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Editor: Jono McDermott, 6M

Merry Christmas from everyone in Ellon

Academy!

S1 – S5 Register Class fancy dress winners in the fancy dress final

Rector’s Message

A very Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year to all our parents/carers and pupils!

It has certainly been a busy year at the school! The introduction of the Curriculum for Excellence,

Senior Phase and the move from the drawing to construction phase of the new Ellon Academy

Community Campus have provided both challenge and opportunity! I am delighted with the

momentum of all of these developments and look forward to further progress next year.

As you can see from the above photograph our pupils have again entered into the spirit of

Christmas and charity. Monies raised from the “Dress As You Please day” are going to various

local charities and supporting the ‘Pupil Piggy Bank’ (school fund).

Mr McKay, Rector

Ellon Academy’s S2 pupil Magnus Dixon has

had great success in Foyle’s Young Poet

competition. Over 7,478 young people entered

the contest, but only 15 people, including

Magnus, got into the final. This international

competition is one the largest literary

competitions in the world, highlighting the

success of Magnus’ achievement even more. In

spring 2014, the winning poems will be

published. Well done to Magnus for his

brilliant achievement!

FoyleFoyle’’s Young Poets Young Poet

Jayde-Lea Ellington and

Calena Anderson, 1M2

To celebrate Magnus’

excellent achievement, Mrs

Murdoch and the Library

Committee decided to hold

an in-school event in room

101, with lunch, tea and

cakes provided, as well as

musical entertainment from

Andrew Birse. The event was

attended by reporters from

the Ellon Times and the Ellon

Advertiser.

You can read the winning poems at www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/competitions/fyp/

Magnus with the other winners

Magnus cutting the cake at the school celebration

Reading HeroReading HeroEllon Academy pupil, Domhnull MacIver, won the Scottish National Book Award for the most

inspiring teen reader. Domhnull was nominated because, as anyone who knows him will tell you, he

is always reading! The prize was £50 in book tokens, which will surely be well-spent!

When asked how he felt about his achievement Domhnull told me quite simply, “I’m proud!”

On Tuesday 19th November, Domhnull, along with several of his teachers and fellow pupils, were

filmed by the Scottish Book Trust to celebrate his achievement.Caitlin Walburn, 2K2

A Festival ofA Festival of

Excellent WitExcellent Wit

Shakespeare School’s Festival was to take place. This year, Ellon Academy had two performances to

wow the world with. The seniors, some of whom have graced the Arts Centre stage since as early as

2009, co-directed and performed As You Like It with Mrs Anderson, while the fourth years pulled

together The Taming of the Shrew, directed by Miss Chalmers. Both being comedies, and with Ellon

Academy’s outstanding record, the audience certainly were in for a treat!

Starring Kirsty Fraser and myself – both SSF veterans – as Rosalind and Orlando, with world-class

comedy from Celia, played by Châtel Burnett, and displaying Shakespeare’s “All the world’s a stage”

speech, told marvellously by Katie Milne, As You Like It stepped out of the wings to enchant the

audience first. Six weeks of super hard rehearsing paid off absolutely!

A great philosophy is to save the best ‘til last, and so it was that Gregor Davidson and Amy Fraser led

the wild and fantastic Taming of the Shrew cast, which boasted untethered comedy from Matthew

Lennox, Kimberley Macnaughton and Stuart McCauley, to end the night.

Jono McDermott, 6M

For most pupils and staff, the

term ended on the 10th

October, but for some, the

Drama was not over ‘til late on

Friday night, at the Aberdeen

Arts Centre, where the fabulous

The Shakespeare School’s

Festival, an annual event held

all across the country, is an

excellent chance for pupils to

develop their confidence and

linguistic skills. Now that I’m

in sixth year, it’ll be the last

one that I’ll be able to partake

in as an actor and that’s

something that I’ll miss very

much, but I will definitely be

coming back in the future to

watch subsequent years

display the very best of Ellon

Academy’s theatrical talent!The Taming of the Shrew cast: looking fabulous outside the Arts Centre!

As You Like It cast: the players are ready!

The Fairtrade Committee has worked very hard to put on our 2013 Fairtrade Christmas Fair, selling

fantastic quality gifts from Africa and India. Fairtrade helps less fortunate people get the money they

deserve for their goods, as many workers in poorer countries start work from as young as ten. In the

Christmas Fair, such items as bangles, Christmas cards, ornaments, jewellery and delicious Fairtrade

chocolate were on sale, all of which could make a brilliant gift or treat.

The Fairtrade Committee currently consists of third to sixth year pupils, but they are open for more

members from any other year group and would love to see you there helping people less fortunate than

us.

Fairtrade Christmas FairFairtrade Christmas Fair

Ellie Haggath, 1S2

Wearing Spots for PudseyWearing Spots for PudseyOn Friday 15th November, pupils were allowed to come into school dressed down and wearing spotty

clothing in support of Children in Need. A giant Pudsey bear was sketched on a huge sheet of paper in

the STA and filled with pennies, which, in addition to the £1 donation for dress-as-you-please, raised a

grand total of £1000.30 for Children in Need.

Energy AlphabetEnergy Alphabet

Congratulations to Megan Hewison of 1M1, who

has won the November Energy Alphabet

competition run by Energy Voice. The competition

has run since the beginning of 2012 and, in

November, the letter was “S” for shale gas, which

Megan wrote about brilliantly, winning herself an

iPad for the effort!

Jono McDermott, 6M

The mock interviews for Ellon Academy’s S4 pupils took place on the 4th and 6th of November. At the

interview pupils were assessed on their CV, their appearance and their personality. Pupils then received

feedback on what they could improve on if faced with a real interview in the future. The mock

interviews are a great opportunity for pupils, allowing them to experience a formal interview

atmosphere, and to develop their interview skills, which will help them greatly in the future. We are

very grateful to all the employers who gave up their time to run these for us. Their feedback was very

positive about our S4 pupils.Leona Anderson, 4M2

Mock InterviewsMock Interviews

On October the 5th until October the 7th, Ellon Academy’s World Challenge Tanzania team went out

on their first adventure as a team: a trip up to Bagaduish Camping Centre, Aviemore. The challengers

prepared for their trip by buying food and doing team bonding, before facing the trial, which would test

the team on a variety of the skills that they would need when in Tanzania. On the first night, the

challengers camped out in the hills… only to face climbing up and over a hill and back to the main

camp site, the next day.

On this expedition, teams bonded around campfires (cooking stoves) and got a real taste for what life

could be like in Tanzania. Overall, the camping trip was a success, giving challengers a goal to aim for

in their fitness or even their teamwork skills. The camping trip was a brilliant opportunity for all the

world challengers, who embraced it fully.

BadaguishBadaguish

Leona Anderson, 4M2

YPIYPIAt Ellon Academy, we are very fortunate,

having a great number of opportunities that

other young people across the world do not

have. One of those opportunities is the Youth

Philanthropy Initiative, which has run in Ellon

Academy since 2009, this year being the fifth

anniversary. YPI is funded by the Wood

Family Trust and, this year, two local

philanthropists (people who give lots of

money to charity), Gareth and Susanne Jones.

YPI involves all members of S6, who split up

into groups and choose a local charity to

support. The groups then research and contact their charity, before putting together a presentation

about why their charity should be given the prize money. After battling hard on Wednesday 30th

October against six or seven other groups, a select few groups made it into the final, on Tuesday

19th November. The overall winners were Rape and Abuse Support (R.A.S.), who secured £3000

to help local rape and abuse victims in the Aberdeenshire area. Additionally, all of the other finalists

won £1000 for their charities, which will help many local charities greatly.

Gareth Jones commended Ellon Academy’s pupils as the “best display of talent I have ever seen.”

Miss Tomlinson, who along with Mrs O’Brien leads the YPI in school, observed that the pupils

have made a particularly strong connection to the charities and they will hopefully remain in touch,

making further valuable philanthropic and charitable contributions in the future!

Giving BloodGiving Blood

Just before the October holidays this year, the S6’s were given a presentation. People were

warned beforehand that if they had squeamish tendencies they should probably leave as, since

you may have guessed from the title, the presentation was to do with blood. By this time in the

year, a lot of sixth years have turned seventeen and are therefore legally allowed to give blood,

should they so wish. The presentation showed us all of the uses of donated blood and

encouraged us to donate in order to help save women giving birth, people with excessive

blood loss due to injury and other worthy causes.

Having the extremely charitable and caring sixth year that we do, many signed up. I personally

wasn’t seventeen yet, but by the time the vans came to actually take blood, I was going to be,

so I signed up also: I felt that I could probably go through an afternoon feeling a bit woozy in

the knowledge that doing so may mean saving someone’s life. When summed up like that, it

makes you wonder why more people don’t give blood. The statistics say that only 40% of

British residents donate, despite the constant need for it. Once processed, the blood only has a

time window of about two weeks before it must be used, so new blood is always needed.

When the time came round for me to head down for the STA on the day of the donations, I

was getting a tad nervous. Nobody likes injections – at least nobody that I’ve ever met before

does – and essentially giving blood is like an injection in reverse. I arrived to a scene of

numerous pupils and teachers I knew spread out on beds attached to daunting pieces of

equipment. Free biscuits soon took my mind off it all though, so I casually filled out a form

and had a chat with the nurse about my heath. Then I was good to go.

I was escorted to a bed and had to wait for another nurse. They kept asking for my date of

birth in order to prove who I was, which got a bit annoying after a while as I was struggling to

see how someone could suddenly have taken my place during the five step walk from the first

nurse to the bed, but I was later told that they continually asked me this to ensure that I was

still feeling okay.

I won’t describe the actual process of giving blood, but I will say that it wasn’t nearly as bad

as I anticipated whilst waiting. Furthermore, it was followed by all the free biscuits you can

eat.

For all those reading this, whenever you next get the opportunity, bolster up some bravery and

give some blood. Even if you don’t especially care about saving lives, do it for the free

biscuits.

Sean Duthie, 6K

On the 27th of September, the annual Evening of

Entertainment took place and was open for the entire adult

community in and around Ellon. At all the events to date,

we have been able to promote the talent in Ellon Academy.

The entertainment has predominantly been provided by

former pupils involved in music. Next year is scheduled to

be the last Evening of Entertainment to be held in this

school building. It will take place on Friday 26th of

September. Through the fundraising activities and action on

the night, the school managed to raise an amazing £12,000.

Traders, businesses, organisations such as Round Table,

Rotary Club, BBs and Guides, along with individuals,

family and friends were all invited to see and support our

school. The entertainment was organised by people at Ellon

Academy with the amazing help of former and current

pupils to raise funds in order to get the best opportunities

for every pupil from S1 to S6.

Calena Anderson 1M2 and Peter Groat 1M2

This would not have been possible without the support of the businesses and traders who gave us

donations and sponsorship, and of course, our guests who attended. Our biggest thanks go to the main

sponsor, Martyn Watts, from Universal Inspections UK Ltd, who has supported all three Evenings of

Entertainment. He has pledged to sponsor the event again next year.

Ellon Academy’s fifth year pupil, Mathew Emmison, has been selected to participate in a training

programme that could ultimately see him selected to play for Scotland’s Rugby Under 18s in Spain

next year. This programme will see Mathew attending a club session at the RFC, one rugby session at

Rubislaw in Aberdeen training with The Aberdeen Grammar Rugby Team and three strength and

conditioning sessions in a week at the Sports Village in Aberdeen.

In the October holidays, Mathew was selected for a squad of 38 players for a Scotland U18s camp for

a week, which Mathew says went really well. Mathew also got to play the Glasgow Warriors U18s

and he played against the Caledonia U16s at the start of 2013. He was also selected in a 23 man

squad for Scotland U18s, against Leeds Academy, last August.

We’ll definitely be looking to hear more about Mathew’s progress in the months ahead!

Mathew Emmison: Rugby Star of TomorrowMathew Emmison: Rugby Star of Tomorrow

Craig Stuart, 1M1

CheerleadingCheerleadingOn the 11th of December 2013, the Ellon Academy cheerleading teams took part in a cheerleading

show with several other schools. The evening was in aid of Kayleigh’s Wee Stars: a charity that raises

money to go towards children with cancer. Overall, the evening was a fantastic success with all the

acts putting on a brilliant show which was clearly enjoyed by all who attended.

Jayde-Lea Ellington, 1M2

After four straight victories, game five

proved a step too far as the new Ellon Junior

Girls met with their first defeat. Despite

having beaten Saturday’s opponents -

Fraserburgh Academy - on two previous

meetings The Broch gained revenge by

harnessing a strengthening second half wind

to come back from 3-0 down and snatch a

dramatic 4-3 victory deep into stoppage time.

It was a harsh lesson for the Ellon girls but

they still have the consolation of a cup semi-

final to look forward to in the New Year and

will learn from the experience.

On target for Ellon were: Sarah Sadiq, Cara

Bewick and Aria Ingram.

This year, Ellon Academy began two

new girls’ football teams. These consist

of the Junior team (S1-S3 pupils) and

the Senior team (S4-S6 pupils). Both

teams will take part in Aberdeenshire

Secondary Schools cup competitions for

season 2013 - 2014.

Paul and Wendy Haggath of

SYMPOSIUM coffee house are

delighted to be the newest sponsors of

the Ellon Academy girls teams. Paul

officially presented the stunning new kit

to excited members of both squads

outside SYMPOSIUM at 29b Bridge

Street, Neil Ross Square, Ellon on

December 17th.

Both squads have a cup semi-final to

contest in the New Year and look

forward wearing the new kits with pride.

Ellie Haggath, 1S2

Sponsor Unveils Smart New Kit

MORE ELLON ACADEMY

PUPIL NEWS

Once again all the class representatives, Pupil Senate representatives and

Executive Team representatives met for a Pupil Conference to discuss a range

of whole school issues. This year’s agenda items included: homework policy,

whole school fundraising and charity work, preparation for moving to the new

school, new Colours Awards for other subjects as well as PE and our pupil

dress code.

Pupils at the conference worked with Depute Rectors who fed back their views

to senior management meetings in school thus ensuring the pupil voice of

Ellon Academy is recognised and listened to.

Mrs McMillan, organiser, would like to thank all the pupils and staff who

helped make this event so successful.

Pupil Conference 2013

New “Pupil Piggy Bank”Ellon Academy’s Pupil Senate and Class Representatives have worked together

to promote awareness to our pupils about the pupil centred work of the school

fund. In order to modernise this and make it seem more relevant to our

youngsters lives, pupils were asked to vote for a new name for it. The result

was The Ellon Academy’s School Fund is now called the “Pupil Piggy Bank”

and its logo, seen here, was designed by Head Girl Katie Stein.

The Pupil Piggy Bank is used to fund a wide range of extra activities and

equipment for pupils as well as transport to sports and other fixtures and

competitions, curricular trips and late transport.

An exciting, new, fun, whole school fund raiser is being organised for June

2014. Look out for news about this after Christmas!

.

.

Ellon Academy held its annual Careers Convention on Wednesday 3rd October. Over 40

different business and educational organisations attended to support our pupils by giving

them the most up to date information on post school jobs, education and career pathways.

We were delighted to welcome even more new delegates, such as our STEM ambassadors,

as well as welcoming back our regular delegates.

Well over 200 hundred local pupils and adults attended on the night. We are very grateful

to all the delegates who supported this event by giving up their time to speak to them.

Our target for next year is to have a stand with representatives from local “trades” such

as joinery, bricklaying, plumbing, hairdressing, beauty therapy etc. Can you help us with

that? If so, please contact Kim Hall on 01358 720715.

2013 Careers Convention

ELLON ACADEMY

ENTERPRISE NEWS

S3 enjoyed another highly successful Entrepreneurship day, a project which was originally

funded by the Wood Family Trust 3 years ago. This year, the local young entrepreneurs

who came to speak to the pupils about their experiences were Chris from CDM Lettings

and Alex from Bead Pop, both from Aberdeen. It was fascinating to learn about the

amazing successes of these two young entrepreneurs. They certainly motivated our pupils

to think about running their own businesses!

The rest of the day was spent doing “Dragon’s Den” style challenges as a vehicle to teach

the pupils all they need to know about setting up and running a business.

S3 Entrepreneurship Day

S3 STEM DayOn Thursday 7th November, S3 were taken by their Guidance teachers during PSE lessons

to meet and talk to STEM ambassadors who had volunteered to come into school to talk

about their jobs which all relate to Science, Technology or Mathematics (STEM). This

experience gave our pupils up to date information about careers relating to these subjects.

Ellon Academy is a STEM link school. This means we are linked to the Dundee Science

Centre who organise for volunteers from the oil and gas industries to work in secondary

schools as well as providing schools with training and resources. Ellon Academy runs

STEM projects in Science, Business Education and Mathematics. Our S6 STEM Maths

team did very well in the recent STEM Maths Challenge, held at BP. Additionally our

junior team reached semi final stage in the OPITO Science Challenge.

CHRISTMAS IN ELLON ACADEMY

December is a very busy month for pupils in Ellon Academy. Senior pupils provided

entertainment and took cheques to the 6 local residential senior citizens homes. The cheques are

for £100 each towards the costs of their Christmas celebrations. Senior pupils also worked with

the Ellon Help Committee to serve lunch to over 80 senior citizens, here in Ellon Academy, on

Wednesday 4th December.

On Wednesday 18th and Thursday 19th December, the Music staff and musical pupils ran “Music

For Christmas” concerts. Money raised at these concerts helps to pay for the cheques for the

senior citizens Christmas celebrations and raise funds for our new link school, an orphanage in

Moldova, supported by Stella’s Voice. Raffle tickets sold for Christmas hampers and the kareoke

sessions pupils attended on Thursday 18th December support Stella’s Voice too.

The “Dress As you Please Day” donations on Thursday 19th December will go to the new Pupil

Piggy Bank to pay for pupil centred activities/resources/transport. The ceilidh sessions pupils

attended on Thursday 17th December raised money for the Anchor Unit. Collections taken at the

various Christmas services held in churches around Ellon for all our pupils, in the 5 Ellon

Academy houses, on Friday 20th December will go to support the relief effort in the Philippines.

Once again Ellon Academy pupils are working together with staff to support worthy causes.

They have raised thousands of pounds for a wide range of charities over the last 12 months

through many different citizenship and enterprise activities: well done everyone!

Images of Christmas in

Ellon Academy

Surprise guests on “Dress As You Please Day” “Dress As You Please day” : some strange sights in school that day!

The Ellon Academy Choir, conducted by Miss Belfakhi, with the

school orchestra below at “Music for Christmas”.

Mr Birse and Mrs O’Brien also conducted.