SEPTEMBER 2016

Dear Parent/Carer Welcome to the first newsletter of this session. I hope you all had a great summer—it was more than ‘a bit’ annoying coming back during the best week weather-wise, in a long time. Once again, we were delighted with our exam results and S5 really excelled. Twenty-eight pupils achieved 5 Highers, with 12 of them getting 5 A grades. Results for S4 and S6 were also very good. Pupils and staff are to be congratulated for their hard work throughout the session. Our new school uniform policy is now in operation and really well supported—although some pupils are waiting for ties from the suppliers. We welcome some new members of staff to the school—Leontia Fegan to the Art Department, Samantha Wallace to History as a probationer, Steven Ednie to Technical as a probationer and Emma Tweedie to English. No doubt you have been watching some of the Olympics — it was great to see ex-pupil Alan Sinclair competing in the rowing and I’ve just heard that Alan Clyne and Greg Lobban are now doubles WORLD CHAMPIONS in squash—fantastic achievements. Another piece of good news is the possibility of refurbishment work for the older parts of the school—no timescale yet but I’ll keep you informed. Finally, the Parent Council hold their AGM on Wednesday 14th September at 7.30 pm in the staffroom. New members are very welcome. The Council are looking for volunteers to help with Drama and Dance on Friday afternoons. Get in touch with us if you are able to help. We look forward to another successful year in the school and would encourage you all to get involved in some way.

FORTROSE ACADEMY NEWSLETTER

Phones We are trying hard to minimise “low level” disruption in classes. Mobile phones should be switched off and kept in bags during class time, unless staff gives specific permission. Should any pupil not adhere to this, his /her phone will be kept by SMT until the end of the day. Parents will be informed by text should this happen. Please remember all pupils can be contacted through the school office in the case of an emergency.

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If you have more FP news for us then please let us know—we are always delighted to hear of their success and, as always, ex-

tremely proud!

The University of Aberdeen has made us aware of the following awards to former pupils of Fortrose Academy:

Jerome Allison: MEng in Mechanical Engineering

Rebecca Buchan: BSc in Geography

Fiona Langston: BSc in Geology & Petroleum Geology

Katherine McKenna: BSc in Pharmacology

Parisa Shirvani: BMus in Music

Mairi Skinner: MSc in Biological Sciences

Jamie Skipsey: MA in Philosophy

Beth Strange: MA in English & Philosophy

Hollie Wilson: BSc in Pharmacology

Congratulations to all!

We are pleased to announce the forthcoming Literary Festival on Monday 5th September 2016.

Entitled ‘Visions of the Future’ the festival will involve students from S1 to S3. Investigating the future is an exciting prospect for all involved and activities are extremely varied. Students can choose from a game based workshop on dystopian literature run by the library staff, cooking for the future using sustainable food stuffs, writing a future hit pop song, designing a game of the future and even Oor Wullie in the future. Workshops are also being run by UHI’s Engineering department, the Craft Design Technology department and visiting authors Anne MacLeod and Moira McPartlin. With 18 workshops to choose from students are bound to get involved in an aspect of the future which interests them. A team of S4 students will be reporters on the day so look out for their articles about the event later in the year.

Safety on Buses At least one member of SMT goes out to the buses each afternoon when school closes. A quick spot check indicates that many pupils need reminded to wear seat belts. We will continue to do this. Can parents/carers please continue to re-inforce the message at home – wear seat belts on the school bus.

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Alan Clyne and Greg Lobban World Doubles Champions! Alan Clyne and Greg Lobban overcame the Australian challenge of David Palmer and Zac Alexander to win the World Doubles Squash Gold Medal. The first match was closely contested with both teams displaying excellent squash. Palmer was forced to take a medical time out due to a back injury but once play commenced again Scotland stayed in control taking the first game 11-8. Scotland continued their strong performance into the second game taking it 11-4 and the match 2-0 to become World Doubles Champions! The win gives Scottish Squash a strong indication that the new partnership of Clyne and Lobban is working well and Martin Heath the Scottish Squash Elite Performance Coach said: “I’m delighted for Alan and Greg, and this counts as great success for Scottish Squash. The big match was against Pilley and Cuskelly in the semis, the No.1 seeds. They were under huge pressure, and showed the will, patience, teamwork and winning mentality to get the win and prove they are the best doubles team on the planet right now.” The new Scottish Squash National Coach Paul Bell acknowledged the work of the whole team which also included Dougie Kempsall and Kevin Moran in their first competition as doubles partners. A delighted Lobban added: “It hasn’t really sunk in yet – we came straight off court to get drug-tested then were off to the airport to go to Hong Kong. Any nation is eligible to enter a world championship, so it’s one of my best achievements to date and it’s great to do it with someone like Alan. It’s not bad – 2 guys from the Black Isle winning a world championship! It’s our first major event playing together and we only got put together a month ago. We got a couple of weeks practice in at the Scottish trials for this event and won a tournament there too. But to win something like this with your fellow countryman, you can’t really ask for more.” “We’re both keen to keep playing together and the preparations for the Commonwealth Games have obviously started off really well,” said Lobban, who made the quarter-final of the men’s doubles and the last 16 of the singles at Glasgow 2014, aged just 21. “There’s going to be more opportunities to play together closer to the Games, so hopefully we can stick together.”

Pupil Voice committee will be starting again this year and it is an opportunity for pupils to have their say on all things Fortrose Academy. This is a great platform to voice your opinions and have a positive impact on Fortrose Academy and the surrounding community. Also, being part of the group can count towards Saltire and leadership hours which looks great on ayour CV or when applying to Universities. For further information please see Mr Morton or see the daily announcements.

SENIOR BOYS FOOTBALL The senior boy’s football team have made an impressive start to the football season. They remain undefeated after four games and top the latest league table.

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FORTROSE ACADEMY NEWSLETTER

PE EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES Extra curricular activities are up and running at Fortrose Academy. The full timetable can be viewed below but will be subject to change over the course of the year depending on weather and venues. Please keep up to date with information via the Fortrose Academy Facebook page, the Fortrose Academy PE department twitter page @fortrose_pe and on the daily an-nouncements.

Congratulations to Lucas Cairns, S1

Lucas is very keen on athletics and competes nationally. On Saturday 27th August he won the development race for U13 at the Scottish Trail Running Championships in Fife.

Youth Work in the Black Isle - Summer Activities During July young people from across the Black Isle had the chance to take part in a range of exciting activities such as camping, break dancing, bubble ball football, multi sports, Nerf Wars, tennis coaching and tournament, sailing, canoeing, kayaking, Paintball, Highland Print Studio, Cromarty Gala Week, Cookwell and Bakewell. Thanks to the Youth Development Team - Wanda, Fraser and Vicky. Special thanks to MFR Cash for Kids for the funding which enabled all of the young people attending the activities to get something to eat. Even bigger thanks to some of our Saltire Volunteers for helping with the delivery of multi sports and for preparing lunches each day for the other young people taking part. All of your support during the summer was gratefully received. To find out more about what is happening on the Black Isle please have a look at our Facebook page

www.facebook.com/blackisleydo

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Ocean Youth Trust Sailing Trip On the 27th June myself (Sean Mann) and Matty Grant embarked on a 5 day sailing trip that would take us to parts of Scotland neither of us had ever visited. We were both lucky enough to have been selected by Fraser Thomson and Wanda Mackay to go on this trip that was founded by Cash Back. The charity Cash Back is an amazing charity that funds various trips around Scotland for people like us to take part in. We met up with the Ocean Youth Trust team on the first day of the trip after a long drive down to Oban. After a short ferry ride across the harbour, we docked at the marina and went to see the boat we would be sailing for the next five days. The first impression of the crew was that of light hearted, funny people who genuinely seemed like they enjoyed what they did. They were both welcoming and educational and over the course of the trip, taught us many things. The boat itself was an ex- world racer which had raced round the world twice. It had a main mast and two smaller sails at the front. The accommodation was tight but comfortable and most of the group found that they got a good night's sleep. As for the group we were with, there were 5 boys and 5 girls, all coming from different backgrounds. The first day was a little awkward, as expected, but once we were split into our separate watches (teams of five), we all hit it off. The fact that we all got on so well, really made the trip as enjoyable as it was, going through the five days with people you got on with really made it a memorable trip. As for the trip itself, we sailed well over 100 miles in the 5 days that we were there. We journeyed up the Sound of Mull, visiting Tobermory (or Balamory as it is more commonly known), we then sailed up to Skye where we stayed one night then returned back down to the Sound of Mull and spent one of our mornings exploring the beautiful town of Tobermory. We experienced all sorts of weather throughout the journey, ranging from high winds and rough seas, to beautiful sunshine and calm sailing. I’m not sure what was more enjoyable for me to be honest, of course the sunshine was nice but the high winds made for quicker sailing and a more exhilarating experience, I guess it was just good we had both. As well as learning how to steer and sail the huge boat, we also under-went two SQA qualifications, one for listening and one for speaking. The speaking one definitely boosted my confidence with the group as it was good to be able to get a chance to tell them something about me and for them to listen. Overall the trip was an incredible journey both literally and metaphorically. The places we visited were amazing and the sailing was adrenaline pumping at times and perfectly relaxing at others. The people we met were incredible both Crew and Group and our leaders Shona and Robert were always a good laugh. We would certainly both go back on a trip like this again if we got the chance and also highly recommend it to anybody who is unsure about going. We would both like to give a huge thanks to Cash Back Scotland for funding the trip and Wanda and Fraser for selecting us. Also a huge shout out to the crew at OYT Scotland for making the trip as good as it was.

Here in the library, we’ve re-jigged the Young Adult section a little for the new term. We’ve kept our super popular Banned Books and Writes of Passage displays which are always filled with interesting and controversial reads and can also be used for all students taking part in the Power Reader or Star Surfer schemes (we also still have our Power Reader section,

complete with handy booklists). We’ve added still more brand new graphic novels and anime titles to our Graphic sec-tion – and don’t forget that you can access 20,000 graphic novels online with your library log-in and PIN (come and ask us if you need a reminder of these details). Finally, in celebration of the upcoming Visions of the Future festival, we have a brand new display: It’s The End of The World As You Know It. Cheery stuff, we know, but please be sure to stop by and choose your own dystopian/post-apocalyptic world to explore – after all, you never know when you might need to be the next Katniss or Thomas… Happy Reading!

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Guidance News

We welcome Jared Simpson to the Guidance team, in place of the greatly-missed Allison MacArthur. Until Jared starts on 5th September Iain Hogg has been Acting PT Guidance for Kestrel and Merlin houses.

Inspire Awards We proudly commend the 5 pupils whose Inspire posters represented our school nationally— Iona Milne, Izzy Inman, Eleanor Morrison, Esther Baarda and Calum Cameron. These pupils will receive their certificates in an S2 Assembly shortly. Particular congratulations go to Calum whose

poster has been shortlisted from over 20,000 and who receives a Highly Commended Medal. New S1 pupils will be able to take part in this competition in the New Year during S1 Lifeskills periods.

Louise Dunton was selected by the Dingwall Rotary Club to attend a summer camp in July where she gained the Rotary

Youth Leadership Award (RYLA). Well done, Louise.

Rowing Successes Avoch Skiffties competed in the World Championships in Ireland at the end of July, coming 1st, 3rd and 5th. More news on their success will be published in the next newsletter.

We welcome new S1 pupils and hope they are settling now into the Academy, finding their way around and getting used

to a different school experience.

S6/5 UCAS Applicants We have started this year’s application process. School deadlines for completion of the UCAS form, for both October and January deadlines are displayed on the school website and on Coursework for Senior pupils and should be adhered to if pupils wish their applications to be submitted on time.

We are taking interested pupils to the Highland Higher Education Convention, which this year is in Elgin, on Mon-

day 19th September. The bus will leave the Academy car park at 7.30 am and will return to school by late morning.

“So you want to be a Doctor” Health Careers Event for S5 pupils takes place on Tuesday 20th September. Interested

pupils should already have applied for a place.

Interbranch is the yearly highlight of the pony club calendar, with teams competing from clubs across Scotland in a prestigious event which includes dressage, show jumping and cross coun-try. Fortrose Academy pupils Hannah Cox who represented the Ross-shire branch and Ellen Saunders and Alanna Hrycencko who represented the Inverness-shire branch all competed over the course of the 3 day event. Hosted at Scotsburn, local teams Inverness-shire and Ross-shire came up trumps over the course of the competition with Inverness-shire coming second as a team in the dressage and Ross-shire winning the Novice team eventing. This meant that both teams then went on to compete at the Novice dressage and eventing national champion-ships held at Cholmondeley Castle in Cheshire on 20th August which is the biggest Pony Club event in Britain. Hannah Cox also competed in the Novice show jumping and finished 6th out of 60 competitors and also qualified for the show jumping championships. They competed across the 3 disciplines against 266 others and competed against the most challenging compa-ny to date. The show jumping and cross country was undoubtedly the trickiest they have ever faced. Both teams competed well at the Championships and although they were not placed they all thoroughly enjoyed the experience and are proud of their achievements for their local Pony Clubs.