Dates For Your Diary

October Holiday – Friday 11th October

Inservice – Monday 21st October

Pupils Return – Tuesday 22nd October

S5/S6 Parents’ Evening 4pm-6.30pm -

Monday 28th October

Anti-bullying Parents’ Information

Evening Thursday 31st October

Children in Need - Friday 15th November

S4 Parents’ Evening 4.00-6.30pm Tuesday

26th November

Senior Phase Prelims Begin Mon 2nd Dec

National 5 Prelims- 2nd December until

10th December

Christmas Assemblies/close 2.50pm –

Friday 20th December

Higher and Advanced Higher Prelims-

6th January until 16th January

Head Teacher’s Message Dear Parent/Carer,

Welcome to our first newsletter of the new session. I hope

that you find the information useful.

It has been a busy start to the term and the first eight

weeks have flown past. Our new S1 have settled well into

Prestwick Academy and are very positive about their new

school.

In the last few weeks we have launched Show My

Homework to replace the old homework diaries. The

uptake by pupils and parents has been encouraging and is

continuing to grow week by week. As a result it is

improving communication between the school and home

to support young people with their learning.

The latest updated version of our school calendar is on our

website, where you will find the key dates for events over

the coming session.

Finally, I would like to wish each of you an enjoyable

October break.

Best wishes

Mark Anderson

Acting Head Teacher

Individual Highlights

Welcome S1

Celebrating Success

Young Singer of the Year

Library News

Sport

Follow on Twitter @pwkacademy Website: www.prestwick.sayr.sch.uk

re

Welcome to our 218

new S1 supported

by our piper Lewis S6

guard of honour

and many proud

parents.

S1 Welcome Disco

Welcome to Our New S1

S1 met their S6 buddies. The guidance team trying out the inflatables

after watching the S1/S6 buddies having so

much fun

1st years had a fantastic day at Auchengillan outdoor centre. Everyone had a great day and it

proved a great bonding/teambuilding exercise between pupils and their respective House staff.

The Prestwick Academy Guidance team were delighted with the success of the S1-S6 buddy

afternoon.

Harris - Mrs Hughes Lewis - Miss Russell Skye - Mrs Blackwood Eriskay - Mr Hamilton Tiree - Mrs

Alexander

Auchengillan Outdoor Centre

We are proud to have celebrated the success of our young people and their families at our

Senior Prize Giving. The 2019 Dux was Cameron Suttie and former Prestwich High School pupil,

Professor David Purdie, gave a highly entertaining and informative speech on the town of

Prestwick.

S6 attended an Alcohol Awareness course with PTG Mrs Alexander. Where they completed

training to share their knowledge with other year groups through PSE.

On Thursday 5th September 2019, following a successful interview process, our newly appointed

Anti-Bullying Ambassadors attended training with The Diana Award at the High School of

Glasgow. Our young people hope to raise awareness of anti-bullying strategies throughout the

year and provide support to their peers. They hope to officially launch their work in November

to coincide with National Anti-Bullying Week.

Senior Prize Giving

S6 Training

Anti-Bullying Ambassadors

Mr Anderson and Mrs McGoldrick accompanied five representatives from our Pupil

Leadership Team to the Pupil Council Conference at the Royal High School of Edinburgh

on Thursday 26th September. The day was an exciting opportunity to network with other

schools and learn from others’ good practice. The group will subsequently meet to plan

for young people across the school to take on leadership roles and be involved in

implementing positive change across the school.

MacMillian Coffee Morning

On Thursday 19th September we hosted our

annual staff MacMillan Coffee Morning and pupil

dress-down day to raise funds for MacMillan

Cancer Support. This year, we raised a fantastic

total of £1174.96 – thank you to everyone for their

generosity!

Pupil Council Conference

The West of Scotland Schools String Orchestra and Training Band performed in City

Halls, Glasgow. Well done to all and especially the young musicians and instrumental

staff from schools across South Ayrshire. Congratulations to Naomi for winning the String

Orchestra award

Carers Day

Prestwick Academy was honoured to host Prestwick Carers Day again. We enjoyed a

wonderful day.

Chief Inspector Brian

Anderson whilst at

Prestwick Academy

for Carers’ Day I

caught up with the

campus cop, PC

Stewart, who was

busy seeing the kids

off for the weekend.

He loved the notice

at the front

door.....simple but

very true and we

should all remind kids

of it!

Young Singer of the Year

Congratulations to all our performers tonight.

MUSIC

All our Young Singer finalists - well done

everyone

Brilliant performances at our Young Singer

Competition 2019

Library

EDINBURGH BOOK FESTIVAL

In August the library

organised a trip to the

Edinburgh Book Festival.

This year we attended two

events, a workshop and an

author talk. First of all we

took part in a crime writing

workshop with Matt

Wesolowski. Pupils and staff

engaged in a selection of

guided activities looking at

the different perspectives

you can write from. The

second event was a talk

from two authors, Mel

Darbon and David Owen

who spoke about their most

recent novels based on the

theme of accepting our

differences. Pupils were

also given book vouchers to

spend in the bookshop and

we even managed to enjoy

a bit of sunshine. The library

has copies of all the books

from the featured authors.

In which Gray Crosbie interviewed Dean Atta and

Rachel Plummer about their new books (Black Flamingo

and Wain). We also discussed the importance and

availability of LGBTQ identities in young adult literature.

We will be showing this at our next Equalities group

meeting for pupils who couldn’t watch it live.

POETRY DAY

The theme of

National Poetry Day

2019 was “Truth”. We

celebrated with S3

pupils by gathering

together to watch

the BBC Authors Live

event,

LIBRARY COMMITTEE

Our library committee have been very busy

already this term and we are currently in the

process of recruiting some of our new S1 pupils to

complete this year’s team. We will post on Twitter

once everyone is in post. Plans for this year

include:

Taking part in activities and initiatives for

the First Minister’s Reading Challenge

Running activities for Book Week Scotland

Working with our feeder primaries to

highlight the library and everything it can

offer

Launching a library podcast

It looks set to be a busy and exciting year for us!

BOOK WEEK SCOTLAND

‘Book Week Scotland is an annual celebration of books and

reading that takes place across Scotland’. This year’s theme is

Blether so we will be getting our pupils and staff to engage in

conversations about books and reading. There will be a range

of activities planned across the school but one we are very

excited about is our book bistro. We will announce our full

range of activities at the start of November.

The library is open every day before and after

school and we also run the following clubs \ groups

Tuesday after school - Communi+y

(equalities group – all pupils welcome)

Thursday lunchtime - Creative Writing Club

Friday lunchtime – Games Club. Pupils can

bring their lunch and play a variety of

games in the library. We also have staff

from the Games Café in Ayr join us once a

month with even more new games to try.

Remember to follow us on Twitter

@PWKAcademyLib

FIRST MINISTERS READING CHALLENGE

Over the next year, Prestwick Academy will be taking part in the First Minister’s Reading

Challenge. Previously this has been limited to primary schools but they have recently

launched a secondary version. The idea is to create, or in our case improve our reading

culture within the school. We will collect and collate

evidence of everything we do over the year to submit in

May. We will be taking part in \ launching a wide range

of activities \ initiatives throughout the year including:

S2 house reading challenge (OCT – APR)

Staff reading champions

Activities for Book Week Scotland

Currently reading posters \ displays in

departments

Subject book lists \ displays

Library podcast

Book recommendations

Activities with our feeder primaries

Activities for World Book Day

Keep an eye on our Twitter for more information and to follow our journey.

ACCELERATED READER

Our S1 pupils will be taking part in Accelerated Reader this year.

Accelerated Reader is a computer-based programme that encourages pupils to read

books at an appropriate level and then challenges them with quizzes to test their

understanding of the literature.

Pupils will undertake at least three “Star Tests” throughout the year to establish reading

ranges and monitor progress. After each test, pupils will be given a reading range as

opposed to a mark and this will enable them to select appropriate books according to

their ability. As a general guide, pupils should select books at the lower end of their range

and, if they do well in the quizzes they can progress through this range. However, pupils

are not restricted to this and we would encourage them to read as much as possible. Both

fiction and non-fiction books are included in the Accelerated Reader section of the library.

You will be able to follow your child’s progress through the Home Connect feature which

allows you to view what your child has read and how they have performed on their

quizzes. You can also set up email alerts to see your child’s quiz results. Please refer to the

Home Connect information letter included for details of how to login.

There will be regular updates on our Twitter page and further information can be found

on our website.

@PWKAcademyLib

CyberFirst

iDEA Award

The Duke of York Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award (iDEA)

is an international programme that helps people to

develop digital, enterprise and employability skills for free,

and enhances their chances in the job market.

iDEA gives people the chance to earn digital badges

while developing skills, gaining knowledge and learning

information about the digital world. The modules

(badges) also help people reinforce their understanding

about subjects they might already know a bit about.

iDEA is for people of all ages! https://idea.org.uk/

S2 girl Zara achieved the Bronze award seconds before

the school bell rang for summer. An excellent

achievement in just over a week! During the first week of

the new term Zara secured her Silver Award and she waits

patiently for the Gold to be released. Fantastic work

Zara!

Launched in May 2016, and inspired and led by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC),

a part of GCHQ, CyberFirst began as a programme of opportunities helping young people

explore their passion for tech by introducing them to the world of cyber security. As well as

the yearly competition, CyberFirst also run courses for 11-17 year olds.

After reading a tweet on @PrestwickCompSc 6th year Eriskay pupil Erin signed up for the

week long residential at Paisley University in July. During this time Erin gained advanced

skills in some of the key areas of cyber security:

Computing Science

Implementing digital forensics

Understanding encryption technologies

Using open source intelligence techniques

Penetration testing

Erin really enjoyed the course and would recommend

others sign up for it next year. Well done Erin!

Biology Trips

Pupils had a fantastic visit to the Apprenticeship Fair

on the 3rd October. Great info from the employers

Skye's S1 group were out giving a little back to the community. A successful litter pick

Excursions

S2 pupils attended a Countryside

careers day at Dumfries House

where they heard from a huge

variety of speakers about potential

career options. S3 and Advanced Higher pupils

visited Culzean to take part in

sampling organisms within the

woodland and visited the shoreline.

Swimming Fresh from the Swimming European DSISO Championships in Sardinia. Cerys won 3 individual

Bronze medals in the 50m, 200m and 400m freestyle events. She was also part of 2 relay teams

which took Gold and a Bronze Medal in the freestyle events.

Sailing

They did it again! Scottish Feva Sailing Champions 2019! Absolutely superb Jamie and

Scott well done defending your title

Sporting Success

Sport and Recreation

Well done to Euan and

the u19 Scotland team

qualifying for the

Cricket World Cup!

Many congratulations to

Catriona who receives the

Champion of Champions

Quaich for winning Junior,

Intermediate and Senior

Sports Champion over the

last 3 years!

Fantastic to have our P7's from

Heathfield with us for our L6 Sport &

Recreation pupils to deliver their

Basketball blocks, great dribbling

and passing skills on show today!

Sports Champion Cricket

Ski Team

A fantastic start for the Prestwick Academy Ski Team with S3

Mckenzie finishing 2nd in the SSSA Freestyle final! A tremendous

effort.

Athletics

Fantastic day for our Prestwick Academy team competing at the Scottish Schools Road

Race today at Pittencrief, Dunfermline, great result all round from Prestwick and the South

Ayrshire contingent!

Lucy & Sarah are our new Young

Ambassadors.

A fantastic performance from both

Prestwick teams in the SSSA

competition. Team A finished 3rd in the

open competition and Team B finished

1st in the S1-3. Both teams progress to

the finals at Braehead. McKenzie also

claimed 1st prize in the head to head!