner have all produced very high quality investigations into a country of their choice. It was a real pleasure to discuss their work with them and congratulate them on the huge amount of effort that they had put into their work. Engagement is one of the core values of Knox Academy and it is great to see pupils demonstrating it.

Similarly, yesterday I managed to make it along (albeit briefly) to one of the "Soup, Smoothie and Sandwich" cafes that have been run by the Business Education Department witheS1 pupils. The have been working to develop their food item, have costed it, and got a chance to make it this week. It was great to see so many parents in to sample the food and give feedback. I personally tried a couple of smoothies and a particularly fine mushroom and thyme soup with doughballs. Thanks to Mr Flood, Mr Dempster, Mr McFarlane, Mrs Alison, Mrs Jackson, the pupils, staff ad parents for making the week such a success.

We have also had some sporting visitors in school to speak to pupils. Kerry MacPhee, a mountain bike and triathlon specialist came in under the aegis of "Champions in School", to share her experiences, understanding and mindset with pupils. We also welcomed Michelle Vidler from "Sky Sports Living For Sport" programme in to talk to the School of Rugby pupils. She emailed the school to say: “My favourite bit of the visit had to be (and sadly involves no input of my own!) where the kids shared with the group what had been their most significant gain so far from their school of rugby journey. I found the answers - more confidence, better teamwork capabilities, improved fitness - to be really uplifting and totally in line with what SSLFS is all about.” It’s great to have what we have thought confirmed by visitors to the school.

Last night, I had the great pleasure to be invited to dinner at Leuchie House – an establishment that provides high quality respite care for people and their families living with long-term physical conditions. Some of our senior pupils had chosen Leuchie House as their charity for the Youth Philanthropy Initiative presentation earlier in the year and we hope to develop our association as time goes on. Thanks to the staff and guests for making me feel so welcome.

In other news, it looks like Activities’ Week is coming together nicely – trips are planned, itineraries are finalised - it’s just the weather that we need to sort out. If your youngster is going on a trip, please make sure that they have the appropriate clothing and equipment when they leave the house in the morning.

A reminder that school is closed to pupils on Monday 18th May owing to a staff in-service training day.

Next Wednesday we have the last Parent School Partnership meeting of the session. The meeting starts at 6.15pm and any parent is welcome to attend.

Have a great week.

S Ingham