Achievement Is Largely the Product of Steadily Raising One S Level of Aspiration And

“Achievement is largely the product of steadily raising one’s level of aspiration and expectation”.

Jack Nicklaus

Celebrating Pupil Achievement

2014-2015

Sport

Athletics

• S6 pupil Holly Morgan started her 2015 athletics season by winning the gold medal for shot put at the Scottish Schools Indoor Championships at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow. Her throw of 12.53m was a personal best performance.
  On Friday 12 June 2015 Holly represented the school at the Scottish Schools Athletics Championship at Grangemouth. As always, at this event, the standard of competition was very high. Holly had an excellent day, winning the gold medal for over 17 girl’s shot put and taking the silver medal for javelin. This was Holly's last schools athletics event before she moves on to university.

• S3 pupil Peter Stevenson finished 2nd in Scottish Cadets Shot Putt.

• S1 Pupil Alexander Orderley qualified for the 1500m final(4.47:37 New PB)at the Scottish Schools Athletics Championships at Grangemouth Stadium. In the final he came 9th (4.49:43).

• Our sports champions this year were:

S1 Boys – Alexander Orderley S1 Girls – Kerrie Grier

S2 Boys - Daryn Rainey S2 Girls - Beth Hart

S3 Boys - Luca Giusti S3 Girls - Heather Howat

• At the North Ayrshire Athletics Championships, the following pupils won Gold Medals:
  S3 Luca Giusti 100m
  S3 Harry McDonald Shot Putt
  S1 Kerrie Grier 200m
  S1 Alexander Orderley 1500m

• They then went on to perform superbly at the Ayrshire Championships:
  S6 Holly Morgan GOLD in Shot Putt & GOLD in Javelin
  S3 Luca Guisti GOLD in 100m
  S3 Harry MacDonald GOLD in Shot Putt
  S1 Alex Orderley GOLD in 1500m

Fishing

• Greg McClymont S2, came first in the U16 “Mucker” fishing competition in Busby during the summer break. This was a fly fishing competition and Greg was presented with his winner’s trophy and reward at the annual prize giving ceremony in January 2015.

Basketball

• S3 pupils Davee Sang and Lauren Buckley are both members of the “Ayr Storm” U16 Women's Squad. The girls competed in National League where they finished as National League Runners Up with only one loss for the season. The squad also played Strathclyde League and were undefeated at local level becoming League Champions, Cup Champions, and St. Mirren Tournament Champions.

• Zoe Bruce S2, is a member of the U14G Development Squad and played in the U14 Scottish Cup where her team finished third place in national play.

• S3 Pupil Lewis Dunbar was high scorer for his local league team before being sidelined due to his arm operation.

• Ben Wigton, Cameron MacKay, and Cameron McNairn have all joined local league clubs and had a great season playing in the U14 West Region. Ben Wigton was awarded his club's "Most Improved Player of the Year" award.

• CameronMacKay, S2, was offered a place in the “Future Starz” programme for basketball. The programme offered a unique opportunity in the player pathway, giving him the chance to train and play with some of the best players and coaches around the country, as well as a trial for the U14 Scotland National Development Squads.

• Nathan Dunbar is a member of Basketball Scotland's “Future Starz” development programme which is a great achievement.

• The Under 14 basketball team won the Ayrshire Cup for the second successive year.

Rowing

• S4 pupils Sophie Gribben, Robyn Gurney, Rachael Waddell, Rhanna Guilfoyle and Marie Ann Wales came 5th out of 418 Units in the UK, for rowing in a competition in London for Sea Cadets. Well done!

• S2 pupils Eilidh Logan, Lauren Gribben, Rachel Holmes and S3 pupil Morgan Cooperparticipated and won in a local, then Scottish rowing championship representing the Sea Cadets.

Karate

• Iona Barclay attended a JKA karate course in Dunfermline over 3 days at the end of which she has attained her Shodan black belt. She was one of a squad of 18 who went to the JKA European Karate Championships, on the 23rd and 24th May 2015, in BochumGermany.
  She won a bronze medal, as part of a three girl team, in Kumite. Iona and the girls also won bronze in team Kata in their age group.

• Calvin Bruce competed in the JKA Scottish Championships in March 2015 and won Gold in Individual Kumite and Team Kata, and Silver in Individual Kata.

• S3 pupil Aria Pascual has had a fantastic year. She won a Silver and Bronze medal at the JKA England Open Karate championships in London in November 2014. Aria competed in the JKA Scottish Championships in March, 2015. She won Gold in Kata 13-15 year category (male and female), Gold Kumite 13-15 years (female), Gold Team Kata (mixed male and female) and won best overall Junior Scottish Competitor, 2015. At the JKA Karate European Championships in Germany, in May 2015, Aria competed in the Female 14 years age category and won Silver in the Kata and Bronze in Kumite. Another fantastic achievement for Aria - well done!

• Calvin (S4) and Aria (S3) were part of a 13 member Scotland squad who travelled to Tokyo, Japan in October 2014 to compete in the JKA World Championships. Aria came home with a bronze medal. Scotland has not a won a medal at the JKA World Championships since 1997 so this is an outstanding achievement! After the competition Aria attended the JKA headquarters and attended 2 training sessions taught by Japanese instructors.

• S3 Pupil Kimberley Stevenson participated in the SKA Scottish Open Championships in Ayr in November 2014. She won two gold medals for Kumite in the 13-16 girls category. This success continued for Kimberley when in March 2015 she won 1st place and 3rd place in two different age categories.

Speed Skating

• S1 pupil Joshua Davidson skates for Forth Valley Speed Skating Club in Stirling. He competed in the Ayrshire flyers short track speed skating 2 day competition in October 2014 and gained a gold medal for the overall boys. He also gained 3 personal best times in 3 distances. Joshua attended the Short Track British Championships in Nottingham in January 2015 and managed to secure a bronze medal. He was up against some extremely fast skaters and held his own! Joshua took part in the Short Track Scottish Championships in April 2015 where he won a Silver medal! Joshua is also a keen swimmer and won a bronze medal in the breast stroke at the Auchenharvie Dolphins swimming club gala.
  

Football

• Murray Grayston was selected as a member of the Scottish Youth Football Association National 15s Development Squad. Murray, who is a goalkeeper, trained at the SFA Indoor centre at Toryglen, Glasgow with the squad and competed against other development teams and pro-youth teams.

• Sarah Tait was one of 16 girls to have been selected to compete for South West Schools in the Under 15 Inter Regional Soccer Competition. She represented her region against other regional teams from across Scotland.

• Iain Wilson was selected for Scotland U18's and represented his country at a football tournament In Hungary from 17th to 26th March 2015. Iain has signed a professional contract with Kilmarnock Football Club.

• S2 pupil Robert Frew plays football for Ayr United youth team.

Table Tennis

• Derrin Lynch, S3, plays table tennis for the North Ayrshire Table Tennis club. This season he has competed well against highly ranked players from all over Scotland.

Snowsports

During the annual Snowsports Trip which seen 17 pupils travel to Montgenevre, France the following awards were gained:

Ecole de Ski Francais Snowboard Awards

Christopher Beattie, Sam Edwards, Calum Murray, Graeme Robertson, Sophie Taggart, Serena Todd, Sophie Young, Ben Wallace and Ben Wigton.

Ecole de Ski Francais Skiing Awards

Lewis Beck, Ebony Clark Fraser Pierce, Rachel Greening, Catriona Leslie, Brooke Murray, Rebecca Sharp, Scott Struthers,

Charities and Fundraising

• Following the death of a friend’s parent, Katie Boyd, S3, decided to raise money for the British Heart Foundation. She decided to swim a mile at her swimming club, Auchenharvie Dolphins, and collect sponsor money. When she approached the club they decided that Katie could pick the BHF as this year's club sponsor so, on 5 November 2014, Katie presented the bereaved family with a cheque for £1100 for the BHF! The money was raised after the kids at the club swam a massive 86 miles between them. Katie deserves a big well done for this.

• In February S3 pupils Heather Howat, Lisa Black, Katie Boyd and Hannah Watson organised fundraising activities including a coffee morning. They raised over £250 and proceeds were split between Cancer Research UK and British Heart Foundation.

• S6 students organised various charity fundraisers throughout the session and beneficiaries including: Wear it Pink Day for Breast Cancer Awareness (£266); Children in Need (£700); Save the Children (£315); MacMillan Cancer Care (£245).

• Donations were made throughout the school year by pupils to the North Ayrshire Foodbank and £100 was donated by the Christmas Fayre Committee to purchase Xmas gifts for local chidren.

• S4 pupil Rachel Skimming has been awarded The Saltire Volunteering Award for completing 50 hours voluntary work.
  
• The following S6 pupils were awarded The Saltire Volunteering Award at various hours:

Carly McMenemy – 10 hours

Heather Murray – 10 hours

Kirsten Laughlin – 10 hours

Connor Macintosh – 10 hours

John Frew – 10 hours

Kirsten Black – 10 hours

Hannah MacDonald – 10 hours

Anthony McDougall – 10 hours

Kirsten Andrew – 50 hours

Amy Kean – 50 hours

Jennifer Maxwell – 100 hours

• The S4 Steps to Work groupwere involved with organising a show and fundraising events for Comic Relief.

• Six S3 pupils were involved in setting up a Pop-up Spanish Tapas restaurant, in conjunction with and supported by Darren Fisher of Garfield’s restaurant, which helped raise just over £100 which is going to the Ardrossan foodbank.

• The Zumbathon which took place on 19th June 2015, helped to raise £385 for the Motor Neurone Disease charity. And the coffee morning on the same day raised over £130. Well done to S2 Student Council organisers and all Zumba participants.

Creative Arts

• S2 pupil Anna Reid auditioned successfully to be a member of the National Youth Choir of Scotland. She took part in a 5 day residential course in Edinburgh and performed in a concert at the end of it. Anna took part in several competitions in the Ayrshire Music Festival in March 2015. This included orchestra, solo singing and school choir. She was placed second in the Show Song Category for S1 and S2.

• S6 pupil CarlyMcMenemy won the Ardrossan Academy Young Musician competition and was 2015 runner up in the North Ayrshire Young Musician competition, where she performed fantastically on her flute. The adjudicator commented on her superb attention to the musical phrasing command of two very difficult pieces. Congratulations to Carly also for passing her grade 8 flute exam - with merit. Well done!

• Jamie Angus S6 was awarded Young Singer of the Year and Rock and Pop Musician of the year in the school. He competed in the North Ayrshire Young Singer competition on Thursday 26th February 2015. Jamie performed two songs, a Tom Waits number 'Little Drop of Poison' as well as 'Mr Cellophane' from the hit musical Chicago. Whilst Jamie was not placed in the final three, he gave a unique and refreshingly alternative performance. Well done Jamie for an excellent performance!

• Kim Erskine S6 was the Ardrossan Academy runner up Young Musician, session 2014-15. Louise Coulter S6 was the Ardrossan Academy runner up in Young Rock and Pop musician, session 2014-15.Niomi Gallacher S6 was the Ardrossan Academy runner up Young Singer of the Year, session 2014-15.

• The Junior Choir were awarded Distinction at the Ayrshire Music Festival.

• S4 pupil Philip Moore is a member of the Performance Stage School in Johnstone. At their annual awards ceremony he won two awards. He won an award for his performance at a Burns Night event in Birmingham and also won an award for outstanding video performance.

• S6 pupils Sarah Sanger, Emily Joy Montgomery and Sophie Munn were all invited to spend a week at the Glasgow School of Art on a taster course after submitting their work. Emily Joy and Sarah Sanger also had their Advanced Higher work Exhibited at Glasgow Art Club.

• S2 pupils, Cameron McMenemy and Aidan Lundy have perfected their “Francie and Josie” tribute and requests are coming in from the local area following their recent good press in the newspaper and on radio.

Personal Achievements and Leadership

• Our S1 Pupils were commended for entering the Edinburgh Fringe Festival Poster DesignCompetition.

• Pupils studying Art contributed to the stage set design for "Grease", our school show this year, via an inter-disciplinary project.

• Lisa Black (S3) designed the cover of the Learning Journal for next session’s Personal Support classes.

• S3 pupil Peter Stevenson was awarded his corporal rank at the air cadets.

• S5 pupil Cameron Shields was awarded the President’s Badge at the BB. Cameron also achieved the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award this session

• S2 pupils Jack Blades and Callum Murray and S3 pupils Murray Grayston and Ethan Gilmour represented the school at the Enterprising Maths Competition and won the North Ayrshire Heat and will represent North Ayrshire in the Scottish National Final in November.

• S2 pupils Letisha Ewart, Jenna Edmund, Ryan Gilmour, Stacie Kilpatrick, Derek Phillips and Ewan Rogerson won the IEF Faraday Challenge event (STEM) in November 2014.

• Our S4 Eco Group worked very hard to achieve BRONZE AWARD status for the school and have raised awareness of the importance of recycling and environmental awareness.

• 8 S4 pupils completed their 6 month placement at the 3 Towns Motor Project. They worked hard to achieve SQA half units in Use and Care of Hand Tools in Motor Vehicle Engineering & Automative: Introduction to Vehicle Layout. Well done to the following pupils - Lee Gray, Justin Wylie, Craig Sillars, Morgan Cooper, Courtney Kirk, Callum Scott, Ryan Byrne and Dylan Blair.

• Harry McDonald has passed his PADI Scuba Diving course. Harry is now qualified to dive to a depth of 12 metres/40 feet anywhere in the world under PADI professional supervision. Harry is now completing his open water diving certification course over the summer.

• As part of International literacy day the pupils designed a literacy logo for the school. The following pupil’s designs were chosen as winners: Erin Sallens Conor Montgomerie, Loren Blackwood, Emily Campbell, Lauren Gribben, Blair Hamilton and Nicole Giffney.

• A group of our S4/5 pupils participated in an “Outward Bound Trust” expedition,and alsoachieved John Muir awards:Michelle Mathieson, Thomas Templeton, Darren Wylie, Lee Austin, John Benson, William Burns, Louise Chisholm, Scott Conway, Ben Cumming, Lauren Howieson, Tracy Hughes, Gordon McDowell, Scott Wilson, Ross McMillan, Kia Park, Brandon Templeton and Jodie Turley.

• S4 pupils Bethany Collins, Keiran Graham, Sophie Gribben, Robyn Gurney, Nicola Jamieson, Clare Monaghan, Kate Parker, Jenny Rogerson, Alex Bowie, Alice Blades, Kirsten McMenemy, Vari Hood, Erin Wigton, Rachael Waddell, Fraser Murray, Holly Lambert, Calvin Bruce and Ross Jack all achieved the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award.

• S6 pupils Cameron Mauchlen & Ailidh Northcote presented to local council and education officials in February on the theme of 'what makes Ardrossan Academy good and what could make it great?’. They were rightly praised at the end of the event for their presentation and well done to both for making pupil voice heard at the highest level in North Ayrshire Council.

AMBITIONRESPECT EXCELLENCE