September 2013 ● Volume 2, Issue 2 ● Dingwall Academy ● 01349 869 860

ROYAL

VISIT On Tuesday 1st October HRH The Princess Royal will visit Dingwall

Academy. She is expected to arrive by helicopter and spend approximately 1 ½ hours in the school. During the visit she will meet pupils, staff and also a number of partners who contribute to the school. Departments visited will include PE, Social Subjects, Art and CDT. The visit will end in the new school garden where HRH will be invited to plant a new apple tree. This is a very exciting day for all involved and we hope that pupils will remember the experience for years to come.

Alasdair Hambrey is a very accomplished tennis player and recently won the Under 14s Inverness Club Championships. He is also the winner of the Inverness Open Competition for under 14s. Congratulations are due to him for such success. Very well done! Chloe MacPhee is a keen equestrian and at the beginning of September won first place in the One Day Event Intermediate Competition at Mundole. This included Dressage, Show Jumping and Cross-Country events. Congratulations are due for success in this difficult competition. Well done! Ali MacDonald and his team recently won a trophy for the Dingwall Juniors league under 15s football. Dean Brannen won a total of 3 Gold medals and 1 Silver medal for swimming at the Special Olympics in Bath. What an achievement! Tom Hoffmann was recently selected for the Scotland team to compete against England, Ireland and Wales in the Individual and Team Epee events at the UK School Games at Sheffield.

Dingwall Academy News

SEPTEMBER

2013

EDITION

Contents

- Art Department News

- New Clubs

- Mountain Bikers hit the

trails

- …and more!

Dates for your diary: Paris Trip departs

Monday 30th September

Visit from HRH The Princess Royal Tuesday 1st October

Sponsored Walk

Friday 4th October

The school closes for the October break at 2pm on Friday 4th October

and re-opens at 8.50am on Tuesday 22nd October. Monday 21st October is an in-service day

RESPECT RESPONSIBILITY HONESTY DETERMINATION

What a result!

Page 2

Art department celebrates excellent Advanced Higher work!

On Saturday the 21st September, the Art department staff and our current Advanced Higher pupils travelled to Glasgow to view an exhibition of the best current AH portfolios in Scotland in the Collins gallery. Despite the bus breaking down, it was a worthwhile day… especially as

September 2013 ● Volume 2, Issue 2 ● Dingwall Academy ● 01349 869 860

Parent Council

The Parent Council AGM was held on Monday 9th September. We were delighted with the turn out and the following office appointments were made

Chairperson Mrs H Cameron

Vice Chairperson Mrs S Blyth

Treasurer Mrs L Ross

Secretary Mrs L Watson

All other parents present were invited to serve on the committee and we are grateful to all parents for their support.

there were two Dingwall Academy pupils whose work was on show. We were delighted to view the Advanced Highers by two of our recent students Rory Russell and Kirsten Brown, both of whom produced fantastic work last year. In fact, Rory achieved an amazing one hundred percent for his Design unit! He designed a magnificent frock for Lady Gaga. Here is a photo of Rory beside his work in the gallery. We wish him best of luck as he starts his course in Fashion Communication at Heriot-Watt University. Best of luck to Kirsten too!

Sponsored Walk 2013

Page 3 September 2013 ● Volume 2, Issue 2 ● Dingwall Academy ● 01349 869 860

Debating: Do you like giving your opinion? Do you like having an argument? Or even just putting your point across when it matters most? If so, then debating is for you. Come along Thursday lunch time at 1.30pm in room 209, and let your voice be heard. Everyone welcome.

The Scripture Union group will be starting again in the school on Monday lunchtimes at 1:30pm from the first week back after the October holidays. It will be taking place in room 208 with Miss Munro, English teacher. If you want any more information about the group, please come and ask about it in room 208 or look at the Scripture Union Scotland website: www.suscotland.org.uk

News from the Department of English and Literacy

Wednesday 26th September saw a large number of pupils taking part in educational activities outside of school. Mr Dolan’s S1 class went to Fairburn to work on Literacy, and Miss Fyvie’s Higher class travelled all the way to Perth Theatre to take in director Rachel O’Riordan’s excellent modern production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

Out and about…

The annual sponsored walk takes place on the last day of term – Friday 4th October. This is usually an excellent day involving pupils, parents and staff. All pupils have now been issued with consent forms and we would encourage all pupils to take part and to raise as much sponsor money as possible. Part of the money raised this year will go towards a new school minibus and we will also make a contribution to the Lucky2Bhere charity.

Book Club back in action Page Turners: the first meeting of the year will be on Monday 30th September, 1.20-1.55pm in the AV room in the library. This is your chance to have your say! What will we do? What will we read? Author visit? Competitions? Come along and help decide. All welcome.

Those sitting Intermediate 1, 2 and Higher will be aware that NABs will soon be upon us. NAB dates for this session are as follows: 11/12 November—Textual Analysis 25/26 November—Close Reading

Upper School NAB dates

This House believes…

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Mountain Biking Five Dingwall Academy pupils recently participated in the Scottish National Mountain Bike Championships in Dumfriesshire. Well done to Callum Russell (2nd) Sam Lawton (5th) Tam Munro-White (7th) and Fin Graham (8th) who all rode hard on the day and coped with some demanding terrain. Finn Crocket had built up a healthy 20 second lead in his category and was on course to become Scottish Champion before a puncture forced him to retire. Watch this space… The five boys also competed throughout the year in the Scottish XC Race Series where their results helped our link club, Ben Wyvis Cycle Club (BWCC), to win the overall team competition. This is a fantastic achievement with 103 teams participating over 5 rounds and BWCC gaining 1409points, 535 points clear of their nearest rivals. Finally, Sam Lawton has been selected to represent The North of Scotland at an inter-regional championship against teams from South of Scotland, England Wales and Northern Ireland. The event will be held on the Olympic mountain bike course at Hadleigh Farm in Essex. Good luck, Sam!

Annually we offer additional supported study and help for all pupils in the Academy. All Maths teachers will offer help to pupils in their classes when asked. The times listed below are for targeted levels and SQA courses pupils are welcome to attend these courses. Pupils who attend supported study regularly usually attain better grades in the final exams. This could mean the difference between an A or B grade at Higher or a Pass or a Fail at National 4.

Time Target pupils Room

Lunch time ‘drop-in’ Thursday

All Levels Room 228

Lunch time ‘drop-in’ Monday

Higher Room225

Lunch time ‘drop-in’ Tuesday

Higher Room225

Thursday 3:45 – 5:00pm Higher Supported Study Room 233

Thursday 3:45 – 5:00pm National 5 Supported Study Room 234

News from the Maths Department

Even more pupil achievements…

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The Academy’s Mountain Bike Club has hit the trails again this term with rides at both Learnie and Strathpeffer. It has been great to see a number of S1 pupils attending an induction session at school and then joining us on club rides. Weekly Tuesday night rides will be happening up until the October break. After this, rides will be on Saturday mornings once or twice a month depending on weather/other commitments. Older and more experienced pupils are encouraged to take on mentoring roles with younger or less experienced riders. This will hopefully prepare them for coaching and Leadership awards in the future. We are also planning to have a session led by Ben Wyvis Cycling Club (BWCC) coaches to introduce the pupils to racing and training. BWCC are our local link club, welcoming young riders and offering training sessions on a weekly basis for those interested in racing. Have a look at the pupil achievement section of the newsletter to see what some of our pupils have accomplished with the help of BWCC and the school MTB Club.

Mountain Bikers up and rolling

World Challenge Expedition to Borneo and Malaysia 2013

Behaviour on buses Many parents will already be aware of an incident on a school bus at the start of the month. We were very fortunate that this did not result in serious injury and would like to ask all parents to reinforce the importance of good behaviour on school buses. Pupils are also reminded that seatbelts should be worn at all times. We would like to take this opportunity to remind parents that D & E coaches have a Facebook page.

Avoid the canteen queue … Pupils are reminded that they are able to pre-order food from the canteen. The food will then be ready to collect from the Snack Bar area at the start of lunch. The pre-order machine is located beside the Snack Bar. ICT Protocol Every day when pupils log onto the school computer system they agree to adhere to the ICT protocol. Recently, a number of pupils have been found breaking this protocol by downloading and saving films and games. Pupils are reminded that the computers in school are for school work – if pupils have any questions about some of their content, they should always check with a teacher.

School Photographs Pupils have now had their photographs taken and orders should be returned to the school office by Thursday 26th September. Any orders not returned by then will have to be sent direct to H Tempest Ltd by parents and will incur a late order service charge.

Halloween Disco The S5/6 Halloween Disco is very much established as an important date on the Dingwall Academy calendar. The event this year will take place on Thursday 31st October – seniors, start planning those outfits!

Dingwall Academy Drama Society DADS are performing the musical ‘Return to the Forbidden Planet’ on the 1st and 2nd of October. Tickets are £4. Doors open at 6.30pm with the show starting at 7pm. All are welcome to attend.

SALSUS A number of pupils in S2 and S4 will be taking part in the 2013 SALSUS (Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey) This survey is highly confidential and informs the Government of the lifestyles of pupils in Scotland.

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Whole School Notes & News