ARRAN HIGH SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER

August 2008

Dear Parent/Guardian

Welcome

Welcome to the first Newsletter of the new school session. Fifty two new first year pupils joined us for the first time last Thursday, bringing the school roll to a total of 313 pupils. Observing our new intake as they move around the school has been very interesting and I note that they seem to be enjoying their first few days of secondary education in the High School.

I trust all pupils have returned refreshed to face the opportunities and challenges of a new school session. Last year proved to be disruptive because of the situation with moving to the new school. Wednesday of this week could have proved to be problematic with the industrial action but we managed to keep a normal service operating in all classrooms.

Future Newsletters will be delivered by the traditional method of pupil post on the following dates. They will also be available on the school website www.arran.n-ayrshire.sch.uk.

* 3 October * 21 November * 18 December

20 February 2 April 8 May

26 June

Staffing

We welcome Mrs Hogge to the Mathematics department and Miss Heslop to the Geography department. The only teacher staffing issue we have at the moment is in Music where there is a shortage of a two day a week appointment. Does anyone know of a GTC registered Music teacher?

School Catering

Mrs Nan Halliday our catering manager has been joined by Mrs Kavanagh, who travels from the mainland every day, as Assistant Cook. With an extended team working in the kitchen the provision of breakfast foods can be offered. This will be from 8.30 am until 9.00 am on a daily basis. The menu will include cereal with milk @ 40p; 2 slices of toast and butter @ 20p; hot rolls @70p, fruit @ 30p; hot chocolate @ 40p; milk/flavoured milk @ 40p. Pupils will use their Young Scot cards for purchases.

The on line payment facility which has been mentioned before is not yet ready for implementation. We of course will inform you when this facility does become available

Please ensure that cheques are made payable to NAC and not AHS. If your child loses his/her card, a replacement one can be ordered by telephoning 0845 603 1387.

Awards Ceremony

My second paragraph above refers to disruption. In session 2006-07 we introduced a Sports and other awards evening in June which supplemented the main awards ceremony of August 2007. Unfortunately and regrettably because of the main grass playing field being out of commission, the summer PE programme was hugely restricted and we were unable to organise a sports day. Therefore there wasn’t a Sports ceremony and the playing field remains in a poor state to allow the postponed sports day to go ahead this term as proposed in my June 2008 newsletter.

Changes therefore have had to be made and these are as follows. As announced last term the major Awards Ceremony will be held on Thursday evening 28 August. Invitations to the parents of the award winners were posted during the first week of July – parents accepting the invitation should have returned the acceptance pro forma by now. If not please do so now as entry will be by ticket. (Tickets will be given to pupils later this week)

Mrs Janice McGunnigle, Head Teacher of Lamlash Primary School and former pupil of Arran High School, will present the awards. All award winners should wear a white shirt and the school tie with either a black skirt or black trousers and be in their seats by 7:20 pm. School ties are available from the school office price £ 2.50.

The major award recipients are:

John S Scott Award for Dux / Patrick McMaster
Admiral Group Award for S5/6 Business Education / Steven Gill
A R Humphreys Award for Attainment in S5/6 English / Scott McMurray
Andrew Johnston Award for Attainment in S2 Mathematics
Andrew Johnston Award for Attainment in S5 Mathematics
Arran Society of Glasgow Endeavour Award / S1 / Nikki Lennox
S2 / Amy Latona
S3 / Hannah McMurray
S4 / Archie McNicol
S5 / Grant Irving
S6 / Stephen Brogan
Buchanan Prize for Essay Writing in S4 / Zoë Tomalin
Charles Russell Award for Attainment in S5/6 Technical / Timothy Crockett
Duais Feis Arainn Trophy / Calum Johnston
First Minister’s Trophy for School Golf Champion / Mark Sherwood
Best Net Score in School Golf Championship / Calum Armstrong
J D MacKinnon Award for Further Education or Apprenticeship / Becki Coulthard
Ben Gruber
Laura MacAlister
Grant McKechnie
Euan Stout
Vicky Wetton
James Watt Medal for Attainment in S4 Examinations / Zoë Tomalin
Kilmarnock Trophy for Attainment in S5/6 at Intermediate Level / Katie Millar
Lamlash Millennium Cup for Citizenship / Laura MacAlister
Majik Award for Young Enterprise / Helen Sell
Nicola McConnell Trophy for Contribution to the Music Department / Eilidh Kerr
Stagecoach Trophy for Captains & Vice-Captains 2007 / Calum Johnston
Kirsty MacBain
Steven McEwan
Youth Speaks Competition / Lisa Duncan
Stephanie Jenkins
Zoë Tomalin

Pupils from last year’s S1 and S2 will receive their subject achievement and effort certificates at a lower school assembly on the morning of Thursday 11 September at 11.30 am. Pupils and parents (who are invited to attend) will receive further information at a later date.

Important dates

Please take a note of the following dates and events:

Thursday 18 September 11:30 am S1 Parents’ Open Morning

Wednesday 19 November 7 pm S5/6 Parents’ Evening

Tuesday 25 November 4.15 pm S3 Parents’ Evening

Monday 26 January 7 pm S4 Parents’ Evening

Thursday 5 February 4.15 pm S1 Parents’ Evening

Wednesday 25 March 7.30 pm S2 Options Meeting

Thursday 23 April 7.30 pm S5/6 Options Meeting

Tuesday 28 April 7.00 pm S2 Parents’ Evening

Thursday 11 June 7.30 pm P7 Parents’ Evening

Monday 8 Sept. week one S4 Work Experience

Monday 15 Sept week two S4 Work Experience

Saturday 27 September 10:30 am Music Dept. Coffee morning

Wednesday 1 October 7.30 pm Music Evening

Thursday 18 December 7.30 pm Christmas Concert

Monday 15 December 7:00 – 10:00 S1-S3 Christmas Party

Wednesday 17 December 7:30 – 10:30 S4-S6 Christmas Dance

Wednesday 28 January 7.30 pm Young Musician

Wednesday 13 May 7:30 pm Senior Prom

Friday 29 May School Band weekend

Monday 15 June S1 Outdoor Centre week

All school holiday dates and in-service dates are provided on page 2 of your child’s homework planner. Additional dates will be communicated to you when they are organised.

Travel

Bus passes will be issued in the near future. Once issued, pupils should carry passes at all times: Stagecoach drivers are entitled to request payment from pupils not carrying passes.

Data Protection Check

Enclosed with this newsletter is the annual Data Protection check. Please check carefully and ensure that all details, including spelling, doctor’s name etc are correct and return to the school office.

Douglas Auld

Head Teacher

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