School News, August—October 2016 Dear Parent/Carer, Welcome to the first Parent Bulletin for this Session. I hope you had an enjoyable summer—the warm weather has certainly made it easier to move from summer to au-tumn.

It has been a busy term with our new S1 settling in and everyone else continuing with their courses. We recent-ly completed our ScotXed returns to the Authority, which state our staff and pupils totals. At this present time, we have 821 on our school roll. We are also fully staffed which is fantastic. I would like to welcome all our new pupils and families that have joined us since the sum-mer.

Once again our SQA results were excellent and are above both local and national trends. Many congratula-tions to you all and a huge thank you to the staff that supported our pupils.

Well done to all staff and pupils who participated in this year’s sponsored walk. Thank you to everyone that sponsored a young person. As a school who has an ex-cellent programme of extra- curricular activities, the money raised helps support these. A special mention to Mrs Paterson, acting Depute Rector for organising this event during her time with the Senior Leadership Team.

Finally, I would like to say how delighted I am to have been appointed the new Rector of Banchory Academy. Since starting here, I have thoroughly enjoyed leading the school and I am very much looking forward to work-ing with you in the years to come.

I hope you have a very enjoyable October break.

Judith Wight

Rector

Autumn 2016

Banchory Academy Parents’ Newsletter

Inside this issue:

Message from the Rector 1

European Day of Languages 2

Inter House Triathlon 3

Library News 4

Robert Louis Stevenson Creative Writing Competi-

tion 5

Pupil Absence / Parking / Lost Property 6

Term Dates 7

Page 2

Banchory Academy celebrates European Day of Languages 2016

Well done to our S6 pupils who planned and delivered fun-filled activities for European Day of Lan-guages. Pupils enjoyed a treasure hunt, European cinema and BA’s very own pâtisserie!

They raised a total of £83.00 for international charity, Médecins Sans Frontières.

Page 3

REPORT ON INTER HOUSE TRIATHLON

One hundred teams of three competed in the school triathlon on Tuesday 27th September. The teams were made up of a swimmer who swam 200m in the pool, a cyclist who cycled 7K and a runner who ran approximately1K. There was a virtual change over between the swim leg and cycle leg. As the swimmer finished the swim the cycling transition was informed by radio so the cyclist could start their cycle to the white gates on the Deeside Way before returning back to the Paddock. The cyclist handed over the numbered bib to the runner in transition, and the runner completed the run in the Paddock after running around the Bellfield and King George V field. The Guidance staff organised all the House teams in the weeks leading up to the triathlon. The PE staff organised and ran the event along with Skills for Work pupils, School Captains and SMT. We had ‘mums’ marshalling the cycle route and two members of staff checking the bikes be-fore the cycle. Our communication system was much improved this year with the help of walkie talkie hand sets borrowed from MPH. The results were laboriously inputted to the computer by Elaine Findlay and by 3.15pm we were able to announce the team winners in S1,S2 and S3 and the overall House winners. The pupils were fantastic. They competed fairly and encouraged all teams. By its very na-ture a triathlon has a lot of waiting about when running it as a team event, and although the weath-er was a little wet and cool to start with the pupils ‘just got on with it’. The triathlon was the first of five Inter House events run by the PE department. The swimming gala is on Tuesday 6th December, followed by Cross Country in March, Multi Sports in May and Sports Day in June. The PE department feel that the running of these events are an important part of our pupils devel-opment and health and wellbeing. Pupils are developing so many skills by taking part in the event. Apart from the physical aspect to the event, the teams develop a sense of trust and responsibility. Those pupils who helped run the event were shining examples of good leaders, helping one anoth-er, being reliable and responsible and setting a good example to others. The PE department would like to thank all pupils who competed so well and to School Captains and Skills for Work pupils who timed, recorded, marshalled and tidied up after the event. A very successful day.

Page 4

ICT Pupil Volunteers

Eight pupils from S6 have volunteered to support adult learners in ICT at the branch library.

Marr Mini WriteFest 2016

Advanced Higher English pupils participated in creative writing workshops on Friday 9th September at Aboyne Academy.

The workshops comprised author readings and creative writing led by Catherine Deveney, journalist and Alan Bissett, author.

The workshops are designed to motivate students by offering the opportunity to engage with and learn from professional writers. Students are given a forum to develop their writing skills and are able to ex-change ideas with authors, teachers and fellow students in a conference environment.

Author Visit

Don Paterson, Scottish poet, as well as an important anthologist, editor and critic will be in school on Tuesday 4th October to work with S5 pupils who are studying his poems as part of their Higher English course.

Anne Donovan, Scottish author of “Buddha Da”, “Becoming Emily” and the short story collection “Hieroglyphics” will be guest author in the school library on Tuesday 8th November. Her short stories are studied by pupils in Nat 5 English.

Book Group

A number of pupils have opted to attend this activity.

The next meeting is Thursday 27th October when the book under discussion will be “Say her name” by James Dawson.

Library News

Page 5

English Department

I was very proud to win the 2016 Robert Louis Stevenson creative writing competition, which is run

by the Edinburgh Robert Louis Stevenson Club and Edinburgh Napier University, open to all S4 to

S6s in Scotland. With the other finalists, I attended a creative writing workshop at Napier Universi-

ty run by Louise Welsh, a renowned Scottish author.

It was amazing to be able to meet a successful author and listen to her advice and writing tips. My

story was based on my Grandad’s experience of a Japanese internment camp in Indonesia during

World War 2, and was inspired by the idea of survival and hardship in Stevenson’s novels Kid-

napped and Treasure Island. This is the third year in a row Banchory Academy has taken home

the trophy, and I hope that the school’s success continues!

Stephanie Glendinning, 6M

Opening three paragraphs:

Kampili

The dry season: season of heat and flies and dust, when the fierce glare of the sun weighed everything down; dragged at movement, until only the flies seemed to have energy. They were diving at the pigs, slurping the moisture round their eyes; the pigs waving lazy ears in hopeless defence. Straining against the added weight of sun, I lugged a bucket of slops to the end sty, where a sow and her piglets lay slumped in dust, bombarded by flies. This was my favourite little family. The mother, who I had named Wilhelmina, slurped happily at the slops, piglets snuffling gently around her, with the dark aura of flies clouding the surrounding air. Leaning back against the bamboo wall, I chewed idly on a piece of stolen coconut: a moment of rest after the heat and sweat of the rice fields.

The weary peal of a bell, muffled by heat and dust, was almost drowned out by the drone of flies. I dragged my feet through glutinous sunlight towards a row of earthy bamboo buildings, which wavered under the sun’s pressure. Skirting round a massive shell crater, I passed the faded sign which spanned the internment camp entrance like a bridge leading nowhere, proclaiming in peeling letters the name of our prison for the last three years: Kampili.

My brother Ding was already at the eating area and Pieter was wandering up from the fields, swinging his patjol spade, scuffing his feet in the dust. The creaky tables were almost full but we managed to squeeze in next to Jannie, who was looking after Nol while Mother worked in the camp kitchens. I shovelled down my rice and vegetables, watching the Japanese guards and the Commandant eat the sad remains of Wilhelmina’s predecessor.

Pupil Absence Unfortunately there are still a number of pupils leaving school premises either to attend an

appointment or because they are feeling unwell, without first informing the School Office.

When a pupil becomes ill during school time, they must attend either the First Aider or the

School Office in the first instance.

Accurate attendance data is important from both a Fire Regulation and Child Protection point

of view. Your assistance in reminding pupils of the policy is appreciated.

An information leaflet for parents on school attendance is on the website—see Parent Area >

Information for Parents > ‘School Attendance Policy for Parents & Carers’.

Car Park Safety Pupil safety, particularly on the roads and near vehicles, is uppermost in all of our minds. To

help us ensure that pupils are as safe as they can be, we ask please that parents ensure that

the bus bay lane, the main entrance area, car park access roads, entrance and exit are all

kept clear.

Only those pupils who have been given permission should be dropped off at

the front door.

Your help in this matter is much appreciated.

School Term Dates 2015-2020

We receive many telephone calls enquiring about school term dates. For your convenience, these can be found on the Aberdeenshire Council website.

Term 1 Ends Friday 7th October 2016

Term 2 Starts Monday 24th October 2016

In Service Day (Staff only) Monday 14th November 2016

In Service Day (Staff only) Tuesday 15th November 2016

Term 2 Ends Wednesday 21st December 2016

Term 3 Starts Thursday 5th January 2017

Mid Term Holiday Friday 10th February 2017

Monday 13th February 2017

In Service Day (Staff only) Tuesday 14th February 2017

In Service Day (Staff only) Wednesday 15th February 2017

Term 3 Ends Friday 31st March 2017

Term 4 Starts Tuesday 18th April 2017

May Day Holiday Monday 1st May 2017

Local Holiday Monday 5th June 2017

Term 4 Ends Friday 30th June 2017

Session 2016/17

Dates for Your Diary