BROXBURN ACADEMY NEWSLETTER November 2017 Dear Parent/Carer Welcome to the November edition of the Broxburn Academy Newsletter. We have had an extremely busy first term of the 2017-2018 session. Our pupils have been impressing us with their participation in events, trips and fundraisers around the school. We hope you enjoy reading about the fantastic achievements in and around the Academy. Don’t forget if you have any news that you would like to share with the school don’t hesitate to get in touch using [email protected].
Transcript
BROXBURN ACADEMY NEWSLETTER
November 2017
Dear Parent/Carer
Welcome to the November edition of the Broxburn Academy Newsletter. We have had an extremely busy first term of the 2017-2018 session. Our
pupils have been impressing us with their participation in events, trips and fundraisers around the school. We hope you enjoy reading about the
fantastic achievements in and around the Academy. Don’t forget if you have any news that you would like to share with the school don’t hesitate
Broxburn Academy recently won a £3000 grant from Cycling Scotland to
promote cycling within the school. With this money, Mr Boyle and Mr
Valentine purchased six bikes and some bike maintenance equipment.
Every Tuesday afternoon the teachers have been taking out small
groups on organised cycles which the pupils have really benefitted from.
Mr Boyle and Mr Valentine even have a master plan to combat the winter
weather by planning to run some cycle maintenance sessions with the
pupils. The pupils involved are Dean Bell, Lucy Wehnert, Kyle
Davidson, Ryan Purves, Callum Forrest and Colin Lamont. They
have all expressed how much they have thoroughly enjoyed the
experience and have given great feedback.
2017 Christmas Shoebox Appeal
Our S4 pupils have been busy collecting donated items and raising money
as part of their RMPS National 5 Personal Development Unit, for the 2017
Christmas Shoe Box Appeal (in association with the charity Blythswood Care). This enabled pupils to fill many festive shoe boxes for Project
Romania which will now be distributed to children in our associated orphanage. It is a great endeavour and their thanks is extended to all
who assisted them with this very worthwhile cause.
Project Magale
Project Magale is all about an attempt to improve the life of a girl in
Uganda involving a group of S4 pupils and a Geography teacher. Ruth is
an orphan, who has no-one to support her, as both her parents died as a
result of HIV. She lives in an orphanage but she would love to become a
doctor. We particularly wanted to help a girl as we know that girls are
often denied an
education due to their
gender. Until recently
our total was £525
which we raised from
selling tea, coffee and
home baking at the
school shows. We also
asked everyone to
bring their loose
change which was laid
out on a map of Africa
on a classroom floor.
At the end of last term we were sent a link to the Merchant Company
Initiative Competition. This is open to Edinburgh and the Lothians and is a
prize of £500 for whoever shows the most initiative in some way. We
filled in the application form. They liked our idea and so we had to supply
a more detailed explanation. They then asked the group to give a
presentation to some Merchants in Edinburgh. As a result of this we made
it through to the short list of three! We then had to give our presentation
in the Merchant’s Hall, in front of an audience, on October 4th. We didn’t
win £500, but we did win £250 as one of two runners up. It costs £100 a
term for Ruth’s education so that is more to add to our total. We aim to
continue our efforts to help support Ruth as much as we can.
S1 Experience
This session we have been joined by our new S1 cohort from our cluster
primary schools and beyond. After what was quite an exciting and nerve wracking time for the S1’s in August, they have settled in brilliantly to the
Broxburn Academy family. We caught up with a few pupils to hear their thoughts on joining the academy. Olivia Dean commented, ‘In S1 I have
enjoyed getting so many more choices for subjects and being able to move from class to class. All the teachers are amazing. The transition was
so much fun. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to get used to it and I
think it couldn’t have gone any smoother.’ Evie Matthew is also really enjoying S1: ‘As the year goes on I feel more settled. My favourite
subjects are Drama, English and Science. In Drama I enjoy acting, in English I like writing creative stories and in Science I enjoy doing
experiments. I have also joined some lunchtime clubs including the choir and the writing club; both of these activities are fun and enjoyable.’ Adam
Murray is another S1 pupil who has found his feet: ‘When I first came to Broxburn Academy I was nervous but excited. I was nervous about not
fitting in but soon enough I did. I really enjoy English and P.E because I love writing and staying active.’ Finally, Nicole McKelvie rounded up the
entire experience: ‘It was like a new beginning joining S1 and I was excited to try some new classes. Some of the classes I like are English,
Drama and Home Economics. I feel like I am beginning to feel more confident about learning and finding my way around the school. After you
have been at the school for a while, you start to feel more at home and
you will really enjoy the experience.’ We are lucky to have such a wonderful year group join us this year. We look forward to welcoming the
new S1 cohort in August 2018. We hope after reading this, they will be excited to join us for the transition process.
LIBRARY CORNER
Chess Competition
Alex Bordwell (S6) organised the annual chess tournament for S1-S3 pupils. Jude Robertson ran out the well-deserved winner. Many thanks to
Alex and to all who took part.
Crafts in the Library
The librarian and
pupils would like to
say a big thank you
to Nancy Petrie
from The
Chaplaincy Group
who is running a
craft activity on
Thursday
lunchtimes in the
school library
making a selection
of Christmas gifts
and decorations to take home at the end of term. This super activity is
funded by Uphall South Church. In the words some of the pupils who
have been taking part; ‘It’s amazing’ (Johnny) ‘Everybody gets involved
in it’ (Nicola), ‘an enjoyable way to spend free time away from everything
else’ (Lennon).
Half Price Book Fair
The school library will be holding a book fair from 5th -12th December. There will be lots of books, posters and stationery for sale all at half price.
A great opportunity to buy some bargain Christmas presents. Please support our library by attending the fair.
Roald Dahl Day On the 13th September pupils and
staff got together to celebrate the Roald Dahl’s birthday. We hunted
for golden tickets and listened to Willie Wonka (aka Mr Knox from
our Art Department) read some of Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes. As well
as this fun filled event, pupils in S1-S3 got to experience all things
Roald Dahl across a range of their subjects too. Activities included
designing a unique sweet treat for Mr Wonka to produce, thinking
ahead to the future and creating wishes and goals based on the BFG and
also developing new heroes and villains for existing Roald Dahl texts. It was such an enjoyable day for both pupils and staff.
A message from Dr Stewart
Any donations of books, jigsaws,
games or craft materials for the library will be gratefully
received. If you are having a bit of a clear out sometime soon,
please donate any items to the library which will make the
‘library and lunch’ even more enjoyable for our pupils.
TRIPS
Write On Conference
Seven S4 pupils took part in 'Write On!' -
West Lothian Creative Writing Conference
where they worked with a range of
professional writers to improve their own
ability and confidence
in writing creatively.
S4 pupils Meg Wishart, Rebecca Wightman, Emily Ritchie, Jordan Welsh, Iona Duffield, Danielle Nicol and Alexander Park all worked closely with
novelists, Lisa Ballantyne and Cathy Forde; playwright, John Binnie; and playwright and novelist, Alan Bissett to produce their own pieces and to
discuss and share ideas about the creative process.
They also heard the writers read from extracts of their own work and participated in a question and answer session with all six writers present.
STEM
On Tuesday 31st October S2
students Charlie Miller, Taylor Richardson, Marcin Wasilewski,
Connor Young, Jude Robertson and Ethan Forbes visited Heriot-
Watt University to attend the Go4Set Launch event. All the
students are active members of the school STEM club and had
decided to form a team to participate in the challenge
along with other schools from the local authority.Go4SET is a
competition between teams of students aged 12-14 across a number of schools who are mentored in their project by local companies to help
them gain an understanding of the use of STEM subjects in a commercial
environment. The launch event consisted of two workshops that focused on problem solving through team building and communication. One
challenge had students create a marble run using card stock. Another
tasked the groups to create a seat made entirely out of inflated balloons
and cello tape. The team were given 10 minutes to discuss their design
and then had to put this together...in complete silence! The team had to
think on their feet to succeed and whilst their design wasn't as robust
as some of the competition, the students made a great effort and
thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
The event also provided an opportunity for the group to meet their mentor that had been assigned by the Go4SET team. The group have
decided to tackle the "My
School as an Island" which involves researching and
designing a solution that would enable an isolated school to
sustain itself. The challenge spans 10 weeks at which point
the team will deliver a presentation complete with a
model of their design. As part of this the group have also
been offered a site visit to Edinburgh Airport through the scheme and are very much looking forward to the experience. We wish them all the best
with the challenge ahead!
National Museum of Scotland On Wednesday 11th October, S5 and S6 pupils went to the National Museum of Scotland
where the University of Edinburgh held a workshop aimed at Higher and Advanced
Higher Biology students. The pupils performed Extraction, Polymerase Chain Reaction and Gel Electrophoresis of their own DNA to compare
their version of a bitter taste receptor gene with their ability to taste a bitter compound. They also has 90 minutes to
get their lunch and have a look around the various exhibits.
London Dance Trip
On the 28th September, nine of our dance students from S3-S5 embarked upon an
adventure to London. The pupils were joined by their peers from Inveralmond Community High
School. They attended four workshops at Pineapple Dance Studios based on contemporary, commercial jazz, house and hip
hop dance. Despite such a
packed dance schedule, they also squeezed in some time to see the sights with the likes of the London Eye,
Houses of Parliament and they even had time for a bit of shopping on Oxford Street. The girls
spend a night watching ‘Matilda’ at the Cambridge Theatre. Miss Low commented the pupils were a credit to their school.
Choreographers at Pineapple Dance Studios also added that they were so impressed with the talented dancers from the school. It looks like you all had a
wonderful time.
CELEBRATING SUCCESS
DEBATE
St. Andrew's University Competition
Three Broxburn pupils (Jarrod Grant (S5), Cameron Stein (S6) and Sereno Kean (S6)) took part in the St. Andrew's University schools
debating competition. All of the boys performed well, winning several of
the debates throughout the day, however they unfortunately did not progress into the final.
West Lothian Champions
On the 2nd of November, Broxburn Academy pupils Meg Wishart (S4) and
Kate O'Donovan (S5) won the West Lothian Senior Mace debating
competition. They defeated a team from St. Margarets in a closely fought final. This is a really fantastic achievement for the girls who were
competing against older competitors.
ESU First Round
After reaching the semi-finals of the Scottish Schools mace last year,
Sereno Kean and Caleb Davidson (both S6) were victorious in a very difficult first round tie. Despite Sereno struggling with tonsillitis, they
were picked to progress into the next round at the expense of last year's winning school. They will enter the second round in January.
DANCE
Sleeping Beauty
Broxburn Academy pupils Hollie Russell S3, Niamh Simpson S2 and Laura
McWilliams S2 are performing “Sleeping Beauty” alongside the Russian State Ballet tonight, Friday 17 November at Howden Park Centre. We
managed to catch up with Hollie Russel to hear all about it: ‘We have been rehearsing our group dances and some solos as well. I am really
enjoying it and love getting to wear pretty tutus and costumes. I feel like I am improving in my dancing and learning lots of new things.’ We wish
Hollie and the girls all the best for the performance. They are sure to shine like the stars they are.
West Lothian Artistic Gymnastics Club S1 pupil Hannah Anderson and her sister, S3
Eilidh Anderson were recently involved in the West Lothian Artistic Gymnastics Club. They came
first place at the Scottish level 6 team
competition. Brilliant work girls.
Scottish Open Apparatus Championships
S3 pupil Amy Lewis has had even more success at the Scottish Open Apparatus Championships on Saturday 23rd
September. Amy managed to achieve gold in both the Junior Clubs and the Junior Ball. She had her fair share of challenges throughout the day in
various events yet came away triumphant. Huge congratulations to Amy, we are all very proud of you here at Broxburn Academy.
International Juvenile Tenor Solo Drumming Championship
S3 pupil Emily Davidson won her grade on Saturday 21st October at the
International Juvenile Tenor Solo Drumming Championship. This was also her very first Solo Drumming competition which makes this achievement
even more special. I don't think it has sunk yet that she has won! There is a recording of her performance on the "We love Pipe Bands" Facebook
page. We are all very proud of her.
Beyond Broadway-Wizard of Oz
Broxburn Academy was delighted to hear that seven of our pupils in S1-S4 pupils successfully auditioned to take part in the musical, A wizard of
OZ.’ Lauren McLaren, Laura McWilliams, Niamh Simpson, Niamh Devine, Corey Sinclair, Eilidh Anderson and Ian McBurnie in the King’s Theatre in
Summer 2018. We caught up with S2 pupil Lauren McLaren to hear all about it.
‘On the 5th of November 2017 I
took part in an audition for ‘The Wizard of Oz: The Musical.’ I
took part in dancing, acting and singing for a whole seven
hours. The performing arts college MGA holds a musical
experience for youngsters aged
10-25. I decided to take part in this experience as when I finish school I want to be a musical theatre performer. This package includes five full
shows at the King’s Theatre Edinburgh, your own chance to work with professional vocal coaches and the college founders. A massive 360
people sent in applications and only 200 got invited to the auditions and then a further 130-135 were asked to be in the cast. This is also such a
good opportunity for me to improve a lot of my skills. It is now improving my confidence, my whole attitude towards others has changed and I have
great respect for not only the participants but my family for helping to support me through this emotionally and financially.’
Tickets for ‘The Wizard of Oz: The Musical’ go on sale on Saturday 2nd
December. Go and seize the chance to witness these talented pupils for yourself.
SPORT Secondary School Sports League Table
Good news for Broxburn Academy as they are currently sitting in joint 5th
position on the Secondary School Sports League Table for West Lothian. This is our best ever position on the table to date. Congratulations team!
Dance Competition
On 1st November at Howden park centre 15 pupils competed against the other west
Lothian schools. The juniors performed a dance called ‘Princesses who run the world’.
Seniors competed a
commercial dance to
little mix ‘Salute’. Well
done to the pupils for their outstanding efforts at the
competition.
Rugby
The girls and boys Rugby team have
had great success so far this year. Both teams are training on a
Wednesday after school. The boys’ team have entered two tournaments
and came 5th out of 8 in the first tournament, showed major
improvement and came 2nd out of 8 in the second tournament. The girls
have entered one tournament and came third. Well done to both teams
for their hard work, improvement and success.
Broxburn Academy After School Clubs
Day Time Sport Year Teacher
Monday Before
School
Fitness S5/6 Miss McShannon
Monday Lunch Football S1 Sport Leaders
Monday Lunch Gymfest S1-6 Miss Low
Monday After
School
Table
Tennis
S1-6 Miss McShannon
Monday After School
Badminton S1-6 Miss McShannon
Monday After School
Gymnastics S1-6 Miss Low
Tuesday Lunch Freestyle
gymnastics
S1-6 Miss Low
Wednesday After
School
Rugby S1-3 Mr A Baird
Wednesday After School
Fitness S1-6 Miss McShannon
Thursday Lunch Dance S1-6 Miss Low
Thursday After School
Netball S1/2 West Lothian Wildcats BUSC
Friday After
School
Basketball S1-6 Mr Swindells
UPCOMING EVENTS
Badminton and Table Tennis Championships The West Lothian Table Tennis Championships are being held on Friday the 1st
December and also the Badminton on Sunday the 28th January. If pupils are interested in entering either competition they should give their name to a PE
teacher and/or attend the extra-curricular TT and Badminton club on a Monday from 15.30-16.30.
Prom Fashion Show
Prom Fashion Show is taking place on Tuesday 5th December. The S6 Prom Fashion Show Committee will be hosting the evening to raise funds for the S6
Prom 2018 and for Teenage Cancer Trust. Look out for tickets going on sale very soon. We hope you see you there for an exciting evening.
BRIGHT - Brushing Reminder 4 Good Oral Health
All S1 and S2 students have been issued with consent forms to participate. The aim is to
improve oral health and prevent tooth decay.
This involves students getting regular text reminders. If you wish to take part can you
please return consent form to Ms McGregor this week.
If you would like further information or a new
consent form please contact Ms McGregor.
FINALLY
Look out for the next edition of the newsletter in December packed with the latest news from our very talented pupils.
Don’t forget you can check the school website
http://www.broxburnacademy.co.uk/ or follow us on Twitter @broxburnacademy for further information and updates on what is
