September 2011 Newsletter |
| Posted by Rachael (office) on Sep 12 2011 |
SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER
Congratulations
Congratulations to senior pupils Tom Evans and Finn Munro Gear who recently competed in the ScottishJuniorMountain bike championships in Dumfries. Tom finished in 1st place and Finn in 2nd – a tremendous achievement.
Congratulations also to Emily MacDonald who became Scottish Highland Dance Champion at the Cowal Games in Dunoon last month.
S1 Contact Evening
The first contact evening of the session takes place on Tuesday 4th October for parents of pupils in S1. Pupils will be issued with further details and an appointment sheet during the week beginning 19th September.
Backpack Project
The Backpack Project has restarted for session 2011 – 2012. This project involves gathering donations of items to be packed into backpacks for school children in Malawi who have little or no belongings.
In conjunction with the Backpack Project we raise funds for the charity Mary’s Meals which provides one meal a day for children attending school. Last year we raised the highest amount of money for schools in Highland Region with a total of £2239.03.
As it can cost as little as £6.00 a year to feed a child in Malawi this total will help a lot of school children. Empty collecting bottles are available from Mrs Barclay and Mrs Grieve for pupils to fill with as little or as much as they want.
Last year we also donated 54 filled backpacks and have already started filling backpacks this year. Donations of items for backpacks can be made to the pink buckets at the front of the school or to Mrs Barclay and Mrs Grieve. A list of items required is posted on the board beside the pink buckets. The items we are most in need of at the moment are: sharpeners, crayons, rulers, child size flip flops, rucksacks and tennis balls.
Gaelic speaking pupils perform at Highland Council committee
In the spring of this year an innovative transition programme took place between those fluent Gaelic speakers in P6/7 in Dingwall Primary and those in S1 and S2. The aim was twofold: to remove any anxiety of the younger pupils before they made the change to secondary school, but also to take advantage of Highland Council's scheme to celebrate 25 years of Gaelic medium education. This took the form of P6/7 and S1 researching and compiling a booklet of old photographs containing all the children who had attended Gaelic medium education in Dingwall and P6/7 and S2 writing a song, Moladh na Gàidhealtachd (Praising the Highlands). The latter group then went on to record their song in the studios of NorthHighlandCollege, where an ex Gaelic medium pupil, Dion Davis, who is training as a sound engineer, recorded them - all done in Gaelic.
Highland Council were so impressed by the result of their efforts that a group were invited to perform the song at the August meeting of the Council's Gaelic committee. The project was introduced by S2 pupil Rachel Kellow, who bravely stood up in the full Council chamber and explained how it had been carried out. Rachel spoke confidently in Gaelic with simultaneous translation being available for non Gaelic speakers. Is math a rinn iad! Well done!
Gaelic Medium
EdinburghUniversity are hosting a research seminar on Gaelic medium education at InvernessGaelicSchool on Thursday 15th September at 7pm.
All interested parents are very welcome to attend.
Visit to the battle of Culloden
Recently the pupils of S2 have been learning about the Battle of Culloden in History, and over the past two weeks different classes in S2 have visited the battle grounds on a school trip.
When the classes arrived they were split into three different groups. One of the groups was taken around the battlefield by a tour guide, another group stayed in the hall and did drama sketches of the battle, and the third group set out around the museum to answer a sheet of questions about the battle.
I think we all enjoyed going to Culloden Battlefield because we learnt a lot more about what actually happened, and how it was like to live back then, in a fun way.
Moya Sinclair S2
Parent Council AGM
The Parent Council AGM takes place in school on Monday 26th September at 7pm and all parents are encouraged to attend. For any parent interested in seeing around our fantastic school building – a guided tour will set off from the front of the school at 6.30.
S5 and S6 Parents Information Night
The Pupil Support Department are organising an information session for parents of pupils in S5/6 focussing on the application process for university and college. This will be held in the school hall on Wednesday 21st September at 7pm.
ROCK YOUR SHADES
Friday 16th September is “Rock Your Shades” day – a fun fund raising event with all proceeds going to the Teenage Cancer Trust. Six teenagers a day in Britain are diagnosed with cancer and this charity provides them and their families with support, including purpose-built units within hospitals. At the moment there are eighteen of these units in Britain and only three in Scotland. The nearest one to Dingwall is at the Children’s hospital in Glasgow. Iona MacMillan from the charity, who spoke to many of our pupils in February, will be paying a second visit to the school and speaking to S1, S2 and S4 on Thursday 15th September.
On “Rock Your Shades” day our pupils (and staff!) are encouraged to pay £1 to wear their sunglasses to school for the day. It is not a dress down day, however, the more exuberant the glasses the better. There will be prizes! In additions, after a “Shade Parade” there will be various activities taking place throughout the day with the focus being both having fun, as well as raising awareness of cancer. Amongst other events, six members of Staff: Mr S Gaffney, Mr D Graham, Mr N Green, Mr G Dolan, Mr D MacIntosh and Mrs L Morton and one sixth year representative, Ross Turner are collecting sponsorship to have their heads shaved at lunchtime. Pupils will have the opportunity to pay £1 to watch.
During the day pupils in PE lessons can pay £1 to take part in different activities such as Zumba and Kick Boxing. After their lessons, healthy smoothies will be provided by the pupils from the Home Economics Department.
Beyond the day’s events, DingwallAcademy is pleased and proud to be the only school in Scotland participating in a valuable research project conducted by StirlingUniversity and Teenage Cancer Trust into the provision and effectiveness of education about cancer. This research, which it is hoped will go to the Government, should inform some of the ways in which education about cancer is delivered to pupils in the future.
In addition to providing your son/daughter with some money for our “Rock Your Shades” day, you may wish to support our fund raising event by donation to Teenage Cancer Trust. You can do this securely online via:
justgiving.com/dingwallacademy
Last changed: Dec 06 2011 at 8:56 AM
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