Colpy Road, Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire, AB51 0NT

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MELDRUM ACADEMY

Colpy Road, Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire, AB51 0NT

Tel: 01651-871300 Fax: 01651-871313

Email:

www: www.meldrumacademy.co.uk

Blog: www.meldrumacademy.org.uk.

NEWSLETTER : No 2 ~ Session 07/08

December 2007

Dear Parent / Carer

Welcome to the Christmas Newsletter. As I write this preface there are a large number of pupils recovering from the excitement of the school show which ran last week for three nights. The production of ‘Jack’s Krissmas’, led by Mr Walton, Teacher of Drama and Mr Russell, Teacher of Music, involved a large number of pupils and delivered a high quality production. It was a good example of the ‘curriculum for excellence’ in action! This week there were also the Christmas ceilidhs. On Monday evening ‘Galik Bred’ a local ceilidh band entertained our senior (S4-6) pupils in a sell out ceilidh, while our very own ‘Fiddlestix’ played to the junior pupils on Tuesday. The dance floor was full all night and the pupils and staff present welcomed a supper of stovies, pasta or pizza at interval. Both evenings were great fun and everyone present had an excellent time.

We will conclude the term with our own Christmas assemblies on the last two days of term. On these occasions we will have music, bible readings and a presentation from one of our chaplains. All of these events will, of course, run simultaneously with the normal learning and teaching across the school and our senior pupils are already beginning to prepare for their prelim examinations in January. Needless to say, life in school continues to be busy!

We have tried to capture some of the energy and drive that exists in school in our newsletter articles and I hope that you enjoy reading about what has gone on at Meldrum Academy this term.

CONTENTS

1. Staffing
2. Meldrum Academy Farmers Association
3. Grampian Police
4. Aberdeenshire Enterprise in Education Award
5. Employer Engagement Awards
6. Higher Information Systems Students Visit STV Studios, Aberdeen
7. Young Quality Scot
8. Health Promoting School
9. Farmhouse Breakfast Week
10. Art News
11. Meldrum Academy Eco Group News / 12. S5 Road Saftey
13. Design your own Energy Poster Competition
14. DTP Immunisations
15. Fairtrade Report
16. NESMA Presentation
17. Meldrum Academy Website
18. Meldrum Academy Blog
19. Meldrum Academy Parent Council
20. Disabled Parking Spaces
21. Pupils Good News Stories
21. Final Comment
22. Dates for your Diary

1.  STAFFING

Ø  Mrs Liz Prosser - Depute Head Teacher

I am delighted to say that Mrs Prosser, formerly PT Pastoral Care, has been appointed as a Depute Head Teacher at the academy. Mrs Prosser has a wide ranging remit in her new post, but fundamentally will oversee the curriculum developments within the academy linked to the national programme of ‘curriculum for excellence’. Interviews for Mrs Prosser’s PT Pastoral Care post will take place early next term.

Ø  Mrs Olwen Fraser - Faculty of Health

I am pleased to report that after interview, Mrs Olwen Fraser, Principal Teacher, PE has been appointed as the Principal Teacher of the Health Faculty. This Faculty is an amalgamation of Home Economics and Physical Education. The Faculty is geared up to deliver the key outcomes of ‘Health and Well Being’ which are central to the curriculum for excellence and we will keep you posted on progress in this important area.

Ø  Mr Graeme Flood - Support Services Coordinator (SSC)

Mr Graeme Flood has been appointed as our acting SSC until July 2008. Mr Flood’s substantive post is in the internal audit section of the council. He will therefore bring a lot of knowledge of systems and processes to the post and we look forward to him starting on January 3rd.

Ø  Mr Martin Coutts - Teacher of Mathematics

I am pleased to say that Martin Coutts will be joining us on January 8th. Mr Coutts is presently a teacher at Peterhead Academy. Mr Coutts has a strong interest in ICT and will be a welcome asset to the department. Mr Coutts’ start in January will mean that the Mathematics Faculty is up to full strength with permanent staff for the first time in almost a year. We look forward to his arrival.

Ø  Thank you to Mrs Mary Benton, acting Depute Head Teacher

Ms Linda Evans who has been seconded to the authority for the past session will return to the academy in January. This means that Mrs Benton who has been acting Depute in her absence will return to her substantive post of PT BEIT. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Mrs Benton publicly for all the work she has carried out over the past session. She has made a positive impact on the management of the school and returns to her PT post leaving the post she vacates in very good health.

Ø  Thank you to Mrs Shirley Quigley, acting PT BEIT

I would like to record our thanks to Mrs Quigley for the good work she has carried out as acting PT BEIT while Mrs Benton was acting Depute. The Faculty is in very good health and much of that is due to the good stewardship shown by Mrs Quigley during this time.

Ø  Mrs Sue Edwards, acting PT Science

Mrs Sue Edwards has been appointed as acting PT Science to replace Mrs Martin who will be absent on a short term basis. Mrs Edwards’ remit is to maintain the good work of the Faculty during this time and we are confident she will act as an excellent substitute for Mrs Martin during this period.

Ø  Staffing shortage - Home Economics

I am disappointed to report that despite three national adverts we are still one teacher short in Home Economics. We have advertised again and hope for some success, although there are very few available Home Economics teachers in the north east of Scotland. In the meantime Mrs Elizabeth Stott is kindly acting as a supply teacher to cover the vacancy. However, as she is not qualified in Home Economics it means that she cannot supervise the cooking part of the programme. The other two teachers are trying to rotate classes to allow all pupils to have at least part of the cooking element within the course, but as you can appreciate it means that pupils will not receive as much cooking as last term. I will keep you posted on progress in this area.

2. MAFA (MELDRUM ACADEMY FARMERS ASSOCIATION): Mrs Wyness

We are indebted to the following business people who have willingly given up their time to come and share their farming and countryside experiences with us. We look forward to these meetings and have benefited greatly from all our invited guest speakers - Messers Jack and Patrick Sleigh, Mr Eddie Gillanders, Mrs Kate Ferguson, Mr David Stephen, Mr George Farquhar, Mr Jim Stewart, Mr Colin Slessor, Mr Magnus Sinclair, Mrs Susan Stockwell and Mr Jim Marr. We meet in the library every Thursday lunchtime from 1.10 - 1.50pm. All interested pupils are welcome to come along and join in.

3. GRAMPIAN POLICE – INPUT IN PSE: Mrs K MacLeod

Our school liaison officer PC Julie Ritchie has been working with our PSE classes throughout this term as follows;

S1 – Internet safety

S2 – Drugs Education

S3 – Drugs and Alcohol Education

S4 – Personal Safety

S5 – Personal Safety

As part of the work with S1 pupils Julie has been using a presentation produced by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). She has directed pupils to their website which has a section for young people and one for parents/carers. You may find this website useful and the web address is www.thinkuknow.co.uk. The website is really easy to use and it explains different terminology, explores some of the specific dangers that children could face and provides practical advice and guidance that should make the online experience safer for all. There is also a facility for reporting online abuse. More details are below in a letter sent from CEOP :

Dear Colleagues,

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre are running a campaign in the run up to Christmas aimed particularly at parents and carers given that many will be thinking about buying internet and digital technologies as gifts for their children.

As part of this campaign we are offering a registration facility on the ThinkUKnow website where they will be able to receive regular updates on via email over the New Year. These updates will include information on new technologies, emerging risks and safety tips to help them keep their children safe online.

We are therefore asking that you encourage any parents with which you have contact to visit the website, learn more about how to keep their children safe online and register to receive free updates on a monthly basis.

We would also ask that you forward this email to your Corporate Communications team and ask them to support the campaign by adding the below text and a link to either an internal intranet or an external website. If you would like a banner advert to help spread the messages these can be downloaded from www.ceop.gov.uk/banners.asp. The registration pages will be live from Thursday 6 December.

"What’s your child doing online this Christmas"

Visit www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents

If you have any queries or questions please contact .

Thanks for all your support!

4. ABERDEENSHIRE ENTERPRISE IN EDUCATION AWARD: Mr Jackson

At the beginning of this term the school was asked to submit to Aberdeenshire Council evidence of all the Enterprise activities that have taken place throughout the year. These included our Eco Schools programme, Fair Trade, S4 whole year group event, and S3 mini enterprise. On the 16th of November Mr Jackson and two senior pupils, Joanna Ewenson and Louise Wilcox were invited to attend an Awards ceremony at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre. Joanna and Louise were presented with the Aberdeenshire Silver Award for Enterprise by Maureen Watt, Minister for Education. This award is in recognition of the quality of Enterprise activities taking place within the school. Both pupils and staff should be congratulated for the effort and time they put into making ‘enterprising activities’ a success throughout the school. We hope that through our continued success in further embedding ‘enterprise’ within the curriculum that we can gain a Gold award next year.

5. EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENT AWARDS

At Meldrum Academy we work hard to link with local business and industry to help prepare our young people for the world of work. We have a number of successes in this enterprise and I am pleased to report that in recognition of our partnership working the Authority has awarded ‘Employment Recognition Certificates’ to celebrate working in partnership with ‘Morrison Construction’ and the ‘Oldmeldrum Rotary’. Representatives of these organisations will be invited to school early next term to be presented with the certificates.

Partnership working with local business and industry is central to our ethos and we are delighted to receive these awards to present to two of our partners.

6. HIGHER INFORMATION SYSTEMS STUDENTS VISIT STV STUDIOS, ABERDEEN: Mrs Quigley BEIT - Munir El-Omar (6S), Rebecca Robson (5T1), Fraser Bruce (5T1), Sam Bidgood (5T1)

On 20 November 2007, we were lucky enough, as part of our Higher Information Systems course to be offered a chance to visit STV studios in Aberdeen. During this trip, we witnessed the amount of planning and preparation it takes to broadcast the STV programme, ‘North Tonight’, which we watch every evening. Because of this experience, we were able to understand what a job in the media is like in a competitive environment such as ‘the News’. The tour consisted of an introductory video, meeting the various presenters, journalists and workers behind the scenes, and watching the actual broadcasting of the six o’clock news. As well as gaining a lot of experience, we found the whole trip to be interesting, enjoyable and overall easy to digest. Plus, we got a free mug and mouse mat in the end!

7. YOUNG QUALITY SCOT: Mr Ironside, Community Learning & Development

Young Quality Scot is a national award for young people, who have given their time voluntarily to help and support someone else in the community in which they live. I am pleased to report that Amanda Elrick (4G1) and Iona Geddes (6S) have been successfully nominated to be part of a group of young people from across Aberdeenshire to receive a Young Scot award. The award ceremony takes place in Central Scotland during March 2008.

8. HEALTH PROMOTING SCHOOL: (HPS Committee)

We are continually trying to further develop the work of the Health Promoting school committee and keen to hear from parents/carers who would like to contribute their thoughts and skills towards helping us improve the health of pupils at Meldrum Academy. Please contact the school if you would like to discuss helping with any health promotion activity. We are also currently trying start a pupil Health Committee. This committee will play a major role in raising issues that are of interest and importance to our pupils. We have not yet managed to recruit a group of interested pupils to run this committee. If you think your son/daughter would be interested in being part of this group please encourage them to come along to meetings - their opinions are valued.

9.  FARMHOUSE BREAKFAST WEEK 20TH-26TH JANUARY 2008 –

MAKE TIME FOR IT: Mrs Wyness

The Health Promoting Schools committee aims to raise awareness of the importance of having breakfast by promoting the ‘National Farmhouse Breakfast Week’ on January 20th. Several activities will take place in school during that week. The canteen will provide an all day "breakfast menu" during the week for both pupils and staff. The aim of the breakfast week is to help: